Returning to work on photo tools. Digital photography captured my interest as it started to proliferate into the mainstream around 1999 and 2000. Prices of digital cameras started to come down and you could buy a point and shoot camera for $200-300. I started with a Fuji Finepix 1300 (a single megapixel) in 1999,...

Gains without measurement. The weight fell off. Literally and figuratively, the device that now occupies my wrist is simple. It’s much smaller, tells the time, and the date. It requires no battery and is powered by my own kinetic movement, like riding a bicycle. For the past few years, I’ve been wearing a Garmin...

Less was more this year. I listened to less, but found more that I loved. I spent a lot of time revisiting old albums, listening with intent. Drumming also took a lot of my time, and rekindling my study drove me to those older albums. But, these new releases were on heavy rotation. Previously: 2024, 2020. Even in...

An homage to the Mac Ryan Carver, Juan Pablo Zambrano, and I have formed Latent Co., a software company. Driven by the creative tooling we’ve cut our teeth on and drawing on our product and imaging experience, we’re making a product for Mac. Ryan and I go back a while: Typekit, Adobe, VSCO, and True Ventures. We...

Percolating on design At the end of every year I start to feel it. 2024 ended on a tumultuous note. I dive into introspection, combing over the last year in search of pattern and meaning. I gathered what I found at the bottom of the ocean floor, coming up for air with the knowledge that 2025 would be marked by...

Durability is the ultimate feature. I wrote in October last year that I wouldn’t upgrade my iPhone 14 Pro. That’s also not quite true. I did upgrade my phone — with a new battery and leather case. This isn’t what people typically think of when they say they upgraded their phone. They think of an entirely new phone....

Friction to feel. The rattle of a train moving in the quiet late night wouldn’t be the best sleep one could get but youth and excitement forgive. We had bunks to sleep in, which is far better than what most train infrastructure offered at the time. My travel mates, usually my cousin and friend, would get up...

Walk it out. We’re walking past Stüssy again on Prince Street. There’s a center funnel between two parts of a roped queue, with hordes of bored-looking, phone-staring, monogamously-dressed androgynous youth. Loafers, white Nike socks, baggy long jorts or wide jeans, cropped boxy tee is the uniform. Previously seen...

Carve space out for opportunity. After speaking in Kuala Lumpur last week, people stayed to discuss the topics we’d covered, forming a small group. Building community was a weighty topic during the event, with myself, host Shaza Hakim, and many attendees speaking to it. In this post-event semi-circle, Nik had probed...

An ode to the slow web. During the pandemic, my longtime friend and collaborator Scott Robbin built something special. He invited me and mutual friend Charles Adler to join, and we started writing. We wrote weekly about our current projects through Scott's private group newsletter format. Receiving the digest each...

I don't write about Apple. I had to this time. It started with a magazine ad. A musician I admired was pictured: Henry Rollins, looking as he does, in black, shorts, tattoos visible and holding a computer. An Apple Powerbook. He appears with Terry Ellis from Imago Records, Rollins Band's label. I had some computer...

Reprogramming comparison culture. Today’s culture seems to reward and celebrate the hustle. The neverending idea that one should always be productive, working, producing, shipping. At times, I’ve compared myself to peers, colleagues, and friends. Places like LinkedIn and other social media make me cringe: everyone...