My Favorite Books in the First Quarter of 2026 – Mert Bulan Sharing my favorite books from the first quarter of 2026 and how they impacted my perspective on various topics.

Stopped following the news this year and finally had time to read. Here are my favorite books from the first quarter of 2026. mertbulan.com/2026/03/04/m...

I just shipped a new Peek update that lets you manage customer reviews for your apps: read, translate, and reply using Apple Intelligence, all in one place. More features coming soon, so let me know if you have any feedback! apps.apple.com/us/app/peek-...

Franzbrötchen v1.3 is here! apps.apple.com/de/app/franz...

Why I Stopped Following the News – Mert Bulan A personal reflection on the decision to stop following daily news and its impact on my well-being.

🗞️ New blog post: mertbulan.com/2026/01/28/w...

When the Tech Industry Becomes Disgusting – Mert Bulan A reflection on how the tech industry has shifted from curiosity-driven innovation to a culture of excess and influence.

🗞️ New blog post: mertbulan.com/2026/01/22/w...

Gabriel Zucman, economist: 'The idea of a sclerotic Europe facing an American El Dorado has little basis in fact' OP-ED. More leisure time, better health outcomes, greater equality and lower carbon emissions, all with broadly comparable productivity: Europeans can be proud of their model, argues Gabriel Zucman, d...

www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/a...

There is still this narrative that the electricity prices in Germany is high. The truth is that nobody pays those prices. Most of the time, people switch their provider every year to get a huge discount. Deals like this are happening quite often: www.mydealz.de/deals/250eur...

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio YouTube video by Principles by Ray Dalio

Recently I finished watching Hitler and the Nazis on Netflix, there you can also find things related to the German military during The Third Reich.

Also, Ray Dalio has a really well produced video about the changing world order: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgua...

Mit dem Cargo-Bike in die Zukunft Christian Rusches Herz schlägt für eine grüne Zukunft. In seiner Werkstatt werden die weltweit größten Schwerlastenräder produziert.

MEGA Cool! www.ndr.de/fernsehen/se...

About Being Grateful – Mert Bulan Reflecting on the importance of gratitude in a world driven by consumerism.

Starting this new year, I can’t help but feel grateful. In a world that always pushes us to want more, taking a moment to appreciate having everything I need feels especially meaningful. mertbulan.com/2026/01/01/a...

My 2025 Q4 Highlights: Favorite Books, Games, and TV Shows – Mert Bulan Sharing my favorite books, games, and TV shows from the fourth quarter of 2025.

I wrote about my favorite books, tv shows and games in the last quarter of this year: mertbulan.com/2025/12/28/m...

I also had similar observations related to "engineer's disease" and "brain-rotting drug" but didn't know that there were already defined terms for those behaviours.

Just finished reading More Everything Forever by @adambecker.bsky.social. Probably one of the best books about the tech industry, its prominent figures, their ideologies, and motivations. I think everyone in the tech industry should read this book.

If you had invested in European stocks instead of the S&P 500 at the beginning of the year, you would have earned about 15% more in gains.

If you follow the mainstream media, you'll often hear comparisons of GDP growth between the U.S. and Germany, usually framed as Germany "falling behind." That narrative misses the point: the issue isn't a lack of productivity, but rather that Germans generally choose to work fewer hours.

Maybe your friends are also my friends and I was just visiting them 😅

I also took a couple of pictures, but unfortunately, my iPhone couldn't really capture the beauty of the fog. 🥲

LIVE aus der Elbphilharmonie (Livestream presented by Hamburger Abendblatt) YouTube video by Die Hamburger Goldkehlchen

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s9V...

I don't know why ignored Acapulco for a very long time. It is such an amazing show! Finished the first two seasons in a week.

I wish you turn your blogs posts into books.

Happy Birthday! 🥳

It's my birthday, but today *you* get the presents!

Introducing "Beans", a CLI-based, flat-file issue tracker designed for humans and their robot friends. 🫘

Track your work right in your repo, using the CLI. And if you work with coding agents, supercharge them with a full picture of your project!

You've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology YouTube video by Raaker

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI93...

Don't waste your money on Reddit Ads. Most of them are either bots or accidental clicks.

😱

If you'd like to learn more about my journey and the origins of my Franzbrötchen app, I recommend reading Christian's article (in German). It was my first-ever interview with a journalist, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you Christian!

I don't know how a non-deterministic system could make the next productivity jump. It works for us because we have tools to test the code, fix it, and test it again easily. This is not the case for 99% of the professions.

What is a City Super App and Why Every City Needs One – Mert Bulan Why I believe every city needs a super app and how it will transform the way we engage with digital devices.

City life can be complicated, with information spread across countless sources. That’s why I believe every city needs a City Super App.

In my latest blog post, I share why these apps are the future and how I built my own for Hamburg, Franzbrötchen.

mertbulan.com/2025/12/01/w...

I think this is the main problem in the tech industry. It works perfectly for coders, but not any other discipline so far. Sure, they will make money but I'm not sure if that will be enough.

Do you know anyone outside the tech industry who is familiar with Anthropic?