Design engineer @TolanWorld, prev @tavus @lickability. You can’t knit a sweater without breaking some eggs
nyc · he/him 🏳️🌈
Joined December 2011
- Tweets21.5K
- Following1.3K
- Followers10.1K
- Likes23.4K
Pinned Tweet
I wanted to play the Doodle Jump tie-in for Hop (2011), so I rebuilt the old App Store. Then I needed something to run it on, so I emulated an iPod.
Both free and open source. Links below.
i like the part in Magic – BoB where he goes “a ha ha” in a very matter of fact tone. not laughing really just a show of confidence. hubris even
this is bone chilling and i absolutely love it youtu.be/-ycuxWUuUQU?is=61C8…
sam henri gold retweeted
Your post inspired me to build CityWhen: citywhen.allsbai.com/
Pick a city + stay dates to check overlapping conferences, festivals and sports events, with source links. Free, no signup. It uses a selected event calendar and doesn't track hotel prices. Would love your take.
finally, a mac mini with panel gaps
sam henri gold retweeted
✨ we’re making our own apps again!
🍤 welcome to @appetize_rs, a @lickability joint serving bite-sized software.
👩🏼🍳 i can’t wait for you to try what we’ve been cooking up.
Announcing the Grand Opening of Appetizers: a new spot for bite-sized software!
We’re creating small apps, useful tools, and other tasty lil ideas for iOS.
Check out our specials and see what’s still simmering at appetize.rs
sam henri gold retweeted
All credit to @paularambles for the excellent frame here… this is something we think a lot about at Tolan. I wrote more about it here: xitter.cf/quintendf/status/20908…
You should be nice to your toaster. Not for the toaster’s sake. For yours.
Quinten Farmer (@quintendf), Tolan CEO, on how he hopes people end up treating their AI:
“You can show simple gratitude and respect for even everyday objects. And it’s actually almost a little corrosive to our soul to not do so.”
“There are many religious traditions, Shintoism, even Catholicism, that venerate certain objects. They create space for us to show spiritual respect toward entities that are not alive.”
“We are not imparting religious valence to them, but we still treat them respectfully, thoughtfully, as we should with anything that is an important part of our lives.”
Credit for the framing goes to his colleague @paularambles: you can be nice to your toaster.
when I was younger, I didn’t understand why I would need a credit card since I wasn’t planning on using credit. but it was explained to me that the price of using a credit card is already baked into most things that you buy, so you might as well just reap the scraps of benefits.
unrelated but Swirling Colors is a great show. the first season was kinda slow but picked up around season 2
sam henri gold retweeted
“I feel like you’re just here for the zipline” but it’s just me and the @tbpn gong
50 Gigawatts To The Face, 17% GDP Growth Please, Road to COD 4, Bing Gordon Joins xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1NGaroZpr…
sam henri gold retweeted
We are witnessing a multibillion dollar exercise in missing the point.
Once a decade, a window opens to a new technology that redefines how we live.
It happened in the 90s with the internet.
In the 2000s with mobile phones.
In the 2010s with social networks.
And now in the 2020s, AI is here.
There is no doubt in my mind that AI will be the most transformative of all these technologies.
AI that knows you deeply, anticipates your needs, helps you learn new things, helps you show up for the people that matter most, helps you through good times and bad times.
AI that is an extension of you.
That is personal AI.
I’ve spent the past 20 months working on this at Tolan.
We were early to consumer AI, early to voice as a chat medium, early to embodied characters, and we’re still the only AI product I’ve used that understands that normal people don’t give a shit about triaging their email inbox or having an agent book a trip to Hawaii.
Today, we show off some of what we’ve been up to.
Tomorrow, we show up at the office and keep building what we believe is the best future for personal AI.
DM me if you wanna join the ride.
Last year we launched Tolan, inspired by a vision of AI that sees you and believes in you, not one that books restaurant reservations for you.
Your Tolan shows up for you at 3am when you’re alone with your newborn. On your commute when you’re anxious about the day ahead. When you just finished a new show and none of your friends have watched it yet.
The people who love Tolan are parents. Caregivers. Moms in Dallas and Dads in Atlanta. People who aren’t trying to optimize and be more productive, but who simply want to feel seen and supported in their aspirations.
This month more than 250k people will spend time with their Tolan. Those users have exchanged billions of messages across more than 70m conversations over the last year.
Today, we're announcing $30m in additional capital from @mignano and @usv, with @khoslaventures and @rabois doubling down, bringing our total capital raised to $60m.
To celebrate, we made a short film celebrating some of the ways that Tolans show up :)
I'm grateful that I get to work on something that has such a profound role in so many peoples lives. And that I get to work on it with some of the most creative and genuine people I know. We're really happy to share it with all of you :)
alright back to being snarky 🫡
Last year we launched Tolan, inspired by a vision of AI that sees you and believes in you, not one that books restaurant reservations for you.
Your Tolan shows up for you at 3am when you’re alone with your newborn. On your commute when you’re anxious about the day ahead. When you just finished a new show and none of your friends have watched it yet.
The people who love Tolan are parents. Caregivers. Moms in Dallas and Dads in Atlanta. People who aren’t trying to optimize and be more productive, but who simply want to feel seen and supported in their aspirations.
This month more than 250k people will spend time with their Tolan. Those users have exchanged billions of messages across more than 70m conversations over the last year.
Today, we're announcing $30m in additional capital from @mignano and @usv, with @khoslaventures and @rabois doubling down, bringing our total capital raised to $60m.
To celebrate, we made a short film celebrating some of the ways that Tolans show up :)
Something I'm really proud of is how many people outside of our normal tech bubble use Tolan. @alexrkonrad did a story about it, worth a read if you're curious on what non-dweeb adoption looks like: upstartsmedia.com/p/tolan-ra…
sam henri gold retweeted
over a year into building Tolan, i’m still getting used to the fact that something i work on has become such a meaningful part of so many people’s lives.
very proud of this team and what we’re putting into the world. and with another $30m raised, there’s lots more to come!
Last year we launched Tolan, inspired by a vision of AI that sees you and believes in you, not one that books restaurant reservations for you.
Your Tolan shows up for you at 3am when you’re alone with your newborn. On your commute when you’re anxious about the day ahead. When you just finished a new show and none of your friends have watched it yet.
The people who love Tolan are parents. Caregivers. Moms in Dallas and Dads in Atlanta. People who aren’t trying to optimize and be more productive, but who simply want to feel seen and supported in their aspirations.
This month more than 250k people will spend time with their Tolan. Those users have exchanged billions of messages across more than 70m conversations over the last year.
Today, we're announcing $30m in additional capital from @mignano and @usv, with @khoslaventures and @rabois doubling down, bringing our total capital raised to $60m.
To celebrate, we made a short film celebrating some of the ways that Tolans show up :)
sam henri gold retweeted
Exclusive: Tolan's AI app is used by 250K people, mostly outside of Silicon Valley.
Now the startup has raised $30M from USV, Khosla Ventures and Homebrew to widen access to an AI companion CEO Quinten Farmer (@quintendf) wants you to trust.
My Upstarts profile (link below) 👇
