Ben Thompson

So, I've launched a new podcast with @andrewsharp:

@varunagg 🙏🙏🙏

@benthompson the team confirmed that the fix has been deployed. You can download the latest app here with the fix: whatsapp.com/download/ It will take till Monday for this to show up on Mac App Store..

This Mac app bug is one of the single most enraging bugs I've encountered in years! It's in all of the betas too. You get someone's @ mention randomly added to the chat when you press "Enter" and you have to click to get rid of it (and then it will come back on the next message).

@varunagg Bug exists on both

@benthompson do you have the beta version here? have you tried the stable production version?

3-18-2026 ($) •Jensen Huang and Andy Grove •Groq LPUs and Vera CPUs •Hotel California stratechery.com/2026/jensen-hu…

3-17-2026 An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About Accelerated Computing stratechery.com/2026/an-interv…

Mac app: if you @-mention someone in a group chat, the @-mention is just permanently stuck in the UI and enters itself into the chat if you press Enter iPhone app: tweets only unfurl at half-height, making them unreadable. Mac bug debilitating.

WhatsApp used to be absolutely rock solid, and now both the Mac app and iPhone app are buggy messes.

@MarceloLima I said Copilot Cowork not Copilot Chat, which is model agnostic (and consistently behind because of it, I’d add)

$MSFT Microsoft March 4: Models are commodities and we swap them in the background (MS Tech conf, Nadella) March 16: @benthompson writes no, MSFT is using Anthropic for Copilot and can't be model-agnostic Who's right?

@nmfaulkner_ @stratechery Harnesses aren’t the differentiator. I’m arguing the integration between harness and models are

@stratechery @benthompson Re the harness being differentiator, how do you reconcile that with harnesses being software, which is easier than ever to copy. In my experience, as soon as new best practices shared, coding agents can implement it practically overnight

Agents Over Bubbles Agents are fundamentally changing the shape of demand for compute, both in terms of how they work and in terms of who will use them. They're so compelling that I no longer believe we're in a bubble. stratechery.com/2026/agents-ov…

3-10-2026 ($) •Copilot Cowork •Anthropic’s Integration •Microsoft’s New Bundle stratechery.com/2026/copilot-c…

3-9-2026 ($) •MacBook Neo •The (Not-So) Thin MacBook •Apple and Memory stratechery.com/2026/macbook-n…

3-5-2026 ($) An Interview with Gregory Allen About Anthropic and the U.S. Government stratechery.com/2026/an-interv…

3-4-2026 ($) •Anthropic’s Skyrocketing Revenue •A Contract Compromise? •Nvidia Earnings stratechery.com/2026/anthropic…

@deanwball @FifthRocket @Noahpinion Happy to! Shoot me an email

@benthompson @FifthRocket @Noahpinion Let’s you and me discuss this sometime Ben. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I am a long time fan of yours. No cameras, at least not to begin with.

Honestly, in the @benthompson vs @deanwball debate, I think Ben is right. There was just no way America -- or any nation-state -- was ever going to let private companies remain in total control of the most powerful weapon ever invented.

@deanwball @FifthRocket @Noahpinion Ok, well I apologize if I interpreted your statement wrong

@benthompson @FifthRocket @Noahpinion Oh, that isn’t how I meant it! I did not mean to say you are reasoning backwards.

@deanwball @FifthRocket @Noahpinion I agree with both of Anthropic’s concerns in fact. I just believe their position is untenable. Moreover, this is a point I have made previously. Characterizing as reasoning backwards is simply incorrect.

@benthompson @FifthRocket @Noahpinion fair enough. I think you are disrespectful in your characterization of Anthropic’s position.

@deanwball @FifthRocket @Noahpinion I think you’re being pretty disrespectful in your ongoing characterization of my position tbh.

@FifthRocket @Noahpinion @benthompson Ben doesn’t even really believe it consistently. He’s more using the amodei position as rhetorical scaffolding to justify his conclusion than he is taking it seriously in my view

3-3-2026 ($) •Technological Scale and Government Control •Paramount Outbids Netflix for Warner Bros. stratechery.com/2026/technolog…

@signulll 13 years ago: stratechery.com/2013/friction/

the internet created global liquidity in everything. this includes talent markets, jobs, dating, attention, & status among many other things. this is the single most under realized structural change of the last 20 years. almost no one understands this well. what this means practically is that whatever you're pursuing, you're now competing in a pool that's orders of magnitude larger than any previous generation faced. the distribution of outcomes gets fatter on both tails & the middle hollows out. you either benefit from the expanded opportunity set or you get crushed by it. the people who thrive in liquid markets are the ones who figure out which game is still inefficiently priced & get there first. but these windows close faster than ever before.