The JJ Abrams Issue of Wired

In honour of the topic of Wired’s May issue—Mystery—I will try not to reveal too much about it. Maybe just enough to explain to you why you shouldn’t miss reading it. [Wired]

The issue itself was formed, I’d guess, from the time Chris Anderson, Wired editor, saw JJ Abrams speak at TED about his mystery box. I was happy to have been able to contribute a small idea used in the TEST section, executed by Chris Hardwick, on snake oil gadgets. I got this idea from my mum and some of lisa’s relatives who use plenty of these new age devices, supposedly able to heal miraculously and transform the “vibrational energy” of water, and clean bad EM out of the air without stopping your Wi-fi or mobile phone from working. I thought that this is the kind of technology the Dharma institute would have been testing in Lost, and so it became very clear to me that this is exactly the kind of thing that would fit in the magazine.

I also love the theme because mystery is another aspect of Gizmodo that separates us from traditional tech journalism. We don’t bury our ledes, but its very clear that Rumors—stories before facts— are indeed one of the most tantalising and popular pieces of writing that we do. Because knowing is often not as powerful as longing or wishing for the unknown and unconfirmed.