Vacuum Net

Try To Pour Ideas Into a Vacuum. They Will Travel as Fast as Sound.

Another Monday, Another Naive Weekly - Curated stories on Technology and Internet Culture.

I have spent almost the entire week being caught in bed. While I still struggle to find anything positive about being sick, I can add writing this newsletter to the rather long list of activities that are harder when chained to the bed with a blocked head.

My inspiration from writing doesn’t happen in vacuum. Every week I rely on conversations with people I meet and articles I read to form ideas and shape them into opinions.

When I spend the entire week staring at the same ceiling very few new ideas take shape. Especially when my brain is also too blocked to concentrate on reading. Therefore I’ve been struggling with this week’s introduction. Simply put, nothing really seemed to spark joy in my stomach.

Instead of writing on Beautiful Waste, 7/10 or Stupid Technology as sketches in my notebooks suggest, I’d simply just leave it at this: When you look at the same ceiling for a whole week it is hard to get new ideas. Especially if you also don’t have space to engage yourself in readings.

… and then it doesn’t really matter whether you are sick or just busy keeping up with status quo.

The Internet Black Hole

• Terrible Work Environment
  This week’s top story in my feed has been the Verge’s cover of the horrific work conditions at Away. The popular direct to consumer brand’s CEO seems to know little curtesy when it comes to respecting work boundaries, pushing her employees above capacity in their pursuit of selling “travel” (read: suitcases).

• Fast Injuries
  The story of Away comes only a few weeks after Reveal’s impressive piece of investigative reporting of the injuries at Amazon warehouses. Apparently those smily boxes we receive are twice as likely to have caused human injuries as the industry average. What makes the matter worse is that local government seem to do nothing about it in their battle to please Amazon.

• Full Circle On AirPods
  Nordstrom has released a carrying strap for AirPods. It seems like a smart idea to string those small parts together so they don’t fall out. I wonder why no one has never thought of that…

• Austin Power Parody by Bill Gates
  WTF is probably the proper response to this Austin Powers parody video by Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.

• Ditching Google
  The digital editor of Wired UK ditched Google for DuckGoGo and wrote this nice article about why we should do the same. Don’t read it for privacy concerns (although those are valid), but read it for the stark realization of how boring our search queries are.

• Kids Don’t Trust Alexa
  Just because adults seem easy to trick with technology doesn’t mean that kids blindly trust what’s written on the Internet. This article indicates that kids first and foremost trust the people they know. See also: Teens Aren’t Blaming Tech for Their Anxieties for more “the kids are alright” news.

Book Club

• Yoko Tawada - The Emissary
  Short dystopian glimpse into Japan in a future where the newborns are weak and only the old has the power to withhold society. The language is rich and the story flows pleasantly as you read about the children’s struggle with swallowing food. What’s most surprising is the rather uplifting feeling I found myself with by the end.

Naive Weekly

Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly - Curated stories on Technology and Internet Culture.

As always a big thanks to the eleven Naive Friends who chip in every month or year to support me making time to write this newsletter: Nikolaj, Antal, Søren, Dries, Mikkel, Tina, Aydo, Lukas, Hans, mystery person & Angela!

<3

Kristoffer