Hi Friends!
Summer is here in full force in Los Angeles (I know this because my 1920s apartment doesn't have central air!). I just got back from an extended vacation on the East Coast which was preceded by an intense month-long sprint at work where I delivered a pretty complicated build-a-box feature for one of our clients (you can check it out here, I'm very proud of it).
Following Nate Kadlac's advice on including illustrations to spruce up my newsletters, I've included (below) a recent drawing I did of Pier 3 in Philadelphia (one of the stops on my trip). This ended up taking me more time than I would have liked, and I realized that doing "landscapes" is a slippery slope because I can fall into the trap of trying to include too much detail. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out regardless.
I'm constantly trying to evolve the format of my newsletters. For the curation portion of the emails I've already have been focusing on data visualizations and inspiring art/illustrations, more recently I've been thinking of updating them to also touch on other topics that are important/of-interest to me — this will include: sustainability, tech being used for good (ie. In a way that benefits people, versus distracting or pacifying them).
Curation
Tech Used For Good
Finding internet friends via this 'Small World' app
As someone who is a proponent of using the internet to find your tribe, I'm especially excited to share the app that Devon Zuegel just released, called Small World (which uses the location from your Twitter profile to find nearby friends).
It's already leading to IRL meetups!
I’m in Denver this week for a conference and used @devonzuegel’s http://smallworld.kiwi tool to see which of my Twitter friends live here. @Mar15sa and I just had lunch and it was lovely! The internet is cool, but even cooler when it leads to friends IRL 🥰. - @SimoneStolzoff
Snapchat is teaching its users American Sign Language (ASL)
Earlier this year Snapchat launched a new augmented reality lens to encourage its users to learn ASL. I'm here for any technology that improves the lives of anyone with a disability, and I've written about how modern technology can be used as a medium that helps people learn through engagement and interactivity.
WWDC iOS 16 Announcements
Earlier this month Apple hosted its annual World Wide Developers Conference and announced some useful upcoming features for increasingly powerful pocket computers:
- Passkeys: In an aim to avoid customers having to use passwords, Apple wants our devices (phone, computer) to act as primary authentication devices (where you'd use Face/Touch ID/pin instead of a unique password). This will be good for preventing phishing attacks and/or personal data leaks, but could further entrench us in platform lock-in.
- A 'Medications' app: Apple is going to release its own Medications app to help users track the drugs they take, as well as create custom schedules/reminders for when it's time to take them. While this is long overdue, Apple will need to stay committed to user privacy if they want customers to trust them with storing such personal data.
- Apple's Fitness app is coming to all users: Previously limited customers with an Apple Watch, the Fitness app will be a welcome addition to the exercise tracking functionality on the iPhone (as the current Health app isn't designed with that focus on motivation/gamification of activity).
- Support for using an iPhone as a webcam: iPhone cameras are spectacular, while webcams are infamously low quality. As the amount of communication we do remotely continues to increase, a higher-fidelity interaction is more desired and needed.
Getting Ukrainians back online with Elon's Starlink
I have my qualms with Elon Musk, but there is no doubt that he is a visionary whose technological pursuits will inevitably shape (and hopefully positively impact) the future of humanity. Recently, his company SpaceX's Starlink terminals have been sent to Ukrainians as a way to provide internet in war-torn areas of the country that had otherwise lost access to the outside world.
On Sustainability
Cutting off gas from Russia: good or bad for our renewable energy future?
It will be interesting to see if the war in Ukraine further expedites the renewable energy future as more European countries contemplate decreasing/banning Russian oil/natural gas.
Hopefully, Russia's retaliatory cut-off of gas flows to Austria, Germany and the Netherlands don't resort to restarting coal-fired plants to help tackle energy shortages.
Visualization of the Week: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from food
There is a lot to dissect in this visualization — essentially, the x-axis is a measure of how much the various food-production-activities can lower the global temperature over the next century.
The two that stood out for me were:
- Limiting food waste and losses: At least 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from wasted food – that’s three times the emissions from aviation.
- Eating a plant-based diet: Eating less meat and dairy – especially beef and lamb — would contribute to a decrease in food production that is responsible for 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.*
Via: Our World in Data
Parting thoughts
With the unfortunate news of Roe vs. Wade being overturned today, I thought it was rather fitting to remind everyone about the downstream effects of lack of participation in our democratic system. Two-thirds of eligible voters don't vote. Donald Trump appointed two supreme court justices during his time in office. And those justices don't have term limits.
Via: @ToyGalaxyDan
Until next time!
P.S. You can respond to this email, I read every reply. I would love to hear from you!