Spotify recently released a dedicated screen for your car that essentially mirrors your phone, but with the added bonus of a volume/navigation knob. Best as I can tell, it’s for people who have a phone (and a car), but who don’t have CarPlay or Android Auto. The name? Car Thing. I’m not sure if the … Continue reading Music for the Road
When I think back to the early-00s, I think of a lot of chunky, single-purpose, monochrome screen devices: a Franklin PDA, a Memorex MP3 player, a Sony DSLR. Now, obviously, things are different. When I survey the devices on my desk now, I’ve got an iPad Pro and an iPhone 12 — both of which … Continue reading Focus Mode
A week or two ago, on a sunny afternoon, a small business owner set up a folding table in a park near my house. He was selling various small Judaica items, and he parked himself on a bench for a few hours, equipped with his phone and a portable credit card reader. My wife found … Continue reading “I don’t know which half is wasted”
A few days ago, my wife and I re-watched The Office episode, “St. Patrick’s Day.” Toward the end of the episode, Michael Scott joins his employees at the bar, and collegially offers to buy drinks for a group of about nine coworkers. It’s a sweet moment, and a coda to an excellent episode. What stuck … Continue reading “Drinks are on Me!”
After a full year, I finally finished reading Robert Caro’s The Power Broker. It’s a seriously incredible exploration of the life, achievements, and controversies of Robert Moses – New York City’s “Master Builder” – who singlehandedly reshaped the face of New York City, and the lives of its millions of inhabitants, for generations. The scope … Continue reading On Finishing the Power Broker
In general, I’m a fan of the Netherland’s flagship airline, KLM. I’ve flown them multiple times and had pleasant flights. And online, they have an aggressive, inventive Facebook presence, and generally have good marketing campaigns. But a recent email they sent caught my eye. You’ll notice a few minor — but still obvious — errors … Continue reading A Difference Between Fluent and Mother-Tongue Level Writing
A few weeks ago, the iconically American motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson announced that it would be shifting some production overseas, so as to avoid stiff retaliatory tariffs placed on it by the EU. Much of the coverage of Harley has been centered on its American-ness, and particularly its resonance with folks of a certain age (here’s … Continue reading Born to be Mild
The other day, I left the house and went on an invigorating ten-mile run. I log my runs pretty religiously – usually on MapMyRun, though that day I happened to use Strava – and have kept a close watch on my mileage since I started seriously running in 2013. And so I know with certainty that … Continue reading 4,000 Miles
VentureBeat has the story today of Facebook’s new partnership with Dutch airline KLM to integrate boarding passes, flight information, and customer service into Messenger. As I’ve written before, Facebook Messenger has completely embraced the platform approach and integrated everything from mobile payments to Uber booking to customer service, all in one app. And it’s compelling to see … Continue reading We Have Met the Future, and It Is Messaging
Over the course of my day, I bounce between a number of different chat apps, primarily Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, and Google Hangouts. With the exception of Slack, none of these services offered a Mac desktop app, and so I needed to keep browser windows open for each of my conversations, which was very frustrating. Enter … Continue reading Franz
Silicon Spatula 