If you’re like me, then you’re probably feeling bummed out about politics and technology right about now. Instead of dwelling on it, I want to dig into the good stuff that you probably didn’t read this week.

I recognize that last week’s issue was dense and I’m making up for that this week. This issue is focused and to the point. Let’s go!

‘Lost continent’ found under Mauritius in the Indian Ocean

It might sound implausible, but deep at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, a research team, led by South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, has found pieces of an ancient continent. The lava-covered piece of continent, dubbed ‘Mauritia,’ was found under the popular island of Mauritius. According to the report published this week in the journal Nature Communications, the piece of crust is left over from the breakup of Gondwanaland, a super-continent that existed more than 200 million years ago.

Yet another reason to visit Mauritius in the not too distant future. I’m almost certain that screenwriters are writing a made-for-TV movie about this.

Link (CNN)

Why Does Minimalism Make Danes the Happiest People on Earth?

Government attached huge importance to innovative design as a route to societal well-being, and believed that it could directly make the country a happier place to live in. So in their hands architectural minimalism was a kind of social engineering; they were certainly on to something.

One of my friends is a runway model who periodically goes to Denmark for shows. He’s repeatedly told me that the Danes have a sense of fashion that exudes a spirit of timelessness.

Link (HYPEBEAST)

The Education of a Coach’s Son

The sessions started with the mute button: “My grandfather hated listening to announcers, so the game was always muted and he could talk,” Steve says. “He taught me how to watch and taught me what to look for. He’d sit there and watch — that’s how he died [in 2005] — in his chair, watching football on a Saturday.”

Great look into Steve Belichick’s upbringing as a student of the game. You don’t have to be a fan of the New England Patriots to appreciate the article. It’s not easy growing up Belichick.

Link (Ringer)

All dressed up: the photography of Emily Dickey and Dustin LeFevre

Emily Dickey and Dustin LeFevre are landscape photographers who seek out remote locations. A couple of years ago, they started to complement their standard landscape images with something a little different — portraits of themselves in formalwear, adding a human element and a dramatic sense of scale to their work. And it’s no coincidence that Dickey wears a wedding dress in some of their images: the couple got married last summer.

My wife and I took our own engagement photos and I recall the process being complicated. It’s hard to manage a composition while making sure to pose correctly…especially in fancy clothes! These photographs are beautiful and this couple deserves a lot of credit.

Link (DP Review)

Dark Blue Tiger

An insane shot by Warayut Pachsri. You should check out his entire 500px gallery if you’re interested in seeing more butterfly photography and other beautiful nature shots.

Link (500px)

The Death of Pablo

‘The Death of Pablo’ is a haunting set of tracks, inspired by Kanye West’s ‘The Life of Pablo.’ The Pablo Collective produces hollow, glitchy beats which echo the mechanical descent into death. I highly recommend this project, as it challenges the ear and urges a sense of anxiety.

I’ve made it through the first few tracks. There’s a haunting vibe to this project that I can’t quite put my finger on. For Kanye fans looking for something different, you can stream it or download it for free.

Link (Bandcamp)

Daily Routines of Nikola Tesla, Mozart, Hemingway, Woody Allen, Maya Angelo, van Gogh, Stephen King…

My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference whatever, the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything.

This quote is by Nikola Tesla. Damn.

Snap commits $2 billion over 5 years for Google Cloud infrastructure

Google doesn’t break out revenues from its cloud infrastructure, choosing to lump it in with other non-advertising businesses like hardware and Google Play sales. But that segment totaled $3.4 billion in sales in the most recent quarter. In that case, $400 million a year is actually a significant portion of the segment’s business.

At a certain point, most companies stop relying on cloud providers and start building out their own data center. The whole infrastructure game is a delicate tradeoff between capital and operating expenditures. I’m surprised that Snap is going to spend this much money on Google Cloud. It’s 2/3 of what they are trying to raise in their $3 billion IPO.

Astronaut twin study hints at stress of space travel

DNA methylation — the reversible addition of a chemical marker to DNA that can affect gene expression — decreased in Scott during flight and increased in Mark over the same period, Feinberg says. Levels for both men returned close to preflight levels after Scott came back to Earth. What this means isn’t yet clear, Feinberg says.

I wonder if companies like SpaceX will make changes to their Mars program based on the conclusions drawn from the study of Brothers Kelly.

This picture of the Nintendo Switch and Wii U is kind of mind-blowing

Both the Switch and the Wii U GamePad have 6.2-inch screens, but the newer system is dramatically thinner and more portable. This is despite the fact that the Switch screen unit actually contains the entire console hardware; to play it on the TV, you plug it into a dock with simple video-out capabilities, whereas the Wii U GamePad gets its images wirelessly beamed from a separate console.

Progress.

Skin is a love song. It explores our desires as individuals to be together even when life pulls us in different directions.

There’s a little bit of Björk in here — I’m looking forward to her debut.

Link (Stereogum)

We’ll end this week with a couple of great music videos that were released this past week.

The first is by dvsn for their track Too Deep.

The dvsn album was released last year but the group just released this music video. I love the production of this video: the colors and lighting fits the mood of this song. Caution: it’s NSFW.

The second music video worth mentioning is by Sampha for (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano.

An angel by her side, all the times I knew we couldn’t cope
They said that it’s her time, no tears in sight, I kept the feelings close
And you took hold of me and never, never, never let me go
’Cause no one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home
In my mother’s home

I remember hearing this song a few weeks ago and I’m glad that it has an accompanying music video. The minimalism of the art direction perfectly complements the song.

Thanks for reading issue 006. Super Bowl Sunday is tomorrow — let’s hope for a great game and even better commercials!

To those that have sent feedback — thank you! I read every email and do my best to reply. If you enjoyed this, please recommend this to your friends/family (aka — hit the heart button).

See you next week! 🐨

006— February 4, 2017 was originally published in whatspop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is the fifth issue of whatspop. Holy cow — we made it! Holy crap — January is already over? Time is flying. We’ve got a really packed issue of interesting things to get through this week. Let’s get into it.

Scientists have confirmed a brand new form of matter: time crystals

The discovery might sound pretty abstract, but it heralds in a whole new era in physics — for decades we’ve been studying matter that’s defined as being ‘in equilibrium’, such as metals and insulators. But it’s been predicted that there are many more strange types of matter out there in the Universe that aren’t in equilibrium that we haven’t even begun to look into, including time crystals. And now we know they’re real.

I’d like to think I understood this article but let’s be honest…I didn’t.

Link (Science Alert)

Human-Pig Hybrid Created in the Lab — Here Are the Facts

In a remarkable — if likely controversial — feat, scientists announced today that they have created the first successful human-animal hybrids. The project proves that human cells can be introduced into a non-human organism, survive, and even grow inside a host animal, in this case, pigs.

Fascinating article by National Geographic. I won’t be surprised to see this approach used in the future for organ harvesting and transplants.

Link (National Geographic)

If Your Boss Could Do Your Job, You’re More Likely to Be Happy at Work

The bottom line is that employees are happiest when the boss knows what she or he is talking about, and that drives performance: there is growing evidence, from randomized trials done under laboratory conditions, that when you make workers happier they become more productive.

Makes sense.

Link (Harvard Business Review)

Teenage Engineering: OP-Z Preview

OP-Z is a completely stand-alone synthesizer and composer, ready to to be used at anytime and anywhere, but for those of you who need that extra injection of vibrant graphics, interactive user interface and awesome synced animations to feel inspired, we introduce the concept of BYOS — bring your own screen.

OP-Z is about a lot more than just composing music. the Z stands for the third dimension, the depth, the creativity involved in making music.

I’ve been a longtime fan of the OP-1, which is a fantastic portable synthesizer. I know many producers and songwriters that have composed Billboard Top 100 singles with the OP-1. The OP-Z appears to be the spiritual successor.

This time the machine is so small we guarantee it will upset you. It’s about half the size of OP-1, but comes with more DSP power that consumes less energy so now you can fly the Atlantic 4 times back and forth, sequencing complete songs on 16 dedicated tracks before you run out of power. When ready to land, just slide it in your inner pocket.

As an aspiring bedroom songwriter, I can’t wait to get my fingers on this synthesizer and app later this year.

Link (Teenage Engineering)

This Redesigned Airplane Row Will Make You Want The Middle Seat

Designed for flights three hours and under, each row of seats features a staggered design. The middle seat is set slightly lower and behind the aisle and window seats, a discrepancy that makes the backrest of the middle seat just under three inches wider than the standard 18 inches. This is an easy sell for flyers — even though there’s no extra legroom (that’s controlled by the airline), the middle seat is more spacious, and the staggered design means that there’s no need to fight over elbow room.

Wired has an interesting design piece that features an innovative airplane seat layout conceived by Molon Labe Designs. Nobody likes having a middle seat and playing elbow wars. You know who you are.

Link (Wired)

Quip

It turned out that years of toothbrush “innovation” had barely improved the humble toothbrush and, instead, had only served to overshadow the far more damaging, habitual problems that still persist. Brushing too hard, not brushing long enough, not brushing twice a day, not replacing your brush and not going to the dentist are issues that are ignored yet have a far bigger impact on oral health than a “Bluetooth Ultra Sonic” toothbrush alone could ever have. So we set out to address that…

I’ve been a Sonicare customer for a while yet I find the brush too tedious to travel with. Quip could be a great addition to my travel kit.

Link (Quip)

Lofree

The interchangeable keycaps are interesting and should make it easier for people who experiment with different keyboard layouts. I’m waiting for a video review of this device in action. No word on pricing or release date.

Link (Lofree)

Why paper is the real ‘killer app’

Other findings show that pen and paper have an edge over the keyboard. Research by Princeton University and the University of California at Los Angeles, published in 2014, showed that the pen is indeed mightier than the keyboard. In three studies, researchers found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. Those who took written notes had a better understanding of the material and remembered more of it because they had to mentally process information rather than type it verbatim. And, another study, published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, showed that people who doodle can better recall dull information.

I carry a small paper journal around in my backpack and occasionally use it when on flights (see the airplane seats above) to jot out random ideas like UI sketches + song lyrics. Instead of using a computer to take notes, I should try using paper/pen for my upcoming meetings this week.

Link (BBC)

Google’s Pixel 2 to feature improved camera, CPU, higher price, but ‘budget’ Pixel also in works

We’re also now being told, however, that Google is once again focusing intensely on the camera with Pixel 2, that the device is currently being tested with improved chipsets from two different manufacturers, and that it will bring a higher price…As for the price of the next Pixel, we’re told that — as of the time of this writing at least — Google is expecting that there will be “at least” a $50 USD increase in price.

This really bums me out for two reasons:

1. The first generation Pixel is nearly impossible to get as it’s usually out of stock in many configurations + only available via Verizon
2. The cost of phones shouldn’t be going up — as an Android user maybe 2017 is the year that I look at my first non-Google handset. The article also mentions that Google is looking into releasing a cheaper device. I’m not going to hold my breath.

Link (9To5Google)

Best Landing Ever??

Astroneer is a new simulation game that’s available for PC, Steam, and Xbox. I’ve been following the developers for a while and recently came across this sequence titled: “Best Landing Ever??” I’m not so secretly hoping that this game gets released for PS4.

Link (gfycat)

Joining Bottles

Joining Bottles is an experimental wood-joining technique using shrunk plastic bottles. By heat, a simple plastic bottle is transformed into a wood bonding material offering a meaningful and accessible way to build functional structures.

I think this a wonderful project — would love to see this get adopted on a larger scale.

Link (Micaella Pedros)

Photographing Liquid Mountains

I’ve always wanted to learn how people got these epic shots of waves. This is a really inspiring video — you don’t have to be a photographer to respect the dedication and perseverance.

3 Photographers Shoot the Same Model

Solid video — I’d love to see something like this for landscape photography!

Abstract: The Art of Design

A new Netflix documentary about design, streaming in February 2017.

ITAP of a sunset

I shot it on my 5D mark ii with a 50mm 1.8. I just had the ISO high enough to be able to catch the action somewhat sharp, then edited the colors after.

I originally found this while cruising Reddit. I’m an enthusiast of oversaturated California sunsets and love this shot. In the Reddit thread, Robin mentions an inspiration (Brighton Galvan) for the shot and edit. You can see an example of his work below.

Link (Reddit)

The Best Travel Destinations For Photographers In 2017, Captured By The Fstoppers Community | Fstoppers

It’s an interesting list: Norway, Dubai, Hawaii…Vermont? You should plan on visiting Vermont in the fall with a drone.

Jamie Livingston: some photos of that day

Jamie Livingston documented his life for almost 20 years with nothing but a Polaroid camera. You get to see his life, relationships, jobs and his battle with cancer. There are more than 5,000 photos. I couldn’t make it through the last few years of photos without getting misty.

Took this photo in a Bangkok elevator and I’m pretty sure all three of the people on their phones are playing Pokemon Go

Gotta catch them all…especially in an elevator at the Siam Paragon mall.

Link (Reddit)

We’ll close off this week with new music. There were lots of great releases this week but two in particular really stand out to me.

Migration by Bonobo — a great album to put on while you’re working. If you’re interested, there’s a great interview with Simon Green, aka Bonobo, by XLR8R. Green shares details and even audio recordings about how many of the songs were constructed as well as the techniques.

Life Without Sound by Cloud Nothings — I’m a big fan of every album the group has put out. This album is a bit different…rather than the usual up-tempo cacophony of guitars smashing into drums, this effort sounds more conscious, diverse and gloomy. “Up to the Surface” is a stand-out track that you should listen to.

Thanks for reading issue 005.

If you liked this issue, you should check out the others. If you enjoyed this, then please hit the nice heart icon and share this with your family/friends.

See you next week! 🐨

005— January 28, 2017 was originally published in whatspop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It’s cold, raining, you’re feeling a little sniffly and a Sunday. Days like this make you yearn for 3-day weekends. I feel you. I need that too.

To say that this week was an emotional rollercoaster would be a grand understatement. A death in the family combined with work travel +intense meetings made it challenging to stay on top on what was happening. I appreciate having great friends and family to lean on over the past few days. You know who you are.

Consequently, this issue is going to be a bit more focused and smaller than usual. I’m trying some new and subtle things here. Let’s get into it.

SpaceX successfully landed their Iridium-1 rocket on a boat. As usual, the company managed to capture stunning high-resolution photos of the event.

Link (Flickr)

Iceland knows how to stop teen substance abuse but the rest of the world isn’t listening

State funding was increased for organised sport, music, art, dance and other clubs, to give kids alternative ways to feel part of a group, and to feel good, rather than through using alcohol and drugs, and kids from low-income families received help to take part. In Reykjavik, for instance, where more than a third of the country’s population lives, a Leisure Card gives families 35,000 krona (£250) per year per child to pay for recreational activities.

Fascinating article. My wife and I visited Iceland for the first time last year — many locals kept telling us how safe the country was and how there was a comparative lack of substance abuse relative to other European countries.

Link (Mosaic Science)

Can Snapchat’s Culture of Secrecy Survive an IPO?

Even Snap’s offices assist in discretion. Employees describe a siloed company, scattered among the buildings in Venice, California, instead of in a main corporate campus. Snap also doesn’t hold all-hands meetings to explain strategy — a staple of employee life for its Silicon Valley peers. Spiegel communicates with his executives primarily via Snap messages, which vanish after they’re read.

Well at least they’re eating the company’s dog food for delivering messages internally. I wonder if Snap will ever enter the enterprise — I know that there have been attempts and misses by startups. Assuming they can figure things out regarding data governance, I’d give it a shot.

Link (Bloomberg)

Someone converted an iPhone 5s into an iPhone 7 mini, and it’s awesome

The Redditor says that he has some experience with iPhone repair, and the entire process took him about three hours from start to finish. He used this iFixit guide to help him, and he used all of the tools recommended in that guide. He says that the result is “sexy,” and that the aluminum looks and feels just like the aluminum Apple uses on the real iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The biggest problem with the conversion, according to the post, is that reception has been degraded by what he believes to be 15% — 20% following the conversion.

I love this idea. Here’s hoping the next iPhone SE looks like this. Speaking of the compact device, isn’t it due for an upgrade soon? It was released in March 2016 and we’re coming up on a year.

Link (BGR)

Hue

Hue is a vibrant, award-winning puzzle adventure, where you alter the world by changing its background colour.

This game has been out for a very long time but I’ve only recently discovered it. I have it queued up after I get through Uncharted and Firewatch.

Link (PS4, Steam, Xbox)

The sad state of affairs when no one shows up to your class

Enjoy @avitable's maddening, heartbreaking tale of the class that no one attended.

A funny perspective from a professor.

Adam Heath Avitable on Twitter

A bird lands outside my window. I invite him in to learn about algebra. He declines and flies away. I hope a cat eats him. #Classwatch2017

Link (Twitter Moment)

Airbus CEO sees 'flying car' prototype ready by end of year

Airbus last year formed a division called Urban Air Mobility that is exploring concepts such as a vehicle to transport individuals or a helicopter-style vehicle that can carry multiple riders. The aim would be for people to book the vehicle using an app, similar to car-sharing schemes.

Surprised and not surprised to see Airbus get involved. #FlyingCar2017

Encrypted Email Service Once Used by Edward Snowden Relaunches

With the new architecture, Lavabit will no longer be able to hand over its SSL key, because the key is now stored in a hardware security module — a tamper-resistant device that provides a secure enclave for storing keys and performing sensitive functions, like encryption and decryption. Lavabit generates a long passphrase blindly so the company doesn’t know what it is; Lavabit then inserts the key into the device and destroys the passphrase.

Lavabit is back and founder Ladar Levison details some technical information about the service and its return. I’ve never used Lavabit but I’d like to dip my toe in. Leave a response or shoot me a direct message about your experience.

A video that traces the intricate web of the Pixar movie-verse. I can’t imagine how much time this must have taken to put together.

How a complete mess of a music video shoot, complete with the artist failing to show up on the day, turned into one of the most popular videos of the year. Good job, Thugger!

We’ll end this week with a fantastic cover of The Strokes “Someday”.

And now my fears, they come to me in threes
So I sometimes
Say, “Fate, my friend, you say the strangest things I find
Sometimes”

Unlike trying to replicate the song in tempo, Julia Jacklin brings her own sensibility and swagger to make this her own. I never heard a Julia Jacklin track before this and now I’m following her on Spotify. You should too.

Thanks for reading issue 004. I’m looking forward to the NFL Conference Championships today — go Packers and Patriots!

See you next week! 🐨

004 —January 22, 2017 was originally published in whatspop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Apologies for the delay — I’m pushing this out slightly later than usual due to a family emergency. Aside from that, last week was certainly eventful.

I’ve been asked by my friends about the Nintendo Switch. Here are some quick thoughts:

• The hardware isn’t compelling…but it’s not about that
• It’s about the games…and they look like fun!
• For my work travel, I think this could be a great device — I‘d love to develop a game for the platform…already have a few ideas in mind 🤔

OK — let’s jump into this week’s issue!

Light Pillars

A light pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon, which is an interaction of light with ice crystals. When the temperature drops and these crystals position themselves horizontally as they fall through the air, they act as “vessels” for light, shooting it upwards.

Beautiful captures. It’s nice to see that you can get a light pillar shot without having to go to a completely remote location.

Link

The Light Phone

Designed to be used as little as possible, the Light Phone is your phone away from phone. Whether it be an afternoon stroll, coffee break, night on the town, or a dinner date with someone you love, going light affords us the space we need to spend quality time free of distractions or notifications.

In theory, I’m a fan. In reality, I don’t know if work/life will allow me to drop text messaging. It sounds like this could be a great secondary device in the event of battery failure of my primary device (Nexus 5X).

I enjoy watching “making of” videos. This manufacturing video above is no exception. I dig the personal feel.

Link

Blossom

The object was designed in the form of a beautifully blossomed flower that’s been simplified into geometric shapes of a cone and a cylinder. The speaker is both aesthetic and functional. The audio which is produced from the bottom-up is projected in all directions by the cone shape, which allows putting all the constructional elements inside the shape.

Slick. I’d take this over a Google Home or Amazon Echo any day.

Link

ELLI•Q is an active aging companion that keeps older adults active and engaged. ELLI•Q seamlessly enables older adults to use a vast array of technologies, including video chats, online games and social media to connect with families and friends and overcome the complexity of the digital world.

As someone with aging grandparents, I love this concept. Quick feedback: they build bluetooth and hearing aid integrations.

The dream of Ara: Inside the rise and fall of the world’s most revolutionary phone

That’s how Project Ara got its first name; before it was Ara, a name inspired by the project’s eventual electrical, mechanical, and software engineering lead, Ara Knaian, Makoski had called it Esprimo — Esperanto for “expression.”

Like many others, I was all in on Ara. I truly hope this project gets resurrected or picked up by another company. VentureBeat did a great job conducting these interviews and putting a timeline like this together. It’s not everyday that we get to see a timeline like this in the technology industry.

Link

Mac Pro 2 Concept

German designer Pascal Eggert put together a Mac Pro 2 concept. With the help of Reddit, he was able to refine his vision.

Pascal spent a lot of time putting this together and refining his vision. You can view higher resolution photos and other beautiful concepts on his portfolio, linked below.

Link

NFL Coaches Yell At Refs Because It Freakin’ Works

Refs are faced with a near-impossible task. They make judgment calls in real time, relying on just their eyes and their experience. Deprived of the advantages, like instant replay, that we enjoy from the couch, refs have less information to help them resist the normal subconscious urge to draw on external cues for assistance in making borderline calls.

The bias is real.

Link

Kodak says it's bringing back Ektachrome film, and photographers everywhere are smiling

Kodak was forced to stop production of many of its film brands, including the iconic Kodachrome in 2009 — the world’s first successful color film. The sister brand of Ektachrome had become a cultural touchstone, responsible for capturing family moments, events and friendships on film in the country’s post-war boom.

I haven’t played with Ektachrome in decades. My wife recently helped me restore my grandfather’s old Konica from the 1960’s. I’m looking forward to putting a roll of Ektachrome through it.

George Lucas’ narrative arts museum will be located in Los Angeles

Another nice win for downtown Los Angeles. The Expo Park area is really turning into fun location. Looks like a great weekend when combined with the Natural History Museum and the California Science Center.

Link

I discovered Elia’s work 3 years ago. Together with his wife, the couple has a nomadic lifestyle that I envy.

To be a nomad, you must believe that: experiences > things

Mathematicians bring ocean to life for Disney's 'Moana'

To make animated movies these days, movie studios need to solve, or nearly solve, partial differential equations. Stomakhin, Teran and their colleagues build the code that solves the partial differential equations. More accurately, they write algorithms that closely approximate the partial differential equations because they cannot be solved perfectly. “We try to come up with new algorithms that have the highest-quality metrics in all possible categories, including preserving angular momentum perfectly and preserving energy perfectly. Many algorithms don’t have these properties,” Teran said.

I haven’t seen Moana but have heard great things from a few friends from my local SIGGRAPH group.

I laughed. I cried. I got scared.

Russia is stepping it up on the superhero front. I had to check out Wikipedia to figure out what’s going on with this movie:

Set during the Cold War, a secret organization named “Patriot” gathered a team of Soviet superheroes, altering and augmenting the DNA of four individuals, in order to defend the Homeland from supernatural threats. The team includes representatives of the different nationalities of the Soviet Union, while each one of them have long been hiding their true identity. In hard times, they settled down to business and gather to defend their homeland.

This looks absurd but that’s not stopping me from watching it.

We’re going to close this week with two great musical performances.

First up, we’ve got Sampha.

Finally, we’ve got Phantogram covering Radiohead’s Weird Fishes.

Thanks for reading issue 003. DLD is currently happening and we’ve got a lot of tech companies reporting earnings this week. This upcoming weekend should be fun for NFL fans.

See you next week! 🐨

003 — January 17, 2017 was originally published in whatspop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Welcome to the second issue of whatspop!

CES is over and you’ve probably read all about it over the last few days. I’ll just give you my quick take: PCs are interesting again, Amazon Alexa is being integrated with everything, car manufacturers showed off interesting concepts, and TVs continued to get thinner.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s jump into this week’s issue.

ichelle im: What if a drone were friendly?

001 is a modular drone designed to be easy to use and maintain. The soft, rational form signals approachability. The detachable panoramic camera can be mounted either to the drone body or handle.

Interesting drone concept by the new design outlet, ichelle im. I’ve been following Andrew’s blog for years and am hoping to see more concepts now. I still look back quite fondly on his HTC work from a decade ago. Link

Coachella 2017 — looks like a great weekend of live music. The first night steals the show w/ Radiohead and the XX. I’m a huge fan of experiencing Coachella from home, where I’m in a dust-free climate-controlled environment with a bathroom that’s 20 feet from my couch. Link

Empathy is how you make things that don’t suck.

Dan Kaminsky on creating an NIH for the security industry — It’s an older podcast episode with some gems worth repeating. Link

In 2016 I started an experiment of doing daily sketches in the form of short animations posted on instagram. In these sketches I tried out different visual ideas involving geometry, animation, gesture and graphic form. I had no idea what to expect but it felt like a good new years resolution and nice way to experiment with some ideas I had been thinking about.

Daily Sketches in 2016 — Zach Lieberman shares his journey and process for creating beautiful sketches in 2016. You don’t have to be interested in programming to be inspired by his output. Link

The crack in question has been growing for years and is now a total of roughly 70 miles long. When the fissure reaches the far side of the shelf, an iceberg the size of Delaware will float off, leaving the Larsen C 10 percent smaller.

A Really Big Crack In An Antarctic Ice Shelf Just Got Bigger — Going on a photography trip to Antarctica has been on my bucket list for years. Looks like I’ll need to bump that up the priority list. Link

Moves — this is an interesting step tracker that I’ve been using this for the past week. As with all trackers, this one drained my battery faster than usual — your mileage may vary. The UI/UX is beautiful and it’s fun to watch things move on screen as you walk around IRL. Available for Android and iOS. Link

Most apps that use Google Hangouts API will shut down in April

In 2016, Google launched new messaging apps like Allo and Duo, and the company has now begun pre-installing Duo on new Android devices, replacing Hangouts. However, both Duo and Allo are currently mobile-only apps, while Hangouts also has PC desktop support, along with deep integrations with other services like Gmail and Google Docs. That makes Hangouts better for its many business and enterprise customers, which Google still wants to support.

Google needs to figure out what they want to do regarding messaging and share their plans publicly. As an Android user I can tell you that this is a hot mess right now. I assume that at some point that there will be a transition from Hangouts to Allo for texts…I am dreading this day.

DJI reportedly acquires majority stake in historic camera company Hasselblad

But buying a majority ownership of shares in Hasselblad would make sense for DJI. Although it’s already the dominant player in the drone industry, it would benefit from Hasselblad’s technology and its brand to further increase its appeal to professional photographers.

I’m ready for drones equipped with medium format cameras. Bring it.

I made my son cannabis cookies. They changed his life.

But when I got the cookies right, he calmed down. His aggressions became less ferocious and less frequent. Mealtimes became less fraught. He was able to maintain enough self-composure that he even learned to ride a bike — despite every expert telling us it would never happen.

The xx have a new album dropping this week. This was a live SNL performance from a few months ago.

Listeners Playlist — neat! Thanks to Jamie for sending this over. At some point, I didn’t even realize that I was listening to Korean soul. Link

Darth Vader’s Castle — concept art from The Art of Rogue One book. My only gripe was not seeing more of this in the movie. Here’s hoping for a solo Vader flick. Link

iris kessler on Twitter

my sister is about to have a baby and my brother showed up to the hospital in a suit because "first impressions matter

…and we’ll end this week with some feels.

Thanks for reading issue 002. Nintendo’s big presentation about the Switch is happening next week in NYC and I’m super excited to see it in action!

See you next week! 🐨

002 — January 8, 2017 was originally published in whatspop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Welcome to 2017 and the inaugural issue of whatspop. My aim is to post curated links every week about technology, culture, and the future.

I’ve got a dozen interesting things to share for the first issue. Let’s jump in.

Nurturing Genius — the science of educating kids today. Link

“Whether we like it or not, these people really do control our society,” says Jonathan Wai, a psychologist at the Duke Talent Identification Program, which collaborates with the Hopkins center. Wai combined data from 11 prospective and retrospective longitudinal studies, including SMPY, to demonstrate the correlation between early cognitive ability and adult achievement. “The kids who test in the top 1 percent tend to become our eminent scientists and academics, our Fortune 500 CEOs, and federal judges, senators and billionaires,” he says.

How I Built This: Yvon Chouinard, CEO Patagonia — psychology of business growth is important for companies of all sizes. It’s not about being a rocket ship — it’s about being a 100 year company. Link

Physical Grain — film is not dead. Love the pairing of short essays with analog photography. Link

DHH on Watches — couldn’t agree more. I’ll take an analog watch over a smart watch. Gosh, I miss my first generation Nike FuelBand.

The OA — an interesting new sci-fi show for Netflix. Scored by the writer’s brother, who is a former member of Vampire Weekend. Unlike other Netflix shows, I think this one is going to be a slow and weird burn.

The Heart Goes Last — Atwood became one of my favorite writers after Oryx and Crake. This isn’t quite at that level but it was a fun novel to tear through during the road trip. Link (Amazon)

Fog Waves — love these long exposures. A 5–10 stop ND filter and a shutter release cable should go quite a long way for those interested. We tried to do this on our road trip last week and failed as Mt. Tam isn’t especially foggy during the winter. We’ll have to come back this summer. Link

Noon Pacific — discovered this project that curates music playlists. Perfect for background work or just zoning out. What are some other good music discovery services? Link

Lagom — an alternative to PowerPoint for developers. The demo works on mobile as well. Clever use of the same origin policy for presentation mode. Features synchronized cursors and highlighting. Link

Ransomware Chronicle — 2016 was a bad year for ransomware. Will be interesting to see if any security companies can help make a dent. People that focus on restoring backups rarely test integrity, which doesn’t make this a bulletproof solution. I consider this zero-sum problem. Link

Coldplay Up and Up — probably the best video of 2016. The rotoscoping work is impressive. I’d love to see a behind the scenes for this video.

Alien Covenant — looking forward to the continuation of the Prometheus/Alien story. Looks like a return to form.

Thanks for reading issue 001. CES is happening now and the next few days should be interesting.

See you next week! 🐨

001 — January 3, 2017 was originally published in whatspop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.