Mert Bulan

My Favorite Books in the First Quarter of 2026

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0000

What would you do with the hours you spend reading the news every day? I found out this year. In the first three months of 2026, I finished 19 books, which is almost as many as I read in the whole of 2025. Turns out, staying informed is expensive.

Last year, I was writing a blog post after every quarter covering books, movies, TV shows and games. This year, since I read so many books, I decided to just write about the books I liked after each quarter. You are reading the first one of this series.

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

I enjoy reading about history, especially when it opens my eyes on a very specific topic. Against the Grain by James C. Scott was that kind of book. Most people think of agriculture as a natural step forward in human history and as the foundation of how human society developed. But when you read this book, you see that agriculture was not something people really wanted to do. It required too much work and led to the birth of states, which meant paying taxes and working in other people’s fields. You even learn that the walls built around those early states were not only to protect people from enemies, but also to keep the people living nearby inside so they would work the fields and pay their taxes.

Another thing I liked about this book was how it challenges the common idea of barbarians. When we think of barbarians today, we only think of negative things. But those people were actually the real rebels who did not want to live under the rule of those early states or spend their days working on farms. They simply wanted freedom, without being forced to work and pay taxes. Since history was written by the people living inside those states, we never got to hear the barbarian side of the story. We still see them as the enemy.

If you are interested in history, this one is hard to put down. You will also never look at a loaf of bread the same way again.

Man’s Search for Meaning

When I first heard about this book, I was surprised that most people around me had already read it and I had somehow missed it. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is about the author’s own experience in the concentration camps. I have watched many documentaries about the Second World War and I know about the horrible things that happened during that time, but what I read in this book was on a completely different level. The author is a psychologist, so he does not just write about his feelings but also about his observations as a psychologist.

The second part of the book focuses on logotherapy, which is a school of psychotherapy that sees the search for meaning as the central driving force in human life. That part resonated with me a lot, because finding meaning in my life is something I think about often.

It is very short but emotionally quite heavy. If there is one book on this list that I think everyone should read at some point in their life, it is this one.

Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918

Since I have been living in Germany for a long time, I wanted to learn more about German history and ended up with Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer. History books can be quite boring, but this one was very well written. The book mostly focuses on Otto von Bismarck and his role in German unification. I knew a little about him since there is a very tall monument of him in Hamburg. I always wondered what made him worthy of that kind of honour, and now I know why.

After covering German unification, the book shifts to the political environment and social life, and how the empire slowly built a nation. You even discover things like the origin of why all shops are closed on Sunday in Germany. A lot of the things I observe here started to make more sense to me after reading this book.

At the end, you also see the beginning of the First World War and how things developed over time, including all the lives sacrificed by the Kaiser while he enjoyed a peaceful life even after the war ended. It left me with a strange feeling, knowing that some of the patterns from that era are not as distant as we like to think.

On the Calculation of Volume I, II, III

Last year, I noticed I was not reading much fiction, so I wanted to change that. Based on a recommendation from a friend, I started On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle. The book is about a woman who is stuck living the same day, the 17th of November, over and over again. It is a fascinating story, but what I liked most about it is that because she lives the same day every day, she starts to notice every small detail of life. From the movement of clouds to the sounds her husband makes at home.

While reading this series, I noticed that I also started to appreciate the small details in my own daily life, from birds to the behaviour of people around me. That shift in attention felt like an unexpected gift from a book about someone trapped in time. I have already read the first three books of this seven book series and the fourth one is coming out very soon.

Nuclear War: A Scenario

I heard a lot of positive things about this book from friends, so I gave it a try and could not stop reading it. Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen focuses on a scenario where North Korea fires a nuclear missile at Washington, and what unfolds right after it is detected. The author interviewed many people to get things as accurate as possible, so while reading the book you are both horrified and surprised by what would actually happen if a single nuclear missile were fired today.

What stayed with me after finishing it was not the scale of the destruction, but how little time anyone would have to make decisions, and how many of those decisions are already made in advance by automated systems. I hope the scenario in this book never happens, but when I look at what is going on in the world, I always feel there is a small chance it could.

The Dispossessed

A friend pointed out that I had never read anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, so I decided to start with one of her most well known books, The Dispossessed. It is about a scientist who travels to a sister world after making a scientific breakthrough. That world has a completely different political system from his own. I would not be wrong in saying that while his world leans more toward communism, the world he visits leans more toward capitalism. But unlike most books that would take one side, this one perfectly shows the flaws of both systems, as well as the role of women in each world.

I already ordered another book by Le Guin before I even finished this one. That should tell you enough.

The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?

If you are confused, like I am, about the growing inequality in the world and the rise of far right parties, this book might help. I first heard about The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J. Sandel from Olaf Scholz, the former chancellor of Germany, in an interview. The book focuses on meritocracy and how it divides people into two groups: the educated and the non-educated. Over time, politicians started praising meritocracy and pushing the idea that everyone should study, not just for a bachelor’s degree but all the way to a PhD. Of course, not everyone can do that, and the ones who did started to form their own class, separate from those without higher education, and began to control many aspects of life. On top of that, they do everything they can to make sure their children have the same advantages.

Even though the book mostly focuses on the US, you can see the same patterns in European countries and in Germany too. It covers the last four decades and shows how the makeup of political parties changed. In the past, you would see workers in parties like the Social Democrats or the Labour Party. Today, you mostly see people with PhDs. This creates a big problem: since only a small group of highly educated people are running things, those without higher education feel left behind. People with PhDs often cannot relate to the problems of everyone else, so they fail to come up with solutions that work for most people. In the end, those who feel ignored look for alternatives, not because they believe those other parties can fix their problems, but because they have lost hope in the established ones.

I especially recommend this one if you already consider yourself highly educated. It is a little uncomfortable in the best possible way.

Why I Stopped Following the News

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0000

If I have to pick my favourite German word, I would probably pick “neugierig” because it describes me very well. It means curious, but that is not the literal meaning. Like many German words, it comes from two parts: neu and gierig. Neu means new, and gierig means greedy. So the literal idea behind neugierig is being greedy for new things. That fits me well.

I really enjoy learning new things. That is why I read a lot, watch documentaries, and explore different topics. I am greedy for new information. This also includes what is happening around the world.

For years, I followed the news to keep an eye on what was happening in my country, in the world, and in the tech industry. I curated a list of sources that matched my taste, from international newspapers to YouTube channels, Reddit, and tech-focused websites. Every day, I checked these sources through their websites or my RSS reader to stay up to date.

At the end of last year, I had some time to reflect on my habits. I thought about what makes me happy, what makes me stressed, and how the things I do every day contribute to my goals.

When I looked at the time I spent reading the news and how I felt afterward, I realised it was not helping me at all. Most of the time, I felt more stressed than informed. I also noticed that almost every source focuses heavily on negative stories, simply because those attract more attention and clicks.

When it comes to world news, I started to see the same patterns repeating. A lot of headlines about political figures, conflicts far away, and problems I have no control over. I asked myself how much of this actually affects my daily life, and I could not come up with a good answer. Many things are happening in the world, but they rarely change anything in my day-to-day routine. That made me question why I was following them so closely.

The same applies to tech news. Most of it revolves around big personalities, constant AI updates, startups getting acquired, people becoming rich, hardware I will probably never buy, and rumours about products that may never be released. In most cases, none of this has any real impact on my life. New technologies are usually easy to learn when they become relevant, and it is hard to know which ones will still matter in a few years.

After thinking about whether I really need to follow the news, I decided that I do not. This does not mean I do not care about the world or the tech industry. I am just not interested in following daily updates that do not add much value to my life.

One thing I am still interested in is what is happening in my city. For that, I recently discovered a newsletter from Die Zeit called Elbvertiefung. Every weekday at 6 AM, they send a short newsletter about what happened in Hamburg, and sometimes they also recommend a book or a new restaurant or cafe. I start my day by reading it. Since it is in German, it also helps me improve my language skills.

For the rest of the news, I am considering subscribing to a magazine that covers important events in Germany, the EU, or the world every few months. This kind of format filters out short-term noise and fear-driven stories. These publications usually make money by selling the magazine rather than ads, so they tend to focus more on quality. (If you have any recommendations, feel free to reach out.)

At the beginning of this year, I decided to stop following the news. As a result, I started reading more. Last year, I finished 20 books. This year, just in January, I finished 7 books. I still satisfy my curiosity and learn new things, but I just changed the medium. And I feel much better because of it.

When the Tech Industry Becomes Disgusting

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0000

When I first encountered the internet and began spending hours online, the people I interacted with were mostly nerds in the best sense of the word. They had niche interests, deep curiosity, and a genuine willingness to help others who shared their passions. Technology felt like a playground for people who enjoyed building things for fun, learning obsessively, and solving problems simply because they could.

As time passed, consumer tech products began to take off. Personal computers, the iPod, and later the iPhone didn’t just change daily life, they accelerated the entire tech industry. More people became interested in technology, often inspired by the same principles that guided its early pioneers: building things out of curiosity and nerdiness, and only then figuring out how to make enough money to keep going.

Eventually, the people building these products (whether software or hardware) started making serious money. Not necessarily because they were creating proportionally more value, but because their products reached a massive, non-technical audience. A small group of company owners suddenly found themselves extremely wealthy. With the rise of social media, they began to showcase their lifestyles: luxury homes, exotic travel, expensive hobbies. For people outside the industry, this was eye-opening. Tech no longer looked like a space for curious nerds, it looked like a fast track to wealth and status. This shift is something I’ve watched from the inside, not as an outsider looking for villains.

This realisation triggered a new wave of people entering the tech industry. Unfortunately, many of them lacked the curiosity and enthusiasm of the early builders. They weren’t interested in technology for its own sake or in improving people’s lives. They were primarily interested in money, rather than in the technology itself. This was the breaking point for me. I increasingly encountered people who spoke confidently about technical topics without understanding even the fundamentals. They acted as if they were “changing the world,” imitating figures like Steve Jobs, but without the substance behind the performance. It became easy to identify them. Around that time, the term tech bro emerged to describe this new archetype: confident, performative, and often detached from any real technical depth.

Meanwhile, the early entrants to the industry became unimaginably rich. Figures like Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates reached levels of wealth that are difficult for ordinary people to comprehend. Like many early builders, they started as nerds but extreme wealth eventually translated into unchecked power. Elon Musk was perhaps the first to fully realize this. Instead of limiting himself to technical subjects like rockets or electric cars, he began publicly weighing in on social and political issues.

He was clearly under the brain-rotting drug (“Their financial success all too often convinces them that they’re uniquely brilliant, able to instantly master any subject, without any need to consult people who have actually worked hard to understand the issues.”), but neither the public nor the new wave of tech workers recognized it. Instead, they elevated him to a messianic figure. Much of what he said was treated as unquestionable truth by his followers. Once other tech leaders saw Musk’s influence and loyal following, they followed the same path. This wasn’t just about personalities. Venture capital incentives, social media amplification, and winner-take-all markets rewarded loud confidence over competence, and provocation over substance. Ideas they once avoided expressing became central to their public personas. They moved beyond their campuses, directly engaging with governments and political discourse.

At the same time, their personal lives took darker turns. Many divorced the partners who had supported them early on. Some publicly pursued much younger partners; others were accused of harassing female employees, and in a few cases, far worse behavior later came to light. The motivation of the new tech elite shifted from building things, to making money, to exerting influence, to indulging every excess made possible by power and wealth.

We went from criticising Steve Jobs for rejecting his daughter to celebrating Elon Musk’s ever-growing number of children. Today, opening social media often means seeing startup and mid-sized tech CEOs and executives eagerly praising, defending, or desperately seeking the attention of Elon Musk. It has become very difficult to work in tech without encountering leadership that is openly racist, sexist, or aligned with white supremacist ideas.

At some point, the industry stopped being nerdy, curious, and hopeful and became something deeply disgusting. It didn’t rot by accident. It rotted because we rewarded the wrong things and continue to do so.

About Being Grateful

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 20:00:00 +0000

In today’s world, especially with capitalism, many of us are always wanting more. We’re told to buy more stuff, go on more trips, and collect experiences to be happy. Ads everywhere tell us that buying this or traveling there will make our lives better.

If you grew up in a developed country and are healthy, you might not really see how others live. Sure, you can travel and visit different places, but you don’t truly know what people’s everyday lives are like. The more I look around, the more I see people who have everything they need yet are still unhappy. They constantly look for new things to make them feel better. I think social media plays a big role in this.

Social media shows us more than just the lives of our friends. We end up comparing ourselves to strangers too, and somehow, we’re always seeing people who seem to have more, like bigger houses, nicer cars, fancy vacations. When we see these things, we start to want them, and we focus on getting them. But even when we get them, we just end up wanting more. It’s like an endless cycle that’s hard to break. Some people work more hours or even go into debt just to keep up with this pressure.

One thing I’ve been noticing more lately is how people are getting surgeries to change how they look, whether it’s for aesthetics or dental work. People are trying to look “perfect,” but sometimes they end up looking weird or unnatural. And with things like Botox or fillers, if you stop getting them, your face can look even worse than before. I find this incredibly dangerous because people are changing their bodies permanently to feel better about themselves, but the reason they feel bad is often because of how others treat them, especially strangers.

This is one of the main reasons I don’t use apps like Instagram or TikTok. It’s hard to avoid the feeling of missing out when you’re constantly seeing others with shiny new things, experiences, or looks.

I believe true happiness comes from being grateful for what you already have, not from having more. If you’re healthy and have your basic needs met, you should appreciate that. There are billions of people who don’t have those things, and it’s enough to make you feel happy.

You don’t always realize how important those things are until you lose them. When you get sick, you stop caring about stuff, you just want to be healthy again. When you don’t have access to things like clean water or air, those become your only wishes. When you can’t even go outside to hang out with friends, a vacation seems like a distant dream.

So, as we enter a new year, I just want to remind myself to be grateful for what I already have. I don’t need more to feel happy. What I have right now is enough.

My 2025 Q4 Highlights: Favorite Books, Games, and TV Shows

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 08:00:00 +0000

The last quarter of 2025 offered me a bit more free time, which I mostly spent unwinding and working on my apps. While I didn’t dive deep into entertainment, I did manage to read a few books, watch some TV shows, and play a handful of games. Still, there weren’t many standout favourites this quarter.

Books

More Everything Forever by Adam Becker

If you’ve been following the tech industry for over a decade like I have, you’ve probably noticed some pretty significant shifts, especially over the last five years. Post-COVID, it seems like tech CEOs have become more involved in politics, pushing certain ideologies that weren’t as prominent before. Back in the day, tech felt more like a space for nerdy innovation, creativity, and problem-solving. Now, it often seems driven by profits, with tech moguls increasingly disconnected from society and the consequences of their actions. There’s a growing presence of influential figures whose opinions and moves dominate the conversation—people like Ray Kurzweil, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Nick Bostrom, and Marc Andreessen.

In More Everything Forever, Adam Becker delves into these changes within the tech industry. He highlights how these prominent figures are shaping the future with their personal ideologies, often at the expense of public well-being. The book reveals how their focus isn’t on improving life for ordinary people, but rather on generating fear, promoting controversial ideas (like Mars colonization or transhumanism), and increasing their wealth.

If you’re in the tech world or even just curious about what’s really going on behind the scenes I highly recommend this book. It’s a wake-up call to critically evaluate the actions and motivations of the billionaires steering our digital future.

Status and Culture by David Marx

Another thought-provoking read was Status and Culture by David Marx, which really opened my eyes to the concept of status and how it shapes human behavior. I hadn’t spent much time thinking about status before, mostly because I don’t encounter people who constantly chase it in my daily life. However, in the age of social media and consumerism, understanding the pursuit of status becomes essential. From why people buy certain things to how they behave when interacting with others, this book explores the motivations behind these actions.

Marx does an excellent job breaking down how people seek higher status and the societal shifts that influence these pursuits. He also discusses how cultural trends in the U.S. evolve, with once-exclusive trends eventually trickling down to lower status levels, leaving high-status individuals to chase new trends. While the book is mostly focused on American culture, it offers valuable insights into how status plays out globally, though some of the cultural references may feel unfamiliar if you’re not acquainted with U.S. society.

TV Shows

Mr. Scorsese

This documentary, Mr. Scorsese, about legendary director Martin Scorsese surprised me in the best way. Initially, I thought it might be a bit dry, but once I started watching, I couldn’t stop. The documentary features scenes from Scorsese’s iconic films, with the director himself explaining the stories behind them. While I hadn’t seen many of his older films (Taxi Driver was probably the oldest), I was completely hooked as they dived into more recent classics like Gangs of New York and The Departed.

One thing that really stood out was how resistant Hollywood seemed to be to new ideas, even for a director of Scorsese’s stature. He shared how, at times, it was a struggle to get his vision onto the screen and even harder to secure funding for his projects. It was eye-opening to realize just how difficult it can be, even for the most influential filmmakers.

Acapulco

I had never watched Acapulco, even though it had already wrapped up four seasons. I’m not sure why I never gave it a chance, but when I finally did, I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be one of those feel-good shows that’s easy to watch and fun to get lost in. The series tells the story of a wealthy Mexican man reflecting on his rise to success, starting as a pool boy at a luxurious resort in Acapulco. The story unfolds through flashbacks, as he tells his niece about the pivotal moments of his life. It’s charming, light-hearted, and full of humor. If you enjoy comedy-dramas, I highly recommend it. While the fourth season didn’t quite measure up to the first three, the series did a great job wrapping everything up in the final episode.

Pluribus

Pluribus was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There’s a lot of buzz around it, especially since it was written by Vince Gilligan, the mastermind behind Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The show follows a woman who writes romance novels and, in a post-apocalyptic world, is one of the few people unaffected by a virus that has connected everyone’s minds. The rest of the world feels constant happiness, while the protagonist struggles to adjust to this new reality as an unhappy person.

The premise had a lot of potential, and I liked the concept of exploring what it means to be left out of a collective experience. However, the pacing was incredibly slow, and not much seemed to happen episode to episode. With the next season not arriving until 2027, I’m honestly unsure if it’s a show I’ll be eagerly awaiting. It’s a slow burn, and I’m still on the fence about whether it’s a story I want to keep following.

Games

ARC Raiders

It had been a long time since I tried a game from a completely new genre, but ARC Raiders immediately caught my attention. It’s an extraction shooter set in an apocalyptic world where robots (called ARCs) have taken over the surface, forcing humans to live underground. Each session begins with you heading topside through tunnels, where you explore ruined environments, complete quests, gather loot, and try to make it back safely via metros or elevators.

What makes the experience truly tense is the presence of other players. You can either cooperate to take down ARCs or end up killing each other for loot. That unpredictability is easily the best part of the game—every run feels different, and it’s hard to get bored.

I’ve spent over 30 hours in ARC Raiders, and overall, I really enjoyed it, even though getting killed by other players can be frustrating. The variety in each session keeps things fresh, but the quest design felt a bit dull and not particularly rewarding. Another downside is the downtime after dying: reorganizing your stash and crafting new gear can take quite a while before you’re ready for the next run.

That said, the game shines when played with one or two friends. I’ll definitely keep coming back to it over time.

Anno 117: Pax Romana

I previously played Anno 1800 and loved its setting and progression, so when Anno 117: Pax Romana was announced—set during the peak of the Roman Empire—I was immediately interested. I finally had the chance to play it during the Christmas holidays. Anno 117 is a city-building strategy game where you create and grow settlements on islands. You start with basic worker classes and gradually upgrade them by meeting their needs. Each new class introduces more complex demands, which means careful resource management is essential. On top of that, you also need to consider happiness, fire risk, and public health.

Overall, I had a great time with the game, much like I did with Anno 1800. Once I started playing, I was completely hooked—spending more than 10 hours in a single day wasn’t unusual. From that perspective, the game is very engaging. However, once I reached the late game, things started to feel repetitive. There wasn’t much left to do beyond routine tasks like unlocking everything in research or setting up additional settlements on new islands. While you technically have the freedom to expand endlessly, it eventually starts to feel like chore work rather than meaningful progression.

I played the game via a Ubisoft+ subscription (€18) because I wasn’t sure it was worth paying the full €60. In hindsight, I’m glad I did. The game doesn’t introduce enough new ideas compared to Anno 1800 to justify the full price. If you’re interested, I’d recommend waiting for a discount rather than buying it at launch price.

What is a City Super App and Why Every City Needs One

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:30:00 +0000

Before diving into what a city super app is, let’s first explore the concept of a super app itself and why it’s becoming essential in modern digital life.

What is a Super App?

Super apps are not a new concept. They’re more common in Eastern countries, which is why you may not be as familiar with them in the West. In Southeast Asia, for example, the most well-known super app is WeChat in China. On WeChat, you can access social media, payment tools, online shopping, ride-booking, travel bookings, and food delivery — all within a single app.

The success of WeChat inspired many startups in the West to explore the super app concept. While no app has reached WeChat’s level of integration, several are heading in that direction:

Uber: Started as a ride service and now offers food delivery, package delivery, and groceries.
Wolt: Began with food delivery and now includes package and grocery delivery, with plans to offer banking and payment services.
Revolut: Started as an online bank and now provides investment tools, insurance products, eSIM data plans, and travel services.

Some argue that this model benefits companies because they don’t have to spend much to acquire users for new services, and they can gather more data. It’s also convenient for users since they can access many services from one place.

However, others warn that when users stay within a single app, they might miss out on better services or lower prices available elsewhere. If one service within the app fails, users could lose access to several other services they rely on, such as their bank account.

I’m not sure if this model will work in the long run, but I do believe that the core services these apps were originally built for will suffer over time. As companies focus more on adding new features and growing their user base, they may stop improving the services they were originally known for.

What is a City Super App?

Now that you understand what a super app is, you can probably guess what a city super app might be. It’s an app that brings together everything about a city. But what exactly do I mean by everything? That’s the exciting part — it can include anything that’s related to the city.

So, what makes a city a city? It’s not just the buildings and streets, but its legal status and how it’s governed. I live in Hamburg, which is a city-state, so elections are an important part of civic life. This would be a good starting point for a city super app. You could access information on local parliament members, find out how to reach them, ask questions, check past election results, and view upcoming election polls. These features help you engage with your community and participate in your civic rights.

But why would you need an app for your city? The goal is to make city life easier. Maybe you enjoy long walks and want to find public toilets or water stations without searching around. Or maybe you need to charge your electric vehicle or find a pharmacy at night. A city super app can bring all this information together in one place. Sure, you can find this information on separate websites, but that’s the problem. You have to search for it, verify the data, and wade through ads or poorly designed pages. All you want is to find a place to pee or charge your car.

Beyond these basic needs, a city super app can help you discover more about the city. Nature spots, playgrounds, bike routes, festivals, public libraries, coffee roasters, and more. You might know websites or Instagram pages for some of these, but they don’t offer a single place to explore everything without pushing products or promotions. A city super app solves that problem. Whenever you need something or want to discover a new part of the city, you can simply open the app.

Franzbrötchen – Hamburg City Super App

A few years ago, I had the idea for a city super app. Thanks to my friends and colleagues, I’ve learned a lot about Hamburg. Over time, I met more people and realized not everyone knows as much about the city as I do. So, I thought: Why not create an app that collects everything I know about the city? I started by writing down everything in the Notes app.

I shared the idea with my friends, and they agreed that an app like this could be really helpful for many people. Over the past few months, I began developing the app. Every day, I’d work on a new section, sitting in a café for a couple of hours. By the end of October, I launched it. The response on Reddit and LinkedIn blew me away. People loved the app and the idea behind it! I guess I proved once again that people often don’t realize what they need until it’s right in front of them.

I named the app Franzbrötchen because it’s a famous pastry in Hamburg, made with cinnamon and sugar. It’s delicious, especially when you get it from a local bakery, not the big chains. People really liked the name!

Here are some of the categories in the app:

Democracy: Ask questions to local parliament members, check election results, track petitions, and more.
Your City: City demographics, a district quiz game, electricity production sources, consumer inflation rates, and more.
Everyday Services: Pharmacies, EV chargers, post boxes, water dispensers, public toilets, garbage collection times, and more.
Nature: Street trees, fruit trees, nature reserves, and more.
Cycling: Commute routes, recreational bike paths, group meetups, and more.
Rain Radar: A must-have in Hamburg, much more accurate than Apple’s default weather app.
Culture: Cinemas, theatres, museums, art galleries, and more.
Regional: Weekly markets, farms, coffee roasters, breweries, and more.

This list goes on. There are probably hundreds of things I could add to the app, but for the initial release, I focused on what would help people understand the concept. Over time, I’ve added more features, and many users have suggested new ideas I hadn’t even thought about. The app has even helped me discover things I didn’t know about my own city!

Now, I have a long list of features to add in the future, which will keep me busy for the next few years. It’s time-consuming, but I believe it’s my way of giving back to the community I enjoy living in. The app is completely free and has no ads. I don’t track any user data, and unlike most apps, I don’t focus on engagement. My main goal is to help people solve problems and discover more about their city.

When it comes to data, I’m lucky that there’s a law in Germany (Datennutzungsgesetz) requiring public offices to share non-personal data in machine-readable and open formats. This is where I get most of the data for the app. I also curated some of my own lists and linked to non-profit organizations’ websites when necessary. This combination ensures that the data in the app is reliable and verifiable. Of course, sometimes the data can be outdated because public offices don’t always update it regularly, but since things in the city don’t change that often, the information is usually up-to-date.

Enter Large Language Models

Before ChatGPT and other large language models, there were three main ways people accessed information online:

Search engines: You knew what you were looking for and typed a few keywords into a search engine like Google.
Social media: You followed people—either friends or influencers—and stumbled upon information when they shared something worth seeing. (Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, etc.)
Forums and Q&A sites: If you had a specific question, you asked it in a forum or Q&A platform like Reddit, Quora, or Stack Overflow, where people with expertise would answer.

These channels have changed a lot in the past few years. Companies figured out how to manipulate them to make money. As a result, they started showing more ads, requiring accounts, and making the platforms addictive, so people spent more time on them and saw even more ads.

Then, in 2022, ChatGPT arrived. What ChatGPT did was scrape the entire internet and offer a new way to access information. Instead of searching for keywords, you could ask full sentences and get an answer right away. You didn’t need to wait for someone to respond or sift through multiple answers. It was like having a conversation with a knowledgeable friend.

But there’s a downside to ChatGPT. Since you interact by chatting and only get one answer, unlike search engines or forums, you might assume the answer is correct and not look for other options. ChatGPT generates responses based on what’s most commonly mentioned in its training data, but sometimes it can be wrong or even create hallucinations. That’s just how the system works.

So, what does this have to do with a city super app? Some people might think that ChatGPT could replace a city super app, but the problem I mentioned above still applies. While ChatGPT offers a more conversational way to access information, you can’t always trust the answer. For example, if you ask for your district representative’s name, ChatGPT might get part of the answer right, but not the full, correct answer. This is where a city super app integrated with a voice assistant could solve the problem.

Instead of Siri trying to answer questions about Hamburg based on its own model or the internet, it could pass the question to my Franzbrötchen app. Since most of the information in my app comes from official sources or non-profits that focus on accuracy, Siri could deliver a 100% correct answer.

The good news is that Apple is already building the system I’m talking about with App Intents. While it’s not perfect yet, when apps like mine integrate with this system and Siri gets its long-awaited update next year, I believe this will change how people access information on their digital devices in a couple of years.

How Will It Be Sustainable?

You might be wondering how a city super app can be sustainable, given the amount of time and effort required to build it. Well, I believe these apps will either rely on donations from users (like mine) or receive public funding. Companies offering voice assistants might also pay apps based on the number of queries answered.

I don’t think any big company can create a city super app for every city in the world and guarantee reliable information. This is why I believe every city will need to create its own. A company based in California can’t create a better app or service for a city thousands of kilometers away. The locals know their city best. We’ll have to see how this all plays out.

My 2025 Q3 Highlights: Favorite Books and Movies

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 08:00:00 +0000

This summer didn’t feel much like summer, but I did get the chance to visit two cities: Munich and Krakow. Maybe because I was traveling and making the most of the summer, I didn’t watch many TV shows or finish any books. However, I did manage to watch a few movies, including one at the cinema. Let’s take a look at the books and movies I enjoyed during the third quarter of 2025.

Books

Apple in China

I’ve probably read almost every book about Apple, but Apple in China by Patrick McGee was still pretty interesting. The first 100 pages felt unnecessary because they covered things I already knew. However, after that, I learned a lot about how Apple makes its products and how its supply chain works. The book gives a lot of insight into how Apple gets such low prices from suppliers, how it deals with the Chinese government, and what the factories are like in China. One detail that really stood out was how one million Chinese workers move to the coast to make iPhones for a short time and then return to their towns, not even allowed to stay in the coastal cities. It was eye-opening. If you’re interested in Apple, supply chains, or China, I highly recommend this book.

The Railway Journey

Last quarter, I mentioned a book called The Taste of Paradise by Wolfgang Schivelbusch, and I said I wanted to read more by the same author. Since I love traveling by train, I decided to pick up The Railway Journey to learn more about the history of train travel. It was hard to find, so I ended up buying a second-hand copy from the UK, but it was definitely worth it. The book goes into great detail about the history of trains, how they started, and how they’ve developed over time. I was fascinated to learn that train travel was the first way to travel long distances faster than horse-drawn carriages, and how it changed how people viewed space and time. I was also surprised to find that older trains had cars where you couldn’t walk between them. The book also covers early train accidents and how they changed how people reacted to shocks. If you’re a fan of trains like I am, I highly recommend this book.

Material World

Another interesting book I read last quarter was Material World by Ed Conway. The book looks at the history and uses of six different materials: sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. I learned a lot about these materials and some uses I never would have thought of. For example, I didn’t realize how important salt is for clean water, or that there are different types of sand for different purposes. The book also talks about the oil refinery in Wesseling, Germany, which was used to turn coal into oil, and how complicated it is to make a chip. It was interesting to read about countries that have these critical materials or factories that turn them into something useful, especially since these materials are becoming more of a national security issue. It was an easy read for me during my train journey from Krakow.

Movies

The Zone of Interest

I’m really into movies, documentaries, and TV shows about World War II, and The Zone of Interest was one of the most interesting ones I’ve seen. Unlike many other films about the war that show the horrific events directly, this one doesn’t show the violence at all. Instead, it gives small clues and lets you piece together the darker side of the story.

The movie focuses on a Nazi commander’s family living in a house next to a concentration camp. You don’t actually see what’s happening in the camp, but you see the family’s everyday life. Small details like smoke rising at night from the factory, blood on the commander’s boots, and bones found while swimming in the river are scattered throughout. I found this approach even more horrifying than showing the violence directly because it makes you think more about it. The acting, especially by the commander and his wife (played by my favorite German actress, Sandra Hüller), was excellent. I highly recommend this movie.

F1: The Movie

I’m not really into F1 and still don’t understand why so many people love it. But I try to watch as many movies and TV shows from Apple as I can, since they’re usually pretty good.

Even though I liked F1: The Movie, it felt like a typical Hollywood film. The story is about a former driver (Brad Pitt) who is doing his own thing, and his friends try to convince him to drive for their team. He refuses at first, but eventually agrees. He struggles at the start because he’s an outsider who can’t do things the usual way, but in the end, he wins the race. Of course, there’s also the predictable romance where he sleeps with a woman who normally doesn’t get involved with her colleagues. The plot was pretty basic, but I did enjoy the shots taken from inside the F1 cars. If you’re into F1, I think you’ll like this movie.

Idiocracy

I remember starting Idiocracy, but I wasn’t sure if I actually finished it. It’s a movie that shows a dystopian future in a funny way. The society in the movie is so messed up—people use energy drinks to farm, everything is covered in ads, and life has become incredibly dumbed-down. Even though it’s a comedy, based on where society is heading right now, I can actually see some of the things in the movie happening in the future.

The Brutalist

I still remember The Pianist and Adrien Brody’s incredible performance in it. In The Brutalist, he delivers another great performance. He plays a Hungarian Jewish architect who escapes the war in Europe. In the U.S., he stays with a friend and starts doing some work. Eventually, a wealthy person discovers who he really is and hires him for a project. Throughout the movie, you see his struggles as an obsessed architect determined to finish his masterpiece, while also dealing with problems in his marriage. It’s a long movie, but definitely worth watching.

Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer

I came across Psycho Therapy because both the writer and director are Turkish. When I saw that it also starred Steve Buscemi and Britt Lower, I had to check it out. They’re both great actors—Buscemi’s performance in Boardwalk Empire is unforgettable, and Lower’s performance in Severance (one of my all-time favorite shows) is amazing. The movie didn’t disappoint. It’s about an unsuccessful author and a retired serial killer. While it’s a comedy, I don’t think everyone would enjoy it, but I did. The movie shows their strange interactions and also the relationship between the author and his wife. I really liked Britt Lower’s cold character throughout the film.

One Battle After Another

I can’t remember the last time I went to the cinema, but I felt it was time to go again for DiCaprio. I’ve probably seen almost every movie he’s been in because he’s really picky about the roles he takes. One Battle After Another is about a revolutionary who takes part in a lot of events and then has to escape with his baby to avoid being caught. Later, he tries to save his daughter. The movie is packed with action and suspense, but it also has some funny moments that I really enjoyed. Besides DiCaprio, I have to say that Sean Penn also did an excellent job in his role.

We'll Never Have Flying Cars

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Flying cars have been a big part of science fiction for decades. They often show up in movies or futuristic stories, and some people even see them as a sign of progress. But I’ve never really understood the obsession. What problem are they supposed to solve? Why do we even need them?

Sometimes I think the idea of flying cars might have come from living in tall buildings. If you’re on the 30th floor and need to visit someone on the 40th floor of another building across town, it seems inefficient to take the elevator down, drive across the city, and then take another elevator up. Flying directly between them might save time.

But this idea only makes sense in places full of skyscrapers. In Hamburg, Germany, where I live, we don’t really have many tall residential buildings. Most high-rise buildings are offices, hotels, or social housing. When people have more money, they usually want to live in a house with a yard, not on the 25th floor. So there isn’t much motivation here to build tall buildings, except maybe to reduce the cost per square meter.

If most people aren’t living in skyscrapers, then the whole “flying between tall buildings” idea doesn’t hold up.

Another argument for flying cars might be speed, getting from point A to B faster. In some big cities, rich people already use helicopters to avoid traffic. That sounds nice in theory. But what happens if flying cars become common?

The sky would get crowded, just like roads are now. Once air traffic increases, there would be regulations and limits to keep it safe. So you wouldn’t really go faster. You’d just be stuck in “air traffic” instead.

There’s also the problem of noise. Think about drones, helicopters, or airplanes, none of them are quiet. People living near airports already complain about the noise. Now imagine thousands of flying cars buzzing overhead every day. Going outside would be unbearable.

And then there’s the issue of accidents. With more flying vehicles in the air, the chances of mid-air collisions would go up. And unlike a regular car crash, a flying vehicle crash means something could literally fall out of the sky. That’s not just dangerous, it’s terrifying. This kind of risk is already a big concern with drones, and it’s one of the main reasons we don’t see drone deliveries happening in cities yet.

For all these reasons, I don’t think flying cars will become a thing. Instead, we should be thinking about hovercars, cars that float slightly above the ground. With electric vehicles, we’ve already reduced a lot of pollution and engine noise. But cars are still loud because of their contact with the road. Hovercars could eliminate that friction, reduce noise even more, and cut down the cost of maintaining roads. Of course, my real preference would be investing in better cycling infrastructure, more bike lanes, fewer traffic lights for cyclists, and incentives for using e-bikes. Cycling is still the most efficient and affordable way to get around. But since cars aren’t going away anytime soon, I think focusing on improving them (rather than trying to make them fly) is the smarter move.

The Differences Between Expats and Immigrants

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 11:20:00 +0000

As someone who lives in a country different from the one I was born in, I often see people confuse the terms expat and immigrant. Instead of giving textbook definitions, I want to share how I understand these two words based on my own experience.

Who Are Expats?

To me, an expat is someone who moves to another country for a short time. This could be for a few months or a few years. Their main reason is usually to explore a new place, meet new people, and maybe enjoy a different lifestyle. A lot of them work in the tech industry. Some work remotely and choose to live in countries where the cost of living is lower. This way, they can enjoy a higher quality of life while earning the same salary as in their home country.

Expats often spend time with people who are just like them. Many are not very interested in learning about the local culture, history, or rules. They often compare everything to their home country and get frustrated when things are different. It is hard for them to make close friends with locals. They tend to look for the same food, sports, or social life they had back home. Most expats live in a kind of bubble and are not very involved in local politics or communities. Many of them are single or with a partner, but usually without children.

When choosing a country to live in, expats often care about how cheap it is and how much tax they will need to pay. They try to move to places that offer special visas or low taxes. If those benefits disappear after a few years, they usually move on to another country. They also visit their home country whenever they can. When problems come up, they look for help from people from their own country or go back home to solve it, instead of learning how things work locally. They often live in areas popular among other expats, even if rent is high.

Who Are Immigrants?

On the other hand, immigrants are people who choose or are forced to move to a new country to build a new life. Their goal is to stay long term, so they learn the language, culture, and laws. They or their partner usually take part in integration courses. Most are married or have children. Their kids go to local schools and have local friends. Immigrants are active in their communities, whether it’s helping others settle in or joining groups that match their interests.

Instead of complaining, immigrants try to understand how things work in their new country. If they arrived single, it is likely they now have a local partner. They follow local news and politics, and if they get citizenship, they or their children may even take part in politics, like joining the local council or parliament. They take part in local sports and activities, like hiking or skiing, depending on where they live.

Immigrants often work in different industries, not just tech. They usually work for local companies and are willing to pay taxes because they see the long-term benefits, like free education for their kids or support when they retire. When problems come up, they work with locals to find solutions. They live across different parts of the city, not just in one area. They also tend to value what the country offers instead of always looking for things to complain about.

My Personal Experience

Of course, not every expat or immigrant fits these descriptions perfectly. There are always exceptions, but this is the general pattern I’ve noticed. I meet people from both groups often. When I talk to expats, the conversation is usually about how different Germany is from their home country. When I talk to immigrants, we talk more about local politics, things to do, or new places they discovered.

I often find expats frustrated with their lives. Immigrants, on the other hand, seem more settled and are planning long-term things like starting a family or buying a home. If I were a government decision maker, I would focus on attracting more immigrants than expats. I believe immigrants bring more long-term value to a country.

Expats, while they bring some benefits, can also cause problems. They may push up rent prices and make it harder for locals to afford housing. The neighborhoods they move into can change, with local shops closing and new ones opening to meet expat demand. This can make the area feel less like home for the people who have lived there for a long time.

At the end of the day, both groups shape the places they move to in different ways. But from what I’ve seen, it’s the immigrants who stay, grow roots, and contribute to the future of the country in a deeper way.

Why Paying for Spotify Mostly Pays Taylor Swift

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 07:40:00 +0000

These days, most people listen to music through streaming apps like Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music. Some people pay for subscriptions, while others use the free versions with ads and limited features. If you’re paying, you might assume your money goes to the artists you listen to. But that’s not really how it works.

Spotify often says they pay about 70% of their revenue to music rights holders. But how they split that money is not based on what you listen to. Instead of dividing your monthly fee based on your personal streams, they put all the money in one big pool and pay artists based on their share of total plays across the entire platform.

Let’s say there are only two users on Spotify:

User A listens to 50 Parcels songs
User B listens to 200 Taylor Swift songs
Spotify keeps 30% of the money ($3 out of each $10 subscription)

Here’s what people might think happens:

Each artist gets paid based on what their listeners listened to
Parcels gets $7 from User A
Taylor Swift gets $7 from User B
Spotify keeps $6

But here’s what actually happens:

Taylor Swift got 80% of the total streams
Parcels got 20%
Spotify puts the leftover $14 (after keeping $6) in a pool
Taylor Swift gets $11.20
Parcels gets $2.80

So even if you only listen to indie artists, your money still mostly goes to the big names, because the payout is based on total listening across all users, not just you.

In 2024, here were the top artists by streams:

Rank	Artist	Streams (Billions)
1	Taylor Swift	28.21
2	The Weeknd	13.27
3	Drake	12.11
4	Bad Bunny	12.08
5	Billie Eilish	12.00
6	Ariana Grande	10.03
7	Kanye West	9.67
8	Peso Pluma	9.38
9	Travis Scott	8.41
10	Bruno Mars	8.36

Spotify had about 4.8 trillion streams in 2024. They say they paid out $10 billion to artists. Since Taylor Swift had about 0.6% of the streams, she got about $60 million from that alone. The Weeknd got around half of that, and so on.

Now let’s talk about a smaller band. Say an indie group has 10,000 fans who each listen to their songs 10 times a day. That’s 36 million streams a year. Sounds like a lot, but it’s just 0.00076% of all streams on Spotify. That would earn them around $76,000 for the whole year, not per month, as many people might expect.

This is why many smaller artists say streaming doesn’t pay the bills. If Spotify changed the model to pay based on each user’s listening habits, big artists would still make a lot, but smaller artists would make much more than they do now. Apple Music does the same kind of global payout, by the way. So Taylor Swift likely earns way more than $600 million a year from all platforms combined.

What are the alternatives? Not many. You could try buying songs on Apple Music, but those versions often don’t come with lyrics or high-end features like Dolby Atmos. So you get less for the same price.

One option that still helps artists is going old school: buy vinyl records. You get better sound, cool artwork, and your money goes more directly to the musicians you want to support.

EDIT: A friend of mine recommended Bandcamp.com after reading my post. It looks like a great alternative to other platforms, offering high-quality album downloads while directly supporting the artists. I’m definitely going to try it out.