2026-06-04 11:57:42
Jason Snell has developed a tool for podcasters called Double Ender. He blogs about what’s possible now without coding:
Whatever you call it, whether it’s being a producer or product manager or something else that isn’t a programmer, creating good software in the AI era still requires the power of a human brain: being creative, solving problems, and making decisions.
I also agree with Jason that Apple should be rethinking Xcode for how developers actually work. I still use Xcode but I’m using significantly less of it. A streamlined Xcode with half the features would pair well with Codex.
2026-06-04 11:18:21
Argh. Great game but that loss hurts. Feel like that offensive rebound by the Knicks with a couple minutes left just flipped it, otherwise that might be a Spurs win. Hope we can bounce back in game 2. 🏀
2026-06-04 06:37:15
Counting down the hours… NBA finals, game 1. I really don’t know what to expect. 🏀
2026-06-04 05:12:12
David Smith blogs about his Apple-inspired ideals for development and design:
If you are always striving towards improving quality you will eventually end up with a surplus of user expectation. In my experience this surplus is incredibly precarious because once you are better than your competitors there will always be a temptation to let up on this pursuit and instead spend some of that surplus on things which don’t improve the user’s experience. It is so easy at this point to do the thing which worsens the user experience but helps the bottom line, with the justification that you’ll still be the best.
Which is why the second part of this maxim is that you have to not only strive to be the best, but then once you get ahead keep working on the marginal gains to relentlessly improve.
He doesn’t relate to many of the complaints that Apple has lost its way, instead describing the company as a ship that has “become a bit unbalanced”. I like the analogy, but I think some aspects of the company are more than off course. They are sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
I just spent a month trying to get my app Inkwell through the App Store review process. That will always be at the top of my frustrations with the company. But I was thinking yesterday while watching the device prototypes from Microsoft Build that there’s a deeper problem with Apple: they rarely build anything now except the most obvious products.
Perhaps Apple’s success has crippled their creativity, putting too much pressure on the company to only release hits. I miss the quirky products, the whimsy, the think different. AI is a perfect opportunity to build something completely new and they’ve got essentially nothing, only playing catch-up for the last two years.
Apple is still great at the kind of design refinement David describes. You want to wear goggles on your face? Apple is going to design the heck out of it. But it feels like a refinement of someone else’s idea. I’d like to see more experimentation. Getting to truly great often means doing something no one else is doing.
2026-06-03 22:43:28
This interview with Sarah Friar is really good. OpenAI is juggling so many things, I get the impression that it would all fall apart if she wasn’t CFO. She says the new device will be announced later this year:
What Jony and team are really good at is bringing humanity to devices. And I don’t really know how to explain that well, but when you see it, you feel it. […] It feels very natural. But it feels very lovable.
2026-06-03 22:22:08
Satya Nadella in the closing to Build:
There are really two stories people can tell about this moment. One is that technology concentrates power, reduces human agency, and leaves to society to absorb the consequences. The other is that we use this next wave to unlock opportunity for developers, scientists, enterprises, and every community. And our job is to make the second story true.
Always interesting when people in power talk about not further concentrating power. I believe he’s sincere, though. I worry more when those with total control over a platform (see: Apple) don’t acknowledge it.