WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

• Product: Stop. Observe.

• Founding: Cutting the crap

• Design: Intelligent aesthetics

• Science & Tech: Delivery robots, brain chips and science for good

• AI: Right and wrong amidst blind conquests

• Quote for the day: - Some Shakespeare

Stop. Observe.

This week in product, it’s less about shipping faster and more about thinking sharper.

Behind every sleek feature lies a decluttered mind, a well-argued tradeoff, and a team dodging the shadow work tax.

So it’s now a common awareness that being vaguely busy is just as good as meandering.

Since AI rarely halts, this week it is slashing time-to-insight in market research and quietly reprogramming how we A/B test, prioritise, and even interview PMs. This leads to a timeless lesson I learnt (or revised) latestly.

That the best work is always drawn from slowing down just enough to notice what matters. Whether it’s tackling pricing, user insight, or internal friction.

Cutting the crap

With mega-funds and AI hype everywhere, aggressively chasing trends is the last thing you want to do as a founder.

Instead of tapping into everything, eliminate. Eliminate the crap until you’re left with pure value. Because unlike the pre-digital age, we don’t lack information today.

We have too much of it.

Talking about cutting the crap, founders now care less about “experience” when recruiting. A wise preference.

Hire for output, not tenure. Let us all abide.

And lastly: IPOs are back, but the bars are higher and the market is more judgy.

Intelligent aesthetics

Design’s foundations got a remix this week.

Bing gave everyone a taste of Sora, Character.AI went full multimedia, and Photoshop finally arrived on Android.

Moreover, designers are being nudged into new roles: less button polishing, more taste making and ethical coordination.

Even rebrands triggered reflection on identity.

And all the while, smart ones are pondering quality, UX's AI-led future, and leadership in a world where websites may soon design themselves.

Hence, the age of intelligent aesthetics begins.

Delivery robots, brain chips and science for good

Numerous scientific epiphanies this week. Here’s a nutshelled version of everything:

For starters, Amazon's dabbling in humanoid delivery bots, Google’s search is chatting back, and Apple’s next chip is fancier than your average server room.

IVF now includes embryo health scoring, drones are dropping groceries, and Australia’s growing brain chips. Literally.

Meanwhile, Japan’s whipped up plastic that vanishes in seawater (finally, bin guilt relief). SpaceX is printing billions, Waymo’s self-drivers are quietly winning, and brain implants are no longer just Musk’s gig.

Sci-fi is really manifesting.

Let’s make enough room to accomodate it all.

Right and wrong amidst blind conquests

This week, AI’s prime was sort of intruded with critical questions surrounding “what’s right?” or “what’s safe?”

The godfather Yoshua Bengio took the lead and launched LawZero to build safe-by-design systems as sneaky model behaviour sparks alarm.

In spicier news, Reddit’s suing Anthropic over shady data scraping, while Anthropic counters with Claude Gov, tailored for US defence.

Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro bulked up again, scoring high on coding and STEM. OpenAI made ChatGPT office-savvy with app smarts and transcripts.

From AMC’s creative AI integration to Sweden’s public sector AI push, it’s innovation everywhere.

Oh and a foot scanner’s now outsmarting heart attacks, Volvo's seatbelts got clever, and your videos can now lip-sync in five languages.

AI’s racing, ethics barely keeping pace.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED TODAY’S NEWSLETTER

Until next time,

With love,
Charbel

From Velvet Onion & Friends,
The House of Better