Guru's Tech Bytes — Episode 17

Good morning. This is Guru's Tech Bytes, Ep. 017, for Monday, April 20th, 2026. First up, a deep dive into GitHub's fake star economy is making the rounds, pulling back the curtain on a thriving black market of inflated repo stars. The investigation suggests a worryingly large slice of popular projects have been quietly juiced with paid endorsements. A healthy reminder that on the modern web, popularity is rarely as organic as it looks, and maintainers would do well to scrutinise the numbers. Second, Reuters reports the NSA is quietly using Anthropic's Mythos model, despite the agency's own published blacklist. The irony is thick — the very institutions drafting these restrictions appear rather keen to use the tech themselves. Make of that what you will, though it's hardly the first time a government has bent its own rules for convenience. And finally, Figma's woes compound with the arrival of Claude Design. The new tool is already nibbling at Figma's lunch, and early users seem distinctly unbothered about switching platforms. Redmond, as ever, is watching from the sidelines and wondering how it managed to miss yet another category-defining product launch. That's your daily byte. Have a great day. Until next time.