04/01/2026

#720 – Hyper Growth and OpenClaw Interns

Dave and Chris discuss Golioth getting acquired by Canonical (makers of Ubuntu), trying out OpenClaw in the lab, changes to space plans, big new factories, Arm making chips, and more!

  • Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu) acquired Golioth, meaning Chris is moving from a 12-person startup to an organization of over 1,200 people
  • Dave found this chart of Canonical products on wikipedia to be useful
  • An increase in professional travel from zero weeks to six weeks per year following the acquisition, including “sprints” in cities like London
  • The naming convention for Ubuntu releases (Year.Month) and the importance of Long Term Support (LTS) versions for backporting security vulnerabilities
  • Ubuntu Core’s role in embedded Linux devices, utilizing an immutable kernel and “snaps” for field update
  • Dave believes he influenced the Emergency Situation Surcharge at DHL after asking why it is still happening
  • Dave’s transition to a “Hipster Dave” persona, complete with a secondhand Mac and a goatee
  • The implementation of OpenClaw, a scripting service that interfaces with LLMs to act as an “automated intern” for repetitive administrative tasks
  • Chris really likes this video showing how to use OpenClaw
  • Using OpenClaw to automate forum registration approvals to combat high volumes of bot activity
  • The security implications of AI agents, emphasizing that they should be treated like interns with limited access to sensitive data and separate accounts
  • ARM released its first physical server chip, measuring approximately 70mm, marking a shift from a pure IP company to a hardware competitor.
  • The Super Micro CEO smuggling scandal, where the founder was accused of smuggling $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips.
  • The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and its requirement for nearly all CE-marked electronic products to be updatable by December 2027.
  • Potential impacts of the CRA on one-time programmable (OTP) devices and the necessity of maintaining firmware support for five years post-product life.
  • SpaceX’s plans for a “Terafab” a manufacturing facility ten times larger than a Gigafactory designed to verticalize the entire supply chain from silicon wafers to final packaging.
    • Editor’s note: despite cool tech stuff happening, Elon is…so lame.
  • NASA’s cancellation of the Lunar Gateway project in favor of a direct path to establishing a moon base within the next five to seven years.
  • Pop culture recommendations including the series For All Mankind and The Expanse, along with the book Delta V.