The Economist

Is possibly the best magazine of current affairs. It would get my vote. They might not welcome the compliment because, in-house, they have a tribal custom of always referring to it as a (or 'the') newspaper. Last week's issue of the 'newspaper' was one of their regular Science and Technology Quarterly surveys.

Most of the Science and Technology survey is behind their subscription pay-wall, so I can not link you to some of the best articles (good ones on biometrics and social media web sites: think Digg and Reddit), but here is an open one on the future of the phone. There is nothing really radical in the article, but it makes one think in the round about the technology and the culture of the phone and its future. This is the hallmark of The Economist's style: thorough analysis, good overview, and probing insights into what may be underlying the superficial froth of innovation.

The Economist isn't one of ours (yet -- we have had quite a few requests), but we look forward to welcoming them on board one day. Perhaps we should talk to them about getting their Technology Quarterlies up as browseable web resources. This might get their readers familiar with the advantages of web-format digital magazines. (It slipped out. Ermm 'digital weekly newspapers' is what we meant to say).