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Premium: Notes From The Bubble, Volume 1
17 hours ago
- The author is starting a new series called 'Notes From The Bubble' to discuss standout tech stories and their impact, replacing the planned 'Hater's Guide' due to time constraints.
- The tech industry is descending into 'cargo cultism' with desperate, ridiculous actions driven by fear that AI may not be the next big thing, leading to hype cycles to avoid facing reality.
- Examples of tech industry absurdity include Meta creating a Polymarket competitor, Snap launching AR glasses few want, Microsoft's shifting AI allegiances, and Google investing $75 million in A24 for a vague AI partnership.
- The industry is characterized by cobbled-together ideas from monopolistic companies with out-of-touch executives focused on shareholder value and stock compensation.
Breaking news, and how the end might begin
17 hours ago
- The AI boom may collapse if a key company, such as OpenAI, fails financially due to burning cash, losing market share, and making unsustainable commitments, triggering a tidal wave of consequences across the tech industry.
- Tokenmaxxing, the all-you-can-eat pricing model for LLMs, has died as companies shift to more expensive token-based pricing, leading to revenue loss and IPO challenges.
- Banks' refusal to accept OpenAI stock as collateral for a SoftBank loan indicates doubts about OpenAI's valuation, potentially hindering its IPO and risking a WeWork-like collapse.
- OpenAI's collapse could cascade to major companies like Oracle and NVIDIA, affecting the banking system, retirement plans, and possibly requiring bailouts.
- Core issues like reliability, factuality, and profitability remain unsolved for LLMs, suggesting the AI hype may be a bubble.
$20/Month: The Price Ceiling Every AI Company Copied
10 days ago
- AI subscriptions like ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Perplexity Pro, and Google AI Pro share a $20 monthly price, originating from OpenAI's February 2023 launch to subsidize free-tier costs.
- Competitors adopted $20 through price anchoring rather than independent cost analysis, extending to smaller tools and higher tiers like $100-$200 for power users.
- Despite identical pricing, each $20 subscription offers different usage limits, features, and model access, varying significantly across providers.
- The price reflects a psychological ceiling—$20 is the maximum typical users tolerate before cancelling, with $19.99 used to undercut this anchor.
- Future pricing may depend on compute costs; while models are becoming cheaper, subscriptions rarely cut prices voluntarily, so competition may shift to higher tiers.
My car's OTA update broke Android Auto, and it's a indictment of modern software
12 days ago
- Software updates often break existing functionality, as seen with a MINI firmware update that disabled Android Auto and CarPlay.
- The tech industry's focus on two-week sprints and rapid deployment leads to rushed, low-quality software releases.
- Compliance mandates like Cyber Essentials Plus force unnecessary updates, creating a 'compliance racket' that prioritizes ticking boxes over real security.
- Companies like Microsoft are struggling to fix bloated software, exemplified by the K2 Initiative to improve Windows 11 performance.
- Users and developers are complicit in accepting mediocrity; there's a call to demand higher software quality and reject half-baked releases.
Automattic's CMS empire shows cracks as WordPress share falls
21 days ago
- AI-related security incidents are common, as many enterprise AI systems were implemented hastily without adequate oversight.
- Quantum computing and AI are being explored to address challenges in fusion energy, specifically in simulating tritium production.
- Software engineers continue to command high salaries, especially at fast-growing companies, despite AI's complex impact on the tech industry.
- Microsoft is restructuring its commercial and Xbox teams, citing rapid global changes and the need to adapt rather than assume longevity.
- AMD's Ryzen AI Halo offers powerful local AI capabilities but comes with a high price tag, including 128 GB of memory.
- Russian attackers are using fake Signal support for phishing, while US authorities have taken down Iranian propaganda sites.
- Microsoft's patches for on-prem SharePoint are ineffective, leaving it vulnerable to zero-day attacks, amid other security updates.
- DEF CON's Franklin project engages hackers to strengthen critical infrastructure, expanding its successful voting village initiatives.
- EQT acquires a majority stake in Acronis at a valuation over $3.5 billion, boosting investment in cybersecurity.
- Ransomware remains a persistent threat after a decade, yet information security offers stable career opportunities.
- Collabora's CODE 26.04 enhances FOSS office suites with Markdown support and optional AI integration amid growing competition.
- GIMP 0.54 is revived in Flatpak form, appealing to retro-computing enthusiasts with its original Motif interface.
- Bcachefs leaves experimental status in a performance-focused release, incorporating more Rust but facing AI-related issues.
- France's digital sovereignty efforts face challenges in moving away from Microsoft, with Nextcloud highlighting storage vs. office suite hurdles.
- CentOS evolved from a hobby project into a default enterprise OS after community collaboration following Red Hat's strategic shift.
- Netflix engineers open-sourced Project Headroom, an app designed to significantly reduce AI operational costs.
The Chinese Resignation Letter That Caused a CEO-Toppling Storm
22 days ago
- A product manager at Alibaba's DingTalk wrote a 75,000-character resignation letter exposing toxic workplace culture and extreme pressure from CEO Chen Hang to develop an AI tool, leading to his eventual removal.
- The letter highlighted 'involution'—relentless, meaningless competition driven by fear rather than vision—seen in practices like making teams watch rival offices' lights and fueling unsustainable price wars across industries.
- Involutionary competition devalues workers, fosters bureaucracy, and damages young workers' confidence, with performance systems like KPIs spreading beyond tech to prioritize short-term gains over sustainability.
- While Alibaba addressed the crisis by ousting the CEO and calling for humane culture, broader issues remain for delivery workers, small businesses, and underpaid white-collar professionals facing similar pressures.
- The Chinese government has prioritized 'anti-involution' policies since 2025 to strengthen labor protections and curb destructive competition, but addressing deep market imbalances is key to restoring meaning and future confidence.

tech industry

Premium: Notes From The Bubble, Volume 1

Breaking news, and how the end might begin

$20/Month: The Price Ceiling Every AI Company Copied

My car's OTA update broke Android Auto, and it's a indictment of modern software

Automattic's CMS empire shows cracks as WordPress share falls

The Chinese Resignation Letter That Caused a CEO-Toppling Storm