This week’s Plugged In newsletter: I asked Claude Opus 4.6 to critique that viral blog post about AI, and was startled by how perceptive it was. www.fastcompany.com/91491419/mat...

I’ve never actually lived in a Radio Shack, but when I was in high school, I used to spend the afternoon at one (and at other computer stores), using all their stuff with abandon. They were remarkably patient, especially given that I didn’t have any money to buy anything.

Tinney’s BYTE covers were the best computer magazine covers of all time, and nothing else springs to mind as a clear second place. In 2014, I wrote about my favorite one for TIME. RIP. time.com/60505/this-1...

I once worked for someone who just stopped coming to work one day, which is how I learned about something called job abandonment. Kinda seems like Will Lewis did that this week?

On the bright side, it’s a lot harder to enjoy the Super Bowl if you’ve got going into work on Monday on your mind.

Psssst: It might have been a good idea to try this staffing reduction first. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/t...

I apologize for not bringing my Atari—which I bought shortly after graduating from high school—to work on Bring Your Atari to Work Day. But I have a big writing deadline and typing on it would have been a drag.

Never blame anything on a staffer or an intern. Particularly if you did it.

Among the Super Bowl’s many impressive qualities is that it’s managed to make driving impossible in San Francisco this whole week, despite the fact that it’s not happening for another couple of days and won’t be played here.

I forgot I wrote this story, in a very different time. (Offering its CMS as a service didn’t end up bolstering the Post’s fortunes.) www.fastcompany.com/40495770/the...

I wrote about AI taking over software development in general, my experience with Claude Code in particular, and this guy named Edsger Dijkstra who thought normal people shouldn’t even try to program computers. www.fastcompany.com/91485494/vib...

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” now seems like a tagline that can’t be shed—no matter what—because of what people would day if it went away.

I’m hoping that “it” is my sanity back. (All of a sudden, I’m getting daily Trumpy texts like this. I’m not sure if they’re scammy or just spammy.)

What are the chances that the people currently running the company will lead it out this this? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

Huang: “When a group in my company says they want to use AI, my answer is yes. And then I ask why.” But “A thousand flowers blooming makes for a messy garden … I haven’t started curating yet.”

Jensen Huang at Cisco AI Summit: “Up until now, chatbots [have been] interesting and curious, but not useful.”

Box’s Aaron Levie: Instead of AI agents adjusting to our ways, “We’re going to have to adjust to how agents work. It’s not a settled problem.”

Figma’s Dylan Field on AI coding: “You can move a lot faster but ship worse staff. Everyone knows that.”

Fei-Fei Li says too much discussion of AI is at the utopian and dystopian extremes. “That’s just not a responsible way to talk about the technology.”

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on taking the job: “A lot of friends told me, “Don’t do it”…I finally convinced my wife.”

I’m at Cisco’s AI Summit in SF, which sure has an all-star lineup of speakers. Here’s Sam Altman with Cisco President Jeetu Patel. Altman is praising OpenClaw and says he set up a second laptop to use it safely.

not a *whole* lot of steps to "imagine if we had to go through the process of trials by jury"

Claude Coats painted backgrounds for Disney cartoons and went on to help design Disneyland. I think of him whenever I think of Claude Code.

I’m having a lot of fun with Claude Code (and wrote something I plan to share soon), but I’m not sure why it’s suddenly decided someone is using prompt injection to interfere with my project.

Describing Trump as someone who speaks his mind seems like a total misreading to me. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/w...

Gemini prefaced its response to my question about Viltrox, a lens manufacturer, with a medical disclaimer. I guess it does sound like a disease, or possibly a cure for one.

A little personal news.

It was a great day when Lola Heatherton and Lorna Minelli met. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIXx...

“May each new friend you meet/Bring you more body heat…” www.youtube.com/watch?v=liOt...

Brooke Shields interviewing Tip O’Neill will never not make me laugh. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eV6...

For this week’s Plugged In newsletter, I wrote about the end of Amazon Go and dashed expectations for cashierless retail in general. I was a fan, but but the pieces may never come in place to make it real, beyond certain niches. www.fastcompany.com/91483585/ama...

Catherine O’Hara SCTV thread youtu.be/990OaFr8EYw?...

I’m so sorry to hear about the death of Catherine O’Hara. She was unbelievably brilliant on SCTV as Lola Heatheron, Dusty Towne, a particularly uncanny Rona Barrett, Brooke Shields, Lucille Ball, and so many more. A one-woman comedy hall of fame. RIP. www.youtube.com/watch?v=990O...

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Wow. The front page of tomorrow’s Charlie Hebdo magazine in France.

I just...

I sort of regret not keeping more of these. I worked for an editor in chief who did, but hung them by their lanyards in an intimidating tangle.

The saving grace is that watching a movie about Melania Trump does sound like being subjected to a form of torture. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Turns out you can declare war on your own country and still get CEOs to come to your party. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

It’s the 42nd anniversary of Steve Jobs unveiling the Mac, so here’s my 2014 article on him showing it off at the Boston Computer Society six days later, with video. (It’s better quality than the video of the earlier event, which was so bad John Sculley apologized for it.) time.com/1847/steve-j...

One thing that irks me: people keep calling the folks on the streets in Minneapolis protestors. They are not generally there to protest, they are there to observe and document. This is the product of organizing and mutual aid. It is telling that these acts of citizenship are seen as protest!

The StarTribune live blog is paywall free: - The man shot by federal agents this morning has died - Several witnesses have already been transported to the Whipple building. - ICE attempted to order local police from the scene, but O’Hara refused, sources said. www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

Have any of these paragons of ethical leadership and corporate citizenship had anything to say about the crisis unfolding?

Sangria Fridays with Harry McCracken

RIP, Uncle Floyd, the last of the great local kids’ show hosts. Please tell me some of his stuff is on YouTube. nypost.com/2026/01/23/e...

I specify. It’s a different experience. Not necessarily a lesser one, but different.

I talked with Woz about where great products come from, why he became an inventor, how people’s personalities are shaped, the link between jokes and creativity, and more. www.fastcompany.com/91477114/ste...

what pathetic losers

I don’t have anything in any of my AI chatbot histories I’d be traumatized to lose. I WOULD be bummed out by my vibecoding projects or their data getting blown away, but that’s already happened, and I was lucky enough to be able to restore stuff. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I need your help for a newsletter I’m writing: Give me some examples—ANY examples—of people from Silicon Valley and the tech industry at large who are famous for having great senses of humor. It may not be a very long list!