Today’s Highlights

• AI: You Can Now Phone Call ChatGPT Through A Toll-Free Number

• Design: Google’s Whisk AI Generator

• Science & Tech: Fertility Tech Breakthrough: Gameto’s Fertilo Cuts Hormones and IVF Wait Times, with Australian Clinics First on Board

• Founding: Precise Product Positioning: Where To Place Your Product In the Market  

• Product: Insights From Alexa’s UX Problems: Yes, Widely Adopted Products Fail, Too 

• Today’s AI image: “Wait. Lemme call ChatGPT…”

• Quote for the day: On Living

AI

You Can Now Phone Call ChatGPT Through A Toll-Free Number

OpenAI’s latest move is a bit of a throwback — introducing a 1-800 number for voice chats with ChatGPT and a new WhatsApp feature for global users, all unveiled during the company’s Day 10 livestream.

All You Need To Know

US users can now dial 1-800-CHATGPT for a chat with the AI, enjoying 15 minutes of free talk time each month.

And it’s not just for the tech-savvy — the service works on everything from smartphones to good ol' rotary phones, ensuring everyone can get in on the action.

Meanwhile, international users get in on the fun via WhatsApp, though with a few limitations compared to the full app.

The WhatsApp version runs on a lighter model and has daily usage limits, but there’s potential for cool upgrades down the track, like image analysis.

Why is this a big deal?

Operators and hotlines might be a thing of the past, but OpenAI’s new approach brings that retro charm into the AI era.

By tapping into WhatsApp and even landline phones, OpenAI’s opening up AI to a wider audience, beyond just the tech whizzes.

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Also in AI

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• Perplexity Hits $9B: Bags $500M and Unleashes One-Click Shopping and Financial Insights

• Microsoft Goes Big in 2024: Snaps Up 500,000 Nvidia Hopper GPUs

• Odyssey Unveils Explorer: Your New 3D World-Building Sidekick

• Open Vision Engineering Drops Pocket: The AI Voice Recorder You Didn’t Know You Needed

• Cinematic: Turn Your Ideas Into Anime with This Video Creator

• Consensus AI: A Research-Powered Q&A Tool That Knows Its Stuff

Design

Google’s Whisk AI Generator

Google has introduced Whisk, an AI tool that generates images from other images, bypassing the need for lengthy text prompts.

How It Works

Users can provide images to define the subject, scene, and style of the generated image. Text prompts can also be added for more detail, but they’re optional.

If you’re lacking images, Whisk offers a dice icon to randomly generate suggestions, though these too are AI-created.

Editing Features

After generating an image, users can refine it by adjusting the text prompts or clicking on the image to edit further.

While images are generated quickly, Google admits Whisk isn’t designed for precision edits, making it more about creative exploration.

Tech Behind It

Whisk uses the latest version of Google’s Imagen 3 model, which powers the image generation.

Google also introduced Veo 2, a new video generation model that better understands cinematography and reduces "hallucinations" like extra fingers.

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Also in Design

• Apple’s Chatty App Store: iOS 18.1 Now Lets You Search Like You’re Having a Conversation

• Meta’s Video Truth Serum: Open-Source AI Tool Adds Watermarking for Video Verification

• Eurovision Logo Drama: 2025 Logo Slammed for Playing It Too Safe, Sparking a Debate on Creativity vs. Consistency

• Design Critique Culture: The Internet’s Love for Negativity Often Drowns Out Useful Feedback

• Foldable iPad Gossip: Apple Might Unveil an 18.8-Inch Folding iPad by 2028

• Thinking Aloud for Usability: Captures User Thoughts to Find Hidden Issues, but Don’t Expect Instant Clarity

• Future of Product Design (2025): Design systems, storytelling, soft skills, and full product lifecycle understanding

Science & Tech

Fertility Tech Breakthrough: Gameto’s Fertilo Cuts Hormones and IVF Wait Times, with Australian Clinics First on Board

Gameto’s innovative Fertilo technique has led to the world’s first baby born using this method, which uses stem cells to help embryos mature outside the body.

How It Works

Unlike traditional IVF, Fertilo uses ovarian support cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to mimic natural egg maturation, reducing the need for hormone injections by 80% and shortening the treatment cycle to just three days.

Fertilo vs. IVF

IVF requires multiple hormone injections, which can cause side effects like ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Fertilo’s approach alleviates these risks and emotional strain, offering a gentler, more accessible alternative.

The First Success

The first live birth using Fertilo occurred at the Santa Isabel Clinic in Peru, with the mother praising the method for its reduced physical and emotional burden.

Global Expansion

Gameto has partnered with IVFAustralia to offer Fertilo in select clinics, and is preparing for trials in the US. The technique is already available in countries like Japan, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru.

Fertilo offers a more accessible, safer, and quicker solution to IVF, with fewer hormone injections and a less invasive process, bringing hope to those struggling with fertility.

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Also in Science & Tech

• Seagate’s HAMR Hard Drives: After 20 Years of Waiting, Seagate’s 32TB Drives Are Finally Coming

• Hydroxychloroquine Study Retracted: The COVID-19 Treatment Claims That Didn’t Hold Up

• Bile Acid’s Secret: Found to Mimic the Anti-Aging Benefits of Cutting Calories

• China’s Guowang Internet Satellites: The first 10 satellites for China’s 13,000-strong broadband megaconstellation are in orbit

• Study reveals brain cells mature faster in microgravity environments

Founding

Precise Product Positioning: Where To Place Your Product In the Market  

Positioning - fancy term for deciding who your product is for and how it stands out.

However, product positioning is a mile different from brand positioning. Product positioning targets specific customer groups, while brand positioning is the “big picture” stuff—vision, personality, and those warm fuzzies you want customers to feel.

Testing Positioning? Yeah, Nah.

Positioning isn’t a science experiment. A/B tests on hero banners won’t magically reveal your ideal customer segment.

Example: Testing “enterprise” vs “SMB” messaging on your homepage? Waste of time. Why? Different segments have wildly different needs, markets, and support expectations.

The Real Approach: Positioning is a strategic bet. You pick a focus, define your competition, and build differentiation.

Messaging

Once you’ve nailed your positioning, you can tweak how you present it—this is messaging.

Messaging decisions (e.g., leading with problems or outcomes) are testable. But we gotta remember positioning comes first.

CEO’s Job, No Delegating Allowed

Positioning is a top-tier strategic decision, so it’s the CEO’s responsibility.

Weak CEOs might try to “delegate” this, but without their direct involvement, positioning falls apart faster than a cheap folding chair.

The Homepage: Your Positioning’s Front Door

Your homepage isn’t just a URL; it’s your most visible positioning tool.

Why the Homepage?

1. Accessible: Everyone—from customers to investors to your gran—can find it.

2. Clearer Language: Homepages force you to translate strategy into customer-friendly words, reducing “positioning drift” (aka teams doing their own thing).

Choosing a Target Segment: Not as Easy as It Sounds

Forget firmographics (e.g., “logistics companies with $75M revenue”). Just because two companies look the same doesn’t mean they need your product.

Use Case-Based Segmentation: Focus on the actual work being done. For example:

• SmallPDF didn’t target industries; they targeted people needing to “shrink PDFs.”

• Slack started with a broad use case (“internal business communication”) but narrowed it to dev teams already using IRC.

Positioning isn’t a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all. It’s a deliberate, strategic bet that requires clear focus, leadership, and a bit of elbow grease to translate into a homepage that everyone in your org can rally around.

Read more

Also in Founding

• Key Factors to Consider When Raising Funds

• Always Be Launching: One-time announcements < Building transparently on social media

• Channel-Startup Fit: Putting your “growth” eggs into different “channel” baskets

• Pay for Access? No. Pay for outcomes? Yes.

Product

Insights From Alexa’s UX Problems: Yes, Widely Adopted Products Fail, Too 

Amazon Alexa, despite being a household name, showcases how even industry giants can falter when they lose touch with user needs.

Instead of evolving meaningfully, Alexa added countless “skills” that felt more like gimmicks than solutions. Clunky voice recognition and awkward interactions only added to user frustration.

Meanwhile, competitors like ChatGPT raised the bar for conversational AI, making Alexa seem outdated and rigid.

Lessons for Building Products That Stay Relevant

• Stay Close to Your Users: Numbers don’t tell the whole story. Engage directly with your audience through feedback sessions, user testing, and observation.

  These interactions will reveal pain points long before customers decide to leave.

• Adopt Technology Thoughtfully: Adding flashy features won’t impress users unless they solve real problems. Focus on tech that enhances usability and fits naturally into the product.

  On the flip side, if a feature becomes an industry standard (like conversational AI), adapt to stay competitive.

• Use Data Intelligently: Raw data is only valuable when it leads to actionable insights. If someone buys an Instant Pot, offer them recipes or compatible accessories—not more Instant Pots.

  Tailor recommendations to actual needs and refresh them as user behaviour evolves.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Scaling Without Purpose: Expanding features without revisiting their relevance makes your product bloated and confusing.

• Relying on Brand Power: Even the most loyal customers will abandon an outdated product if it no longer meets their expectations.

• Rigid User Interactions: Awkward, inflexible designs force users to work harder, making your product less appealing.

Alexa’s journey serves as a reminder that no product can coast on its initial success forever.

Staying relevant requires ongoing curiosity about your users, thoughtful adoption of new technologies, and a commitment to refining your product based on what people truly need.

Keep asking, “What do users want now?”—and then deliver.

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Today’s AI Image

“Wait. Lemme Call ChatGPT…”

Quote of the Day

On Living

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

Oscar Wilde

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