Sam Rowe

Technologist, Artist, Enterprise growth advisor, Investor, Father, and Husband.

All views my own.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@elonmusk and @tesla_uk when you purchase FSD subscription it would be useful to get the blue dots in the car UX to know I need to also switch on traffic aware on autosteer etc. otherwise I have no idea I’m missing out on features not in the UX before buying the subscription.

[Patrick OShaughnessy @patrick_oshag]

Iain M. Banks wrote one of my favorite sci fi series (Culture Series) about what society would be like in an abundant future.

One of the ideas that stands out is that even if people don’t strictly need a job, they will still want mastery, stories, to build, and to feel useful to others.

In the society he imagines, the hard problems are no longer allocation problems, but are instead about values (what’s good, beautiful) and identity.

The scarce resources become trust, attention, and, for institutions, claims to legitimacy. Values, not resources, drive differences in cultures. Societies choose different aesthetics, morals, and attitudes towards risk.

Banks’ world offers infinite comfort, and some people basically opt into endless pleasure. But the books focus on the people who crave intensity,
put themselves in danger, chase purpose in hard environments, and want friction and consequence.

In the books, “the Minds” are basically benevolent, well-aligned ASIs who solve all our problems and run everything. Even if that’s where we are headed, it’s fun to imagine what we will still care deeply about.

Banks is amazing at thinking through what that might mean. I highly recommend them.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@wholemars if they could combine it with the recent developments from Apple it could be very interesting.

https://t.co/gyNt2AlAFw

[Benjamin De Kraker @BenjaminDEKR]

Apple has just released details of a new AI video generator experiment:

STARFlow-V is a big deal because it proves that Apple has found a way to build a top-tier video AI without using Diffusion (the technology behind Sora, Runway, and Kling).

Most current video AIs work by taking a fuzzy static image and slowly "denoising" it into a clear picture.

STARFlow-V instead uses Normalizing Flows, a method that smoothly transforms simple data into complex video in a single, reversible stream.

Why this is interesting:

It’s Reversible:

Because the math works in both directions, you can run the model forward to create video, or backward to understand existing video. This makes it naturally good at editing (Video-to-Video) without needing the complex, "hacky" workarounds that Diffusion models require.

It’s Streamable:

It generates video frame-by-frame in a strict timeline, making it much better suited for streaming or potential real-time applications (like video games or "world models") compared to models that generate a whole clip at once.

It’s Competitive:

Historically, this technology was considered "too hard to scale," but Apple just showed it can match the quality of today's best models while being potentially faster and more consistent.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

This is incredible

[Lampi di Tesla @devix195]

Italian narrow roads? How can Tesla FSD handle them???😉

[Lampi di Tesla @devix195]

Italian narrow roads? How can Tesla FSD handle them???😉

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@SpatiallyMe I agree kinda on all of it but the price; it is too expensive in the UK at lest.

£3.5k is a huge amount of money.

It would have been great for Apple at all to shave >30% off to get a few more developers to build apps for it. I for one would have one tomorrow if it was £1500

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

Congratulations to the England women’s rugby team!

Fantastic game played by both 🇨🇦 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Mario Rodriguez @mariorod1]

We’ve moved fast to integrate Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.1 into your GitHub Copilot Chat model picker. This new version brings a major boost in performance, giving you a smarter, more capable partner.

Now go put it to the test.

https://t.co/CMn0uWbiWb

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

Most impressive #MSBuild in my 7+ years of working at the company (and sub divisions)

GitHub Copilot SWE agent is epic, Copilot foundry looks amazing for enhancing my own models; and Windows with MCP! This is so awesome.

Just to name a few!

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@nevodavid @eddiejaoude I think who you are talking to is more important than where for creativity but sun, sea and sand helps make it even better.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@eddiejaoude Always a pleasure to geek out!

Especially if there are Motoebikes to watch at the same time 🤣

[link- @BassemDy]

Does everyone really need to know what the CAP theorem is?

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@elonmusk @Tesla @elonmusk @tesla when you do a trial of FSD in the UK I will be one of the first in line to give it a go but £6,800 for something I can’t try first is too much to ask.

Please can you bring subscription FSD/EAP to the UK.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

Not often the bosses boss gets in on an announcement.

GitHub Copilot Free announced today by Satya.

[Satya Nadella @satyanadella]

GitHub Copilot Free for VS Code has arrived.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@Cleevely_Mobile are amazing. Got an EV and need servicing or repairs I can wholeheartedly recommend them.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@BassemDy Oh @BassemDy I am so with you.

Closed book exams are such a poor experience.

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

@BassemDy Interesting thought there. I can see the pressure to least effort in the name of efficiency; but would like to think the community minded feel the greater impact long term is better?

[link- @BassemDy]

I'm tired of seeing the typical list of books recommended over and over again for software engineers. This is my list of great books (free & paid) and Youtube content creators that you should read / follow.

Featuring: @Lethain , @neoeno, @munificentbob , @shiffman, @chacon, @aarondfrancis, @3blue1brown, @ArtemKRSV and many many more who I cannot tag here

[Sam Rowe @Sam_Rowe]

Another question for the day.

Is industry becoming even less empathetic to the human condition?