The US digital-contact-tracing debacle

Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic

Unless you live in a few specific states, you likely never got the chance to use the contact tracing system that was the result of an unprecedented collaboration between Apple and Google. As it turns out, there are a few reasons the technology never took off in the US, from privacy concerns among the general public to the inability of the federal government to deviate from its vaccine-or-bust strategy. 

The Athletic set out to destroy newspapers. Then it became one.

Bryan Curtis, The Ringer

The New York Times is spending $550 million on a subscription-based sports media site and its wealth of journalism talent. Not so long ago, its founder told the very paper that bought it he wanted to replace local newspapers, with a plan to “let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing.” Now the site is part of one of the largest papers in the country.

The epic rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes

David Streitfeld, The New York Times

Following this week’s fraud verdict, a look back at the Theranos executive’s decade-long play and some the people she brought along with her.