About Lowpass

Lowpass is a newsletter about the future of entertainment and the next big hardware platforms, including smart TVs, ambient computing and AR / VR that gets sent out weekly to 18,600 subscribers.

Here’s what’s in store for subscribers:

  • A paid tier that’s worth $8 a month. Paying subscribers will get the complete newsletter every week, with scoops, news and analysis on the topics that matter for the future of entertainment and technology. They will also have access to every article on the Lowpass website, and will be invited to a subscriber-only Slack workspace for networking, live chats and more.

  • A robust free tier. I’m not a big fan of emails that contain nothing but paywalls, which is why free subscribers will find something useful in their inbox every Thursday. About twice a month, non-paying subscribers will get the entire newsletter. And on weeks with premium-only content, they will still get a list of curated links, and perhaps an extra data point or story here and there.

  • About the posting schedule. Lowpass will go out every Thursday morning, with reasonable exceptions, which include vacation time: I plan on taking two weeks off during the summer break, as well as over the Winter holidays.

Who am I, and why am I doing this. My name is Janko Roettgers, and I’ve covered the intersection of tech and entertainment as a journalist for roughly two decades. I was among the first writers for Gigaom’s Newteevee blog in 2007, and later wrote for Gigaom proper, followed by multiple years at Variety, and most recently Protocol. During those years, I’ve seen and written about streaming evolve into a multi-billion-dollar industry, cord cutting become mainstream, and AR and VR emerge as exciting possibilities for the future of computing and entertainment alike.

But while those industries have flourished, media has struggled to keep up. I was on staff when Gigaom abruptly shut down in 2015, and had a bit of a deja vu when Protocol just as suddenly ceased publication late last year. Plenty of other outlets that used to cover this space have also thrown the towel, laid off great reporters, or turned into bland marketing blogs churning out rewritten press releases and affiliate link posts.

I believe there is another way. Streaming, AR, VR, the future of entertainment and the tech industry’s quest to find the next big platform succeeding the smart phone deserve serious coverage that goes beyond spec sheets and consumer how-tos. Reporting that goes deep on both the technology powering these industries, and the business decisions shaping their evolution.

I’m inviting you to join me. Reader-supported journalism offers a chance to fill some of the gaps left behind by the retreat of venture-backed media, and a newsletter allows me to speak directly to an audience that cares as deeply about these subjects as I do. The more of you who opt for the paid tier, the more time and resources I will have to make Lowpass the best newsletter for industry insiders and enthusiasts alike.