All My Recent Pieces
Sorry for the silence! Been busy! But here's everything I've written
Best Piece: Tesla’s Cybercab promises a better future — for Elon Musk
“Beyond the inferior tech, unrealistic price and unbelievable production deadline, the bigger, fundamental problem with Musk’s vision is that it is not concerned with making the best future possible; the purpose is more about making the best future possible that’s in Tesla’s self-interest.
Why make a robotaxi that looks really cool, but isn’t that practical? Because it pumps the stock more. Why make it only two seats, if you want it to be a ubiquitous product? Because then Tesla would have to sell a lot more of them; and if you want something bigger, you have to pay a way bigger price-hike to get the full-size van.
This is not a vision of a future without bumper-to-bumper traffic, despite Musk’s insinuations. If the future is this reliant on taxis, then traffic would be worse; it’s just that you would be able to work better during it. A truly cleaner, safer future has fewer cars on the road, with more people using trains, subways and bikes. It has more remote work, meaning fewer employees would commute — and they could live in more rural areas. But public transit and remote work decrease car sales, so Musk is rabidly opposed to both of them.”
Out now in The Spectator: give it a read!
Other Spectator Pieces:
A Podcast Appearance
Washington Examiner
Started writing book reviews for them, and it’s great! Have a read of some of them here:
Book review: Selling Sexy (the history of Victoria’s Secret)
Book review: Empresses of Seventh Avenue (great fashion history book)
Opinion: why they should have released Megalopolis differently (also, that film was terrible, my lord)
New York Sun
Been writing a ton for the Sun, so you can read some more of it below; and there should be new pieces coming out there almost every day
Assorted Stuff
Record of the Week: Sabrina Carpenter (a sexy, fun album)
Review: Reformed Coffee (really good health coffee drink)
Cars
Fashion
Review: NN07 The Gael Jacket (expensive but beautifully made, worth it)
Review: CDLP boxer briefs (expensive but worth it — replaced all my underwear with them).
Review: Levi’s 514 (my favourite value-for-money jeans; just don’t buy them in black)
Review: Artificial Fever hoodies (they’re shit)
On the Rolex 1908: why it’s the best Rolex on sale, and why no-one’s buying them.
Shoes
Review: Comme des Garçons x Nike Foamposite ‘Cat Eye’ (probably my favourite version of my favourite sneaker ever. Love these)
Review: Futura Laboratores x Nike SB Dunk Low (maybe sneaker of the year?)
Review: Nike Air Force 1 Linen (just beautiful)
Review: Y-3 S-Gendo Run (beautiful, expensive, cool)
Review: Kanye’s terrible $20 sock shoes (they’re shit)
Review: AliveForm 3D-printed sneakers (expensive but wonderful)
Review: Nike Sunder Max (my favourite GR Nike model of the year)
Review: Ecco BIOM Infinite M (3D-printed midsole sneakers; I use them for all my workouts)
Review: On Cloudeclipse (not as good as New Balance — yet — but still good)
Review: GoRuck Rough Runner (seriously underrated sneakers; extremely good for the price)
Review: Balenciaga Triple S (iconic, chunky, not particularly comfortable, overpriced)
Review: Adidas Yeezy QTMN Hi-Res Orange (very bright, very fun)
Tech
Review: Pixel 9 Pro (my favourite phone on sale)
Review: Asus Zenbook S 16 (my favourite laptop on sale)
Review: Pro-Ject T1 BT record player (really good, strongly recommend)
Related: record-player upgrades
Review: Kagi (the best search engine available)
Updated review: don’t buy Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds
Review: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (my new favourite earbuds on the market)
Review: BedJet (way to cool/heat your bed, better and cheaper than an EightSleep)
Review: Laifen Electric Toothbrush (stylish, compact, super vibrating tootbrushes)
Review: Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A5 wireless speaker (very very expensive, but very cool)
Review: Honor Magic V3 (incredibly thin folding phone, let down by bad software)
Review: Anker Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K (basically a TV replacement, really great)
Review: OnePlus Tab Go (good but flawed)
Review: first gen Pixel Fold (it’s utter shit)
Review: Nothing Phone (2a) Plus (good upgrade on good budget phone)
Review: Audio-Technica HD 820 (fine? but nowhere near good enough for $2,000)
Review: Audio-Technica M50X (great, cheap, a classic)
On the recent Apple event: preview + everything unveiled + iPhone 16 summary + iPhone 16 Pro summary + new AirPods summary + new Apple Watch summary
On the recent Google event: everything unveiled + Pixel 9 summary + Pixel 9 Pro summary + Pixel 9 Pro Fold summary + Pixel Watch 3 summary
Also on the stupid Pixel 9 launch drama
On the recent Meta event: everything unveiled + AI tools summary + Meta Quest 3S preview + Orion AR glasses
On the recent Samsung event (it was meh)
And that’s everything, I think? It’s been a busy period! Along with my writing, for the past year or so, I’ve been Jesse Singal’s researcher, which has been great, and will be wrapping up in the coming months; and I’ve also been working on a side-project, which I’m hoping to launch next year.
In the meantime, I will try to keep this more regularly updated!
And, as always, thanks for reading.