The History of Failed Smartwatches, Buttered Coffee and More Morning #Mustreads

Good morning!

Here’s the best stuff on the Web, served to you on a silver platter by the Re/code team:

1. Apple is famous for letting other people take a crack at a new product before showing up with its own version. So here are many unsuccessful predecessors to Apple Watch, via GOOD Magazine. If you think $349 is a little pricey for Tim Cook’s new offering, check out the Pulsar Time Computer Calculator, which cost $2,100 in 1975.
2. There are some deeply misguided people who apparently are putting butter in their coffee, because some corners of the Internet have suggested it makes you feel more awake. Some poor soul at Slate actually tried coffee with butter to see if it makes a difference and, surprise, not really.
3. Nate Jackson, an ex-NFL tight end, penned a New York Times op-ed calling out the NFL’s banned substances abuse policy, specifically regarding marijuana. Useful tidbit: “In my playing days, the marijuana smokers struck me as sharper, more thoughtful and more likely to challenge authority than the nonsmokers.”
4. In a tidy, thoughtful post at Vulture, Lindsay Weber argues that U2’s album-giveaway announcement onstage with Apple yesterday was a major dud for the band. Gone are the days when releasing a special-edition iPod with one of the world’s biggest rock groups solidified a tech company’s “cool.” Instead, we now live in a time where the world’s biggest rock groups feel the need to partner with those same tech companies in an effort to remain cool.
5. Between 1941 and 1958, 12 buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright were constructed on Florida Southern College’s campus in Lakeland, Florida. They’re an eclectic and historically significant group of buildings, featuring Wright’s signature use of glass in unexpected spaces. Seventy years later, the blocks supporting the signature building of the group are failing, and modern 3-D printing technology is what’s being used to save it. Fast Company has the story.

If you see any stories you’d like to send our way (or have any questions/comments about stories we’ve recommended), feel free to shoot an email to noah.kulwin@recode.net.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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