Features

Deep dives into technology and human behavior.

A futuristic cityscape on a floating island, featuring modern skyscrapers and greenery integrated into a tall structure.

Features 11 May 2026

The Chinese whiz kids of Silicon Valley

Chinese-born tech workers have fueled Silicon Valley for decades. In the AI era, they're superstars.

A construction site for a tall building stands in the distance, with dogs and parked cars along a quiet street.

Features 8 April 2026

A Mexican surveillance giant you’ve never heard of is now watching the U.S. border

Grupo Seguritech quietly built a $1.27 billion surveillance empire. Now it's expanding into the U.S. and across Latin America.

By José Olivares

A framed portrait of a young man in a suit, placed on a table against an orange wall.

Features 27 January 2026

Death of an Indian tech worker

A wave of suicides and widespread AI-fueled layoffs reveal a workforce under extreme pressure.

A tiger running alongside a herd of unicorns in a fantastical landscape.

Features 16 December 2025

Big bets and broken unicorns: Tiger Global’s rise and reckoning

The fast-money pandemic era helped build billion-dollar startups around the world — then brought many down just as quickly. Will the AI boom be a repeat?

By Issie Lapowsky

A graphic featuring the Starlink terms of service with images of men, a satellite dish, and text elements.

Features 3 December 2025

When Musk joined Trump, countries rolled out the red carpet for Starlink

Newly revealed contract between Starlink and Bangladesh shows how these deals are made.

By Georgia Gee, Mehedi Marof and Tanbirul Miraj Ripon

A diverse group of individuals posing together in front of a colorful graffiti wall; the group includes men and women, with several wearing headscarves, and they are arranged in two rows, some standing and others seated, conveying a sense of camaraderie and community.

Features 4 November 2025

The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks

For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.

By Mohammed R. Mhawish and Aseel Mousa

A large, industrial construction site in an arid landscape, featuring a tall, metallic structure resembling a crane with two triangular frames. Various construction vehicles, including blue lift machines and a yellow truck, are scattered around a gray concrete block structure on the sandy ground, with a hazy sky and fencing in the background.

Features 21 October 2025

The world needs more spaceports. Oman wants to help

Can a small country build a space industry from scratch?

By Laura Jedeed

A busy industrial area showing a red truck loaded with large white bags parked on a road, while two motorcyclists pass by. There are large structures overhead, likely conveyors, and a background of warehouses and concrete barriers with faded artwork.

Features 8 October 2025

The Chinese migrant workers powering the deadly EV nickel boom

30,000 Chinese workers travel thousands of miles to remote islands in Eastern Indonesia to process nickel — and put their lives at risk on the frontier of the green energy transition.

Aerial view of a densely populated urban area with a mix of low-rise buildings, some with solar panels on roofs, and a prominent modern structure in the center. The landscape is bordered by mountains, and several green trees are visible along a central road lined with cars.

Features 16 September 2025

Syria’s quest to build its own Silicon Valley

Tech founders in Damascus are rebooting a war-torn country.

By Emily Wither

A digital illustration showing a man sitting in a chair, looking at a large screen displaying a ghostly figure with a glowing head and arms holding a tablet. The background features pixelated elements dispersing from the screen, creating a sense of digital interaction, with a modern living room setting, including a table with a lamp and a sofa.

Features 2 September 2025

My mom and Dr. DeepSeek

In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.

Two men working in a cluttered, dimly lit room filled with piles of discarded electronics and bags. One man crouches on the floor, holding a hammer, while the other stands in the background with a tool raised, amidst shelves packed with various electronic components and equipment.

Features 26 August 2025

The dirty truth behind the e-waste recycling industry

The informal recycling economy is turning global e-waste into profit — at a steep human and environmental cost.

By Yashraj Sharma

An animated scene depicting several workers in hard hats, waving from a conveyor belt, while another worker, also in a hard hat, uses scissors to cut tape on a stack of yellow boxes nearby, all set against a purple background.

Features 29 July 2025

Inside the collapse of Builder.ai: Was it even an AI company?

The implosion of a white-hot startup has employees asking how it all went wrong.

By Varsha Bansal