Wrapped Season, and My Mom Won't Stop Texting About NameDrop
Spotify's new Wrapped format turned a 30-second ritual into a 4-minute one, and my mom needed a phone call to convince her NameDrop wasn't some kind of surveillance plot.
Personal
Personal
My Spotify Wrapped Has an AI DJ Now and I Have Feelings
Spotify Wrapped 2023 showed up with an AI DJ reading my stats back to me in a weirdly chipper voice, and I have some complaints, plus grudging respect.
The Label Maker I Didn't Need
A late-night Cyber Monday shopping spiral, an unnecessary label maker, and a brief aside on the OpenAI board chaos that just wrapped up.
The Doorbell Cam Ruins Halloween a Little Bit
A Tuesday-night Halloween, a video doorbell that would not stop buzzing, an emergency gas-station candy run, and some grumbling about the $3-a-month tax on basic doorbell footage.
StandBy Mode Is Just a Nightstand Clock and I Kind of Love It
A few days into iOS 17 and the feature I actually care about isn't NameDrop, it's the dumb nightstand clock mode that finally let me throw out my bedside clock.
You Can't Delete Threads Without Deleting Instagram Too
A few days into Threads: it's calm, it's fine, and the fact that you can't delete it without nuking your whole Instagram account is bugging me more than it should.
The Apollo Countdown
Apollo for Reddit shuts down on June 30th, and I'm more bummed about losing my favorite iPhone app than I expected to be.
So Who Actually Paid for Twitter Blue?
Days after Twitter stripped legacy blue checkmarks, a bunch of celebrities who swore they'd never pay still have theirs, and nobody will say why.
Payroll, Panic, and a Depegged Stablecoin
A personal look at the week Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, USDC briefly depegged, and UBS bought Credit Suisse, and how it briefly knocked GPT-4 out of everyone's feed.
My Thermostat Still Thinks It's an Hour Ago
Daylight Saving Time broke half my smart home this morning while the rest of tech Twitter was busy panicking about Silicon Valley Bank.
Long, Long Time
Episode three of HBO's The Last of Us aired tonight, and the Bill and Frank episode wrecked me more than a game adaptation had any right to.
Two Layoff Memos, One Morning
Amazon and Salesforce both announced major layoffs on the same January morning, and a personal take on watching it unfold from the outside while a friend waits to hear if she's affected.