Abstractionist by Keenen Charles

Streaming

Netflix Can Make More Money With Password Sharing

There's been an uproar online since Netflix's plans to block "password sharing" leaked. And it feels pretty justified. In an attempt to make shareholders happy with their plateauing growth, Netflix has decided to squeeze more out of the users it already has. First came the ad tier that's slightly cheaper

Politics

There are no good kings and queens

Or princesses and princes for that matter Just as there are no good billionaires. You can't be a good person and a monarch. You can't believe in the divine right of your bloodline to rule, and be a good person. Any good person in that position would eventually realise that

Tech

Finding The Next Tech Platform

Every few years some new trend comes along and promises to reshape the tech industry and wider world. It usually starts in niche spaces, then a few startups, then the tech giants join, and pretty soon everyone is talking about it. It's in the news, on late night shows, celebrities

Streaming Featured

What's Movie Success in The Streaming Era?

James Gunn's The Suicide Squad was released this past weekend to disappointing box office results of just $26.5 million in the US. There are a lot of mitigating factors for this though. The pandemic, of course, the surge in new cases due to the Delta variant and the unvaccinated,

Climate Change

We Can End the Climate Crisis. But Can We Prevent the Next One?

In just the past few weeks we've seen devastating flooding in Europe and China. And once again the climate crisis has taken the spotlight in the global consciousness. Every month we're faced with more examples that the effects of climate change are already here. It's not a distant threat anymore

Thoughts

Just Be Rich 🤷‍♂️

No one wants to be the bad guy. When narratives begin to shift and the once good guys are labelled as bad it's not surprising they fight back. They'll point to criticisms as exaggerations. Their faults as misunderstandings. Today's freshly ordained bad guys are the investors and CEOs of Silicon

Startups

Don't Just Build X For Your Country

A few local product launches reminded me of this phrase. Did I write an article about it? Turns out it was still in my drafts years later. But it seems as relevant a topic as ever. Back in 2015-16 there seemed to be some momentum in Trinidad's startup space. There

Complex Stories: Battlestar Galactica

A few months ago I began rewatching Battlestar Galactica, the Ron Moore version, for the first time since the show originally ended. 11 years had faded a lot of my memories of it. I wondered if it held up. If the ending would disappoint me more than it did. If

Marketing

5 Marketing Tips For People With No Friends

When you're just getting started building your own projects marketing seems like a daunting task, especially if your background is in development. You spend some time learning what you can about marketing but a lot of advice relies on utilising your "network". That assumes you have a network. If you're

Gaming

Complex Stories: The Last of Us Part II

I finished The Last of Us Part 2 recently and I've been thinking about ever since. There was a mixed reaction to the game when it released. Some praised it as a work of art while some hated it. I went into the game expecting something a bit disappointing. But

Streaming

Why Laugh At Quibi's Failure?

There seems to be a fundamental misconception of why people are enjoying Quibi's demise. Startup vets seem to believe it's making fun of people who took a big swing and failed. > The glee about Quibi's failure seems to me misguided. Startups are hard. There's no honor in applauding when they

Gaming

Why Do You Play Video Games?

Video games have always gotten a bad representation in the wider media. It was first viewed as just kids in an arcade, then sweaty guys in their parents' basements, and now streamers reacting for their audiences. There's some truth in those representations at the time they were in vogue but

Life

Screen Time

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to decrease the time I spend on social media. With so little else to do due to restrictions, I've found myself spending way more time aimlessly scrolling. It was never a huge problem for me before but it's grown now. On my

Thoughts

Harsh Truths

Elections are finally over here and we know who'll be in charge through the rest of the pandemic and the economic struggles to follow. The leader of the winning party, the incumbent, chose to take a more realistic approach to his victory speech. Instead of celebrating he immediately warned that

Tech

Growth At All Costs

Years ago I used to be enamoured by the startup community. So many people building innovative companies and changing the world. The stories of small beginnings and huge achievements were enticing. The advice they spouted made sense. Pour your days and health into your work. Aim as big as possible.

Tech

Music Devaluation

I spent some time today looking into how much artists get paid per stream and it really surprised me just how little it is. I've been listening to a new album from an independent artist a lot since it came out. 250 listens based on my tracking. And that works

Monthly Recap

March 2020 Recap

March 2020, the year of a month. Yet I can't remember much about it. When did lockdown begin? Have we always been in lockdown? Did I just imagine a world beyond this? I've been as distracted by the news as anyone. It's impossible not to be. We're living through a

Featured

Things To Do While Trapped At Home

* Watch movies you've always wanted to * Watch movies your friends recommended that you said you'd watch but never planned to * Read the news and try not to panic * Play video games * Write that book you've always wanted to * Catch up on some sleep * Build that product * Catch up with friends

Tutorials

Create a Blog in a Subdirectory with Hexo

When getting started with content marketing for your product the first step is usually to create a blog. But how you do that has countless options. Do you host your own, use a third-party service, and what URL should it be at? Usually, the decision on URL boils down to

Tutorials

SEO Tips For Directory Sites

Online directories are a great way to make a particular type of content more discoverable or target a very specific niche. Search engines are great but their generalisation makes them difficult to use as tools when you're looking for a specific type of content. It leaves room for many online

Tech Featured

2020 Won't Be The Year of Foldables

Since Google first announced support for foldable screens in late 2018,  they have been one of the most exciting things in tech. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops have been stuck in a continuous cycle of iterative upgrades each year. They've all plateaued and each year only brings marginally improved specs. There's

Life

2019: Finding My Niche & Some Fun

My journey this year has been to find my niche, the intersection of my interests, skills, and goals. I believe everyone has a niche and finding it allows you to create your best work. I haven't found mine just yet but I think I've gotten closer. The most impactful activity

Unapologetic

Recently I've been questioning my writing. I've written a lot but am I writing the things I should be? One of the key goals of anything I write is to be honest. But there are levels of honesty. You can write the truth while masking it in metaphors and generalisations.

Projects

Goals for Redesigning Wave Radio

This week I've started working on a major redesign of Wave Radio and it's becoming a lot bigger than I anticipated. While I'm testing out new ideas and trying to find the best one I think I need to keep in mind the reasons for this redesign along the way.

Life

Sincerity

Life can be a series of actions and reactions. You take action and the world reacts. You receive an action and you react. Those reactions are determined by our guiding principles, our virtues. Every action and reaction is processed through our unique lens. As a child, we're completely sincere but