Finding personal stories buried deep in the YouTube comments.

To his friends and family, Ross Ulbricht was a compassionate, warm soul known for random acts of kindness. To the F.B.I., he was Dread Pirate Roberts, the mastermind behind the Silk Road who was willing to order hits to protect his black market operation.

How and why the goverment pulled Silicon Valley into the war on terror.

An ambivalent look at Google Glass, the “Model T of wearable computing.”

How violent threats made online go unchecked.

Unpacking the 76,897 micro-genres that make up the cinematic DNA.

A profile of Evgeny Morozov, “either the most astute, feared, loathed, or useless writer about digital technology working today.”

The rise of automatic number plate recognition and its real-world consequences.

How a 20-something made millions as an e-commerce hustler.

“This is a story about how the future gets weird.”

At 9:14pm on November 22, 1987, sportscaster Dan Roan was doing the Bears highlights on Chicago’s WGN-TV when the station’s signal was hijacked. Someone wearning a rubber Max Headroom mask appeared, silently, on TV screens around the city. A few hours later, Headroom popped up again on another channel, this time for longer and with audio. Despite FBI and FCC investigations, the case remains unsolved.

On using data to hire and fire.

A technical explanation of the real program to sabotage Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The long road to Google’s self-driving car.

Searching for the real reason why a bunch of kids partying at the empty home of an NFL player became a national story.

On Twitter’s pleasures and perils.

Bibek Dhong traveled from Nepal to Malaysia to test cameras for the new iPhone 5. When production ended abruptly, he and his coworkers found themselves stranded for two months without money, food or passports.

Inside the N.S.A.’s mission to spy on just about everyone.

A profile of cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter, who has spent the last 30 years trying to replicate the human mind.

After two cycling-related deaths, the social fitness network becomes a target.

What happened to “one of maybe 20 girls who became famous in the mid-‘00s for posting photos of themselves on image boards.”

On the online mug shot industry, which posts mug shots of anyone arrested (regardless of conviction) and charges $30 to $400 to have the photo removed.

“In 1981, with a computer built into my shoe, I walked into a Las Vegas casino and beat the house.”

On the fall of Ross William Ulbricht, the alleged creator of The Silk Road, a hidden black market website where users could buy and sell drugs, guns and, according to the FBI, the services of a hit man.