7 stories to read this weekend

Wow! Was that week chock-full of news or what? Frankly, sometimes it was hard to remember what was happening. Nevertheless, here are some good and mind-nourishing pieces for the weekend that you can actually enjoy and learn from.

The noise during the past week is the reason why I enjoyed reading this piece by George Dyson Information is cheap, meaning is expensive. This will blow your mind.
How Instagram might be changing photography. I love the service and almost prefer photos on Instagram more than anything else. But should we be worried as Naomi Zeichner argues in The Fader?
Plagues of the new millennium are not about diseases of the body alone. They are about the rot of the human brain and body. This is an ironic but excellent list from McSweeneys.
How to measure a companys most elusive element: culture. Somewhat of a large corporate perspective but full of lessons nonetheless.
Voice wars: Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft. This is in light of the Siri explosion.
Rise of the machines. Charles Schwabs chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders is an excellent writer. Too bad her views are buried on the companys terrible website. In this piece she writes about the domination of high-frequency trading and its impact on the markets.
Spacewar. My ex-boss David Churb! uck remi nded me of this piece about the early days of computer hackers. And it is by Steward Brand and that alone makes it worth reading, not to mention the historical context it gives to our modern tech industry. The passing of our industrys seniors over the last few days makes this an appropriate piece to share.

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