What I'm up to - June 2024
Here's my monthly newsletter (a couple of weeks late!) about what I'm up to, which I send in place of social media.
What I did in May
- Summer weather has hit NYC - it's great to be back outside
- Published a podcast about creator versus software businesses
- Published a video of live-coding an AI feature on Booklet
- Built a lot of Booklet features - auto-linking of URLs, a public API, the ability to disable the membership directory, anti-scraping protections on emails, a new writing UI, and a Zapier integration.
- Went to a concert under the Kosciuszko Bridge, which was such a cool venue.
Things to share
- Books: Unreasonable Hospitality was a fun look at how Will Guidara built the #1 restaurant in the world to balance art and business. I've also been re-reading What I Know About Running Coffee Shops. The Interior Design Handbook explains Scandanavian design and how to achieve hygge. Algebra of Wealth distills some good advice.
- Coffee: I've been having a lot of espresso tonics this week- perhaps it will be my Summer drink.
- Companies: I'm obsessed with CW&T, a little physical product studio in Brooklyn. I don't own any of their products (yet!), but I love their approach to building.
- Articles: "Turn your iPhone into a dumb phone" taught me how to quickly switch between grayscale and color mode. "Why Members-Only Clubs Are Everywhere Right Now" shows the unbundling of the office with remote work and people seeking out-of-home spaces. "Colorado's Bold New Approach to Highways" is great. This article about Kintsugi is inspiring - we have one vase repaired with gold, and perhaps I'll repair more. The Economist' Style Guide as a ChatGPT prompt. Is parallel entrepreneurship / the "studio" model a trap? (2012)
- Music: Ivy Queen Tiny Desk. Promises is such a cool collaboration.
- Apps: OpenAI for Mac is surprisingly good and keeps AI help just a quick keyboard shortcut away.
- Videos: About Gotye - an independent musician.
- Trends: I've been trying to buy mostly plastic-free clothing. It's surprisingly hard.
- Words: A flock of ravens is an unkindness. Bildungsroman is a cool word.
- Food: I've made a loose habit of going to the #1 restaurant in the world most years since since 2017. I find it inspiring to see what elite performance looks like in food, and what goes into achieving it. So, I was excited to see Disfrutrar named #1 in the world for 2024 - I had visited there in November and found the food to be innovative. (I won't go back to Disfrutar this year, so I've decided to go to the 2022 #1 restaurant - which I had missed.)
Plans for June
- Just moved within NYC - I'm now living closer to Washington Square Park.
- NY Tech Week had some fun events.
- Visited Cleveland for four hours.
- Building!
Where I'll be
- NYC