For a long time, Nitin Sawhney has occupied a prime slot on my very short bucket list of people to interview. I first encountered his music in the early 1990s, and to a great extent, he has provide… | Continue reading
As you might (or might not know), I have a particular predilection for mechanical watches. I have always been fascinated by watch faces and the design philosophies behind those dials. And that is w… | Continue reading
Leica M10 Monochrome & Leica f2/50 Summicron lens, ISO 160, f4, infinity focus, and 1/4000th of a second A few weeks back, I visited Bolinas. It was one of those bucolic days that we often take… | Continue reading
This week, Tim O’Reilly provided much-needed perspective in his essay “The End of Silicon Valley As We Know It.” If you can overlook the clickbait title, this essay is among the m… | Continue reading
About a month ago, I wrote about the state of Starlink, the satellite broadband division of SpaceX, and speculated that I won’t be surprised if “the Starlink network evolves i… | Continue reading
Lately, I find myself admiring HEY World, a new tool from the makers of the collaboration platform Basecamp. Here’s how it works: If you use HEY, their (paid) email service, you can write an email,… | Continue reading
Not every brick and mortar retail chain selling goods that people can get more easily — even instantly — online gets the GameStop treatment. Some of them (most of them) just quietly fade. But that … | Continue reading
I can across an article about a Rado watch designed by British-born and London-based designer Tej Chauhan. Rado watches are not to my taste. But his approach to design caught my eye. It combines ou… | Continue reading
I can across an article about a Rado watch designed by British-born and London-based designer Tej Chauhan. Rado watches are not to my taste. But his approach to design caught my eye. It combines ou… | Continue reading
Photo by Christiann Koepke on Unsplash Christmas came in March for Tidal, the increasingly irrelevant, money-losing music streaming service, and Jay-Z misadventure. Square, the digital finance comp… | Continue reading
Photo by Christiann Koepke on Unsplash Christmas came in March for Tidal, the increasingly irrelevant, money-losing music streaming service, and Jay-Z misadventure. Square, the digital finance comp… | Continue reading
Photo by Sahand Hoseini on Unsplash The news of Indie.vc shutting down keeps popping up in my news feeds, social media feeds, and email newsletters. All of them talk about how it didn’t work out, b… | Continue reading
M.J. Tsai, who curates a great mac blog, pointed to a story with a clever headline — The Mac Price Crash of 2021. “The new M1 Macs have cratered MacBook resale values,” notes Robi… | Continue reading
Not every brick and mortar retail chain selling goods that people can get more easily — even instantly — online gets the GameStop treatment. Some of them (most of them) just quietly fade. But that … | Continue reading
Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash “The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Parmenides taught that the only things that are real are things which never change… and the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher … | Continue reading
We photographers are an odd bunch. When the weather is bad, we decide to leave our dwellings and go out in search of photos. Last week, after hiding in my cave for over a week, a rainy day allowed … | Continue reading
Photo by Jukka Aalho on Unsplash From a billion-dollar valuation for social Internet’s “it” startup, Clubhouse to billionaire Mark Cuban co-founding his own version of a live “fir… | Continue reading
According to an FCC filing (PDF) submitted as per the requirements that come with the $885 million subsidy SpaceX received as part of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the company’s Starlink ha… | Continue reading
In his newsletter, Matt Stoller takes an in-depth look at the Solarwinds hack and how it will impact the US and its citizens. Solarwinds is the result of a private-equity ethos applied to critical … | Continue reading
You might have heard: Amazon’s co-founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos is leaving the building. He is handing the company’s reins to Andy Jassy, the current head of the fast-growing a… | Continue reading
As the air was leaking out of the dot-com bubble, I remember reading about the news around human genome sequencing and its future impact. Today direct-to-consumer companies offer us our DNA details… | Continue reading
Just over five years ago, I made the argument that the iPhone (and its smartphone cousins) were killing the camera business. I occasionally update the data that shows the widening gap. With 2020 in… | Continue reading
Phoebe It has been a while since I tried out a manual rangefinder camera. I have become used to Leica SL, its stunning viewfinder and focus peaking to use my favorite lens. Rangefinder cameras have… | Continue reading
Phoebe It has been a while since I tried out a manual rangefinder camera. I have become used to Leica SL, its stunning viewfinder and focus peaking to use my favorite lens. Rangefinder cameras have… | Continue reading
I might not be alone in thinking that Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have distorted the notion of a friend and what really does it mean to be a friend. I have never been the one to put a lot in “… | Continue reading
Bryan William Jones, a good friend and a professor at the University of Utah, is a fine photographer. Like me, he too is biased towards Leica, and Leica SL in particular. He used Leica and the Appl… | Continue reading
Photo by Daniel Eledut on Unsplash Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos is stepping down and will transition to executive chairman’s role in the third quarter of 2021. Andy Jassy, the chief of A… | Continue reading
Increased (and collective) competition from the likes of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Mapbox is starting to eat into Google’s lead in the map world, prompting Joe Morrison to predict that we’re “at… | Continue reading
No seriously, this is an exhaustive piece and points out what we have known after being isolated and living on Zoom for nearly a year — our video reality needs way better cameras. | Continue reading
This is my recommended read of the week. It’s a very thorough investigation into how the behemoth that makes everything from iPhones to Kindles works and abuses those who work for them. It is a ver… | Continue reading
The first month of 2021 is over. It seems as though so much has changed, and yet, nothing has changed. I have taken a few weeks to assemble my thoughts on how I want to proceed in this new year. As… | Continue reading
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash By now, you must have read (or at least heard) about the rebellion of normals against the Wall Street Hedge Funds. A collective of Redditers nearly took down one of … | Continue reading
According to some estimates, over 300 million new people around the world signed up for the Internet in 2020, and there has been a 13 percent increase in the number of social media users. According… | Continue reading
Photo by André François McKenzie on Unsplash He told Institutional Investor that by the fall of 2021 bitcoin could be fairly valued at $100,000 per unit based on fundamental factors such as usage a… | Continue reading
A few months ago, there were rumors that Twitter had made an offer for Substack, the hotter-than-jalapeños email publishing platform. If so, it looks like they got turned down. Instead, Twitter bou… | Continue reading
I am sure, like me, you, too, have been inundated by the photos of Senator Bernie Sanders sitting on a chair (wearing funky mittens) at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. It is a meme to … | Continue reading
Standing on the edge of a cliff, I took my time setting up my tripod and camera in anticipation of a sunset. The light would soon be bathing the mountains in front of me, illuminating the confluenc… | Continue reading
The actions of technology platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google’s YouTube, and others have generated a lot of debate. This is a pivotal moment for technology and its role in what is speech in… | Continue reading
It is not a surprise that 2021 has been very much like 2020 — the date doesn’t change the reality of the pandemic, political chaos, and all the harsh truths of post-Internet society. An… | Continue reading
The erstwhile bad boy of money has now become the establishment. Bitcoin is no longer a cryptocurrency but instead has become a speculative asset. Many now believe that, like gold, it too is a hedg… | Continue reading
“In 2005, Apple moved to Intel to gain equality. In 2020, it’s moved away from Intel to gain superiority,” writes Ken Segall. He worked for Apple and was also part of Intel’… | Continue reading
Actions taken by technology platforms in the wake of Capitol Hill’s events have generated intense debate, especially from within the tech community. But many of the loudest voices have shown … | Continue reading
It has been a mostly gray, wet, and foggy New Year Weekend in San Francisco. And while it won’t qualify as winter in many parts of the world, the weather is chilly enough to stay indoors. I h… | Continue reading
It has been a long year—the longest. I spent the lengthy days and endless nights fluctuating between nonstop working, curling up under the covers, and — mostly — writing. You might have read some o… | Continue reading
Eventually, every event becomes a memory. Every memory becomes a number, only relevant in its irrelevance. Today is the 13th anniversary of my heart attack, a good reminder of the unpredictable nat… | Continue reading
Last week, I decided to head to the Santa Cruz Mountains with a friend. The idea was to leave San Francisco, go down I-280, turn into Portola Valley, and then meander our way to Santa Cruz before g… | Continue reading
I have been having a debate with Brad DeLong about America and if it is in decline. It is hard not to acknowledge our country’s problems, but I am biased by an immigrant’s optimism and … | Continue reading
I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I have spent the past few days in a skirmish with the common cold, scratchy throat, and low-intensity headaches. No matter how much I try and take preca… | Continue reading