Non-fungible Swift 💸
Only Taylor Swift can declare an album “Taylor’s Version” and assign that value.

Next.js goes to 10.1 👨‍💻
The next version of Next.js is out, featuring three times faster refresh, fewer dependencies, and a commerce integration with Shopify.

What comes after software disrupts 💥
At a certain point, we’re all natives of this technological world. That’s when the real magic will happen.

Germany’s third wave is on the way 🦠
COVID incidence rates are on the rise here in Germany, and it looks like we’re headed for another round of lockdowns.

Shopify purchases more direct air capture of carbon than any other company 🌎
Direct air capture of carbon is in its infancy, but we can create a market for it with enough demand.

Breaking the Silicon Valley gender bias circle 👩‍💻
Gender bias comes in many ways. Darja Gutnick shares a story of how she was treated at a Silicon Valley VC event.

Visual Studio Code 1.54 is out, now with Apple Silicon support 🎉
The latest VSCode is out, and Apple Silicon is baked in. No need to run the Insiders build anymore to get M1 compatibility.

Why is Europe is sitting on millions of unused COVID-19 vaccines? 💉
While other countries have had their time in the idiot spotlight, it seems it’s the EU’s turn to be a bunch of dolts.

January 6th was decades in the making 🤬
Dave Troy has been digging into the connections leading up to the January 6th insurrection that goes back decades.

BUNCH secures another $1 million 💵
Berlin-based BUNCH is growing quickly and is now set up for a Series A sometime in the next year.

Turn departing employees into loyal alumni 🚪
Perfectly timed for my own offboarding, HBR discusses how having a good offboarding process is important.

Apple revamps its syringe emoji 💉
I’m really happy that Apple’s syringe emoji is losing the dripping blood in iOS 14.5. Hopefully other emoji sets follow suite as soon as possible.

One third of Germans don’t want vaccine 💉
An increadibly high number of Germans don’t want to be vaccinated, and a sizable number are picky about which vaccine they get.

The problem with crypto art 🎨
Crypto art is an interesting use of the blockchain to create scarcity around digital goods, but it’s a disaster for the climate.

Ready to go direct 🛍
Benedict Evans writes about the inflection point where consumers and brands are ready to go direct with platforms like Shopify.

Kristina Lustig got the demotion she wanted 👩‍💻
Sometimes the best move on the career ladder is to change ladders. This is the story of one engineer’s journey at Stack Overflow.

All your base are belong to us 👾
Twenty years ago, the music video that propelled “All Your Base” into a full on meme arrived. It’s a forever earworm in my brain.

The great unbundling 💥
Benedict Evans looks at what it means as the tech industry enters its second 50 years and starts to figure how what happens next.

Spotify goes Work From Anywhere (WFA) 🧑‍💻
Spotify joins the remote work from anywhere movement that’s sweeping through the tech industry. There’s not a better time for it.

Klarna launches bank accounts in Germany 💶
Swedish fintech Klarna moves beyond buy-now, pay later and launches first-class banking in Germany, joining N26 and others.

How many people has nuclear energy killed? ☢️
Nuclear energy makes a lot of people uncomfortable for a lot of reasons, but it’s actually killed a lot fewer people than fossil energy sources.

A seven node compute cluster in a box 🤯
The Turning Pi allows you to create a seven node cluster in a box. I so may end up with one of these at some point soon.

Visual Studio Code 1.53 is out, without final Apple Silicon support 🧑‍💻
The latest VSCode is out, but Apple Silicon is still only supported in the Insider’s build. Hopefully, next months stable release will support the new architecture.

Keep breathing 😷
Bryan Jones photographed the 7AM shift change at the Univeristy of Utah Hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit and the impact of COVID-19 there.

How Netlify does developer advocacy 🧑‍💻
Sarah Drasner on how her organization and Netflify works. I think that she’s got an excellent model of how a developer releations organization can work.

Microsoft’s climate moon shot, one year later 🚀
Brad Smith’s report on Microsoft’s committment to being carbon negative by 2030.

BlastDoor is an awesome security feature name 💥
Samuel Groß documents Apple’s new iMessage sandbox.

Using Plausible analytics 🕵️
Plausible bills itself as a lightweight and open-source tool that’s privacy minded.

Eternal Septemer arrives on Wall Street? 📈
It’s no suprise that gleeful online horders are turning the market upside down.

Europe’s vaccine shortage 💉
Europe was feeling pretty good about its vaccine policy until the start of the new year.

Curating ideas during a pandemic 💡
Katerina and I have had it better than most, but it still takes a lot to hold it together during this pandemic.

10 years ago in Cairo ✊
Zeneyp Tufekci’s memories of the Arab Spring.

Today’s Brownie 📷
Photography’s real power comes from the fact that anybody can do it.

iFixit’s AirPods Max tear down 🎧
iFixit’s latest teardown really features the beautiful work by Apple’s team.

In a truck going down a mountainside 🦠
A metaphor to describe the current state of what might happen this spring and summer in Germany.

Fauci unleashed 😅
Watching Dr. Fauci’s recovery as the new administration takes charge is a joy.

Shot on iPhone 12 📱
An incredible collection of portraits, cityscapes, and the night sky.

The way that Trump used Twitter 🤬
The toxic brutality of the way Trump used Twitter is on display in the New York Times compilation of his insults.

The myth of German order 🤦
Germany isn’t nearly as orderly as its international reputation suggests. In fact, it’s actually kind of chaotic in my experience here.