Turns Out the ChatGPT App Is Not the Upgrade We Thought

Last week we said the native apps had caught up and Buddy could go. One week later the ChatGPT app is lagging on websockets, Chris is screen sharing into the Mac Mini to get anything done, and Buddy is looking less retired than advertised. That leads into the agent harness market, the $99/mo wrappers people are paying for, and why one tool can never fit everyone.

Then we get into Stripe. It used to be the design gold standard and now the proration setting stays hidden until after you click continue, which is a strange place to put the thing that decides when your client gets charged. Same lesson applies to us: our own CLI and MCP sat under Modules for months and customers had no idea they existed.

We also cover the Airtable sale to Bending Spoons and what liquidation preferences leave for founders, the illusion of choice across review sites that quietly own each other, why we pulled the client logo strip off our website in favor of case study numbers, and why "book a call" is fading as a CTA now that buyers show up already knowing exactly what they want.

Plus a Backlink Pilot update and where the Wayfront redesign stands, including native dark mode.