JANUARY 27, 2026

TODAY: We are now closer than ever to Apple's revamped Siri, courtesy of Google Gemini. OpenAI will soon add shopping carts and merchant tools within ChatGPT. And an astoundingly low 12% of Americans admit to using AI at work. Here's a bit more on that breakdown from Chartr.

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We've got that, more prompts, and a neat little Chrome Extension you can add if you've ever been into the Pomodoro Technique.

Other than that, I hope you're staying safe and warm. Let's go!

• PromptCraft: Prompts to Achieve Mastery Step-by-Step, Eliminate Hallucinations, and Find Your Ikigai
• THE HEADLINES: Apple to Debut Gemini-Based Siri in February; ChatGPT Will Add Shopping Cart, Merchant Tools; How Americans Are Using AI at Work [POLL]; World's First AI Toilet Company Comes from Japan; Using AI for Advice, Personal Reasons Linked to Depression and Anxiety
• Tool Spotlight: Mochi Focus Gamifies Your Pomodoro Technique

TRY THESE! Prompts to Achieve Mastery Step-by-Step, Eliminate Hallucinations, and Find Your Ikigai

• ​Step-by-Step Learning Prompt for Mastery: Shares a structured learning prompt that breaks topics into stages, defines how deep to go, catches gaps early, and tracks weekly progress so study sessions move from passive rereading to demonstrable understanding and application. (Reddit)
• ​Citation-First Web Search Prompt for LLMs: Introduces a prompt that forces AI assistants to return only direct quotations from web sources with citations and timestamps, reducing hallucinated paraphrases when you just need verifiable sentences for research, notes, or client-ready documents. (Reddit)
• ​Choosing GPTs for Ikigai and Business: Community thread asking which custom GPTs or DIY setups best help someone find their Ikigai, analyze skills and passions, and shape them into a monetizable project by 2026 using Socratic questioning and business-focused validation prompts. (Reddit)

HIGHLIGHTS: Apple to Debut Gemini-Based Siri in February; ChatGPT Will Add Shopping Cart, Merchant Tools; How Americans Are Using AI at Work [POLL]; World's First AI Toilet Company Comes from Japan; Using AI for Advice, Personal Reasons Linked to Depression and Anxiety

1. ​DeepMind CEO “surprised” OpenAI moved so fast on ads​​Is China quietly winning the AI race?
2. ​Google Photos’ latest feature lets you meme yourself​
3. ​Football manager fired after reportedly using AI to make all his decisions​
4. ​Asus confirms it will ‘no longer’ make Android smartphones as it shifts focus to AI​
5. ​TikTok seals deal for new US joint venture to avoid American ban​
6. ​Inhibiting a master regulator of aging regenerates joint cartilage in mice​
7. ​Three-in-one process recycles spent lithium batteries, captures CO₂ and generates catalysts—all at room temperature​
8. ​U.S. govt says Musk’s gas turbine generators for xAI aren’t exempt from permits​
9. ​Apple will reportedly unveil its Gemini-powered Siri assistant in February​
10. ​OpenAI to add shopping cart and merchant tools to ChatGPT​
11. ​Remove your personal data from the web​
12. ​This AI thinks it’s the 1800s​
13. ​Wix plans to let AI write most code, leaving engineers to redefine their role​
14. ​Next level: why China’s game makers are quietly bankrolling generative AI​
15. ​Konni hackers target blockchain engineers with AI-built malware​
16. ​How AI and Automation Are Reshaping 5G Network Performance​
17. ​A 66-year-old Austin tech veteran and songwriter finds her sound with AI​
18. ​Tired of being flagged by AI? I started ‘watermarking’ my writing to prove I’m human​
19. ​AI can develop ‘personality’ spontaneously with minimal prompting, research shows.​
20. ​Workers Say AI Is Useless, While Oblivious Bosses Insist It’s a Productivity Miracle​
21. ​AI must augment rather than replace us, or human workers are doomed​
22. ​One under-the-radar market signal shows the AI boom might be close to ending​
23. ​How Americans are using AI at work, according to a new Gallup poll​
24. ​Researchers tested AI against 100,000 humans on creativity​
25. ​Job Seekers Sue Company Scanning Their Résumés Using AI​
26. ​NVIDIA and CoreWeave Strengthen Collaboration to Accelerate Buildout of AI Factories​
27. ​Synthesia hits $4B valuation, lets employees cash out​
28. ​From deepfakes to grooming: UN warns of escalating AI threats to children​
29. ​AI-for-Prescriptions Startup Tandem Lands $1 Billion Valuation​
30. ​Finland Lures US Tech and AI Talent With Work-Life Balance, Fast Visas​
31. ​Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs in Talks for Fundraising at $5B Valuation​
32. ​Is China quietly winning the AI race?​
33. ​The pioneer behind Google Gemini is tackling an even bigger challenge—using AI to ‘solve’ disease​
34. ​AI’s next battleground is your body​
35. ​Japanese toilet-maker is an AI company now​
36. ​ArXiv preprint server clamps down on AI slop​
37. ​AI Agents Are Poised to Hit a Mathematical Wall, Study Finds​
38. ​Cursor used a swarm of AI agents powered by OpenAI to build and run a web browser for a week—with no human help. Here’s why developers are buzzing​
39. ​The Real Economics of AI and Jobs​
40. ​Autodesk to cut 1,000 workers as the tech company bets on AI​
41. ​When AI Amplifies the Biases of Its Users​
42. ​AI swarms can threaten democracy by manufacturing fake public consensus​
43. ​OpenAI chief Sam Altman plans India visit as AI leaders converge in New Delhi: sources​
44. ​Meta pauses teen access to AI characters ahead of new version​
45. ​AI is reshaping police detective work, starting with cold cases​
46. ​How AI Is Changing Businesses’ Infrastructure Strategies​
47. ​Crew Studies Cardiac Research, Artificial Intelligence as Dragon Boosts Station’s Orbit​
48. ​Sure, AI can ‘do’ writing. But memoir? Not so much​
49. ​5 things to avoid asking AI, according to security experts​
50. ​China’s analogue AI chip runs 12 times as fast on 1/200th the energy of digital rivals​
51. ​eBay Explicitly Bans AI “Buy For Me” Agents, Updates Arbitration & Dispute Rules In User Agreement Update​
52. ​Intel struggles to meet AI data center demand, shares drop 13%​
53. ​Siemens Adopts Generative AI Model to Summarize and Classify Social Conversations​
54. ​Sen. Markey questions OpenAI about ‘deceptive advertising’ in ChatGPT​
55. ​Using AI for Advice or Other Personal Reasons Is Linked to Depression and Anxiety​
56. ​Measuring US workers’ capacity to adapt to AI-driven job displacement​
57. ​AI is coming for cowboys, too​
58. ​Meet the Alaska Student Arrested for Eating an AI Art Exhibit​
59. ​Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images in 11 days, study finds​
60. ​NASA AI Model That Found 370 Exoplanets Now Digs Into TESS Data​
61. ​Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett back campaign accusing AI firms of theft​

Mochi Focus Gamifies Your Pomodoro Technique

Mochi Focus is a Pomodoro timer that makes focus feel a little less like punishment and a lot more like progress. Alongside customizable focus sessions and breaks, it adds a cute “evolving mascot” that grows as you rack up minutes—plus XP, levels, streaks, and a website blocker to help you stay honest during deep work.

It’s also refreshingly low-friction: no account required, works offline, and stores your data locally while keeping everything free.

Learn More: Mochi Focus (Chrome Web Store)​

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