Odyssey and Apps

Battling All The Way Home

Stephen Pimentel | Palladium | 27th August 2026

Reader's guide to the Odyssey. Homer's Greeks are neither "primitive versions of ourselves" nor "utterly foreign and entirely inaccessible". Elements of their world is recognisable to us, but much of it is not. The points of contact are the big concepts, like loyalty, love, memory and identity. Much of what came after is built on Homer's foundation. "He is not the West, but he stands at its beginning" (3,300 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

App Life In China

Jeremy Goldkorn | ChinaFile | 26th August 2026

Postcard from China, from a former resident returning for a visit. Interesting throughout. The degree to which algorithms control life there shocks him. "In Yangzhou’s Geyuan 个园, a lovely traditional courtyard garden of rock and bamboo, you need to watch a video advertisement and scan your face to get toilet paper. Once only: the dispenser remembers who you are and won’t give you seconds" (3,500 words)