SMART HOMES
Readers were intrigued by TIME’s special issue on technologies that can intuit, adapt to and improve the way we live. “Excellent article,” wrote Marty Friedman of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.–one of two readers who were reminded of a 1950 Ray Bradbury short story describing an automated home that keeps working after its inhabitants are gone. Others weighed in on the cover diorama. “The smarter house would be landscaped with native plants instead of lawn, which guzzles water,” wrote Nancy Stoll of Ann Arbor, Mich. And Pauline Lee dismissed the climbing wall for being “about as smart for someone my age as leaving a ladder so a burglar can reach the bedrooms.” Meanwhile, PandoDaily’s James Robinson–though wary of the connected home’s creepiness–credited Time for pulling off “something that I hadn’t seen done well before: it put the pieces of the smart home story together in such a complete and excitable way.”
CONTRACEPTION CONTROL
Some found David Van Biema’s profile of the conservative Christian family behind Hobby Lobby, which won the right to ban contraception from its employees’ health-insurance coverage, too generous to the Greens. “Your article does not explain that Hobby Lobby’s battle for their freedom of religion violates that of their employees. They have one, only one out of many, interpretations of the Bible and the Christian faith,” wrote the Rev. Charles Ellenbaum of Geneva, Ill. “No matter that TIME presents [CEO David] Green in an honorable light,” wrote Norman Powers of Sarasota, Fla. “In my opinion, an honorable person has tolerance for other people’s beliefs.”
CYBERBULLYING
Readers reacted strongly to Jack Dickey’s piece on Ask.fm, a Latvia-based social network that encourages anonymous posting and has been linked to bullying and adolescent suicides. Janice Hawkins of Brooklyn acknowledged the new status quo (“We can’t unring the bell. The Internet is here. The freedom to communicate and the anonymity involved are a fact of life”), but Jeannie Buxo of Forest Hills, N.Y. demanded change: “This can’t go on. They have blood on their hands.”
BEHIND THE STORY
For his feature on Fabien Cousteau’s 31-day mission at Aquarius, the world’s only habitable underwater science lab (see page 40), TIME’s Jonathan Woods dived to the site to observe Cousteau and his team of scientists at work. Afterward he showered and had a snack at Cousteau’s kitchen table, 63 ft. under the ocean’s surface. “There’s still so much mystery to ocean life,” says Woods, who recorded footage for a 360-degree video. (Watch it at time.com/cousteau.) “It was an honor to watch Fabien and his team trying to bridge the knowledge gap.”
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
In “Game of Drones” (July 7), we misspelled the name of Major League Gaming’s co-founder; it is Mike Sepso. In 10 Questions in the same issue, we misstated the title of Marcia Clark’s book. It is The Competition.
NOW ON TIME.COM
In a TIME video made to accompany our profile of Jack Antonoff (page 46), the Bleachers musician riffs on many subjects, like his fashion inspiration: “a 7-year-old allowed to dress himself for the first time.” Watch it at time.com/bleachers.
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