This week, we discuss the growing importance of data privacy, the use of your calendar for greater productivity, and the upcoming Dune movie. Also, read my recent article on how I hacked my keyboard shortcuts to get things done on my laptop incredibly quickly. Enjoy!
Technology
The Verge discusses how short-form audio will be the next big social media trend. They argue how longer-form content like podcasting or even Clubhouse is a heavier lift for content creators, so short-form audio might be an easier way for creators to get started. Just like what Twitter did to blog posting or TikTok did for videos, short-form audio will do for podcasting. Interesting thought.
A story broke this week on the much darker side of data collection. A priest was outed through his use of the app, Grindr, which was sold to data brokers and other third parties. This is an incredible violation and is a major wake-up call for better laws around privacy.
Productivity
David Sparks wrote up how he uses his calendar to plan his day, and then record how his day actually went. I’ve been experimenting a lot with what he calls hyper-scheduling, and I found it to be a boost to my productivity. One key point he makes is that your day will never go according to plan. But that’s okay, you should get over it. Using your calendar as a means to make sure you’re dedicating your time to the most important tasks that you need to get done on a given day can be very helpful to make an impact.
Miscellany
As mentioned last week, Netflix is getting into video games. This week, they’ve announced they’ll start with mobile-only video games. That makes a lot of sense considering they won’t have to worry about hardware or controllers other than the screen on a smartphone. It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves and if they end up producing hardware once they want to get into gaming on the television.
Gizmodo did a fantastic breakdown of the new Dune trailer. I read Dune, a couple of years ago, and absolutely loved it. It remains one of my favorite books. The scene-by-scene breakdown shows some incredible design decisions the writers made for the film, and I can’t wait for the movie to come out. See the trailer here.