Sent as an email newsletter April 18, 2021. Join my email list to get future editions.
👋 Hi friends,
Welcome to the latest edition of Newley’s Notes, a weekly newsletter containing my recent Wall Street Journal stories, must-read links on tech and life, and funny dog videos.
🍎 🍋 🥑 Image of the week, above: a recent watercolor.
Here are 10 items worth your time this week:
1) 🛸 Photos and video of “unidentified aerial phenomena” from 2019 were, in fact, taken by Navy personnel, the Pentagon said. [CNN]
👉 One perspective on the ongoing sightings: “Adversary Drones Are Spying On The U.S. And The Pentagon Acts Like They’re UFOs.” [The Drive]
2) 🗣 Microsoft is paying $16 billion to acquire speech recognition and artificial intelligence firm Nuance Communications, “extending Chief Executive Satya Nadella’s run of big acquisitions to accelerate growth in everything from healthcare to videogaming.” [WSJ]
3) 🚙 Singapore-based Grab, which offers services such as ride-hailing and food delivery across Southeast Asia, is going public on the Nasdaq in a $39.6 billion special-purpose acquisition company merger – the biggest such deal deal to date. [WSJ]
4) 💰 A milestone for cryptocurrencies: Coinbase, a crypto exchange founded in 2012, went public on the Nasdaq at a valuation of $85 billion. [WSJ]
5) 🤳 “Beauty filters are changing the way young girls see themselves.” [MIT Technology Review]
6) 📷 The winners of the 2021 World Press Photos contests have been announced. See the works here. [World Press Photo]
7) 👀 Insane video of the week: “Oh my god, it’s a bobcat!” NSFW: language. Here’s the apparent back story. [Twitter, ABC 11]
8) ✍️ New-to-me website, art edition: Old Book Illustrations contains a catalog of images ranging from animals, buildings, landscapes, people, plants and more, all in the public domain. [OldBookIllustrations dot com]
9) 🎧 New to me website, music edition: Lofi Cafe, which features chill beats and mesmerizing background images. [Lofi dot cafe]
10) 🎸 Hero of the week: Anthony Coscia, an architect in Connecticut, has created a one-sixth scale model of the Grateful Dead’s famed Wall of Sound speaker array – in his basement. [WSJ]
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🦴 Dog-related video of the week: “have u ever seen a dog this dramatic” [Twitter]
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📺 What I’ve been watching:
I recently watched for the first time Martin Scorsese’s 2019 Netflix documentary “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story,” about Dylan’s 1975 tour. It’s full of great performances and behind the scenes footage. Just beware: some parts of the film are…well, made up!
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💡 Quote of the week:
“There is only one recipe for a best seller and it is a very simple one. You have to get the reader to turn over the page.” – Ian Fleming
👊 Fist bump from Hong Kong,
Newley