Darrel Ang

Building products for people to use. Thinking out loud about tech, AI, stocks and the details most people miss. I have more questions than answers.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Call of Duty called MrBeast. The video picked up 56 million views.

Their sponsored video reached 56.8 million views in Tubefilter’s weekly branded YouTube ranking.

Would you watch?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Claude in the US can now check your spending. It just can't pick up the tab.

Link bank accounts to see where your money went. Read-only beta for US Pro, Max and Ultra users; not available in Canada.

Would you link your bank?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

BlackBerry never left. It just switched lanes. Its software quietly runs in over 275 million vehicles, from Waterloo, Ontario. #MadeInCanada Did you know?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

OpenAI is now worth $1.25 trillion. That's a lot of tokens.

Reports put its new funding valuation at US$1.25 trillion. US$11 billion raised so far; the round is still open.

Does that price add up?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Tesla's robot won't be for sale. It's strictly for hire.

Musk says Tesla will probably rent Optimus robots, not sell them. Rental prices have not been announced.

Would you rent one?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

RBC is Canada's most valuable brand again. Eight years of earning interest.

Kantar ranks RBC No. 1 for the eighth straight year. Its brand value rose 52% to US$71.1 billion.

Would RBC be your first guess?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Google's AI videos just got their 15 seconds of fame.

Make 15-second AI clips in Google Vids. Three free clips a month with a Google account.

What would you make?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Tesla is charging its rivals. Literally.

Tesla sells its charger hardware to rival networks. EVgo just opened a Tesla-built site in Chicago.

Smart move?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Shopify just out-shopped Amazon.

Q3 revenue grew 32% at Shopify, versus 12% at Amazon. Faster growth, not a bigger company.

Did that surprise you?

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

@not_sacke That was the whole idea. Your footage stays home, no account, no one peeking. Let me know what you end up editing!

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Concat is a free video editor that does what most people open CapCut for: auto-captions, background removal, 4K export.

No watermark, no account, no subscription. Runs offline, so your footage stays on your computer.

Built with Claude Code. Still in beta.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

1 in 6 Americans have been scammed holiday shopping online. Average loss: $394.

Three habits that help:
1. Type the store's address yourself, skip the ad
2. Track packages in the carrier's app, not the text
3. Pay by credit card, never gift cards or crypto

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Tesla's latest update, the useful parts:

1. Set arrival battery from your phone: location tab > destination > Set Arrival Energy (app v4.58+)
2. Select Superchargers show live open stalls
3. Emergency Drive Away works while plugged in. Emergencies only, you may pay for damage.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Three iPhone settings worth changing in iOS 27.2:

1. Keep apps out of Siri and Search: Settings > Siri > Excluded Apps
2. Trim Messages suggestions: Settings > Apps > Messages > Suggested Actions
3. Apple TV profiles, so your Continue Watching stops showing your kid's cartoons

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Built with AI: HackerBooks, about 15,700 books mentioned in Hacker News comments since 2007, each linked to the comments.

Maker Rohit Shinde says Claude wrote almost all of it. His design brief: “make it feel like hackertube, but for books.”

https://t.co/rtEctp280B

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

OpenAI says ChatGPT now gets roughly a fifth as many searches as Google.

Its rule: any question that sends ChatGPT to the web counts as a search.

When a search ends in an answer, not a link, the website behind it may never get the visit.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Uber says AI agents booked just 4 rides in Halloween week, its busiest week in October. Uber and Uber Eats did about 320 million trips and orders that week.

Uber says booking a ride in its app takes about 50 seconds. An agent has to beat that.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

OpenAI says two employees used GPT-6 Astra to design a whole gadget, case, circuit board and software, in under a week.

A factory built prototypes in under a month, after people fixed fit and assembly.

As AI starts drawing physical things, the key skill moves from designing to checking.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Apple's CEO John Ternus: “What we're seeing with memory pricing right now is unprecedented.”

A 32GB DDR5 RAM kit hit $449.97 in October, up more than 500% in a year, per Tom's Hardware.

AI data centres and laptops now shop for the same chips, and holiday prices feel it.

[Darrel Ang @darrelang]

Apple opened its new Siri AI to every app in the iOS 27.3 developer beta. Siri can check a delivery or book a table inside an app.

Apple's fine print: daily limits, and a fee for expanded access in future.

When Siri does the tapping, what counts is how many asks you get a day.