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The Internet Phone Book, an ethically-trained LLM, and anachronisms
Jun, 2025
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👋 This is The Pipette – a monthly newsletter for product builders with links so good their ideas warrant a reply, a forward, or even a discussion in real life.
- Nostalgia – A delightful nod to the Yellow Pages, the Internet Phone book is a physical book with hundreds of websites and essays from around the web. They also built a “Dial-a-site” tool on their website, offering another way to explore the featured sites, like this 3d decorating experience. 🐇🕳️ See the backstory for the phone book.
- Artificial Intelligence – A scrappy team of researchers produced an LLM trained entirely on copyright-free material, a feat deemed impossible by the leading AI giants. Unsurprisingly, this approach was painstaking and required much more human intervention to label the data and research copyright statuses for each piece. Even so, with a fraction of a large tech corporation’s resources, the team built a competitive LLM based on ethical sources.
- Design – Theme-people, rejoice! Apple’s upcoming macOS Tahoe includes some extra customization options to change icon tints and folder colors. These personalization options will be applied to the revamped (and controversial) Liquid Glass design system that’s shipping with Tahoe. 🤓 Curious about the details? Here’s the official Adopting Liquid Glass guidance for app developers. Worth a skim!
- Productivity – Capacities is a personal note-taking app that prioritizes connecting ideas together. Its approach has been billed as less rigid than Notion, with a system that makes it easy to jot down ideas and form an interactive web of them. We use Notion a lot at Vertico Labs and on other projects, and while it’s great at organizing info, sometimes having to think of where to store something slows down the process. Some are using both apps in tandem, playing to each’s strengths.
- Psychology – As people who produce and consume technology more than most, it’s helpful to observe our relationship to it, even to consciously avoid some of its grasp. Reaching for “older” tools like a printed map, using a pen instead of a keyboard, and reading a physical book are ways to reconnect with the present and our surroundings.
- Engineering – A stark warning on treating Copilot like a coworker, and using it to outsource the fun/creative/hard-earned parts of software engineering. One point stood out: Copilot and other AI assistants will never bear responsibility for their actions. They don’t need to build up a reputation at a company or worry about their choices impacting production systems. It’s a great reminder to pay attention to how we create software and stay in the driving seat.
- Technology – An open-source initiative, Meshtastic, was developed to send text messages over radio devices, even when cell and internet connections are down or unavailable. It’s been used by remote hikers, astronaut enthusiasts, and citizens under Internet blackouts. A mesh of low-power devices relays the messages, allowing each member to reach the furthest edges of the network. The official site lists the supported devices/kits and steps to start.
- Workforce – New California laws that target companies using AI for their hiring process may go into effect as soon as July 1st. The laws aim to curb discriminatory algorithms, remove unnecessary job requirements, and prove that any systems used are unbiased, with a high burden of proof. Companies would also need to keep 4 years of AI-related records, like job applications.