Google makes coding feel magical and a Netflix Theme Park Era enters the chat

Merry Christmas ,

A buddy of mine, Ziah, said something quietly the other day.

He’s been using AI music generators as a form of therapy.

Not to replace feeling. Just to give it somewhere to go.

I haven’t lost anyone close recently, but I did lose a beloved fish who passed on to the great toilet bowl in the sky. RIP Berger.

So I tried it. I wrote a few lines about Berger and fed them into musiccreator.ai

And suddenly there was a song holding the feeling for me. No fixing. No advice. No inspirational quote. Just a place for the emotion to exist. Honestly, the song is good. Like, annoyingly good. Reply, and I’ll send it to you.

Maybe grief doesn’t always need a solution. Maybe it just needs a container.

And if a piece of AI-generated music can help you sit with a loss, even a small one, that feels less like technology and more like permission to feel.

Let’s go.

This week from the AI for Founders podcast on Spotify:

On Demand Human - Never lose flow again
Founders, you’re not stuck because your idea is bad. You’re stuck because your AI won’t do the last 10%… and you’re about to rage quit in slow motion. You know the moment. You’ve prompted it 47 different ways. Perplexity, ChatGPT, YouTube tutorials . Your energy leaves your body. The project dies right there on your laptop like a Victorian child.
Danny Newman is building a simple fix: OnDemandHuman.com. It’s a “tap a button, get a real expert” marketplace for when vibe coding hits the wall. You’re mid-build, you request help, and you get matched in real time on Zoom with someone who actually knows the exact tool you’re using.

Snipd — The AI Podcast App That Refuses to Let You Forget What You Learn - LINK
An inside look at how Snipd’s founder built an AI-native podcast app in Zurich that turns passive listening into active learning, letting founders chat with episodes, capture insights, and actually retain what they hear.

Axenya — The AI That Predicts Disease Years Early (And Still Had to Fight to Get Paid) - LINK
A candid conversation with a four-time healthcare founder on why prevention is financially broken, how AI can spot chronic disease years before symptoms, and what it takes to sell life-saving tech into regulated systems.

Woz — Your AI Technical Cofounder for When “Who’s Going to Build This?” Kills Momentum - LINK
MIT roommates turned founders explain how Woz helps non-technical founders ship real, scalable software by turning raw ideas into production-ready code without relying on agencies or fragile no-code stacks.

Limitless Leaders — Why AI Is Exposing Weak Leadership Instead of Replacing It - LINK
A sharp exploration of the “human advantage” in an AI-saturated world, unpacking why influence, communication, and emotional intelligence are becoming the real moat as technical skills commoditize.

Tip of the spear:

Google’s ‘Vibe Coding’ Tool Comes to Gemini- LINK
Opal brings “vibe coding” into Gemini, lowering the barrier between ideas and executable software.

OpenAI Escalates Its Image Generation Arms Race - LINK
OpenAI’s new image model signals an aggressive push to dominate creative AI amid intensifying competition.

The U.S. and EU Are Quietly Preparing Massive Tech Penalties - LINK
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are aligning on tougher enforcement, setting the stage for significant fines against Big Tech.

Hyundai and Kia Recall Millions of Vehicles - LINK
A massive recall highlights ongoing quality and safety challenges in modern vehicle manufacturing.

Netflix House Wants to Turn Streaming Into a Physical Experience - LINK
Netflix is betting on immersive physical venues to deepen fandom and diversify revenue beyond screens.

Prompt of the week:

“Design the Failure on Purpose”

Assume my startup must stumble in the next 12 months — not catastrophically, but in a way that quietly caps its upside. Analyze my product, market, and operating model and identify 5–7 plausible, slow-burn failure modes that would look reasonable at first and only reveal their damage later.

For each failure mode, include:
The Misstep: the decision or behavior that causes it
Why It’s Tempting: the short-term logic that makes it feel smart
Early Warning Signal: what I would notice before it’s too late
Preventive Move: one concrete action I could take this quarter to avoid it

Tone: clear-eyed, unsentimental, and practical. No doom. No melodrama. The goal is to surface risks founders don’t talk about because they sound “reasonable” — and neutralize them while there’s still time.

Want more customers?

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• Kitcaster puts you on the shows your market trusts.

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Keep it moving

NVIDIA Acquires SchedMD to Tighten Its Grip on AI Infrastructure - LINK
By acquiring SchedMD, NVIDIA deepens its control over cluster management and high-performance computing workflows.

PayPal Wants to Become a Bank — Starting With Small Business Loans - LINK
PayPal is seeking U.S. approval to form a bank, positioning itself to compete directly with traditional lenders by expanding credit access for small businesses.

Governments Are Building AI Task Forces — And Struggling to Keep Up - LINK
Governments worldwide are forming AI task forces, highlighting the growing gap between public-sector pace and private-sector innovation.

Toyota Will Gain Apple Car Keys Support - LINK
Apple continues expanding its automotive ecosystem through deeper integration with major manufacturers.

Ford’s Hybrid F-150 Is Quietly Becoming an Energy Asset - LINK
Ford’s hybrid and EREV F-150 strategy reframes pickup trucks as mobile energy storage units, with implications for grid resilience and job creation.

Google Is Killing Its Dark Web Report Feature - LINK
Google will sunset its dark web monitoring feature in February, raising questions about consumer security tooling and product focus.

Google Is Testing an Email-Based Productivity Assistant - LINK
Google is experimenting with an AI assistant embedded in email, aiming to turn inboxes into workflow hubs.

Inside the Growing Tension Between Meta’s AI Talent and Leadership- LINK
Reports suggest internal friction at Meta as top AI figures clash with centralized leadership control.

Palantir’s CIO Joins Thrive Capital’s Defense Tech Push - LINK
A notable leadership move underscores the growing investor focus on defense and security technology.

China Is Rejecting NVIDIA’s H200 Chips - LINK
China’s rejection of NVIDIA’s H200 chips highlights the unintended consequences of export controls.

Amazon Adds AI-Powered ‘Ask This Book’ to Kindle - LINK
Kindle’s new feature lets readers query books directly, blurring the line between reading and search.

iRobot Files for Bankruptcy After 35 Years - LINK
The collapse of iRobot reflects how quickly hardware leaders can fall behind platform shifts.

Code Story Podcast: It’s like therapy for startup founders, except the therapist is a microphone and everyone’s listening. Code, chaos, and confessions served weekly.

What I’m thinking about:

• Vibe Coding for Founders - Blog

• Human - Centered Leadership in the AI Age - Interview

• Journeys and Insights - Webinar

Uncover the AI tools (here) you didn’t ask for, but now you’re weirdly into.

Thanks for being here.

-Ryan

p.s. When you are ready, here’s how I can help.

We have successfully booked podcast interviews for over 800 funded startup founders, entrepreneurs with exits, and C-suite executives. If you're ready to lead your company from the front, let Kitcaster handle your podcast scheduling and create a powerful stream of content for you and your brand.

I write about Revops, Product, and Founder-led marketing on Linkedin, X, and my blog.