This week, we wrap up the year with our picks for the biggest narratives, deal guys, hustlers and tech oligarchs.

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* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

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Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:17 Welcome

* 03:22 Vanity Fair Is Back

* 05:56 Is Weiss good at media?

* 13:51 Oscars On YouTube

* 18:03 PvA 2025 Awards

* 18:28 Personality of the Year

* 25:31 Media Brand of the Year

* 30:10 Innovation of the Year

* 37:29 Overlord of the Year

* 40:38 Hustler of the Year

* 43:47 Deal Guy of the Year

* 45:45 Word of the Year

* 48:34 Narrative of the Year

* 54:25 Good Product

Underneath the narrative, the main plotline is the end of Hollywood’s already ailing business model built around scarcity and cable economics. That’s why the big winner of this deal, no matter who ends up owning the asset, is David Zaslav, the consummate Deal Guy. Netflix owning Warner Bros would be a fitting end, as streaming upended the reliable bulwark of Hollywood’s business model and firmly put tech in control.

Plus: The social stigma of AI-generated content, Kalshi’s uninspiring mission to financialize everything, Marco Rubio’s war on woke fonts, Shopify’s agentic commerce play, a new Scorsese documentary, and sad SaaS-vertising invading the NYC subway.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:36 Welcome

* 04:18 Warner Bros Deal

* 17:07 Deal Guys

* 37:59 Font Wars

* 47:09 Australia Banning Social Media For Teens

* 54:16 Shopify & AI

* 01:00:13 Good Product

This week, Sam Altman shutters side quests to chase speed, reliability, and personalization, and we ask whether he’s a deals guy or a wartime leader in a world where Gemini 3 and Anthropic are catching up. From there we get into the Olivia Nuzzi saga, the New York Times vs David Sachs accountability drama, and another round of Silicon Valley vs East Coast media grievance airing. We close on Bending Spoons’ island of misfit apps, DealBook’s new CEO archetypes in a media world running out of leverage, and Good Product featuring Waymos and Japanese toilets as the most dependable robots in everyday life.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:39 Welcome

* 07:54 OpenAI Code Red

* 22:56 Sachs vs NYT

* 30:02 Olivia Nuzzi Saga

* 35:07 DealBook Summit

* 45:16 Bending Spoons

* 50:24 The Distribution Trap

* 01:03:33 Good Product

We get into why America attracts them, how the term was coopted and branded, why competitive instinct sits at the center of real hustle, and how the changing nature of the economy will put a premium on hustling, for better or worse. Plus: Troy’s ‘eggsellent’ adventure at a Holiday Inn Express.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:41 Welcome

* 02:19 Google Ascended

* 14:24 AI Slop

* 25:34 Hustlers

* 44:10 Deal Talk: Warner Bros Discovery

* 53:02 Good Product

* 01:01:58 Outro

With institutions losing their distribution edge, main-character energy now determines who captures attention. The Olivia Nuzzi spectacle to Michael Wolff’s improbable Epstein cameo show why legacy media suddenly needs characters again. We also cover the Gemini 3 narrative flip, Google’s structural advantages, John Malone’s tax-efficient empire building, Apple News’ strange success despite its bad UX, and the rise of chessboxing as peak Slavic content.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:46 Welcome

* 01:30 Aura and Lore In The Information Space

* 16:17 Gemini 3

* 26:52 Financializing Aura

* 35:15 John Malone: Last of the cable cowboys

* 41:05 Good Product

* 51:15 Outro

We argue that true media people are troublemakers with taste. They’re people who understand narrative, tension, and how to make others feel something. Michael Wolff and Olivia Nuzzi are Media People. Scott Galloway and Silicon Valley People are not Media People. The media industry has been downsized in the Information Space, with media personalities rewarded more than Media People. Media People will endure.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:44 Welcome

* 06:42 Job Displacement Tsunami

* 16:10 The Problem With Men

* 27:57 Media People

* 56:14 Netflix Immersive Experience

* 01:00:49 Justin Bieber A Twitch Streamer

* 01:03:13 Good Product

* 01:08:27 Outro

Meanwhile, the New York Times has proven to the exception to the rule in publishing, as most publishers are dealing with “toxic” pageview assets. Plus: The Great Compression has arrived for ad agencies.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:29 Welcome

* 01:47 New York Mayoral Election

* 11:51 AI Bubble Check

* 22:53 Job Shifts

* 26:13 The Great Compression in Ad Agencies

* 35:37 New York Times: Exception to the rule

* 44:06 Vox

* 52:49 Puck-Air Mail Deal

* 55:36 Good Product

* 57:14 Outro

Plus: Anonymous Banker breaks down the logic of Warner Brothers Discovery’s sale, why celebrity investors are rarely additive, and the extractive logic of AOL’s $1.5b sale.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:21 Welcome

* 01:48 Age Of Wonders vs What Is This S**t

* 12:11 The Goon Squad by Daniel Kolitz

* 14:53 Interview Assassin

* 17:54 Performative Interview Format

* 19:43 Making A Good Product

* 37:19 Warner Bros. Discovery Deal

* 43:50 Travis Kelsey Activist Investor

* 50:23 AOL $1.5Bil Deal

* 54:23 Good Product

* 58:26 Outro

This week, Alex has a hard stop, AB is lost in Tokyo, and Brian and Troy go deep on sovereignty — who has it, who’s lost it, and whether it’s even possible to get it back for publishers and everyone else downstream of Big Tech.They debate whether Substack-style independence represents true sovereignty or just a different kind of dependency; ad tech’s extractive economics, and why “agentic ad buying” won’t fundamentally change a usurious system; and how OpenAI’s march toward becoming the next Google signals another era of centralization.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:24 Welcome

* 06:35 How do publishers reclaim sovereignty?

* 22:29 AdTech

* 40:00 OpenAI In Browser Wars

* 57:57 Good Product

* 01:04:02 Outro

This week, we talk about how the information space rewards vibes over verification, the second-order effects of video swallowing social media, and how institutions lost the narrative war to influencers, memelords, and politicians who understand that truth is optional so long as the narrative is upheld.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:28 Welcome

* 01:49 Old Internet Is Truly Dead

* 06:44 Authentic Media Relationships

* 10:11 The “Social” In Media

* 20:16 AI In Commerce

* 23:03 OpenAI Is A Better Google

* 32:28 Who wants fake?

* 35:33 Anemoia

* 38:19 What is our next reality?

* 49:51 Rapping “Fat” Troy

* 50:21 AB On Rich People & Media Companies

* 56:17 Hasan Piker Shock Collar

* 01:00:12 Good Product

* 01:01:40 Outro