It’s the last week of January 2026 and the AI world is moving at Lenin’s pace: weeks where decades happen. The latest object of fascination is OpenClaw, an autonomous AI agent that’s captured the imagination of the technically adventurous. It’s had three names in a week (ClawdBot, Moltbot, now OpenClaw). That velocity tells you something about where we are.
I wasn’t happy with some of Felix’s visual layout. Felix is built with a web browser front end. This means a redesign involves hacking a lot of HTML, CSS and perhaps javascript. Underneath the surface websites are often a messy collection of complex code. CSS - cascading style sheets - have caused many a front-end developer to tear their hair out.
Instead I sketched my change requests on a screenshot. Gave it to Claude Code.
Voila. Minutes later I had a fully implemented and working re-design. Amazing.
Claude Code told me to go to bed last night. I did not go to bed.
This is not a story about artificial intelligence developing unexpected emotional intelligence, though it did cross my mind. It’s a story about the strange territory between caring deeply about something and caring too much. And how difficult it is to know, in the moment, which side of that line you’re standing on.
This is the technical companion to my earlier post about building Felix, my personal bookmark manager. That post covered the why and what. This one covers the how.I’m not a developer, so these choices came from conversations with Claude Code about what would work best for a local-first personal tool.
Yesterday I built an app. My first ever, not counting some AppleScripts and HyperCard stacks back in the day. I scoped out the requirements during a 10-minute walk, dictating into my iPhone. After running errands I cleaned up the notes at my Mac, fired up Claude Code, and had a working application by evening.
The name comes from Felix the Cat and his “Magic Bag of Tricks” - classic Aussie made cartoon.
My Felix magically collects bookmarks from various sources and transforms them with AI assistance.
Talent and modern tools deliver the fastest protest song in the west.
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free, Bruce Springsteen
Late last night I installed Claude Code. Early this morning I extended my first script from the couch, before coffee. The gap between those two moments tells you something about where software coding is heading.
Claude Code is, essentially, Claude AI living in your Terminal. For those who haven’t ventured into the command line, Terminal is your Mac’s text-based interface, where you type commands instead of clicking buttons (Windows PCs have something similar). I have basic skills in Terminal (enough to navigate without breaking things) but I can’t code. Specifically, I can’t write Python, which is one of the simpler programming languages Claude Code uses to build applications. Python is popular because it’s readable and versatile, powering everything from web apps to automation scripts. I know what it does. I just can’t write it myself.
Or couldn’t. The distinction matters now.
There’s a lot of noise right now telling us things are only getting worse in USA. Robert Reich’s latest post cuts through that with something rarer and more useful: grounded optimism. Writing from Minnesota, Reich describes what he sees as America’s tipping point. He doesn’t flinch from the dangers. Democratic norms are under pressure and state power is being tested in ways that should alarm anyone paying attention. But alongside that, he notices something else taking shape on the ground.
Some geeks now sleep while their AI agent codes. I on the other hand can’t sleep as my mind spins at the possibilities … including Claude embedded in Excel!
Where did southern Australia’s record-breaking heatwave come from? Millions of people in southeastern Australia are sweating through a record-breaking heatwave. Temperatures have topped 49°C in northwest Victoria and South Australia for the first time on record. (The Conversation)
An exclusive look inside the largest effort ever mounted to keep the Great Barrier Reef alive A large team of scientists is working hard to save the Great Barrier Reef by helping corals reproduce both in the ocean and in labs. They collect coral spawn and grow baby corals to plant back on the reef, aiming to make corals more heat-resistant. However, the reef’s survival depends mostly on cutting carbon emissions to stop climate change. (vox.com)
Apple Expands Apple Watch Hypertension Notifications to Australia Apple Watch now adds hypertension notifications in Australia, alerting users to possible signs of chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension. This matters because hypertension affects around 1.4 billion adults worldwide, is often symptom-free and undiagnosed, and is a leading preventable cause of heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. You will need to update iOS and WatchOS to the latest. (apple.com/au)