Published
Weekend Reading — Can somebody else do it for me?
Tech Stuff
tinyjs Backend with full system access, a native webview window, and that’s it. No Electron. No bundled Chromium. I like the simplicity of it, but I'm sticking with Tauri for now.
Goodbye to the Hard Parts That Never Mattered AI is not burying the software engineer — it's removing layers of accidental complexity:
We got good at this work because we had to. Some of it was even fun. There is a real satisfaction in finally landing the regex or finding the one line that made the whole system behave strangely.
But difficulty is not the same thing as value.
Lapis One An adorable dedicated device for running your IA agent. At $499 it's cheaper than a Mac mini. Comes with 8GB RAM, 3,300 mAh battery, SD card slot, and a cute LCD. Plus USB-C ports and bunch of other stuff.
Thorsten Ball - What I believe about the future of software development Yes!
There’s no proof that “good code” will matter in the future. The notion of “good code” itself is mostly based on the idea that it’s easy/cheap/efficient for humans to work with. But humans won’t modify the majority of code. Think of how dumb it is to assume that “only 80 columns wide” or “but newlines here and there” matters for agents – now consider all the other properties you have in mind for “good code”.
Destroy Any Website Choose your least favorite URL and use this playful app to destroy that website. I find it a good way to release some stress.
Webscale: a chalky residue deposited on architecture when ordinary software is repeatedly exposed to trace amounts of Google engineering blog posts.
Commonly found on:
- Kubernetes clusters serving 11 requests/minute
- Kafka installations whose entire event stream could fit in a flatfile or SQLite
- 14 microservices performing the duties of one medium-sized daemon
- Globally distributed databases where all users live in the same state
- Service meshes connecting 3 services
- Organisations with 4 engineers and a Platform Engineering Team
Removal usually requires a strong solution of “what problem are we actually solving?” and a wire brush.
Severe cases may require application of a harsh cleaner known as Monolith™. Apply liberally until the architecture becomes understandable again.
For deeply embedded Webscale deposits, use PostgreSQL at full strength. Do not dilute with Cassandra.
CatPod - Pixel Cat Companion A pixel cat that lives on your desktop. It roams the screen when you’re working, naps when you’re AFK. Pet it for your happiness.
Eye for Design
Sol and Aria's websites follow the same approach (links go to their design system pages), each with design tokens, agent instructions, and a design system page that stays current because it's built from the same code as the site.
Design teams have spent years trying to get people to actually read their design system documentation. Agents read it every single time.
Peoples
Back to the 90s: The Software Engineer Has All the Roles Again I think that's a positive change even if I don't fully understand (yet) what it means for us software engineers:
Over time, projects became bigger, and so did the teams. So we specialized. The business analyst writes the requirements. The architect does the architecture. The developers implement. The testers test. And operations brings everything into production.
On paper, this looked good. In practice, it had a big disadvantage: every handover loses knowledge. The developer never talked to the customer. The architect never sees how the system runs in production. And in the end, the customer does not get exactly what they wanted.
You're still the bottleneck Attention is your greatest resource:
I love AI, but it makes it way too easy to make bad decisions. And you often won't know about it until you're fighting a production issue when it's significantly more expensive to change. If an agent spits out a 1,000 word response after a long-running task, your task is to make an informed decision using the provided context, ask questions, and think two steps ahead.
Machine Intelligence
Assaf “The feature itself is free, the usage beyond your included credit is all consumption based …”
Insecurity
Regarding Samsung bricking their smart fridges...
I once told a contractor that I explicitly did NOT want a smart appliance. His response was “you must be a software developer, they’re usually the ones who don’t want them.”
Everything Else
Barking beautiful: the 2026 Dog Photography awards – in pictures (via Sarkastic)
Self care is so important. Can somebody else do it for me
What are wedding vows if not system prompts?
Where Homes Get Weird "A bit off topic, but it's International Coffee Day and I think this is my new favourite name for a cafe. (Yes, it's a real place.)"
when you're talking about quantum computers you're not supposed to say "I'll believe it when I see it", you're supposed to say "I'll believe it when I observe it"
Interviewer: So, let’s set aside this specific role we’re talking about. Tell me about your dream job.
Me: My dream job? Ok. So, it’s at a factory, but it turns into my high school. Only I also live there? And Tim Curry is there, only he isn’t Tim Curry, he’s actually my mom. And we’re trying to pack products in boxes, except instead of packing tape, we have to use buttons, like shirt buttons. And then I realize I’m not wearing any pants, and I’m really embarrassed but nobody has noticed yet…
