The plan finished baking. Reviewed, revised, the whole nine yards. I wasn’t going to execute the plan myself; I wanted to automate it as well. The only decision left was how.
From Op-ed
Between Cost of Hosting and Effort of Self-Hosting, Migrating with AI Pt. 2
Starting a blog doesn’t cost money. At least that’s how I started back in the 2000s, and free platforms are still around. Intermediary platforms came along in the 2010s, giving some control back to bloggers or sharing the ad revenue. The way out of it all, ever since the term weblog was coined, was to run it yourself — either on a machine from a paid hosting service or on your own home server. The question was price and effort.
The Day Hosting Failed Me, Migrating with AI Pt. 1
Mad Tea Party was down for 24+ hrs. A datacenter problem. I’m not arguing a professional hosting service should have zero downtime. Failure itself is expected. Reliability is what happens after it. A full day of downtime is one full business day lost, and a good hosting service should be judged not only on physical performance, but on clear communication during a sudden failure and reasonable effort to reduce it.
AI “Hacked” Unsecured Gym Booking System
A classic mystery submission from Australia: a man asked an OpenClaw agent to book him into a gym class. It booked classes weeks further ahead than the gym policy allowed, then canceled a stranger’s reservation to move him up the waitlist. Every outlet ran it as an AI going rogue. Almost none noted this has always been doable with wetware. All it ever needed was intent.
Robot Vacuum Ban Stops All Future Releases
The FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices to its Covered List, and the framing everywhere is “transition” back to the US. Manufacturers can apply for Conditional Approval, which requires an onshoring plan, quarterly progress reports, and a one to five year schedule of committed capital expenditure. None have been granted yet. Models currently on sale are not affected. It’s the new models that need to seek approval.
Pixel Highlights Android Commitment Issue
Google’s August security patch went out to Pixel 8 and newer. Pixel 6 and 7 got nothing. The Pixel 6 is two months out from the October end-of-life date Google itself confirmed. The Pixel 7 has over a year of committed support left. No explanation has been offered, and I wouldn’t be surprised none is coming. Instead I would ask who is supposed to be maintaining these phones.
Nvidia Canceled 5090 Order Mid-Checkout, Predictably
A peculiar story of a buyer whose $4,429 order for an Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 got canceled is going around. Nvidia refunded the money and pointed at Asus. A $500 increase had landed after the order went through. The community reaction was the usual one: gouging, dishonest sellers, somebody taking advantage. None of that is wrong. It is also just how this market has run for as long as I have been buying into it.
Meta’s LED Is the Camera Sound All Over Again
Meta’s smart glasses now have a square peg pushed through a round hole — the Guardian ran a piece this week asking whether anyone can tell the glasses are filming from its LED. Reasonable question. Wrong premise. While that argument runs, cameras with better coverage and no indicator at all are driving past you, and nobody has said a word.
AI Satellite Photo Editor Nobody Asked For
Google pulled the Nano Banana 2 image tool from Google Earth one day after shipping it, once a researcher demonstrated that a one-sentence prompt could drop a nuclear facility into Iran. The safety failure is the obvious story. The more interesting one is that nobody, before or since, has said what the feature was for.
Sony Counted Disc Buyers Right
Sony says the disc backlash isn’t making “any impact” on its business, and I believe it. Not because Sony is on a crusade. Because Sony is reading a number that says exactly that, and the number is correct.
Is HomePod Dead?
HomePod is truly a product of its time. Its core feature is to stream Apple Music with Siri. Some side hustles it can pull off: AirPlay smart speaker, or wireless home hub, but I tend to agree with the community consensus the wireless hub only works in principle. None of these features are unique to HomePod, let alone the most polished.
Gemini 3.6 Flash Released
Over the last few weeks, my main takeaway with the Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 releases was their respective costs and cost performances. Neither company particularly hides the fact that the real models they offer are paywalled. It creates a distinct entry barrier for those who simply are not the target audience of the marketing materials surrounding the AI hype: vibe coding, content creation, and so on.
Fable 5 Now Included in Max Subscription
Fable 5 saga is finally coming to an end with Anthropic deciding to include the flagship model in Max. Since I am on Max tier for this month temporarily, the announcement is disappointing in two ways: a. Fable won’t be available on a similar price tier as GPT 5.6 Sol, and b. Fable is simply too inefficient when it comes to token counts compared to Sol. Whichever way you cut it, you can get a better deal from Codex.
1Password Adds Claude Support
If you have been on a vibe coding frenzy thanks to Fable 5, 1Password has something to offer for you today. The company has announced a new feature that fills website credentials on Claude’s behalf. By the developer’s claim, the feature is designed to have zero-exposure to the agent — tasks are handled by AI, and the credentials do not enter the model or its memory. Each request still needs to be approved on 1Password. It is currently only available on Mac and Google Chrome. The detailed announcement and support document is in the link. Give it a read if…
Sony to Stop PS Disc Production
Sony is winding down disc production for new titles as of 2028. The signs were on the wall. Digital-only storefronts. Disc-less consoles. Competitors who went digital years ago, or are still trying to. However, the announcement was ill-received. It was seen as contempt for consumers’ rights. For archival efforts of video games. For anyone who wanted physical media. Sony’s true motive behind the decision is irrelevant. The disc was never engineered to protect those rights.