Weirdest Shit
In The Bold Italic. More on Medium.
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
GTFO Zoom calls, Pick Pasta for influencers, hat-eating CEOs, and more
There’s a lot to unpack from March in the tech sphere. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey testified before Congress while troll tweeting — and got called out on it, meaning senators were checking Twitter during the hearing (yeesh). Then there was the uBiome nonsense, a poop-testing startup that’s literally shit. (Its co-founders were charged with fraud.) And, of course, there was the general glitchiness of vaccine passport apps. (Color me unsurprised.)
Considering this hot mess of a month, I think a drink or two is in order, so this month’s “Two Truths and a Lie: The Silicon Valley Edition” is all…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
The month of the vaccine flex
“The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley” is a series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
Welcome to March! You made it! Hopefully your February was a Bridgerton-full fiesta, and not a stay-in-your-sweatpants-and-sob kinda month.
We may be halfway to vaccine “open season” if we’re lucky — so cheers to more waiting around. As always, I’m here to entertain and inform you with the latest musings coming out of the Valley.
Here’s what we saw in February 2021 — but first, our monthly game.
Two Truths and a Lie: Silicon Valley Edition
Which of the following long-distance love-related startups…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
‘I Miss My Bar’ soothes bar-stolgia with the sounds of traffic and people talking
“The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley” is a series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
Up next on the list of silly things that are actually kinda cool but only for a hot second in time is I Miss My Bar, a website that “recreates” the virtual bar experience, sans sticky floors reports (I was a dive bar kinda girl). While the vaccine is on the horizon, it’s going to be a long while before most people feel comfortable barhopping again — so this virtual experience is actually pretty welcome…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
It’s officially a flex
“The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley” is a series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
I get it—online dating is hard right now (and all the time). You can swipe right only so many times on “You can’t spell quarantine without U R A QT” without wanting to pack the whole thing in. Social-distanced IRL dates mean you can at least see the person you’re thinking about mashing bits with, but it’s hard to gauge chemistry through a mask, and Covid-19 cuffing is a real thing, yo.
Enter the vaxxed…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
Requirements: Be into memes, and be a bro
“The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley” is a series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
The Reddit-GameStop saga was one of the storybooks — or, rather, the big screen. Thanks to members of r/WallStreetBets, anyone lucky enough to own (or quickly purchase) GameStop stock this past January scored big, with a massive leap in funds — up 1,700% at one point. In Texas, 10-year old Jaydyn Carr purchased shares for $60, which skyrocketed to $3,200.
The subreddit Wall Street Bets caused that inflation — they gamed the system and won…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
This tech could have a huge impact on agriculture and climate change
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley is a series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
The food space has been increasingly innovative of late; tearless onions are now a thing, not to mention the burgeoning plant-based and lab-grown meat industry. But the newest kid at the table blows all of these out of the water. We’re talking A.I. spinach that can send emails. Yep.
“Plant nanobionics” essentially means integrating electronic systems into plants — and that essentially means playing plant god by giving them extra abilities and then harnessing them…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
A.I.-dog collars and voice-activated fog baths
Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley is a series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
Welcome to 2021, which started out all hopeful and swiftly deteriorated into a Die Hard meets Veep episode, so let’s all pass go and collect $200 and collectively GTFO of January.
This month was a strange one for the world in general, and that included the tech world, with the tech elite forgoing their usual jaunt to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). …
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
Basically a mood ring for fido
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley is a weekly series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
I know, I know, there’s nothing any good, kind, mask-wearing person wouldn't do for their beloved pup. Sure, go ahead and buy them that overpriced organic human-grade pet food if you must, but does one really need to pay $99 to learn if their dog is happy, relaxed, anxious, angry, or sad?
If your answer is “yes,” then a new A.I.-powered collar from South Korean startup Petpuls may be for you. The collar uses…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
Don’t be that Bluetooth guy in 2021
Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley is a weekly series from the Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
I know we’re a mask nation these days (well, not all of us), but I think we can all agree that we wear masks out of collective care for the world and other people, not because “chin diapers” are particularly comfortable, stylish, or especially breathable.
But startup Binatone, in its wisdom, has decided people probably want to pay even more to wear a mask. Recently showcased at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2021, enter the…
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley
‘Alexa, fog me up’
The Weirdest Shit Out of Silicon Valley is a weekly series from The Bold Italic documenting the bizarre news, gadgets, and developments in the tech world.
I love baths. Sitting in warm water with my Kindle and — if I’m feeling fancy — a scented candle is bliss. That’s why I’m pretty excited to hear about Kohler’s “Stillness Bath,” announced at CES 2021, a completely unnecessary but kind amazing feature-loaded smart bath.
The magic begins with the filling of the water, transforming a humdrum DON’T-OVERFILL-IT experience into a magically soothing forest bathing journey where the tub is supposed to overflow…
The Bold Italic
Celebrating the free-wheeling spirit of the Bay Area — one sentence at a time.
