It is good to have spent sometime reading this week and I had a tough task to pick through many dozens of shortlisted stories. I guess the ones here are those pieces that had a lasting impact.

• The curious genius of Amar Bose: Popular Science looks back at the life and times of the man who started Bose Corporation. Great profile.
• In praise of selfies. Casey N Cep looks into the curious phenomenon of taking self portraits and sharing them on the internet. I am all for people expressing themselves but, I am not going to be joining their ranks — I don’t look so good on selfies.
• Forget startups, the real bubble is in sports cable and it will burst soon. Kent Sterling takes a bat to the knees of the sports television business, which is in the process of a photo-app-like boom.
• Can redesigning workspace help Microsoft overcome its mid-life (talent) crisis? Metropolis asks the question. I can answer it with one word: no!
• Jack Shafer takes us down memory lane, talks about American journalism and puts the current handwringing over Glenn Greenwald in context. A great piece, that is worth reading.  (Bonus piece: Where is the journalism we need going to come from?)
• We live like gods and we don’t even know it. Great essay by Tom Streithorst on post-scarcity economics. One of the best things I have read this week.
• The bizarre town San Francisco has become. A wonderful essay in London Review of Books by Rebecca Solnit highlights the dichotomy of the city of the bay.