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Welcome to all our new subscribers! We're coming to you (not so) live from Melbourne, where it's technically the last day of summer. This season has brought some wonderful weather, along with lots of positive change and growth. It's dovetailed nicely, what with the start of a new year, holidays and a wide-ranging update to AMR.
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Have you ever wondered how the temperature might impact different people? Beyond just the seasonal optics of summer, autumn/fall, winter and spring, our entire way of life is governed by what's happening in the environment. Ecosystems thrive or stall, depending on how hot or cool, dry or wet the world is. That's why it's so important to keep things in a state of natural equilibrium and seek to avoid any desynchronization that could derail our fragile world (I'm looking at you, climate change). How do the seasons effect you? When do you feel at your peak? Are you a heat seeker or an ice-chaser?
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For us folk in the southern hemisphere, we'll soon be moving into a cooler climate, however things will continue to heat up for AMR. Our brand refresh is almost complete and that means we can soon double down on producing more content across all our channels.
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Speaking of, let's take a look at what's happened this past month...
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Let's get you up to speed:
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The Amazon rainforest is in trouble. In fact, according to a new study, it’s in worse shape than we thought and degrading at an alarming rate. But a new initiative has brought renewed hope that this cycle may soon be broken.
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There is an epic battle brewing between two titans of technology, and its outcome will radically alter how we use the internet forever. In an increasingly heated AI-race, Microsoft and Google are now duking it over the future of search, which is poised to become one of the most disruptive developments in decades.
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A landmark climate bill was signed last year, signalling the United States’ largest investment in clean energy to date. Five months later, there are signs that the legislation may have triggered a new boom in the renewable energy sector.
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What's happening
AMR news: Last month we migrated Limelight over to our own website, which enabled us to provide a better experience for our readers and allowed us to also improve our accessibility options for the newsletter. We've also begun the process of restoring our older archive of past editions, which can be accessed here (and is now included in the newsletter banner as a handy link).
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We have also continued our website refresh, improving all manner of areas, including our menu and navigation systems, cleaning up back-end code, design, formatting and general fixes. We go over this in fine detail via our Design Talk series, available for our site members.
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Lumier: Which is a great segway into the re-vamp of our site membership. Next month we'll be kicking off a new campaign to announce the arrival of Lumier (formerly known as AMR Alpha). Keen-eyed readers will have noticed that logo popping up around the site the last few weeks. Lumier will be the place for our premium & exclusive content, but more than that, it's also a way to help support our platform and keep it independent. With Lumier, the idea is to build a community of fellow changemakers, packed with people who want to be at the forefront of impactful initiatives, exchange knowledge and seek to make things even better for our world. For those curious, you can check it out now, ahead of our official launch next month.
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Video: This month also saw the launch of our first dedicated video series, AMR #Tech. We received not one but two Light Phone 2's, so we decided to supplement our existing review with an unboxing. Our spare unit will be given away as part of the launch of Lumier next month. 📱
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👆 Click the thumbnail above to view the video.
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Behold our snazzy intro card.
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Brain matter
Here's some (brain) food for thought. In the last few months, AI has captured the attention of news outlets and the general collective, replete with ideas, fantasies and criticisms. Though AI has existed in some fashion for several years, most notably as auto-complete, predictive text and content-suggestion features woven through our daily tech consumption, most of us may have been unaware of its omnipresence. Until, that is, OpenAI and other vendors kicked off an ever accelerating AI-race that finally caught the attention of keen-eyed consumers as recently as 2019.
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Since then, we've seen a rapid uptick in both the application of AI, and its feature set. DALL-E and ChatGPT's widespread public adoption in the last 6 months have put into focus a raft of questions around ethics, purpose, copyright, functionality, jobs and more. But where do you see AI landing in the next nine months? Will it continue to permeate our lives, or will something happen to pause (or roll back) its presence? Can AI be used to solve the climate crisis? How can we live alongside this technological marvel, without disrupting the wider workforce?
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Let us know what you think the next chapter looks like for AI for a chance to be included in our next newsletter.
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Member's corner
We are looking at adding even more features for Lumier members in the coming weeks, including access to members-only comments for articles and the launch of a newsletter with additional content. For now, here's an excerpt of our latest feature:
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Competition is what’s best for consumers, and these latest developments provide an early glimpse into some wonderful possibilities. AI and conversational search could yield massive improvements for accessibility, allowing those with cognitive or physical impairments a more natural and easier to navigate interface by which to search for information. Instead of relaying links and snippets of meta-data, screen readers and text-to-speech tools could plausibly take on a human-like tone of voice, acting more akin to a helpful assistant than a piece of technology attempting to synthesise speech from text that was foremost designed to be read. Likewise, those who are more responsive to auditory learning will benefit from the conversational dialogue, an option that was previously missing from the search experience.
[Read more]
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Some of our favourite things
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URTH: Are you a creator who's conscious about the environment? URTH are purveyors of eco-friendly accessories for photographers, including Camera Inserts, Modular Backpacks, Lens Filters, Laptop Sleeves and more. A certified B Corp, their gear is made of recycled material and features a lifetime warranty. 📷
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Another month in the books, the second with our new format. Most of the kinks have been ironed out and there's still plenty of work to be done. For both our fresh followers and long-time supporters, how are you finding our new look and feel? What could we be doing better? Always open to feedback that will help us better serve our community.
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Next month we are planning to re-introduce more mental health and wellness content, with a feature on neurodiversity on the cards. We also have a few interviews planned with some mental health professionals and wellness advocates, so stay tuned for more details soon.
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Until next time, be well! 💚
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