A linkage letter

Hi!

Summer temperatures has finally come to Stockholm, and while not impressive in any way, it’s always a bit of a chock for me. It’s been a busy week. We’re redecorating the main office, and there’s a new studio space in the works that I’ll talk about in a future letter.

What I’m getting at is that I’m beat. I’ve caught up on work, and now, late Sunday afternoon, I’ll send this letter before I sit down with either a game on the Asus ROG Ally, or a book. So, this week is mostly other reading. I hope to be in better shape next Sunday.

Linkage

🪦 Sad to see that author Cormac McCarthy has passed. I enjoyed The Road, and are looking forward to reading his last two books this summer. Both The Guardian and The New Yorker has obituaries up, and this Longreads collection has some more on the reclusive author.

💪 Time to get in shape? Sign up for Everlifting’s free training schedule emails. It’ll help you get the most out of your exercise.

🎮 Nvidia and Microsoft are bringing Xbox Game Pass for PC to GeForce Now, the game streaming service. Clever, even though it’s a ploy to take the edge of Microsoft’s ongoing (and possibly stopped) acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

🪐 Speaking of games, Starfield is getting closer, and Bethesda showed it up in a dedicated livestream. Here’s 45 minutes of gameplay. I’m looking forward to this a lot.

🔫 Man allegedly used a Nintendo ‘Duck Hunt’ gun to rob convenience store. Apparently a Zapper light gun painted black could fool some.

🎙️ AI is restoring John Lennon’s voice from a crappy demo cassette, leading to Paul McCartney releasing what’s called the last Beatles record later this year. I’m not sure what I think of this.

🤖 In other AI news, it is taking people’s jobs.

💣 Ah, Reddit. It went down for a bit during the blackout’s first hours. Many reddits are back up, but some have decided to stay dark indefinitely, although Reddit might force them back. Others, like r/gifs, have opted to just post photos of Last Week Tonight host John Oliver. CEO Steve Huffman hasn’t handled this situation well at all, and while I doubt it, this might be the end of the site.

Got something I should read? Send it to me, either by replying to this letter, or tweeting to @tdh. Thanks!

Currently

📚 Busy weeks means light literature, so I’ve gone on with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. Death Masks is the best one yet, he really improves with each book.

🎵 Bob Dylan is doing his old songs as an old man in Shadow Kingdom. Some really good new renditions of old favorites here.

📺 Finished the third season of True Detective. It was good, I think.

🎮 I’ve picked up where I left off in Mass Effect 2 on the ROG Ally, and been enjoying it. Granted, there wasn’t much gaming time this week, so the verdict is out on the Ally, but Mass Effect 2 (which I’m playing as a part of the legendary edition release) is always a treat.

I hope you found something interesting to read in the links above. I’ll see you again next week. Until then, take care.

— Thord D. Hedengren ⚡