David Chartier

I switched to Revue for my free, weekly Finer Things in Tech newsletter (subscribe here: http://newsletter.finertech.com/), and this is a great overview of why, who, and how to go paid. It has me thinking. 🤔

It’s long, but really good. A great down-to-earth back and forth with actionable answers.

This is good content.

What an interesting idea.

As a result, Cypriot real-estate websites are filled with investment guides and details on how to apply for a new passport. This is the new era of virtual citizenship, where your papers and your identity—and all the rights that flow from them—owe more to legal frameworks and investment vehicles than any particular patch of ground where you might live.

Things pushed in our stream through an algorithm tailored to our weakness are the digital equivalent of the calls that try to lure you in when you walking down a street in Bangkok. Want a Medium Massage?

As a society, we feel like we’re at war with a computer algorithm, and the only winning move is not to play.

I like this idea. I’ve already been using Day One for some of it, but I never thought about expanding it to some of the things mentioned here. The thought of having a more cohesive tome of my journey through life and work, the things that affected me, and what I accomplished, is really interesting.

Sounds like me, and a number of my friends, might have been ahead of the curve by deleting our Facebook accounts over the last couple years.

Another former Facebook executive has spoken out about the harm the social network is doing to civil society around the world. Chamath Palihapitiya, who joined Facebook in 2007 and became its vice president for user growth, said he feels “tremendous guilt” about the company he helped make. “I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works,” he told an audience at Stanford Graduate School of Business, before recommending people take a “hard break” from social media.

What we’ve found is very often the very best ideas come from the quietest voice. And if you’re not listening, you’re going to miss that.

I get that it’s hard making a living strictly as a writer. I was one. But this kind of bad behavior has helped grow a movement of distrust in our media and, subsequently, a serious erosion of our society.

what if marketers started to think about our content as the core product instead of just a thing to sell products?

when I was at Facebook, the typical reaction I recall looked like this: try to put any negative press coverage to bed as quickly as possible, with no sincere efforts to put safeguards in place or to identify and stop abusive developers. When I proposed a deeper audit of developers’ use of Facebook’s data, one executive asked me, “Do you really want to see what you’ll find?”

Trying to “change the world” was not the mission with which most great or successful things started our with. It’s only our ego, afterwards, that creates these stories. And it blinds us to the traits which actually create success.

I deleted (not just suspended) my Facebook account a few months ago. The product is useful, and I miss a few friends and family who are too lazy to use other services. But the business is rotten to the core, and I worry regulation won’t be nearly enough.

When I proposed a deeper audit of developers’ use of Facebook’s data, one executive asked me, “Do you really want to see what you’ll find?”

Good work everyone. Claps all around. 😔

I’m glad the EU is blazing this trail. I really hope it forces the industry into better regulations and greater respect for common users.

If you work in digital media, you need to know that the industry is one year from taking a big step toward Apple's view. No, this isn't a case of digital disruption coming (once again) from Silicon Valley. In this case, the seismic shift originates in the European Union. Much of the digital media industry is likely to panic over the coming months. But mark my words: The EU will ultimately lead publishers and advertisers to a better place.

“CEO Tim Cook has long wanted Apple Stores to be a place for more than browsing new Apple gadgets and fixing broken ones.”

I really like what Apple is doing with its new store design. I know some people think it sounds silly, but I sometimes send time people watching in these stores. Many people really do use them as meeting spaces, and the new designs accommodate that really well.

“It seems increasingly likely that readers who value a public service press are going to have to sustain it themselves — by contributing money, sharing knowledge, and spreading the word. A good term for this is membership. But membership won’t work if it’s just begging for cash. There has to be a social contract between journalists and members.”

The Watch was born a timepiece but it is traversing through the early iPhone and pulling in a new direction all of its own.

The American experiment, the original embodiment of the great Enlightenment idea of intellectual freedom, whereby every individual is welcome to believe anything she wishes, has metastasized out of control.

Google started out as a company dedicated to ensuring the best access to information possible, but as it’s grown into one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, its priorities have changed.

An interesting theory on Windows’ current market position and how it doesn’t have much more room to move.

A good exploration of what went wrong with Windows Phone.

In the abstract, the Windows Phone failure was easily preventable. But Microsoft culture made it unavoidable.

“Erasure not only means they won’t exist anymore, it means they never existed.”

😳

It seems that steam is slowly growing behind the idea of introducing a “Hippocratic Oath for designers.” I’ve seen this tossed around elsewhere. I can get behind it.

This is a great look into the cool things Patreon is enabling and some of its challenges.

Twitter lists are vastly underutilized and appreciated. I hope this proves fruitful. Also: I'm stealing M.G.'s idea of creating a list of my local businesses to check in on events and deals.

‪This is a great piece that explains, in fairly simple terms, why the 10.5 inch iPad Pro's display matters‬.

Ben makes a decent case for the new iPads and iOS 11 being a turning point for the platform. I can't help but agree, 11 is a *massive* leap ahead in fixing so many of the little things that have hobbled the iPad. I've been mostly iPad for a while now, but iOS 11 and the iPad Pro should make it viable for many more people.

This might sound like a silly argument, but give it a chance. Spend some time thinking about it.

iOS 11 looks absolutely fantastic, bringing many things that push the overall experience and lots of little workflow details forward in great ways. I've been mostly iOS for a while, and everything they announced on and offstage yesterday was music to my ears. I'm excited.

We're losing our culture and identity to autocomplete.

I love "abandoned" photography, and I've always been curious about trying some. This is getting my gears turning.

To quote @dbreunig on Twitter: "Why are we seeing more diverse voices from Netflix and Amazon? Simple: these companies collect and listen to data."

The Basecamp folks with the smarts again.

It feels like only ~ 1/3 is about Trump. The rest is about how Twitter has changed, whether it's met culture and product challenges, and more. Good stuff.

They may have more luck communicating if, in addition to presenting facts and figures, they appeal to emotions. This could mean not simply explaining the science of how something works but spending time on why it matters to the author and why it ought to matter to the reader.

Fascinating read. A bit sad too, but that's a different story.

There are implications beyond journalism here. I'm glad they're listening.

👍🏻👍🏻

As a content strategist and marketer, I love this new Everybody Hates Marketers podcast. There's an inordinate amount of bullshit in this industry. It's refreshing to find a whole show (with guests!) who feel the same way and help us cut through it all.

I've watched this trend with surprise, but it makes sense. These are all the reasons I started a Finer Things in Tech Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Qvalz

Not to get serious here, but... let's get serious here.

"New research shows that people can type quickly just by tilting their phones. Is it time for designers to take more advantage of the idea?"

Good read. Good historical perspective.