This week it’s a digest of the flow of stuff. If you want to keep up day-to-day, and even more content not included below, check out my newly reborn Weblog on The World Wide Web.
Original Content
Things I’ve written
A great platform as a product paper, and a fun platform philosophy thereof.
The Security Gap in AI Applications: Rethinking API Protection for a New Era.
20 years of business travel - you’ll get there, or you won’t.
Highlights from that OpenAI “The state of enterprise AI report.”
Podcasts
The AI Tools Lab, conferences, devrel, with Jason Hand - Whitney and Coté chat with Jason Hand. They discuss the challenges and rewards of organizing conferences, the impact of the pandemic on in-person events, and the nuances of developer relations.
The Fermi Paradox of Agentic Development - We discuss AWS re:Invent announcements, Agentic Development, and OpenAI’s Code Red. Plus, a Digital ID field test and more on silverware sorting.
Typeface Philosophy - We discuss how Netflix is disrupting media, IBM’s Confluent acquisition, and Anthropic buying Bun. Plus, an important discussion on fonts and typography. See also a sample of the fonts in question.
Platform engineering metrics, surveys, and focusing on the many why’s - Tony and I talk about platform engineering at large organizations. Our third Tanzu Catsup livestream.
Relative to your interests
Thoughts on Kubernetes LTS - “if your enterprise is looking to stick on a Kubernetes version for fifteen years, something is broken.”
Microsoft research shows chatbots seeping into everyday life - People are still shocked that people use AI chat bots as close friends, tutors, life-coaches, and even therapists.
Oracle and the hard truths about software - “Oracle’s predicament is more acute than the hyperscalers’. Its business is smaller, its pockets shallower and its lot hitched more tightly to the fate of a single customer, OpenAI, which accounts for over half its $500bn in pledged revenue.”
Over 40% of Dutch have anxiety or depression; 1 in 20 receive mental health treatment - Netherlands: ”The group of people experiencing anxiety or depression has grown over the past ten years. In 2014, it was 36 percent, and last year almost 44 percent. The increase is particularly noticeable among young people and women.” Related: “More than half of Dutch renters ages 18 to 34 fear they will not find a rental home because of high rents and growing competition among house-hunters, as the supply of available housing continues to shrink.”
The politics of the ice cream business. Also: Ben & Jerry’s was worth $326 million.
Before You Build a Private Cloud, Ask This One Question - “The question that actually determines success is simpler—and almost never asked: Are we ready to operate a private cloud as a product for the next 3–5 years?”
Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry - “a new AI-infested economy”
6,690 Americans apply to move to the Netherlands this year, highest in a decade -
Why Couples Therapists Are Sick of ‘Therapy-Speak’ - The Atlantic - “Let’s say one person forgot to pick up groceries or didn’t accurately recall a conversation; the other would say, ‘Oh, you’re gaslighting me. This is psychological abuse,’” he said. “But they weren’t. They were just having what I would consider pretty normal miscommunications.”
Introducing AX: Why Agent Experience Matters - Make it so the robots can use your shit, or you might be irrelevant. At least, less so. // ”Platforms, tools or frameworks that are hard for large language models (LLMs) and agents to use will start feeling less powerful and require more manual intervention. In contrast, tools that are simple for agents to integrate with and well suited for the strengths and constraints of LLMs will quickly become vastly more capable, efficient and popular.”
Everything I Got Wrong About Product (So You Don’t Have To) - “The job isn’t to “prioritise value”, but to create the conditions where value can move. You don’t reveal value through prediction; you reveal it through flow.” // Some product management maxims.
Amazon’s enterprise AI strategy, explained by Neil Ward-Dutton.
Wastebook
“[N]ot everyone needs to like everything, which is the most important thing.” On art, but also life in general.
“No. Make it shorter. Tea please.” The PowerPoint Guru.
“Please let us know if you plan to bring a dog. Our restaurant is not dog-friendly but we will always do our very best to find you a table in the bar areas. This cannot be guaranteed.” The Bridge Inn
“It is so hard to keep track of the policies of a platform run by liars and frauds.” The European Commission Should Not Be on X in the First Place
“visibility engine” The AI slop spam comes for thee
“mischievous or playful activity : PRANK —usually used in plural” The word is: MONKEYSHINE
Logoff
We’re almost there, the end of the year.
It’s looking like I’ll be giving my playing D&D with AI talk again this week. Here’s the last time I gave it at AI for the Rest of Us in October.
I’ve been thinking about how much AI’s ability to play D&D has improved over the past year. I may have to unwind a lot of my prompts and techniques. With one or two MCP Servers and/or Claude Skills, my theory is that all you really need is some prompting for style and tone. Plus uploading a few files.
A lot of the work I’ve been doing now is still around getting the AI to be more active and, let’s say, adventure forward. It still sits there alluding, alluding, but never taking action.
Identifying what’s “fun” is also something it’s not too great at. This is a fuzzy thought, but I don’t know if the AIs know how to make decisions based on what would be fun, tuned to me of course. I realize that’s not how AIs work, but you get what I mean. Maybe.
