What You Need to Know Today: February 9
Good afternoon, Early Risers!
Here’s what you need to know
TECH
Google is offering 2GB of free Drive storage today. This is the easiest free 2 GB of free storage you’ll get all year. How it works: Complete Google’s “security checkup” — it takes less than a minute, I did it this morning, and you’re good to go.
Subscribe, deal with it, or get out. Those are the three options WIRED is giving its readers over the next few weeks as it rolls out a new strategy to fight ad-blockers. WIRED’s three-option solution: pay $1/week for no ads, see ads, or get out is aggressive, but it’s been done before. Look at Spotify, Pandora, and other music streaming platforms doing this. So why can’t it work for digital publishers, too? That’s the question we’ll soon find out. My guess is it will be a rough transition. Here’s why (start at “The tricky part for online publishers…”)
+ What do you think? Should digital publishers take this all or none approach to ads? Would you pay a small monthly subscription for ad-free content? Let us know by leaving a comment or hitting reply to this email. Thanks!
CAREER
3 presentation tips your audience will love. “And it was just, very brief, and to the point. I appreciated that,” said my friend. Last week, I lent Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield to a friend. My friend loved the book but he also appreciated Pressfield’s ability to deliver his message in succinct fashion — the book is just over 120 pages. Presentations are no different. Your audience will love you, if you can deliver a succinct presentation that teaches them something new. There’s a right way to do this and a wrong way.
Former Goldman Sachs employee condensed an entire MBA into one course.(Business Insider).
How to simplify your workflow. 1. Start with your vision 2. Find your friction 3. Create a routine 4. Learn to say no. That’s it. To find out how to implement all four of these steps, read this. I also recommend watching ETR editor Craig Ballantyne’s video on how to create your vision.
LIFESTYLE
Why the party is over for GoPro and FitBit. “In a signal of where Silicon Valley is headed, the era of standout, narrowly focused companies seems to be drawing to a quick close,” says Vanity Fair. Is the era of startups doing one thing really well disappearing? VF seems to think so. But here’s why entrepreneurs should not stop building hyper-focused businesses.
How Dr. Drew changed my life. “I have never called into Loveline (though I was a fan). It happened because I walked up to him at 19 years old and asked him if he had any books he could recommend. I was in college in the mid-aughts and I was invited to a small, private summit of college journalists that Dr. Drew, then the host of Loveline, was hosting. After it ended, he was standing in the corner and I cautiously made my way over to nervously ask a question I thought might be worth taking a shot with: I heard you read a lot. What should I read?” Ryan Holiday shares his best goodread in today’s feature.
#NOWYOUKNOW
How to Win at Monopoly and Lose Friends
“If losing a normal game of monopoly is frustrating, losing to this strategy is excruciating.”
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