Building 🔮 https://nitter.gq/t.co/rqyoivDLMO Co-host 🎙️ https://nitter.gq/t.co/pVjOwH0FDv
Delray Beach, FL
Joined September 2020
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The Lightbulb Computer would be an elegant home solution in a sea of distracting, performative nonsense. I sure hope it soon exists. youtu.be/0R-9qkjPEqg?si=BkeT…
My favorite thing about being an adult is the freedom to buy as many beautiful pens & pencils as I please.
Does anyone else watch this video at least once a week? 🚀
Tom Brady & Julian Edelman mic'd up in Super Bowl LI (2017) youtu.be/1_bdnr8ir38?si=IVEm… via @YouTube
My kids tell me a lot, usually while I'm doing three other things. 🧼🧤🍳
At the end of the day, Oz sends me an Evening Brief with the things I might otherwise forget.
Oz has become my secret weapon. Now we're excited to bring it to more homes.
My daughters (8y & 6y) just looked at each other and rolled their eyes about something I said. 🙄🙄
Feels like a right of passage.
Why aren’t we talking more about the tax inside every family AI agent?
My feed is currently flooded with brilliant moms using AI to manage their family OS: calendars, permission slips, grocery lists, etc. And every week, a new agent pops up promising to be the ultimate family assistant.
I read these posts and try the tools at home. I’ve tested more than a few of the apps. I want this to work, but I keep running into the same friction point: the context tax.
Keeping an agent up to date on my family is becoming a job of its own.
The way I see it, there are two problems:
#1 The Input Problem
Every demo offers some version of the same solution: “Just record a voice memo in the car line or while walking your dog.” Or: “Do a once-a-week brain dump of everything scrambled in your head.”
Sounds great, but unfortunately my thoughts don’t arrive neatly packaged as inputs for a family operating system. They surface in the middle of life, while I’m braiding hair, folding laundry, or about to sit down to dinner (always when I’m about to sit down to dinner).
Even if I do have a free hand to babble into a voice memo, I still have to deliberately hand it over.
Asking me to stack these things in my mind (or on a sticky note) until I’m ready to send a “brain dump” feels like the tech is moving backward.
#2 The Feedback Problem
Even after I feed the agent all the context I can think of, its version of my family starts drifting from reality almost immediately. 🫠
Some of that is missing nuance. The preschool events don’t belong on my calendar just because they came from my kids’ school email (mine are all in elementary). A one-time fix, but there are a lot of them.
And some of it is simply that life keeps happening. I said I was going to do pickup on Thursday, but actually we swapped this week. I said I needed to order the birthday gift, but then I grabbed one while I was out.
Unless I go back and tell the agent what actually happened, it doesn’t know.
In practice, I’m constantly correcting it, steering it, and trying to keep it in sync with reality. If I don’t, our versions diverge pretty quickly.
So now what? I’m responsible for deciding what the AI needs to know, deliberately feeding it that context, AND reporting back when reality changes. 🙃
I’m not saving mental energy. I’ve just become a full-time associate for my AI.
I love where the industry is headed. But right now, the context tax often feels heavier than the load these tools are taking off my plate.
I’d love to hear from people building and using these tools: who is solving the context problem well? How are you keeping your agent caught up without becoming its full-time employee?
So many options - which one gets your vote? 🤖
Too many AI personal assistants, too little time to assess all of them. Nice work here: assistantbenchmark.com
I love my Adam Grant calendar. 📆 But today, I couldn't disagree more.
Adam Grant says college's true value is “learning how to think and learn,” and that parents shouldn't push for practical majors...what?!
Spending $50K+ a year to figure out how to think isn’t just financially irresponsible; it raises an obvious question: What are your kids doing for the first two decades of life if not learning how to learn?
Inspired by Jeff Sandefer (Acton Academy), I’ve thought a lot about this, and below is the framework we’re implementing:
Elementary: Build social-emotional intelligence and a love for learning.
Middle School: Master how you learn best, dedicate 3+ hours a day to it, and start real-world apprenticeships.
High School: Test and vet an actual career path (likely more than 1).
College: Optional. A strategic tool; not a default.
Btw, I chose a "practical" major. It launched a killer career in my 20s, built the nest egg that allowed me to pivot in my 30s, and gave me the freedom to raise my kids on my terms. Zero regrets here. Practical education doesn't limit your future, it funds it.
September > January 1st. Fresh notebooks, colorful pens, AI-customized binders, and that fresh-start energy. I love everything about back-to-school - except the September Plague. 🦠
Every year, without fail, week two hits and the school germs invade. My kids bring home a cold, pass it to me, and suddenly my fully energized vibes flatline. It’s hard to take care of sick kids, but trying to do it while sick yourself (and keep up with work) is basically impossible.
I haven't quite cracked the code on keeping the invasion out of the home yet, but I’ve finally found my secret weapon for keeping me healthy while I attend to my kiddos: Profi spray.
If I stay consistent from the moment they start sneezing, my hit ratio of dodging their sickness is surprisingly high. It’s been a lifesaver for keeping me functional for both my family and my work, and I wanted to share.
Now I want to crowdsource more ideas: What are your go-to immunity hacks or routines to survive the back-to-school germ wave? Bonus points for kid-friendly tips.
What if the best computer for kids is actually a computer from when we were kids? 🖥️
It tracks, right? Tin Can has built a new business on retro landlines. Palmer Luckey is bringing back the Nintendo 64. Our kids watch Full House and The Simpsons on the weekends. There is clearly something to be said for having our kids grow up with the media & technology we grew up with, too. It feels more low-fi, more intentional, and much safer.
This week we brought home two vintage, mint-condition Macs from the early 2000s. We know the games, we know the OS, and they just work (with a very satisfying boot-up chime).
Last night, our daughter squealed with delight as she built her touch-type reflexes with Mario while Greg and I tackled the Oregon Trail (Greg died of typhoid fever somewhere over the Rockies).
So far, we're obsessed. We'll report back on how it develops.
PS For Mac OS 9 machines, all software and games are FREE!
One of my favorite Oz use cases is for parents who work outside the home. Here is a story from one of our Oz moms describing how Oz gave her comfort and confidence during her daughter’s first week with a new nanny:
“Oz has helped me gain so much trust with our new nanny. Being able to read all of the things that they’re doing together, which are lovely. Like how she sings to her when they eat or how my daughter gave her a kiss unprompted and then the nanny was like, ‘Oh, wow. That was so beautiful. Thank you for the kiss.’ I can start to see that not only is this woman so great with my kid, but my kid really likes her back. I get to have that kind of insight [into] what’s going on when I’m away.
I hate the idea of putting cameras inside the house. Like, that gives me an ick factor. This gives me so much comfort.”
Stories like this one reinforce our conviction that the biggest opportunity for ambient AI in the home isn’t a smart speaker that interrupts your conversations or pings you when your fridge may be low on milk. It’s one that leverages AI to support connection.
SHOWDOWN: ChatGPT vs. Oz 🎯
I asked both: “Write me a draft family mission statement based on what you know about us.”
The context:
ChatGPT: 3 years of data from a shared GPT (including research for and transcripts of 52 family culture podcasts).
Oz: 4 months in our home.
The verdict? Screen grabs attached.
ChatGPT: At first glance, it's great. But upon closer review, while it's directionally correct, it's also all generic platitudes that could apply to almost any family.
Oz: A rich tapestry of hyper-specific, uniquely Neufeld (and mildly embarrassing) details.
Winner: Oz 🏆
Conversations are the highest-value context we have. Data dumps in a chat window only get you so far. Ambient context is what transforms an AI from a generic assistant into a supportive, specific partner.
Oz is a home device designed to capture family life without getting in the way. It doesn't just store information; it helps us make the most of the conversations we're already having. Link in comments to join the early access waitlist.
But back to the family mission statement. How have you written yours? ✨
