The hottest Substack posts right now

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This Week in Marketing: Social Media Addiction vs. Human-Free Social Media and AI Layoffs

The Social Juice • 63 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Marketing Advertising Social media Technology Artificial Intelligence Media Regulation
  1. Social platforms are in flux as users, creators and advertisers react to trust, moderation and product changes — some people are ditching apps like TikTok while new, AI‑only social networks and 'desocialized' feeds emerge.
  2. AI is reshaping media and jobs: companies are pouring money into agentic tools and ad tech even as some firms cut roles and many new AI startups and features debut, with uneven product success.
  3. Safety, legal and privacy pressures are rising as regulators, courts and publishers push back — youth addiction trials, encryption and data investigations, deepfakes and mass breaches are driving demands for controls and opt‑outs.

News of the Week (January 8 - 12)

Stock Market Nerd • 1257 implied HN points • 13 Jan 24
đź’° Finance Regulation Earnings Partnerships
  1. Bank of America and J.P. Morgan's big bank earnings showed a resilient consumer despite some slowing signs.
  2. Disney's new partnership with the NFL for ESPN content distribution is a smart move for exclusive access and success of the streaming service.
  3. SoFi's recent layoffs were part of a strategic move to focus on key priorities for continued profitability and growth.

Domain Transformations: The Art of Finding Easier Spaces

Software Bits Newsletter • 103 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Algorithms Optimization Linear Algebra Signal Processing Machine Learning Probability
  1. Transform hard problems into easier ones by moving to a different domain, doing the simpler computation there, and (if needed) transforming the result back; this is worth it when the transform cost plus the easier computation is less than solving the original problem.
  2. Use well-known transforms to fix numerical and computational issues: log-space turns tiny-product underflow into stable sums (use the log-sum-exp trick to add probabilities safely), Fourier turns convolution into cheap pointwise multiplication, and embeddings or kernels lift data so linear methods work.
  3. Always check that a transform preserves what you need and that the round-trip cost is justified; the best algorithms exploit problem structure by finding the space where the computation becomes simple.

Leave the "Casino": You don't need to play silly games as an indie entrepreneur | Q&A with Jessica Lackey | #320

Boundless by Paul Millerd • 98 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Career Entrepreneurship Strategy Operations Marketing Monetization Consulting
  1. Don’t gamble on quick fixes, viral hacks, or pricey masterminds — those are the “casino” tactics where the house usually wins. Focus on real business models and the trade-offs that make them sustainable.
  2. Building a profitable solo business takes time and clear choices, often years of work; prioritize frameworks, consistent long-form content, and relationship-driven sales instead of chasing follower counts.
  3. Operational thinking and repeatable rhythms matter: use frameworks and processes to run your business, and treat products (like books) as leverage that still require years of work and ongoing maintenance alongside active client work.

AI Agents: Exploring Agentic Applications

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 119 implied HN points • 29 Jul 24
đź•ą Technology Data Tools AI Applications Machine Learning Natural Language
  1. Agentic applications are AI systems that can perform tasks and make decisions on their own, using advanced models. They can adapt their actions based on user input and the environment.
  2. OpenAgents is a platform designed to help regular users interact with AI agents easily. It includes different types of agents for data analysis, web browsing, and integrating daily tools.
  3. For these AI agents to work well, they need to be user-friendly, quick, and handle mistakes gracefully. This is important to ensure that everyone can use them, not just tech experts.
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Will AI kill SaaS? The case for and against disruption

Brick by Brick • 45 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Artificial Intelligence Enterprise Software Automation Software Engineering Data Infrastructure SaaS
  1. AI that generates code and autonomous agents is collapsing the upfront cost of building software and can replace much of the human labor that SaaS products currently coordinate, threatening the old SaaS economic model.
  2. Big frictions—like high switching costs, regulatory and accountability needs, data gravity, and organizational inertia—make wholesale replacement of incumbent SaaS slow and hard.
  3. Disruption will be uneven and gradual: tools that automate repetitive, text-heavy workflows are most at risk, and winners will be challengers who target high-toil use cases or incumbents who proactively adopt agentic solutions.

“DeepSeek Moment” Anniversary in a Nashville Snowpocalypse

Interconnected • 61 implied HN points • 27 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Research Machine Learning Open Source Hardware AI Software Startups
  1. Making open source the default for frontier AI speeds innovation and lets more people contribute and build on progress.
  2. Letting software specifications drive hardware roadmaps, especially in China, aligns chip design with real AI needs and priorities.
  3. Pursuing AGI without a short-term business model can be a strategic advantage because it prioritizes long-term capability over immediate profit.

Import AI 356: China's good LLM; AI credit scores; and fooling VLMs with REBUS

Import AI • 1238 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
đź•ą Technology Language Models AI Research Compute Robotics
  1. Today's AI systems struggle with word-image puzzles like REBUS, highlighting issues with abstraction and generalization.
  2. Chinese researchers have developed high-performing language models similar to GPT-4, showing advancements in the field, especially in Chinese language processing.
  3. Language models like GPT-3.5 and 4 can already automate writing biological protocols, hinting at the potential for AI systems to accelerate scientific experimentation.

You’ve received a new Axie Score!

The Lunacian • 1334 implied HN points • 19 Jun 25
đź”® Crypto Decentralization Blockchain NFTs Gaming Community
  1. An Axie Score shows how much someone contributes to the Lunacia community. A higher score means more influence over future decisions in the game.
  2. You can use your Axie Score to vote on community matters, and there are ideas to add more benefits like game access or special rewards.
  3. New badges are coming to recognize community contributions, and they will help increase your Axie Score, reflecting your involvement in the Lunacian community.

Why Sharding?

Dan Hughes • 239 implied HN points • 24 Jun 24
đź”® Crypto Decentralization Innovation Technology Scalability Blockchain
  1. Sharding is a great solution for scaling blockchain networks. It allows the system to handle more transactions by dividing tasks into smaller pieces, making processing faster and more efficient.
  2. Relying solely on improving hardware to scale blockchain systems is not enough. It can lead to problems with latency and conflicts that slow down the network as demand increases.
  3. Atomic commitment in sharding ensures that transactions across different parts of the network can be completed all at once or not at all. This helps keep the system clean and prevents messy issues when something goes wrong.

Time to Welcome Claude 3.7

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2419 implied HN points • 26 Feb 25
đź•ą Technology Software Engineering AI Models Safety Protocols Machine Learning Tech development
  1. Claude 3.7 is a new AI model that improves coding abilities and offers a feature called Extended Thinking, which lets it think longer before responding. This makes it a great choice for coding tasks.
  2. The model prioritizes safety and has clear guidelines for avoiding harmful responses. It is better at understanding user intent and has reduced unnecessary refusals compared to the previous version.
  3. Claude Code is a helpful new tool that allows users to interact with the model directly from the command line, handling coding tasks and providing a more integrated experience.

It's a Great Time to be a Software Engineer

Bit Byte Bit • 130 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Software Engineering Productivity Tools Architecture AI
  1. Embrace AI as a core tool — it makes you a faster, more effective engineer and not using it will leave you behind.
  2. Shift your focus from typing code to higher-level software and product decisions like architecture, design principles, and trade-offs, because human judgment matters more than implementation now.
  3. Invest in better workflows: manage context and memory, use multi-agent tools for reviews and refactoring, keep tests and documentation current, and choose models by cost and complexity.

Embeddings are a good starting point for the AI curious app developer

Bryant’s Newsletter • 572 HN points • 17 Apr 24
đź•ą Technology Search Algorithms Database Management App Development AI
  1. Vector embeddings are essential for search and recommendations, measuring similarity in various languages and providing efficiency in AI app development.
  2. Pgvector, a Postgres extension, is a powerful tool for storing and querying embeddings and combining standard SQL logic with embedding operations.
  3. Working with embeddings feels like regular code compared to more complex language models, offering a simpler and more deterministic approach to AI development.

Under the microscope: Sound Qube (Saturn)

Rings of Saturn • 43 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Hardware Software Reverse Engineering Retro Gaming Gaming Game design
  1. You can unlock a level select on the Saturn version by holding Start on the Options screen and entering: A, C, Up, Right, A, Down, Up, Left; this lets you start any of the eight levels.
  2. A wireframe mode makes the sub-cubes transparent when you pause, hold Start, and enter: A, C, Up, Right, A, B, Left, C.
  3. You can force a Stage Clear (or Level Clear on the final stage) by pausing, holding Start, and entering: A, C, Up, Right, A, Right, A, B, which can carry you to the end of the game.

The AI Manager's Schedule

Artificial Ignorance • 105 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Software Engineering Developer Tools Productivity Management Automation Artificial Intelligence
  1. AI turns many maker tasks into delegated work, so your day shifts from long deep blocks to lots of short five-to-fifteen minute management intervals and juggling multiple agents.
  2. New top skills are clear vision, smart delegation, and orchestration — you need to know the end state, break work into bite-sized chunks, and run or coordinate multiple agents, and you must keep strong taste and bullshit detection to judge AI output.
  3. The change can speed up shipping and hugely amplify experienced people, but it also brings risks like micromanagement fatigue, juniors not learning, and initial slowdowns from debugging AI output; over time tools should reduce overhead and make these managerial skills broadly valuable.

An Interview with Stratechery; A New Start

The Asianometry Newsletter • 2707 implied HN points • 21 Jan 25
đź•ą Technology AI Manufacturing Asia YouTube Semiconductors
  1. The Asianometry Newsletter is now part of the Stratechery Plus bundle, so subscribers will have access to exclusive content like transcripts and audio feeds.
  2. Jon Yu, the creator of Asianometry, started his YouTube channel as a way to share his experiences in Asia, which has now evolved into a focus on technology and semiconductors.
  3. The semiconductor industry is complex and involves tightly-knit supplier relationships, with companies collaborating on process development while maintaining competition.

Alan Sugar of Amstrad Speaks to Practical Computing (1985)

Computer Ads from the Past • 896 implied HN points • 07 Aug 25
đź•ą Technology Computing Market Trends Innovation Interviews Consumer Electronics
  1. Alan Sugar wanted to create practical and affordable computers, focusing on what most users needed like word processing.
  2. He believed that many expensive computers had features that people weren't using, so he aimed to provide good value through integration.
  3. Sugar was cautious about expanding into the U.S. market, preferring to find committed customers before making large investments.

18 Predictions for 2026

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 116 implied HN points • 13 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology UX AI Agents Multimodal Compute Robotics Infrastructure
  1. 2026 is the Integration Era: AI stops being a party trick and gets embedded into work and products through autonomous agents, generative UIs, and multimodal/physical capabilities. User experience and agent management, not raw model IQ, become the primary business differentiators.
  2. A compute-driven two-tier world will emerge: persistent shortages and costly inference mean premium subscribers get powerful, multimodal agents while most people use weaker, eco-models. This forces tiered pricing, compute-aware product design, and widens professional and economic divides.
  3. Human roles shift toward judgment, oversight, and trust work: people will focus on setting goals, auditing agent decisions, designing guardrails, and training via apprenticeships. New risks like AI-powered dark patterns will create demand for defensive agents, governance, and stronger UX ethics.

We are back!

Off to Lunch • 1218 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
đź’Ľ Business Podcasts Leadership Startups Management News
  1. Off to Lunch newsletter is back for 2024 with exciting plans, including relaunching Business Leader magazine.
  2. The podcast associated with Off to Lunch covers big business stories and interviews key figures like the CEO of Seedrs and UK boss of Peloton.
  3. Important news stories highlighted include weakening UK job market, Artifact app closing down, and Adidas CEO sharing his phone number with all staff for feedback.

Complain & Propose

Software Design: Tidy First? • 3026 implied HN points • 27 Dec 24
đź•ą Technology Management Communication Engineering Design Software
  1. Always offer a solution when you raise a complaint. This helps others see the way forward and saves time.
  2. Consider things from the other person's point of view. Everyone has their own valid perspective, and understanding that can improve communication.
  3. Don't let emotions cloud your judgment about others' intentions. Assume people mean well, even if they lack experience.

The CTO's Silent Struggle

The CTO Substack • 279 implied HN points • 13 Jun 24
đź’Ľ Business Technology Management Communication Leadership Career development
  1. Being technically correct isn't enough for a CTO. It's important to communicate effectively with the rest of the team to be truly understood.
  2. CTOs often feel unheard and frustrated, especially when their technical insights aren’t respected. They need to connect their concerns to the company's overall goals more clearly.
  3. Success as a CTO comes from focusing on team dynamics and collaboration rather than just being right. Building relationships and understanding others' perspectives is key.

[2025–2026] Week 18: The Investment Checklist by Michael Shearn

Behavioral Value Investor • 29 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
đź’° Finance Investment education Behavioral Finance Investment strategy Portfolio Management Valuation Due Diligence Investment Research
  1. Favor businesses that are predictable and don’t change much over the long term, because stability makes forecasting and compounding easier.
  2. Prioritize honest, competent management and alignment with owners, since trustworthy leaders and CEOs who are engaged materially improve long-term outcomes.
  3. Use a structured, checklist-based research process and deliberate practice: customize the checklist to your approach, be realistic about the time needed to become proficient, and accelerate learning by discussing work with peers.

#45 - Thought Experiment - Your "flexible" is hiding operational debt

OSS.fund Newsletter • 94 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Operations Strategy Product Sales Finance Technology Customer Experience Organizational Design
  1. What you call flexibility may be hiding operational debt: manual workarounds, spreadsheets, and institutional memory erode margins and create single points of failure.
  2. AI can encode client-specific rules and handle exceptions at scale, letting you deliver personalized experiences without increasing marginal human effort.
  3. Audit recent special deals, map their hidden workflows, and encode repeatable rules so agents handle predictable exceptions while humans focus only on true edge cases.

Movers, Shakers, & Money Makers (8/19)

Human Capitalist • 119 implied HN points • 20 Aug 24
đź’Ľ Business Leadership Changes Employment Trends Job Market
  1. Several key people have changed jobs recently, which can affect the companies they join. Understanding these moves can give insights into industry trends.
  2. New roles, such as leaders taking on positions in product marketing or growth, can shape how companies innovate and respond to market demands.
  3. Tracking job changes can be helpful for recruiters, investors, and anyone curious about talent movement in important companies.

Black Friday/Happy Birthday Sale 2025

Computer Ads from the Past • 256 implied HN points • 28 Nov 25
đź•ą Technology Subscriptions Tech community Digital Media Computing Retro Computing Newsletters
  1. Get 39% off annual plans for life if you buy a paid membership between now and December 8.
  2. If you prefer not to use Substack, you can support with one-time donations via Ko‑Fi, SubscribeStar, Cash App, PayPal, Liberpay, or Patreon.
  3. Gift subscriptions are available and on sale for the holidays, and subscribing helps support the reader-supported publication.

Exploring the Dark Web: Rivenrayne, HN and 764

Lucian’s Substack • 1 HN point • 05 Oct 24
đź•ą Technology Online Communities Dark web Internet Cybersecurity
  1. Rivenrayne, Harm Nation, and 764 are dangerous online groups that harm vulnerable people, especially kids. They promote violence, self-harm, and exploitation through organized networks.
  2. These groups use gaming and social media platforms to recruit and manipulate young people. They often focus on communities where members are already struggling with issues like mental health.
  3. It's important for parents and online communities to be aware of these groups and how they operate. By supporting at-risk individuals and monitoring online spaces, we can help reduce the impact of these harmful networks.

Heraclitus

Classical Wisdom • 2103 implied HN points • 14 Apr 23
đź“– Philosophy Cosmology Metaphysics Ancient Philosophy Ethics
  1. Heraclitus believed in a world of constant change and transformation, emphasizing unity of opposites.
  2. Heraclitus' concept of the divine Logos serves as a guiding force for the universe, representing an underlying principle for all things.
  3. Heraclitus' philosophy of universal flux, likened to fire, highlights the harmony in the constant transformation of opposites.

Resist Summary

The Map is Mostly Water • 2942 implied HN points • 31 Dec 24
đź•ą Technology Cognition Writing Learning AI Philosophy
  1. We read too many summaries instead of diving deep into topics. This can make us miss the detailed understanding that comes from exploring original sources.
  2. Writing from your own experience and observations is important. It helps create richer and more interesting content than just summarizing others' ideas.
  3. Using AI for quick answers can simplify things, but it might prevent you from understanding complex ideas. Building a deeper understanding requires slow and careful thinking.

Unix Review Interviews Ted Dolotta and Heinz Lycklama from Interactive Systems Corporation (1984)

Computer Ads from the Past • 256 implied HN points • 28 Nov 25
đź•ą Technology Computer Hardware Networking Developer Tools Documentation Enterprise Software Operating Systems Software Development
  1. PC/IX is a faithful port of AT&T’s System III Unix to the IBM PC‑XT that keeps the System III system calls while adding PC‑friendly tools (like the INed editor and Connect) and performance tweaks such as contiguous file loading and optional 8087 floating‑point support.
  2. Because the 8088 lacks memory protection, PC/IX is sold as a single concurrent‑user, multitasking system that needs a 10 MB hard disk and ships on 19 floppies; IBM will support the product while ISC provides polished documentation and a device‑driver guide to enable extensions.
  3. ISC expects a fast growth of third‑party and ISC applications (languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, INmail/INnet/FTP, word processing and databases) and believes IBM’s marketing and support will help drive adoption and encourage vendors to port their software to PC/IX.

Proposals Don't Work

VERY GOOD PRODUCTIZED GUIDES • 159 implied HN points • 15 Jul 24
đź’Ľ Business Consulting Service Design Business Strategies Pricing Models
  1. Creating proposals is hard and often time-consuming because it can be overwhelming to decide what to offer clients. Instead of struggling with proposals, it's better to focus on defining clear services.
  2. Ditching proposals for a scalable pricing model can save time and make it easier to get clients. Using upfront billing means clients agree to your terms right away, like a product purchase.
  3. There are different pricing models you can use, like one-time services, monthly subscriptions, or a mix of both. This way, you can offer consistent services without repeating the proposal process for each client.

The Gold, the Shovels, and the Switch: Looking Forward at Big Tech’s AI Cap-Ex Build-Out without the Existential AGI Bet

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 169 implied HN points • 18 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Tech Strategy Cloud Computing AI Infrastructure Business Models Market Dynamics
  1. Big tech is building lots of AI infrastructure not because it’s betting the farm on core AI products, but to capture the rents from the AI boom by selling infrastructure and services.
  2. The AI labs are the ones digging for breakthrough models and customer demand, but core AI products may have low margins and fickle users, so those businesses carry higher risk of a bust.
  3. Cloud and platform companies often commoditize or give away core AI tools to protect their high‑margin businesses, and investors are increasingly valuing firms based on real cash generation rather than AI hype.

Database Proxies: Challenges, Working and Trade-offs

Engineering At Scale • 195 implied HN points • 13 Dec 25
đź•ą Technology Scalability Databases Distributed Systems Cloud Performance Architecture DevOps
  1. Database proxies sit between services and the database and multiplex many client connections onto a fixed pool of database connections, preventing connection spikes and making horizontal scaling safer.
  2. Proxies can add features like query caching, read/write routing, and sharding/replica management, which simplifies application logic and abstracts database topology from the app.
  3. Using a proxy comes with costs — extra deployment and maintenance overhead and added latency (~10–15 ms) — so they’re valuable for complex setups (replication, sharding, FaaS) but can be overkill for a single simple database and must be designed to avoid becoming a SPOF.

Do you ever wonder? Podcast

Erdmann Housing Tracker • 42 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Housing Market Media Interviews Economics Finance Real Estate
  1. A podcast interview explains the main forces shaping today’s housing market in a clear, approachable way.
  2. The conversation is concise—under an hour—so it’s a quick way to get up to speed on key ideas.
  3. It serves as an accessible introduction to the speaker’s perspective on housing, useful for newcomers and busy listeners.

LLMs - Part 1: Tokenization and Embeddings

Vasu’s Newsletter • 104 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Deep Learning Algorithms Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning NLP
  1. Text is split into discrete tokens, often subwords using Byte Pair Encoding, so a fixed vocabulary can represent any input by keeping common words whole and breaking rare words into parts.
  2. Each token ID is looked up in a learned embedding matrix to produce a dense vector, and these embeddings capture semantic and syntactic relationships learned during training.
  3. Embeddings are context-free and don’t encode position by themselves, so transformer mechanisms like attention and positional encodings combine them to determine meaning and word order.

The Unbreakable Message

Who is Robert Malone • 15 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Geopolitics Quantum Cryptography Cybersecurity Telecommunications National Security Infrastructure
  1. Quantum communication uses quantum physics to make eavesdropping detectable, so intercepted messages can't be silently copied or later decrypted. This prevents the "harvest now, decrypt later" threat.
  2. Militaries, intelligence agencies, and banks are prioritizing quantum links for the most sensitive communications because the technology can provide a lasting strategic advantage. Whoever builds the networks and standards first could shape the global information architecture and force others to choose sides.
  3. Practical limits remain—photons are lost in fiber, quantum repeaters are needed, and current hardware is expensive and low-bandwidth—so broad consumer use is likely decades away. Once repeaters and miniaturization mature, a quantum internet and distributed quantum computing could reshape security, finance, healthcare, and science.

Now is the time for creators to build on their own land

Substack • 2703 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy Social Platforms Audience engagement Digital Media
  1. Creators should have their own space on the internet rather than relying solely on social media. This gives them control over their content and audience.
  2. Platforms like Substack allow creators to own their work and generate direct income from subscribers. This is a more reliable income source than traditional ad revenue.
  3. Using platforms like Substack as a home base doesn't mean abandoning other social media. It allows creators to deepen connections with fans while still reaching new audiences.

Why the new GOV.UK app is a big deal

Odds and Ends of History • 1206 implied HN points • 01 Jul 25
đź•ą Technology Government Services App Development Digital Transformation User Interaction
  1. The new GOV.UK app is important because it connects citizens directly to government services on their phones. Even though it's basic now, it shows a shift in how people interact with the government.
  2. The app is part of a bigger plan to improve how the government operates, aiming for a more modern and efficient digital service. This could make accessing government help a lot easier in the future.
  3. There’s a vision for a digital ID called the 'BritCard,' which would allow people to store important government credentials in one place. This could streamline many processes and improve overall customer experience.

Hardcore Debugging

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 2842 implied HN points • 13 Jan 25
đź•ą Technology Programming Development Debugging Software Engineering
  1. Bugs in apps can sometimes be easy to fix, but some problems are hidden deep in the system and harder to find. These serious issues can cause crashes that are tricky to solve.
  2. When dealing with a crash, you can use tools like Git Bisect to look back in time or symbolicate crash logs to find out what went wrong. These methods help narrow down the problem.
  3. Understanding how crashes occur in the kernel memory management can take time, but specific techniques exist to make debugging easier and faster. It's all about using the right tools at the right time.

The Defiant Way to Build an AI-First Brand (Stop Playing Safe)

Crypto Good • 9 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Technology Strategy Startups Marketing Branding Product
  1. Use AI to be defiant, not just efficient — make visuals that demand attention instead of blending in.
  2. Use bold images paired with fearless quotes. Pull inspiration from songs, books, or found objects and learn the AI skills to remix and superimpose text into unique visuals.
  3. Build with AI every day and combine multiple models and workflows to keep your brand voice unmistakable. Share your process, iterate publicly, and use practical tools to accelerate your mission.