9 great reads from CNET this week: Supply chain, Steve Jobs, Facebook and more
We dive into how your shopping habits broke the supply chain, examine Steve Jobs' legacy on the 10th anniversary of his death and take stock of the Facebook outage.
When you click a purchase button, the products you've ordered don't just magically appear at your door. It takes ships, cranes, trains, trucks and more. And when there's a hiccup in one spot, the ripple effects go on and on. That's the uncomfortable new reality of the consumer economy: higher prices, long delays and just plain frustration.
In his story for our Road Trip 2021: Made in America series, CNET editor Kent German walks you through the many transport links of the global supply chain, starting with the port of Oakland, one of the busiest in the US. "Without the ports," says a manager there, "you don't have those products, or they're very expensive, because you have to fly them in."
That story is among the many in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So here you go. These are the stories you don't want to miss:
You shopped like never before. The supply chain couldn't handle it
The complex global system that transports products largely worked -- until the pandemic. Now the system needs to change.
How the search for the next Steve Jobs is ruining Silicon Valley
Apple's co-founder changed how we look at tech. A decade after his death, the tech industry is changing how it looks at itself.
The Steve Jobs deal with Michael Dell that could have changed Apple and tech history
Michael Dell talks about his memories of the tech icon, including when Jobs tried to convince Dell to license Mac software to run on Intel-based PCs.
Facebook-WhatsApp outage shows danger of relying on one company for messaging
Commentary: This week's massive outage is a reminder that you should have a few backup chat apps ready to go.
Facebook's outage hit its AR and VR gadgets, making them half-blind
Half-connected virtual reality, nonfunctioning smartglasses: This is what a future of Facebook-connected products could look like when Facebook is down.
If we don't live in a simulation, we might be doomed
We still can't prove whether the world is a video game, but what if a simulated reality is the best case scenario?
iPhone 13 vs. 13 Mini: What I loved and hated about switching to Apple's smaller phone
Commentary: The iPhone 13 Mini is a big improvement, but it hasn't convinced me to embrace smaller phones.
iPhone 13 is great, but I'm more excited about Google's Pixel 6
Commentary: Could the Pixel 6 leap forward the way the iPhone X did?
Bo Burnham: Inside is the only piece of pandemic art I need
Commentary: The Netflix special came out five months ago, and I'm still thinking about it.
