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March 26, 2026

Five Links #90

1. The shape of friction

That conversation can be slow, yes. It can feel cumbersome, inconvenient, and inefficient. It’s the kind of conversation a well-prompted agent will never ask you to have, because it doesn’t count as productive. But removing it doesn’t make the work faster. It makes the work thinner.

2. Boring Avatars

A nice open-source library that generates unique, theme-able SVG user profile avatars.

3. Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines (gift link)

Google reduced our headline “I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything” to just five words: “‘Cheat on everything’ AI tool.” It almost sounds like we’re endorsing a product we do not recommend at all.

4. freelancing.support has launched a community

Matthew has a remarkable track record for supporting freelancers, and it’s great to see this project launching a community.

5. My 2-step process for AI-free blogging

  1. Think about a subject and then start typing
  2. Type the rest of the f*cking post and then hit publish

What am I up to?

  • I published the first of my design process interviews, with Joshua Galinato a few weeks ago. More soon!
  • My next available Unoffice Hour slot is 15 April
  • I have limited availability for new projects from May.

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Until next time,

Dave

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