–Netflix’s House of Cards is “delightfully blurring the lines between real and fictional,” promoting the show’s new season with a candid photoshoot from White House photographer Pete Souza. Via Adweek.
–A new installation by the Taiwan National Palace Museum lets visitors test their calligraphy skills in VR. Via Mashable.
–”There is no shortage of players willing to acquire high-potential start-ups in the prestige beauty sector, which grew by another $1 billion dollars last year”: Business of Fashion rounds up the top targets for beauty M&A.
–”Rural America is the new ‘inner city,'” writes the Wall Street Journal, citing more than a decade of statistics.
–Researchers at MIT have developed a tattoo ink that can track health indicators like glucose and pH levels. Via Dezeen.
–Around the world, consumers confidence in the economy is on the rise, according to a new survey from McKinsey; in Western Europe and India, consumers are “trading up” to more expensive brands.
–What do different cities talk about? TED Ideas maps the conversations in cities around the world, visually representing cultural relationships.
–Fast Company covers FORM Acrosanti, an intimate music and arts festival it calls the “anti-Fyre Festival.”
–Consumers trust certain companies (Google, Microsoft, Apple) with their health data, but not others (Amazon, Facebook), according to Mary Meeker’s annual internet survey. Via Recode.
–Is Reddit the next great social network? The service recently added location tagging to its posts, another Facebook-like feature. Via TechCrunch.
–Racked breaks down the new Ramadan retail: “In an era of consumerism and #ootd-inspired anxiety, women have to build a whole new wardrobe for Ramadan.”
–Biotech startup Ambrosia wants to infuse older customers with younger plasma at a cool $8,000 per infusion. Via Quartz.
