> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://labnotes.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Weekend Reading — It’s a good day to have a great day - URL: https://labnotes.org/weekend-reading-its-a-good-day-to-have-a-great-day/ - Published: 2026-09-12T17:20:44.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-12T17:20:44.000Z - Author: Assaf Arkin [**Steven Hoefer**](https://wandering.shop/users/troublewithwords/statuses/117124058620288502?ref=labnotes.org) --- [**Fold**](https://jackcuthbert.github.io/fold/?ref=labnotes.org) I love this. ❤️ It's yet another one-person app coded with AI that solves the eternal todo list problem. Sounds utterly redundant, but when you're not building for a huge target market, you can make some insightful choices. Write the task, optional date and time, and hashtag for the list it belongs to, and Fold decides where and how to handle the task. Shopping list is grouped in *Today* and has *Complete All* option, while housework has *Complete All* and *Schedule All*. Reading has no due date but has a priority, while health will always show first in *Today*. Synonyms works just as well (groceries, errands, films, therapy, etc). I'm not saying you should use it, I'm saying you should learn from it. Let's get in the habit of one-person design and build better software tools — now that AI has dropped the cost of building down to pennies we can all experiment more. --- ## Tech Stuff [**Replace**](https://replace.so/tools?ref=labnotes.org) Open-source tools to replace parts of your stack. Tools like [Listmonk](https://listmonk.app/?ref=labnotes.org) for mailing lists, [Plasmic](https://www.plasmic.app/?ref=labnotes.org) for building websites, [Openwhispr](https://openwhispr.com/?ref=labnotes.org) for text-to-speech, [Better-Shot](https://www.bettershot.site/?ref=labnotes.org) to capture screenshots, etc. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789229394116.png) [**Cloud in a Bottle**](https://cloudinabottle.org/blog/launch-post?ref=labnotes.org) Making self-hosting accessible with open-source alternative that simplify deployment, reduce costs, and empower users to reclaim control over their data. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789231730530.png) [**I trust my coding agents with production secrets now**](https://jacob.gold/posts/i-trust-my-coding-agents-with-production-secrets-now/?ref=labnotes.org) > But people often talk about merely hiding credentials as if it removes the biggest risk, which is silly. An agent that never sees my SSH private key but gets a root shell on my production server can still `rm -rf` the production system. > > We may want tight controls on agents for a long time, but assuming we’ll always need them is, on some level, a bet against continued dramatic improvements in the models. > > As models improve, we may end up trusting our agents with access even more than we trust ourselves. [**Candid Tools**](https://candidtools.com/?ref=labnotes.org) A variety of tools that run in your browser: image editing, PDF utilities, various formatters, and much more. Running in the browser means you don't have to wait for HTTP requests, don't have to worry about leaking secrets, and they're all free to use. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789231049044.png) [**dif**](https://www.dif.sh/?ref=labnotes.org) Feature flags as Markdown files. Can be versioned in git and reviewable in the PR. And, of course, AI can read and manipulate them. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230968991.png) [**Software Drives People Insane**](https://graybeard.ing/software-drives-people-insane/?ref=labnotes.org) This article is really good. If you've been in the software industry long enough to get into the habit whereby patience looks suspiciously like inactivity, then you should read it. Maybe there's a way forward towards a world where software can be "done", and we stop forever chasing the next shiny thing? > Moving the kitchen in software might look like a "simple fix." The work is still costly, but the actual expense accumulates quietly. Somewhere between context switching, regression risk, and architectural erosion we find lost momentum, forgotten assumptions, and endless meetings to "get aligned." > > No matter the actual complexity, it's easy to pretend the change was free (as in beer) because there isn't any visible dust or scraps. The problem is made worse by the fact that changing software really *can* be cheap...sometimes. [**BrewUI**](https://github.com/Homebrew/BrewUI?ref=labnotes.org) UI for managing your Homebrew: `brew install --cask homebrew-app` ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789228913718.png) [**Moji**](https://alexishida.com/moji/?ref=labnotes.org) Desktop app for reading, editing, and exporting Markdown files. Can handle tables, LaTeX, and diagrams, export to PDF, HTML and even PNG. I like the overall design direction — "Open Markdown files like PDFs" — less excited about it being an Electron app. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789228947861.png) [**thrashr888/cider**](https://github.com/thrashr888/cider?ref=labnotes.org) Manage your Mac from the command line: Reminders, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Mail, Music, Keychain, Safari, and 30+ more apps. [**Open-weight models pulled ahead — where the work is hardest**](https://arjunbansal.substack.com/p/open-weight-models-pulled-ahead-where) TL;DR GLM-5.3 Flash gets a higher overall score than Opus 5 at roughly 1:75 the cost. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789228870333.png) [**RTK reports token savings, but our cost benchmarks disagree**](https://quesma.com/blog/does-rtk-make-ai-coding-cheaper/?ref=labnotes.org) > Treating `rtk gain` as money saved assumes the rest of the attempt would stay the same. RTK can change the agent’s next turns. `rtk gain` does not account for the cost of those turns. > > This is where social posts go wrong: `rtk gain` counts removed output, not money saved, and it can make a more expensive attempt look optimized. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789228674073.png) [**We Let AI Agents Rewrite a 92M-Message-a-Day Service in Go. Zero Incidents.**](https://www.checklyhq.com/blog/agentic-rewrite-nodejs-to-go/?ref=labnotes.org) > We wanted to know whether we could trust an agentic rewrite for a critical, high-throughput production service rather than a prototype. It shipped with zero incidents, a 70% reduction in running pods, and a lighter database load. Go's stronger type system also proved a better fit for agents than JavaScript, adding protection against regressions and letting us ship faster and with more confidence. > > What made it work was the test harness we built before the agent wrote a line. Here's how we designed it, and the principles you can reuse on your own legacy services. [**Opensource UI**](https://opensourceui.in/?ref=labnotes.org) An extensive library of thoughtfully crafted components: React + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS + Lucide + MIT license. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230784667.png) --- ## Eye for Design [**Product discovery now that AI is useful**](https://hjerpbakk.com/blog/2026/09/02/product-discovery-now-that-ai-is-useful?ref=labnotes.org) The image says it all. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230111135.png) [**Genuine Creativity is Your New Moat**](https://www.inventbuild.studio/blog/genuine-creativity-is-your-new-moat?ref=labnotes.org) I think people who oppose AI are well meaning, but if you focus only on the negatives, you miss the potential change that AI generated code it about to bring us: > When you give the world a new tool, with which you can make animations, make arbitrary graphics interactive, have stuff move around and be clickable, etc., etc., **you get an entire generation of designers and artists and ordinary randos—not “web programmers”—experimenting with new ideas.** People came up with autoplayed music, animated menus, all kinds of animated navigation methods, drag and drop interactions, loading screens as a creative medium, product configurators, and a million other things that JavaScript could not do at the time. And yes, I know a lot of that stuff sucked. > > But man, you don’t get *new good ideas* without sifting through piles of bad ones. Experimentation is how we discover interesting, valuable, worthwhile things that didn’t exist until some kid learned how to use the weird new tool. [**Limit the number of details**](https://design.lightspark.com/limit-the-number-of-details?ref=labnotes.org) Less, but better: > Every detail asks for attention. Limiting how many we add is what gives us room to make the ones that remain better. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230897054.png) --- ## Business Side [**Jacob Coxon: how to run an AI doomsday media campaign**](https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/09/10/jacob-coxon-how-to-run-an-ai-doomsday-media-campaign/?ref=labnotes.org) TL;DR > By the way, the chatbot cannot possibly do any of this. If the chatbot destroys humanity, it’ll be from climate change. The AI doomsday is a distraction from the real problems with the chatbot. The AI vendors want you talking about Skynet — and not talking about the data centre down the road. [**SaaS Isn’t Dead. Sameness Is.**](https://aicoding.leaflet.pub/3mtu6c5wsvc2n?ref=labnotes.org) AI is bringing back variety, but only in the layers that tolerate it: standardize where sameness creates leverage — variance where difference creates value. > SaaS did more than move software applications into the browser. > > It made sameness operationally valuable. > > The vendor controlled the running system. Everyone could be upgraded. Security fixes rolled out centrally. Features shipped continuously. The vendor no longer had to support hundreds of customer installations that had been modified beyond recognition. [**Sifa ID**](https://sifa.id/?ref=labnotes.org) A new take on what LinkedIn promised to be(\*). It grabs your recent activity from BlueSky, combined with your CV you can import from LinkedIn, and allows you to search for connections, endorse people for skills, etc. (\* Some people think LinkedIn is about resumes and hiring and credentials, except LinkedIn is just a flavor of Facebook to keep track of people you worked with at the same company or randomly bumped into at some conference) ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230380903.png) --- ## Machine Intelligence [**Your product didn't get worse**](https://blog.mastykarz.nl/your-product-didnt-get-worse/?ref=labnotes.org) Customers still like your product and keep renewing, meanwhile, their expectations may be changing in ways your usual signals won't reveal: > Don’t become agentic because AI is fashionable, and don’t manufacture lock-in because agents may make switching easier. Keep giving customers reasons for your product to remain part of their solution, because your product doesn’t have to get worse for customers to outgrow it. Sometimes their world just gets better. [**Opusfived**](https://opusfived.dev/?ref=labnotes.org) Claude Opus 5 simulator. This is pure gold, and so perfectly explains why my blood pressure dropped back to healthy level after I stopped using Claude. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230037312.png) --- ## Insecurity [**Mike Sheward**](https://infosec.exchange/users/SecureOwl/statuses/117221605259074516?ref=labnotes.org) > not only did my 12 year old just get his FIRST EVER CHECK IN THE MAIL it was a data breach settlement from a healthcare company none of us had ever heard of! Congrats son, the first of many!! --- ## Everything Else [**Winners of Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026**](https://www.theatlantic.com/photography/2026/09/winners-ocean-photographer-year-2026/688545/?ref=labnotes.org) ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789229763222.png) **[heyheymomo](https://socel.net/users/heyheymomo/statuses/117223070778870750?ref=labnotes.org)** > It’s a good day to have a great day **[TomSeppert](https://fosstodon.org/users/TomSeppert/statuses/117060005551163773?ref=labnotes.org)** > The first two hours of a 10 minute job are always the hardest. **[Martin Seeger](https://infosec.exchange/users/masek/statuses/117229995658422614?ref=labnotes.org)** > OH: "This isn't a distributed system, it's a collection of single points of failure" [**Microduck**](https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/?ref=labnotes.org) Adorable. Open-source, pre-orders open. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230761603.png) **[Wren Reilly](https://hachyderm.io/users/akareilly/statuses/117242707594650455?ref=labnotes.org)** > I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS. **[David Gerard](https://circumstances.run/users/davidgerard/statuses/117243809565603007?ref=labnotes.org)** > "the robot will do your work for you" and "you can get rich for free" are the same promise and it always means they're going to pick your pocket. [**Dave Dawkins (D. Harrigon)**](https://writing.exchange/users/golgaloth/statuses/117231997838457365?ref=labnotes.org) > When describing the big things in your world, also remember to include the kind of small, human details that will make it feel real. Graffiti. A drunk's pool of vomit. The safety card in the back of the seat. ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789230818561.png) [**Pete Alex Harris**](https://mastodon.scot/users/petealexharris/statuses/117252093769921658?ref=labnotes.org) > Remember when printers just worked? You'd send them bytes over a parallel port, and there was a manual that came with the printer to say what would happen if you sent what sequence of bytes? > > If so, you may soon be eligible for free bus travel in Scotland. [**On the Difference Between Rest and Idleness**](https://idle.news/blog/on-the-difference-between-rest-and-idleness/?ref=labnotes.org) Why the wellness industry loves rest but fears idleness, and has spent a great deal of money to keep you from noticing the difference: > Rest can be sold, because rest promises a return. Buy the mattress, the app, the retreat, the supplement, and you will work better, earn more, perform at your peak. The promise is always, in the end, a promise about your output. [**AaronDavid**](https://mastodon.world/users/AaronDavid/statuses/117248889724453804?ref=labnotes.org) ![](https://labnotes.org/content/images/2026/09/image-1789229805359.png)