Monday, November 17, 2025

Tim Cook plans exit πŸ‘‹, Elon's interview πŸ“, building a UI framework πŸ§‘‍πŸ’»

Apple has intensified the company's succession planning for its CEO role. John Ternus is the most likely to take the position ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

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TLDR 2025-11-17

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Big Tech & Startups

Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO 'as soon as next year' (2 minute read)

Apple's board and senior executives have recently intensified the company's succession planning for its CEO role. John Ternus is the most likely to take the position, but no final decisions have been made. Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January. The transition to a new CEO is reportedly not related to the company's current performance.
Group ChatGPT (7 minute read)

OpenAI has launched a limited test of its chat app in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan. It will allow people to chat with AI and other people within the same environment. Group chats are separate from private conversations - personal ChatGPT memory will not be used in group chats, and ChatGPT will not create memories from group chat conversations. ChatGPT will automatically reduce exposure to sensitive content for everyone in the chat if any of the members is under 18.
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Science & Futuristic Technology

World's oldest RNA extracted from Ice Age woolly mammoth (6 minute read)

Researchers at Stockholm University have successfully sequenced the RNA of a young woolly mammoth discovered in 2010. This allowed them to explore new information, such as which genes were active, or whether it was infected with RNA-based viruses, when it died. The ability to recover RNA gives scientists another tool to reconstruct and validate ancient genomes. It could be used to explore how gene expression differs between extinct and living species or even between individuals of the same species.
Almost Everything About NASA's Latest Mission to Mars Is Unusual (12 minute read)

NASA's ESCAPADE mission, which launched on Thursday towards Mars, will collect data to provide clues about why the planet became cold, dry, and almost airless. The mission was initially rejected when it was proposed, and then it was only approved because of a federal government shutdown in 2018. The mission was delayed several times, but the lessons learned along the way could help NASA get more bang for its buck for future missions. The trajectory the mission is pioneering allows launches to be made outside of tight launch windows.
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Programming, Design & Data Science

This Thanksgiving, be grateful for never having to write tests again (Sponsor)

Ready for an actually relaxing holiday? Pass the testing to Meticulous. It observes your app and automatically build a continuously evolving suite of E2E UI tests, while you load up on stuffing. The only flakes you'll see this Thanksgiving will be falling off the crust of that sweet pumpkin pie. Book a call and make it happen.
Building a UI Framework (Book)

This document looks at how to create a graphical UI framework that considers developer adoption, performance, display effects, and power consumption. The most popular frameworks solve real problems. It is important to ground design in real projects with real customers, be open to new ideas, and be ready to discard inventions to go where the data leads. The most difficult part of designing a product is balancing a coherent vision with flexibility in the face of new information.
The fate of "small" open source (6 minute read)

The era of small, low-value libraries is over. AI can output functions from these libraries, so developers no longer have to take on extra dependencies with unknown performance, maintenance, and supply-chain risks just for basic functionalities. There is still plenty of open source to write. The most value can be found in big projects, more inventive projects, or niche areas not covered in large language model training data.
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Miscellaneous

Grok 5 will be released in Q1 next year (18 minute read)

Elon Musk recently attended an interview where he discussed his vision for artificial intelligence, robotics, sustainable development, and the future of humanity. He revealed details about Grok 5, a 6-trillion parameter model which will be released in the first quarter of next year. Musk also talked about building a giant wafer factory within the next couple of years to create tens of billions of AI chips. This article contains excerpts from the interview.
Meta is about to start grading workers on their AI skills (3 minute read)

Meta plans to tie employee performance to their 'AI-driven impact' starting next year. The company will assess employees on how they use AI to deliver results and build tools that can move the needle in a major way in regards to productivity. Meta is rolling out an 'AI Performance Assistant' to help with performance reviews and feedback to use in this year's performance review cycle. Employees can also use Meta's internal assistant, Metamate, as well as Google Gemini, for their performance content.

Quick Links

Tool consolidation is a team sport (Sponsor)

Cutting costs may look good on the balance sheet but there's often a hidden price to pay. Learn how to do consolidation your tech stack the right way in this Forrester report (available free from Miro).
Friction Was the Feature (12 minute read)

We need to redesign systems so AI boosts signal instead of burying it.
RegreSQL (GitHub Repo)

RegreSQL implements regression testing facilities for SQL queries in PostgreSQL database systems.
JP Morgan says Nvidia is gearing up to sell entire AI servers instead of just AI GPUs and components (5 minute read)

Nvidia plans to sell fully assembled Level-10 VR200 compute trays with all compute hardware, cooling systems, and interfaces pre-installed starting next year.
Programming Languages in the Age of AI Agents (6 minute read)

In the age of AI, a programming language's popularity is a feedback loop that makes it more and more popular.
Alchemy (6 minute read)

Generative AI is not capable of creating figurative 'gold' because gold is rare, and that rarity is exactly what makes it valuable.
Numbers Everyone Should Know (1 minute read)

A list of numbers in computing and networking that developers should know.

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Thanks for reading,
Dan Ni & Stephen Flanders


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