January 2023
Hey,
I'm trying an experiment this year with this email newsletter: I'm adding a paid-subscription option. This paid tier, however, is a little bit different than other newsletters.
There will be zero additional benefit for paid subscribers. There will be no additional emails, no new audio episodes, and no new content of any kind.
To be clear, there is no reason for you to upgrade to a paid subscription in terms of content.
Instead, think of it as a way to show support for content that you enjoy. It's an experiment on my end to see if anyone actually signs up. For me, it's a step towards diversifying my income sources and testing if the content that I'm already creating in my free time is work that people enjoy enough to spend their hard-earned money.
There are several content creators that I personally support, both through Patreon and Substack. I send them money not because I necessarily want the extra content, but because I enjoy what they do and want to show my support. So I figured I'd enable that feature in case there were people who, like me, enjoy providing that positive reinforcement.
It's possible that in the future there will be additional content for paid subscribers. I just don't have the bandwidth to think about that right now. If that ever happens, it will be a larger discussion that I'll include you in.
For now, feel free to upgrade if you feel so inspired. And don't feel bad if you don't. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.
-Dann
📉 The Echo's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Amazon launched the Kindle ebook reader with a very specific pricing strategy: take a loss on device sales and make it up with all the new ebooks that will be purchased. It's a smart strategy that cemented Amazon's place as the leading destination for both ebooks and ebook readers.
Amazon had a similar strategy with the Echo, the voice-assistant device powered by Alexa. They wanted to get the device into as many homes as possible, imagining that it would encourage people to buy more stuff on Amazon.
But the Echo strategy never made sense to me. I've had one for years, and regularly use it to set timers/alarms and check the time or weather. I definitely do not use it to browse products and make purchases.
Nor does anyone else, it seems. Eight years after its initial release, the Alexa group is allegedly hemorrhaging money — to the tune of $10 billion in losses for 2022.
Both Apple and Google copied Amazon, with Siri and Google Assistant, respectively. But these AI assistants are more product features, rather than a product itself. Voice Assistants make sense as part of the Apple and Google ecosystems. It's weirdly out-of-place for a giant online retailer, even though it blazed the trail.
I'm not sure how this all ends for Amazon. They created a device that has become an essential part of many people's lives, yet is bleeding the company dry with no end in sight. We may see some changes for the product in the coming years...
💻 Shattered Windows
Next time you're having a tough time at work, just imagine working at Microsoft and getting this email from Bill Gates, describing his experience trying to install Movie Maker. He experiences a series of mishaps, including slow page load times, missing links, terrifying updates, and unfriendly UX — enough to make any tech-savvy person cringe.
It reads like a comedy of errors. The entire thing is gold. But the back-and-forth between Microsoft executives in response to the email is probably my favorite. I've received emails from CEOs (though not quite as intense) and it almost always causes heart palpitations. I can see myself in the responses.
🌞 Mr. Clean energy
Following up on a topic I touched on last month, 60 Minutes had a great 13-minute segment on the clean energy breakthrough last month. It's an interesting explainer on nuclear fusion, and why this particular milestone of ignition is so important.
Scott Pelley does a great job of setting expectations regarding the journey towards the commercialization of this technology. A power plant will need to perform this nuclear fusion reaction around ten times per second, and the power generated would need to increase by a factor of 100x (last month's reaction created only enough excess energy to heat two pots of coffee).
Earlier this year, the Biden administration released a vision for achieving commercial fusion in the next decade. Even with this recent breakthrough, that timeline still might be optimistic. But it's a solid first step towards a complete revolution in energy production.
📰 Just billionaire things
When Elon Musk co-created the first online payment platform Paypal, I figured he was smart because I didn't know much about online payments. Then, when he built self-driving cars, I assumed he was smart because I didn't know anything about autonomous vehicle AI. Likewise, when he started building spacecrafts, I assumed he was smart because I'm not a rocket scientist.
But then he purchased a tech company (Twitter), which is an area I know a bit more about. Not only that, but he did it very publicly, putting his leadership qualities on full display. Elon Musk is brilliant as surrounding himself with smart people, inspiring brilliant work, and building things that others think are impossible. But a closer inspection of him, as a human, reveals something less-than-admirable.
If you want to catch up on this mess of a story, the best single piece of reporting comes from Zoe Schiffer, Casey Newton (Platformer), and Alex Heath (Command Line), in a lengthy collaboration article between New York Magazine and The Verge.
But I think it's Mark Cuban that provided the best framing for this purchase:
It's Rupert Murdock on a different platform. You know, it's always been this way...Walter Cronkite decided what went on his show...It's a different platform and so we're starting to understand.
Billionaires love owning the news. Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post in 2013. Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2021. The biggest difference between the two mediums is that Twitter has no semblance of journalistic integrity.
🌥 Nothing but Dark Skys
At the end of 2022, we said goodbye to a much-loved weather app: Dark Sky. The company was purchased by Apple, and many of the features incorporated into the newest Apple Weather app. But it's a huge loss for Android users and iPhone users alike.
Dark Sky changed the way people think about weather, blazing the trail for minute-by-minute forecasts (for the next hour) and emphasizing the radar map. It was not the most accurate weather app, but it made all its users feel like mini-meteorologists.
To honor its departure, Slate has an ode to the world's best terrible weather app. If you were a user that's feeling this loss, it's a decent salve to the wound.
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
The Dann Chronicles: January 🏔