FeedCity

Trying to get my AI spending under control, I’m having the server randomly switch to the “flex” pricing tier in GPT-5 when there’s background work that doesn’t need to be instantly fast. So far so good.

It’s actually happening:

The InfoWars of tomorrow will converge into a swirling vortex of content about content, talent acquiring talent, rings of concentric media mergers processing all human artistry into one endlessly digestible slurry. This will be a dank, sunless place, one where panic and capital feed on each other like twins in the womb of a hulking, unknowable monster—a monster known by many names, but which I like to call modern-day America.

TIL: ffmpeg -f avfoundation -i ":0" /tmp/dictation.m4a

Rain falling at the pond at The Village, behind Epoch. Looks like it’s going to be raining most of the week. 🌧️

Tim Cook in a letter on Apple’s website about stepping down as CEO and welcoming John Ternus:

A new person will be stepping into what I know in my heart is the best job in the world. That leader is John Ternus, a brilliant engineer and thinker who has spent the past 25 years building the Apple products our users love so much, obsessed with every detail, focused on every possible way we can make something better, bolder, more beautiful, and more meaningful.

Heck of a run leading one of the greatest tech companies of all time. Our discussion of Tim’s legacy on Core Int probably still holds.

Part of the motivation behind some of my top-level pages like my ideas lists is that I feel some things should have a URL. Giving something a URL gives it a place on the web. One area where I feel this could be applied more is in newsletters. I wish email newsletters had corr...

Victor Wembanyama when asked whether he feels the weight of legends like Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and Gregg Popovich in the building:

I wouldn’t say weight, no. I would say it feels safe. It feels like… If you trip, you know there’s a lot of hands that are ready to catch you. From day one it’s felt that way.

I think I watch the two trees outside that blossom beautifully in spring with such attention because they are so close. Those trees are with me when I say “cheers” every morning before I drink a glass of orange juice; they are there when I look out to watch the sun set, and w...

YOLO-ing with Codex computer use. I shouldn’t trust these tools as much as I do, but it still feels like magic, and I want to see the show.

Cracked a crown on my tooth last week. Replaced today. The numbing from the dentist usually takes all day to wear off for me. Currently sipping my coffee, pretending I can drink properly. 🦷

Interesting note from Simon Willison that Claude’s new tokenizer translates to higher costs:

Opus 4.7 uses the same pricing is Opus 4.6 - $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens - but this token inflation means we can expect it to be around 40% more expensive

Anthropic pricing is already much more expensive than OpenAI. With how good the new Codex app for Mac is, I think we’ll see more developers move to Codex. But people are also comfortable with their workflows, so there’s not going to be a quick shift, and models and features change nearly every month.

Dave Winer reflecting on UserLand’s name and now working with AI:

I called my second company UserLand. The idea was that we’d develop software for users, always be thinking of them, and listening and give them more and more power to shape the way their computers worked. It was what I felt was missing from software in the 80s, a focus on the users creating their own future.

I applied to speak at WebCamp Europe but didn't make the cut. I did see that Jonathan Desrosiers is giving a talk about the web, and his pitch is right on. Please go listen to him if you're in Kraków in June. I have been developing software around the ideas of building the web, software that runs on top of WordPress, which imho should be playing a much bigger role in the web. I have a track record here of actually founding new tech ecosystems, but as time goes by people forget how this stuff is made, I think. I'll probably try again with WordCamp US and of course Canada again, I had such a good time there last year.

How do you subscribe to a feed in Feedly? Had to ask Google. Click on Follow Sources in the sidebar. It never occurred to me that Subscribe would become Follow. The screen that comes up when you click doesn't offer a clue of how to subscribe to the URL I have on the clipboard. I did enter the URL of the site's feed but that didn't work, and it brought up a screen where they want money. I think I understand what happened here.

Over on Bear Blog, Thereabouts posted “The greatest breakfast food in existence”. When I read the title, my face lit up. “A blog post about breakfast food!” It got me thinking about what breakfast brings me the most joy. I think the answer is waffles and coffee. This time ar...