NL34 - Good business
Hello from my home in Noida! This is NordLetter #34, a weekly newsletter on living and walking in Finland. Each week I share some of the interesting things I found on the web.
Previous editions can be found here. You can reach out to me by replying on this mail or adding a comment on this. I am also posting on Threads.
The next week will be my last in India. We will be back to the usual programming then. Last year in Finland around this time we had celebrated Diwali and were attending the Chath Event in Vanta. This year we have already celebrated these festivals, here in India.
I recounted our visit to the Ashokan pillar in Vaishali.
There will be quite a few things I will miss once I'm back in Finland.
Some of those things are these.
/five things to share
1. Inside the $20 million business of gutting failed Bay Area tech companies
The furniture from the failed startups or the businesses downsizing, has to go somewhere. Better source does that.
“When it went bad,” Denny continued, “it went bad fast.”
Suddenly, there was a sea of used furniture with nowhere to go — and now, Denny has built a $20 million business out of it.
2. Google's AI learning companion
Takes the chatbot idea a bit further, with text boxes and other elements more suited to learning.
3. Language barriers and work-life balance — Foreign specialists weigh pros and cons of working in Finland
Both Strauss and Kocaman said they remain committed to living in Finland, drawn by its natural beauty, safety and potential for lifelong friendships. They also value the country's work-life balance.
Language remains a big barrier to overcome, but at least in the IT field it is not a huge requirement.
4. POSSE: Reclaiming social media in a fragmented world
POSSE is about posting in one place and having it show up across all the social media sites. Which is why I am excited about Ghost's integration with Mastodon and hopefully Threads and Bluesky soon after.
5. The new Mac Mini is great — now do the iPhone SE
We could argue all day about the merits of iOS versus Android, but there’s one thing the Android ecosystem offers that you definitely won’t find from Apple right now: a decent midrange phone.
What is decent?
- A newish chip (couple of years old or so)
- A good main camera
- The modern iPhone design (iPhone X design)
- A good screen (OLED maybe)
If you enjoyed reading this, and know someone else who might, please consider forwarding this to them. It would help this grow and make me happy. 😄
Until next week.