💬 Pirijan, Creator of Kinopio

Without juniors and interns a field has no future.

100%! And we are seeing the deterioration of these roles everywhere. Doing the menial junior level tasks is how people learn a job top to bottom. Pushing for AI to take those menial tasks, removes the education and pipelines, which will result in the next generation getting thrown in the deep end. Some will make it, but a lot more people will drown.

🤖 Rick Rubin collaborated with Anthropic to create The Way of Code /// kottke.org

Inspired by Laozi’s Dao De Jing, it’s Rubin’s take on intuitive programming.

This is weird to me. On the one hand, I hate AI. On the other, I get how Rick Rubin could see vibe coding as something similar to his own musical process as someone who doesn’t play an instrument or mix, etc. So to him, this is no different. He’s essentially a product manager who is okay with killing of the engineers. I wonder how he’d feel once AI can replace the sound mixer and engineers in the booth; would he be okay with giving that job to AI?

🛻 What is going on with the Tesla Robotaxi logo? /// Fast Company

“A good logo always tries to convey the brand promise,” says type designer and Hoefler & Co. founder Jonathan Hoefler. “And this one definitely foreshadows the tragic collisions ahead.”

Such a shoddy logo. It just looks like something a 13 year old would come up with in KidPix to put on a tough guy façade. Elon Musk so badly wants to be edgy and have people like him.

👮 ‘FuckLAPD.com’ Lets Anyone Use Facial Recognition to Instantly Identify Cops /// 404 Media

“We deserve to know who is shooting us in the face even when they have their badge covered up,” McDonald told me when I asked if the site was made in response to police violence during the LA protests against ICE that started earlier this month. “fucklapd.com is a response to the violence of the LAPD during the recent protests against the horrific ICE raids. And more broadly—the failure of the LAPD to accomplish anything useful with over $2B in funding each year.”

It doesn’t sound like it works for cops and ice agents wearing masks, but that’s what we need; fight fire with fire. It’s just insane these agents can wear masks, not identify themselves, and just throw people in the back a van; it’s gestapo shit.

🪟 In defense of the already-killed Tahoe beta 1 Finder icon /// Birchtree

Cards on the table, I’m a weirdo who actually liked the Finder icon in Tahoe developer beta 1. I think it looked great and was a proper reimagining of the icon I’d been staring at in my dock for the past few decades for the new design system in Tahoe.

I’m with Matt on this one. I can’t believe people are so opposed to change that flipping a color is such a travesty. And if we look at it from a pure design perspective, I think the original one fits better with the liquid glass motif.

💭 You think? /// Ben Tsai

I didn’t think the thoughts that would have produced those words in my brain. I think that matters.

100%. A common refrain is that the moment you try to teach something or put it to paper is when you realize how much you really know about the topic. With AI we are outsourcing the foundations of thinking and understanding.

👗 Anna Wintour, 75, Steps Down From Top Role at Vogue in Shock Move /// Daily Beast

She will stay on as global editorial director of Vogue, and as global chief content officer of Vogue parent company Condé Nast.

Wow! It’s finally happening! Maybe she’s just sticking around Condé Nast until they find her replacement, but if not, I don’t see this going well. Having that kind of oversight over your replacement makes it more difficult for them to make the job theirs.

📧 Why Derek Thompson Is Leaving The Atlantic For Substack /// THR

So Thompson will take his thoughts on abundance, culture, the NBA, technology and other topics to the platform, where he hopes he will have the freedom to express himself in away that he can’t at The Atlantic.

Going to opposite direction of Charlie Warzel, who launched a Substack a few years ago and then The Atlantic “bought it” when they made their newsletter push. It’ll be interesting to see how Thompson approaches it and if he sticks to it for the long run.

🤖 Judge Rules Training AI on Authors’ Books Is Legal But Pirating Them Is Not /// 404 Media

The complex decision is one of the first of its kind in a series of high-profile copyright lawsuits brought by authors and artists against AI companies, and it’s largely a very bad decision for authors, artists, writers, and web developers.

Forgot to mention this yesterday, but referenced it a couple posts ago around NVIDIA’s stock price. It’s wild that we are just going to allow this to happen. Making this legal is going to ruin so many industries. This is not equivalent to a library buying a book and loaning it out. It’s just not.

📸 Death of a Fantastic Machine /// kottke.org

Not gonna sugar-coat it: this video made me want to throw my phone in the ocean, destroy my TV, and log off the internet never to return. Oof.

If you didn’t watch this when Kottke posted it yesterday, you really should. I didn’t even realize NY Times was making short docs like this. It’s brilliant and depressing at the same time and makes me feel even more like we are on a giant downward slope.

🎙️ How to become a Substack Star with Emily Sundberg /// Channels

I was a huge Feed Me supporter from the pretty early days, but cancelled in early 2024 (I think—around the time of the rebrand). Emily always had a focus on NYC, but around that time, it felt like she was writing longer pieces dialed into the city and making the culture/marketing/branding/business links and commentary lower priority. Still, it was interesting to get her perspective on it here and how she views the newsletter and where she wants to take things.

🤖 Nvidia shares hit record high on renewed AI optimism /// FT

Not surprising given the court rulings today. It’s bonkers we are just going to let these machines digest everything to regurgitate poor assimilations of them with zero repercussions.

📱 The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America /// The Verge

We figured that was unlikely to be true. And we were right: sometime in the last several days, the Trump Mobile site appears to have been scrubbed of all language indicating the phone is to be made in the USA.

Not that any of us are actually surprised. Grifters gonna grift after all.

🏀 ESPN’s NBA Finals Coverage Was A Pretty Rough Watch /// Defector

It’s as if the producers watched TNT’s program and concluded that having two guys who don’t really like or watch basketball yell at each other was the key to its success, rather than the chemistry and trust among its hosts.

Whole heartedly agree with all of this. ESPN was absolutely trash. Doris Burke is the only thing they have going for them. They better not screw up Inside the NBA next year.

☢️ Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say /// CNN

The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by seven people briefed on it.

Surprise, surprise, we wasted billions of dollars on bombs that achieve nothing except strike the ego of our big dumb president.

🍿 California Legislative Leaders Agree on $750 Million in Funding for Film and TV Credit /// Variety

The additional funding is projected to increase the number of film jobs supported by the program by 40-50%, according to the California Film Commission — or 4,400 to 5,500 jobs.

I think it’s great that they are working to reinvigorate a dying—but pivotal—industry, but I’d much rather see this money come from reductions in pay for the top end of CEOs and movie stars who are overpaid.

⌨️ How to build the best keyboard in the world /// The Verge

The build quality is astonishing, the Topre-style switches are better than Topre’s, the stabilizers are better than anyone’s, and the keyboard is beautiful and a joy to type on. The Seneca is a genuine technical accomplishment.

Holy. Crap. $3600?! Who wants to hire Humdrum Industries for 24 hours so I can snag one of these magnificent beauties. Still probably just going to pick-up an HHKB to replace my RealForce, but goddamn do I want this.

🪾 David Lynch’s Producer Says ‘Unrecorded Night’ Was “The Best Thing He Ever Did” /// World of Reel

And despite recent murmurs that the screenplay may eventually be published — possibly even novelized — nothing can replace the cinematic experience that could’ve been.

I know it could never be what Lynch imagined, but I so badly want Dern, Watts, and MacLachlan to find a director they like who is a bit earlier in their career—maybe Dream Scenario’s Kristoffer Borgli—and get this movie made.

🏪 New Digital Comics Store Takes Aim at Amazon /// NY Times

Next month, they plan to launch Neon Ichiban, a site they intend to be “a dedicated experience for comics,” Mr. Steinberger said, after raising more than $7 million from investors in the game and movie industries.

I have way too many thoughts about this. First Steinberger was a founder of ComiXology and along with Mosher, oversaw its collapse in Amazon’s hands. Also, these two recently founded DSTLRY, which readers of Foofaraw might know I despise because of their digital tactics. Then there’s the fact I’m not sure digital comics is a business that warrants $7mil in funding—unless you plan to sell to a tech conglomerate again. Lastly, Sweet Shop is a digital comics store coming from a much smaller indie team that also has Image and IDW lined up already. Competition is great, but I’m not sure I trust these guys to do what’s best for comics.

💸 Sam Altman says Meta has offered some OpenAI employees $100 million signing bonuses. /// The Verge

So far, “none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” according to Altman.

Really, really hard to take Altman at his word on anything, especially something like this, but Meta did make $45b in profit (based on a quick search) last year… Still who is insane enough to turn down $100 million to work for one evil, shitty tech place over another.

🤖 The New Digg’s Plan to Use AI for Community Moderation /// Columbia Journalism Review

Content moderation experts seem to approve. “I don’t think it’s hype,” said Vaishnavi J, a founder of Vys, a trust and safety advisory firm that helps companies implement AI safeguards for youth harms.

I know people might think of me as a huge AI hater, but this is an area I appreciate being explored. Moderation is hard and having people stare at posts all day—some that may be disturbing—is an admirable thing to avoid. I’d use it similar to Clarkesworld’s filters¹, where everything goes through a funnel, and the items flagged are then reviewed by a human, and the filter is adjusted accordingly. With AI, maybe you could try to have it come up with its own confidence level, and review those with low confidence and only review the high confidence if there’s an appeal.

🖼️ Why it’s nearly impossible to buy an original Bob Ross painting /// The Hustle

All told, Bob Ross churned out ~30k paintings in his lifetime — nearly 3x the output of Picasso, a prolific painter in his own right.

It’s incredibly cool to just think about the fact most of those are hanging up in normal people’s houses. Too often it feels like art is an asset stowed away, but given Ross’s prolificness and “every man” nature, flips that on its head in a way few have.

👮 Comptroller Brad Lander released after dramatic arrest at ICE court hearing /// AMNY

City Comptroller Brad Lander has been released without charges after being arrested and accosted by masked federal agents at immigration court in Lower Manhattan.

Gestapo out in full force, I see. We really need better systems in place to hold cops and federal agents accountable for when they do shit like this. Arrest someone for no reason and then immediately release them? That’s harassment, at a bare minimum. You can’t just wipe this under the rug, because then the behavior is perpetuated and that’s why you have the ACAB movement—as even good cops feel like they have to “protect their own” instead of holding their peers to account when they cross the line.

🧱 Ah Fuck, They Painted The Brick /// The Onion

What kind of moron would paint brick?

This feels like it was aimed directly at me. My wife and I have an inside joke that whenever we see a brick building, she’ll ask me about it and I’ll say whether it’s “good brick” or not.