A Letter From Om #4 (The End of Summer Edition)

“It’s always summer somewhere.” — Lilly Pulitzer

And just like that, we’re in September, starting to wind down the clock on yet another year. For me, summer is a much slower, contemplative time. Unlike people who have families and family vacations, I get to stay in the coolest (typographically and metaphorically speaking) city, San Francisco. While most of the Northern Hemisphere dealt with 100-degree temperatures, we San Franciscans wore our puffers (or in my case, cardigans) in the morning and walked in short sleeves during the afternoon. I went for a short photography trip to the Palouse with a friend. Four days of near 100-degree weather was enough to make me appreciate my city even more.

This month, our summer arrives and lasts through October. Beautiful sunny skies, temperate days, and cooler evenings will fill my town. After 21 years in this city, I suppose I can call it that. In a way, our city is different — it zigs when others zag. It marches to its own weird beat. It lives in a future, slightly unclear and slightly scary.

Long before it spread across the country as part of the transportation network, Uber became a fixture in San Francisco. I remember paying for coffee with a clunky Square card reader back in 2009. This summer, when I was in the Palouse, every single meal or coffee I bought in restaurants in rural Washington and Idaho used Square. Tap and pay!

Today, it’s not uncommon to see three consecutive driverless Waymo vehicles ferrying passengers to their destinations. Add a couple of Teslas and you can see what’s coming. Between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, Waymo is providing 100,000 rides a week. Just as I was an early adopter of Uber and Square, I am an early adopter of Waymo, which is my preferred way to get around. Uber is now my transportation backup — at least in San Francisco.

Don’t get me wrong — Waymo isn’t perfect. Nothing reinforces the limitations of algorithms more than Waymo’s routing, which is just as flawed as human drivers’ since it also relies on Google Maps and Waze data. Eventually, the networked intelligence guided by constantly updated sensors will make everything more accurate. The more you experience AI automation, the more you realize that in the age of techno-automation, human qualities will be at a premium.

Many friends often wonder if I’m taking undue risks by using driverless taxis. I respond with a smirk: “Have you seen how humans drive?” In reality, I’m more interested in embracing the future and preparing for what’s to come instead of being too worried about what could go wrong. After all, if you don’t know what something is, it’s hard to figure out what could go wrong.

Some Housekeeping Notes:

• First of all, I apologize for the complete mess that was the last edition of the newsletter. It was a monumental technical disaster, hopefully not to be repeated. If you’re still interested in reading it, here is a link to the last newsletter.
• I have a new section on the website called “Did You Read This?” It’s a synopsis of the long-form technology (and technology-adjacent) articles and essays I find as part of my daily reading. If they’re worth your time, I share them along with my comments. This is in addition to Field Notes, a new category of posts that is essentially a collection of interesting data, news, research, and ephemera.
• My focus now is to return to being more of a blogger and less of a social media sharer. I can’t deal with the increased rancor on social platforms and only use them sparingly, like a salt shaker. This is yet another reason why you should visit my blog often — or at least get updates via email or, if you’re old-school, via RSS feeds! Sign up to get my blog posts in your inbox!

Some of my recent essays

1. Google’s Real Googly No, not the antitrust problems: What does Afghan spin bowler Rashid Khan have to do with Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Yahoo? Well, it’s all neatly wrapped in my 3,500-word essay on the big changes in the tech landscape — and no, the antitrust actions have nothing to do with it. Do you have the energy to read it? If not, save it to your favorite read-it-later app.

2. How AI Will Reshape Our Tools: The passing of WordPerfect co-creator Bruce Bastian prompted reflection on the evolution of word processors. Word processors have evolved from personal productivity tools to collaboration-centric platforms like Google Docs, and now to a future of more personalized productivity.

3. What CrowdStrike teaches us about risks & resilience: We are living with an interconnected digital nervous system. The big question to ask (and answer): How do we think of risk and resilience in our highly connected society? Perhaps we should start by ensuring everyone from regulators to media to technology buyers becomes well-versed in understanding the underlying technologies. Otherwise, we will have more CrowdStrikes, ensuing faux outrage and jingoism.

Not Technology Essay: Why and How IPL could save test cricket.

My other recent articles

• AI Unicorns Scoop Up Funding in Silicon Valley. Link
• AI Dominating Data Centers? What do the numbers say? Link
• Fixed Wireless Is Stealing the Broadband Show. Finally! Link
• Why the FTC Needs to Rethink Tech Regulation. Link
• Apple’s decision to strike a deal with Taboola is shocking and off-brand — so much so that I have started to question the company’s long-term commitment to good customer experience, including its commitment to privacy. Link
• Some intermittent social media fasting is good for the brain and soul. Link
• Why Influencers Are More Relevant Than Traditional Media. Link
• And why we should really be careful of trusting the influencers. Link

My photography:

I would love for you to check out my latest photographs.

• Fogust Is Over: Photos From Foggy Evenings in San Francisco
• Climbing a mountain on a foggy morning.
• I went to the Palouse and took some photos.

Etc:

• I am using the Series app for creating photo collages and crops for social media. (Review)
• I am currently enjoying “Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See” by Bianca Bosker.

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