Theo on tech · June 26th

Jared’s team at Span has been quietly reshaping their design pipeline by slipping a generative‑AI assistant into the early sketch phase. Instead of waiting for a designer to mock up every variation, they feed prompts into a model that spits out layout options, color palettes, and even micro‑copy, letting the human step back to choose direction rather than labor over details.

What’s interesting is how they’ve built a feedback loop: the AI suggestions are tagged with the designer’s intent, then the model learns which tweaks get approved and which get tossed. Over a few weeks the system started surfacing concepts that already align with the brand’s tone, cutting iteration time dramatically.

During the session they also dissected two real portfolios. The first suffered from a cluttered timeline; the fix was to group projects by problem type and highlight the decision‑making process. The second relied on static screenshots; swapping those for interactive case studies that walk the viewer through constraints, hypotheses, and outcomes made the narrative far more compelling.

If you’re polishing your own showcase, think about two things: let AI do the heavy lifting on visual exploration, and structure each project like a story—problem, approach, result—so the viewer can see the thread of your thinking without hunting for it.

Britain’s heatwave is turning the country into a case study for how indoor climate drives productivity and wellbeing. A portable AC unit feels like a personal triumph, but the data behind it is stark: once indoor temps pass the low‑20s Celsius, sleep quality drops, cognitive scores dip, and office output slides, with mortality rising sharply past 30 °C. The same logic helped Singapore modernise, where air‑conditioning became a public‑service priority.

In Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the narrator points out that most people adopt political views the way they pick a hat—by following the prevailing fashion rather than any deep‑seated idea. It’s a reminder that opinions often shift silently, carried by the crowd.

A quirky footnote from the FT notes that Pierre’s wife appears fully naked at the opera in War and Peace, a detail that survives every translation and underscores how Victorian modesty can feel oddly out‑of‑place.

A new cross‑national study links younger siblings’ higher hospitalisation for early respiratory illness to lower adult earnings, suggesting that health shocks in infancy can echo through a lifetime. Meanwhile, AI‑generated stories keep looping around a tiny set of characters—lighthouse keepers, bakers, and the name Elias—showing how even sophisticated models can fall into repetitive patterns.

I’m writing from a sweltering Greek summer, a little break from the UK heat that’s been pounding us. While I’m soaking up the sun, I’m also thinking about the piece Ted sent over—an essay that pushes back on the habit of treating each film as a standalone project, a habit that’s been draining our creative ecosystems for far too long.

Ted’s core claim is that we’ve built a culture where the success of a single picture eclipses the long‑term health of the people who make them. He argues that when we obsess over perfecting one film, we often ignore how that work fits into a broader, sustainable career. The result is burnout, precarious gigs, and a cycle that keeps indie talent on shaky ground.

The solution he sketches is to reframe every production as a stepping stone, not an isolated masterpiece. That means budgeting time and resources with future projects in mind, sharing knowledge across crews, and building networks that keep work flowing even when a particular title stalls. It’s less about romanticizing “art for art’s sake” and more about treating filmmaking as a livelihood that can endure.

If we start treating each film as part of a larger portfolio, the pressure to make every piece perfect fades, and the space opens up for experimentation, collaboration, and, ultimately, a steadier path for everyone who wants to keep making movies.

LVIV—Ukraine has become Europe’s mil-tech powerhouse. Russia’s war-machine’s relentless pressure has created something Europe has not seen in decades: a living defense-industrial ecosystem with speed, talent, urgency, and consequence. Workshops, software teams, drone units, volunteer networks, military operators, AI engineers, and small manufacturers are feeding each other in real time. Ukraine’s rapidly-iterating mil-tech ecosystem is lethally efficient: problem, prototype, test, failure, adaptation, production—tightly knit and effective. We publish this newsletter every day at 9:05am NYC time / 4:05pm Kyiv. Your subscription fuels our work. There’s one place in the world where this should sound familiar: Silicon Valley. The obsession with user feedback. The impatience with dead process. The willingness to ship, break, learn, and ship again. The difference: Ukraine isn’t optimizing ad placement. It’s keeping freedom alive. Paris is the center of a country that still thinks in terms of power and greatness. The opportunities for Europe are enormous. A new transnational European defense-tech ecosystem is forming, with Ukraine as its battlefield laboratory and Western Europe as its scaling machine. The city that becomes Europe’s next defense-tech capital will be the one that plugs into Kyiv fastest. Here are the five cities—and one mil-tech event in each worth attending. We publish this newsletter every day at 9:05am NYC time / 4:05pm Kyiv. Your subscription fuels our work. Warsaw is the most natural western extension of Ukraine’s defense-tech revolution. Due to centuries of close proximity, Poland understands the Russian threat and Ukraine possibilities. It has watched Russia’s war closely enough to know that drones, electronic warfare, sensors, and cheap mass are no longer “future warfare.” They are present warfare. Warsaw’s role is industrial. Ukraine produces battlefield truth. Poland can turn that truth into NATO-scale production, maintenance, training, testing, and procurement. A Ukrainian drone or EW company looking west should not see Poland merely as a market, but a safe, logistically ideal production layer. The risk is that Poland becomes a giant buyer instead of a builder. Tanks, aircraft, and air defense are important, but the new arsenal is also software, FPV systems, interceptor drones, secure radios, battlefield data, and robotic logistics. Warsaw event to attend: The Hack Summit, November 5-6, 2026. This is not a defense conference, but rather a cyber operator room. That is exactly the point: The next arsenal will need hackers as much as hardware. Ukraine’s model is messy, fast, and ruthless. It does not wait for perfect architecture. It rewards what works.

Every morning begins with checking the ice-cube trays. They’re full. Good. I empty them into a metal bowl and cram it into our tiny freezer along with the refilled trays. Now can begin another day in Dante’s Inferno, Paris edition. Yesterday, we went out as soon as the shops opened in search of light and loose linens, our regular summer clothing being too heavy for these conditions. Somewhere out there, there must be a fashion journalist writing about what to wear in a heatwave. Or perhaps I should just make a beeline for Vogue Singapore, because if this is to be the new normal in Europe, what’s trotted out on our runways will need rethinking. I remember once hearing an Indian guru berate men in his country for being so foolish as to adopt the Western business suit. Quite right, and for many other parts of the world, too. However, it might be just the right solution for kurtas and shalwars to start showing up on people in Europe. Along with wardrobe, diets need adjusting in this kind of weather. As far as Peter and I are concerned, our appetites have all but vanished, and with them any motivation to cook, unless shaking margaritas counts. Classic French cuisine, as France melts into its hottest days ever recorded, doesn’t fit the bill. I remember a few years ago on holiday on the island of St. Martin being shocked to find menus offering things like duck confit, boeuf Bourguignon, and potato purée. Tell me: who emerges from bathing in the Caribbean and walks across a scorching beach craving dishes like that?! Ditto in the Paris of now. I was living in France at the time of the heatwave in 2003 that left 15,000 dead in the country (including an old lady who lived across the hall from me and my roommate, Camille). Nobody was prepared for it. I remember one morning at the BHV department store, where we’d been waiting with our tongues hanging out for the doors to open, there was practically a stampede and Black-Friday-level violence in the fans department. Again now, cooling devices are out of stock all over Paris, but luckily Peter and I already had one. I’m sitting in front of it right now, thinking about what lessons there are to be learned from yet one more heatwave, because surely there must be some.

I hadn’t planned to post this today, I have a draft of a personal style challenge I set myself on the go, but half the stuff on the product list I’ve bookmarked for June has gone into sale (or are disappearing rapidly) so I thought I better get it live. The sales are good - worryingly good. I’m curious to hear and ’s take on where retail is at. The discounts aren’t mucking about but at the same time there doesn’t seem to be enough new bestseller stock. I find it really interesting that there is always a line-through with the products I’m bookmarking. In this case its earthy tones with a little boho but not completely losing myself to grossly oversized stuff. Tailoring and shape is essential. As much as I am a content creator, I’m also a huge consumer of the stuff others create. This month has been a big one for scrolling (I was ill for two weeks) which means I absorbed a lot of stuff. So it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of stuff I want. ’s bag (below) has ruined me, ’s outfit rules take up a lot of space in my head, ’s button up collection is 100% perfect behind my reformed love for them… But, that does hold potential for over spending. I’d recommend doing what I do (natch) and having a list on your phone or URLs you are into and going back to them a few weeks later on pay day to see if they still sing to you… I’ve got a deeper NET-A-PORTER sale edit here for those interested but I do believe in ’s take that if you saw it on sale last season and didn’t buy it, there’s probably a reason. Personally, I shop from my saved items tabs as it limits the damage. This Jacquemus bag is on my hitlist but it’s that or the Prada - thoughts welcome? (, I know your take on the Prada, lol). I’ve been having a tidy up of my content and refreshed a lot of posts with new links and context. Here are the post popular posts in the last 2 weeks, I lifted the paywall on the dresses one as so many people were going for it:

St. Tropez feels like a glossy set piece that never left the ’80s, a little island where every outfit shouts its brand. While the high‑fashion capitals are whispering in muted tones, the promenade outside Sénéquier is a parade of bold logos—Chanel’s zip‑top black vanity bag dominates, Hermès mini Birkins pop in deep purples, and Celine’s leather‑trimmed beach baskets round out the top three.

The dress code is the opposite of today’s discreet luxury. Evening looks are draped chiffon, halter‑neck gowns hugging the body, paired with wedge‑espadrilles and purses that could cost a small fortune. It’s a visual feast of ostentatious detail, far from the anonymity many designers now favor.

Ursula calls the whole scene a Disney‑like resort pretending to be a village, and she’s right. Bentleys crawl the harbor at a snail’s pace, Ra‑Ra skirts still float around, and a new spin—what I’m dubbing the “Ra‑Ra Dress”—has emerged: a heavily embroidered cotton mini with ruffled sleeves, a tight bodice, and layers of frills that barely cover the rear. Whole boutiques now specialize in them.

All of this makes St. Tropez feel both tacky‑charming and oddly timeless, a place where the past and present clash in bright, unapologetic color.

Hey, I just got the scoop on Alex T. Smith’s newest holiday project. He’s finally dropped the cover for his Christmas picture book, “How Winston Delivered a Christmas Wish,” and it’s already feeling like a cozy December night. The story is split into 24 ½ chapters—one for each day from the 1st of December, with a tiny half‑chapter saved for Christmas Eve—so you can read a little each night or binge it whenever you like.

The premise is delightfully simple: Winston, a tiny mouse who’s decided to skip all the usual holiday hustle, stumbles on an old, unopened letter hidden under floorboards. It’s addressed to a girl who lived on the street seventy years ago, and Winston feels compelled to track her down, even if it means a frosty trek to New York. Along the way, the book sprinkles in easy, festive activities you can do with kids (or the kid at heart) to get into the spirit.

Smith promises to share behind‑the‑scenes tidbits and sneak peeks with his Pigeon Post readers as the release approaches, and he’s encouraging pre‑orders as a way to support the project from the start. He’s basically saying a piece of his heart will travel with every copy, which feels pretty sweet.

That’s the gist—just a charming mouse adventure wrapped in holiday cheer, with a cover that already feels like a little gift you’ll want to unwrap. I’ll catch you later when the next episode drops.

I was struck by how St Clement’s whole vibe feels less like a brand‑driven boutique and more like the owners’ personal taste spilling into every corner. The penthouse’s twin bathrooms each have freestanding tubs, the lobby is scented with a custom Perfumer H candle, and the new Café Clement serves a focused menu rather than endless sharing plates—Danny Bohan’s River Café influence makes the steak tartare and Dorset fish casserole feel like quiet power lunches rather than Instagram moments.

Over at the Healf festival, Momentous rolled out chewable tablets that pack a gram of creatine each. It’s a tiny tweak—shifting from powder scoops to a portable pill—that could smooth the usual bloating newbies face, and the discount link makes it feel like a low‑key cheat sheet for anyone testing the supplement.

The fitness scene is also quietly reshaping. Bodyism, once a glossy Westbourne Grove studio, has abandoned a permanent space and now runs pop‑up classes in places like Templeton Garden. It’s a leaner model that leans on collaborations rather than a single flagship, and the same flexibility shows up in Malik Acid’s Mango Listening Bar, where half the proceeds will go to the Amos Trust, blending cultural talks with a tasting menu.

A few side notes: there’s a new ceviche bar at The Sea, The Sea where you pick the catch of the morning, and a summer suit party at Liberty Joy Archive on Cecil Court. If you’re hunting a novel for the heat, Jem Calder’s *I Want You to Be Happy* is getting a lot of love for its sharply observed, restrained prose—perfect for a lazy afternoon with a glass of spritz.

The writer shares a sweet, slightly chaotic snapshot of family life: she’d prayed for a fierce, confident daughter, and Andy grew up exactly that way—headstrong, outspoken, and unapologetically herself. As Andy prepares to open the ark at an upcoming ceremony, she’s insisting on neon‑polka‑dot gel‑x nails with butterflies, a detail that sparked a playful negotiation. Because the writer is a lawyer, they drafted a simple contract giving Andy freedom to choose her nails for the event, with the understanding she can indulge in any “tragic situation” later in the summer. The moment feels like a tiny victory of self‑advocacy, even if it means the mother is being out‑argued by her own kid.

She also slips in a brief lament about Congressman Dan Goldman’s loss, noting she’d hoped he’d become a future Democratic leader, promising to circle back on that later. The rest of the piece turns into a love‑letter to summer media, a rapid-fire list of shows and books that have captured her attention. She mentions a handful of series—one that’s creepy and funny, another that’s an addictive twist on a classic, plus a sweet surprise soundtrack that made her smile. Each recommendation feels personal, as if she’s texting a friend the titles she can’t stop thinking about.

The reading list is a blend of new releases and familiar voices. Two women team up against a New York crime boss in a fresh thriller, while Maggie O’Farrell returns with a story of survival after tragedy. There’s a seaside social circle where love and betrayal intertwine, a con‑artist who finally meets his match, and a pop‑star murder mystery that proves fame can be deadly. Other titles explore solo honeymoons after loss, ghost‑haunted friendships in 1984, and a darkly funny romance set in a small town where secrets turn lethal.

All of this is wrapped up with a nod to simple summer rituals—a Fourth of July table, a spritz campaign, and a few bright food images that evoke easy, lingering gatherings. The tone stays warm and conversational, as if she’s just finished a quick chat and wants you to know what’s worth watching or reading before the season slips away.