What I'm up to - February 2025

Here is my monthly newsletter about what I'm up to, which I send in place of social media.

What I did in January

Busy month at Chroma - including launching a case study with Mintlify who recently switched all search to Chroma Cloud.
Published OpenClaw is my new coworker about the viral new AI software. I also launched Trivet, an open-source software for adding Google sign-in to Ghost blogs. I also wrote some shorter pieces Code as content and Chroma for Ruby.
Contraption Co. Print Edition got a shoutout on Josh Beckman's blog.
Joodaloop also mentioned Contraption in an aside: "I must confess that I do like blogs where the thumbnail images are photos taken by the author themselves. They look really nice, even if they’re not particularly relevant to the content of the post."

Watched a lot of great films: Perfect Days captured the feeling of being in Tokyo so well - from the vending machine culture to the feeling of anonymity. Sentimental Values was the opposite of slop. I also enjoyed Köln 75 and Rams.
Music: Been listening to a lot of Bremer/McCoy on vinyl - I love their low-tech aesthetic. Tracked down vinyl from Keith Jarrett's Sun Bear Concerts. On Spotify, I've been listening to the Colbo store playlist which makes me miss living on Orchard Street.
Articles: This life gives you nothing is a great piece. Lemonade discounts car insurance for self-driving mode - I believe insurance companies will drive the adoption of self-driving cars.
Gadgets: Love the Spicy mortar and pestle from CW&T.
Podcasts: Enjoyed Tobi Lütke on David Senra - takeaways were "be different, even if it's worse" and “Appreciating the craft behind the toolmaking happens to be pragmatically an excellent way get really good at pruning - everything is about outcomes." Stumbled on a 2011 podcast between James Hoffman (coffee now-YouTuber) and Tim Wendelboe (my favorite coffee roaster). I also enjoyed this Ezra Klein podcast about hosting.
Thinking about: The new question on Y Combinator applications: "Optional: attach a coding agent session you're particularly proud of."