WTF-Beta

An opinionated guide to which AI to use to do stuff

The Summer 2026 Edition

Every few months, I write a guide for people who want to use AI to do stuff. This time, a lot has changed, in part because what it means to “use AI to do stuff” encompasses so much more “stuff” than it used to. Until recently, using AI meant talking to a model through a chatbot in a constant back-and-forth conversation. Now, it means using an agentic system, where the AI is capable of doing the equivalent of many hours of real human work in one go by combining the brains of an AI model with a set of tools that let it plan and act for you. Basically, an agentic system gives an AI a computer to use.

https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/an-opinionated-guide-to-which-ai-b22

@adagiom Are they friendly spirits?

burger

fried

@jon-nyc

Watch the most recent video I posted in this thread, a few posts up from here.

***=Steve and AdagioM and I watched the same show***

Who knew what, and when….

https://www.axios.com/2026/11/10/lutnick-nvidia-jensen-huang-china-memo

I think Uneeda was around for at least that long.

Oy. That idiot Jordan.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-reeling-election-choose-leadership-congress-rcna608300

Fan mail

A senior official exclusively told MS NOW how decorated military officers with decades of experience were withheld from promotion after Pentagon staff printed out internet searches showing they had attended official events like promoting Covid-19 vaccinations or marking International Women’s Day.

https://www.ms.now/news/pete-hegseth-pentagon-purge-officers-promotions

Mouse

A rose-colored rock discovered in the Sahara Desert may hold some clues to Mars' ancient geological history.

The meteorite, named Teghaza 001 after the salt plain in Mali where it was discovered in 2022, weighs roughly 1.8 pounds (800 grams) and formed more than 4.1 billion years ago. Blasted off Mars by an impact before eventually landing on Earth, it is one of the three oldest Martian meteorites ever found.

The extraordinary age and unusual mineral composition of Teghaza 001 offer a rare glimpse into the formation of Mars' early crust and how volcanic materials may have been altered by water, according to a statement from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

"It was only after we started looking closely that we realized this meteorite is really unique,” research leader Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said in the statement. "One of the paper’s reviewers called it a Rosetta Stone for Mars."

https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/4-billion-year-old-rosetta-stone-found-in-sahara-desert-could-unlock-the-secret-history-of-water-on-mars

Definitely a kid from Chicago.

Fire

I remember Chun King, HiHo, and French's Worcestershire. And I loved Uneeda Biscuits.

A lot of these are a bit before my time, but I do remember three or four of them…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/food-and-drink/recipes/grocery-store-items-from-the-1950s-that-no-one-remembers-be-honest-do-you-remember-even-3-of-these/ss-AA2h3vr0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6af2578d912b44088cea7c8bc6d00236&cvpid=6af258cd993d4496b636b55b6cd410d5&ei=35#image=1

.

Thanks, @chas . Great video. The comments are a bonus. I was starting to think about selling my digital piano but this has prompted me to reconsider...

France has accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being behind cyber-attacks that raised the temperatures of supermarket fridges and freezers.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was "unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression", adding those who were responsible would be hit with sanctions "at the European level".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmg474vk6dyqo