Ted Mao
@ternarybits.bsky.social
Builder, Investor, Father. I post stuff that I enjoyed reading.
1/ Earlier this year, I started working on a side project called Gumnut, around the theme of photo intelligence: the idea that AI can use photo understanding to enable businesses and people to do things that were previously considered impossible, incredibly time consuming, or too expensive.
Gumnut + MCP = Agentic Photos
photo-intelligence.beehiiv.com
August 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
1/ Earlier this year, I started working on a side project called Gumnut, around the theme of photo intelligence: the idea that AI can use photo understanding to enable businesses and people to do things that were previously considered impossible, incredibly time consuming, or too expensive.
They downplay it in the article, but this sounds terrifying. arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought
“Hey, this is a very precarious situation we’re in.”…
arstechnica.com
April 14, 2025 at 11:14 PM
They downplay it in the article, but this sounds terrifying. arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
The latest article on the Pragmatic Engineer is pretty relevant if you’re a hiring manager, or a software developer searching for what’s next: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-realit...
The Reality of Tech Interviews in 2025
Interview processes are changing in a tech market that’s both cooling AND heating up at the same time. A deepdive with Hello Interview founders, Evan King and Stefan Mai
newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
April 14, 2025 at 11:14 PM
The latest article on the Pragmatic Engineer is pretty relevant if you’re a hiring manager, or a software developer searching for what’s next: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-realit...
Glad someone is investing in this kind of research instead of simply plowing ahead. And I suspect that the foundational research Anthropic is doing here will also help them build better models in the future. www.anthropic.com/research/tra...
Tracing the thoughts of a large language model
Anthropic's latest interpretability research: a new microscope to understand Claude's internal mechanisms
www.anthropic.com
April 14, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Glad someone is investing in this kind of research instead of simply plowing ahead. And I suspect that the foundational research Anthropic is doing here will also help them build better models in the future. www.anthropic.com/research/tra...
Great reflection on 8 years at Palantir: nabeelqu.substack.com/p/reflection...
I’d personally heard of the FDE model before, but while reading this article, I realized that there are a lot of similarities between it and what I’ve been doing at TheGP.
I’d personally heard of the FDE model before, but while reading this article, I realized that there are a lot of similarities between it and what I’ve been doing at TheGP.
Reflections on Palantir
A retrospective of an eight-year stint.
nabeelqu.substack.com
March 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Great reflection on 8 years at Palantir: nabeelqu.substack.com/p/reflection...
I’d personally heard of the FDE model before, but while reading this article, I realized that there are a lot of similarities between it and what I’ve been doing at TheGP.
I’d personally heard of the FDE model before, but while reading this article, I realized that there are a lot of similarities between it and what I’ve been doing at TheGP.
This is an incredibly fascinating look into how senior members of the Trump administration communicate and operate. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
www.theatlantic.com
March 26, 2025 at 6:12 PM
This is an incredibly fascinating look into how senior members of the Trump administration communicate and operate. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Stratechery interview with Sam Altman: stratechery.com/2025/an-inte...
An Interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman About Building a Consumer Tech Company
An interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about building OpenAI and ChatGPT, and what it means to be an accidental consumer tech company.
stratechery.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Stratechery interview with Sam Altman: stratechery.com/2025/an-inte...
Just an interesting read. www.menshealth.com/health/a6414...
The Doctor, the Biohacker, and the Quest to Treat Their Long COVID
One of them is a doctor who likes to play it safe. The other is a regular dude who’s willing to try anything. Both of them have long COVID. In their desperate search for answers, two men are bonded by...
www.menshealth.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Just an interesting read. www.menshealth.com/health/a6414...
Interesting article on what it will take to get autonomous cars to cities with snow. www.changinglanesnewsletter.com/p/automated-...
Automated Driving in Winter Conditions
An Interview with Steven Waslander
www.changinglanesnewsletter.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Interesting article on what it will take to get autonomous cars to cities with snow. www.changinglanesnewsletter.com/p/automated-...
Some humor: arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/a...
AI coding assistant refuses to write code, tells user to learn programming instead
Cursor AI tells user, “I cannot generate code for you, as that would be completing your work.”…
arstechnica.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Some humor: arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/a...
I always find research on city and building design interesting. For example, the article on parking spaces that I shared a couple of weeks ago. And today, I found this interesting post on fire stairwells. x.com/SustainableT...
Philip Oldfield on X: "Important research by the @pewtrusts shows that 4-6 storey apartments with a single fire stair do not put residents at any greater fire risk (as compared to 2 stairs) Single stairs are also cheaper, and could allow much more housing to be built! https://t.co/K2iWwTPvVZ https://t.co/1FtGN3HfX7" / X
Important research by the @pewtrusts shows that 4-6 storey apartments with a single fire stair do not put residents at any greater fire risk (as compared to 2 stairs) Single stairs are also cheaper, and could allow much more housing to be built! https://t.co/K2iWwTPvVZ https://t.co/1FtGN3HfX7
x.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I always find research on city and building design interesting. For example, the article on parking spaces that I shared a couple of weeks ago. And today, I found this interesting post on fire stairwells. x.com/SustainableT...
Great writeup about using LLMs for coding tasks. I also agree with the takeaway: "LLMs amplify existing expertise"
simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/11/...
simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/11/...
Here’s how I use LLMs to help me write code
Online discussions about using Large Language Models to help write code inevitably produce comments from developers who’s experiences have been disappointing. They often ask what they’re doing wrong—h...
simonwillison.net
March 24, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Great writeup about using LLMs for coding tasks. I also agree with the takeaway: "LLMs amplify existing expertise"
simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/11/...
simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/11/...
Kind of funny:
> There’s a glimmer of a good idea here. But after a month of testing, I’ve never felt more gaslit.
www.theverge.com/reviews/6270...
> There’s a glimmer of a good idea here. But after a month of testing, I’ve never felt more gaslit.
www.theverge.com/reviews/6270...
I outsourced my memory to an AI pin and all I got was fanfiction
Never have I ever been this gaslit by a wearable.
www.theverge.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Kind of funny:
> There’s a glimmer of a good idea here. But after a month of testing, I’ve never felt more gaslit.
www.theverge.com/reviews/6270...
> There’s a glimmer of a good idea here. But after a month of testing, I’ve never felt more gaslit.
www.theverge.com/reviews/6270...
Very excited about this, and generally the movement toward optional and static typing in web applications. devblogs.microsoft.com/typescript/t...
A 10x Faster TypeScript - TypeScript
Embarking on a native port of the existing TypeScript compiler and toolset to achieve a 10x performance speed-up.
devblogs.microsoft.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Very excited about this, and generally the movement toward optional and static typing in web applications. devblogs.microsoft.com/typescript/t...
Pretty good write-up on how to effectively use LLMs for coding. I've found the part about providing instructions to guide the model (e.g. telling it what version of python I'm using, what best practices I wanted to follow, etc.) has been particularly helpful for me.
www.honeycomb.io/blog/how-i-c...
www.honeycomb.io/blog/how-i-c...
How I Code With LLMs These Days
Phillip Carter provides guidelines around using LLMs in software development, like paying for Claude, asking for small changes, and more.
www.honeycomb.io
March 24, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Pretty good write-up on how to effectively use LLMs for coding. I've found the part about providing instructions to guide the model (e.g. telling it what version of python I'm using, what best practices I wanted to follow, etc.) has been particularly helpful for me.
www.honeycomb.io/blog/how-i-c...
www.honeycomb.io/blog/how-i-c...
My instinct is to stay far away from this latest batch of YC companies... but maybe one of them will prove me wrong by shipping a quality product? techcrunch.com/2025/03/06/a...
A quarter of startups in YC's current cohort have codebases that are almost entirely AI-generated | TechCrunch
With the release of new AI models that are better at coding, developers are increasingly using AI to generate code. One of the newest examples is the
techcrunch.com
March 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
My instinct is to stay far away from this latest batch of YC companies... but maybe one of them will prove me wrong by shipping a quality product? techcrunch.com/2025/03/06/a...
Another great article by patio11: www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/two-...
Two Americas, one bank branch, and $50,000 cash
Ever wondered what happens if you try to take $50,000 in cash out of a bank? Answer: a year of investigative journalism.
www.bitsaboutmoney.com
March 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Another great article by patio11: www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/two-...
I know a few people here have been looking for a job for some time, and it’s sort of validating to know that they aren’t alone in their struggles.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Job Market Is Frozen
Unemployment is low, but workers aren’t quitting and businesses aren’t hiring. What’s going on?
www.theatlantic.com
March 1, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I know a few people here have been looking for a job for some time, and it’s sort of validating to know that they aren’t alone in their struggles.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
So this morning, I used NotebookLM for the first time for a project, and it was AMAZING. But it also took me down a rabbit hole doing research on NotebookLM, and I thought these two links were worth sharing:
Google NotebookLM’s Raiza Martin and Jason Spielman on Creating Delightful AI Podcast Hosts and the Potential for Source-Grounded AI
www.sequoiacap.com
March 1, 2025 at 12:06 AM
So this morning, I used NotebookLM for the first time for a project, and it was AMAZING. But it also took me down a rabbit hole doing research on NotebookLM, and I thought these two links were worth sharing:
Great read, if you’re into the nerdy details of accurately representing numbers in computers. chadnauseam.com/coding/rando...
calculator-app - Chad Nauseam Home
"A calculator app? Anyone could make that." (this was originally a https://x.com/ChadNauseam/status/1890889465322786878) Not true. A calculator should show you the result of the mathematical expressi…
chadnauseam.com
March 1, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Great read, if you’re into the nerdy details of accurately representing numbers in computers. chadnauseam.com/coding/rando...
Really interesting writeup on fly.io’s approach to providing GPUs and how it’s gone so far — not very well. I love companies with leadership that can be introspective and honest, and are willing to publish their retrospectives.fly.io/blog/wrong-a...u/
February 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Really interesting writeup on fly.io’s approach to providing GPUs and how it’s gone so far — not very well. I love companies with leadership that can be introspective and honest, and are willing to publish their retrospectives.fly.io/blog/wrong-a...u/
While most countries have moved to the right in recent elections, Denmark has been an exception. Great article about why.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/m...
How Denmark’s Social Democrats Are Succeeding With Stricter Immigration Policies
Around the world, progressive parties have come to see tight immigration restrictions as unnecessary, even cruel. What if they’re actually the only way for progressivism to flourish?
www.nytimes.com
February 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
While most countries have moved to the right in recent elections, Denmark has been an exception. Great article about why.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/m...