A deep dive on everything you need to know about virtual reality

A guide to what you need to get started in VR

From Oculus Rift to Google Daydream, VR is getting plenty of hype. But what system should you buy? And what should you play?

The virtual reality era has finally arrived

The smartphone era has driven a large share of the consumer electronics market for almost 20 years now. But what comes next? Dominant computing platforms come and go over time, and there’s reason to believe that mixed reality devices like headsets and glasses might be the form factor that eventually replaces smartphones. This article presents a snapshot of where we are right now in the VR era, and what the future holds.

Why VR/AR gets farther away as it comes into focus

Thirteen years after XR devices became a big tech obsession, VR/AR devices are not just behind schedule, they still seem far away. This article provides an overview of the hardware realities getting in the way of the vision.

Virtual and augmented realities are paving the way for a more immersive future

Tech companies like Apple, Meta, and Microsoft invest heavily in immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. While VR transports users to a fully digital space and AR adds digital elements to the real world, mixed reality allows interaction with both at once.

A fascinating look at how a journalist spends 24 hours in the metaverse

A Wall Street Journal strapped on a VR headset for a full day. Here's what happened when she went to work meetings, hung out with new avatar friends and attended shows — all in the metaverse.

Mark Zuckerberg demos the Quest 3 VR headset

Meta, back when the company was still known as Facebook, once tried and failed to launch a smartphone. With the arrival of the mixed reality era, the company decided to make another hardware play again—and this time, it's having better luck. Meta's aggressively priced Quest headsets offer VR for the masses, and here CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows off the new mixed reality experiences and more available with the latest version, the Quest 3.

The potential of virtual reality in healthcare

Virtual reality (VR) is carving new frontiers in healthcare, from aiding in stroke recovery to training medical professionals. This article in Time Magazine highlights the innovative uses of VR in medical settings, including its potential and current limitations.

Engineer explains VR at five levels of complexity

While its possible to grab a virtual reality headset and hop into an immersive world with little effort, a significant amount of technical and biological science has gone into creating the effect of a 3D world. This video breaks down the technology in five layers of increasing complexity.

A framework for understanding the metaverse

An article answering some of the metaverse's most foundational questions: How much of the metaverse is already here? When will the rest arrive? And how will it grow?

Expert predictions on the metaverse

Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive metaverse. Many worry current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms.

Atari's 'Pong', VCRs, and CD players all launched at CES

This roundup highlights major tech milestones at CES, including the launch of the Nintendo NES in 1985, the DVD in 1996, and the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift in 2013.

Experience the Apollo 11 mission in VR

Take one small step today and experience the historic moon-landing through VR. This video showcases how VR is allowing the public to travel through space through the eyes of those who lived through it.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Mark Zuckerberg credits some of Facebook's success to constant evolution

Before becoming the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman was the president of Y Combinator—a startup accelerator company that supported companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Coinbase. In 2016, Altman interviewed Zuckerberg about creating Facebook and its growth over time. Zuckerberg said that, unlike other companies (think: CourseMatch), Facebook kept growing and adding new features, which prevented the app from becoming obsolete.

Relive the biggest swings in the Dow’s history

From the 1929 crash to the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020, this piece spotlights five of the most dramatic single-day moves in the Dow’s 125-year history.

Venture capitalists were once bullish on DTC brands

While a physical store can only hold so many objects, online retailers without the limits of four walls that could sell their products direct-to-consumer could theoretically be great investments. But they didn’t always provide investors with expected returns.

A definitive guide to crypto and blockchain

The concept of cryptocurrency emerged more than a decade ago, with a famous whitepaper on bitcoin. To fully understand the rise of bitcoin, Bloomberg’s Matt Levine developed this comprehensive four-part series exploring the broader crypto and blockchain ecosystems, where they came from and how they work (subscription required).

The basics of private credit—plus why it matters in 2026

This podcast episode—one of the best we found for explaining the ins and outs of private credit—details how private credit became a significant lender for the tech industry, and how AI could disrupt private credit investments.

Explore the world of fan fiction

This guide to the genre's major platforms breaks down their strengths and weaknesses, offering an excellent primer for the uninitiated newcomers.

By 2024, Nvidia had become one of the world’s most valuable companies

Nvidia started as a graphics chip designer for PCs and consoles. This explainer traces its rise from early GPU innovation to powering AI breakthroughs and fueling the data centers behind today’s biggest tech platforms.

A deep dive into the data behind the romance bookstore renaissance

As the literary genre expands, so does the network of romance-specific stores. Romancing the Data keeps track of the rise of romance bookstores across the globe. This article not only shows how quickly the trend is taking off but also explains how brick-and-mortar shops are simply catching up with audience demand.

There’s a psychological explanation for ‘FOMO,’ or the fear of missing out

This video breaks down FOMO—what it is, how it works, and why it happens—showing how social comparison and uncertainty trigger anxiety that pushes people toward risk-taking and constant checking behaviors.

The history of Reddit, the front page of the internet

The hyperactive online forum and social media platform has transformed since 2006 from a simple link-sharing site to a behemoth in digital media. Topping off its ascendancy, Reddit went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024, solidifying its future amid a shifting technological climate. Dive into Reddit's nearly two decades of growth with this detailed timeline.

Why did WeWork fail and why it's still around

Once valued at $47B, WeWork promised to revolutionize office space—but rapid expansion, financial red flags, and a pandemic-driven shift in work culture led to its 2023 bankruptcy. This overview looks at its rise and fall, and what’s next for the coworking giant.

See the Russian Revolution reimagined as if it unfolded on social media

This creative project retells the lead-up to the 1917 October Revolution as a Facebook-style newsfeed, blending archival photos with excerpts from letters and diaries by figures like Trotsky, Gertrude Stein, and Stravinsky to recreate events in a modern format.

A historical deep dive into everything coffee

Can’t get enough coffee? Join documentarian James Harper and historian Jonathan Morris for an immersive dive into the history of everyone’s favorite beverage. From the highlands of Ethiopia to the streets of Vietnam to Viennese cafes, you’ll travel with the humble coffee bean as it spreads across the globe.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.