And I’m serious. It’s all about YOU — and I mean it. Could you please reply to this email and tell me what you like [or don’t like] about this newsletter? Which sections, what sort of links, what’s missing, etc.
or you can do it here.
I’m trying to make a decision here, and I need your feedback, please.
I’m trying to provide value for you, so I need to focus my attention on what brings you the most value and stop doing what’s not.
Thank you so much!
Also, I’m working on changing the frequency of this newsletter for my paid subscribers… thanking them by giving them something extra… like an in-depth analysis of a hot tech topic of the week…
if that’s something you’re interested in, you should upgrade your subscription.
News
Clubhouse is partnering with the NFL for draft week programming [link]
Elon Musk is hosting Saturday Night Live on May 8th, and no, this is not a joke [link]
Here’s what Neymar looks like in Fortnite [link]
Spotify against Apple, AirDrop’s bug, Amazon’s shareholders [link]
Hands-on with Apple AirTag, SpaceX’s latest launch, and YouTube’s latest feature for creators [link]
Apple’s leaks, senate hearings, and Twitter’s quality upgrade [link]
Apple’s new stuff, Instagram against abuse, and FBI’s latest catch from Instagram [link]
Clubhouse competitors everywhere; and Tesla’s latest crash [link]
🧠 a gift for you.
Worth Your Attention
GaryVee talks about music, audio, and sonic with Ryan Tedder [OneRepublic], Kirdis Postelle [Amazon Music], John Coyne [Intel], and many others. [Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify]
it’s a really really good episode; there’s a part two as well. but you’re smart; you’ll find it.
In a blog post, Stratechery’s Ben Thompson talks about NFTs. [link]
with some stuff that happened around Taylor Swift and her albums on streaming platforms… and Dave Chappelle and Comedy Central… and why Bitcoin and NFTs are valuable (or not).
Mark Mulligan talks about how the music industry’s centre of gravity is shifting toward creator tools…
music industry, like gaming industry, is one of my favourite areas; and Mark Mulligan’s Music Industry Blog is of my go to places to read about it.
Chart of the Week
Coinbase IPO & days of record-breaking usage
Coinbase (COIN) IPO’d last week, and its valuation reached over $80 billion after its first day of public trading.
In its first week as a public company, Coinbase’s four main apps were downloaded about 2.7M times total, 2.3M of its Coinbase - Buy & Sell Bitcoin app. All of its apps, except Coinbase Card, broke their lifetime records for single-day downloads and daily active users (DAU).
Read more on Apptopia.
& more stats
According to Squarespace in their S1 filing, they have almost 4m paying users and did $4bn of eCommerce GMV last year [link]
Hootsuite’s Global State of Digital report [link]
eBook penetration still trails that of printed books by a wide margin across the globe [link]
Data on the use of content management systems (CMS) on the web. WordPress leads, but Squarespace is overtaking Wix on some measures [link]
US children’s TV viewing fell sharply in lockdown: everyone is at home, but not on TV [link]
Joe Rogan’s Spotify exclusivity and its effects on his relevance [link]
Tools & Apps
Little Alchemy 2: Create the world from scratch [iOS | Android]
this was fun!
Iconduck: 113,524 free open source icons & illustrations
solid resource
Notion Finance Tracker: Powerful finance tracker within a Notion template
why wouldn’t i give it try? right?
Shotty: Faster access to screenshots on macOS
been using this for a while; it’s super handy
Spotted
Instagram is working on Private Stories [link]
Instagram is working on an option to quickly create a Layout story from the gallery [link]
Instagram is working on a new sticker: “Link” [link]
Instagram is working on a new sticker: “Super Mention” [link]
Instagram is working on an option to automatically generate captions in your video posts [link]
Instagram is working on a redesigned video call grid view [link]
Instagram is working on the possibility to choose to receive messages on WhatsApp when creating a promotion with “More Messages” goal [link]
Instagram is now showing ads in Reels feed [link]
Instagram is working on an option to create a story to thank supporters after a Live [link]
Instagram is working on a new chat theme: “Star Wars” [link]
Twitter is working on the ability to appeal tweet warnings from the context menu [link]
Twitter is working on the “Super Follow” button [link]
Twitter is working on Twitter Spaces player for the web app [link]
Snapchat is working on the "Cancel Send" option for non-delivered messages [link]
Snapchat is working on Shared Story [link]
Snapchat is working on Favorite Stickers [link]
TikTok is working on the ability to pin comments [link]
🐦 Tweets of the Week
Fun Stuff
and now we’re done for this week
What did you think of this issue? Your feedback matters — more than you think!