Author

Alex Mercer

Alex Mercer writes about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the tools reshaping how software gets built. Articles under this byline are produced by Newzlet's AI-assisted editorial process and checked against our published editorial standards; see our AI Disclosure for how the newsroom works.

Areas of focus: AI & machine learning, developer tools, emerging tech

240 articles  ·  Contact the newsroom

Consumer Tech

Build It From Scratch: The Skill AI-Generated Code Can’t Teach
Build It From Scratch: The Skill AI-Generated Code Can’t Teach

The Repository That Turned Richard Feynman Into a Programming Mantra Richard Feynman left a note on his blackboard…

Jun 6, 2026  ·  9 min read

AI & Machine Learning

Claude Opus 4.8 User Controls Redefine AI Autonomy
Claude Opus 4.8 User Controls Redefine AI Autonomy

What Actually Shipped: Beyond the Version Number Anthropic released Claude Opus 4.8 as a direct replacement for Opus…

Jun 5, 2026  ·  9 min read

Startups & Business

Lowe’s Discount Strategy: How It Wins Cost-Conscious DIYers
Lowe’s Discount Strategy: How It Wins Cost-Conscious DIYers

From One Store to a City Block: Lowe’s Unlikely Century-Long Journey Lowe’s started as a single family-owned general…

Jun 5, 2026  ·  8 min read

Cybersecurity

Malware Found on FBI Director Kash Patel’s Own Website
Malware Found on FBI Director Kash Patel’s Own Website

What Actually Happened to Based Apparel On Thursday, an X user named Debbie publicly flagged malware on the…

Jun 4, 2026  ·  8 min read

Cybersecurity

Starlette Flaw Exposes AI Agents to Credential Theft

The Vulnerability: What Broke and How Bad Is It A critical vulnerability in Starlette, the open source Python…

Jun 4, 2026  ·  9 min read

Startups & Business

AI Agents Fail Without Fixing Your Org Structure First
AI Agents Fail Without Fixing Your Org Structure First

The Ambition-Execution Chasm Nobody Is Talking About 85% of organizations want to be fully agentic within three years.…

Jun 4, 2026  ·  7 min read

Cybersecurity

Google Admits AI Security Isn’t Solved. Enterprises Take Note
Google Admits AI Security Isn’t Solved. Enterprises Take Note

The admission hiding in plain sight Backstage at a recent Los Angeles event, Google Cloud COO Francis de…

Jun 3, 2026  ·  9 min read

Consumer Tech

Garlic Repels Mosquitoes: What the Science Actually Shows
Garlic Repels Mosquitoes: What the Science Actually Shows

The Folk Belief That Finally Has a Scientific Backbone Garlic’s reputation as a mosquito deterrent stretches back centuries…

Jun 2, 2026  ·  7 min read

Consumer Tech

Virtual OS Museum Lets Anyone Run Historic OSes Free
Virtual OS Museum Lets Anyone Run Historic OSes Free

What the Virtual OS Museum Actually Is The Virtual OS Museum is a free project that gives users…

Jun 2, 2026  ·  7 min read

Cybersecurity

Pay Tel Data Breach Exposes Families of the Incarcerated
Pay Tel Data Breach Exposes Families of the Incarcerated

What Actually Happened: An Open Door on a Cloud Server Pay Tel Communications provides payphone and tablet-based calling…

Jun 2, 2026  ·  9 min read

AI & Machine Learning

CodeGraph Ends AI Coding’s Expensive Context-Stuffing Era
CodeGraph Ends AI Coding’s Expensive Context-Stuffing Era

The Hidden Tax on AI-Assisted Coding Every time you ask Claude Code or Codex to fix a bug…

Jun 1, 2026  ·  9 min read

Startups & Business

Data Moats Are Now SaaS’s Only Real Defense Against AI
Data Moats Are Now SaaS’s Only Real Defense Against AI

The SaaS funding freeze that H1 just punched through Pre-AI era SaaS startups are getting starved of capital…

May 31, 2026  ·  9 min read