Search the archive

HUMAN CODERS ARE STILL BETTER THAN LLMS

While current-level AI is useful, it is still very much behind human intelligence.

ONLOOK

Onlook is a visual-first code editor designed for designers that allows them to craft websites, prototypes, and designs with AI.

YOU'LL NEVER BE READY FOR ANYTHING THAT MATTERS

You'll never be ready for the big things in life, so just start doing them anyway.

PERPLEXITY LABS

Perplexity has introduced Perplexity Labs, allowing Pro users to go from idea to execution by generating reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, and simple apps using tools like web browsing and code execution.

FLUX.1 KONTEXT FOR IN-CONTEXT IMAGE GENERATION

Black Forest Labs released FLUX.1 Kontext, a set of flow-matching models that enable text-and-image-based in-context image editing and generation.

ANTHROPIC OPEN-SOURCES CIRCUIT TRACING TOOLS FOR AI INTERPRETABILITY

The tools generate "attribution graphs" to trace how large language models make decisions internally, revealing the step-by-step reasoning process behind outputs. The library works with popular open-weight models and includes an interactive Neuronpedia frontend for exploring model circuits.

DEEPSEEK'S R1 LEAPS OVER XAI, META, AND ANTHROPIC TO BE TIED AS THE WORLD'S #2 AI LAB AND THE UNDISPUTED OPEN-WEIGHTS LEADER

DeepSeek R1 0528 has jumped from 60 to 68 in the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. This positions the model as higher intelligence than xAI's Grok 3 mini, Nvidia's Llama Nemotron Ultra, Meta's Llama 4 Maverick, and Alibaba's Qwen 3 253, and equal to Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro. The model has increased intelligence across the board from previous generations without any changes to its architecture. The gap between open and closed models is now smaller than ever.

FORMER OPENAI SAFETY RESEARCHER EXPLAINS AI REASONING REVOLUTION

Lilian Weng published a comprehensive technical survey connecting test-time compute to human psychology, drawing on Kahneman's "fast vs slow thinking" to explain why models perform better when given extra computational steps before answering. The review covers the science behind chain-of-thought, the RL approaches powering o1 and R1, and the alignment risks posed by reward hacking.

CHATTERBOX TEXT-TO-SPEECH

Resemble AI released an open-source TTS model that outperforms ElevenLabs in benchmarks and features emotion exaggeration controls.

GLOBAL ILLUMINATION WITH RENDERFORMER

RenderFormer is a neural renderer that produces photorealistic images directly from triangle-based scene representations with full global illumination. It doesn't require any per-scene training or fine-tuning.

WEB BENCH - A NEW WAY TO COMPARE AI BROWSER AGENTS

Web Bench is a new dataset for evaluating web browsing agents. It consists of 5,750 tasks on 452 different websites. Anthropic Sonnet 3.7 CUA is currently state-of-the-art according to Web Bench.

CHEAPER VLM TRAINING

Meta researchers introduced a method called zero-shot grafting, which trains a vision encoder with a smaller surrogate model derived from a large LLM's shallow layers. This reduces VLM training costs by ~45% while preserving or even improving performance when transferred to the full LLM.

A RECENT CLARITY THAT I GAINED IS VIEWING AI RESEARCH AS A “MAX-PERFORMANCE DOMAIN”

'Max-performance domains' are industries where people can be world-class by being very good at only one part of their job. It doesn't matter if you're incompetent at adjacent skills as long as you can create seminal impact. Exceptional ability at a single thing outweighs incompetence at other parts of the job. It is a luxury to work in a max-performance domain as failure is allowed and stress is usually self-imposed.

1000X INCREASE IN AI DEMAND

NVIDIA reports notable growth with a shift from simple AI to more complex reasoning, driving a massive increase in AI demand. Hyperscalers are deploying nearly 72,000 GPUs weekly, with Microsoft alone seeing a fivefold increase in token generation. Increased demand requires more data centers, termed "AI factories," despite efforts to reduce model sizes.

GOOGLE RELEASES MEDGEMMA MEDICAL AI MODELS

MedGemma is an open-source model built on Gemma 3 that comes in 4B multimodal and 27B text-only variants.

HUGGING FACE UNVEILS TWO FULLY OPEN-SOURCE HUMANOID ROBOTS

Just a month after its acquisition of Pollen Robotics, Hugging Face has announced HopeJR, a full-size humanoid, and Reachy Mini, a desktop robot for testing AI applications.

DELAWARE SCRUTINIZES OPENAI'S FOR-PROFIT SHIFT

Delaware's attorney general has hired a bank to independently assess OpenAI's restructuring plan, potentially complicating the company's move to a for-profit model.

ELON MUSK TRIED TO BLOCK OPENAI'S UAE AI DEAL OVER XAI EXCLUSION

Elon Musk was frustrated that OpenAI, led by personal rival Sam Altman, was selected as a partner in the UAE AI campus deal.

VIBE CODING PLATFORMS ARE BLOWING UP

The data shows that people are making things for themselves, not the world, but there is clearly builder excitement.

THE COMPLETE LIST OF AI CODING AGENTS AND IDES

A developer tested 46 different AI coding tools, providing detailed comparisons and use cases for each platform.

↗️ Grow revenue and users with Alchemy's smart wallets

US LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE DIGITAL ASSET REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

The “Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025,” introduced by Representative French Hill with bipartisan support, establishes a clear regulatory framework by delineating SEC and CFTC oversight roles for various digital assets. The bill mandates accurate disclosures of project operations, ownership, and structure, and imposes stringent compliance standards on brokers and dealers. It also creates comprehensive registration regimes to legally authorize digital asset firms to serve U.S. customers.

10-DAY US BITCOIN ETF INFLOW STREAK WITH $4.26 BILLION INFLOW

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs extended their inflow streak to ten days through May 28, attracting a net $4.26 billion. It is driven overwhelmingly by BlackRock's IBIT, which brought in $481 million and accounted for 96% of the total. IBIT has now gone 33 consecutive days without outflows and its AUM has climbed to $72 billion, cementing its dominance since the category's January 2024 debut. Trading volumes remain elevated, with $3.4 billion in ETF trades on May 28 as Bitcoin consolidates near $108,500. Spot Ethereum ETFs are on their eighth straight day of inflows, adding $84.9 million on Wednesday and bringing cumulative flows to $2.9 billion.

EIGENLAYER ENABLES SLASHED FUND REDISTRIBUTION TO AVSS

EigenLayer will soon allow slashed funds to be redirected to Actively Validated Services (AVSs) rather than burned, enabling stakers to underwrite not just operator risk but new financial risks with potentially higher rewards. This shift introduces broader financial applications beyond EigenLayer's original vision, creating a new frontier where stakers must carefully assess risk-reward profiles.

INTRODUCING EULERSWAP

EulerSwap is a new decentralized exchange combining Uniswap v4's hook architecture with Euler's lending infrastructure, enabling LPs to simultaneously earn swap fees, lending yield, and use LP positions as collateral. With features like just-in-time liquidity, custom AMM curves, and isolated LP pools, EulerSwap targets DAOs, token issuers, and sophisticated market makers seeking greater control, capital efficiency, and hedging options across DeFi.

MICHAEL SAYLOR'S STRATEGY EXPLAINED

MicroStrategy and similar firms are issuing convertible debt or equity-like instruments to borrow funds and deploy the proceeds into Bitcoin, offering investors a familiar, regulated way to gain exposure without self-custody. Investors prefer these instruments over direct Bitcoin purchases due to ease of access, regulatory allowances, and reduced technical risk. If Bitcoin's price declines, companies face haircuts, renegotiations, or bankruptcy – leaving investors holding Bitcoin – and there's a risk that issuers may misrepresent their actual holdings.

BEST STABLECOIN YIELDS ISSUE #9

The top 10 stablecoin yield strategies range from MEV-driven vaults (12.6% APY) and Pendle LP positions (up to 24% APY) to leveraged borrowing on Morpho (20% net APR) and fxSAVE's wrapped stability pool (13% APY with up to ~33% APR at 5× leverage). Other highlights include protocol-specific opportunities, like Basis's sUSDe (6.8% weekly) and wstUSR (10% weekly), Reservoir's srUSD pools (15–25% APR plus multiplier points), and Liquity's stability pool enhanced by airdrops from friendly forks. Complex yield architectures emerge through composable, on-chain incentives like Euler's high-liquidity campaigns, Reservoir x Beraborrow LP looping (up to ~147% APR), and Falcon's fixed 11.12% for 119 days. EtherFi's collateral-backed card solution (~21% APR plus cashback) is a compelling option for users looking to spend their crypto.

COINBASE SIGNS SF LEASE FOUR YEARS AFTER PAYING $25M TO LEAVE

Coinbase will lease 150,000 square feet in San Francisco's Mission Rock, marking its largest office since paying a $25 million fee to exit its previous HQ and embracing a remote-first model. After a two-year site search, the company will occupy more than half of the newly built Building B developed by Tishman Speyer and the Giants. Coinbase offers remote flexibility to most of its roughly 3,800 employees and carries $132.3 million in global office liabilities. The deal emphasizes Coinbase's optionality and “decentralized” ethos.

DISTRIBUTED PROTOCOLS WITH SMART CASUAL VERIFICATION

Smart casual verification blends the strengths of formal math-based checks with everyday software testing to catch bugs in complex distributed systems. For the Confidential Consortium Framework (CCF), the Decentralized Thoughts team first wrote a concise “model” of their custom consensus process using TLA+, a tool that can automatically look for logic errors. By exhaustively and randomly exploring a finite-state TLA+ model of their Raft-derived algorithm, they uncovered six subtle bugs before deployment. This approach of combining model checking with practical trace validation delivers strong confidence in the protocol's correctness without requiring formal proving.

CRYPTO-LINKED INSTRUMENTS TO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED INVESTORS

The Bank of Russia will allow qualified investors to access crypto-linked financial instruments so long as they are non-deliverable and fully backed by capital.

PANCAKESWAP IS THE BIGGEST DEX

PancakeSwap has emerged as the leading decentralized exchange by 30-day trading volume, handling $97.9B (29% market share), ahead of Uniswap's $81.2B (24%).

AVALANCHE PARTNERS WITH BERGEN COUNTY TO TOKENIZE PROPERTY DEEDS

Bergen County, NJ, will tokenize 370,000 property deeds (valued at $240 billion) on Avalanche over a five-year period, marking one of the largest real-world asset digitization efforts by a U.S. municipality.

GAMESTOP PURCHASES 4,710 BITCOIN

GameStop has purchased 4,710 Bitcoin valued at around $500 million.

3D INSTAGRAM PHOTOS ARE COMING TO META QUEST HEADSETS

Meta is testing 3D Instagram photos on Quest headsets, utilizing AI to convert 2D images into immersive formats without the need for special cameras. The update also introduces Navigator, a new interface accessed via the Meta button, offering streamlined access to apps, settings, and notifications. Additional features include Bluetooth Low Energy support, movable windows, and a unified Horizon app for PC.

SKETCH ATHENS

Sketch's Athens update introduced Stacks, a new layout tool similar to Auto Layout in Figma that creates adaptive interfaces with nested layouts. The release replaced artboards with Frames for UI design and introduced Graphics containers for icons and illustrations with fixed proportional sizing. The Command Bar now enables efficient component insertion and swapping, replacing deeply nested menus with streamlined access to Symbols, Text Styles, and other design elements.

WHATSAPP IS WORKING ON AN EASIER WAY TO LOG OUT

WhatsApp has been testing a new "Logout" feature that allows users to sign out of the app without deleting or resetting their data, making it easier to take a break or switch accounts. Currently, logging out on mobile requires erasing app data or uninstalling the app, unlike the more flexible options on WhatsApp Web or desktop. This logout option is still in development, and it's unclear when or if it will be officially released for Android and iOS users.

FOR UX, THE FUTURE MUST BE STRATEGIC

UX professionals are often confined to surface-level roles focused on aesthetics, which limits their influence despite the critical role user experience plays in product success. Strategic UX involves transitioning from outputs to outcomes, products to experiences, and reactive to proactive approaches, as well as shifting from validation to expertise grounded in in-depth user research. Making this shift requires adopting strategic metrics, investing in experiential research, and articulating bold UX visions that resonate with executives.

IS THE AGE OF THE SPECIALIST OVER IN CREATIVE AGENCIES?

The creative industry is shifting from celebrating narrow specialists to valuing "T-shaped" generalists who combine deep expertise in core areas with broad understanding across disciplines. As AI becomes a technical equalizer, success increasingly depends on taste, curation, and strategic thinking, rather than technical skills alone. Creative leaders emphasize that collaboration and adaptability are increasingly essential as budgets tighten and platforms fragment rapidly.

IS THE AGE OF THE SPECIALIST OVER IN CREATIVE AGENCIES?

The creative industry is shifting from valuing narrowly focused specialists to embracing adaptable, collaborative "T-shaped" creatives who combine deep expertise with broad, strategic thinking across disciplines. As AI levels the technical playing field and platforms rapidly evolve, the future favors those who can curate, communicate, and connect ideas across design, tech, and culture while maintaining high standards in their core craft.

WHEN DID UX & CONTENT GET SO HARD?

In a world filled with uncertainty, rapid technological change, and constant digital noise, it's no surprise that starting the day can feel overwhelming as we try to stay informed, productive, and present. Taking things slowly, focusing on what truly matters, and allowing time for rest, learning, and laughter can help ease the pressure and bring a sense of balance to our everyday lives.

WIREFRAMER

Wireframer by Framer turns a single prompt into a fully structured, responsive page with layout and navigation.

CONVERT PNGS TO SVGS FOR FREE

Free, no watermark, secure, and private PNG-to-SVG vectorizer that runs directly in your browser.

CREATE VIRAL YOUTUBE THUMBNAILS

Paste your YouTube link and let OpusClip's AI do the rest. With one click, you can create bold, high-performing thumbnails.

DEFAULT IT OR DESIGN IT

Designers often lose time on low-impact details instead of focusing on strategic decisions, which can delay projects and reduce their overall impact. The "Default it or Design it" framework encourages teams to use existing solutions for routine choices and reserve creative effort for areas where differentiation is critical. Product managers typically prefer defaulting to maintain speed, while designers lean toward designing for innovation, creating a productive tension that results in balanced outcomes. Design systems serve as evolving collections of approved defaults, enabling teams to concentrate on unique challenges rather than reinventing solved solutions.

FROM ARTIFICIAL TO AUTHENTIC

In a world increasingly shaped by AI prompts and perfection-seeking tools, creatives are urged to resist the pressure to conform and instead embrace their unique voices, imperfections, and creative intuition. True connection and meaningful art emerge not from polished outputs, but from vulnerability, authenticity, and the courage to be seen, with all their cracks.

POLAROID AND MOMA UNITE FOR A CREATIVE COLLABORATION

Polaroid and MoMA have partnered to create a limited-edition instant camera that reflects the growing fusion of analog and digital photography trends.

IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE TO FIGHT EVERY AI COPYRIGHT BATTLE, GETTY CEO SAYS

Getty Images CEO Craig Peters reveals that fighting AI copyright battles is prohibitively expensive, with the company spending "millions and millions" on just one lawsuit against Stability AI.

ANGEL REESE'S NEW REEBOK LOGO DRIPS WITH CLASS

WNBA star Angel Reese unveiled a sleek, custom chrome logo ahead of her Reebok sneaker collaboration, earning praise for its stylish mix of personal branding, elegant typography, and strong fan appeal.