The Byteside Newsletter
Stress fractures
If we want to truly process things, we need to slow down a little to absorb information.
Clean slates
Hitting "mark all read" sometimes can be a liberating feeling.
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
How many straws can be the 'last' when it comes to staying on Facebook?
A thousand words
The big questions about facial recognition technology have been coming home to roost.
The future of Byteside
Preamble this week is some transparency in the thick of tricky times. To be clear, I’m not stopping or closing or pausing or anything. So don’t fret, faithful readers! I hope the future is bright! My aim in the second half of 2020 is to put more emphasis
Who's driving?
You can’t plot a course and then give everyone a steering wheel, or just give everyone their own map whether they know how to read it or not.
Stifling aggregation
Market domination puts the rest of us in cultural hot water while the big players buy and sell the hot tub.
One year on... what do you think?
I started this newsletter one year ago! Well, more than… but this is the 50th issue so I feel confident I’m definitely past the one year datestamp. I just double checked: it was April 26, 2019. I wish I had something poignant or exciting to say. 50 feels like
At the speed of necessity
Progress has just had a very swift kick toward digital transformation.
In the tunnel. Somewhere.
I’m seeing some of my contract workload slow down right now. Some other parts are picking up. And freelance journalism is slooooooow. So overall, it’s not entirely balancing itself out. But I know I’m still far luckier than many. My best guess is that we’re past
Perfect Visibility
8K TV is a joke. But that means it also points to the fact a 4K TV is likely to be the longest lasting television purchase you'll make since the cathode ray era.
Infowars (good and bad)
Information is on every front line in this crisis: in health management, in overcoming isolation, and in the most unnecessary battle of them all – disinformation.
One day at a time
“How are you?” is too expansive and hard to consider clearly. But “today” is contained and easier to respond to.
It's time for 5 minute default meetings
The 30 minute default must die. Cut the defaults to 5 minutes to show the time vampires that enough is enough, especially in the coronavirus crisis.
Cut yourself some slack
It's chaos all the way down. Give yourself a break. It's OK to take a breathe right now.
Tech Has (Some) Answers
A lot will change permanently from here – especially around this tech adoption. Platforms like Zoom will be here to stay.
10 Years of WFH: My Experience
I've worked from home for about 10 out of the past 16 years of work life. There is no template for perfection, but here's some tips for how to find a system that works for you.
The Bright Future Edition
Woah. Like, WOAH. It’s been a rough start to 2020. So it’s time for a special “Look At How Amazing The World Can Be” week. I actually spent more time this week stepping back from social media (because while I’ve mostly-quit Facebook I’m still an avid
The Trouble With Presence
Is there a way to make more active remote presence a possibility beyond the bounds of a viral outbreak?
Such a tool
It’s been 8 years since Douglas Rushkoff wrote Program Or Be Programmed, one of the clearest discussions of the whole question of the good/bad of technology in society today. Or rather, why that’s the wrong binary to consider. Rushkoff instead explores ten ‘commands’ we need to understand
