Tag: software

What AI coding costs you

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From Tom Wojcik:

Here’s what keeps me up at night. By every metric on every dashboard, AI-assisted human development and human-assisted AI development is improving. More PRs shipped. More features delivered. Faster cycle times. The charts go up and to the right. But metrics don’t capture what’s happening underneath. The mental fatigue of reviewing code you didn’t write all day. The boredom of babysitting an agent instead of solving problems. The slow, invisible erosion of the hard skills that made you good at this job in the first place. You stop holding the architecture in your head because the agent handles it. You stop thinking through edge cases because the tests pass. You stop wanting to dig deep because it’s easier to prompt and approve. There’s no spark in you anymore.

I really enjoyed this article – I found myself nodding along throughout. I’m not an AI skeptic, but I do worry about what the next decade looks like for my career, and even more so for the people coming up behind me.

We’re drifting toward a future where the only engineers truly qualified to review AI generated code are the seniors who earned that judgment by writing bad code themselves — before AI existed to do it for them. When that generation retires, we’ll be left with teams peer-reviewing AI output they don’t deeply understand, using other AI tools to validate it. The blind leading the blind, but with great dashboards.

That doesn’t mean we can’t build remarkable things in this new world. But the quiet erosion of institutional knowledge means that even as the metrics trend upward, our collective human capital is quietly atrophying. We’re getting extraordinarily efficient at constructing systems that nobody will actually know how to fix … right up until an agent hallucinates its way into a 3 AM production outage and the on-call rotation just stares blankly.

Introducing Acme Weather

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From Introducing Acme Weather:

Fifteen years ago, we started work on the Dark Sky weather app. Over the years it went through numerous iterations — including more than one major redesign — as we worked our way through the process of learning what makes a great weather app. Eventually, in time, it was acquired by Apple, where the forecast and some core features were incorporated into Apple Weather. We enjoyed our time at Apple. So why did we leave to start another weather company? It’s simple: when looking at the landscape of the countless weather apps out there, many of them lovely, we found ourselves feeling unsatisfied. The more we spoke to friends and family, the more we heard that many of them did too. And, of course, we missed those days as a small scrappy shop. So let’s try this again…
Acme Weather App

This is a really great looking app from the developers of Dark Sky before they were acquired by Apple. It’s super glancebale, has great typography, and nearly perfect information density.

I’ll likely give it a shot to see if it can dethrone Carrot Weather, the gold standard in my opinion.

The only downside I see thus far is the icon. As long as there’s a decent home screen widget it’s not a dealbreaker, though.

My Software Curmudgeon Era

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A funny thing has happened to me in my 40s. I have started to understand how people end up set in their ways. I think it’s often not because they stop paying attention, but because they have seen enough to recognize patterns and make choices based on their values. Reading recent critiques of macOS Tahoe’s direction [1][2] and broader discussions about dark patterns in software development these days [1][2] helped me realize how much of my reaction to this change isn’t just because I’m naturally pulling back, but instead because so much about what is changing is in stark contrast to what I value.

While some tech like AI has really broadened my perspective at home and at work, a lot of other opinions have really started to reveal to me how I’ll likely never come around to the “new way” of doing things. I’d like to think I am still open to new tech when it’s useful to me or aligns with my values, but I do find that it takes a lot more to get me to really change my ways these days.

Through that lens, I present you with a few hot take old guy opinions. These aren’t just gripes, but instead me settling on certain tech that align best with my values.

RSS vs Social Media for News

This is one thing that I’ve stuck to for the longest time. RSS is truly the best way to keep up with the sites and content that you care about. Heck, Michael Cantrell and I built our own short-lived RSS reader when Google Reader shut down. So I’m a true believer.

Modern RSS services like Feedbin even add another layer on top, letting you add newsletters, create filters and even add pages to read later in the same interface. You can use one of many amazing apps (NetNewsWire and Reeder are my favorites but there are a zillion great choices here), and use a service like Feedbin or just bring your own OPML file.

The important news will find you. You don’t need to be refreshing and seeking this stuff out. You also don’t need to be wasting your time on an algorithm-based timeline that is feeding you junk that it knows you’re going to react to. That leads me to my next point…

Blogging vs Social Media for “Thinking Out Loud”

It’s so easy to fire off a hot take on social media without really thinking through your stance on something, essentially yelling into the void.

Now I’m not a great writer but the act of sitting down and yelling into my own void actually does help me crystalize my thinking a bit as well as practice the art of writing. When I do this regularly I find that I am better at fleshing out my thoughts and that’s a good thing both professionally and personally.

Things like Mastodon and Bluesky are great Twitter alternatives that are much better open web citizens, but getting back to a world of writing a bit more and linking to our friends while using the aforementioned RSS more to stitch things together would be so healthy for state of our discourse. Less quote-post-dunkng, more linking to posts you disagree with and explaining why, please.

Computers vs iPad/iPhone as my primary computing device

I covered this last summer, but I just can’t fit an iPad into my life. Believe me, I’ve tried. Every time I get rid of mine I get sucked back in and buy a new Air or Pro, get the keyboard and an Apple Pencil and then proceed to use it to watch videos a few times a month. It’s not as good for writing, the battery life is good but not as good as a Mac, and it’s overall a compromised device.

It’s a little closer when thinking about the iPhone vs the Mac as my primary device just due to the amount of time that it’s by my side on non-work days, but even then I’d much rather be using a nice laptop on a comfortable couch than screwing around on my phone.

Streaming Services are Actually Not Great

I’m still working this one out a bit.

I’ve written about my love of album focused music apps before, but lately I’ve been thinking more about what it would look like to bring back my circa-2016 MP3 collection and start building up anything new I’ve added since then. What would that cost? What would I get in return?

I’ve spent approximately $10/month since around 2011 or so. Some napkin math says that’s about 15 years, or $1,800 to rent my music since then. If I stopped tomorrow, I’d have nothing to show for it. That “sunk cost” only increases over time. Ouch.

Music isn’t like TV or movies, where you consume it once and with a few exceptions, move on. It’s single-serve entertainment for the most part. We develop relationships and memories with our music and come back to favorites time and time again. I use apps like Albums and Longplay to recapture that feeling of when I was younger where I’d plow through the same album for months at a time, but still hate knowing that I’m renting my music.

What makes this hard is not that the options are unclear, but that streaming has hidden all of this labor for so long. Ownership means thinking about formats, storage, and where things live when the subscription ends. It means dusting off a NAS, ripping discs, and making decisions I have been deferring for years. Even Apple seems to acknowledge this gap, given that iTunes Match is somehow still available. None of this is elegant, and that is exactly what streaming has spared us from.

Dark mode is actually bad

This is a quick one. As I’ve gotten older, I just can’t do it anymore. Maybe on the phone, but on a laptop it just makes things impossible to read for me. Even with glasses on, it’s just not happening any more.

Get off my lawn!

The bottom line is that I am losing interest in software that assumes it knows better than I do how I should think, read, write, or listen. It’s similar to this post I put up a while back about algorithms but I think it goes even deeper than that. I know it makes me sound old and out of touch, but I suppose that’s increasingly true.

Dot: The Menu Bar Calendar That’s Become My Main Calendar

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From John Vorhees at MacStories:

So if you use a calendar app that doesn’t have a great menu bar app or live in your menu bar calendar more than your main calendar app like I do, give Dot a try. There’s a 14-day free trial, and at the moment, the app is just $9.99 during its launch window when you use the code LAUNCH, with an eventual planned price of $14.99.

I’ve used Dato for a while and am generally happy with it, but I really like the little UX wins Dot offers along with the insane amount of customization. I love apps like Fantastical but can’t see myself subscribing to a calendar app given my needs. Paying one-time for this type of thing is more my speed.

2025 Subscription Audit

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I’ve started to make a habit of auditing all of my subscirptions annually to ensure I have a good feel for what I’m paying for and if there is anything I need to drop. It’s always eye-opening to get an overview of what you’re paying for magazines, apps, streaming services and more. Let’s take a look.

Still around:

A large chunk of it is about information. News and analysis I trust enough to pay for directly. Local reporting from the AJC. National outlets like The Atlantic, the New York Times, Wired, Jacobin, and The New Republic. NPR filling the house during the day. Feedbin and Overcast pulling it all together without algorithms yelling at me. This is me choosing a slower, more intentional information diet.

Another big category is entertainment, especially sports. YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket, RedZone, MLS Season Pass, and Five Stripe Final for Atlanta United content. Add in Netflix, Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and the Disney bundle and it is hard to pretend I am a minimalist. I have essentially rebuilt cable one subscription at a time, but at least this version reflects what I actually watch. While I get to watch a ton of great content, I also get to pay through the nose to get it. If you are a Liverpool supporter, you end up having to subscribe to YTTV for Premier Leage matches, but also Peacock because NBC is gonna do their thing. Champions League & Carabao Cup are both a Paramount+ joint, and then you need EPSN+ to watch FA Cup matches. All told, my fandom in various teams costs us well north of $150 a month. Don’t tell my wife.

Then there is control and ownership. Emby for home media. Apple One and a handful of small, focused apps like Carrot Weather, Day One, Parcel, Albums, and the aforementioned Overcast. These are tools that support daily life without constantly trying to expand their footprint. They are quiet subscriptions, which might be why they last.

A few subscriptions exist mostly as aspiration. AllTrails, Peloton, Amazon Kids+. They reflect who I want to be or how I want our family to operate, even if real life does not always cooperate. These are usually the first to get questioned during the audit.

Out:

I got rid of a number of things I wasn’t using any longer:

  • Ivory. I just don’t post on Mastodon that much any more. Love the Tapbots guys, and can’t wait to give them my money for a Bluesky client.
  • Instapaper. The sub price has doubled and the features that come along for a sub just don’t make sense for me. If there were tiers, I’d absolutely pay for the lesser version but alas.
  • Foodnoms. This is more on me, but I found I was tracking my calories and not actually changing my behaviors. I’ve simplified things a bit by using Streaks instead. Seriously though, if you’re looking for a good calorie tracker, I’ve never used a better one in my life.
  • Plex. I moved to Emby for my home media needs. Plex is trying to become something entirely different than I’m interested in using.

In:

I also added a few new things:

  • Kagi. I’m sick and tired of Google’s search results becoming increasingly filled with AI slop. Kagi’s results are better, it’s more customizable, and
  • Sofa. I decided to drop my Goodreads account, so this was a good way to save and track books, but also for things like video games and tv shows as well.

Hot takes:

  • Lately I have been thinking a lot about music streaming. Apple Music works quite well, but I am not sure it feels like value in the same way it used to. I miss owning my music, curating a library, and knowing it will still be there regardless of licensing deals or pricing changes. I am not ready to go back to that world yet, but I am thinking about it more often than I expected.

Jack of All Trades

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tablet near a notebook

We’re pushing 15 years of the iPad being in our lives, and I still can’t figure out exactly where it fits.

That’s not for lack of trying. I’ve owned more iPads than I care to admit (I think I’m up to 7 overall), ranging from the original to the mini, a few Airs, the Pro, and back to the Air again. I’ve thrown keyboards at it, paired controllers to it, installed every “Pro” app I could justify, and traveled with it as my only computer. And yet, no matter how many times I try to force the iPad into my workflow, I always end up coming to the same conclusion: I’m a Mac guy first, an iPhone guy second, and the iPad just doesn’t make sense in my life.

And that’s frustrating, because the hardware is incredible. iPads are sleek, featherlight, and ridiculously powerful. They’re silent, cool to the touch (although it seems like recent versions can’t claim that as readily), and have some of the best screens I’ve ever used. Paired with the Magic Keyboard and an Apple Pencil, they feel like they should be the perfect modern computer. But that promise has always been just out of reach. It’s always close enough to tempt, never close enough to deliver.

The Identity Crisis

At its core, the iPad still feels like a product in search of a purpose. It tries to be both a tablet and a laptop, but never fully commits to either. Apple’s marketing leans hard into productivity with their “Your next computer is not a computer” ads, but the limitations of iPadOS make that claim feel aspirational at best.

There’s no real desktop environment. No overlapping windows. No persistent file system. Even with Stage Manager and other recent improvements, multitasking remains clunky. The experience feels like a series of clever workarounds rather than a thoughtful system for doing actual work. And as someone who spends their day working on a Mac, the mental overhead of “working differently” on an iPad isn’t freeing … it’s tiring.

Redundant by Design

The biggest problem with the iPad isn’t what it can’t do – it’s that everything it does well is already covered by other devices and nearly everything it does software wise is just compromised enough to make me kind of hate using it.

I did the math recently: a base 11” iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard costs around $1300. For about $1500, I could get a base M2 MacBook Air ($1099), a Nintendo Switch ($299), and a Kindle Paperwhite ($110). That’s three devices that are each better at the thing they’re built for. The Mac handles real work. The Switch is pure portable gaming. The Kindle is the best reading experience out there, full stop.

Meanwhile, the iPad is supposed to do all of that – and it kind of does! but never quite as well.

It’s too heavy and bright to be a great e-reader. It’s not quite powerful or flexible enough to be a real gaming device. And as a laptop replacement? It’s still not there. For nearly every task I’d consider doing on an iPad, another device beats it on ergonomics, capability, or joy of use.

What I Actually Use It For

A quick look at my Screen Time confirms it: I use my iPad for reading on Instapaper, browsing the web, and watching YouTube. That’s it. And that’s been consistent across every iPad I’ve owned over the years.

It’s a nice gadget to have around, no question. But when you step back and think about cost versus utility, it’s really hard to justify. My iPad Air is “best in class” for what it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessary. If it disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t miss it.

Platform Priorities

That’s led me to a broader realization: of all the platforms Apple makes, the Mac is the only one I couldn’t live without. iOS is essential because of the iPhone, sure – but if push came to shove, I could get by without iPadOS, watchOS, or even tvOS. The Mac, though, is where I work, write, and think. It’s the foundation of how I use computers. I’m sure part of this is just the old man in me talking (which is apparently becoming a common theme around here).

Ironically, the success of iOS may be the thing holding the iPad back. Apple became a juggernaut by turning the iPhone into a cultural and economic force — but it also became addicted to growth. Services revenue, ecosystem lock-in, and tight control over how software works across platforms now feel like constraints rather than strengths.

Apple seems terrified of making iPadOS too powerful, lest it cannibalize MacBook sales. As a result, the iPad is stuck in a strange limbo: it’s too expensive and overpowered to be “just a tablet,” but not quite capable enough to be a real computer.

The Workflow Problem

Working on an iPad always feels like compromise. The Magic Keyboard is excellent, the cursor support is surprisingly good, and the app ecosystem has matured, but the device never quite gets out of your way. Whether it’s the awkward vertical screen when typing, the limitations around windowing, or the hoops you have to jump through to do basic file management, the iPad demands that you adjust your workflow to fit it, rather than adapting to how you already work.

That’s not inherently bad – but for long-time Mac users, it introduces a lot of friction. And friction kills momentum. The upcoming changes to things like background tasks, windowing and such in iPadOS 26 are great, but after using the public beta for a little while, it’s just a worse implementation of something that’s already really solid – MacOS.

Software Ceiling

Even the best apps on iPad like Photoshop, Logic, Affinity and Notion all feel like lite versions of themselves. That’s partly due to the App Store’s sandboxing model and partly because of Apple’s tight control over what iPadOS is allowed to be. Background tasks are limited. External monitor support is half-baked. Automation is still an afterthought unless you’re a Shortcuts wizard.

And while Stage Manager is a step in the right direction, it’s not enough to make multitasking feel natural. It still feels like you’re being asked to pretend this is a laptop, when it clearly isn’t.

The Long Goodbye

So here I am again: with a beautiful, capable iPad that I barely use. Selling it feels wasteful. Tt’s still a joy to hold and use in short bursts, but I’d be lying if I said it played a meaningful role in my digital life. More than anything, it just clutters things up. It adds another device to charge, update, secure, and think about. And for what? A slightly nicer YouTube experience on the couch?

There’s a good chance I’ll keep it “just in case,” like I always do. But if I’m being honest, it’s time to admit that the iPad is never going to become what I hoped it would be. It’s a gadget I want to love … but not one I actually need.

I’m So Tired

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Recently I was shopping for a water gun for my son’s birthday, and to my surprise, it was hard to find a simple, sturdy one that didn’t have some kind of battery-powered feature. Not only is that one more thing to break, but I really don’t want to add yet another device to the list of things in our house that require charging. It got me thinking: nearly every purchase these days feels like a negotiation between joy and technology.

That’s not to say they’re always at odds. But finding the sweet spot is getting harder.

There was a time when the march of “smarter” items was a net positive. It made things smoother, smarter, simpler and generally more joyful or interesting to use. These days, that optimism is harder to summon. I know I sound like the aging guy yelling at clouds, but I don’t think it’s just nostalgia. The balance really does seem to have shifted over the past decade, and the trend line isn’t encouraging.

Sure, there’s still plenty to like. I can check the weather, unlock my front door, and queue up music from the same screen. But the magic wears off fast. What starts as convenience often ends in clutter. Every small problem now has an app, gadget, or subscription that fixes one issue and quietly creates three new ones.

Streaming music feels less intimate than owning a few beloved albums. Delivery apps bring cold fries, surge pricing, and mystery fees. Social media promised connection but mostly delivers outrage. Smart homes? Great until the WiFi blinks and nothing works or your fridge needs a firmware update. Even the web is a mess of pop-ups, autoplay videos, cookie banners, newsletter traps, and paywalls. Every click has a privacy cost as well.

You can never possibly watch all of the amazing entertainment that on YouTube and every streaming service out there. And yet, it’s more frustrating than ever to navigate subscription costs while fighting the algorithm that recommends more and more ragebait on YouTube. Toys for toddlers need firmware updates. Cars have become rolling iPads. Your heated seats might already be installed, but unless you pay a monthly fee, they stay cold — taunting you with unearned luxury. Most products require an account. They harvest data. They nag for upgrades. When they break, you’re not allowed to fix them. The tools don’t serve us — they serve their makers. And it’s exhausting.

Even Apple, a company I’ve long admired, feels less like a craftsman and more like a casino. Their stuff still (mostly) works great, but it no longer feels entirely yours. Most of the apps I use are rented. Let a subscription lapse and the functionality vanishes. Not all subscriptions are bad, but when everything is a subscription, it dulls the entire experience. Even products that don’t have a subscription (yet) associated with them loom over us. We’re just waiting for the shoe to drop.

I don’t know what to do about this, really. I have tried to be more intentional about my purchases in general, limiting my exposure to subscriptions, overly complicated features, and “smart” tech in general. I fully appreciate that this makes me sound like the old man I’m increasingly turning into. But my optimism around any consumer purchase has been replaced by cynicism and even a bit of dread. It makes me sad but hopeful that a turning point looms as more folks tire of the state of “smart” everything and looks for something a bit simpler.

A Good, Not Great Smart Playlist

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I’ve been using Apple Music and previously iTunes for the bulk of the past 25 or so years of the digital music era and the thing that keeps bringing me back is the more album-centric way the app works along with things like Smart Playlists. Today I thought I’d share a playlist I created recently that I’ve really found to be a wonderful way to listen to music when I’m feeling uninspired.

Often, I either play the same albums over and over or pop over to a playlist I’ve created that surfaces any loved tracks not listened to in the last 6 months. Those are both wonderful, but I was looking for something a bit more diverse while still playing a lot of what I’m familiar with.

I call it “Good, Not Great”. And the rules are pretty simple:

I then shuffle through this playlist. As you can see, if I skip a song it gets pulled from the playlist for about 3 months and if it gets played I won’t hear it again for a month, so the songs stay pretty fresh. In addition, by cutting off the high and low ends I’m giving the “middle child” songs a chance. I hear a lot of old favorites that don’t get a lot of love. This type of stuff just isn’t possible with other streaming services, and is why I’ve stuck with Apple Music other than a few flirtations with Spotify and the now deceased Rdio.

Overcast Update: Mostly Great™

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Overcast rewrite list.
Overcast rewrite nowplaying.

Big news in Apple podcast land. A new version of Overcast, my favorite Podcast app (and one of my most used apps), was released this week. Marco Arment, the app’s developer, wrote more about it this week on his site. It’s a multi-year rewrite to modernize the now 10-year-old platform, and it will allow him to use a lot of new technologies and development practices as a result.

So far, I’m very pleased with the UI updates – it’s familiar but modernized – but there are a lot of rough edges I hope Marco is able to iron out over time. Here are my initial thoughts on what I hope he addresses:

  • Relaunching the app after a while doesn’t take you back to the playlist you were on. Instead it takes you to the home screen. This feels like a regression from the previous version.
  • I can no longer swipe to the right to play items next. It’s now 3 taps away. I hope this can be re-added in some way.
  • When I play podcasts from the new “recent episodes” section, it appears to always stop after the podcast. I’d expect that podcast to be added to whatever your current playlist is so playback could continue.
  • I’ve noticed inconsistent playlist behavior – played podcasts are being displayed in playlists for a while before disappearing. Not always, but I’ve seen it many times so far. Sometimes the episode will disappear from the list after being played only to reappear later.
  • I wish I could customize what goes in the menu when you tap on a podcast or view an episode’s details. I never share podcasts but I use “go to podcast” very frequently.

One of the big selling points of this multi-year rewrite is that it will enable new features and more rapid iteration. I’m really excited to see what new goodies we’re in store for, and I’m also hopeful that at least a few of the items I called out above get addressed in the coming months.

Using Day One to Scratch my Timehop Itch

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Over the past few years I’ve tried to curtail my use of social media. I’ve unfollowed a ton of accounts on Instagram and Twitter, deleted my Facebook account, and mostly lurk in general. I’ve also deleted all of my old posts – I know that stuff is still searchable for Twitter if you are so inclined but at least by default it’s not hanging out there.

But I’m still a person who enjoys looking back at what I was doing and thinking retrospectively. When I was a heavier user of social, Timehop notifications were something I always looked forward to and got a lot of joy out of.

What I’ve done instead is committed to posting daily in Day One. I’ve been using the app for about 10 years now but have really leaned into it in the past 3 years. My daily posts don’t have to be anything super deep or insightful, but just document what’s going on in my life or what’s in my head. The app has a really neat daily prompt feature that you can enable that will either simply say “hey remember to post”, or even tee up a post idea for you to get started with. You can create templates and tag posts to help for future discoverability as well. I also have configured a monthly retrospective notification that reminds me to reflect on my job, relationship, family life and more.

Once you start writing daily, you become more mindful of the world around you. When I don’t have anything super important going on day-to-day my fallback daily post is typically a gratitude reflection. Spending even 5 minutes thinking about what happened that day that I’m grateful for brings me immediate peace and balance but it’s also beneficial when I review them years in the future. And obviously, since it’s private and only I can read the posts, I can cover way more ground that I ever could posting on social and reviewing in Timehop.

For every day that you have a post from the same day in the past, you can get a notification to review all of those posts. I really enjoy going back through simple moments as well as family vacations I’ve taken. I try to capture the little moments that stood out from those days and they bring me a lot of joy. As a parent, I know my time with my kids is so precious and being able to reflect on those as they grow up is priceless.

I think there’s still a place for social media in your life if you are doing it right, but these days it’s pretty rare that I want to go there first. Obviously, writing on your own website has a similar “yelling into the void” aspect that something like Twitter does, but I like the pace of blogging compared to something like Twitter for the most part. I also realize I just spent a few hundred words telling you that journaling can be beneficial, but if you’re like me and get tremendous value from “looking back”, a digital journaling service like Day One will bring tremendous value to your life.