595: Google's AI Journey, OpenAI's 'Apple App Store' Moment, Nvidia + TSMC, Costco, Ben Bajarin, Radiologists, Rare Earths, Anthropic & Cursor, and Tarantino's Doubts

"human connection feeds on itself too"

But some things in life are more important than being happy. Like being free to think for yourself.

—Jon Krakauer

🎸🤘 I finally got my electric guitar!

It’s an ESP LTD MH-1000.

The most unusual thing about it is the bridge (the part where the strings attach to the body). It’s an EverTune mechanism, an incredibly clever analog system of springs and levers that keeps the guitar in tune for ages, in a self-adjusting way, basically until you change the strings or they break. No matter how hard you play or bend, or how much temperature/humidity swings, it stays in tune 🤯

Here’s how it works:

Anyway, back to the guitar: It plays like a dream!

I’m still getting used to the differences between acoustic and electric. I’m retraining muscle memory to press the strings more lightly and to pick and strum a bit differently.

But overall, I love it 🔥

When I used to play as a teen, I never had a guitar with really hot active pickups like this, so it’s really fun to crank up the gain and get a gnarly metal tone for some palm-muted chugging.

It sounds good clean too, though I haven’t really dialed in tones I like on my amp (BOSS Katana Gen 3). My next step will be to try to get some clean and distorted tones I like saved up.

🫂🔄 Lack of human connection compounds.

Endless scrolling and interacting through “likes” and comments can’t meet our biological need for real connection.

The Catch-22: the more disconnected you are, the harder it is to reconnect.

Break the cycle: call a friend, hang out in person, touch grass.

Because human connection feeds on itself too, but upward ⬆️

🗓️ Speaking of human connection, a quick programming note: Next week I’ll be traveling for the OSV team get-together.

I call it ‘my Christmas,’ it’s my favorite part of the year, spending time with teammates who are smarter than I am (and funnier too!), and meeting the year’s cohort of OSV Fellows 🏅🏅🏅🏅

See you on the other side! I’m sure I’ll come back with a head full of new ideas to share with you 💡💡💡💡

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🏦 💰 Liberty Capital 💳 💴

🤖🔍👨‍🔬 The 20+ Year Story of Google’s A.I. Journey 🗓️🚀

The Acquired guys did it again, a 4h+ episode on the history and strategy of Google, this time when it comes to their long-running efforts in artificial intelligence:

Google faces the greatest innovator’s dilemma in history. They invented the Transformer — the breakthrough technology powering every modern AI system from ChatGPT to Claude (and, of course, Gemini). They employed nearly all the top AI talent: Ilya Sutskever, Geoff Hinton, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei — more or less everyone who leads modern AI worked at Google circa 2014. They built the best dedicated AI infrastructure (TPUs!) and deployed AI at massive scale years before anyone else. And yet... the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 caught them completely flat-footed. How on earth did the greatest business in history wind up playing catch-up to a nonprofit-turned-startup?

Still making my way through (even at 2.25x it takes a few hours!), but it’s excellent so far, and based on the previous two episodes they did on Google/Alphabet, I’m excited to hear the rest.

I also want to congratulate Ben and David (💚 🥃) on Acquired’s 10th anniversary, which is later this month. In Internet time, the show just turned about 75 years old. Kudos! 🍾🎂🥂

☁️🔀💻 OpenAI’s DevDay 2025: Building a Platform with Apps & Agents 🦾💾

I couldn’t help but notice a parallel between OpenAI launching an Apps SDK that lets third-party services run inside ChatGPT and the original launch of the App Store by Steve Jobs.

(oh, and live product demos are much better than pre-recorded ad-like unveiling videos… That’s another way that today’s OpenAI feels more like the old Apple than today’s Apple 🍎)

That’s a high bar to clear, for sure, but if this “apps in ChatGPT” model executes better than the early-2024 “GPT Store” (which didn’t really turn into a platform), it could kick off a gold rush similar to what happened with mobile apps.

The pattern: when a new platform gains real traction and opens up natively to developers, there’s a window where new entrants build ‘from first principles’ on the new surface and out-ship incumbents who can’t adapt fast enough.

For example, a startup that integrates cleanly with ChatGPT and solves a common problem could tap a massive audience of 800m users overnight. And because in the early days there are few third-party apps, curious users try what’s there and whatever is good may stick out of habit.

Of course, incumbents have learned the playbook and will ship integrations fast. If you ask for flights, hotels, or a ride, Expedia, Booking, Airbnb, and Uber will likely be among the first-wave apps you’ll see.

But new platforms always have new use cases that don’t map neatly to existing players. What will they be here? Who will discover them first? 🤔

The internet leaderboard (🥇🥈🥉) has been unusually stable for years. This time of rapid change and new platforms feels like an opportunity to reshuffle the deck a little.