ZD 26.03: Measurement Trap

How fascination with measurement destroys product quality and other tales in technology.

Big Picture

🤔 Who Captures the Value in AI? (This Is Not Investment Advice)
AI unit economics are rapidly improving. Are they improving rapidly enough for Anthropic and OpenAI’s survival?

🏪 LLMs vs Marketplaces (Dan Hockenmaier)
Which businesses and marketplaces are more vulnerable to disruption by LLM? What should you do if your business is in the crosshairs?

🏘️ The American Dream Needs a Factory Reset (Rational Optimist Society)
Building more housing might require building homes in factories. Here are the disruptors trying to make that work.

💩 Enshittification Incentives (Kent Beck)
How the incentives and obsession with measurement in product organizations lead to products that are hostile to users.

Technology Today

🏁 Talladega Bytes (Natural Intelligence)
Differentiating LLMs and Big Model Companies through car manufacturer analogies.

👎 AI Ruined My Sunday (Co-Write with AI)
Nick surrendered his Sunday to AI. It did not go well.

📈 The Vibe Graph (Joe Reis)
If you feed AI enough context, it can understand the vibe of decisions. It turns out emoji velocity can tell you things.

📝 The Magic of Markdown (Anil Dash)
Markdown is one of those Web 1.0 creations that stuck.

Work and Life

🎀 What is in for 2026 (Casey Lewis)
What is in for 2026 according to the TikTok Girlie class. Are you ready for whimsy mixed metals?

🎬 Fan Edit Obsession (Inside Hook)
Gen Z is obsessed with creating mini trailers set to music. They are as amazing as that sounds.

🚀 How to Spot a Breakout Startup (next play)
Joining a startup is a major commitment. Here are some tips on spotting a winner.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Work Friends make Culture (Bruce Daisley)
Workplace friendships are a 20% salary premium and otherwise critical to retention.

🎙️1996 Was a Hell of a Year (SNOBHOP)
I graduated high school in 1996, we had a hell of a soundtrack. Street dreams are made of this.

The Look

Bubble or not, TSMC is making money hand over chip.

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