Notes on building.
Guides on mobile apps, web platforms and AI products. Cost breakdowns, stack comparisons and how we ship.
Android 17 and targetSdk 37: What Founders Need to Plan
Android 17 shipped in June and targeting API 37 changes how your app behaves on tablets and foldables. Here is what breaks, what the upgrade costs, and how it connects to Google Play's October 28 contacts and location rules.
How to build · Oct 24, 2026 · 9 min read
Mercury 3 and Diffusion LLMs: Where Speed Pays Off
Inception Labs released Mercury 3 on October 19, a diffusion language model priced well below the frontier. Here is where a fast, cheap tier belongs in your app and where it does not.
How to build · Oct 21, 2026 · 9 min read
Staged Rollouts for Mobile Apps: A Release Playbook
App store review is not a safety net, and a bad release can reach every user in hours. This playbook covers rollout percentages, crash thresholds, halt rules and rollback options for iOS and Android.
How to build · Oct 19, 2026 · 11 min read
Apple's Oct 16 Review Rules: AI Content and Hidden Features
Apple updated its App Review Guidelines on October 16, 2026, tightening Guideline 1.2 on AI-generated intimate imagery and adding Guideline 2.5.19 on hidden or dormant features. Here is what changed, who is exposed, and what to audit this week.
How to build · Oct 18, 2026 · 10 min read
OpenAI Closes Evals and Agent Builder Nov 30: What to Do
OpenAI is closing its Evals platform, Agent Builder and the reusable prompts API on November 30, 2026. Existing evals go read-only on October 31. Here is the order to move things in, and the tools to move them to.
How to build · Oct 13, 2026 · 9 min read
Google Play's January 27 Permission Deadline: Audit Your App
Four Google Play permission rules tighten on January 27. Here is how to find out which ones your Android app touches, what to replace them with, and what it costs in engineering time.
How to build · Oct 12, 2026 · 9 min read
Apple's iOS 27 SDK Deadline: What to Do Before April
From April, Apple will reject submissions built with older SDKs. Your app does not need to drop old iPhones, but it does need a rebuild, a test pass and a few specific checks. Here is the plan and the budget.
How to build · Oct 11, 2026 · 9 min read
How to Switch Dev Agencies Mid-Project Without Losing Your App
Changing agencies halfway through a build is survivable if you do it in the right order. Secure your accounts first, audit the code second, and only then decide what to keep.
How to build · Oct 10, 2026 · 13 min read
Should AI Coding Agents Touch Production? Rules for Founders
AI coding agents can now run shell commands, apply migrations and open pull requests on their own. Here are the rules that keep them away from your customers' data until they have earned the access.
How to build · Oct 9, 2026 · 10 min read
How to Build a Privacy-First Analytics Platform for SaaS 2026
Third-party cookies are dead, regulators are watching, and your users expect better. Here is exactly how to build a privacy-first analytics platform that gives you real product insights without compromising user trust.
How to build · Sep 11, 2026 · 15 min read
How to Build AI-Powered Search for E-Commerce Product Discovery
Most e-commerce search boxes are still running keyword matching from 2010. Here is a practical guide to replacing them with AI-powered semantic search, vector embeddings, and personalized ranking that actually converts browsers into buyers.
How to build · Sep 11, 2026 · 15 min read
How to Build a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your SaaS Product 2026
A single outage can cost you customers, revenue, and trust you spent years building. This guide walks you through building a disaster recovery plan your SaaS product can actually rely on when things go wrong.
How to build · Sep 11, 2026 · 15 min read