Barton Smith

Strategic product designer building slow products @handheld_proj / @north_mail now in early access.

@spotify, @meta, @fiftythree, @fuseproject

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@dmcgco @dankuntz Come try https://t.co/cO0l5iEkUm David! Definitely not vibe-coded though 🙃

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@dankuntz Let me know if you’d like to try https://t.co/cO0l5iEkUm - especially if you’re looking for something that feels quieter and calmer 🌞

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@dankuntz Agree~ Feels less premium IMO

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

People often ask if I’m worried about agents replacing the value of @north_mail.

I’m not. While technology can progress at incredible rates, we humans do not. An organized, scannable list is not an outdated technology. It’s a structure that aligns with how we consume, store and access information.

We’ll remember all these principles once the hype wears off 🙃

[Ryan Singer @rjs]

I think we're going to see a new wave of interest in usability.

Chat is hard on the brain. Total opposite of what Don Norman wrote about. 100% holding in your head, remembering things, special modes, etc.

Nobody wants the stuff in their kitchen to be in a different place each time they walk in.

System of record + recognizable display are not going away. What's new is how fluidly we can change state WITHIN those as users.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@nhallam Perhaps it’s the potential to codify their output?

One talented, senior design could be the difference between high engineering output + generic brand output vs a brand with depth and connection.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@nhallam ✌️

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@justinrgraham I like this a lot. Helps break some of the anxiety around the impermanence of software.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

Great points and framing.

I don’t think AI companion tools are inherently bad and I hope it didn’t come off that way. In the same way I don’t think ketamine therapy is bad, but K-holing at a club every Saturday probably needs some reflection.

But they should carry a warning label and ultimately aim to create better long-term outcomes.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

This is another great technological achievement, but also another harmful sugar-drink entering the market.

There is a big difference between a tool designed to develop relationships and a tool designed to complement or supplant them. This video shows which path this company is pursuing.

Cocaine, meth, sugar, cars, and plastics can all solve certain problems really well. As can a synthetic “friend.” The problem is not that they can’t be used for good, but rather our propensity to abuse conveniences in ways that are harmful.

Any tool that alters our social behavior ultimately affects whole communities and society. Tools like this will continue our trend of “high relational mobility,” making us less resilient and capable for the messiness of social human life.

None of this undermines the incredible achievement this team has pulled off. But it feels dangerous to go down this path without a debate.

[Quinten Farmer @quintendf]

Last year we launched Tolan, inspired by a vision of AI that sees you and believes in you, not one that books restaurant reservations for you.

Your Tolan shows up for you at 3am when you’re alone with your newborn. On your commute when you’re anxious about the day ahead. When you just finished a new show and none of your friends have watched it yet.

The people who love Tolan are parents. Caregivers. Moms in Dallas and Dads in Atlanta. People who aren’t trying to optimize and be more productive, but who simply want to feel seen and supported in their aspirations.

This month more than 250k people will spend time with their Tolan. Those users have exchanged billions of messages across more than 70m conversations over the last year.

Today, we're announcing $30m in additional capital from @mignano and @usv, with @khoslaventures and @rabois doubling down, bringing our total capital raised to $60m.

To celebrate, we made a short film celebrating some of the ways that Tolans show up :)

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

Why did their launch video not show those scenarios then?

It showed people getting advice from a frictionless, agreeable, empathetic, synthetic friend rather than nudging them towards having those conversations with messy humans.

An exciting date is a moment to message a group chat, to ask your girlfriends what to wear, and for them to ask you how you’re feeling about it.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@nhallam Fuckkkkkk. Is CMYK coming back too??

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@gabrielvaldivia An agent probably should have helped the human better label their charts.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

Another reminder that LLMs are the microwaves of our generation, and lazy prompts are ultra-processed TV dinners.

If you’re currently achieving more but learning less, you are ultimately harming yourself.

Learning, problem solving, friction and overcoming adversity are all part of a healthy cognitive diet 🧠💪

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@hamitkk Yeah but this is the texture that makes a city. Younger me wouldn’t have liked it but older me likes that you need to take the bad with the good. It’s what makes it all special.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

This is what I think of whenever I look at Liquid Glass. All these businesses have their own logo in their own style, but they're forced to conform to someone else's vision.

IMO platforms should provide tools for self-expression, not apply their own opinionated style by default.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@scspeier Hahaha

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@tuhin Can you say it again in case I misunderstood?

I do think we lost a lot of physical intelligence. I guess that was replaced with an ability to use the internet and smartphones and digital products in general.

Which gets at the abstracted layers you’re talking about.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

Whenever I think about the next generation learning to use AI-enabled computers, it reminds me of my parents saying how our generation can’t change a tire because we never learned, and don’t understand how engines work because they’ve became complex, enclosed boxes.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

Yup exactly.

At the same time, I originally thought it was a bad analogy because it’s not like we went from changing tires to learning to fly… all we gained was the ability to use a cell phone and pay someone else to do it.

A lot of people also may not learn something meaningfully new as a result of their computer’s becoming more advanced.

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@pemberton I wanna see

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

Only in corporate life are people unrealistically excited about managing to finish a conversation early and “giving everyone a minute back.” 😂

[Barton Smith @bartonsmith]

@nhallam Why you have to be a downer on my future like that?