A letter from Om. Issue #12/2023 

Hi! I am Om & this is my letter where I share what’s on my mind, my latest writings, articles worth reading from around the web, my recommendations & some of my photography. 

In this issue I address: 

• What’s on my mind? 
• What I am up to? 
• Some of my recent writings. 
• Articles worth reading. 
• Recommendations. 

What’s on my mind?

Over the years, I’ve shown unwavering loyalty to various products and companies, championing them based on personal experiences that attested to their value. However, that loyalty is not reciprocated. Platforms like Pocket, which I’ve used religiously, are altering and, to a large extent, degrading their user experience in ways that seem to prioritize corporate interests. Meanwhile, Square, a payment platform I once praised, now exhibits questionable marketing tactics. These personal observations serve as a microcosm of a broader trend: companies potentially compromising the trust and integrity that users, like myself, have placed in them. [More of my thoughts published here.] 

What I am up to? 

I’m off on a journey again.

While the primary purpose of this trip is to take photographs, I hope to witness the effects of climate change firsthand. In a few weeks, I aim to share my observations, and hopefully, there will be photos to accompany them.

Until then, here are some readings for you.

Some of my recent writings  

1. Threads, Zuckerberg’s direct challenge to the platform once named Twitter, serves as a reminder of Twitter’s history of missteps. Remember the ill-fated foray into live-streaming when it should have focused on enhancing its photo-centric capacities? Fast forward six years, and you see Threads doing exactly that. Despite its shortcomings, Threads might just be the haven photos and photographers yearn for, distinct from a waning Instagram. Dive into the full piece!
2. Email newsletters aimed to simplify RSS feeds by centralizing information in our inboxes and helping writers stand out. However, with platforms like Substack and Ghost making newsletter creation effortless, we’re now overwhelmed by them. Once praised for efficiency, like blogs before them, newsletters have become tools for content marketing. How do we fix the too many newsletter problem?
3. Camera companies are struggling with software integration, despite its growing importance in photography. This reflects historical trends, such as when cloud services surpassed traditional servers, causing companies like Sun Microsystems to decline. Just as scale, affordability, and connectivity have disrupted industries ranging from mobile phones to taxis, these elements are now transforming the camera industry. This is why I believe camera companies might be heading towards an ominous future.

Worth reading  

• Personal ads shouldn’t be boring, as demonstrated by the London Review of Books. (Someone should send a memo to the Tinder crowd.)
• What the hell is a polycrisis? Find out at Aeon. 
• The man who broke bowling. This is a great read from the GQ magazine.
• What it means to be a car. An excellent short story about an AI car. 
• 15 years after it was launched, Apple’s App Store needs a refresh, writes Christina Warren. 

Etcetera 

• Here are a few my recent photos I captured with my iPhone.
• I highly recommend Kohraa, an Indian crime series (with subtitles) that is now streaming on Netflix. It is so un-Bollywood, and that alone should be a reason to watch it. 
• John Maeda does an annual design in tech report. The 2023 version is particularly good. You can watch the video or download the pdf from the Designintech website.

PS: Visit the blog, where I occasionally post short blog posts with links and nuggets of goodness about tech, science, and life in general. You can find my essays,  interviews, and photos on Om.co.