posts
Written takes based on my merbil.fm videos. The videos are in Turkish (with an English auto-dub on YouTube), the posts are in English.
2026
- 10-27why big companies get hacked so easilytechHacked Danfoss fridges, empty Albert Heijn shelves, an AI-found PHP flaw and PS5 piracy, and why Gabe Newell's line on piracy explains all of it.
- 10-051000 days on duolingo, and why greater than zero is enoughtechA 1,000-day Duolingo streak in Dutch, and why it feels like fatigue: habits work, gamification is a tax, and the owl treats adults like kids.
- 09-30what gta 6 will and won't begamesGTA 6's $1–2B budget, the Netflix trailer bet, what it means for AAA studios, and why I expect an old formula done really well, not a tech leap.
- 08-23why we should talk about music moremusicMusic used to build friendships. Spotify turned it into furniture and a 30-second economy, but young rock fans are still out there. Why I'll talk albums.
- 08-15made by google '26, and why i can't leave appletechMade by Google '26, the Pixel Watch's predicted blood pressure and insulin resistance trends, and why leaving Apple for a Pixel feels like a migration.
- 08-05tokyo in three words, culture shocks and foodtravelMy wife Zeynep asked me five questions about Tokyo. Why it reminds me of Istanbul, what felt close and far, people-watching in Shibuya, and what we ate.
- 07-29how content went from newspapers to scrollinginternet & mediaFrom one-way newspapers to webmasters, Web 2.0 and today's endless feeds, why the internet is back to push, and why I can't get into scrolling Reels.
- 07-24the pains of gaming as an adultgamesOpen-world games felt like closing tasks after work, FIFA ate 2,000 hours, and Mario Kart, Pokémon and Spider-Man brought the fun back.
- 07-17mad cool 2026, notes from the most beautiful ankara in the worldmusictravelMy notes from Mad Cool 2026 in Madrid, with Foo Fighters, Florence and the Machine, a surprise Twenty One Pilots show, Nick Cave and Pulp closing it.
- 07-13this video took me 11 yearsmaking thingsRadio dreams in the 90s, podcasts since 2015, a newsletter burnout, and why my first video still took 11 years. Plus the low effort, high context rule.