Weird internet; Google's moonshot; YouTube's size
Issue #363
š”Think
Hey everyone š
I updated my iPhone this week and an app called Journal was automatically installed. Thanks Apple for another app!
Apparently, Journal is a way to āreflect on everyday moments and lifeās special eventsā, and is stuffed with machine learning features to try and help you remember stuff from photos, notes, anything else they are tracking.
Although this sounds cool, Iām a little concerned about the digification of our entire lives. I went to a gig last night and couldnāt see the band because of all the phones recording the whole thing. We overload digital to-do list apps with high priority things that we never end up completing. We take disappearing photos of our lives right..at..thisā¦moment, only to forget that we did it or who weāre sharing our every waking moment with.
This doomsday ātech is badā thing seems to be a bit of a trend recently in my openers, but Iām starting to feel like hey maybe letās explore through our own eyes rather than the lens of a glass brick.
Have a great week!
š· Look
š Read
ā¶ The internet is about to get weird again
This article compares the year 2000 with 2024, and how the largest companies in tech are at risk of losing relevancy as consumers seek personality and trust. We want a new search engine that isnāt Google, weāre fed up of Appleās high charges on apps within its store, and Twitter isā¦Twitter. I even see this with the desire to break the grid and design software that feels more personal within the community.
ā· Googleās true moonshot
This is a deep dive on Googeās (missed) opportunities and how it approaches competition. From their loss against Apple with regards to maps, to the antitrust lawsuits, to their artificial intelligence woes. Their real big opportunity? āOk, Googleā.
āø How big is YouTube?
An impossible question, perhaps. This article estimates there are approximately 13bn videos, which is nuts. The article is a look at how they analysed all the videos. Itās a bit technical, a bit nerdy, but I enjoyed the read and I think you will too.
ā
Bonus round
Maps of the London underground, showing you how far beneath street level each station is
The year the millennial internet died
The theory of modern exclamation (!!!!!!)
š§ Listen
Who should be in charge of AI?
This episode was released back in December, but is as relevant now as it was then. Itās a discussion with Casey Newton, where they discuss how and why tech companies are structured the way they are now, with boards of directors, CEOs, managerial levels etc. Itās a central āwho should be in charge?ā question, and when it comes to intelligence it becomes even harder to answer. The consolidation of power into a few people is a pretty weird concept, and this podcast does a little history dive for us to show where it all came from.
Listen to this podcast (54 minutes)
Spotify ā Apple
Have a great week,
@disco_lu