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A Letter From Om #3 (07.1.2024)
Due to an unforeseen glitch due to a complicated gluing together of my CMS (WordPress hosted by Automattic), the mailing list plugin (Mailster), and email delivery service, Postmark, the newsletter wasn’t delivered as it should have been. Instead, it has appeared as truncated text with a non-working link. I am still investigating the root cause of this problem. (June 30, 2024. 5.15 pm, pst)
Even though it’s the same as it was eons ago, time seems to be moving faster. Life, overtaken by a maniacal unseen force, moves with an urgency that is sometimes unnecessary and often unnoticed. And just like that, 2024 is half over. Welcome to the third edition of my letter to you. I had hoped to write with a monthly cadence, but I have been busy.
The past three months have been filled with action and activity. If you’re a regular visitor to my website or have signed up for “website updates” via email newsletter, you know it has been a busy spring. (If you weren’t aware of this option, every time I publish something new on the website, it’s automatically sent to your inbox. If you’re interested, sign up by entering your email address.)
There’s a great new energy in Silicon Valley (and in San Francisco), and I often find myself at various technology-centric gatherings. There’s a burst of energy from new founders, who are showing up with fresh ideas – tinkering, tweaking and trying to figure out what’s next. From gadgets to new applications, ideas are coming thick and fast. I sometimes wonder if there are enough hours in the day for me to consume it all.
We have entered a phase of technological flux. When we emerge on the other side, it will shape our relationship with information, machines and society itself. I am swept up in this swell and have been working on two projects — both combining my love of writing and these new technologies. I’m not ready to talk about them just yet, but hopefully very soon, I will be able to share further details.
The best part of my “now” is waking up everyday with fewer answers and more questions. This is why I spend more time reading and learning than creating. I share what I’ve read as part of my twice-weekly post — Field Notes (published midweek and on the weekend) — another reason to sign up for automatic delivery of my writing to your inbox.
Here are some of my recent writings that try to capture some of this flux:
- This is the future of media with AI
- A startup’s “tablet” gears up to take on Apple’s iPad
- AI Hardware is experimental & it’s okay!
- How OpenAI Stole Google’s Thunder
- How “AI” is helping my writing process
- AI has an “Anus” Problem.
- Apple + AI: The Apple Way
- Some Thoughts About The M4 Chip.
- Sometimes a camera is not just a camera!
- In praise of the underdog
Travels and Trials
With so much going on in my backyard, I have had fewer reasons to travel anywhere — though I went to New York (for work) and Los Angeles, mostly for a change of scenery. I wanted to test the new Leica SL3 camera. I wanted to spend time photographing the Disney Concert Hall— a photography bucket list destination — and see if I could push myself beyond landscape photography.
While I am still editing the Disney Center photos, here is a set of a few photos from around Los Angeles — just a few photos straight out of the Leica SL3. My landscape photography has fallen by the wayside, with urban architecture and cityscapes becoming my new areas for trying new techniques.
With summer here, I often contemplate travel, but when I see excessively hot temperatures, I much prefer the foggy, cooler confines of my hometown, San Francisco. It has been blissful here – nice and warm in the afternoon, sweater weather in the evening. And fog does make for a good photographic companion.
My recommendations:
- I am currently listening to Eric Hilton’s Out of the Blur album. Eric is one-half of my favorite musical group, Thievery Corporation. This is his first foray into ambient music. The new album retains enough of “Thievery” even with this genre change. Highly recommended for a quick 45-minute chillout.
- On a friend’s recommendation, I read Ethan Mollick’s Co-Intelligence. If you’re interested in reading about living with AI, this is a handy book. You won’t regret spending money or time on it. I finished it in one sitting. Mollick is a professor of management at the Wharton School, specializing in entrepreneurship and innovation.
PS: Visit the blog, where I occasionally post short 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.