Five Things Tech: Drones, Internet, Threads, Methane, Duolingo
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Well, hello again! This week I have a another eclectic, other people might say weird, selection of articles about all things tech. And I have a warning: the second article is really long. It’s probably not the right one for all the TikTok fans with a short attention span. What I’m trying to do here again, is offering you articles to read that you hopefully don’t find in all the other tech newsletters.
Please enjoy Five Things Tech! And please make sure to get the 52% discount for paid subscriptions this week! I just turned 52 and this my gift for you!
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The DJI Drone Ban: A Uniquely American Clusterf*ck
“Essentially, the US government pressured drone manufacturers to implement privacy and safety features that required internet infrastructure to operate, DJI built those features, and now lawmakers say those same features could be used by China to spy on Americans and are the reason for the ban. Meanwhile, the only existing American drone manufacturers create far more invasive products that are sold exclusively to law enforcement and government entities, which are increasingly using them to conduct surveillance on American citizens and communities. This means that we may face a situation where hobbyists, small businesses, and aerial photographers who make a living with drones can suddenly no longer fly them, but cops will.” - decoupling from China is not that easy, I guess.
The Public Interest Internet
This discussion takes me back into the mid-90s when the internet was still pretty new and mostly uncommercial.
Meta releases Threads API for developers to build ‘unique integrations’
This really excites me, probably more than it should. But I joined Twitter in the very early days and I liked the creativity of all the developers who got to play around with its API. Hopefully Threads can somehow bring back that experience.
Flatulent cows aren’t the only methane offender - atmio raises €5.1m to tackle the energy sector’s emissions problem
This is a really cool startup and I’m really happy to brag a bit about my involvement in this. They applied for a grant from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg’s startup program and I sat on the board deciding about the grant. End of story. This is a really cool startup and I’m happy for them that they raised a nice sum of money to grow faster!
The Only App That Always Wins the Battle for Your Attention
I’m on a 199 days streak learning Hebrew on Duolingo. I’m really good at sqeezing at least one session in per day. Also, I can now translate sentences that I probably won’t ever use like “The lion is eating the boy.” or “The father likes his watermelon.” - anyhow, the app is supersticky!
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading! If you missed last week’s Five Things Tech, you can find it here:
— Nico