My name is Philipp and you are reading Creativerly, the internet corner where I unpack my musings, curate and write about noteworthy apps and software, and explore the latest trends in design and tech.

This issue of Creativerly is sponsored by Popt, a fresh take on mobile note-taking: private, fast, fun, yet packing more smarts than meets the eye.

Hey and welcome to Creativerly 342 👋

As someone who works in tech, writes about tech, and spends a lot of time reading and browsing through the bubble of tech, I am increasingly having a hard time with the concept of separating the artist from the art when it comes to the apps, tools, and services I am using. I know, it is an age-old debate, but we now have a modern twin to can we separate the artist from the art, which is the question can we separate the tool from its creator? And as of recently, I get confronted with this question increasingly more often.

I feel like loads of people often overlook the values, ethics, or controversies tied to the creators of the apps, platforms, or services they use on a daily basis. When I get confronted with that, I ask myself if I should boycott a brilliant tool because its founder holds objectionable views, or if the utility of the tool is enough to justify its use. To me, tech is not neutral. Algorithms, design choices, and even the culture of a company seep into the products we rely on. Tech is often a necessity that is embedded in our work, communication, and daily lives, so unlike art, the stakes are higher.

While in some cases (for example with Substack, which I am boycotting to the fullest for multiple reasons) it is easy for me to draw a direct line, and simply search for an ethical alternative (which I have been quite successful with for most of the apps I am using on a daily basis), but at the same time it becomes harder in other places. It is tough to decide whether we should judge a tool by its impact, or by the hands that built it. And additionally, what if we choose to look away? What does that say about us?

What is a tool or platform you have struggled to reconcile with its creator's legacy? Do you also have a hard time to separate the tool from its creator? What tools did you boycott as of recently because of the objectionable views its founder hold?

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Fresh Updates & News

The Browser Company gets acquired by Atlassian, fully focuses on AI-browser Dia →

Now, this might not be the freshest news and update, as the announcement happened already on September 4, yet I still wanted to include it in this week's issue of Creativerly, and share my thoughts about it. So, The Browser Company, creator of beloved and abandoned Arc browser, and recently shifting its focus fully on Dia, an AI-driven browser, gets acquired by Atlassian ... for $610 million.

First things first, The Browser Company's total funding is $128 million, and they did not make a single cent of revenue. Yet, Atlassian decided that it is worth $610 million, which is fascinating, delusional, and pathetic at the same time. Seeing all those tech bros online celebrating this acquisition as a success is another thing that my mind simply can not process. What my mind also can not process is the fact that they built probably the most beloved browser of the 21st century, and instead of monetizing it in order to keep their lights on, they simply decided to abandon it, and shift their focus to AI, since apparently, if you are observing the field of tech, this is what you are supposed to do in 2025.

The Browser Company will operate independently under Atlassian, according to a post on X by The Browser Company's CEO Josh Miller, as TechCrunch reported. They core focus will be the continuous development of Dia, which is the AI-driven browser the team started working on last year after they decided to stop development of its previous browser, Arc.

When I browse my bubble, I see loads of comments about Dia, and they all pretty much surround the fact that folks have tried it out but abandoned it shortly after since they could not find a single use-case where it would actually make sense to them to switch to a new browser like Dia. So, a past comment from Josh Miller, which he shared in a newsletter update back in May (I am not linking to it, since The Browser Company is using Substack, but if you would like to read it, it is called "Letter to Arc members 2025"), and which goes "Our metrics were more like a highly specialized professional tool (like a video editor) than a mass-market consumer product, which we aspired to be closer to" sounds even more pathetic now, as they have abandoned the beloved browser in order to focus on something no-one has asked for, and according to my bubble, does not introduce valuable features or workflows that would lead to people making the switch to an AI-driven browser.

The tech scene in a nutshell.

Mailbox updates its brand and user interface →

I left Gmail already a while ago. After doing some quick research back then, I moved all my email activity to Proton Mail. There were some ups and downs during the time of my usage (especially since there were some major outages) but overall, the experience was still way better than Gmail, since Proton Mail focused on offering a privacy-first email experience. However, in late 2024 and early 2025, I moved all my email activity from Proton Mail to Mailbox, as Andy Yen, Proton's CEO and co-founder, praised the Republican Party in a post on X, and additionally made some weird comments from the company accounts across Mastodon, X, and Reddit.

Mailbox is a digital workspace, secure, reliable, and accessible. It offers secure and spam-free email inbox, doubly-secured cloud drives, video conferencing, as well as office tools for collaboration. Its data centers are in Germany, where your data is stored securely. It uses consistent data encryption, during storage and transmission, and Mailbox operates its infrastructure sustainably with 100 per cent renewable energy. Lovely.

My migration from Proton Mail to Mailbox went quite smoothly. The only thing I was not that attracted to was their interface, which felt quite outdated. Therefore, I got excited when I read the recent news that Mailbox reimaged it brand, technology, and design. As part of this, the complete Mailbox suite has been redesigned to make daily work more efficient. I have been only using Mailbox for my email activity, so I have not explored the full suite of tools yet, but the overhauled and redesigned email interface is a very welcomed and appreciated change, as it provides more clarity, a cleaner, and more structured interface and experience.

Mental Wealth

❯ The science-backed case for doing nothing: why your brain needs time to drift – “Every day, we’re faced with constant opportunities for stimulation. With 24/7 access to news feeds, emails and social media, many of us find ourselves scrolling endlessly, chasing our next hit of dopamine. But these habits are fuelling our stress – and our brains are begging for a break.”

❯ What counts as consciousness? – “Some years ago, when he was still living in southern California, neuroscientist Christof Koch drank a bottle of Barolo wine while watching The Highlander, and then, at midnight, ran up to the summit of Mount Wilson, the 5,710-foot peak that looms over Los Angeles.”

❯ The Problem of What Others Think – “In a letter from Seneca to his friend Lucilius, he writes: "It’s the height of madness to worry about being despised by the despicable." One of the great causes of suffering is this maddening worry about what others think of us. I can go into its causes by pointing to evolutionary psychology and our hunter-gatherer roots, but that’s neither novel nor interesting. Rather, I want to delve into the asymmetry between what we know about ourselves, and the uncertainty surrounding what others know of us. Because at its core, the worry about what others think is ultimately a function of uncertainty.”

❯ Aliveness (what machines can't make) – “Have you ever held an object and felt the maker's presence in your hands? In art they call it 'aura'. It's what distinguishes an original painting from its reproduction, what you hear in Miles Davis or Nina Simone’s live jazz performances, what you taste in the dishes that ignite happy childhood memories (for me it’s my mother’s take on pasta all'Amatriciana). The work carries something of its creator that no machine can replicate, at least not yet. And even if they could, why would we want them to?”

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Appendix

❯ ICYMI

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❯ Quick Bits

Thank you to the sponsor of this issue, Popt, a fresh take on mobile note-taking: private, fast, fun, yet packing more smarts than meets the eye.

Till next time! 👋‌‌‌‌

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