Neal Ungerleider

The Info

This is the homepage of Neal Ungerleider. I report on international innovation for Fast Company and freelance for numerous other publications.

For my CV and professional background, please visit my LinkedIn page.

For my latest stories, please subscribe to me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

The links below are a selection of my past work; for a full bibliography or text of stories not mentioned here, please email me.

Listen to my recent radio appearances on BBC World Service Newshour (discussing net censorship in Syria) and Kentucky Public Radio (discussing changes at Netflix and Facebook). I also do video content as well.

The Awl

• Israel’s Yuppie Revolt: A short guide to the “social justice” protests in Israel, why Israelis are jealous of the Arab Spring and about what happens when upwardly mobile professionals need their parents to help with the rent.

Fast Company

• The Netflix Of Terrorism: Terrorist organizations are nothing if not publicity hounds. Web video tends to be the preferred way they get messages across and recruit sympathizers. Now private company IntelCenter, has assembled one of the world’s largest collections of streaming terrorist videos for viewing on demand.
• Astronaut Ron Garan On His Harrowing Landing, Innovations In Outer Space, And Tweeting From The Final Frontier: In an extended interview, astronaut Ron Garan speaks with Fast Company about his nerve-wracking return to earth, what technology startups should develop for space travel, and life on the International Space Station. “We really need to start not just exploring space,” Garan says, “but utilizing space.”
• Secret Service Reveals How It Stalks Cybercriminals: The Secret Service recently spilled the beans on their anti-cybercrime investigations. Fake accounts on underground websites? Elaborate multinational credit card fraud investigations with Turkish law enforcement? They’re doing that.
• Saudi Crackdown On Bloggers Is More Subtle, Sinister Than Mere Licenses: On censorship, blogs and subtle armtwisting.
• How Haystack Risked Exposing Iranian Dissidents: Software that promised to shield Iranian web surfers from government surveillance was a great idea. Only it didn’t work.
• The Palestinian Conflict, Settled On Your iPhone: On the uses of iPhone apps for international cause advocacy.
• The Toilet of the Future Will Turn Poop Into Power: Bill Gates is betting more than $40 million on being able to turn your flushable buddies into usable charcoal. This is a good thing.
• DHS: Imported Tech Contains Hidden Hacker Attack Tools: Proud of this story that broke the news on how government authorities are aware of foreign-produced electronics being purposely infected with malware.
• Afghanistan’s Amazing DIY Internet: Genius geeks in Afghanistan managed to create a working wifi network covering an entire city entirely through repurposed scrap and garbage. Amazing.

92nd Street Y Blog

• Talking Primates with Dr. Frans de Waal: An extended discussion with one of the world’s most well known primatologists about bonobos, “anthropodenial” and the difference between a capuchin monkey and a CEO.
• An Interview with Neil Gaiman: Two guys named Nea(i)l talk over the phone about punk rock, tattoos and Star Trek. The ironic twist? One of them is a bestselling author and pop culture icon.
• The Samosa Diaspora: A massive, Wikipedia-approved exploration of everything you need to know about the samosa. Food history = goodness.

Budget Travel

• Where It’s At (and When): A layperson’s guide to finding warehouse parties in Barcelona and Indian-style pizza in Oakland.

BlackBook

• Porcetta, Haggis and Padma: 16 hours spent at the Fancy Food Show, the world’s largest gourmet food tradecon. Celebrity photo-ops, haggis potato chips and 2500 kinds of cheese… what’s not to love?

FishbowlNY

• Ex-ABC Analyst Faked Obama Interview?: Of lying Frenchmen and scandal allegations.
• Philly TV Anchor’s Wild, Cop-Attacking Night: In your average journalism career, you come across a few stories that are solid gold. This is one of them.
• The New York Times Gets Rickrolled: Sometimes an internet meme can take a well-respected newspaper by surprise. This was one of those occasions.

Forbes Traveler

• 11 Classic American Dishes: If you needed even more reasons to be patriotic, here are 11 of them.
• America’s Most Expensive Hamburgers: Where the (expensive) beef is at.
• Awesome July Fourth Meals: From sea to shining sea, a guide to the best holiday dining around.
• America’s Classic Bars: Whether it’s a beer-and-a-shot in Brooklyn or Capitol Hill’s favored spot for politico martinis, these bars are worth your while.
• The World’s Best Steakhouses: A lovingly written guide to steakhouses and the many cultural variations thereof.
• The World’s Best New Casinos: From Macao to Singapore to… Windsor, Ontario? Si.
• Amusement Parks: VIP Style: How to beat the crowds and ride a Segway through Walt Disney World… or just climb a massive roller coaster, loops and all.

Foreign Policy

• The Way To America’s Heart Is Through Its Stomach: How the gourmet food industry is offering a chance for some of the world’s smallest states to enhance their brand profile in the USA.

Gridskipper

• Fareed Zakaria’s Fantasy Island: Once upon a time, a cultured media icon and a fabulously rich rock star decided to create a beach resort for the culturati. It failed.
• Deconstructing Wagamama: A look inside the rabidly popular London-based restaurant chain written before their Stateside launch.
• Havana’s Chinatown: Havana’s Cuban-Chinese community, restaurants under communism and Fidel Castro being caught with a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Mediabistro

• So What Do You Do, Michael Calderone? An interview with ex-New York Observer reporter/current Politico media maven Michael Calderone.
• So What Do You Do, Tony Ortega? Village Voice EIC Tony Ortega has a yen for Flight of the Conchords. We approve of this hobby.

Jewcy.com

• When Rockets Hit Your Home: When you go to grad school abroad, you assume you’ll have good stories when you return. Unfortunately, sometimes you’re right.
• Life in the Tel Aviv Bubble: A guide to waiting out geopolitical conflicts via coffee, Cuban sandwiches and cognitive dissonance.
• We Are All Converts: Reviewing Shlomo Sand’s ‘The Invention of the Jewish People’: One history- and anthropology- obsessed journalist vs. one controversial book that made the New York Times and the Israeli press freak out. Check.

MenuPages

• Baghdad’s Chinese Restaurant:When the city around you is a warzone, sometimes you just need comfort food.
• Fight For Your Right To Foie Gras: It’s animal rights activists vs. restaurant owners in a battle royale.
• Sasha Issenberg Interview: A chat with author Sasha Issenberg of The Sushi Economy, one of the best books we’ve seen in a while.

Philadelphia City Paper

• New Year’s in Beersheva: The best way to learn about the difference between Grad rockets and Katyushas is to have both of them fired at you.
• Witout Borders: In which your humble correspondent tracks the cheesesteak to the furthest reaches of China and Eastern Europe.

Slate

• Who’s who in the Middle East rap game: Hip-hop, politics and the live music jones in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• War is Gaga: A history of military humor from Iraq and Afghanistan on the internet.
• Real Princes, Real Persians: A look at Iran’s surprisingly vibrant video game industry and at the young developers who are fighting the Mullahs, piracy and western sanctions… at once.