Trump and Tech, Anthropic and Palantir, Crypto Kidnappings, and Being Present
Weekly Review of News in Technology, UX and AI
Here’s the latest news, resources, and use cases from the world of product, UX, AI and technology. Let’s go:
🖼️ Visual Thinking
📠 Trump and Tech
🐵 Chaos
⚫ Anthropic and Palantir
🚙 Crypto Kidnappings
🧘♂️ Being Present
🍳 Black Spatulas
Podcast
The Power of Visual Thinking in Product Management with Christoph Steinlehner
In this episode of Prodity: Product by Design, host Kyle interviews Christoph Steinlehner, a product management coach with a background in interaction design. Christoph shares his journey from web development and multimedia production to product management coaching, where he helps product managers and teams navigate complex challenges, improve communication, and find focus. He emphasizes the importance of visual methods in facilitating better team collaboration and product strategy, offering insights into how product leaders can balance internal and external priorities. Christoph also introduces his "Mapper Method," a six-step framework designed to clarify assumptions, risks, and strategies through visual mapping. Our conversation also delves into practical advice for improving product processes, creating effective communication, and advancing careers in product management. If you are interested in starting or advancing your product career, you won't want to miss this discussion.
News and Useful Reads
What a second Trump presidency means for tech
With Trump taking back the presidency in the US, we’ll likely be talking about his policies and agenda for a while. We can certainly say that there will be less oversight on AI and crypto in the US from now on, but how other tech sectors will fare remains to be seen.
All this to say, the next four years of tech policy will be unpredictable and erratic.
Donald Trump Isn’t the Only Chaos Agent
Whether you support Trump or not, his election feels like an all-encompassing, ever-present event. For some people, that’s great. For others of us, it’s not. Regardless, when we step back, it is likely to be less important to humanity than many other events happening now.
the biggest story of our time was still the technological revolution we were living through. Disruptive politicians, even destructive ones, may come and go—or refuse to go. But the chip, the network, the mobile device, and all they entailed were changing humanity, and maybe what it will mean to be human.
Anthropic and Palantir Partner to Bring Claude AI Models to AWS for U.S. Government Intelligence and Defense Operations
I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more of this coming soon—AI companies partnering with defense contractors to bring AI into the military.
AI firms have historically been cautious about intertwining with military applications, but with OpenAI, Meta, and now Anthropic operating with the government and defense contractors, the floodgates have opened. Having access to top AI models quickly becomes a massive security and military advantage.
Toronto crypto company CEO kidnapped, held for $1M ransom before being released
Not the kind of thing you’d expect in Toronto. But it is the kind of thing you’d expect with crypto companies. So maybe it all evens out.
The head of a company specializing in cryptocurrency was kidnapped and held for ransom in downtown Toronto during rush hour Wednesday.
Other Interesting Finds
How to Be More Present
My mind always feels like my computer looks—100 or more tabs open. Too many things vying for attention. When I’m in a meeting, I’m cycling through about a dozen different things, all unrelated to that meeting. When I’m having dinner with my family, I find myself thinking about work and house projects and so many other things.
I’m sure many of you feel the same way. It is difficult to be present with what we’re doing right now. It takes practice.
The rule of neuroplasticity—that our brain keeps changing based on our repeated activity—says that whatever we do a lot we will get better at. So if we worry a lot, we will get really good at worrying.” In other words, once you start worrying about something, it can be hard to stop…
“We live in a highly stimulating world with societal expectations for hyper-productivity and rapid responsiveness, which make it particularly difficult to slow down and drop into the present moment,” Donaldson says.
Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula
This is the second time I’m seeing this today, so I feel like I need to share it. And probably go through our kitchen as well.
Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid.