Extend engineer builds interactive Theranos simulator

Bo Lau, an engineer at the document-processing startup Extend, has launched an interactive website that recreates the workspace of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Set in 2016, the digital environment features a virtual iPhone and a MacBook Air running OS X El Capitan. Users can click through the interface to interact with the devices and even run a virtual version of the Edison machine, the infamous Theranos blood-testing device that ultimately failed to deliver on its promises.

The simulator is built on real data, incorporating more than 1,000 emails, text messages, presentation slides, and internal documents. All of these materials were sourced directly from the public exhibits of the federal criminal trial, United States v. Elizabeth Holmes. Rather than forcing users to sift through thousands of disorganized PDFs on government databases, the website organizes the evidence into a cohesive, tactile experience.

While the project serves as a playful marketing tool, it also highlights practical applications for data management and document processing. Lau designed the site in part to promote her employer, Extend, a business-to-business software company. According to Extend, its technology is designed to "parse, extract, and split your hardest documents" with high precision. The simulator demonstrates how complex, unstructured public records can be transformed into an engaging and structured user interface.

Additionally, the interactive experience is being used to promote a watch party for an upcoming documentary about Holmes titled "You Can See Everything," directed by Nathan Fielder. By turning dry legal discovery into an interactive historical archive, the project showcases how modern web development and document-parsing tools can make massive public datasets accessible and engaging to the general public.