[If you’re receiving this first issue I’ve included you because we correspond regularly and I thought you’d be interested. Feel free to drop immediately or anytime. Thanks for your consideration.]
Good morning,
It’s a fabulous Friday to start something new, again. I’ve been meaning to get back on the newsletter horse for over a year and a half now. I think I remember how to ride. Thanks for the push and affirmation Greg, Tim, Marty and Jake. I’m doing it.
Back 5 or so years, when I was doing a newsletter email regularly, I loved researching, consolidating, concluding and writing regularly and the subscribers did too. The list was around 200 folks. Wait, it could have been 10 years ago. Either way, what unlocked my hesitation to start again was the empowerment of a constraint.
A friend of mine uses the word “bits” - a lot. I was in a shop this week where someone was talking about those “bits over there.” While walking out of the shop it struck me that the constraint of 3 bits and some change could make for a doable and fun structure (read constraint) for a weekly publication. And here it is. Three bits of stuff I’m doing or thinking about… and some links to random things with some commentary all centered around change (usually in tech). Easy. I can do that weekly and enjoy it.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy making it. That’s the aim. Share with friends. My goal is to grow the list to 1000 by June of 2022. It’s not like trading a hairpin for a house on TikTok but similar. Unsub if it goes annoying or lacks value and interest. No hard feelings. K, on with the show.
Bit #1
#adventure
I had the pleasure of landing in Bozeman, MT last week Thursday and proceeding to hit Yellowstone, Ennis and Big Sky in the following three days. It was a rush. The mtns are still amazing and this part of the world has a bunch of little streams full of cool water and fish surrounded by sunrise and sunset worthy vistas on repeat. You should go!
In the future, I’d love to have a place in the mtns. Until then, cheers to those that do and all the enormous fun of visiting. What are your favorite places in Bozeman?
Note: this trip was a #adventure trip. For more on the current rules for #adventure trips go here on my blog.
Bit #2
The Drop
You know that feeling you get in big beauty when you might have to remember to breathe? Check this insta post where I wrote about what The Drop means to me. What does it mean to you? Post here.
This photos was taken just before I caught the very first trout I’ve ever caught, much less a trout in a river in the mtns. My friend suggested that I’ve watched enough YouTube to think like a fish in a river and find success in one more skill set, eh? Roger that.
Bit #3
Photographer
This from Wiki - “A photographer (the Greek φῶς (phos), meaning "light", and γραφή (graphê), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light")[1] is a person who makes photographs.”
A friend of mine has been “drawing with light” and making photos, all focused and wonderful, for years. I’ve watched him get just bonkers shots of commuters in Madrid during rush hour, sunsets in Costa Rica and just stunners of family members in everyday life.
In all of this I’ve decided it is time to build my skills as one who draws with light. So I snagged a real solid piece of photographic equipment, a lense I’m learning and am starting my photographer journey. The snap above came from sticking the camera out of a sunroof while in Yellowstone and hoping for the best. Not bad. More to come as this micro journey unfolds.
Please be free to share any of your resources and insights on drawing with light. I’ll do the same along the way.
Change
I’ve had both versions of Snap’s glasses with video capture ability. I think I’m just starting to understand how to use them. #honest. Frankly, the frames hurt my head. And now, Facebook has glasses too. They can publicly add the glasses to their division for the metaverse, that has 741 open jobs at the time of writing this. That group is focused on augmented reality and virtual reality and these glasses are just a tiny step. I wonder how long it’ll take me to learn how to use this set much less what’s coming next. You?
Surprised we don’t already have one of these but happy it’s happening. The Commerce Department is going to have an AI advisory committee now. Fantastic. Link.
After having used the “just walk out” tech at an Amazon Go store in NYC a few years ago I had a distinct sense that it was the future of buying in stores. It’s like, duh, in fast paced zero relationship exchanges - like grocery. I don’t know anyone at my grocery stores because they change all the time! Whole Foods will have two stores with this tech next year. Cool!
Amazon delivers 72% of it’s packages. What? That’s massive. It was 46% in 2019, just 2 years ago. That van that stops by your house? It’s one of now 30,000 like it. Link. First they built a cloud infrastructure for themselves and then rented it to others - AWS. Now they’re doing the same for shipping. Look out!
One of the top venture investors, AVC, of the last wave is saying the opening is just starting on consumer crypto, specifically in crowd based NTF projects. Fun. It’s not too late in that case. What NTFs do you own? Link.
Until next week
May you find moments to breathe and notice your feet firmly on the ground. See you next week. -Joseph