Next Small Things

Second Thoughts

A truck, a fake LEGO set, and the strange pull of things not yet real.

May 4 • Chao Lam

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April 2026

Mamdani goes to Bentonville?

A Palo Alto founder fixes New York from his kitchen table

Apr 27 • Chao Lam

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Closing the Loop

It’s a Tuesday after dinner.

Apr 16 • Chao Lam

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Happy 50th, Apple!

Apple turns 50 tomorrow. I've been writing about it for roughly the same number of days.

Apr 1 • Chao Lam

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March 2026

Refractions

At an AI summit in New Delhi this February, Prime Minister Modi gathered the assembled tech leaders for a show of unity.

Mar 31 • Chao Lam

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Kogakuro Ryokan, Akakura Onsen

Notes from an early March ski trip to Myoko Kogen — part review, part field guide for next time

Mar 25 • Chao Lam

The Playbook Nobody's Named

I built three products that worked and one that failed. It took twenty years to understand why. The difference was one missing button.

Mar 24 • Chao Lam

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Pinch to Zoom

Anthropic and Abstraction

Mar 9 • Chao Lam

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February 2026

Where’s the Fun in Yesterday’s Moats?

Benedict Evans published a characteristically sharp essay last week asking “How will OpenAI compete?” His answer, essentially, is: it’s not clear they…

Feb 28 • Chao Lam

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The Wrong Flywheel

The Network State, Three Years Later

Feb 21 • Chao Lam

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The Software of Abundance

Part 2 of the Baumol-Veblen Entanglement

Feb 10 • Chao Lam

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The Two Elephant Dance

Baumol, Veblen, and the cost of everything

Feb 1 • Chao Lam

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