Overview
Today’s feed sits at the junction of AI creeping into everyday tools, founders retelling the grind it took to get started, and a string of visual and engineering gems. Shopify pushes agentic commerce into the storefront itself, Adobe turns ChatGPT into a doorway to Photoshop and friends, and Google’s Gemini and Nvidia’s roadmap keep the AI race brisk. Alongside that, Bezos recalls hard-won cheques, PostHog shares scars from “pivot hell”, and the internet gawps at projection mapping, a golden geode, a folding prop, and a bush plane popping by a petrol station.
The big picture
Shopify’s “RenAIssance” makes agentic storefronts real
Tobi Lütke rolls out Shopify’s Winter 2026 Edition, with Sidekick now able to build custom apps from plain English using Polaris and GraphQL. Agentic Storefronts turn chats into checkouts, SimGym lets merchants test shopper behaviour, and the Product Network fills stock gaps across brands. Devs get MCP server support, a Catalog API, and Tangle for ML workflows, wrapped in sensible security like token expiry.
Adobe slips into ChatGPT, and it is free to use
A quick demo shows Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat running through ChatGPT prompts. Adobe says this opens the door to hundreds of millions of users, no separate installs needed, while replies note past pricing grievances and trust concerns.
ChatGPT Apps add Adobe tools for everyone
TestingCatalog underlines the same point from the user angle, flagging free access and reminding followers of long-running unease around subscriptions and recent regulatory run-ins.
Gemini 3 turns an image into a 3D Matrix-style scene
A creator shows Gemini 3 building an interactive particles app from text prompts, with live controls for density, colour, and webcam or mouse input. It hints at faster art and prototyping for non-coders in film and web.
John Carmack: your chat history as a job reference
Carmack argues multi-year LLM chats could act like an extended interview, letting AIs vouch for how you think, not just what you have shipped. Replies raise privacy and surveillance worries, while he frames it as a fairer signal beyond CVs and keyword filters.
Synthetic drones for vision training, from your browser
Ken Wheeler flies a Three.js drone over map imagery, piping the render into a Python server for object detection. It is a neat route to cheap synthetic data, with suggestions to push realism using 3D Gaussian splats.
Nvidia’s GB300 could blunt Google’s cost edge
Investor Gavin Baker, via Patrick O’Shaughnessy, predicts GB300 racks on Blackwell Ultra will end Google’s lowest-cost token lead by early 2026. If GB300 slots into GB200 data centres, Nvidia buyers may see better efficiency, pushing Google to compete on other fronts like model quality.
Bezos remembers the hardest million to raise
In 1995, Jeff Bezos sold 20% of Amazon for $1 million after 60 pitches and 40 rejections, warning angels of a 70% chance of failure. Those $50k cheques are now worth billions each, a clean lesson in asymmetric outcomes.
PostHog’s path through “pivot hell” to a unicorn
YC chats with James Hawkins about six months of dead ends before open-source analytics clicked. The notes stress staying close to users, building an honest brand voice, and the odd joy that returns once survival mode lifts.
Starlink adds 27 more satellites
SpaceX confirms deployment of 27 V2 Minis from Vandenberg, part of an enormous 2025 cadence. The short clip shows the usual orbital ballet, Earth’s limb and all.
Projection mapping, from living room grids to… toilets
A home setup paints a physical grid with melting neon and a surprise SpongeBob, then another clip turns a toilet into a psychedelic canvas. Hobbyist questions flood in about projectors and software.
Golden rutile geode split open on camera
A rough stone cracks to reveal quartz lined with needles of golden rutile. Brief, satisfying, and a reminder that geology can still steal the show.
Folding propellers cut sailboat drag
A tidy explainer shows how blades fold when under sail, reducing resistance and adding a knot or two. Sailors cheer the speed bump, then debate cost and reverse thrust.
Out of fuel, into a forecourt
A red Piper Super Cub rolls past petrol pumps in Delta Junction, Alaska, then lifts off from nearby gravel. Bush flying culture makes scenes like this oddly normal, rules permitting.
Make a rainbow with a log and a hose
High-pressure mist into sunlight, and physics does the rest. It is a clean primer on refraction and dispersion, with some viewers suspicious of CGI despite the believable fluid flow.
Mercury tilt switches from 1917 still snap on
Glass tubes filled with mercury flip to conduct, a century-old part once used in lifts and motors. The clip sparks history tangents and questions about toxicity and regulation.
Why it matters
- AI is moving from add-on to default interface. Shopify’s agentic storefronts and Adobe’s hook into ChatGPT show commerce and creation shifting into chats where users already are. This reduces app friction, but it also raises tough questions on data rights, model bias, and who owns the customer relationship.
- Cost curves steer strategy. If GB300 undercuts Google’s inference advantage, the battleground tilts toward model quality, data, and distribution. For developers and startups, hardware choices in 2025-2026 could decide unit economics for years.
- Signals of talent are expanding. Carmack’s “chat-as-reference” idea will spark debate, yet more employers will seek richer, longitudinal signals than CVs and timed interviews. Expect new norms around consent, redaction, and audit trails.
- Founding still takes grit and patience. Bezos’s first million and PostHog’s pivots repeat a pattern, the best outcomes hide behind repeated no’s, and the work of staying close to users beats grand plans.
- The maker spirit is alive. From projection mapping and drone sims to folding props and bush planes, the internet keeps surfacing hands-on craft. It is a reminder that progress is not only chips and models, it is also clever hardware, optics, and old ideas that still work.
