630: Andy Jassy's Letter, The Chips That Change AWS's Math, Sundar Pichai on Why Google Didn't Ship ChatGPT First, SpaceX's Pre-IPO Financials, Hidden Costs Inside Each Token, Gmail E2EE, and Macs
"targeting a slow moving prey"
The only thing worse than being wrong quickly is being wrong slowly.
—Michael (@mmay3r)
🎹 A couple of years ago, we got my boys a little toy keyboard via a neighborhood “free stuff” group. They both showed some interest and had stretches where they played a lot, learned a few things, then forgot about it for a while.
But the cycle repeated enough that I stopped wondering if it was just a phase. This weekend, I did some research into beginner keyboards and narrowed it down to the Yamaha PSR-E383 and Casio CT-S300. What mattered most was getting touch-sensitive keys, so they could have piano-like dynamics. Weighted keys would get even closer to acoustic piano feel, but that’s probably the next step if they get serious.
I ended up going with the Casio. It was on sale for $200 CAD/$145 USD — really not a lot for an instrument that someone could grow into for a few years. Watching my oldest boy spend hours on it the moment it was delivered was exactly what I'd hoped for.
These days, with YouTube, it’s so much easier to be self-taught than it used to be. He put the laptop in front of him, over the keyboard, and learned visually with videos like this:
Within just a couple of hours, he’s playing Für Elise, Final Countdown, a few Legend of Zelda tunes, and the theme from Harry Potter. I’m impressed AND inspired.
My wife and I now also want to learn some piano. One more fun hobby, one more shared family activity. One more thing to be a beginner at, which is good for you.
🏦 💰 Liberty Capital 💳 💴
✉️ Thoughts on Andy Jassy’s Amazon Shareholder Letter 📫
Jassy’s letter is doing a lot of things at once this year.
He spells out how Amazon thinks about running multiple bets and how they are comfortable with “squiggly line” progress (good luck to them competing with Starlink 😅). It’s good stuff, but I wanted to share my thoughts on a couple of sections that I think especially matter for the future of the company:
