TLDR 2026-01-05

Free trials help AI apps grow, but bots and fake accounts exploit them. They steal tokens, burn compute, and disrupt real users.

Cursor, the fast-growing AI code assistant, uses WorkOS Radar to detect and stop abuse in real time. With device fingerprinting and behavioral signals, Radar blocks fraud before it reaches your app.

Protect your app today →

OpenAI is aiming to create an app store that rivals Apple's, but early tests suggest that the company still has a long way to go. ChatGPT's more than 800 million users can now perform various tasks, such as order groceries from Instacart or create a playlist with Spotify, using ChatGPT instead of opening an app. However, the current system requires too many extra steps, making it more complicated to use than traditional apps. Also, many ChatGPT apps only have very basic functionality, steering users back to more capable apps or sites.

Elon Musk has bet Tesla's future and his personal fortune on Optimus. The humanoid robots have the potential to generate infinite revenue for the company and eliminate poverty and the need for work. The company is currently working on the third generation of its robot. This article looks at how the robot is being trained and the challenges that Tesla will need to address before a commercial version is viable.

The peptide scene exposes regulatory theater, economic desperation, and a philosophical tension about bodily autonomy. While there is some evidence that these compounds work, people are taking on a lot of risk by using untested substances on themselves. The peptide gray market has matured, making it likely unregulatable. This article looks at some of the peptides available on the market and the evidence behind their effectiveness.

Furiosa is a startup that makes neural processing units (NPUs), chips designed to handle the type of computing calculations underpinning AI. The startup's chips can provide similar performance to Nvidia's advanced GPUs with less electricity usage. Mass production of the chips is slated to start this month. This article tells the story of June Pai, Furiosa's founder, and how he founded the company.

Boris Cherny created Claude Code. In this thread, he details his setup and how he works with Claude Code. Claude Code was created to be very customizable, but Cherny uses a surprisingly vanilla setup. Each person on the Claude Code team uses the IDE very differently.

The center of software work is moving. Previously, the model of software work - turning intent into something real - absorbed most of the time, attention, and craft of software teams. AI agents can now produce working code from goals, context, and tasks. As systems improve, the middle will get thinner, and less time will be spent manually translating intent into implementation. Developers will still need to understand the problem, gather the right context from customers and internal teams, and shape the work. Directing and managing agent work will become the craft in this era.

Netflix wants to start streaming Warner Bros.' movies just 17 days after their release in theaters. The companies may end up negotiating a larger window of up to 45 days. This highlights the tension between Hollywood and Netflix's priority of bolstering streaming. Netflix expects the Warner Bros. transaction to close in the next 12 to 18 months, if it passes regulatory scrutiny.

The University of Waterloo has a co-op program that is famous for the opportunities offered and the different countries you could work in. All of the students in every graduating class always have jobs lined up due to the over two years of work experience they gained in the program. This post, written by a student who has been in the co-op for a bit longer than a year, discusses how the program has changed them and helped them. While the program gives students a massive head start on their careers, financial independence, and the chance to live in a new city every four months, it creates a lot of pressure, and students are forced to grow up fast.

The iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027.

Code review consistently fails to catch the bugs that matter most.

The Web Install API introduces a new way to install Progressive Web Apps directly from the browser.

There are a lot of activities like side projects and writing that can help build confidence and make you more hireable over the years.

Agents only become reliably useful when supplied with constraints, context, an oracle, and a loop.

This post presents a disciplined approach to AI-assisted engineering that leverages AI aggressively while staying accountable for the software produced.