Happy New Year! What a better way to start 2017 than the first newsletter of the year.

I’ll be out at CES in Las Vegas this week and will hopefully have lots to share. Anyone else making the trip?

Writing

I was able to read more books than I imagined I would last year. If books are on your list of goals for 2017, here are some of the top ones I read in 2016. My hope this year is to keep up the pace, plus at least one biography each month.

Reading

Smart watches aren’t doing so hot. Will they ever? Only time will tell.

Twitter is making it easier to go live within its own app, removing the Periscope link-out dependency.

Speaking of dependencies, The Information had an interesting read on Snapchat potentially divorcing Discover from its main app. Also, check out my thoughts in the comment section after the article.

WhatsApp doesn’t get enough love in the U.S. The messaging platform has been an amazing success.

I agree with a lot of the points Economist digital strategy chief Tom Standage wrote about media in the next 10 years. He covered advertising, platforms and business models.

Here’s a fun read on the Golden State Warriors’ top lawyer with an interesting side job: rapper.

Go behind-the-scenes at Saturday Night Live as Alec Baldwin transforms into Donald Trump.

Speaking of Trump, he apparently doesn’t like to be lonely, which makes getting a meeting with him pretty easy.

Finally, don’t think of busyness as always a good thing — it’s not a status symbol.

Rock and Roll.

My last newsletter had an open rate of 34.0% (+3.2%).

Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter where I’ll share what I’ve written about or read from around the web related to mobile, digital, emerging media and more. The newsletter is sent 8 p.m. ET on Sunday nights and appears on ScottStanchak.com 10 a.m. ET on Monday.