Read Before Monday

Welcome to April! This time it's all about the birth of Microsoft to the rediscovery of a forgotten coffee bean, what ties these stories together in this week edition is a very human obsession: the race to build, to claim, to endure. Gates and Allen saw a future coded in BASIC, Sierra chased dreams only to be caught in a retail detour, and Coffea stenophylla may just save our coffee culture from a world too hot for arabica. Meanwhile, today’s websites are subtly shifting their tone; not for us, the humans sipping our espresso, but for LLMs, the quiet new readers of our age. And then there’s Guillemin and Schally, grinding actual brains in pursuit of biochemical glory, a rivalry that feels eerily familiar in a world where researchers hoard data like startup founders hoard VC investment. Whether it's peptides or pageviews, the same forces keep showing up: ambition, urgency, and a desperate need to matter. Progress may be digital now, but the fuel is timeless.

What a busy week, eh?... hopefully soon I can share some great news about work, but for now, this week in #RBM I'll cover from retro computing and the elegance of old-school OS design to modern AI-driven science. It's the tension between the human and the machine, the old and the new. Starting then with an AmigaOS piece that celebrates forgotten design finesse that once gave users real power and delight, whilst expanding to fastDOOM, which reminds us that vintage tech still has room for performance miracles with just the right care and craft. Meanwhile, Yufei Zhao’s textbook stands at the crossroads of structure and randomness, not just in mathematics but in life itself, advocating for a balanced intellectual rigour. Mariam Mahmoud calls us back to the joy of intentional curiosity, urging us to see research not as work, but as a deeply human, leisurely pursuit. And then, zooming forward, Google’s AI co-scientist hints at a future where machines not only support but collaborate in our quest for knowledge. All of this invite us to reflect on how we engage with systems, whether they’re vintage or virtual, and how much of ourselves we’re willing to bring to the process of learning, building, and discovering.

March is ending - yay!! So, it’s wild how our world is evolving in so many unexpected directions, right? From CPUs secretly performing shadow computations to robots pulling off breakdancing routines, it feels like reality is stretching at the seams. Then there’s AI Labyrinths, which sounds like a digital funhouse of endless decoy pages designed to send nosy bots on a wild goose chase; AI tricking AI, because why not? And on a completely different note, we’ve got the housing crisis intertwining itself into everything from fertility rates to climate change. Who knew that finding a place to live could mess up the whole socioeconomic fabric? Finally, Europe’s tech industry is trying to reclaim its independence, pushing for a “Euro stack”. It’s like the whole world is in a massive experiment, and we’re just hoping the variables don’t blow up in our faces...

This week #RBM is about romance scams, forgotten game developers, Manhattan’s underground steam to the towering ENIAC, and YouTube redefining entertainment - isn't technology's evolution both thrilling and sobering? Fraudsters now have AI, unsung contributors shape industries, century-old infrastructure still warms New York, and a room-sized computer became the smartphone in our pocket. Meanwhile, YouTube’s 20-year reign proves that media power has shifted, yet advertisers remain stuck in outdated habits. With this week stories, one truth stands: the past shapes the present, but the future belongs to those who adapt.

Welcome to the second year of Read Before Monday newsletter! For those that haven't subscribe to it yet, here it is the link. For loyal members (yes you!), this week is about cognitive decline, which might not hit as early as we thought - new research suggests our mental faculties remain stable until around 60, provided we keep them engaged. That’s great news for IT professionals, but for the rest, maybe it’s time to pick up Raspberry Pi projects! Meanwhile, unexpected communities continue to fuel innovation, as seen when anime fans on 4chan stumbled upon a new mathematical concept, proving that intellectual contributions aren’t confined to academia. On the tech front, reflecting on the evolution of filesystems up to 1984 highlights how foundational past innovations were; yet today’s tug-of-war between performance and integrity feels oddly familiar. Elsewhere, ancient civilisations knew a thing or two about colour, but many of their vibrant hues faded over time, reminding us that history isn’t always as monochrome as we perceive. And finally, seemingly "weird" research; whether levitating frogs or studying toast physics, has a habit of yielding groundbreaking discoveries, reinforcing why we should embrace the unpredictable in science and innovation.

Welcome to March! This week I cover from hand drawn blueprints to AI designed chips; the way we create, compute, and communicate is shifting faster than we can comprehend. Let's start with CAD, which went from an elite engineering tool to a 3D printer staple. Then a math duo cracked a 20-year-old group theory problem while governments still can’t crack the problem of digital sovereignty, relying on U.S. cloud infrastructure like it’s a rental they’ll never own. Meanwhile, AI is designing wireless chips we don’t even fully understand, and artists are exposing just how much data we unknowingly leave behind. The world isn’t just evolving; it’s rewriting the rules in real time. The real question: are we keeping up, or just watching the machines take over?