Peter A. McKay's Blog

A new platform for my email subscribers

Sunday, 19 April 2026

I'm embracing Buttondown to deliver this blog's content to readers who want it in their inboxes.

Odds & Ends

Wednesday, 15 April 2026

Sharing out links to Stanford HAI's latest, my interview with Eccuity's Charlie Meaden, and more.

Among U.S. exports, Hollywood's TV content is dwarfed by... liquified natural gas?

Sunday, 5 April 2026

From the WSJ, a fun datapoint hidden amid an otherwise disturbing column on the Iran conflict's fallout

The yin and yang of New York baseball

Friday, 3 April 2026

With the Mets and Yankees, a great city has exactly the teams it deserves.

Distro hopping badge unlocked

Friday, 27 March 2026

I've made an unexpected switch from Ubuntu to Debian.

Sunsetting w3w

Sunday, 21 December 2025

I'm done with my Substack newsletter. Will instead be focusing on this personal blog in the New Year.

Make hyperlinks work again.

Sunday, 14 December 2025

How disabling JavaScript brings back the web’s basic navigation — and your sanity.

Netflix's Big Power Play

Sunday, 7 December 2025

Inside the blockbuster deal with Warner Brothers that reshapes competition, content ownership, and the future of streaming.

The AI bubble meets a market reckoning

Sunday, 23 November 2025

From chips to cloud spending, markets are trying to separate durable winners from speculative noise.

Moving a heated market debate beyond dollars

Sunday, 16 November 2025

Could the BTC-gold multiple be a reliable market signal? Here are the facts, the math, and the caveats.

Bitcoin's bloodbath continues.

Sunday, 9 November 2025

Crypto's biggest bellwether usually rallies in the fall. But not this year, as worries about the U.S. economy are exacting a steep toll.

It's best to be of two minds on AI

Sunday, 26 October 2025

Veteran blogger offers a helpful reminder to balance optimism and skepticism in the age of generative models.

America's Real AI Arms Race

Sunday, 19 October 2025

Big Tech is forming partnerships and pouring billions into chips, energy, and real estate to keep large models running.

Google offers a proper AI intro indeed

Sunday, 12 October 2025

The AI Essentials course is a good option to level up on prompting and more.

The Dollar’s Diminishing Reign

Sunday, 5 October 2025

It's no longer a fever dream. U.S. deficits and chaotic policy are driving investors toward other stores of value.

Heads up

Sunday, 28 September 2025

A note to readers about the w3w newsletter's next chapter

Charlie Kirk’s Death and the Internet We’ve Built

Sunday, 14 September 2025

Kirk’s assassination marks a grim turning point, underscoring the stakes of Big Tech’s choices and our own.

Trump II offers crypto regulatory wins — and big reputational risks

Sunday, 7 September 2025

Market watchdogs are working together, IPOs are back, and Polymarket is eyeing a U.S. return. But the First Family's grifting looms large.

AI's impact on jobs won't be just about the tech

Sunday, 31 August 2025

Whether new tools help or harm human workers may depend less on the software itself and more on who's in charge.

Tech's money machine is evolving

Sunday, 24 August 2025

For better or worse, crypto treasuries and Uncle Sam are transforming Silicon Valley's funding landscape radically.

Reminder: Cut the algos from your news diet.

Sunday, 17 August 2025

It’s one of the best things we could all do to have better small-d democratic discourse. Here’s how I do it.

Intel CEO unexpectedly faces Trump's ire

Sunday, 10 August 2025

Presidential pressure for Lip-Bu Tan's ouster raises fresh questions about national security, manufacturing, and who’s really protecting America’s tech edge.

Ten years in, Ethereum gets some love from Wall Street.

Sunday, 3 August 2025

After gorging on bitcoin, institutions have been gobbling up ETH lately. But the Ethereum network’s mainstream adoption remains spotty.

The China vs America competition in AI is heating up

Sunday, 27 July 2025

Shanghai conference offers new details — and raises new questions at the same time.

Even MAGA's AI bots are conflicted over Epstein

Sunday, 20 July 2025

Washington's latest political scandal is indirectly providing insight into how this cutting-edge tech really works.

Emerging tech's toolmakers are winning.

Sunday, 13 July 2025

Ethereum stakers and Nvidia's AI-fueled chip sales highlight an old lesson about market booms.

How 2025's tech bull isn't like earlier rallies

Sunday, 29 June 2025

The first half's gains were fueled by AI and bitcoin — with a big helping of chaos on the side.

Genius Act clears Senate, underscoring crypto’s political maturation

Sunday, 22 June 2025

On an increasingly bipartisan basis, Washington is starting to treat digital assets as finance, not fad.

Web3 is losing the battle to decentralize AI.

Sunday, 15 June 2025

A blockchain-driven future for AI is still possible. But it's rapidly slipping out of reach as Big Tech pads its lead.

Connecting SJGC alums the old-school way

Saturday, 15 February 2025

Enough shenanigans with Big Tech platforms. Time to bring back a tool that better protects our independence.

An SNL classic, even without the Kanye jokes

Monday, 20 January 2025

Chappelle's record-breaking monologue evolved markedly at the literal eleventh hour.

Happy New Year!

Saturday, 4 January 2025

A gym-related update to begin 2025.

Are MicroStrategy imitators on the way in 2025?

Friday, 20 December 2024

Holding bitcoin as a corporate asset suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy.

Gift someone the future this year. 🎄

Wednesday, 18 December 2024

A discounted w3w subscription could be the perfect holiday stocking stuffer for your favorite tech fanatic.

Sell, Elon. Sell.

Monday, 24 September 2024

Chaos at Twitter/X is a bigger problem than any its self-appointed savior was supposed to solve in the first place. The solution is obvious.

Is ether really an "altcoin" at this point?

Monday, 16 September 2024

Just like BTC, it's here to stay. Let's face it.

Beware the normalization of surveillance

Wednesday, 11 September 2024

After two decades plus of post-9/11 “security” measures, our acclimation to being constantly spied upon is a problem unto itself.

A better way to share news articles

Tuesday, 3 September 2024

Aliased links from Google News are a game changer for ensuring your contacts don't hit paywalls.

A tale of two social media

Sun, 25 August 2024

The ostensible post-Meta era so far is the best of times — and the worst.

Two can play tech's "sunsetting" game.

Sun, 18 August 2024

Companies deliberately phase out products and services all the time. So should users.

A new chapter for w3w

Sun, 11 August 2024

The newsletter is moving into its next phase on a new platform, including subscriptions for the first time.

Brooks: Think twice about comparing AI to human brains

Sun, 4 August 2024

There's still much we don't know about the latter. That's perhaps easy to forget in the rush to be "smart" in speculating about new technology.

Observing the Beatles' AI usage

Friday, 2 August 2024

The Fab Four's efforts to make new music since John Lennon's passing in 1980 have given us a great example of artificial intelligence in action.

Crypto's journey on Wall Street is still in its early stages

Sun, 28 July 2024

Ether fans celebrated the launch of U.S.-listed funds on the token. But we're still far from true mass adoption of crypto among investors.

Crypto's leaders are going all-in for the GOP

Sun, 21 July 2024

Major Silicon Valley players like Musk and a16z are getting louder — and more generous with donations — to return Trump to the White House.

Cut the algos from your news diet.

Sun, 14 July 2024

It’s one of the best things we could all do to have better small-d democratic discourse. Here’s how I do it.

Who's the power hog now?

Sun, 7 July 2024

WSJ: Companies that make electricity-hungry AI apps are increasingly looking to nuclear generation as a solution.

Halftime Report 2024

Sun, 30 June 2024

Six months in, it's been a pretty good year for emerging tech. New milestones — and potential pitfalls loom ahead.

"Number go up" was a problem in tech long before crypto

Sun, 23 June 2024

The ills of token speculation are frustrating, sure. But the history of the web1 bubble provides useful perspective and lessons for this new era.

For once, a kind word about Google

Sun, 16 June 2024

Let's pause the Big Tech hateration a moment to give the humble Chromebook some well-deserved props.

Let's make a deal.

Sun, 9 June 2024

On Wall Street, merger and acquisition activity is heating up among crypto companies. What's going on?

An uphill battle against online propaganda

Sun, 2 June 2024

From WaPo, new detail about how the U.S. and Europe are combating a nettlesome challenge.

The "war on crypto" backfired.

Sun, 26 May 2024

A pair of big wins in Washington for the industry underscores what went wrong with the SEC's post-FTX crackdown.

Finally, a good idea to fix TikTok

Sun, 19 May 2024

Billionaire Frank McCourt is bidding to make the social app a proving ground for his nonprofit’s pro-user, pro-democracy vision.

On Wall Street, mostly welcome signs for crypto

Sun, 12 May 2024

The latest quarterly earnings season underscores the on-chain economy's continuing integration with traditional finance.

The fastest hunk o' junk in the galaxy

Sat, 4 May 2024

For May 4th, here's my recommended (and highly curated) order for watching live-action Star Wars content.

Hello, world.

Sat, 4 May 2024

I'm launching a new self-hosted blog. Note, the adjective there is really important. 😼

Everyone needs a space of their own on the web, of course one not — controlled by the major platforms. With that in mind, I already own my own domain, along with a server and a homepage for it.

Now I'm adding a subdomain as a dedicated writing space, with plans to update periodically there about whatever I'm interested in, enable RSS subscriptions, etc...