The Verge
Senior reporter for The Verge
PROFILE
Josh Lowensohn
Guest
FROM Josh Lowensohn
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
UCLA Protests Commencement Speaker Remember the movie The Graduate? Benjamin Braddock was given one word of advice for his future career: “plastics.” Well, UCLA’s class of 2015 may be hearing another word: patents. That’s because the school’s commencement speaker is Nathan Myhrvold, an entrepreneur who’s been called “patent troll public enemy number one.” A patent troll is someone who acquires thousands of tech patents without any desire to invent something new, and then sues other companies for infringement. It’s a practice that is controversial to say the least. We hear about why students are protesting, and career background on Myhrvold.
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Design and Architecture
Jim Carrey’s cartoons, real estate love letters Jim Carrey is known as an actor and comedian, but in the last couple years he’s taken up political cartooning. He tells DnA about expressing his anti-Trump feelings through art. And buying a house in LA can be a competition. Can a personal letter to the seller give you a leg-up? The editor of “Dear Seller” shares stories of what prospective buyers write to land their dream house.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Should we keep rebuilding in fire-prone Malibu? Private firefighters successfully defended Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s $50 million mansion from the Woolsey Fire. Insurance companies with a lot at stake have recently started hiring private wildfire defense teams to protect their clients’ properties.