ZD 25.28: Summer Spirit Week
Where did the first half of the summer go?
Midsummer Link Dreams
It has been a really busy week here and I haven’t had time to collect any thoughts worth sharing. Enjoy the links!
The Distilled Spirit
AI Around the World
AI is maturing and getting better. It is penetrating the physical world and the court cases are getting settled.
🖼 Betting on AI Image Progress (Astral Codex Ten)
In 2022, Scott Alexander made a $100 bet that AI would be able to properly compose some specific images. The bet has come due, Scott has clearly won. The interesting part is watching the progression of the same prompts over time.
🚕 Tesla Robotaxi Video Review (Understanding AI)
Tesla robotaxi performance based on the breadth of videos shared with some deeper analysis of the operation as a whole. Sober analysis of anything Tesla related is rare, but this one hits the mark.
🏭 Meta’s Shopping Spree (SemiAnalysis)
Zuckerberg has been spending a lot of money on talent — from Scale AI to $100 million dollar engineers. They are building datacenters in tents with dedicated power plants. Zuck is building something big.
👩⚖️LLM Training is Kinda Sorta Fair Use for Now (The LawVerse Substack)
The legal questions around AI training are starting to get settled. The current version is that LLM training is transformative use but expect appeals and new action as this battle continues.
AI Comes for the App Layer
The chromium-based browser long ago won that war. Now we are seeing a wave of AI-powered browser apps looking to both enable your workflow and capture more than just your clickstream.
🌍 AI Browser Wars (The Leverage)
Evan Armstrong tries Dia and Comet to see if either passes muster. He also looks at the funding model and how either one could become a sustainable business.
🧔 A Neckbeard’s AI Browser Review (hrbmstr’s Daily Drop)
hrbmstr is an old school technologist who knows his way around software. His take on the three AI browsers — Dia, Comet and Kite — is refreshing. I would steer clear of Dia and the open-source Kite looks right for the right things.
🔊 The Many Paths of Elevenlabs ()
Elevenlabs is an amazing tool for audio creation. Their MCP server is probably one of the coolest things I have seen in AI. Hearing about the vision for the product and for voice and AI from a founder illustrates just how much the interface and the app layer will change in the relatively near future.
Investment Horizon
How will this AI wave affect your investments?
🏔 AI is Creating Peak Software (Fabricated Knowledge)
The cost of writing software has dropped dramatically, changing the supply and demand curve.
🚤 The Sea is the Next Frontier ()
75% of the earth is ocean. We could do a lot more there. Here are a few companies exploring the space.
🎲 The Stockchain ([citation needed])
Molly White explains how tokenizing stocks might be a bad idea for everyone but the financial engineers involved.
📊 Bruised Blue Chips ()
Buying great companies at good prices has never been bad business.
💰 Long Google (Loeber on Substack)
Reasons why Google might be undervalued.
US and China
How we are becoming weaker and the trade imbalance that made China.
🥣 Dollar Dominance to the Slop Machine ()
The US has become a frictionless extraction economy while China is investing in itself.
☕ Silk, Porcelain, Tea and Opium (Uncharted Territories)
Humiliation set China on the path it is on today.
Leading and Executing
Advice on being the best modern manager and strategist you can be.
🤴 How To Delegate and Maintain Standards (
)Great advice on how to delegate tasks effectively.
🛍 How Shopify Executes ()
Shopify has scale and a unique culture. Here is how they ship two major editions a year.
Applied AI
Using and avoiding being used by AI today.
🤩 Creating MCP To Schedule Substack Notes ( Practical AI for Solo Entrepreneurs | SoloAILab)
MCP is an amazing tool but it is hard to see in action. Here is how one can use it to actually complete a task many readers might appreciate.
👨🔬 Using ChatGPT to Help Your Learning (Lifelong Learning Club)
A recent study has pushed the idea of “brain rot” into the forefront.
🧠 Unpacking ChatGPT’s Brain (Use Ai to Write)
ChatGPT’s killer feature is it’s memory. Here is some good advice about using it and managing it in your life.
💾 Vibe Coding in BASIC (Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming)
A retro gaming enthusiast takes Claude back to the old school and tries to vibe code BASIC. He is about as successful as most vibe coding operations.
Around the Nation
Is there room for a third party and do you budget on vibes?
❓ Who Would Vote with Elon? (Strength In Numbers)
Calculating the Total Addressable Market for Elon’s America Party.
👟 The Cost of the Shoe Bomber ()
Richard Reid’s attempted shoe bombing cost travelers billions of hours.
💉 GLP-1s are Popular (Feed Me)
1 in 3 Feed Me readers are using GLP-1s. Many are paying out of pocket, and are often sourcing the drugs online.
Fun Stuff
Musical memories, champagne and travel to Panama.
🎹 Music Unlocks Memories ()
Everyone’s life has a soundtrack. What is yours?
🍾 A History Of Champagne (Histories)
Spoiler: Dom Perignon did not actually invent it.
🛳 A Weekend in Panama City (BROKEN PALATE)
Panama City has food, history and nature nearby making it an interesting destination.
Musical Coda
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