June 2011 issue
COVER STORY
The Social Era of the Web Starts Now
And a big, complicated clash will determine whether Google or Facebook dominates it
By John Rennie, Glenn Zorpette

FEATURES

5 Technologies That Will Shape the Web
Innovations that will make the web smarter and sleeker and irresistibly more social, too
By Elise Ackerman, Erico Guizzo

Campus Life at Facebook and Google
It's like the difference between public and private school: Facebook and Google have very different vibes
By Sheila Himmel

Facebook vs. Google: Game On
FarmVille has led a social-game ascendance that will sway the Facebook-Google struggle and threaten the digital gaming industry
By David Kushner

How Many "Friends" Can You Really Have?
Can social networks expand the evolutionary limit on how many people anyone can truly be close to?
By Robin Dunbar

Privacy, Publicness, and the Web: A Manifesto
As Google, Facebook, and other companies exploit our data trails to help us connect and communicate, we the people need to establish some basic rights
By Jeff Jarvis

Protecting Online Privacy
We do care about our privacy online, and we can protect it from surveillance
By Siva Vaidhyanathan

Rating the Cuisine at Google and Facebook
Where would you rather go for lunch?
By Sheila Himmel

Separating Work, Friends, and Family on Facebook Isn't Easy
What happens when Facebook's notion of openness runs afoul of the desire for a private life
By Cassandra Willyard

Six Billion Friends?
Facebook's growth has been explosive, but not everywhere
By Mark Anderson

The Making of Diaspora
Armed with Google technologies, four young coders are planting the seeds for the post-Facebook future
By Ariel Bleicher

The Revolution Will Not Be Monetized
Stratospheric valuations for social media titans assume vast advertising revenue that will never arrive
By Bob Garfield

Under the Hood at Google and Facebook
A peek at the data centers, servers, and software that keep us feeling connected
By David Schneider

Virtual Reality and Social Networks Will Be a Powerful Combination
Avatars will make social networks seductive
By Jeremy N. Bailenson, Jim Blascovich

What Are You Allowed to Say on China's Social Networks?
Social networking sites, founded on the promise of free expression, have run into political trouble in China.
By Sky Canaves

UPDATE

12 Space Shuttle Missions That Weren't
A look at some of the gutsier (and goofier) proposed space shuttle missions
By James Oberg

Silicon Is Key to Quest for $5 LED Lightbulb
Bridgelux process grows gallium-nitride on high-volume silicon wafers
By Richard Stevenson

Thermoelectrics Get Cooler
Start-ups are advancing solid-state cooling systems
By Eliza Strickland

What Young Engineers Want Out of the Revolutions
Engineers in Egypt and Tunisia hope for more jobs and better education
By Prachi Patel

OPINION

Facebook and Google Put My Grandmother on the Map
Friended by a Milik, Poland, native, the author reflects on the social Web's long embrace
By Tekla S. Perry

New Networks Need New Insults
How the pajamahadeen went from heroes to milksops in a few quick years
By Paul McFedries

DEPARTMENTS

Nintendo's 3DS: Best of a Dying Breed
Can Mario make the leap to 3-D?
By Mark Anderson

Send a Tweet to Your Office Door
And let your coworkers know what you're up to
By Erico Guizzo