The Dann Chronicles Podcast

September 2022

Hey all,

I feel like every year I'm counting down the day until September. For me, it's the perfect month. The heat of the summer finally starts breaking, and the cooler days just feel refreshing in a way that's missing from other fall and winter months.

I wonder how much of that has to do with the fact that this is around the time that I first moved to New York from Arizona. The heat of August breaking into the cooler evenings of September is a microcosm of the move from Arizona to New York.

A YouTuber that I like, Casey Neistat, recently moved back to New York City after a brief stint on the west coast, and his video encapsulates a lot of the feelings I have about living in this city. Avi and I watched it together, nodding our heads.

I feel like September is peak New York City. It's when the city that feels like home most feels like itself. And that's why I love September.

October is my second favorite month. Bring it on.

-Dann

🏄 The Art of Zuckoldry

I hate-listened to Mark Zuckerberg's conversation with Joe Rogan so you don't have to.

I listened mostly because Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time, and his companies have had (in my opinion) a quite negative impact on our society, and I know almost nothing about him.

I came away with a greater sense of dread than I was anticipating. I guess I was expecting an interview on the level of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Bill Gates (or at least in that ballpark). A conversation that, whether you agree with him or not, you walk away with some sort of new perspective.

The challenges that Meta faces are nuanced and complex. From designing a system that can amplify or suppress certain voices, to combating advanced society manipulation tactics, to dealing with sovereign countries using the platform to harm its people.

When pressed on any of the topics above, Zuckerberg added zero to the conversation. All difficult questions were countered with a "We don't think about it that way. Here's a simple tagline instead."

Meta (and thus Zuckerberg) has made a big bet on Virtual Reality (thus the name-change from Facebook to Meta, and the huge investment in the space). I wondered if maybe they had some larger driving philosophy behind that big bet. There doesn't seem to be, and it almost sounded as if he's deeply worried about his company's big shift.

My takeaways from Zuckerberg are:

* Facebook/Meta made the bet on VR/AR (virtual reality and augmented reality) years ago, and reading between the lines he sounds like he worries they made the wrong bet (he complains about business feedback loops being long…).

* He doesn't have any strong opinions/answers to the big ethical dilemmas his company faces. He's just a dude taking it one day at a time.

* Being the CEO of Meta is like waking up every day and being "punched in the stomach." (oof)

* The only way to cope is to start the day with strenuous physical activities that require full focus (surfing, MMA). Running gives you too much time with your thoughts.

That being said, historically his instincts have been spot-on, specifically the acquisitions of Instagram and Whatsapp (both of which were great moves for Facebook). VR/AR is the big wildcard here, and it’s the first time I feel like the space isn’t growing quite the way he expected.

Also, I also don't see Zuckerberg leaving his post any time soon. So I imagine we'll be seeing this dude doing his thing for quite a while.

📱 Farewell, and thanks for all the Minis

For me, the crushing blow from Apple's new iPhone lineup is the omission of a Mini version of the phone.

Two years ago, I got my hands on the new iPhone 12 Mini, and it's been my absolute favorite iPhone to date. But I was apparently in the minority, and so Apple made just two models total (iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 13 Mini) before removing it from its lineup.

So it goes. There's speculation that it might not be gone forever. The optimistic take is that the Mini may just have a longer refresh cycle (much like the iPad Mini). But I'm not holding my breath.

Aside from that, I think the new iPhone 14 Pro is pretty snazzy. Dynamic Island is the hot new "feature," and I think it's a pretty creative way to handle the notch. It's not revolutionary, but definitely gives the phone a stronger sense of personality. As usual, I imagine we'll see it copied in almost all non-Apple phones in the next few years.

By far, the best implementation yet of the Dynamic Island is in the Apollo Reddit app, which gives users a cute little virtual pet that hangs out as you browse Reddit.

👂 Behind the curtain

Speaking of Apple, I find the Twitter account Internal Tech Emails to be one of the most fascinating accounts out there. It publishes private emails from major tech executives and leaders, most of which have been made public due to lawsuits and court filings.

Want to know what Steve Jobs emailed himself, to keep as a reminder? Or how he negotiated the 1997 Microsoft bailout? It's all there, and more.

It's always fascinating to read this type of content. Not just to get a peek behind the curtain of huge news-breaking deals, but also to catch a glimpse at how powerful people communicate with each other. My biggest takeaway, being a long-time reader, is that the higher-up you are in a company, the shorter your emails need to be.

🚧 Holes in the market

Sometimes I think about Twitter purchasing Vine in 2013 and promptly running it into the ground.

When Twitter announced that Vine was shutting down, I was shocked. The market had proven that there was room for a short-video form of Instagram, and created a whole new category of "Vine Celebrity." Now there would be a void, soon to be filled by someone else. And sure enough, Musical.ly (which later turned into TikTok) stepped in to fill that role.

I'm seeing it happen again with Instagram proper. Meta (and Zuckerberg) has no idea what its doing (see above). They're ruining Instagram by filling the feed with TikTok-like videos and other junk people don't want to see. By creeping into TikTok's lane, Meta is opening up space for a new still-photo sharing app to take its place. I'm excited for some new company to come around and make a photo-sharing app similar to the original Instagram and steal some marketshare.

I had the same immediate response after seeing the news that Adobe purchased Figma for $20 Billion (with a B). The buzz from Silicon Valley is around the valuation (50x current ARR) but all I hear are all the designers that were using Figma because it wasn't Adobe.

Last month, I talked about a movement to move away from Google. There's a similar movement with Adobe. But they keep pulling people back in.

📺 Glued to the boob tube

Television used to be considered lowest-common-denominator entertainment. Before streaming, and a vast quality improvement in programming, parents worried about their kids spending too many hours in front of the "boob tube." There was a certain prestige in telling everyone "I don't even own a TV."

That started shifting in the mid-2000s, with shows like Lost (regardless of your opinions on the ending) proving that television could be just as high-quality as cinema. Then streaming came around, and the ability to catch an episode if you missed the original air time. Everything changed.

But now you can go back. Feel free to slip back into that mindless-zombie state on my00stv.com, where you can flip through channels, watch old commercials, or generally get sucked into a pool of nostalgia. The water is warm.

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com

August 2022

Hey all,

It's been almost two years since I started writing this newsletter. It's amazing how time flies.

When I decided to send that first email, we were still in peak-Covid isolation. I think that's what drew me to the idea of connecting with people in new ways — in fairy quick succession I started the NYC FinOps Meetup and launched this newsletter. Both are still going strong.

Sometimes people ask why I have a newsletter. It's no small feat — I spend several hours each month putting it together. And it's not a work/industry thing, nor is it monetized in any way. So what's the deal?

A few weeks ago, I published an article that provides a peek into my motivations for continuing to publish this newsletter. Needless to say, I continue to get a lot of value from creating this newsletter, and I don't plan to stop any time soon.

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here, except to encourage you to start your own newsletter if that's something you've ever considered. I'd be curious to hear what benefit(s) it has for you.

-Dann

🔍 Ok, Google: Goodbye

It's not that I don't think Google should exist…I think Google is an important company that played an important role in shaping modern society. It provides valuable free services to anyone with an Internet connection.

BUT do I think Google should be the only option? Of course not. Sometimes I'd rather not give up my privacy in exchange for a free service. Which is why I've been trying to wean myself off Google for several years.

The hardest part is finding quality alternatives. I don't want to give up Google for another service that's worse. But slowly and surely, viable alternatives to my favorite Google services are popping up.

Several years ago, I replaced Google Chrome browser with Brave Browser (which is built on top of Chrome, but is more privacy-focused). Then, several months ago, I replaced Gmail with the anonymous email service Proton Mail.

These were both great steps, but but holy grail is to give up Google search.

Back in 2019, I tried switching to privacy-focused DuckDuckGo as my main engine, but I only lasted a couple of weeks before switching back to Google. Even with Google's flaws, it was still a better daily driver.

But last month, I stumbled upon this tweet by Zach Gage (creator of the game Knotwords, whom I waxed poetic about back in May). He mentioned his own journey to move away from Google, and name dropped a search engine I had never heard of before: Kagi.

I've been using Kagi all month on both my laptop and phone and I must report: I'm never going back to Google. Search results are high quality, relevant, spam/ad-free, and it's so fast. Holy smokes is it fast…

Paid, artisanal search engines are not for everyone, nor are they even for most people. But I'm happy that there's now a quality search engine available for those willing and able to trade dollars for service.

📲 TikTok…you don't stop

Speaking of search, maybe the whole topic will be moot in a decade or two. While I've been hunting for the perfect search engine, Gen-Z has apparently been going in a different direction. If you believe the source, around 40% of Gen Zers use TikTok as their primary search engine for most topics.

Adrienne Sheares (fellow elder millennial) hosted a mini-focus group with Gen Z to learn more about how this works in practice. The main takeaways:

* TikTok shows relevant content faster than Google, perfectly tailored thanks to TikTok's personalization algorithm

* Watching > Reading (for everything)

* Misinformation isn't a concern, just steer clear of topics that are known to be filled with misinformation (health, news, etc)

Hm. I just need to sit with this a moment.

Hm.

🐑 Lamb chops

There's a new video game that's scratching every video-game itch I have. It's called Cult of the Lamb, and it's a mashup between rogue-like dungeon crawler and colony management simulator.

It's basically a combination of all my favorite games (many of which I've mentioned in this newsletter before): Binding of Isaac meets Hades meets Stardew Valley meets Forager.

I hear it's still a little buggy on Nintendo Switch, but I've been playing it on PS5 just fine, and I hear the PC version runs great. It's also available on Xbox. I think it's wonderful that it dropped on all platforms at the same time.

Excuse me while I return to indoctrinating new followers into my cult.

🍿 What to watch

As of the sending of this newsletter, I've seen 52 movies this year. Here's the best of the best from 2022 so far (in no particular order & links take you to trailers):

* Sundown

* All My Friends Hate Me

* Crimes of the Future

* Pleasure

* Everything Everywhere All At Once

🌻 Some friend-ly advice

To wrap up this month's newsletter, here's a section written by my wife. Last time she was in the newsletter, she shared the plight of fur seals in Namibia. This time the topic hits a little closer to home:

Avi: I spend a lot of time thinking about friendships. Through my early adult life, I took pride in the fact I had a lot of friends, I nurtured relationships, and I kept fairly good tabs on people even as they floated in and out of close proximity. However, the pandemic changed all of that. Everything became isolated, insular, and cut off — and for the first time, I was unable to easily connect with the majority of my network. I still found myself thinking about friendships, but this time almost as an outsider looking in. I realized that many of my friendships were changing, but that in the midst of these "unprecedented times" it felt like there wasn't much I could do about it. So I did what any good student would do, and began to dive into some research.

In early 2021, I read the book Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, and while I liked how they worked together to repair their friendship (they notably attend therapy together to hash out issues in their relationship), the book definitely sticks to the perspective of one friendship. Recently though, I read this fantastic article in the Atlantic (It's your friends who break your heart), and I thought this did a great job of not only summing up why our friends are so important, and how modern life works to tear us all apart, but ultimately, how we can accept our friendship situations as they currently stand. I highly recommend giving it a read, it made me think about so many of my relationships in a new light.

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time,Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com

July 2022

Hey all,

I've been feeling productive recently. I love these periods of time, because they allow me to not only sink my teeth into my new job, but also have the energy to extend my productivity beyond my nine-to-five. I've been doing things like reading more than average, working on new blog posts, and making progress on a few hobbies/side projects I've been neglecting.

I've never quite learned how to harness this do-all-the-things energy 365. Instead, I know to just lean in as much as possible when I naturally feel this motivation, and forgive myself when it seems like my day job is all I can muster.

It's always easy for me to measure if I'm in a productivity period or not. As an early riser, I usually have around 1.5 to 2 hours in the morning between when I wake up and when we go to the gym. When I'm feeling productive, I'll spend this time reading, writing, project planning, etc. If I'm not feeling productive, it's usually Reddit and video games. I'm happy with myself regardless of the activity I naturally choose, but it is always rewarding when I use that time to get stuff done.

Let's see how much creative output I can release into the world before I'm back to just Binding of Isaac.

-Dann

🌎 Cannier Valley

Catfishing is getting out of hand. In case you missed it, the FBI is warning companies about scammers using deepfakes to apply for remote work positions.

That's right, deepfakes have gotten so good that scammers can generate both fake audio and video on the fly, attempting to trick hiring managers during live interviews.

It's not perfect just yet:

Complaints report the use of voice spoofing, or potentially voice deepfakes, during online interviews of the potential applicants. In these interviews, the actions and lip movement of the person seen interviewed on-camera do not completely coordinate with the audio of the person speaking.

But perfection is only a matter of time. Audio and video syncing is only a technical limitation, and the technology is improving every day.

The catfish isn't just tricking you into a date, they're now also trying to steal your trade secrets. Proceed with caution.

🚨 With (Alarm) Bells On

Speaking of warnings issued by governments, New York City just released a new Public Service Announcement explaining what we should all do in case of a nuclear attack. Yes, "the big one" (their words, not mine).

If this PSA sets off alarm bells for you, then you're an idiot, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams. "No, I don't think it was alarmist," he said, explaining that the video is a response to Russia's attack on Ukraine. You know, the conflict that started six months ago.

He further clarified that the PSA —which explains specifically what do to in case of a nuclear attack — "doesn't mean just a nuclear attack, it's any natural disaster."

I guess I'll be "removing and bagging all outer clothing to keep radioactive dust or ash away from my body" the next time we have a hurricane.

🍽 Feeling Saucy

The world of pasta has always felt immutable to me. There are over 350 different shapes of pasta, more than most people could try in a lifetime. It has never felt like a space that's ripe for innovation. And yet…

One of Time Magazine's best inventions of 2021 may have slipped under your radar. The invention, you guessed it, is a brand new shape of pasta. Named Cascatelli (literally, "waterfalls"), it was designed by James Beard Award winner Dan Pashman to satisfy three distinct pasta qualities: sauceability, forkability, toothsinkability.

I finally got my hands on a box, and I must say: it's the bee's knees. "Toothsinkability" and mouthfeel are particularly on point. This new shape is a welcome addition to the family, in my book.

A pack of four 16oz boxes will cost you $22 (plus shipping), which makes it a bit pricier than the pasta you'll find at your local grocery store. But it's also not totally unreasonable for those who want a taste of some real homegrown innovation.

🥤 Oh-so-foam-y

I recently discovered Pepsi Nitro Vanilla at my local Wegmans grocery store. I grabbed a couple, poured one, and was disappointed. It wasn't quite at creamy as I expected a nitro-brew to be.

A little bit of research revealed that I've been pouring nitro drinks all wrong. I fixed my mistakes for the second can, and it was 1000x better.

The trick is to hold the can at a 90 degree angle when you first crack it open, allowing the compressed nitro to flow through the drink as you're pouring. Like this.

Next time you find yourself with a can of nitro-infused beverage, give it a try. It really is night and day.

🐔 All work and no chicken

I've been enjoying sharing a fun video as the final link in my newsletter. So I think I'll keep it up indefinitely.

I've long been a fan of the weird and inappropriate Nick DenBoer (Smearballs). But this 5-minute short from 2016, made with Davy Force, might just be his masterpiece. I'm not alone in this opinion, it was the Official selection of both TIFF40 and Sundance that year.

The Chickening takes real footage from the classic Kubrick movie The Shining, and overlays wild CGI animation to make an entirely different story.

It's a genius idea, and one that was pitched to be a full series. That idea didn't end up going anywhere (I can only imagine the amount of work that went into this video) but we did end up with this pitch-perfect short film to watch over and over and over again.

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com

Hey all,

I've got some personal news. After four lovely and fulfilling years at Datadog, I've decided to accept a position as Senior Technical Program Manager, Cloud Costs at a really compelling startup called FullStory. Let me explain.

It's important to regularly step back, re-evaluate your longterm goals, and make sure that the actions that you're taking today are aligned with those aspirational outcomes. That's why I particularly love the year-end review process that Avi and I complete annually — because it encourages not just reflection and short-term goal setting, but alignment along a bigger picture (lately we've been loosely using Gustin's Annual Review template).

My personal experience with longterm goals is that I'm actually pretty good at achieving them. I've already hit the goals I set for myself in my 20's around family, career, and salary. So what does level two look like?

The details themselves are still fuzzy, but the rough outline is there. I have no desire to retire early — I enjoy spending my days working with others towards a larger goal. Additionally, I love working in and with startups (particularly but not exclusively late-stage startups).

Those two facts about myself paint a faint picture of what the next ten years of my life will look like. Part of that was leaving a public company and re-entering the startup world at FullStory, bringing with me the experience that I had helping Datadog mature its internal cloud cost management function.

I wrote a little bit more about my decision to leave Datadog and join FullStory on my website. Consider that further reading if you're so inclined.

-Dann

🌉 Joy Boy

I've never had more than a week off between jobs. Nor more than two weeks of non-employment during my entire adult life. But between my last day at Datadog and my first day at FullStory, I have three weeks.

To celebrate, here's a list of things or activities that have been bringing me joy during this current work hiatus (in no particular order):

Walking over Manhattan bridge, Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp, riding the Cyclone at Coney Island for the first time (it's really good!), reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time on my apartment building's shared terrace, circus peanuts candy, walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, The Binding of Isaac video game, Chameleon in the park, putting together a talk for the FinOps X conference in Austin, attending the FinOps X conference in Austin and winning an award, M&Ms Classic Mix, unlimited movies with Alamo Drafthouse Season Pass, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Fall Guys video game with friends.

🖥 Brain Gain

A Google employee named Blake Lemoine was recently fired for leaking confidential internal documents.

This made headlines largely due to his motivations for the leak: he claimed Google had created a sentient AI. The leak was a chat log he posted as proof.

There are a lot of Op-Eds and think pieces in response to this claim. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, just search his name.

In this newsletter, I'd just like to just share the primary text: Blake's blog post Is LaMDA Sentient? — an Interview.

It's a good example of what artificial intelligence is looking like these days.

🧥 Real head turner

As I was putting the plastic coat hanger on my head, I was still totally convinced that it was some sort of prank. I had just seen a video online of someone's head involuntarily turning to one side after stretching a hanger open and pulling it onto their head. I figured it was all some big in-joke where Internet people convinced viewers to do something ridiculous.

But, dear reader, I can report that it is not a prank.

Apparently this works in ~96% of people. You simply stretch a coat hanger over your head (so it wraps around like the brim of a hat) and relax your neck muscles. Your head will turn to the side before you even realize it's happening.

Go ahead, give it a try. I promise it's not a prank. It's one of the weirdest sensations I've felt.

✈️ Get ready to fly

I've taken four flights since my previous newsletter. The first was to and from Montana to see Avi's choreography in a production of Guys and Dolls at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, and the second was to and from Austin, Texas to attend (and present at) the FinOps X conference.

Flying always puts me in a strange headspace, but not for any of the reasons you might think. Every time I fly I'm reminded of one of the worst business decisions ever: the 2018 retirement of the Virgin America Safety Video.

Introduced in 2013, this video by singer, songwriter, choreographer Todrick Hall started playing on all Virgin American flights as a fun way to communicate the required safety information to passengers. And damn, it was good. The video proceeded to win two awards in 2014: the Shorty Industry Award for Best Use of Video and the Clio Music Award for Film.

It's catchy. It's entertaining. It's informative. It's something I watch every so often, even if I'm not flying. It’s a modern-day Bathtubs Over Broadway.

It boggles my mind that 1) that video was retired and 2) no company has attempted to recreate the joy and splendor in its own way.

Anyway, that's what I think about when we're taxiing on the runway, about to take off.

🤰 I'm a mom…

I'll just leave this parody commercial here for when you have three minutes to spare.

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time,Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com

May 2022

Hey all,

I've always loved movies. It really started when I was in high school, and I discovered a small five-screen theater near-ish my house. Unlike the closer and more mainstream movie theater, this smaller space curated both blockbusters as well as smaller, more independent selections. As soon as I was old enough to drive, I was there all the time.

Then I sort of drifted away from movies for a bit. Through college, as well as most of my 20s, I just didn't follow new releases that closely. It was a mixture of lack of time, money, and interest that just didn't pull me to the movie theater like I had in the past.

But within the past year or so, I've rediscovered the fact that I do really like movies. And that it's important to spend time on things you enjoy. This has lead to a higher intake of movies. But not just watching movies, but mindfully recognizing that I enjoy films, and making conscious time to partake in that activity.

I've been dutifully logging all my movie consumption in Letterboxd, in case you're curious. But really, I'm logging for my own benefit. It's a joy to lean into the things you enjoy.

-Dann

🔄 Input/Output

I consume a lot of content. Movies, television shows, video games, books, news, articles, blogs, podcasts — you name it. Some people might look at their level of consumption and set goals for cutting back. Not me. I enjoy consuming content, and am totally fine with the quantity I consume.

Part of that general sense of acceptance about the amount of content I consume has to do with a deal I made with myself: consume as much content as you want, but don't just be a consumer. Balance it out with a bit of content output as well.

This newsletter you're reading is part of that balance. So, too, is the new supplementary audio portion of the newsletter I just launched. The two full-length plays I wrote are also a significant portion of my output.

I also like to publish content on my blog, although the frequency of output there varies widely. Usually, it's a desert. But sometimes when it rains, it pours.

This month, it poured, and I wanted to link to some of those articles in case you missed them.

I've mentioned Obsidian in my newsletter before — it's the note-taking app that's basically become my second brain. This month on my blog, I gave a closer peek into two parts of my Obsidian process: how I use Daily Notes and how I process books to help me remember what I've read. Both have gotten way more attention than I was expecting.

Who knows when I'll publish again? Hopefully not too long.

🪢 Scrabble’d Eggs

Zach Gage has officially become one of the best game designers of our generation. He's the mind behind such hits as Really Bad Chess, Good Sudoku, Ridiculous Fishing, and a ton more.

Somehow, he keeps discovering new games that feel so obvious it's hard to believe they've never existed before. His most recent game Knotwords is yet another instant classic. I'm not usually a word-puzzle guy, but Knotwords scratches an itch I didn't know I had.

As for Gage, he, too, seems pleased:

This is the kind of game I’ve been trying to make my whole career — I’m amazed Jack and I discovered this design.

Traditional crosswords are really, at their core, just trivia. Knotwords is a much more dynamic game, challenging users with fundamental properties of spelling.

Also, it handles in-app purchases the right way. The game it totally free for unrestricted gameplay, forever, but fans of the game have the option to pay a one-time fee to unlock extra bonus content such as additional puzzles, daily puzzles, themes, statistics, and more.

I really dig it, if you couldn't tell. You might, too.

🤖 Sit. Stay. Behave.

Have you heard of Amazon's new personal home robot, Astro? If not, I totally forgive you. It's not like it's even available to the general public. Plus, everything Amazon touches has vaguely dystopian vibes, so it can be a bummer to follow along closely.

But as for Astro, the personal robot looks like a mix between a Roomba and one of those Japanese robotic pet dogs, but without any legs. A tablet screen with eyes makes up its face, changing its expression to match certain tasks, or entering full-tablet mode to display information or video.

If you're skeptical, you're not alone. This will be another Amazon product I skip. However, that's not to say I wasn't totally amused by Joanna Stern's Wall Street Journal review of Astro. I've long been a fan of Stern's content, and this video is one of my favorites. She's fantastic at tech reviews that satisfy both the tech nerds as well as your everyday average tech-using human.

Her segment on Astro's Hangout feature had me laughing out loud.

🎧 So long and thanks for all the Bono

After 20 years, Apple is finally retiring the iPod. It's been a wild ride.

I remember the early days, lusting after one of those first iPods and settling for an Archos Jukebox that never worked quite right (my Sony Vaio MC-P10 Music Clip got way more pocket time, and fit two whole albums if you were willing to sacrifice audio quality).

In honor of the eventful and influential life of this iconic product, Cult of Mac has updated and re-posted their illustrated history of the iPod, originally created to celebrate the 10-year anniversary.

I remember each of the product milestones happening, but had never reviewed them all in one place. It makes for a lovely nostalgia trip.

🚫 bAdBlock Plus

Is the Internet broken? I guess that depends on your definition of "broken." The user experience is definitely garbage, and I can't imagine those dysfunctions illustrated better than in How I Experience the Web Today.

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com

April 2022

Hey all,

The perceptive among you may have noticed something different about last month's newsletter: a brand new audio addition to the email. If you didn't notice it last month, perhaps you'll notice it now — it should be at the very top of this email. Look for the play button.

It can be said of some people that they just like to hear themselves talk. I'm not going to lie to you, that's exactly what this is.

Composing this email brings me great joy each month, and each story I choose to write about has captured my attention in some specific way. There is a reason why I'm talking about one topic and not another. Sometimes there are things I'll leave unsaid.

The audio edition is my way of exploring each topic in an unstructured way. For anyone curious about the why of the newsletter, rather than just the what, it's a great place to explore next.

Plus, if you listen this week, you'll get to hear my snappy new jingle. Who doesn't love a good jingle?

Happy April, everyone.

-Dann

👨‍👩‍👧 Dann to Daniels

I've been extremely excited for the movie Everything, Everywhere, All At Once since it was first announced. I've been stupid excited. So excited, in fact, that I was sure that I was bound to be disappointed.

I was finally able to see it this month and I must report, even with all my excitement, it exceeded my expectations.

Of course my worries were unfounded. The film was helmed by the talented Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known simply as "Daniels"). Their feature-length directorial debut was the crass-but-deeply-moving Swiss Army Man, where Harry Potter stars as a talking corpse. That film blew me away, too.

Before movies, they were prolific in the music video and shorts categories. It's easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of their portfolio website. But to me, their highlights are definitely DJ Snake and Lil Jon's "Turn Down For What" and Joywave's "Tongues" (both NSFW, the latter VERY NSFW).

🎨 Kiss the ChefRPG

There's an independent video game that's currently in development. I really don't care about the game that much, and I probably won't actually play it, but I've been following the game development closely. It's riveting.

ChefRPG is a poorly-named upcoming independent roleplaying game that is deeply inspired by the masterful Stardew Valley. It wrapped up a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in December 2021, and has been hard at work on the game since.

While the game doesn't really excite me, the aesthetics of the game are excellent. The pixel artist that's designing the artwork has been releasing detailed tutorials of his design process. This 20-minute video showing the creation of a Spirited Away-style bathhouse is my favorite, but each video is a peek into a world, and a way of thinking, I don't often find myself in.

I've always loved watching masters at work, regardless of the trade. I don't expect to be making pixel art myself any time soon, but I damn sure have respect for the process.

🎓 Yes, Daddy

Sometimes it takes time for things to come to a satisfying conclusion. For example, I don't know how I'm supposed to wait a year+ for the resolution of the recent white-knuckle season one finale of the TV series Severance.

But when a resolution does finally come…hoo-boy is it satisfying. That's how I'm feeling about the conviction of Lawrence V. Ray (free NYT gift article) for trafficking and extortion.

I've been waiting for this sentencing since April 2019, when New York Mag's The Cut published a jaw-dropping longform article about a Sarah Lawrence student's father who moved in with her on campus and became a cruel cult leader amongst her and her friends.

It's a wild story that's perfect for the longform article format. It's also apparently being made into a TV series, but don't let that stop you from diving into the written story. We all know that sometimes a series can absolutely kill an otherwise perfectly interesting story (coughcough Anna Delvey coughcough).

🖼 The woes in the machine

There's a new Artificial Intelligence that's taking the world by storm. The adorably-named DALL-E 2 allows researchers to input a description (ie "Shrimp Budget the sports team logo") and it will generate a wholly new image matching that phrase. It's limited only by human creativity. It's amazing.

Amazing…but also not without its faults. Artificial Intelligence in general has a habit of reinforcing harmful stereotypes and biases, and it's a complex problem to try and fix.

Vox explored some of the AI bias problems with DALL-E:

Researchers wanted to filter out sexual content from the training data because that could lead to disproportionate harm to women. But they found that when they tried to filter that out, DALL-E 2 generated fewer images of women in general. That’s no good, because it leads to another kind of harm to women: erasure.

🙄 Just Billionaire Things

Elon Musk was in the news a lot this month, first for purchasing a 9.2% stake in Twitter (making him the largest stakeholder), then for making a (real? fake?) offer to buy Twitter outright for $54.20 per share. Try not to roll your eyes too hard at the "420" hidden inside that purchase price.

There are a million-plus-one hot takes already. I don't have anything additional to add. The only article worth reading is from The Onion.

Also, before we wrap things up, can we please, as a society, do something about billionaires? A billion dollars, let alone multiple billion like Musk has, is too much money for humans to even wrap our heads around:

If you were given $5,000 every single day from the day Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492 to today, you still wouldn't have one billion dollars.

That's so dumb. That’s a dumb amount of money for one person to have.

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com

March 2022

Hey all,

Around two months ago, I decided to cancel our cable television package. I just hadn't been watching as much live TV since the last election. It seemed a waste to keep paying for something that we weren't using.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine, and my appetite for news is back in full force. The footage and stories coming out of war-torn Ukraine are absolutely heartbreaking.

I've donated to both GlobalGiving and Save The Children, established organizations that are well-equipped to have an immediate impact on the huge refugee crisis. If you're feeling as helpless as me, it's one way to make a small difference.

Doesn't really help with the news addiction, though.

-Dann

⏳ Living in the moment?

Let’s begin with a simple fact: time passes faster in the mountains than it does at sea level.

So begins Carlo Rovelli's The Order of Time, the latest book to absolutely blow my mind. It's not just mountains and sea level, there is a scientifically measurable difference in time between a clock on the ground and one higher up on a table.

Rovelli is a quantum physicist taking up the reigns where Stephen Hawking left off, with Tim Urban's uncanny ability to explain complex subjects in a simple, understandable way.

I've been on a SciFi kick recently, which is fairly out-of-character for me. I watched the movies Sunshine, High Life, and Interstellar in quick succession, and squeezed in the book Project Hail Mary somewhere in there, too. I thoroughly enjoyed each of them, but they left me wondering about the actual science behind the fiction.

The topic of spacetime in general feels very overwhelming, coming from a place of practically zero foundational knowledge. So when I received Packy McCormick's newsletter raving about The Order of Time, I thought it might be a great jumping-off point. I was right.

Truthfully, I'm only about halfway through the book. But I had to share it anyway. McCormick claimed that it would take less than a weekend to read, but I'm definitely taking it much slower. What is time, after all?

🕰 Stop the clock

Speaking of time, it seems like we may officially adopt Daylight Saving Time permanently. The Sunshine Protection Act passed in the senate with unanimous consent.

I, personally, have mixed feelings. I sort of enjoy the bi-annual tradition of shifting my internal clock. It's a way to mark the changing of the seasons in a tangible way. Springing forward, like we did this month, means we've crossed the threshold towards warmer weather, even though it's not warm just yet. It's the same with falling back.

But I also recognize that it's completely unnecessary. Growing up in Arizona, I lived in one of the few states that didn't observe Daylight Saving Time.

When I moved to New York for college, changing the clocks became a fun new tradition that also felt completely pointless. The only impact it had on my life was that sometimes my parents were two hours behind me, and other times three.

At this point, I'm sort of more excited at the prospect of our government working together — on anything — than I am of the adoption of Daylight Saving Time.

🤒 Havana Night(mare)s

Categorize this under "unsolved mysteries that continue to take up space in my brain."

Do you remember Havana syndrome? Back in 2016, after US government officials in Havana, Cuba reported symptoms including pain and ringing in the ears, and cognitive difficulties. After much investigating, everything was categorized as "unexplained health incidents," and declared, at least, that we didn't think the Cuban government was to blame.

Five years later, the mystery is not only unsolved, but much broader than it was before. Government officials have been "attacked" on the steps of the White House. And we still have no idea what's actually going on, and by whom.

This 60 minutes segment does a good job of getting us up-to-speed with the current state of the story. Which is actually quite terrifying.

👨‍💻 A whole new war

If you're a high-level government official in Ukraine, and your neighbor Russia has just invaded, why not turn to all avenues to collect support? I imagine that was the logic behind creating official crypto addresses to collect donations in support of defense.

As of early March, Ukraine has received close to $100M in digital-currency donations, and have used the funds to purchase supplies such as bulletproof jackets, food, thermal imagers and optics, and walkie-talkies.

Some suppliers are even accepting payment directly in crypto. What a world.

🎤 I stay out too....LAaAtTtE

Settle a friendly disagreement for me.

I happen to think Mossbot's autotune remix of Taylor Swift’s "Shake It Off" is possibly the greatest thing ever.

Alternately, my wife can't stand it. It raises her hackles. To her, it's the ultimate form of cringe. "It's like nails on a chalkboard, locked in a tiny room, where the chalkboard sound is amplified."

I could easily find myself paying money for a full album.

Which camp are you in?

End note

If you've enjoyed this, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend. You can send them here to sign up.

I'll be sending out these emails once per month, and I'm happy you're along for the ride. I'm trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time,Dann

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dannberg.substack.com