Between Hype and Reality: Reading, Robots, and the Road to What’s Next

As Apple sustains, the rest of tech mutates: fractured reading, stubborn Wikipedia, useful-but-costly AI, and EVs that won’t wait.

Dear Friend,

While the headlines this week were dominated by Apple’s groundbreaking iPhone announcement (just kidding… but hey, the orange is nice!), the rest of the world seemingly took a bit of a breather – or just got drowned out. It’s pretty remarkable to see Apple still commandeering the news cycle on something the late Clayton Christensen would have called a perfect example of “sustaining innovation.” With that being said, it is still largely unclear what the disruptor to the smartphone will be… AI pins, smart glasses (Amazon allegedly is working on smart glasses for its drivers), something else entirely? Lots of weak signals, no clear indicator of winners yet.

As a quick reminder, if you happen to be in or around Chicago next week, come and say hello – I’ll be hosting an informal meetup on Sept 16th.

And now, this…

Headlines from the Future

Reading enjoyment, reading frequency, and thus reading ability are at historical lows, which makes you wonder what this will mean for our kids and society at large. “Children and young people’s reading in 2025” and “US high school students lose ground in math and reading, continuing yearslong decline”

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While the whole Internet seems to be rewritten (due to AI – both on the creation and consumption side of things), Wikipedia remains remarkably resilient: “Wikipedia survives while the rest of the internet breaks”

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This might be one of the most important things to keep in mind these days when it comes to AI: “Two things can be true simultaneously: (a) LLM provider cost economics are too negative to return positive ROI to investors, and (b) LLMs are useful for solving problems that are meaningful and high impact, albeit not to the AGI hype that would justify point (a).” As F. Scott Fitzgerald said: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” [Source: Max Woolf]

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Call it the revenge of the therapist: First, we had patients use ChatGPT in lieu of their therapists; now, we have therapists using ChatGPT to communicate with their patients. Yes, it’s messed up. “Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT. Clients are triggered.”

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First, we had the Darwin Awards; now we have the AI Darwin Awards. One of the standout nominees? “Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru - “Hold the AI, Extra Chaos”

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Despite the US’ phasing out of EV subsidies, progress (here in the form of battery development) doesn’t stop (especially not in China): “New EV battery tech lasts 600,000 miles, charges in 10 minutes.”Meanwhile US EV manufacturer Rivian, reminds us that all of this isn’t magic: “Rivian CEO says Chinese EV makers aren’t doing something ‘magical’ to achieve cheaper vehicles.” Lesson: You can’t stop the tides of change.

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For a while now, we have known that you can use your WiFi router to detect physical intruders (and thus movement) in your home. Turns out, you can go many levels finer and measure heart rate: “WiFi signals can measure heart rate—no wearables needed”

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What We Are Reading

♻️ MIT Scientists May Have Just Cracked the Code on EV Battery Recycling MIT scientists created EV batteries that dissolve “like cotton candy” when recycled, potentially solving the massive waste problem as electric vehicle adoption explodes worldwide. @Jane

🎭 Psychological Tricks Can Get AI to Break the Rules A new study shows that classic human persuasion tricks—like flattery, authority, and social proof—can “jailbreak” AI models with surprising ease. @Mafe

🔥 The Job Market Is Hell The adoption of AI tools on both sides of the job market is creating a self-perpetuating lose-lose situation where good candidates struggle to stand out. @Jeffrey

🚀 5 Mindshifts to Supercharge Business Growth Another year, another IBM CEO report; but this one hits hard on one point: AI isn’t just a tool; it’s the new decision maker. The CEOs getting ahead are the ones brave enough to bet big and build differently. @Kacee

📱 Your Phone Already Has Social Credit. We Just Lie About It. If you have ever watched the dystopian sci-fi show “Black Mirror,” you might remember the (very disturbing) episode about social scoring. Guess what? As with so many things foreseen in “Black Mirror,” this has become true as well… @Pascal

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Down the Rabbit Hole

😱 This is eleven years old already – and still amazing: Everything from 1991 Radio Shack ad I now do with my phone.

🤖 The old robots website has lots of, well, old robots.

🎩 The eternal question, solved: Where did the Smurfs get their hats?

🎤 Talking about origin stories: The karaoke machine’s surprising origin