Total number of Old Fashioneds this year: 42 (+13.51% YoY)

• Read 3 books (827 min, +9%) and 35 long-form articles (+1650%)
• Listened to 528 songs (+18%) and 6 podcast episodes (311 min, -35%)
• Watched 3 movies (same), 9 soccer games (835 min, +178%) and 13 TV episodes (899 min, +203%)
• Played 3 video games (210 min, -76%)

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 7-100%

Fentanyl, Inc. (Ben Westhoff)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

Softwar (Matthew Symonds)
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-20%

Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (pmarchive)

The Audio Revolution (Alex Danco)

Secular Cycles (Slate Star Codex)

How Do You Like We Now (Matt Levine)

Ben Westhoff on Synthetic Drugs, Dive Bars and the Evolution of Rap (Conversations with Tyler)

Top Artists: Travi$ Scott, Tool, The National, Kanye West, Hans Zimmer

• While I think that the keynote presentations were better than in the last few years, the overall narrative still felt incredibly unexciting. It’s fascinating to see how clearly marketing isn’t baked into the Google’s DNA and how much it struggles with products that don’t sell organically like Search (Cloud is another good example of this).

• Related: It’s telling that the most exciting announcement of the event wasn’t new hardware but the new recorder app. I can’t wait for this to roll out beyond Pixel phones (Side note: I’m still confused by Pixel-exclusive software features .. I doubt that they have an actual impact on Pixel sales and Google’s strategy has always been fundamentally about reach)

• I’ll be switching back to an iPhone this year after being an Android user for the last five years. In those years I’ve owned about five Nexus and Pixel phones of which every single one broke after at most six months (stuck in boot loop, display stopped working, camera bugs, etc). I still prefer Android over iOS, but I just can’t justify spending another 700 bucks on a phone I constantly have to worry about dying on me. (Request for product: An iPhone that runs Android)

• I was a little disappointed to see that Google ditched the fingerprint sensor in favor of face-unlock. The backside fingerprint sensor is not just more convenient but also way underrated as a secondary interface in my opinion (see: swipe for notifications).

• Speaking of secondary interfaces: I love that Google is experimenting with Motion sense – even though this will face the same dilemma as the recorder app: If you keep this a Pixel exclusive, no app developer will seriously build features based on it. Why didn’t Google build this into its Nest speakers instead?

• Great to hear that there finally a more serious competitor to Apple’s Airpods. I wonder why it took Google so long to start competing in this space given how much effort they put into smart speaker adoption.

• Related to the previous point: I’m surprised that there’s still no Pixel watch. Feels like a necessary addition not just to the Pixel Buds but the entire ambient computing narrative.

• Read 4 books (760 min, -33%) and 2 long-form articles (-96%)
• Listened to 447 songs (-17%) and 7 podcast episodes (476 min, -21%)
• Watched 3 movies (+50%), 3 soccer games (300 min, -61%) and 5 TV episodes (297 min, -59%)
• Played 3 video games (860 min, +1465%)

The Power Broker (Robert A. Caro)
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▓ Progress: 93-100%

Super Pumped (Mike Isaac)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-7%

The Dream Machine (M. Mitchell Waldrop)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-8%

Almost Everything About Goodreads Is Broken (OneZero)

Alain Bertaud on Cities, Markets, and People (Conversations with Tyler)

What Bryan Caplan Thinks About Basically Everything (Venture Stories)

Into the Breach, Super Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Top Artists: Tool, Bon Iver, Yann Tiersen, Deichkind, Bob Moses

• Charter cities
• Payment processing infrastructure
  Related questions:
• What explains the adoption of different payment methods across different countries?
• Why is Germany so obsessed with cash?
• Douglas Engelbart
• Command line interfaces
• Personal user manuals
  See Working with Claire Hughes Johnson & A Guide to Urs.
  Are there other good examples?

• Read 5 books (1355 min, +179%) and 27 long-form articles (-7%)
• Listened to 521 songs (+62%), 0 audiobooks (same) and 8 podcast episodes (445 min, -10%)
• Watched 7 movies (+600%), 3 soccer games (-25%) and 21 TV episodes (1141 min, -28%)
• Played 0 video games (-100%)

The Power Broker (Robert A. Caro)
░░░░░░▓░░░░░░░░ Progress: 40-48%

The Revolt of the Public (Martin Gurri)
░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 7-100%

Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-8%

House of Leaves (Mark Danielewski)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-2%

The Dawn of Eurasia (Bruno Macaes)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░ Progress: 0-92%

How I practice at what I do (Tyler Cowen)

The Economist Who Would Fix the American Dream (The Atlantic)

Liu Cixin’s War of the Worlds (New Yorker)

Neal Stephenson on Depictions of Reality (Conversations with Tyler)

An Era of Stagnation & Universal Institutional Failure (The Portal)

Top Artists: The National, Thom Yorke, The Black Keys, James Blake, Van Morrison

• Read 5 books (485 min, +10%) and 29 long-form articles (+16%)
• Listened to 321 songs (+21%), 0 audiobooks (0 min, -100%) and 8 podcast episodes (495 min, +114%)
• Watched 1 movie (-80%), 4 soccer games (same) and 28 TV episodes (1577 min, +431%)
• Played 1 video game (485 min, +52%)

The Power Broker (Robert A. Caro)
░░░░░▓░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 38-40%

How Asia Works (Joe Studwell)
░░░░░░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 42-100%

The Thief (Fuminori Nakamura)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

The Revolt of the Public (Martin Gurri)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-7%

It’s 2059, and the Rich Kids Are Still Winning (Ted Chiang, NYT)

You can handle the post-truth (Aaron Z. Lewis)

Kinky Labor Supply and the Attention Tax (Andrew Kortina)

Joe Rogan Experience #1309 – Naval Ravikant

Feeling Superhuman with Rahul Vohra (The Art of Product Podcast)

Hal Varian on Taking the Academic Approach to Business (Conversations with Tyler)

Top Artists: The National, Hans Zimmer, Radiohead, Oasis, Thom Yorke

We now live in a world where pretty much everything is subscription based. Listen to music? Monthly subscription. Start a meditation habit? Monthly subscription. Faster Amazon deliveries? Monthly subscription. Life as a service, essentially.

While recurring revenue streams are great for the businesses offering them, as a consumer I find it increasingly harder to keep track all my active subscriptions. Free trials, different billing periods and automatic renewals have made it really difficult to stay on top of my finances.

So I created a little subscription tracker in Notion.

In this database I save all of my subscription services including their current status (active / paused / canceled), billing period (yearly / monthly) and calculate monthly and yearly costs.

Most importantly, I save the renewal date of each subscription and add a 1 week reminder so that I still have the option to cancel before a new payment hits my credit card.

I posted a public version of my subscription tracker here for you to copy.

• Read 2 books (440 min, -27%) and 25 long-form articles (+14%)
• Listened to 266 songs (-31%), 1 audiobook (200 min, -86%) and 4 podcast episodes (231 min, -58%)
• Watched 5 movies (+400%), 4 soccer games (-50%) and 5 TV episodes (297 min, +141%)
• Played 1 video game (320 min, -3%)

Killing Commendatore (Haruki Murakami)
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▓ Progress: 92-100%

The Power Broker (Robert A. Caro)
░░░░░▓░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 33-38%

How Asia Works (Joe Studwell)
░░▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 14-42%

Why books don’t work (Andy Matuschak)

Understanding Abundance (Alex Danco)

Going Critical (Kevin Simler)

The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet (Yancey Strickler)

The making of Amazon Prime (Vox / Recode)

Top Artists: The National, The Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age, Two Door Cinema Club, Deichkind