🔗 What if Ed Zitron is an optimist?

"Transformative innovation is priced in to the Big Tech stocks including their legacy businesses, and there’s only so much remaining crime that they can use to fill in the gaps between investor expectations and what they can realistically deliver. Yes, buying a gilded ballroom for the President of the USA will help them get away with more crime for longer, but in the absence of newly created value they can’t keep extracting more and more. The disruption from the coming AI crash could result in a decline in some other revenue streams previously considered safe."

💬... john.philpin.com https://john.philpin.com/2026/01/02/what-if-ed-zitron-is.html

What Om Said

🔗 What is Instagram’s Adam Mosseri really saying in his year-end memo?

And Then What Ben Said

🔗 What is Instagram’s Adam Mosseri really saying in his year-end memo?

Reminds me - I should export my Instagram feed into John.philpin.com https://om.co/2026/01/01/what-is-instagrams-adam-mosseri-really-saying-in-his-year-end-memo/ https://werd.io/what-is-instagrams-adam-mosseri-really-saying-in-his-year-end-memo/

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Just poked my head into the kitchen - I presume a local rugby team is dropping by later to help consume the dinner being prepared.

Happy New Year

"Lets hope it’s a good one"

🔗 My Three Words for 2026

What are yours❓ https://substack.philpin.com/p/engage-enable-emerge

At first blush, the German heist strikes me as less Oceans 11 and more Sexy Beast.

😂😂😂

"My sense of the “right” way to handle this puzzle is to think of it as a network and use some powerful result from graph theory to solve it in an instant. But since the only thing I know about graph theory is that it exists, I went about it differently."

💬 Dr. Drang

Sometimes the 2025 reviews seem to be so heavy with bad news:

🔗 12 NASA Satellite Images That Tell the Story of Earth in 2025

But sometimes - the good news does just pushes through.

🔗 The Year in Cheer

Have a better year than 2025 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/12-nasa-satellite-images-that-tell-the-story-of-earth-in-2025/ https://reasonstobecheerful.world/year-in-cheer-2025/

Not yet finished the series - which is telling even of itself - but my review is likely going to lean towards 🎬🔗 Andrei’s https://andrei.xyz/movies/pluribus/

🔗 ExtraBar - Custom Menu Bar for macOS

"Apps like Bartender and Ice help hide icons, but they don’t help you actually do things faster. I wanted deep links, custom actions, and keyboard shortcuts without installing a dozen helper apps."

I appreciate the 14 day money back gurantee - but no real clues as to how this is going to generally work - let alone specfically for me …

I know about it because of @ameripie - who clearly likes it. $9.99 - what can go wrong? https://extrabar.app/

I like Ben’s approach to ‘Resolutions’ : 🔗 A 2026 checklist - not least because 🔗 the usual approach is more often than not going to fail.

Might try it along side of my 🖇️ 3Words approach. https://werd.io/a-2026-checklist/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/are-you-ready-for-a-fresh-start-update/ https://substack.philpin.com/p/engage-enable-emerge

🔗 Daring Fireball: Photoshop 1.0 and the Early Macintosh HIG

"Only a fool dismisses the collective knowledge passed down by those who came before us."

💬 John Gruber

It would be hard to disagree. AND it isn’t just in tech … and design - there do seem to be an increasing number of ‘fools’ in the world across all disciplines. AND they are given louder and louder megaphones.

Maybe the real FOOLS are the enablers. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/12/31/photoshop-1-and-the-early-macintosh-hig

🔗 Glitterally The Worst Idea

"Manager: “Today, I need the caffeine more than I need the dignity.”" https://notalwaysright.com/glitterally-the-worst-idea/400738/

🔗 The Receipt That Sparked A Resolution

Lovely. Have a better 2026 than 2025. https://notalwaysright.com/the-receipt-that-sparked-a-resolution/400662/

🎉 Happy New Year 🎊 to all - and may 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣ be a vast improvement over last year.

What Are Your 3️⃣ Words❓ https://substack.philpin.com/p/engage-enable-emerge

🔗 Using AI-Generated Images to Get Refunds - Schneier on Security

And they say AI reduces human creativity❗️ https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/12/using-ai-generated-images-to-get-refunds.html

Dear 🍎

Thank you for highlighting that this post was generated by AI. It’s a step. A small step - but nonetheless - a step.

Now - for the next act - how about …

(click through to see the comments for your starter pack)

💬

America needs a ‘Country’ boom❓