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Hello there! Welcome to Tech Things, my new newsletter that will hit your inbox every Friday. Thanks for joining me on this first edition. I’ve got thoughts on Apple’s big news, Amazon’s audio ambitions, doomscrolling and more. OK, let me show you around. Let’s start with…
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: ADELE MORGAN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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This section is about a bigger story or topic I’m thinking about. This week, I’m thinking about a theme that was an inspiration for this newsletter: how our tech future has a past. Deep, I know. Coincidentally, Apple also just admitted it's not ready to part with the past.
During its presentation Tuesday, the company showed off the new iPhone SE, and by “new” it’s really an upgraded old iPhone (the previous SE), based on another old iPhone (the iPhone 8), based on even older iPhones (the iPhone 6, 6S and 7).
Don’t get me wrong: For $429, this is a good option. Read my column here to learn why.
Whenever I ask Apple executives why they still sell this phone, they say it’s the most affordable iPhone. They also say people like the small size and the home button. Translation: Some people don’t like change.
Continuing the throwback theme? Apple also introduced a really nice…desktop computer with two USB-A ports.
Tech has moved at a totally bonkers pace over the last few decades. We went from a single, central tech thing in our homes—the family computer—to everything becoming a tech thing. Never mind our smartphones: Our cars, TVs, lightbulbs, bikes, bassinets (really, my son’s bassinet connects to Wi-Fi), they’re all connected.
I look at this change in two ways:
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It’s so awesome!
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Below you’re going to see a section called Throwback Thing, where I feature old-tech photos and information that you (hopefully!) send in. I love looking at old hardware or software because, well, nostalgia, but also because it's such a tangible marker of how far we’ve come.
Scroll down to the Commodore 128 below—one of the first ever home PCs, introduced 35 years ago. Then look at the Mac Studio desktop Apple just announced. Inside the system’s high-end version is an M1 Ultra chip with 114 billion transistors. You would need millions of Commodore computers to match the number of transistors in the M1 Ultra.
The devices we buy today were the technological fantasies of years ago. Personal robots, autonomous cars and face computers. It’s all getting even faster, smaller, more power efficient and, thanks to artificial intelligence, much smarter.
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It’s so…much.
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We’re constantly adjusting to changes, battling algorithms and other settings that sometimes put a company's bottom line ahead of our best interests and trying to separate marketing speak from reality. (Just watch my video this week about the Apple event, where executives used an “incredible” and “amazing” number of superlatives to describe incremental changes.)
Our digital lives are primarily controlled by five tech giants, and it can often feel like we have little control or say over it all. And now there’s the blockchain, the metaverse and more. It’s totally cool if you want to hide under your (connected) bed with your (connected) teddy bear right now.
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So, it’s understandable that many can’t part with that iPhone SE and its precious home button. It doesn’t matter if you’re still printing out your emails or you’ve decided to use your crypto to buy NFT sneakers, the story of tech advancement is about moving ahead but also knowing when you’re ready to break with the past.
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Amazon Amps the Audio
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Amazon has entered the audio chat room—you know, the one with Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces—with a new app called Amp. This one has a twist that plays to Amazon’s music and speaker prowess: The free app turns you into a DJ, allowing you to host live shows, stream millions of licensed songs, and talk to listeners and call-in guests. Nicki Minaj, Lindsey Stirling and Travis Barker are just a few of the artists with upcoming shows. The iOS app is now in a limited beta. No details yet about Android availability.
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Pre-Date Background Checks
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The latest thing in dating, via Tinder: background checks for your matches. When you tap on the feature in the app’s safety center, you’ll be directed to Garbo, a background-check organization. There you can fill in details about your match, such as the person’s name and phone number. The service will surface arrests and convictions for certain violent crimes, as well as sex-offender registry status. The plan to bring Garbo to Tinder has been in the works for about a year now, following dating-app criticism regarding sexual assaults and other crimes. Our story details some of the potential issues with this tool, including false positives or lack of data.
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Peloton ❤️ Apple Watch
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Peloton has added Apple Watch support to its original Bike and Tread workout machines. I know what you’re thinking: “Haven’t these things always worked together?” Not really. Now, your Apple Watch will sync with these Peloton products to share heart-rate data. The data will even show on the workout equipment’s screen. Plus, your workouts will count toward closing your Apple Watch rings. Good news: Following Peloton’s extensive setup instructions will also cause you to break a sweat! J/K, it wasn’t that bad.
And in other Apple Watch integration moves: Meta’s Move, which tracks your workouts and activity in virtual reality, now works better with the wearable too.
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Seems like a good time for some tricks to curb doomscrolling—you know, the way we compulsively scroll our feeds of negative news. Tip 1: Boil your phone in a pot of water. (Don’t actually do that!) Tip 2: Mute the negative news content.
On Twitter, go to Settings > Privacy and safety > Mute and block > Muted words. Now add words—such as, oh, “Kanye” and “Pete Davidson”—and you won’t see tweets with those words in your feed. (Also, on Twitter, follow this awesome bot, which reminds you every hour to stop doomscrolling.)
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Add words you’d like to mute on Twitter. PHOTO: JOANNA STERN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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On Instagram, you can’t mute by topic or word, but you can mute specific accounts you follow. On TikTok, hold down the share button on a video related to the news you’d like to stop seeing and select “Not interested.”
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PHOTO: ROBERT TRIFILETTI
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Robert Trifiletti from Nazareth, Pa.
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The joystick and the voluminous amount of games
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So my story of this Commodore is like that of many kids who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s. My dad, who studied engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, was talked into buying the family this personal computer. I must have been in kindergarten or first grade. One of my favorite games early on was “Cave of the Word Wizard.” Later on, I used the word processor for school papers. (Yes, I was that kid in the ’80s handing in typed papers.) This Commodore would hang around, even after I got IBM PCs in the ’90s.
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It still works! I loaded “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” yesterday. The most surprising thing is that the 5.25-inch magnetic floppy disks are still readable.
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📷 Got an idea for a throwback? Reply to this email with a photo of your old tech and tell us why you loved—or hated—it. 📷
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I have three virtual-reality headsets but all are impossible to wear because I need my glasses to see anything—and headsets and glasses seem to be incompatible. Is there a company out there that’s designing a headset that can accommodate a pair of spectacles?—Ian Markham from Alexandria, Va.
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Have you tried the Meta Quest 2’s glasses spacer? It’s included with the headset. If your current glasses are a tight fit, maybe you have an older pair that’s smaller? Even if the prescription is a little weak, they might be more comfortable. There’s also the lens-insert option. You order the prescription lenses from FrameDirect.com and then fit them right into the Quest 2 so you don’t need your glasses at all. I’m a contact-lens person so I haven’t tried these options but they seem promising.
I also asked Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson your question when I met with her about the company’s new Magic Leap 2 augmented-reality goggles. The headset will be available with prescription inserts that magnetically attach to the device. She said the company expanded the prescription offerings this time around.
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ILLUSTRATION: KENNY WASSUS/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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I’m a newsletter N00b and want to know what you think! Reply to this email and share your feedback and suggestions. This week’s newsletter was curated and written by Joanna Stern and Cordilia James in New York.
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