The Pod Piper

SOMETHING NEW Elizabeth Holmes captured the collective spirit of imagining a better world. She harnessed the charisma of a cult leader, a confusing aura of ambivalently benevolent self-assured-BS that tech giants seem to gravitate toward. But the idea that the medical industry could be exponentially streamlined with the novelty of an almost unnoticeable method for drawing blood? That was enough to get even the most rationale of folks tittering with excitement, and the commodification of promise lay waste to many hopeful investors angling to get in on the ground floor. ABC’s new podcast The Dropout takes listeners on a journey with the driven high schooler who would eventually morph into one of the modern world’s most arrogantly baseless thought-leader tyrants. Judging by the ABC’s podcast webpage , the well established TV/radio outlet has experimented modestly in the on-demand audio game. It’s not too surprising - a lot of easy television-to-podcast adaptations and some on...

I'm trying out a new idea in "Something New" and I'd love to hear what you think. Despite the intersection with a bit of my formative adolescence, I promise not to take anything personally. Post in the comments, send me a message to aaronpyost@gmail.com, or find me on Twitter @Yosterstrudel  and hop in my mentions. (Is that a thing anyone with any amount of followers can say?!) Thanks so much for taking the time to read this newsletter/blog, however often you get to it! SOMETHING NEW During a stretch of my childhood growing up in Northern Arizona, I revelled in my nightly routine of slowly easing myself into sleep. After snuggling into bed I’d read my CSI page-a-day calendar, flip through a couple pages of whatever magazine had been delivered to my mailbox most recently, maybe read a chapter or two of a book, and then, finally, after extinguishing my reading light, I would power on my cassette player/radio. Sometimes I would go to the old standby pop statio...