A new platform for my email subscribers

In December, I wound down w3w, my tech newsletter on Substack. I did so in order to switch to a new personal publishing setup offering greater editorial independence, with this self-hosted blog as the centerpiece.

I have also now begun using Buttondown to securely host email subscriptions to my blog content.

What that means for you:

• If you were an active w3w reader as of Jan. 30, I'm moving you over to the Buttondown distribution list automatically. No further action required. You should see this post in your inbox shortly, confirming your new subscription.
• If you're a newbie who wants to start an email subscription, please sign up for free using the simple form at the top of my homepage.
• If you were a w3w subscriber who hadn't opened the emails in awhile, you are no longer subscribed. I figured it didn't make sense to move you over to a new list automatically. But hey, you're always welcome back, if you want. Just sign up for a whole new sub using the simple form at the top of my homepage.
• If you want to unsubscribe to my emails, you can do so here.

• If you're an RSS fan, you can subscribe to me that way as well. The feed is here.

I look forward to continuing our conversation about tech throughout the rest of 2026 and beyond via this new publishing stack.

From an editorial standpoint, I expect the tone and substance of future updates to be familiar to anyone who previously read w3w. But updates should arrive in your inbox on a somewhat looser schedule compared the w3w era’s cadence every Sunday.

The general idea is to take a more incremental approach. I anticipate doing 1-3 blog updates a week. They may sometimes be shorter than before, but a bit more frequent.

Subject matter will remain focused on things like AI, blockchain, quantum computing, and open source. I also want to broaden out a bit to include some tech-adjacent topics that interest me, such as a smidge of macroeconomics.

I’ll also be getting a little more global and, at times, more technical. For example, I’ve been experimenting some personal vibe coding projects that I want to tell you about soon.

And there may be occasional 100% off-topic rants about baseball or other stuff because… hey… it’s a personal blog. 😊

Finally, I would note that this new setup is 100% free to subscribers, whereas my Substack had an optional subscription tier. Frankly, I was finding the paid Substack tier too hard to maintain and grow, with too little return and too much of a hit to visibility and usability of content for the audience.

To me, the better course at this point is to just have a free, open discussion of tech and see where it leads.

If you think some idea I share might be directly useful for your business, or if my past experience in startups and media is relevant, great. I’m looking for new roles right now, either full-time or contract.

To get in touch, please drop me a DM on LinkedIn, or email directly at peter[at]pmckay[dot]com. Or if you want to hop on a video chat, book a time slot on my Calendly page.

If not, if these updates for you are just food for thought about how to fix the broken internet, I’m glad for that as well. Lord knows, there’s a lot to talk about these days in that regard.

— Peter A. McKay