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The Byteside Newsletter

The Good, The Bad, & The Awkward

Last week I did media spots about the FaceApp excitement. Of course, ‘excitement’ starts with viral fun on social media and, these days, often ends with “and now here’s what that thing just did to your privacy.” The good news, in a way, is that we’re getting better

The Good, The Bad, & The Awkward

Big wigs to tikking kids

I’ve spent my week putting a lot of work into getting my new office whipped into shape. Thanks to the amazing organisational and IKEA skills of my wife, Sally, things now have homes and there’s space on desks to get serious work done. That also meant a short

Big wigs to tikking kids

"They're doing what now?"

It’s been a dark year for tech culture discussions. Lots of ‘oh no, that nice thing has turned out even worse than we’d feared?’ discussions. And a few more of those today… BUT I’ve made sure and throw you some more positive links at the end to

"They're doing what now?"
Apple

Jony Has Left The Building

Jony Ive has left the building. Wow. I’m one of the true believers in the Lennon-McCartney dynamic of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive. Steve Jobs was a true design champion, and knew how to give someone as gifted as Ive the space and the constraints to do his best

Jony Has Left The Building

AI, 'doing' science, awkward hacks and Ikea meatballs

Testing a Monday push. Let me know if you think Friday is best fit, or whether a Monday missive might give you a different vibe at the start of the week? Thanks everyone for the feedback to date. Really helpful! Best of the Week The New Wilderness A fantastic discussion

AI, 'doing' science, awkward hacks and Ikea meatballs

Ever heard of 'Fishwrap'?

Preamble be damned this week. Enjoy the links! OK, one quick thing… please let me know what you’re thinking of the newsletter so far. I appreciate all feedback, even if there’s stuff you don’t like. It all helps refine what I’m sharing. Fundamentally, if I think

Ever heard of 'Fishwrap'?

WWDC, EmDrives, Napster, and working smarter

I just got home after attending Apple’s WWDC in San Jose, California. (I attended as a guest of Apple). It was a big year – a new Mac Pro for the most extremely high end of users, iPad gets its own OS to push it toward more serious ‘laptop alternative’

WWDC, EmDrives, Napster, and working smarter

Dirty rotten engagement

Brace yourself. There aren’t too many happy stories this week. I’m not sure there have been many happy stories lately, but the nature of looking deeply at the state of technology doesn’t have many good answers right now. Tech is at quite the crossroads culturally. I keep

Dirty rotten engagement

Miss me?

I was in Los Angeles last week and hadn’t quite had a chance to pull the newsletter together before I disappeared. Thankfully, this is beta season, so I figured one week off wouldn’t hurt. No double issue or anything, just a fresh batch of thought provoking stories about

Miss me?

Phones, thrones, skins, lungs + more

Happy Friday! This week I’ve written my own descriptions with a little analysis under each headline (and not all headlines are the originals) to try to efficiently sneak in my 2c worth without turning the newsletter into an odyssey. I’ve also chosen one dozen stories (aside from links

Phones, thrones, skins, lungs + more

Algorithms for good

Thanks for the feedback last week. Super helpful - and a special thanks to those who spotted the secret signal. More did than I expected, so I appreciate how attentive my beta friends are. Lucky eight links today. I’m definitely thinking about whether I rewrite headline links to describe

Algorithms for good

In the beginning...

Welcome, beta friends! As social media fades as a place for gathering as a positive community or to share ideas effectively as a publisher, it seemed worth exploring the idea of stepping back into a more controlled and direct environment – email! Maybe everyone’s inbox is too full. Maybe email

In the beginning...
Games

What I learnt watching live esports with French commentary (and I only speak English)

The beauty of sport is that it doesn't matter your language, you can share a love for the competition that transcends communication barriers.

What I learnt watching live esports with French commentary (and I only speak English)