Highlights

 

Not Least ✌️

01/26/2023 • #310

The final issue of MidRange, an experiment in brevity that turned into a two-year project. I will miss my morning keyboard rants.

So here we are. Standing at the abyss. You and me, separated only by an inbox and the transformative benefits of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Sure looks dark down there, doesn’t it? I am not the first person to end a newsletter, to be… Read More

01/24/2023

The Best of MidRange ⏲ : 

A few of the many issues that MidRange has featured over the past two years. Not every issue was perfection, but these 10 were pretty good.

#309

01/23/2023

Does Rhythm Have Limits? 🥁 : 

As MidRange winds down this week, I take a look back at an early thesis of mine—that building a strong rhythm is is the secret to creative work.

#308

01/19/2023

Fanning the Future 💨 : 

A new type of cooling device for laptops and small computers could help make noisy fans obsolete—but one hopes it does so in old machines too, not just the latest and greatest.

#307

01/17/2023

Build in Public 🔧 : 

I’m not really the kind of person who wants to hide what he’s creating, so let’s just show it off. I’m laying out my cards for my future plans for for MidRange’s replacement in this post.

#306

01/16/2023

Post-Virality 🦠 : 

My next project is going to focus on what I call a “post-viral” form of social media. As I build, I’d like to explain what that is real quick. It matters.

#305

01/12/2023

Out of Touch 👉 : 

Apple apparently is thinking about throwing out a stance so sacred it arguably led them in the wrong direction with their laptops for about half a decade. The Macs may finally get touch.

#304

01/10/2023

Old Metrics in the New Society 📈 : 

Measuring fediverse-style social networks like Mastodon based on traditional metrics like daily active users doesn’t make sense because maximizing user counts is not the goal. Building a sustainable network is.

#303

01/09/2023

No Mo Noma 🧆 : 

The Danish fine-dining institution is closing its doors at the end of next year in favor of a less aggressive business model. The model has some serious labor problems that have emerged in recent years.

#302

01/05/2023

MagSafe Standard 🧲 : 

Apple wins unexpected goodwill after handing its MagSafe technology for mobile devices to the operators of the Qi wireless charging standard. It’s an excellent template for Apple to innovate while avoiding regulatory scrutiny.

#301

01/03/2023

Lifetime Half-Life 💾 : 

A popular video application gains a whiff of scandal after ending a “free lifetime updates” policy midstream—and it’s not the only example of a lifetime license falling by the wayside over time.

#300

01/02/2023

Senioritis 🎓 : 

MidRange is ending. I’m graduating from this newsletter. But not for another month. I think announcing its death early might just be the kick in the pants it needs as a creative project.

#299

12/29/2022

Why the Long Tail Didn’t Work 🐊 : 

Our pick for best blog post this year comes from a music-industry writer who found something troubling about an industry trend.

#298

12/27/2022

Reshaping A Drummer’s Legacy 🥁 : 

An uncomfortable retelling of a beloved rock star’s life soon after his passing offers insights few stories of its nature can—and it’s for that nature, despite said discomfort, that we rank it as MidRange’s feature article of the year.

#297

12/26/2022

August and Everything After 🎸 : 

To start off the 2022 MidRange Awards, we give a nod to a guitarist who has taken music YouTube by storm over the last two years—all out of a sincere hatred of terrible pop songs.

#296

12/22/2022

White Elephant 🐘 : 

A Web 3.0 company purchases Mastodon’s second-largest instance just before Christmas. What does that say about federated social media, anyway?

#295

12/20/2022

The Challenge of Correctness 📚 : 

A famed YouTuber reveals that a famous fact he uncovered is in fact totally wrong—and hires an archivist to do cleanup.

#294

12/19/2022

The Mental Block 🧠 : 

This past weekend was assuredly the most chaotic in the history of social media, and all based on the whims of a hyperactive decisionmaker. I don’t know about you, but my brain is shredded.

#293

12/15/2022

Let’s Revue ✍️ : 

Revue is shutting down, and as MidRange started on Revue, I feel a certain way about it—especially after learning that Revue’s owner also wants Substack.

#292

12/13/2022

Unfulfilling Pi 🥧 : 

When a recent controversy blew up around the Raspberry Pi, the foundation implied shortages created a charged atmosphere. That might be an under-admission of culpability, but the fact is, high Pi prices and low availability are making x86 look good right now.

#291