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STORIES AND STACKS BEHIND YOUR FAVORITE APPS

Learn what makes your favorite apps so special - from their origin story to their tech stack and the tools their teams rely on daily. Build smarter by learning from the best.

GET SLACK NOTIFICATIONS WHEN YOUR AI PRODUCT FAILS

Use Raindrop to get alerts about hidden issues and successes in their AI products. Raindrop sends alerts when your AI misbehaves and links directly to events, allowing you to delve into conversations or traces and understand the root cause.

A MORE ENGAGING WAY TO ANALYZE DATA

Reef is a data storyteller and hack that helps you analyze trends, create visualizations, and explain your findings through interactive audio conversations and texts.

RIDING THE WAVE: FROM HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN TO HUMAN-CENTERED AI

Fear of AI and job loss echoes past tech shifts, but history shows innovation brings new opportunities and growth. As AI spreads, we must design tools that boost human abilities, not replace them. A human-centered approach ensures AI serves ethical and social goals, requiring thoughtful and adaptive design.

IGNORING CHARACTER LIMITS CAN WRECK YOUR PRODUCT'S UX

Character limits matter in UX writing to keep text fitting well across languages, preserving layout and usability. Since text length varies by language, limits based on component size and translation needs are key. These constraints boost clarity and creativity, leading to better global content.

A VISUAL STUDY OF THE NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY MAP

In 1972, Vignelli's minimalist subway map aimed for clarity but confused riders, leading to a return to geography-based maps in 1979. His design still influenced later versions. Over time, updates including apps and improved diagrams have worked to balance clarity with usability, with a recent update finally fixing key navigation issues.

SOMEONE PLEASE TURN THIS ADORABLE ROCK COLLECTION INTO A FONT

Artist Crystal Reed has collected naturally shaped pebbles resembling letters to create a full alphabet which she plans to use as an engaging educational tool in her occupational therapy classroom.

"DESIGN IS MORE THAN JUST THE PIXELS ON THE SCREEN": HOW MICROSOFT CREATED A VISUAL IDENTITY FOR ITS AI

Microsoft's new Copilot features are focused on creating a personalized, empathetic AI experience, improving memory, actions, and Copilot Search.

28 BROKEN FONTS THAT ‘SHATTER' YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Broken fonts feature fragmented, glitchy, and deconstructed letterforms that convey a rebellious, experimental, modern aesthetic.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMAZON

When Amazon briefly considered showing tariff costs on product pages then quickly reversed course after a presidential phone call, it revealed our new economic reality: a stage where perception trumps market principles. This post unpacks this "economic surrealism," where corporate power bows to government intervention, AI flatters rather than informs us, and traditional economic relationships break down. For founders, this means preparing for inflation over recession, investing in companies tied to physical assets, and watching narratives closely—because in this environment, the story often matters more than the fundamentals.

THE EVOLUTION OF STARTUP COMPETITION

The protective moats that once shielded startups have vanished. Cloud infrastructure costs pennies, no-code tools eliminate technical barriers, and global talent pools make team-building accessible to anyone. Today we face instant competition the moment we show traction. Remember, difficult is defensible. Try your best to invest in building proprietary technology, creating unique distribution channels, or serving overlooked markets.

AN INTERVIEW WITH META CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG ABOUT AI AND THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Mark Zuckerberg discussed Meta's ongoing evolution, highlighting how AI and open-source models like Llama fit into Meta's broader business strategy. He emphasized Meta's focus on integrating AI to enhance advertising, grow consumer engagement, and support business messaging, asserting the long-term value it brings in spite of substantial training costs. Zuckerberg also touched on the future potential of AR glasses and the vision of combining digital and physical realms under the Meta brand.

LAND YOUR FIRST CUSTOMERS 3X FASTER

We all fall prey to building elaborate product roadmaps, only to watch reality tear them apart. Stop assuming you know exactly what to build and adopt traction roadmaps instead. The GO-LEAN framework creates immediate focus: identify your funnel's biggest bottleneck, direct 80% of your effort there, run experiments, analyze what worked, and then move to the next constraint.

AT THE EDGE OF WHAT'S NEXT: NAVIGATING LIFE'S BIG TRANSITIONS

The void between your past and future holds power, whether you chose this transition or it crashed into you uninvited. Most founders rush to fill this space, but intentional reflection during transitions helps you reconsider identity and reimagine possibilities. The Revolve framework (Reset + Evolve) turns these moments from crises into opportunities.

STRIPE ENABLES IOS APPS TO SELL IN-APP DIGITAL GOODS VIA EXTERNAL STRIPE CHECKOUT LINKS, AVOIDING APP STORE COMMISSIONS

Stripe now lets iOS developers redirect users to a secure Stripe-hosted payment page outside the app for purchasing digital goods. The integration supports creating products, managing customers, and using universal links to return users to the app after payment. Developers handle order fulfillment via Stripe webhooks, enabling a seamless payment experience without native in-app purchases.

TIMEOS 3.0

timeOS 3.0 provides AI-powered summaries of calls and meetings across platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and WhatsApp. It now has a macOS app and team workspace.

SUPERLINES

Superlines tracks your brand's visibility across AI chats and helps improve it.

CODEGEN

Codegen helps engineering teams analyze and improve codebases 24/7 via Slack.

GTM MATH SIMPLIFIED (SORT OF)

B2B marketing doesn't have to be complicated. Start with the basics: define your market, craft a unique message, create content mechanisms that drive demand, and develop processes to nurture leads before passing them to sales. However, beware of the ABM trap—targeting specific accounts doesn't mean abandoning broader marketing efforts. The buying journey inevitably includes research and peer recommendations, so you still need people "bumping into you all over the place." Success requires balancing account-targeted activities with building a broader presence that establishes credibility across your entire market.

WHO SHOULD CARE?

Product leaders often split into two camps—pragmatic pirates who focus on delivering customer value versus those who invest in broader organizational health. Pirates drive innovation with customer focus, but someone must eventually treat the company itself as a product worth improving. Your startup needs both energies: the push to build great products and the systems where multiple teams can thrive.

SOUTH PARK COMMONS $275M FUND III

South Park Commons has announced its $275M third fund. It previously backed companies like Render, Baseten, Luma AI, Gamma, and Goodfire.

PATRICK COLLISON: "WORKING WITH PEOPLE YOU'RE CLOSE TO IS UNDERRATED"

Conventional wisdom warns founders against mixing business with personal relationships, but Patrick Collison found success at Stripe with his brother John and at Arc Institute with his wife.

PERSONALITY AND PERSUASION

ChatGPT's sudden switch to flattering users reveals a truth about AI persuasion: small personality tweaks dramatically reshape conversations and influence behavior.

HOW KALSHI HELPED PREDICTION MARKETS GO MAINSTREAM

Kalshi, the largest U.S. prediction market, is viewed by some as illegal gambling and by others as a financial opportunity.

💺 Save your virtual seat

final installment in WethosAI's groundbreaking webinar series

about separating AI noise from reality. This session goes deeper than ever to reveal the cybersecurity realities behind AI's glamorous façade – and what your organization must know to stay safe and effective.

WINDOWS RDP LETS YOU LOG IN USING REVOKED PASSWORDS. MICROSOFT IS OK WITH THAT

A security researcher discovered a vulnerability where Windows RDP would accept a revoked password without raising any alerts. This vulnerability occurs because when a user logs in using a Microsoft or Azure account, Windows validates the password and then caches it in an encrypted local storage, which is used for all further authentication attempts. Microsoft has responded that this is an intentional design decision to prevent users from getting locked out of a device.

ASCENSION DISCLOSES NEW DATA BREACH AFTER THIRD-PARTY HACKING INCIDENT

Ascension, one of the largest private healthcare systems in the US, is notifying patients that their data was stolen in a breach in December 2024. Ascension stated that the breach was caused by them inadvertently disclosing data to a business partner which the attacker then stole the data from via a vulnerability in third-party software used by the business partner. The disclosed data includes names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, race, gender, and Social Security numbers.

EMERA, NOVA SCOTIA POWER RESPOND TO CYBERSECURITY BREACH; INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAMS MOBILIZED

Emera Inc. and Nova Scotia Power reported unauthorized access to their Canadian network. They have isolated the affected systems, engaged cybersecurity experts, and notified law enforcement. No disruption to power operations has occurred.

PWNING THE LADYBIRD BROWSER

Ladybird browser has a bug that allows use-after-free exploitation via a constructor and a malicious handler. Attackers can manipulate the argument buffer to trigger a heap-use-after-free condition, leaking object addresses and potentially achieving code execution by overwriting return pointers. Exploiting this bug involves crafting memory structures to control the renderer and executing malicious code, which requires careful data and pointer manipulation within the browser environment.

MY SIEM-AGNOSTIC CREATIVE PROCESS TO DETECTION ENGINEERING

This post describes a process for understanding a new data source and creating detections for malicious behaviors. The first steps involve reading the documentation to understand the service and brainstorming ideas for what a malicious user might do. Then, examine the logs to determine what is considered regular or anomalous behavior, often utilizing event counts. Finally, plan out what type of detection they will write, write the detection, and then test for success, failure, and edge cases.

VIBE HACKING: FINDING AUTH BYPASS AND RCE IN OPEN GAME PANEL

Eddie Zhang vibe-hacked his way to discovering vulnerabilities in Open Game Panel, including a PHP type juggling authentication bypass and two local file inclusion flaws that enable remote code execution when chained with game configuration files. His "vibe hacking" approach combined AI tools with manual analysis, demonstrating both the potential and limitations of AI-assisted security research.

SANTA

Santa is a binary and file access authorization system for macOS. It consists of a system extension that monitors executions and file access to determine whether to allow or deny the execution.

PISTACHIO (PRODUCT LAUNCH)

Pistachio's platform can send simulations and scenarios to employees via email, Microsoft Teams, or Slack. It runs in the background to help them identify and respond to threats in real time. It also observes user behavior and learning patterns, adapting the security education accordingly.

GPGFRONTEND

A free, open-source, robust yet user-friendly, compact, and cross-platform tool for OpenPGP encryption. It stands out as an exceptional GUI frontend for the modern GnuPG (gpg).

HOW US DEFENSE SECRETARY HEGSETH CIRCUMVENTS THE OFFICIAL DOD COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

This post walks through the various communications equipment that has been available to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth since the Obama administration. Hegseth initially would shift his chair to the back of his office to get a better Wi-Fi signal to use the Signal app but later requested a direct line to the public internet be run to a personal computer at his desk with Signal and another app for sending text messages installed. Hegseth also has access to SecDef Cables, which is a communications center dedicated to the office of the Secretary of Defense.

TAG YOUR WAY IN: NEW PRIVILEGE ESCALATION TECHNIQUE IN GCP

A new privilege escalation technique in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) exploits IAM Conditions and tagBindings to elevate access for attackers with low-risk roles. By attaching specific tags to resources, attackers can bypass restrictions and gain elevated privileges without directly modifying IAM policies. Organizations should prioritize securing tag permissions to prevent this overlooked escalation path in GCP.

THE WORDPRESS SECURITY TEAM IS HIDING THAT THEY ARE FAILING TO FIX KNOWN SECURITY ISSUES IN WORDPRESS

WordPress' Security Team is not effectively fixing known security issues, lacking transparency and accountability. Despite claims of a large team, details about their members remain hidden. Some security issues, like SSRF vulnerability, have gone unaddressed for years without clear plans for resolution.

2025 APPLICATION SECURITY BENCHMARK

95–98% of AppSec alerts do not require action and may be harming organizations more than helping.

SCAMMERS USE SPAIN-PORTUGAL BLACKOUT FOR TAP AIR REFUND PHISHING SCAM

Scammers are posing as TAP Air Portugal in fraudulent emails to deceive victims into providing personal and financial information by offering fake refunds for flight issues linked to recent power outages in Spain and Portugal.

APPLE MUST PAY OPTIS $502M IN UK PATENT DISPUTE

Apple has been ordered to pay Optis $502 million in a UK patent dispute over 4G technology used in iPhones and iPads.

SURVEY: 36% OF CONSUMERS START SEARCHING ON PINTEREST, NOT GOOGLE

Thirty-six percent of consumers, including 39% of Gen Z, now start searches on Pinterest instead of Google. About 80% of businesses using Pinterest say it drives more engagement than any other platform, and 24% of business owners use Pinterest, with many planning to increase ad spending. Consumers prefer Pinterest for its visual results and personalized experience, with 73% saying its visuals are better than traditional search and 61% finding its results more tailored than Google's. However, 61% of business owners say they lack time to create content, and nearly half struggle with Pinterest SEO.

IAB: MEASURING THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

Full-time creator jobs in the US have grown 7.5X to 1.5M since 2020. They now outpace traditional media by 5X and account for over 10% of internet-dependent jobs. Creators contributed to 30% of digital economy job growth, with the digital economy itself doubling to $4.9 trillion and 18% of US GDP. The 2025 Super Bowl saw 2B hashtag views thanks to 150 creator partnerships. Unilever plans to work with 20X more influencers as it shifts 50% of its ad budget to social.

MINT MOBILE'S “SEMI OFFICIAL” APPROACH TO REDDIT

Mint Mobile drives over 100,000 monthly website visits from Reddit, with more than 44% of its social media referrals coming from the platform. Its semi-official subreddit combines volunteer moderators and employee accounts to deliver cost-effective support, connect with its audience, and gather customer insights in real time. By centralizing technical help, empowering leadership to engage directly, and creating a referral sub for SEO and churn control, Mint turned Reddit into a high-impact growth and retention channel.

THE HOW CHAIN: A SIMPLE QUESTIONING METHOD TO REVEAL YOUR BRAND'S ONLYNESS

To find what truly sets a brand apart, asking “how” repeatedly uncovers deeper, more specific differentiators than generic claims like “high-quality service.” Most brands settle for surface-level answers that competitors can also use. Digging deeper can reveal unique methods, tools, or processes that others lack. If no clear differentiator emerges, it may be necessary to create one by analyzing customers, the company, and the competition.

MARKETING ECOSYSTEM OF EXPERT FREELANCERS

The future of marketing is shifting toward lean, flexible systems built around expert freelancers and specialized agencies, rather than large in-house teams. Leaders are acting as architects, curating high-skill partners who not only execute but shape strategy. This model enables faster momentum, deeper expertise, and stronger collaboration, with a premium placed on proactive communication and tailored offers. Marketing is evolving into a networked ecosystem, not just a department.

GIRLS IN MARKETING: DIGITAL MARKETING GROWTH PROGRAMME

A free, virtual 2-week course designed for junior to mid-level professionals looking to sharpen their skills and connect with a supportive community. Held on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, the program features expert-led sessions on topics like social strategy, copywriting, productivity, and stakeholder pitching.

CHATGPT PROJECTS VS GPTS

Use GPTs when you need to share tools with others, integrate external services like Zapier, or generate simple, repeatable outputs. Choose Projects for solo use cases that require more flexibility, ongoing access to the same files or instructions, organized output storage, and the ability to switch models within one workspace. GPTs are best for collaboration and automation, while Projects are ideal for personalized, context-rich workflows.