Tech Things starts from a simple premise: Everything is now a tech thing. This weekly newsletter doesn’t just cover gadgets—it’s a must-read guide to the products and companies that are influencing every inch of our lives, written with expertise and humor by Wall Street Journal senior personal technology columnist Joanna Stern and reporting assistant Cordilia James.
From the newsletter’s opening note, Joanna shows off her funny, accessible writing style, as well as her nearly two decades of experience covering tech through a consumer lens. Where other tech coverage is overly technical or overhyped, Joanna provides credible, useful information for her many subscribers.
Each week features “The Big Thing,” a newsletter-exclusive piece that often riffs off her reporting from the week. In one issue, Joanna took readers behind the scenes at a high-security Minnesota prison where she interviewed an inmate who had stolen thousands of iPhones. She offered advice to help readers better protect themselves from such crimes.
In another edition, she shares reader responses to her in-depth testing of electric-vehicle chargers in Los Angeles. She answers their questions about the astonishingly high rate of broken chargers and payment issues at non-Tesla stations. Another week, Joanna writes about how smartphones have given us a new window to the Israel-Hamas war.
The newsletter also includes “More Things,” where Joanna and Cordilia round up the three headlines readers must know that week, all with Joanna’s signature analysis. (Sample line: “I don’t typically pay close attention to chipmaker earnings reports but, man, you’ve got to pay attention to Nvidia right now.”)
It continues with “A Thing to Try,” a section that provides a practical walk-through of tech tools, from a super-speedy AI chatbot called Groq to a navigation app for EV chargers to retro phone-screen wallpapers. Lastly, “Throwback Thing” features readers’ own obsolete tech products, complete with photographs of the items and personal stories. It’s a funny (and sometimes touching) walk down memory lane, as well as a reminder of the ever-evolving nature of the industry.
The playful design heightens the reader’s enjoyment, with an eye-grabbing blue, purple and pink color scheme; a headshot that morphs into a pixelated picture of Joanna; clear sections and headings; and divider lines made of electronic cords.
In a crowded field of tech newsletters, this stands out as a master of its own form. The accessibility speaks to the nerds vs. normals, tech journalists and people who just have an iPhone. At it’s core, it’s accessible. The layout was innovative and thoughtful. Gets you in and out and delivers on the medium.
