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Beginners in AI
Good morning and thank you for joining us again!
Two weeks ago I told you Google's Gemini 4 Argon topped the charts and you couldn't use it. Now you can, if you pay for Gemini. Today I'll show you what it does, what Google's numbers do and don't prove, and how Google now lets you build a private phone app just by describing it. As always, every story here is human picked and edited.
THE FRONT PAGE
Google's Gemini 4 Argon Is Out, and You Can Use It if You Pay for Gemini
TLDR: Google released Gemini 4 Argon, its newest top model, to developers and to people on its paid Google AI Pro and Ultra plans.
The Story:
Argon is now in the Gemini app and AI Mode in Search for Pro and Ultra subscribers. It isn't on the free plan. Developers pay an introductory $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens until November 30, when the price doubles to $4 and $20.
Google's headline number: in a prompt injection test, where hidden text on a web page tries to hijack an AI agent, attacks worked just 0.7% of the time. Argon also scored 87% on a reasoning test called ERQA. Inside Google, engineers using it sent in over 35% more code and rolled back nearly a third fewer changes, and Google is giving 10,000 scientists its top Antigravity tier free for six months.
Its Significance:
Prompt injection is how AI agents get tricked into doing things you never asked for, like forwarding an email or clicking a bad link. A model that resists it is easier to trust near your inbox. Keep in mind that these numbers come from Google and its partners, and some come from private tests nobody else can check. If you pay for Gemini, hand Argon a long, multi-step task this week and see whether it finishes without hand-holding.
QUICK TAKES
The story: Adults in the U.S. can now describe an app in Google AI Studio and run it on their Android phone through Google Play, hidden from everyone else. Google says sharing with a few friends or family is coming in the months ahead, and a popular app can go public after a safety review.
Your takeaway: A chore chart or carpool planner for your family no longer needs a developer. Google hasn't said whether private apps get checked before they run, so keep sensitive details out of them for now.
The story: A new Your Algorithm page, reached from the three-dot menu on any post, lets you type the topics you want more or less of in Feed and Reels. Meta says AI models read what you write alongside your likes and watch time, and changes show up in the same session.
Your takeaway: If your feed has drifted, this beats tapping "Not interested" a hundred times. Instagram got the same tool in June, so try it there too.
The story: The chatbot app, which had 20 million monthly users in 2024, filed for Chapter 11 with $50 million to $100 million in assets and debts. Disney will buy some of its assets for $20 million, and the CEO says the app will shut down if no buyer for the rest turns up.
Your takeaway: Lawsuits over teen safety and the high cost of running AI both weighed on it. If you use it, save anything you want to keep now, since the filing doesn't say what happens to your chats.
TOOLS ON OUR RADAR
🔐 VeraCrypt Free and Open Source: A free alternative to BitLocker that locks a USB drive or folder behind a password on Windows, Mac and Linux.
🧠 Logseq Free and Open Source: A free alternative to Roam Research that links your daily notes and ideas, with desktop apps and a web app.
🗂️ Session Buddy Free: Saves every open Chrome tab so you can close them all and bring them back later, no login needed.
🛠️ Google AI Studio Freemium: Builds apps from a plain-English prompt, the tool behind today's private Android apps, and Google may use free-tier content to improve its products.
🎬 CapCut Freemium: A free video editor with templates and basic tools for quick social clips, with Pro at $19.99 a month.
⚙️ Make Freemium: A Zapier alternative that connects your apps so routine tasks run on their own, with 1,000 free credits a month.
📬 beehiiv Freemium: The newsletter platform I use, free for up to 2,500 subscribers, a Substack alternative with built-in landing pages.
TRENDING
Amex Wants Proof You Approved What Your AI Agent Buys. Its new system records your budget, store and product before an agent checks out, so a request for size 9 white Nikes can't turn into Adidas. The agent never sees your card number.
X Bundles Grok, Cursor and X Premium Into One Subscription. SpaceXSI now sells plans from free up to $200 a month, with Plus at $8 and Premium at $30. AI usage limits rise with each tier.
Ex-Tesla Engineers Want Factory Robots That Switch Jobs in Minutes. Industrial Next says its robot stations learn new tasks from simulations and demos instead of weeks of programming. It's testing with BMW, and the company says one station peels film off phone parts with 100% accuracy.
This Startup Uses AI to Shoo Animals Off Train Tracks and Runways. Flox Intelligence's devices spot an animal with an on-board camera and play a sound that species avoids, switching it up so animals don't get used to it. About 150 are running on three continents.
Anthropic Replaced Git After Code Changes Topped 30,000 a Day. Anthropic says daily code changes jumped from about 2,500 in May to over 30,000 in September as it leaned on Claude to write software. Its new system, Scion, uses about 200 times less computing power than the setup it replaced.
A Judge Lets Apple See OpenAI's Interview Records in Its Trade Secrets Case. Apple says former employees took confidential files to OpenAI, which is building its own hardware. OpenAI has five days to hand over what it has already collected.
TRY THIS PROMPT (copy and paste into Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, or Gemini)
🧩 Pocket App Planner: turn a daily annoyance into a plan for your own private app
Build a single-file HTML app called Pocket App Planner in vanilla HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It must run entirely in the browser: no API calls, no API key, nothing sent anywhere.
I describe a small daily annoyance, can name my app, tick what it needs to do (keep a list, track dates, send reminders, track money, save photos, use location, store names, track health info, hold kids' details, share with others), and pick who uses it and whether it runs on my phone or computer.
Using built-in rules, the app plans the smallest app that would fix it: a suggested name, a size rating, a card for each screen, what it stores, which permissions it needs and why, privacy flags for sensitive items like money, health and kids, and three tips to keep it small. It ends with a ready-to-paste build prompt and a copy button.
Style: near-black background, lime and sky blue accents, Bricolage Grotesque and Lora fonts.What this does: Describe something that bugs you every day and tick what your app needs to do. It plans the smallest private app that would fix it, with its screens, what it stores, what it would ask permission for and any privacy red flags, then hands you a build prompt for Google AI Studio or any AI app builder. It runs entirely in your browser, with no account or key.
Your agents work while you sleep
Give a Skydive agent an ongoing responsibility and they’ll handle it on schedule, every time.
Have them prep your morning report, research new leads, monitor customer feedback, or keep projects moving overnight. You wake up, the work is already done.
WHERE WE STAND(based on today’s news)
✅ AI Can Now: turn a plain-English description into a working app you can run privately on an Android phone.
❌ Still Can't: promise that app is safe. Google hasn't said whether private apps get checked before they run.
✅ AI Can Now: shrug off most hidden-text hijack attempts. Google says only 0.7% got through Argon in its test.
❌ Still Can't: prove that holds in the real world. It's one benchmark, and attackers keep changing their tricks.
FROM THE WEB
RECOMMENDED LISTENING/READING/WATCHING
🎥 AlphaGo (2017) - Movie
This full documentary, free on YouTube, follows the 2016 match where DeepMind's AlphaGo beat Go champion Lee Sedol 4 games to 1. DeepMind is the same Google lab that built Gemini 4 Argon. Watch it to see how far that team has come in ten years, and how the people in the room took the loss.
How was today's edition? Tap one below, then tell me what you'd change on the next screen. I read every answer.
How was today's edition?
Thank you for reading. We’re all beginners in something. With that in mind, your questions and feedback are always welcome and I read every single email!
-James
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