Welcome to Follow Friday! It has been a BUSY week here and I don’t have the spoons to deliver a full newsletter (sorry), but I have briefly rounded up a couple fun goodies below.
First, though, some exciting news…
I’m hiring!
For two and a half years I have been doing everything at LightningPod by myself, and mostly, that’s going to continue to be the case. But the business is growing and if I want to have the flexibility to take on new clients and projects, I’ll need a bit of help.
If you’re an experienced Adobe Audition editor in the US with great communication skills, I’d love to hear from you. But don’t reply to this email — instead, please fill out this short form and if we might be a good match, I’ll get in touch.
This is a part-time, fully remote contract role, and I strongly encourage people of all ages, ethnicities, genders, and ability levels to apply.
So, what are the sort of shows you might be working on? Well…
The latest from LightningPod
Here’s what I’ve been producing and editing this week:
On Lock and Code, David Ruiz interviewed hacktivist and security blogger maia arson crimew about a pervasive form of cybercrime: Stalkerware. These mobile apps can snitch on someone’s texts, calls, location history and more without their consent, and are advertised to nervous parents and paranoid partners. It’s a scary concept, especially for survivors of domestic abuse … and one of the big stalkerware apps was recently hacked.
On Grit, Joubin Mirzadegan talked to former Waze CEO Noam Bardin, who’s now the founder of the social news app Post. This is a must-listen if you love business stories, because Noam is very candid about how Facebook almost bought his previous company, how the deal fell apart, and the friction that emerged when Waze went from little Israeli startup to Google subsidiary. He also explains why “pivoting” is Silicon Valley’s worst invention.
And on The Smart Home Show, Adam Justice’s home theater project is almost done! Well, there’s no carpeting yet. Or seats. And when his top-of-the-line projector arrived, he found out that a crucial part needed to mount it to the ceiling was not included. In a rare in-person taping, Adam is joined by his co-host Richard Gunther and guest TJ Huddleston to talk about the various setbacks, all the things that are going well, a roadtrip to the electronics mecca of Illinois, and more.
Palate cleanser: A delightful little game about a dog
Mark Brown at Game Maker’s Toolkit recently ran his annual 48-hour game jam, where thousands of developers around the world have to make a game based on a surprise theme. This year’s theme was “Roles Reversed,” and Mark rounded up 20 or so favorite submissions here. I played a couple of them, and my favorite was Walkies, where you play as a dog being led on a short leash around the neighborhood. But if you get enough pets, bother enough cats, and pee on enough trees, you get to take control and yank your human all over town. Try to collect all 50 treats!
Trust me and click these:
The Onion: Union Lets Tom Cruise Act During Strike From Fear Of What He’ll Do When He Can’t Make Movies
Tumblr tags, read aloud (content warning: extremely silly)
RIP Tony Bennett, singing star for the ages
Kudos to these student journalists
Threads is already dying
An extremely wholesome story about internet comments
And: Unimaginative tourists get trapped at Agatha Christie's manor, don't murder anybody