I feel like @benjedwards.com has written one of the best explanations of how AI coding agents work. The article breaks it down into easy to understand terms that developers new to agents can really grok. arstechnica.com/information-...

I don't know how 2026 will pan out, but at least I'll be able to use my 1976 Super DC Calendar through February 28. Then the lack of a leap year will break it. What are YOU planning to celebrate Matter Eater Lad's birthday?

Thanks to Michael Dooley for calling out How Comics Are Made as one of his picks for 2025 at the Comic Journal! www.tcj.com/the-best-com...

The guy who proved it's possible to be a high-achieving CEO in multiple, seemingly unrelated fields. But how many other examples are there? RIP. www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...

A former colleague once theorized that any life forms on other planets would only resemble us if they liked Brigitte Bardot movies, an offhand comment I think of whenever I think of her. RIP. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/mo...

I've been using Openvibe to cross-post to Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, but it's been failing more and more often. This is a test post from Croissant.

If you like magic, this show currently playinh in New York is really good, and has one or two truly jaw-dropping moments. (Also, lots of stuff to entertain gadget nerds.) amazemagic.com/new-york/

All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.

Inevitably, our hotel room has a view of Clippy.

The family TRS-80 44 years ago, running a sadly illegible Christmas greeting program I wrote to impress my grandmother.

From 1991, my friend Maurice Noble, who designed How the Grinch Stole Christmas, on A Charlie Brown Christmas. (The rest of the interview: harrymccracken.com/blog/steppin...)

From 55 years ago, a letter from Grandmother Jacobson to her clothing store’s customers.

RIP. “Yummy Yummy Yummy” is a great song, and 1910 Fruitgum Company has always been one of my favorite band names. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/a...

Ever wondered where Ed Murrow got his famous line (“Good night, and good luck”)? He used an early variant on Christmas Eve 1940, 85 years ago tonight. The full quote is: “Merry Christmas is somehow ill-timed and out of place, so I shall just use the current London phrase—so long and good luck.”

For Christmas: Grandma McCracken’s chocolate cookies, the best in the world.

Overheard at this street corner: “This is where they make my articles?” “Yup.”

What do you call it when someone’s worldview, if we’d followed it all along, would have prevented their own existence?

In the end, DOGE will be remembered for the many deaths and other forms of misery it needlessly inflicted on the U.S. and the world, not whether it saved any money. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

Here’s my colleague Rebecca Heilweil with some new reporting on why Waymos were confounded by the San Francisco blackout, and what the company is doing to prevent it from happening again. www.fastcompany.com/91465377/way...

My last story of 2025 (probably): A look at Olive, an AI startup founded by Silicon Valley veteran Bill Nguyen (Lala, Color, etc.) and five Georgia Tech students. www.fastcompany.com/91464353/oli...

It's like the 12 days of Streisanding.

When/if this story airs on 60 Minutes, we’ll know exactly what changes they made. It’ll be like it has revision marks on.

Great job, everyone. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/s...

I forgot to mention a couple of podcasts I’ve guested on recently. Here I am on William Cooper’s Books & More. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

'bugs bunnying' is the perfect term, because it invariably involves doing almost literally this to an LLM chatbot

Clever strategy, sir

We went to see Zootopia 2 at the Tanforan mall, and learned it‘s very nearly dead. But Orange Julius is indomitable.

Waymo has halted service in San Francisco after numerous videos & images showed its autonomous cars snarling traffic during the blackout. With traffic lights down, Waymos across the city stopped dead in their tracks at intersections. missionlocal.org/2025/12/sf-w...

In the wake of the tragedy at Brown, online conspiracists rushed to pin the horrific mass murder on an innocent Palestinian student. One of them was Shaun Maguire, a partner at leading VC firm Sequoia Capital. www.fastcompany.com/91463942/seq...

Just found the 1938 Disney guide for would-be employees some friends shared with me years ago. In case you’ve never seen it, I’ll post it here. Note that it mentions TV. In 1938! It also says the studio was founded in 1924, though the modern-day company celebrated its 100th birthday in 1923.

Is there any law conclusively prohibiting a president from renaming a country after himself?

I do think we might all be better off if chatbots were trained to be anodyne, not friendly. I love Google’s AI Studio in part because it just does what I tell it to do, and is devoid of manufactured charm. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/t...

This is flat-out illegal. Congress determines the name of the Kennedy Center. Demolition of the East Wing is irreversible. This can and must be fixed. www.cnbc.com/2025/12/19/t...

For my last newsletter of the year, I looked at why I’m finding AI more useful than ever (but also why a lot of it still is an obstacle to my productivity). www.fastcompany.com/91462254/ai-...

Tell me you’re never going to get anywhere with your dream project without telling me you’re never going to get anywhere with your dream project.

This man made his fortune in a profession where understanding how percentages work is kinda important?

If it had occurred to Radio Shack to merge with a nuclear fusion company, we’d all be immeasurably better off.

i'm fascinated by how much people love and are amazed by chat gpt saying "nice catch!" and "great observation!" because i personally find the condescension and obsequiousness the most skin-crawling thing about how LLMs "talk"

It’s not that easy, pretending to be dumb.

Anyone who’s trusted Farmers for nearly 100 years should probably not be driving anymore.

The very first Barstool Sports video I watched, one of Portnoy’s pizza reviews, had a bizarre, unrelated, and vile racist aside partway through. I haven’t been back. variety.com/2025/tv/news...

Our WeWork plays background music continuously, and today it’s included my favorite Christmas song four times. (No, it’s not Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, or Silver Bells.)

Ars Technica is hiring a Tech Reporter We're seeking an expert in one or more of these fields: software development, DIY tech, cybersecurity, free and open-source software (FOSS). Come join the team! condenast.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CondeC...

Very excited to see who's nominated for Best Adapted Mukbang and Best ASMR Screenplay

I attended a recent Vision Pro developer event at Apple Park and talked to a bunch of folks about the rewards and challenges of creating immersive media for the platform. www.fastcompany.com/91461534/app...

I’m sorry to hear about the death of Norman Podhoretz, who was my father’s editor for years, and who wrote this customer-service letter to my grandmother in 1971.

In retrospect, COMDEX wasn’t worth it.

I spoke with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe about why it designed its own autonomy platform down to the chip level, and lots more. www.fastcompany.com/91459861/riv...

I’m sorry that Brett Schlender’s death in October didn’t get more attention. He was a remarkable journalist. salsop.substack.com/p/rememberin...