#53: FAREWELL TO A GREAT 2025

Feliz nuevo 2026. Qué dejaron pendiente de este 2025?

2025 was not the year of AGI, but it was definitely the year of Cursor and Claude Code, the apps that define a new way for me to use the computer, interact with content, with services and embrace APIs and take control of how to consume and develop. I did more commits to GitHub and GitLab than in the last two decades combined. What a ride. 2026 will be even more potent and I believe that Google will dominate the headlines and technologies. Looking forward to going to I/O next year.

Good links from last week:

• Warren Buffett is retiring this time. After six decades leading Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett is stepping down as CEO. End of an era for one of the most successful investors in history.

• Nvidia acquires Groq’s assets for $20 billion. Nvidia is buying assets from AI chip startup Groq for about $20 billion in what’s structured as a “non-exclusive licensing agreement.” Groq founder Jonathan Ross and other senior leaders are joining Nvidia.

• Meta acquires Manus to expand AI agent capabilities. Meta acquired Singapore-based startup Manus, which sells an AI agent to businesses via subscription and had an annual revenue run rate of $125 million earlier this year.

• MTV shuts down all music-only channels after 44 years. MTV’s remaining 24-hour music channels shut down globally by December 31, 2025. MTV Music ended its broadcast by airing “Video Killed the Radio Star”.

• Domainer bought VidaliaOnions.com and started selling actual onions. Peter Askew bought the domain for $2,200 with no plan, partnered with a farmer, and built a farm-to-door service. First season they estimated 50 orders, got 600. Very inspiring story of how a good domain name and willingness to figure things out can build a real business.

• El costo del American Dream: $4.4 millones de dólares. Según Investopedia, alcanzar el American Dream tiene ese valor a lo largo de una vida.

• Judge blocks Texas age verification law for App Store. A federal judge blocked Texas’s law that would’ve forced Apple to verify user age for every Apple Account. I’m not a fan of these age verification laws.

• Google rolling out option to change your Gmail address. Google is gradually rolling out the ability to change your @gmail.com address to a new @gmail.com address (up to 3 times). Your old address becomes an alias that still receives emails and works for sign-in. I’ve been thinking all week about options for changing my email while keeping the old one as an alias.

• End of year reading. 17 predictions for AI in 2026 - positive outcomes for Anthropic and OpenAI from the team at Understanding AI. Everything that intrigued or brought joy for Thomas Flight in 2025 - a great list of films and content worth checking out. Miguel Carranza explains his 8th year as CTO at RevenueCat closing the year with lessons learned. Year in review for the Python Package Index - the infrastructure that powers Python’s ecosystem. And Airbus vs Boeing in 2025 orders - how the two giants competed this year.

• Garmin’s Autoland system landed a plane after pilot incapacitation. A King Air pilot became incapacitated after a pressurization problem and the Garmin Autoland system took over, landed safely. First real-world use of this emergency system.

• Learning how uv got so fast. The usual answer is “it’s written in Rust” but that’s not really it. Good reading for my fellow geeks.

• Una invitación a compartir tu código. Este artículo de GitHub explica cómo publicar tu trabajo aumenta tu suerte.

• ZBiotics selling 100 million bottles and the decline of alcohol. ZBiotics, the pre-alcohol probiotic drink, has sold 100 million little bottles to cure hangovers. Great product solving a real problem. Meanwhile, Freddy shares data on how alcohol usage keeps going down across demographics. The combination of better alternatives and changing attitudes is reshaping drinking culture.

• More than 20% of YouTube videos shown to new users are AI slop. Kapwing studied 15,000 top YouTube channels and found 278 that post only AI-generated garbage. These channels have 63 billion views, 221 million subscribers, and generate around $117 million yearly.

• How we lost communication to entertainment. Very good analysis of how social media became channels for entertainment, not communication. They disguised themselves as communication platforms to attract users and keep them captive.

• Wyoming’s snow fence program is a beautiful solution. Wyoming has hundreds of miles of precisely engineered snow fences with 50% porosity that trap blowing snow before it reaches highways.

  China deploying humanoid robots at Vietnam border. $37 million contract to deploy Walker S2 humanoid robots at border crossings. It’s going to be interesting to see if other governments follow this plan and deploy their own digital armies. Or humanoid armies. I don’t know how to call them yet.

• China closes the year with a reminder of how important AI will be for government. China also unveiled its AI Global Governance Action Plan, positioning itself as an AI rule-shaper and proposing Shanghai as a global AI governance hub.

A great video:

I've been reading more than ever and the links can give some idea of that. Thanks a lot 2025. You were a great year. Let's go for more. Wrote this from a cozy SF winter rain at home.