Monday, Jan 1, 0001

Wisps

Takes

https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-11-10h12m13s/ My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents: [A]mbitiously create by handing an agent a HUGE task to do over hours/days [R]age at your computer as you uncover all its stupid decisions [S]culpt the app by fixing things in shorter, bursty sessions [E]njoy what you built Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-11T01:12:13+00:00 2026-09-11T11:20:40+09:00 My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents:

[A]mbitiously create by handing an agent a HUGE task to do over hours/days [R]age at your computer as you uncover all its stupid decisions [S]culpt the app by fixing things in shorter, bursty sessions [E]njoy what you built

Okay, I'm interested…

Shots

https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-30-10h59m09s/ Introducing OuijaRouter Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-30T01:59:09+00:00 2026-08-30T11:00:16+09:00

Finally figured out a bulletproof system for landing on the best model for the job. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-30-10h59m09s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-26-13h01m54s/ Engrish is so back Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-26T04:01:54+00:00 2026-08-26T13:18:11+09:00

_Translator's note: buffet dining is often referred to as バイキング ("Viking") in Japan. [Here's why.]_ Over the past 15 years, Japan had gradually improved the accuracy and quality of English language signs and guidance. This is despite a precipitous drop in domestic English language proficiency. Rather, Engrish began to disappear from all but the most far flung corners of the country thanks to the proliferation of fully remote, easy-to-contract human translation services. However, thanks to the mainstreaming of LLM chatbots and the weakening of the yen, businesses have opted to save time and money by asking Gemini and ChatGPT ("Chappie") to translate sentences and images out of context. As a result, I'm pleased to share that Engrish is making a full-throated comeback. The above sign wasn't found in some rural Buddhist lodge that had never seen a foreign tourist, but rather a luxury resort hotel built within the last five years in the heart of Tokyo! Of course, this is probably a limited-time offer. Eventually smarter models will probably spoil the fun by gathering the necessary context to produce accurate translations—so enjoy it while it lasts! See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-26-13h01m54s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-05-14h20m09s/ Chill some Netflix and Chill Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-05T05:20:09+00:00 2026-08-05T14:22:58+09:00

Finally, Netflix you can chill. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-05-14h20m09s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-03-14-08h55m56s/ Red-green rally Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T12:55:56+00:00 2026-03-14T09:12:06-04:00

I'm still iterating on my experimental Claude Code verification harness, prove_it. This week my focus has been on nudging agents to practice test-driven development. Traditionally, we called this "TDD", but which has recently been renamed to "red-green TDD" as it has been discovered that this is what LLMs interpret as "real TDD". Anyway, so that I could watch it steer an agent in a fresh codebase in real time, I opened a new directory and asked Claude Code to one-shot a terminal-based tennis game, replete with scoring and an AI that I couldn't beat. In OCaml. And it worked! It actually test-drove everything. Neat! See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-03-14-08h55m56s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-02-27-07h55m19s/ Sushi Izuki Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-27T12:55:19+00:00 2026-02-27T08:24:28-05:00

Finally got a chance to visit @izukiorlando with @instantsal this week. Generally, I set my expectations for sushi in Florida to _quite low_, especially if the restaurant isn't Japanese-owned. Izuki blew away those admittedly reserved expectations with one of the best sushi courses I've ever had—and it's just around the corner from our place! Beyond having a direct relationship with a supplier that ensures several shipments a week, what really sets Izuki apart (other than excellent preparation) is their dry aging technique. The true flavor of each fish is bolder and more distinctive, and the textures really melt in your mouth. If you're in Orlando, you've got to try it. One of the few Japanese restaurants in the United States I wouldn't be ashamed to bring my Japanese friends to. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-02-27-07h55m19s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-08-09h57m02s/ I just haggled with a chatbot Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-08T14:57:02+00:00 2026-02-08T13:04:48-05:00

We ordered a wood chest that arrived with cosmetic damage. After logging the damage in their customer support interface, it prompted me to start a chat with their AI virtual assistant. What happened next: 1. It immediately offered me a 15% refund to keep the product 2. I asked for 20% and it immediately agreed 3. I asked for 25% and it immediately agreed 4. I asked for 30% and it turned me down 5. I took the 25%, which was, indeed, immediately refunded Turns out that negotiating with a rules engine is way easier than negotiating with a human tasked with operating a rules engine. So basically, all Wayfair did was add a chatbot to the end of their existing "Report a Problem" interface that will give customers more money if they ask for more money. What a world. 🌍 See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-08-09h57m02s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-05-20h17m49s/ I bought a Doggett Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-06T01:17:49+00:00 2026-02-05T20:30:31-05:00

My friend Eric Doggett became a Disney Fine Artist a couple years back and he's currently being featured at EPCOT's 2026 Festival of the Arts. Each day this week, he's holding court to talk to people about his work at a pop-up gallery just outside the Mexico Pavilion. Myself and a few other friends ganged up on him this afternoon to lend our moral and financial support by showing up and buying a few pieces. I really like the painting I picked up. It's a semi-subtle ode to Big Thunder Mountain, a celebration of Walt's love of trains, a not-so-hidden Mickey-shaped rockface, and a tiny nod to the goat. If you're a local, swing by and say hi to Eric—he's great! If you're not, check him out as @EricDoggett on YouTube—the videos of how he works are pretty cool. I immediately hung it in my office / studio when I got home, because Eric's audio engineering talents are a big reason why Breaking Change sounds as good as it does! See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-05-20h17m49s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-01-11h13m37s/ Why is OpenAI so stingy with ChatGPT web search? Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-01T16:13:37+00:00 2026-02-01T11:22:15-05:00

For however expensive LLM inference supposedly is, OpenAI continues to be stupidly stingy with respect to web searches—even though any GPT 5.2 Auto request (the default) is extremely likely to be wrong unless the user intervenes by enabling web search. Meanwhile, ChatGPT's user interface offers: * No way to enable search by default * No keyboard shortcut to enable search * No app (@) or slash (/) command to trigger search * Ignores personalization instructions like "ALWAYS USE WEB SEARCH" * Frequently hides web search behind multiple clicks and taps, and aggressively A/B tests interface changes that clearly will result in fewer searches being executed All of this raises the question: how does ChatGPT implement search? What is the cost of the search itself and the extent of chain-of-thought reasoning needed to aggregate and discern the extraordinary number of tokens that need to be ingested by those search results? It's interesting that OpenAI is so eager to goose usage by lighting dumpsters full of venture capital on fire, but is so stingy when it comes to ensuring their flagship product knows basic facts like "iPhone Air is a product that exists." See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-01-11h13m37s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-28-05h42m04s/ Tabelogged: 蕎麦鷹乃新静岡セノバ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-28T05:42:04+00:00 2026-01-28T05:42:08+00:00

I visited 蕎麦鷹乃新静岡セノバ on January 28, 2026. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog. Shizuoka's Kaki-age is like Japan's answer to Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin' Onion. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-28-05h42m04s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-27-10h06m57s/ Tabelogged: 浪漫 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-27T10:06:57+00:00 2026-01-27T10:07:03+00:00

I visited 浪漫 on January 27, 2026. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-27-10h06m57s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-27-08h55m51s/ Tabelogged: The Villa & Barrel Lounge Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-27T08:55:51+00:00 2026-01-27T08:55:55+00:00

I visited The Villa & Barrel Lounge on January 27, 2026. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. さりげなくクール。発想力が光る。 See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-27-08h55m51s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-26-09h44m45s/ Tabelogged: 静岡かきセンター呉服町店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-26T09:44:45+00:00 2026-01-26T09:44:50+00:00

I visited 静岡かきセンター呉服町店 on January 26, 2026. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. 宮城県産のカキは蒸し焼きでとても美味しかった！ See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-26-09h44m45s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-26-08h45m23s/ Tabelogged: ほんな骨静岡店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-26T08:45:23+00:00 2026-01-26T08:45:27+00:00

I visited ほんな骨静岡店 on January 26, 2026. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. 本格的博多ラーメンは見つかりにくいですか、ほんな骨はほんな骨です！一口餃子もとても美味しいです！ See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-26-08h45m23s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-24-10h38m18s/ Tabelogged: 大衆食堂BEETLE 原宿 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-24T10:38:18+00:00 2026-01-24T10:38:22+00:00

I visited 大衆食堂BEETLE 原宿 on January 24, 2026. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog. めちゃくちゃいそがしても、10分待ってから迎えていました。お通しまないし、お得！ See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-24-10h38m18s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-21-06h45m58s/ Tabelogged: 本格板前居酒屋お魚総本家アスティ静岡店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-21T06:45:58+00:00 2026-01-21T06:46:02+00:00

I visited 本格板前居酒屋お魚総本家アスティ静岡店 on January 21, 2026. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. 「特大」というホッケ開き焼きは嘘ではない！まじでデカい See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-21-06h45m58s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-21-07h11m10s/ A better macOS Globe key Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-20T22:11:10+00:00 2026-01-21T07:35:07+09:00

The Globe key on macOS is a strange key. Ostensibly, Apple added it so users could easily change keyboard layouts to switch between different languages. In practice, however, the vast majority of users only need two "languages": their mother tongue and the emoji keyboard. The same key also serves as an underutilized `fn` button—a role that has become ubiquitous on Windows and Linux keyboards, but which has seen relatively little use on macOS. By having two jobs, the Globe key ends up being bad at both. And when it comes to changing languages, it fails because it introduces a 300–500 ms delay while the system waits to see whether the user intends to press and hold the key as part of another shortcut. This is way too slow if you actually need to switch keyboard layouts rapidly. And nobody needs to do that more than Japanese users, for whom half-width English characters and full-width kana and kanji are routinely interspersed within a single sentence or web form. (This is why Japanese hardware keyboards have dedicated, instantly responsive keys on either side of the layout for switching between English characters and Japanese input modes in a single keystroke—without requiring the user to mentally track the current modal state of the keyboard.) While I can't magically add another physical key to my U.S. keyboard, tools like Karabiner-Elements or Keyboard Maestro can take over the Globe key and make it switch layouts *instantly*. Since I already have Keyboard Maestro running, that's what I used to fix this. You can download the macro here. To set it up: 1. Open System Settings → Keyboard. 2. Set Press 🌐 key to to Do Nothing. 3. Double-click the macro to add it to Keyboard Maestro, and make sure it's enabled. Once configured, you can switch between the two keyboard layouts instantly—without waiting for the operating system to catch up. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-21-07h11m10s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-18-11h33m24s/ Tabelogged: どんぶりハウス Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-18T11:33:24+00:00 2026-01-18T11:33:28+00:00

I visited どんぶりハウス on January 18, 2026. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. 生しらすは苦手ですがら美味しいと思いました。マグロ漬けは本当に美味しかった！朝にはとても良い雰囲気 See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-18-11h33m24s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-17-12h46m00s/ Tabelogged: エル・ポジート Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-17T12:46:00+00:00 2026-01-17T12:46:06+00:00

I visited エル・ポジート on January 17, 2026. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. とても本格的！ See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-17-12h46m00s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-16-00h33m07s/ Tabelogged: とんかつひな太 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-16T00:33:07+00:00 2026-01-16T13:56:26+09:00

I visited とんかつひな太 on January 15, 2026. I gave it a 3.6 on Tabelog. 特上ロースはとても柔らかくてすごくジューシーです。旬の広島産牡蠣も美味しかった！ See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-01-16-00h33m07s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-11-14h00m51s/ PSA: iPhone Air MagSafe Battery can charge your AirPods Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-11T19:00:51+00:00 2026-01-11T14:04:47-05:00

One of the many subtle frustrations I have with the Airpods Pro 3 is that the redesigned case actually results in a slightly-askew magnet alignment, which results in several (official!) MagSafe chargers failing to charge the case. Well, while the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery may not fit any other model iPhone particularly well, it's actually a super handy way to recharge your AirPods! Just plop the fucker on the back and twist until you hear that familiar ding and see the light turn on. Might come in handy on a long flight. Secondary PSA: engraving is free and AirPods are disposable: put your e-mail address on your AirPods. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-11-14h00m51s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-08-07h43m15s/ Peter Campbell's giraffe art Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-08T12:43:15+00:00 2026-01-08T08:04:51-05:00

Becky and I are wrapping up a rewatch of Mad Men this week, and throughout the first several seasons, she'd point out the artwork hanging near the entrance of Peter Campbell's apartment, a screenshot of which I shall now hotlink from Blogger's CDN like it's 1959: (Of course, Pete Campbell is so classless that in my head canon, Trudy must have picked this out.) Anyway, every time the giraffes would show up, Becky would snap her fingers and point at the TV like Leo in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood before commenting on how much she loved the piece. _We are not art people_, and I can take a hint, so I ordered a recreation made by this guy on Etsy and hid it in a closet for a few months before giving it to Becky to unwrap on Christmas. Well, I finally got around to hanging them up last night, and they look pretty good! It helps that I had a huge blank wall framed by white trim and surrounded by mid-century modern furniture. I loved the little touch that Peter D. Campbell was written in huge lettering (larger than the artist's) across the center of the middle giraffe. Classic Pete. What a prick. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-08-07h43m15s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-02-14h20m49s/ Shovelware: pdf2web pipeline Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-01-02T19:20:49+00:00 2026-01-02T15:02:56-05:00

Problem: I have hundreds of pages of PDF catalogs in Japanese and no great way to translate them while retaining visual anchors. I like how Safari's built-in translate tool handles images, but it doesn't support PDFs Solution: point Codex CLI at the directory of PDFs, tell it to rasterize every page of every doc into high-resolution images, then throw together a local webapp to navigate documents and pages. Now I can toggle Safari's built-in translation wherever I want. Result: I'm no longer worried the curtains won't match the drapes. 💁‍♂️ This is the golden age of custom software if you've got an ounce of creativity in your bones. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-01-02-14h20m49s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-29-10h18m19s/ Meta's algorithm has me nailed Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-12-29T15:18:19+00:00 2025-12-29T10:19:26-05:00

If you look closely, you'll spot that the Instagram algorithm has successfully identified my absolute number-one-with-a-bullet favorite topic. How on earth did it figure that out? My phone must be listening to me. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-29-10h18m19s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-27-20h37m54s/ Doordash Couture Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-12-28T01:37:54+00:00 2025-12-27T20:39:14-05:00

Who is this for? STEM majors realizing they're better off running Uber Eats? See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-27-20h37m54s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-24-08h21m27s/ Is Apple Shortcuts functional programming? Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-12-24T13:21:27+00:00 2025-12-24T08:28:45-05:00

I'm working on an inadvisably complex Apple Shortcuts widget for studying Japanese language, and just realized two things that may save you some time in the future: 1. If statements are expressions: the value of the "If Result" is available and evaluates to the final value of whatever branch was traveled at runtime 2. Repeat blocks may say "each" but actually double as map functions: they return a "Repeat Results" value, which evaluates to a List of the final value of each iteration Because Shortcuts exposes such a gobsmackingly-frustrating UI for actually building programs, it's easy to assume that you're hobbled by the conventions of something like BASIC, but there are some surprisingly modern conveniences lying under the surface! See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-24-08h21m27s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-12-16h14m55s/ That's a pretty good Searls impression Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-12-12T21:14:55+00:00 2025-12-12T16:18:51-05:00

We were gone most of the day so I told Codex CLI to migrate Better with Becky to my searls-auth gem and to commit & push regularly to a PR so I could review remotely. Just noticed that it must have looked through the git history in order to write commit messages that match my own. Seriously thought I wrote half of these before I realized as much. Uncanny, but appreciated. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-12-16h14m55s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-11-06h33m07s/ Seems like nothing interesting happened Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-12-11T11:33:07+00:00 2025-12-11T06:35:13-05:00

I turned on Ring's new AI description feature for its cameras a couple weeks ago. Opened my event history for the first time since then and was kind of impressed by the honest assessment of what goes on around here. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-12-11-06h33m07s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-11-18-08h15m36s/ Downdetector is down Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-11-18T13:15:36+00:00 2025-11-18T08:20:00-05:00

When half the websites I visited wouldn't load this morning, I figured I'd check downdetector to see if Cloudflare was down, but I couldn't. Because Cloudflare was down. Distributed systems sound great, but the way the industry rushed to crown a handful of winners like AWS and Cloudflare had the net effect of merely increasing the number of single points of failure in the chain. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-11-18-08h15m36s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-11-17-10h53m34s/ Live Captions for Audible books in iOS 26 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-11-17T15:53:34+00:00 2025-11-17T11:13:38-05:00

I've wanted to start listening to books for Japanese practice in addition to just reading them, but the lack of an easy way to quickly understand a particular word always limited my ability to understand and enjoy it. With iOS 26, the Live Captions Accessibility feature can be set to a number of languages (including Japanese) and routed to the system audio instead of the microphone. So while Amazon would be happy to sell you a "Whisper" license for both audiobook and ebook in order to get a less useful version of this functionality, your iOS device can just passively be building a transcript of the book for you to review as you listen. There's even a "Copy Transcript" button in the top right corner of the expanded view! This is a great example of leveraging advancements in OS-level AI features to accomplish language learning objectives that would have been a fantasy just a few years ago. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-11-17-10h53m34s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-11-12-14h13m34s/ My lucky day Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-11-12T19:13:34+00:00 2025-11-12T14:13:47-05:00

What are the odds?* *The odds are 1 in 1.7 million See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-11-12-14h13m34s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-10-25-12h35m39s/ The new Developer Strap delivers 20 Gbps to M2 Vision Pro Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-10-25T16:35:39+00:00 2025-10-25T13:09:22-04:00

Like many other Vision Pro sickos, I was far more excited about this week's announcement of a newly-updated Developer Strap than I was about last week's news of the M5 Vision Pro itself. Why? The original strap allowed you to connect your Vision Pro to a Mac, _but at unacceptably slow USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) speeds_. This still achieved much lower latency connection than WiFi, but the image quality when running Mac Virtual Display over the USB connection was rendered far too blurry to be worthwhile. The new strap, however, offers a massively-upgraded _20 Gbps_ connection speed. I rushed to order one at the news, because, in theory, those speeds ought to offer the absolute best experience possible when using Vision Pro as an immersive Mac display. While Apple's support documentation says both devices "support" connecting to the strap, what wasn't clear was whether the original hardware would be able to actually deliver the increased bandwidth. Well, I'm happy to report after plugging in the new Developer Strap into my original Vision Pro, System Information indicates a 20 Gbps connection! Moreover, I can confirm Mac Virtual Display performs better than ever. Seriously, I don't think I'll be able to go back. The increase in visual sharpness and the lightning-quick latency beat the pants off anything I've experienced, and I've been using Mac Virtual Display daily since the product's initial release. Up to now, others who've tried using Vision Pro for this purpose have reported that the display quality is poor—likely attributable to the need for a carefully-tuned WiFi environment to sustain the connection. That Apple finally offers a wired connection that delivers the definitive experience is a huge win. If you own a Vision Pro and use it as a display for your Mac, you're already a dummy who blew $3500 on this thing—go spend $300 more and treat yourself to a massive upgrade. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-10-25-12h35m39s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-10-13-09h09m26s/ ✅ Active on weekends Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-10-13T13:09:26+00:00 2025-10-13T09:14:45-04:00

A recruiter sent me this screenshot of some kind of GitHub profile scraper. Aside from naming me as a "top 1%" JavaScript developer (which I'm not sure is a compliment or a threat…), I just couldn't get over the "active on weekends" checkmark. Lady, on weekends I charge double. 🤌 See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-10-13-09h09m26s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-20-13h42m01s/ MagSafe Ice Packs Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-09-20T19:25:14+00:00 2025-09-20T15:27:23-04:00

So here's a neat way to magically cut in half the time it takes to transfer to your new iPhone. Back in 2019, I realized iPhone restores run _much_ faster when the device is kept cold, because thermal throttling—not data transfer rate—is the real bottleneck. The thing is, a fridge isn't quite cold enough and a freezer was way too cold (phones don't work well at below zero temperatures, apparently). So the stopgap solution I initially arrived at was to sandwich the phone between a couple ice packs. Not only did it work great, I was tickled to see a few sites like Cult of Mac publish how-to guides on the technique. Anyway, figuring out how to best cool my iPhones to expedite a direct transfer restore has become something of an annual tradition in the Searls household. This year, I had the foresight to buy small ice packs and then stick MagSafe-compatible receiver magnets onto them. If you're interested, here's what you're looking at: * Ice Packs * Adhesive Magnets Those are affiliate links, which I feel like I should disclose because this website definitely counts as a journalism. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-20-13h42m01s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-18-11h01m43s/ Pro-tip: Dodge The Verge's Paywall Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-09-18T15:01:43+00:00 2025-09-18T15:03:41+00:00

The Verge is included in Apple News+, so if you're an Apple One subscriber (as I imagine, many Verge readers are), whenever you hit the paywall in your browser you can—at least from Safari's Share Sheet—very easily open the same article in the News app and avoid the paywall. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-18-11h01m43s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-17-15h30m24s/ So much for Airplane Mode Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-09-17T19:30:24+00:00 2025-09-17T15:33:41-04:00

My iPhone Air MagSafe Battery came in the mail today, and it was the first time I've ever seen this ridiculous sticker. Does this mean the product can't be taken on passenger planes? Because the only risk factor other than the product the battery itself in the box is a few layers of cardboard. Quick impressions on the product: * It is a battery * It can be charged via USB-C and charge other devices via USB-C * It can connect to phones _other than_ the iPhone Air, but generally only sideways, and iOS 26 handles it in software correctly (meaning whatever software integration Apple built for the product isn't gated to iPhone Air serial numbers) * It will attach to MagSafe chargers but not charge from them * I haven't tried putting my AirPods Pro 2 case on them, but wouldn't be surprised if it charged them See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-17-15h30m24s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-14-15h00m39s/ A simple calculation Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-09-14T19:00:39+00:00 2025-09-14T19:06:16+00:00

Whenever I need to verify a network connection with a remote LLM, I always ask it `1+1`. I'm sure it'll still raise the ocean level by a millimeter, but it seems less bad than a more complex query. I forgot I had unhidden chain-of-thought reasoning, so I chuckled when I got this: > Sure thing! The task is straightforward: I just need to respond to "1+1" with "2." It's a simple calculation, so I won't overthink it. There's no need to use any tools for this, and I know the guidelines about "Destructive Deletions" and "No Comments by Default" don't really apply here. I'll just keep it short and clear, and the answer will simply be "2." At least it didn't overthink it. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-14-15h00m39s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-03-08h12m36s/ You won't believe this Codex fork Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-09-03T12:12:36+00:00 2025-09-03T09:23:56-04:00

Reddit turned me onto this just-every/code fork of OpenAI's Codex CLI last night. Since it uses the binary name `coder` to differentiate it from `code` and `codex`, I guess we should just call this thing Coder. In addition to everything you get with Codex: - A built-in diff viewer (Ctrl+D). If you're like me, you often have Claude Code or Codex open in one window and your preferred Git UI (I use Fork) in a second window, so having it integrated is wonderful. Moreover, while viewing a diff, you can press `e` to request an explanation of the specific change you're looking at - Built-in browser support with ASCII previews (Ctrl+B) Like Playwright, it automates browsers over the very fast CDP, and it takes zero futzing to get started with it (unlike tacking an MCP tool onto Claude) - Multi-agent consensus If you're a real sicko, you can hand the same question or task to all three of GPT, Claude, and Gemini and keep the consensus winner among them Coder also has a themeable, more stable curses-like UI (as opposed to top-level terminal scrollback). It's the rare case of a community taking a heavily-funded corporate open source project and adding a lot of visual flair and spit polish to it. But I'll be damned if this isn't a _much_ nicer experience than either Claude Code or Codex out of the box. (I can't speak to OpenCode, but since it doesn't support ChatGPT subscriptions, I'm not interested in it.) See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-09-03-08h12m36s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-08-10-12h31m46s/ Shout for DANGER Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-08-10T16:31:46+00:00 2025-08-10T12:38:19-04:00

Free idea for anyone who wants it. I've been juggling so many LLM-based editors and CLI tools that I've started collecting them into meta scripts like this shell-completion-aware `edit` dingus that I use for launching into my projects each day. Because many of these CLIs have separate "safe" and "for real though" modes, I've picked up the convention of giving the editor name in ALL CAPS to mean "give me dangerous mode, please." So: ```sh $ edit -e claude posse_party ``` Will open Claude Code in `~/code/searls/posse_party` in normal mode. And: ```sh $ edit -e CLAUDE posse_party ``` Will do the same, while also passing the `--dangerously-skip-permissions` flag, which I refuse to type. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-08-10-12h31m46s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-07-16-15h10m35s/ Invoice for my first Mac (2004) Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-07-16T19:10:35+00:00 2025-07-16T15:26:49-04:00

Thanks to a bug in Apple Mail, my Gmail archive likes to revert to sort by ascending date every now and then. Today, I scanned through some of those early emails and stumbled upon this incredible artifact: the e-mail invoice from Apple.com for my first Mac. It was a build-to-order 12" iBook G4 in July 2004. Besides being set in such carefully-coifed monospace plaintext, the invoice provides an almost hilarious level of detail and verbiage by today's standards. Also, it never gets old to marvel at how much computers have depreciated over time. A whopping $1,362.00 for a mid-tier build of Apple's smallest, cheapest laptop in 2004. That's $2,317.82 in 2025 dollars after inflation. Today, the cheapest laptop Apple.com will sell you is the M4 MacBook Air (in an unusually recommendable configuration), starting at $999. Big thanks to my dad Fred for spoiling me with a second computer literally one year into college (for which he bought me a Dell in June of 2003), because I was so insistent on switching to the Mac. (I sure was an entitled piece of shit.) I really wish I'd managed to hold onto that thing—a lot of fond memories, looking back. The full invoice follows: ```text Apple Computer, Inc. INVOICE RECEIPT Please remit to: FOR YOUR RECORDS ONLY Customer Number Invoice Number 900007 9212467049 Reference Date 07/14/04 Amount Due .00 Please Reference Apple's Invoice Number on Your Remittance Sold To: Ship To: Fred Searls Justin Searls REDACTED REDACTED TRENTON MI 48183 GRAND RAPIDS MI 49504 USA USA ________________________________________________________________________________ Customer Number Customer P.O. Number Sales Order Number 900007 7346758400 7010461968 Invoice Number Invoice Date Terms… See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-07-16-15h10m35s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-23h17m54s/ Tabelogged: ハシゴ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-28T23:17:54+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited ハシゴ on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-23h17m54s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-22h50m55s/ Tabelogged: 串焼き居酒屋ゴバン Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-28T22:50:55+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 串焼き居酒屋ゴバン on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-22h50m55s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-22h23m04s/ Tabelogged: 米沢牛・焼肉さかの Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-28T22:23:04+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 米沢牛・焼肉さかの on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-22h23m04s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-21h31m44s/ Tabelogged: ピッツェリアエオスタリアダヴェッロ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-28T21:31:44+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited ピッツェリアエオスタリアダヴェッロ on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-21h31m44s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-21h12m40s/ Tabelogged: 餃子照井福島駅東口店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-28T21:12:40+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 餃子照井福島駅東口店 on May 29, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-29-21h12m40s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-26-16h02m29s/ My favorite Apple Podcasts bug Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-26T20:02:29+00:00 2025-09-18T17:17:45-04:00

[2025-09-18 UPDATE: When the issue recurred just now on iPhone, it actually _opened Safari_ to the universal URL of the podcast. That indicates this is less likely a bug in the Podcasts app than in some other cross-platform system capable of opening links on a trigger. (And the answer can't be Shortcuts, since it occurs on versions of macOS that predate Shortcuts' support for automation.)] After almost two years of being annoyed by this, I finally submitted the most annoying bug I'm currently dealing with. Filed as feedback `FB18414183` with description: > For like 2 years (ever since Oppenheimer came out)? I listened to ONE EPISODE of Script Notes by manually navigating to it in the Podcasts app and listening to it. Now, across all my devices—iPad, iPhone, and every Mac, as if it's on some kind of bizarre timer, the Podcasts app will launch to the Script Notes page. Sometimes it's once a week, sometimes I go a month without seeing it. Always happens while I'm actively using the device and steals focus. This has been annoying and confusing for years, but it's so erratic that I assumed nobody at Apple would ever look at it and figure it out. Nothing I do changes anything: I've followed/unfollowed and downloaded/removed to try to shake something loose, but nope. Keeps launching to this random podcast I don't listen to > > As of macOS 26, however, this is the first time it actually breaks the app by showing this modal dialog with no views or controls on it. Neat. 💣 See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-26-16h02m29s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-24-23h22m41s/ Tabelogged: さわやか新静岡セノバ店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-23T23:22:41+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited さわやか新静岡セノバ店 on May 24, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-24-23h22m41s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-24-21h35m56s/ Tabelogged: 鳥藤 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-23T21:35:56+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 鳥藤 on May 24, 2025. I gave it a 3.8 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-24-21h35m56s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-24-21h07m46s/ Tabelogged: 多可能 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-23T21:07:46+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 多可能 on May 24, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-24-21h07m46s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-23-23h32m19s/ Tabelogged: 無庵 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-22T23:32:19+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 無庵 on May 23, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-23-23h32m19s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-23h44m45s/ Tabelogged: うなぎやせきの Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-21T23:44:45+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited うなぎやせきの on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.9 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-23h44m45s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-23h08m37s/ Tabelogged: めしのタネ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-21T23:08:37+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited めしのタネ on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-23h08m37s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-22h42m46s/ Tabelogged: 全国ご当地グルメコート大宮横丁 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-21T22:42:46+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 全国ご当地グルメコート大宮横丁 on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-22h42m46s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-21h52m11s/ Tabelogged: いづみや本店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-21T21:52:11+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited いづみや本店 on May 22, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-22-21h52m11s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-21-12h45m14s/ Home Sweet Home Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-21T19:45:14+00:00 2025-06-21T12:45:25-07:00

What my Japanese friends imagined when I told them I was headed back to Florida See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-21-12h45m14s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-21-23h31m32s/ Tabelogged: 熟成和牛ステーキグリルドエイジング・ビーフ横浜店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-20T23:31:32+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited 熟成和牛ステーキグリルドエイジング・ビーフ横浜店 on May 21, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-21-23h31m32s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-21-23h02m29s/ Tabelogged: ラーメン環2家川崎店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-20T23:02:29+00:00 2025-05-29T21:24:06+09:00

I visited ラーメン環2家川崎店 on May 21, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-21-23h02m29s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-21-22h08m22s/ Tabelogged: 伊太利亜のじぇらぁとや Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-20T22:08:22+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 伊太利亜のじぇらぁとや on May 21, 2025. I gave it a 3.1 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-21-22h08m22s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-20-16h47m37s/ Possy's been busy Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-20T07:47:37+00:00 2025-06-20T07:53:38+00:00

Earlier this year, I announced I was working on a Rails app called POSSE Party which allows users to syndicate their website's content to a variety of social platforms simply by reading its RSS/Atom feed. Well, as of today, POSSE Party officially posts to just about everything I could want it to. This week, I locked myself in a tiny Tokyo apartment and didn't let myself out until I'd finished building support for Instagram, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, and YouTube. That brings the total number of platforms it supports up to 8. I've updated this site's POSSE Pulse accordingly. I'm excited and relieved to have realized the vision of what I set out to build. I'll be discussing what's next… soon-ish. Probably. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-20-16h47m37s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-20-23h20m33s/ Tabelogged: 魚屋あらまさ川崎店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-19T23:20:33+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 魚屋あらまさ川崎店 on May 20, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-20-23h20m33s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-20-21h21m18s/ Tabelogged: 串かつでんがな川崎店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-19T21:21:18+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 串かつでんがな川崎店 on May 20, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-20-21h21m18s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-19-23h18m33s/ Tabelogged: うさぎや川崎店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-18T23:18:33+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited うさぎや川崎店 on May 19, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-19-23h18m33s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-19-21h42m21s/ Tabelogged: 洋食や三代目たいめいけん Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-18T21:42:21+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 洋食や三代目たいめいけん on May 19, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-19-21h42m21s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-18-16h11m15s/ 28 Allergens Not Detected Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-18T07:11:15+00:00 2025-06-18T16:10:23+09:00

Sure this ice cream killed me, but think of all the allergens it didn't have! See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-18-16h11m15s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-17-23h45m12s/ Tabelogged: 新潟古町而今 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-16T23:45:12+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 新潟古町而今 on May 17, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-17-23h45m12s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-17-22h24m28s/ Tabelogged: シャモニー上大川前店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-16T22:24:28+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited シャモニー上大川前店 on May 17, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-17-22h24m28s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-22h16m51s/ Tabelogged: らーめん一空 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-15T22:16:51+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited らーめん一空 on May 16, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-22h16m51s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-22h15m26s/ Tabelogged: 華音 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-15T22:15:26+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 華音 on May 16, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-22h15m26s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-21h58m54s/ Tabelogged: ニイガタピッツェリアベントエマーレ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-15T21:58:54+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited ニイガタピッツェリアベントエマーレ on May 16, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-21h58m54s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-21h42m19s/ Tabelogged: 五郎万代店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-15T21:42:19+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 五郎万代店 on May 16, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-16-21h42m19s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-15-14h42m44s/ Death to roller bags Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-15T05:42:44+00:00 2025-06-15T14:41:55+09:00

Nearly all Japan's overtourism woes could be solved overnight if the nation simply outlawed roller bags. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-15-14h42m44s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-15-00h50m30s/ Tabelogged: 鳥焼処鳥ぼん本店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-15T00:50:30+00:00 2025-06-15T00:50:33+00:00

I visited 鳥焼処鳥ぼん本店 on June 15, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-15-00h50m30s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-14-10h11m07s/ I'm edge cases all the way down Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-14T01:11:07+00:00 2025-06-14T01:45:16+00:00

I feel like everything I try to do is so weird that when it doesn't work, I'm very often the first person to run into the bugs I discover, and I just ran into a pretty good example. Pretty sure Cursor ships with system prompts designed to prevent it from inserting smart quotes into code listings, because that would normally be a bug… but it also means the agent is constitutionally incapable of writing a script that searches for and replaces smart quotes. It has been confused about why it can't type smart quotes for quite a while now. Neat. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-14-10h11m07s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-13-10h37m42s/ Tabelogged: 丸万焼鳥本店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-13T10:37:42+00:00 2025-06-13T10:37:47+00:00

I visited 丸万焼鳥本店 on June 13, 2025. I gave it a 3.8 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-13-10h37m42s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-13-23h39m39s/ Tabelogged: しらす丼と海鮮の店次郎丸 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-12T23:39:39+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited しらす丼と海鮮の店次郎丸 on May 13, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-13-23h39m39s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-13-22h43m14s/ Tabelogged: 焼肉うしなり Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-12T22:43:14+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 焼肉うしなり on May 13, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-13-22h43m14s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-13-21h33m40s/ Tabelogged: Cherry Beans P Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-12T21:33:40+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited Cherry Beans P on May 13, 2025. I gave it a 3.8 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-13-21h33m40s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-11-21h07m06s/ Tabelogged: 12 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-10T21:07:06+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 12 on May 11, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-11-21h07m06s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-10-12h24m07s/ Tabelogged: 鳥雅 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-10T12:24:07+00:00 2025-06-10T12:24:12+00:00

I visited 鳥雅 on June 10, 2025. I gave it a 4.1 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-10-12h24m07s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-10-23h23m07s/ Tabelogged: 三河屋 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-09T23:23:07+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 三河屋 on May 10, 2025. I gave it a 3.8 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-10-23h23m07s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-09-10h38m22s/ Tabelogged: 薩摩だれやめ処まえわり屋 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-09T10:38:22+00:00 2025-06-09T10:38:25+00:00

I visited 薩摩だれやめ処まえわり屋 on June 9, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-09-10h38m22s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-07-18h44m29s/ This fucking fish Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-08T04:44:29+00:00 2025-06-07T19:47:32+09:00

Felt extremely stupid not knowing how to pronounce this fish. Asked waitress. She didn't know Neighboring elderly couple next to me didn't know. Sushi chef across counter didn't know. Took three staff members to identify it as "isaki" Was an incredibly validating moment See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-07-18h44m29s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-07-18h10m31s/ We are Rainbow Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-07T09:10:31+00:00 2025-06-07T18:09:40+09:00

These gummy candies are the first rainbow-themed things I've seen so far this Pride Month. (I bought them. They were good 🌈) See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-07-18h10m31s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-07-03h48m33s/ Tabelogged: イエロースパイス Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-07T03:48:33+00:00 2025-06-07T03:48:36+00:00

I visited イエロースパイス on June 7, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-07-03h48m33s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-07-23h03m03s/ Tabelogged: とんかつとんき Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-06T23:03:03+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited とんかつとんき on May 7, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-07-23h03m03s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-07-22h23m06s/ Tabelogged: らーめん矢吹本店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-06T22:23:06+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited らーめん矢吹本店 on May 7, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-07-22h23m06s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-07-22h15m20s/ Tabelogged: 新橋立呑処へそ静岡1号店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-06T22:15:20+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 新橋立呑処へそ静岡1号店 on May 7, 2025. I gave it a 3.3 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-07-22h15m20s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-06-23h02m53s/ Tabelogged: 静岡四川飯店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-05T23:02:53+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 静岡四川飯店 on May 6, 2025. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-06-23h02m53s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-06-21h36m55s/ Tabelogged: ななや静岡店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-05T21:36:55+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited ななや静岡店 on May 6, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-06-21h36m55s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-05-23h09m08s/ Tabelogged: 石松餃子アスティ静岡店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-04T23:09:08+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited 石松餃子アスティ静岡店 on May 5, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-05-23h09m08s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-05-21h20m31s/ Tabelogged: がブリチキン。草薙駅前店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-04T21:20:31+00:00 2025-05-29T21:20:59+09:00

I visited がブリチキン。草薙駅前店 on May 5, 2025. I gave it a 4.0 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-05-21h20m31s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-04-09h48m15s/ Tabelogged: 磯魚・イセエビ料理ふる里 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-04T09:48:15+00:00 2025-06-04T09:48:18+00:00

I visited 磯魚・イセエビ料理ふる里 on June 4, 2025. I gave it a 3.6 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-04-09h48m15s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-03-11h32m56s/ Tabelogged: くずし割烹ぼんた個室お二階 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-03T11:32:56+00:00 2025-06-03T11:32:58+00:00

I visited くずし割烹ぼんた個室お二階 on June 3, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-03-11h32m56s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-03-07h34m41s/ Tabelogged: 魚河岸直営いけす海鮮ろ組くるふ福井駅店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-03T07:34:41+00:00 2025-06-03T07:34:43+00:00

I visited 魚河岸直営いけす海鮮ろ組くるふ福井駅店 on June 3, 2025. I gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-03-07h34m41s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-03-08h53m38s/ Try this Milk Sour! Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-02T23:53:38+00:00 2025-06-03T08:52:45+09:00

An accident of language—the fact that "sour milk" sounds so unappealing—is probably why nobody in America ever considered making a "milk sour", which is just... exactly what it sounds like. Milk and liquor, together at last. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2025-06-03-08h53m38s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-02-09h22m21s/ Tabelogged: 焼肉ニューミート Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-02T09:22:21+00:00 2025-06-02T09:22:23+00:00

I visited 焼肉ニューミート on June 2, 2025. I gave it a 3.6 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-02-09h22m21s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-02-06h23m29s/ Tabelogged: マルカドール Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-02T06:23:29+00:00 2025-06-02T15:55:12+09:00

I visited マルカドール on June 2, 2025. I gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-02-06h23m29s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-01-21h21m15s/ Tabelogged: 福炒家 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-06-01T21:21:15+00:00 2025-06-01T10:47:52+00:00

I visited 福炒家 on June 1, 2025. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-06-01-21h21m15s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-31-22h34m21s/ Tabelogged: 宇都宮きそば Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-05-31T22:34:21+00:00 2025-05-31T09:02:39+00:00

I visited 宇都宮きそば on May 31, 2025. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-31-22h34m21s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-31-22h14m16s/ Tabelogged: ラトゥール Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-05-31T22:14:16+00:00 2025-05-31T08:49:00+00:00

I visited ラトゥール on May 31, 2025. I gave it a 3.8 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-31-22h14m16s/

]]> https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-31-21h46m01s/ Tabelogged: とちおとめ×芭莉式 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2025-05-31T21:46:01+00:00 2025-05-31T08:49:00+00:00

I visited とちおとめ×芭莉式 on May 31, 2025. I gave it a 3.4 on Tabelog. See the full post in high resolution at justin․searls․co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2025-05-31-21h46m01s/

]]>

Shorter-form

https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-11-10h12m13s/<![CDATA[My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents: [A]mbitiously create by handing an agent a HUGE task to do over hours/days [R]age at your computer as you uncover all its stupid decisions [S]culpt the app by… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-11-10h12m13s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-11T01:12:13+00:00 2026-09-11T11:20:40+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-12h49m42s/<![CDATA[I think the iPhone Duo might serve me well in the Post-Programming Era. Now that 90% of my work is remotely coordinating Codex and Claude from my phone, I need a desktop-class browser more than I need a full-size laptop.… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-12h49m42s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-10T03:49:42+00:00 2026-09-10T13:21:35+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-09h38m28s/<![CDATA[Normally, the best way to watch an Apple event is the TV app on an Apple TV, but damn if their use of maxed-out HDR for visualizations combined with sudden cuts back to SDR footage didn't make it feel like every shot of… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-09h38m28s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-10T00:38:28+00:00 2026-09-10T09:40:59+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-08-14h41m03s/<![CDATA[Gonna go on record one last time and say that I hope Apple names its folding phone the iBook. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-08-14h41m03s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-08T05:41:03+00:00 2026-09-08T14:41:31+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-20h46m14s/<![CDATA[Maybe it's because I got to see it in IMAX, but I really liked Christopher Nolan's Castaway reboot. Casting Zendaya as Wilson was a bold choice, though. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-20h46m14s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-06T11:46:14+00:00 2026-09-06T20:52:18+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-12h05m25s/<![CDATA[Biggest knock on Astra so far is that when I raise an issue during a long-running task, it will acknowledge my concern and then stop all work. Then I put the Tim Cook anecdote with "then why are you still here?" in my… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-12h05m25s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-06T03:05:25+00:00 2026-09-06T12:06:48+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-05-10h55m00s/<![CDATA[First Astra impressions: it's like Fable, but faster. If you value your time, I can't see why you'd drive a coding agent with anything less than a Fable/Astra model. They produce so much less rework. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-05-10h55m00s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-05T01:55:00+00:00 2026-09-05T10:56:58+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v56-persistent-mode/ Breaking Change podcast v56 - Persistent Mode https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v56-persistent-mode/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-31T06:21:17+00:00 2026-08-31T08:00:08+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-30-10h59m09s/ Introducing OuijaRouter https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-30-10h59m09s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-30T01:59:09+00:00 2026-08-30T11:00:16+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-09h23m38s/<![CDATA[Asked Codex and Claude Code to each try their hand at a tricky Core Text layout issue for Japanese vertical writing: GPT 5.6 Sol xHigh: 1,581,445 tokens and 2189 lines changed Fable 5 medium: 37,000 tokens and 1 line… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-09h23m38s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-30T00:23:38+00:00 2026-08-30T09:26:52+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-00h26m42s/<![CDATA[/goal is a special command for OpenAI Codex in which it will keep working toward whatever goal you set until it gradually convinces itself that the stated goal is not what you wanted but rather some much easier objective… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-00h26m42s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-29T15:26:42+00:00 2026-08-30T00:27:39+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-29-14h01m59s/<![CDATA[Whenever I need to eke out some extra intelligence from an LLM, I ask it to speak to me in a British accent. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-29-14h01m59s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-29T05:01:59+00:00 2026-08-29T14:02:39+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-26-13h01m54s/ Engrish is so back https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-26-13h01m54s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-26T04:01:54+00:00 2026-08-26T13:18:11+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-22-16h24m02s/<![CDATA[Talking about a conversation you had with an LLM is like telling people about your dreams: absolutely unacceptable no matter what. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-22-16h24m02s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-22T07:24:02+00:00 2026-08-22T16:27:43+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-21h20m48s/<![CDATA[Many of you sent feedback about your experiences with agents at work—but it was all too positive! I want to hear about some goddamn disasters of team & organizational dysfunction, too! Send in your (anonymous) horror… https://justin.searls.co/feedback]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-20T12:20:48+00:00 2026-08-20T12:40:43+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-19h39m17s/<![CDATA[Demoed a component of my unreleased memorization app today. Reactions included: • "Scary!" • "I kinda want the opposite actually" • "Do you want me to NOT use your app?" Things are going great. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-19h39m17s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-20T10:39:17+00:00 2026-08-20T19:40:56+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-08h13m38s/<![CDATA[Do you work on a team or at a company where most people are actually using agents in earnest? I'd love to hear your experience for a piece. Quick e-mail, call, whatever. Hit me up with my fancy new feedback form:… https://justin.searls.co/feedback]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-19T23:13:38+00:00 2026-08-20T01:18:28+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-19-21h56m36s/<![CDATA[The Opposite of Brooks's Law: > Removing manpower from a late software project makes it less late. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-19-21h56m36s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-19T12:56:36+00:00 2026-08-19T21:58:32+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-17-19h57m04s/<![CDATA[Now that I stand to gain very little financially from posting correct takes on the Internet, I find myself less motivated to post correct takes on the Internet. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-17-19h57m04s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-17T10:57:04+00:00 2026-08-17T20:00:46+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-13-17h34m03s/<![CDATA["You can't afford bad engineers anymore." https://blog.florianherrengt.com/ai-removing-middle-class-software-engineering.html ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-13T08:34:03+00:00 2026-08-13T17:34:30+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-08-11-claude-doesnt-need-you-anymore/ Claude doesn't need you anymore https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-08-11-claude-doesnt-need-you-anymore/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-11T05:35:36+00:00 2026-08-11T05:43:33+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v55-im-a-good-guyjin/ Breaking Change podcast v55 - I'm a good guyjin https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v55-im-a-good-guyjin/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-07T22:38:50+00:00 2026-08-08T07:14:44+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-05-14h20m09s/ Chill some Netflix and Chill https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-05-14h20m09s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-05T05:20:09+00:00 2026-08-05T14:22:58+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-05-11h13m35s/<![CDATA[In 2025, I bought four WD Black 8TB NVMe SSDs, slammed them in a Thunderbolt enclosure, and set them up as a 32TB Raid 0 volume for my Mac Studio. Price in April 2025: $2,199.96 Price today: $5,836.00 Felt stupidly… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-05-11h13m35s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-05T02:13:35+00:00 2026-08-05T11:16:22+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-04-12h53m45s/<![CDATA[I realize this is Very Rude, but I've noticed a lot of the people who think AI sucks at writing code never seemed very good at writing code themselves. At this point, if you can't get it working, it's probably a skill… https://www.seangoedecke.com/llms-reward-expertise/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-04T03:53:45+00:00 2026-08-04T03:57:33+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-04-10h18m55s/<![CDATA[I joked last year that by leveraging coding agents I now "played the orchestra", by directing multiple programmers at once. I have changed jobs again. Now I tell Fable to conduct an orchestra of Opus 5 agents for me.… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-04-10h18m55s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-04T01:18:55+00:00 2026-08-04T10:24:48+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-07-30-20h25m27s/<![CDATA[When I'm AFK, I want to just create issues and reply to them and have an agent spin up, do stuff, and wind down. order_taker seems to do that p well. https://github.com/searlsco/order_taker ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-07-30T11:25:27+00:00 2026-07-30T11:27:23+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-07-24-22h02m34s/<![CDATA[I'd describe my approach to work as, "light-hearted and heavy-handed." 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-07-24-22h02m34s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-07-24T13:02:34+00:00 2026-07-24T22:03:50+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v54-hot-sleeper/ Breaking Change podcast v54 - Hot Sleeper https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v54-hot-sleeper/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-07-23T02:04:47+00:00 2026-07-23T13:58:34+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/mails/2026-03/ Content Hiatus https://justin.searls.co/mails/2026-03/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-04-13T00:32:32+00:00 2026-04-13T00:32:36+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v53-pod-freeze/ Breaking Change podcast v53 - Pod Freeze https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v53-pod-freeze/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-20T18:38:37+00:00 2026-03-21T01:54:55+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-19-09h45m28s/<![CDATA[Update on using MacBook Neo for dev tasks: this is definitely a device you should to reboot daily, even without Chrome or any Electron apps. This morning, Zed (a native Rust app) was 500% CPU without a single window… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-19-09h45m28s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-19T13:45:28+00:00 2026-03-19T09:59:56-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-18-10h28m56s/<![CDATA[Using MacBook Neo for "real" development work and it's simultaneously juggling: • Running Claude Code in three tabs at once • Compiling multi-package Xcode builds • Automating two iOS Simulators and a Mac build of my… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-18-10h28m56s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-18T14:28:56+00:00 2026-03-18T10:33:02-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-16h57m49s/<![CDATA[Claude sure goes down a lot for being a product targeting businesses. Maybe Anthropic is just doing humanity a solid by helping us understand how much it will suck when the era of subsidized pricing for LLM-based… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-16h57m49s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T20:57:49+00:00 2026-03-17T16:58:58-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-13h38m21s/<![CDATA[Sent the DLSS 5 video to some not-very-online friends and they thought it looked incredible. Shame on them for not knowing that real gamers are supposed to be outraged! (I happen to think it looks slick as hell and am… https://youtu.be/4ZlwTtgbgVA]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T17:38:21+00:00 2026-03-17T17:42:13+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/merge-commits-freecodecamp-which-devs-are-screwed/ Merge Commits podcast v - freeCodeCamp: Which Devs Are Screwed? https://justin.searls.co/casts/merge-commits-freecodecamp-which-devs-are-screwed/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T12:00:00+00:00 2026-03-17T13:22:47-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-07h50m27s/<![CDATA[We blew past this milestone without much fanfare, but it bears repeating: building awareness & goodwill by releasing open source no longer makes strategic sense for many companies. Agents increasingly consume & adapt… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-07h50m27s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T11:50:27+00:00 2026-03-17T07:55:09-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-03-16-models-are-commodities-harnesses-are-differentiators/ Models are commodities, harnesses are differentiators https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-03-16-models-are-commodities-harnesses-are-differentiators/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-16T17:03:58+00:00 2026-03-16T18:38:16+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-15-15h41m02s/<![CDATA[Marathon is the first PVP-heavy game to get its hooks in me since… Unreal Tournament in 2001? I fucking suck, but even playing solo it can feel incredible when you do manage to come out on top. If you want to roll with… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-15-15h41m02s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-15T19:41:02+00:00 2026-03-15T15:45:18-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/posts/dual-loop-bdd-is-the-new-red-green-tdd/ Dual-loop BDD is the new Red-green TDD https://justin.searls.co/posts/dual-loop-bdd-is-the-new-red-green-tdd/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-15T12:00:00+00:00 2026-03-15T12:49:53-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-14-11h34m10s/<![CDATA[Pro-tip to any devs who only discovered TDD thanks to coding agents: refactoring is inherently **directional**. It's more like prefactoring—you rearrange code to make the next change easy. That means you (and your agent)… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-14-11h34m10s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T15:34:10+00:00 2026-03-14T11:41:20-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-03-14-08h55m56s/ Red-green rally https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-03-14-08h55m56s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T12:55:56+00:00 2026-03-14T09:12:06-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-14-07h19m36s/<![CDATA[Claude's electron app for macOS is such a buggy mess that I've uninstalled it and sequestered it to a Safari tab, just like I did to Slack, Discord, etc., six years ago. ChatGPT is a native app where things like the stop… https://tonsky.me/blog/fall-of-native/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T11:19:36+00:00 2026-03-14T11:21:34+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-13-12h10m21s/<![CDATA[I'll admit, it's hard not to get frustrated by all the posts about coding agents going viral lately that are saying the same shit I've been blogging and podcasting for multiple years at this point with little to no… https://blog.lmorchard.com/2026/03/11/grief-and-the-ai-split/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-13T16:10:21+00:00 2026-03-13T16:13:32+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-11-14h18m08s/<![CDATA[GPT 4.1? In 2026? Is the State Department on a budget? Is every diplomatic cable just going to have 300 space-delimited emdashes now?… https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2026/03/state-offloads-claude-underpinning-model-flagship-statechat/412022/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-11T18:18:08+00:00 2026-03-11T18:19:30+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-10-10h57m26s/<![CDATA[Want to buy Becky's iPhone Air? I can vouch that it's in excellent condition (unlocked, $300 less than MSRP). Buy here on Swappa or send me your best offer justin@searls.co https://swappa.com/listing/view/LACO93287 ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-10T14:57:26+00:00 2026-03-10T10:58:58-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-08-23h18m29s/<![CDATA[I need a new blog to subscribe to. Know any you think I'd like? E-mail me: justin@searls.co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-08-23h18m29s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-09T03:18:29+00:00 2026-03-08T23:20:11-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-08-12h54m22s/<![CDATA[Barely a month goes by where I can check the news without being reminded of the Cracked skit about two comedy writers who were hired to run a fake Donald Trump campaign and then accidentally got him elected… https://youtu.be/8qIQbydyHwc?si=COq7K0HLng3LHI1R]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-08T16:54:22+00:00 2026-03-08T16:58:45+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52.0.1-len-testa-bring-back-the-starcruiser/ Breaking Change podcast v52.0.1 - Len Testa: Bring back the Starcruiser https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52.0.1-len-testa-bring-back-the-starcruiser/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-07T18:44:29+00:00 2026-03-07T15:46:46-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-07-10h23m05s/<![CDATA[For the extremely narrow Venn diagram of people who love both I Think You Should Leave and Disco Elysium, this is amazing https://youtu.be/6OKgdTXLWIg?si=RyS95BqxFBSEVwyQ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-07T15:23:05+00:00 2026-03-07T15:24:35+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-06-15h49m22s/<![CDATA[If Nothing releases a folding phone, they should absolutely name it the Nothing Burger https://www.pcmag.com/news/hands-on-nothing-4a-series-midrange-phones ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-06T20:49:22+00:00 2026-03-06T20:52:23+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-05-15h45m01s/<![CDATA[Dear prospective sponsors, You can't pay me to say nice things about you, but you CAN pay me to not say mean things about you. Please send inquiries to sponsorship@searls.co… https://www.theverge.com/news/889595/tim-sweeney-signed-away-his-right-to-criticize-google-until-2032]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-05T20:45:01+00:00 2026-03-05T21:11:04+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-05-08h27m49s/<![CDATA[You know, a lot of lefties are loathe to admit that the oil companies have been working hard to abolish ICE since before most of them were born 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-05-08h27m49s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-05T13:27:49+00:00 2026-03-05T08:28:01-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-04-15h55m50s/<![CDATA["$599 is a fucking statement." https://daringfireball.net/2026/03/599_not_a_piece_of_junk_macbook_neo ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-04T20:55:50+00:00 2026-03-04T20:56:35+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-04-12h35m32s/<![CDATA[A lot of people were confused by Trump's immediate embrace of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, but it makes a lot more sense when you consider that he thinks they spell it "Golf" 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-04-12h35m32s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-04T17:35:32+00:00 2026-03-04T17:38:52+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-03-15h41m53s/<![CDATA[Can confirm, Claude Cowork is very cool, but if you actually use it for more than a few minutes it'll bring any Mac to its knees. Entire system becomes unresponsive eventually.… https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/22543]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-03T20:41:53+00:00 2026-03-03T20:43:07+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-02-14h11m46s/<![CDATA[The M4 iPad Air is notable, because it will set Apple apart as the only company to release a product in 2026 sporting more RAM for the same price as the outgoing model. (8GB to 12GB)… https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/02/apple-announces-ipad-air-with-m4-chip/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-02T19:11:46+00:00 2026-03-02T14:16:41-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52-skynet-anypercent/ Breaking Change podcast v52 - Skynet any% https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52-skynet-anypercent/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-01T18:06:30+00:00 2026-03-01T21:10:30-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-28-10h16m20s/<![CDATA[Was always so inspired by that speech where JFK said "we will go to the moon... or do some other stuff instead" https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/27/nasa-changes-delays-moon-missions ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-28T15:16:20+00:00 2026-02-28T15:17:46+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-02-27-07h55m19s/ Sushi Izuki https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-02-27-07h55m19s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-27T12:55:19+00:00 2026-02-27T08:24:28-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-26-22h09m35s/<![CDATA[The new Star Trek Voyager game is such a thorough simulation that I think it's convinced me to abandon my dreams of joining Starfleet when I grow up. Being a captain is no fun at all! 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-26-22h09m35s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-27T03:09:35+00:00 2026-02-26T23:51:57-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/posts/agents-are-ushering-in-the-antisocial-coding-era/ Agents are ushering in the Antisocial Coding era https://justin.searls.co/posts/agents-are-ushering-in-the-antisocial-coding-era/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-26T16:26:27+00:00 2026-02-26T11:35:28-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-26-09h16m42s/<![CDATA[If you've posted an issue to any of my repos and I never responded: GitHub apparently disabled automatic watching for new repositories last year and nobody noticed. Issues are now graveyards from Day 1. No wonder my… https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/157470]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-26T14:16:42+00:00 2026-02-26T09:23:21-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-25-09h19m00s/<![CDATA[My coding agent harnesses are designed to enable parallel serial work—multiple agents running in multiple tabs, all committing to main instead of worktrees. turbocommit does this by linking each session's commits:… https://github.com/searlsco/turbocommit?tab=readme-ov-file#continuity-across-workstreams]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-25T14:19:00+00:00 2026-02-25T09:22:36-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-16h30m08s/<![CDATA[Ever hear of the Cart of Thesius? It's when every single item you ordered from Instacart has been replaced with something else. It's a thought experiment: are the bags on your porch still your order? Their customer… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-16h30m08s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T21:30:08+00:00 2026-02-24T16:37:10-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-13h18m48s/<![CDATA[Speaking of me nailing predictions, I feel like this one from 2023 is aging like wine. Not least of which because the decades-long debate over "10x developers" has been rendered moot by agents.… https://testdouble.com/insights/the-looming-demise-of-the-10x-developer]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T18:18:48+00:00 2026-02-24T18:20:49+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-12h12m46s/<![CDATA[Are they sure it was the Citrini Research sci-fi substack that caused the crash and not my much tighter, more grounded "Brace for the Fuckening" post written three days prior? Who's to say.… https://apple.news/AaV5OdPkJR12OiHpdMqOdYQ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T17:12:46+00:00 2026-02-24T17:24:06+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-22h33m30s/<![CDATA[The startup acronym of the day is "DTC", which stands for Down To Consume. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-22h33m30s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T03:33:30+00:00 2026-02-23T22:34:05-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-12h10m16s/<![CDATA[Common feedback when I write about AI: "if job loss is a real risk, then tell people WTF to do beyond, 'generate more revenue than you cost your employer!'" Answer: if there were a process or playbook to make yourself… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-12h10m16s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-23T17:10:16+00:00 2026-02-23T10:15:12-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-07h21m43s/<![CDATA[Saying "please" and "thank you to Siri: iOS 5-26: idiotic waste of time iOS 27+: productivity life hack 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-07h21m43s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-23T15:21:43+00:00 2026-02-23T07:23:22-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-22-13h15m59s/<![CDATA[Over and over again, agents like Claude Code exhibit relentless productivity, exhaustive research, and mind-bending speed. But there's one thing they constitutionally lack: innovative solutions in the face of apparent… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-22-13h15m59s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-22T18:15:59+00:00 2026-02-22T11:22:34-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-22-11h00m28s/<![CDATA[A VP of Engineering wrote in to say my latest essay, "is fantastic and terrifying and absolutely necessary for us to be having conversations about." And that most people still, "have no idea what we're actually on the… https://justin.searls.co/posts/brace-for-the-fuckening/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-22T16:00:28+00:00 2026-02-22T16:06:49+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-21-08h14m06s/<![CDATA[Just had a really clever idea, but because I now work with 5 instances of Claude instead of actual humans—and knowing they'll all forget how smart I just was in a median 125k tokens from now—it feels kind of hollow. So… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-21-08h14m06s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-21T13:14:06+00:00 2026-02-21T08:17:30-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-20-22h12m36s/<![CDATA[It's been a weird experience enabling turbocommit on my repos and watching it do a better job titling commits than I ever do. That it preserves my agent transcripts in the commit message alongside code changes is really… https://github.com/searlsco/turbocommit]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-21T03:12:36+00:00 2026-02-21T03:14:56+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-20-11h32m41s/<![CDATA[Glad to see John Roberts finally take meaningful action on America's affordability crisis. Just like the framers intended. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-20-11h32m41s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-20T16:32:41+00:00 2026-02-20T16:33:56+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/posts/brace-for-the-fuckening/ Brace for the Fuckening https://justin.searls.co/posts/brace-for-the-fuckening/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-19T16:32:19+00:00 2026-02-19T11:57:56-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-18-19h46m59s/<![CDATA[Honestly after 15 years of hiring reporters to write but not report, maybe it's time we tried hiring them to report but not write… https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02/journalism-schools-are-teaching-fear-of-the-future-letter-from-the-editor.html]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-19T00:46:59+00:00 2026-02-19T00:48:27+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-16h53m35s/<![CDATA[If you're with me on team #CommitsDontMatter, then you might be interested in this Claude hook that just auto-commits after every turn with the title coming from Claude's result and the body containing the originating… https://gist.github.com/searls/841837b0e3ecd0461c292a0d1639a49f]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T21:53:35+00:00 2026-02-17T21:54:51+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-11h17m27s/<![CDATA[One thing I haven't heard many people talking about is that coding agents can more or less cure RSI after decades of mashing out programs by hand. Not saying programmers will be remembered as coal miners or 9/11 heroes… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-11h17m27s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T16:17:27+00:00 2026-02-17T11:53:03-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-08h30m19s/<![CDATA[Pointed Claude Cowork at two Japanese lease applications in Excel. It asked me a few questions, then filled both perfectly. (Better than I could—when I did the same via Excel for macOS, I broke the lookup formulas.)… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-08h30m19s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T13:30:19+00:00 2026-02-17T09:50:58-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-22h45m10s/<![CDATA[Bought a bag of pears 3 weeks ago and they're still hard as rocks. Really looking forward to that 8 hour window next week when they all simultaneously ripen before rotting the following day. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-22h45m10s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T03:45:10+00:00 2026-02-16T22:45:51-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-13h58m46s/<![CDATA[At first glance, it looks like Apple has provided podcasts hosts no documented way to host video for their podcasts except through a third-party hosting provider. Boo.… https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5593-how-to-publish-video]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T18:58:46+00:00 2026-02-16T19:00:06+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v51-praise-bomb/ Breaking Change podcast v51 - Praise-bomb https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v51-praise-bomb/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T17:35:38+00:00 2026-02-16T20:37:21-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-08h10m37s/<![CDATA[Enjoyed Dave's post coining Deterministic Core, Agentic Shell. Functions aren't going anywhere, but imperative code is shifting from if/else to an LLM's decisions. Lotta folks losing the thread here.… https://blog.davemo.com/posts/2026-02-14-deterministic-core-agentic-shell.html]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T13:10:37+00:00 2026-02-16T13:17:37+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-15-21h27m21s/<![CDATA[One month left on Anthropic CEO's prediction that, "in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code." Myself and the folks I talk to have already been there for awhile.… https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-ceo-ai-90-percent-code-3-to-6-months-2025-3]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T02:27:21+00:00 2026-02-16T02:30:59+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-16h27m06s/<![CDATA[One year into living with Tesla Full-Self Driving and: it's good. The improvement from v13 to v14 is remarkable. Tap Start and it pulls out of the garage, drives you, and parks itself. Another tap and it drives home,… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-16h27m06s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-14T21:27:06+00:00 2026-02-14T16:30:30-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-14h20m41s/<![CDATA[How many billions of dollars does Anthropic need to update their apps to preserve newlines on paste? Absolutely bizarre how bad their apps are. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-14h20m41s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-14T19:20:41+00:00 2026-02-14T14:21:14-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-22h06m48s/<![CDATA[I'm developing apps for Apple platforms for the first time in 16 years so stop me if this is nuts, but the best feedback loops I've managed are when I've made the Mac build the primary one. No simulator jank. No waiting… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-22h06m48s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-13T03:06:48+00:00 2026-02-12T22:09:38-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-13h37m53s/<![CDATA[I like my doctor but his office is always full of sick people. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-13h37m53s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-12T18:37:53+00:00 2026-02-12T13:38:05-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-20h53m14s/<![CDATA[Sometimes for old times' sake, I'll Google for something instead of just asking an AI agent. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-20h53m14s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-12T01:53:14+00:00 2026-02-11T20:54:44-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-19h50m29s/<![CDATA[The new No Man's Sky × Wall•E mashup looks great https://youtu.be/tPuqNYu5kBs ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-12T00:50:29+00:00 2026-02-12T00:51:52+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-13h08m36s/<![CDATA[PSA: iPhone Air's microphone is located on the left side of the bottom edge of the device, AKA where a right-handed person's pinky would naturally rest when gripping the phone with one hand. Anyway, that's why all your… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-13h08m36s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-11T18:08:36+00:00 2026-02-11T13:11:47-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-10-16h11m22s/<![CDATA[Added a `/prove` skill to my prove_it library. It pushes Claude Code to go beyond merely analyzing source and running tests to demonstrate the code is working. Example: it spun up a complete example project and ACTUALLY… https://github.com/searlsco/prove_it]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-10T21:11:22+00:00 2026-02-10T21:16:09+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-10-11h07m25s/<![CDATA[One happy accident of the fact that Claude Code Opus 4.6 turns seem to reliably take 3-5 minutes in my experience is that it's proving to be the perfect companion to a strength training workout. I just write prompts… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-10-11h07m25s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-10T16:07:25+00:00 2026-02-10T11:08:28-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-09-07h37m20s/<![CDATA[Free idea: hyperbolic_links. Let users create symbolic links mapped to HTTP resources. Since you can't literally link a file to a URL without changing the actual file system, hyperbolic would centrally handle… 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-09-07h37m20s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-09T12:37:20+00:00 2026-02-09T07:40:22-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-08-09h57m02s/ I just haggled with a chatbot https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-08-09h57m02s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-08T14:57:02+00:00 2026-02-08T13:04:48-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-07-14h04m25s/<![CDATA[My prove_it CLI is already proving valuable. Just watched Opus 4.6 complete an hourlong rewrite without me… ONLY because 6 times prove_it's own script & agent hooks blocked Claude from prematurely declaring victory. It's… https://github.com/searlsco/prove_it]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-07T19:04:25+00:00 2026-02-07T19:10:54+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-02-06-is-the-tool-bad-or-is-it-a-skill-issue/ Is the tool bad or is it a skill issue? https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-02-06-is-the-tool-bad-or-is-it-a-skill-issue/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-06T13:01:26+00:00 2026-02-06T13:18:11+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-05-20h17m49s/ I bought a Doggett https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-05-20h17m49s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-06T01:17:49+00:00 2026-02-05T20:30:31-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v50-spacexxx/ Breaking Change podcast v50 - SpaceXXX https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v50-spacexxx/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-05T16:53:25+00:00 2026-02-05T14:22:44-05:00

Short-form

https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-11-10h12m13s/<![CDATA[My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents: [A]mbitiously create by handing an agent a HUGE task to do over hours/days [R]age at your computer as you uncover all its stupid decisions [S]culpt the app by fixing things in shorter, bursty sessions [E]njoy what you built 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-11-10h12m13s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-11T01:12:13+00:00 2026-09-11T11:20:40+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-12h49m42s/<![CDATA[I think the iPhone Duo might serve me well in the Post-Programming Era. Now that 90% of my work is remotely coordinating Codex and Claude from my phone, I need a desktop-class browser more than I need a full-size laptop. Carrying your computer just interrupts the agents, anyway. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-12h49m42s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-10T03:49:42+00:00 2026-09-10T13:21:35+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-09h38m28s/<![CDATA[Normally, the best way to watch an Apple event is the TV app on an Apple TV, but damn if their use of maxed-out HDR for visualizations combined with sudden cuts back to SDR footage didn't make it feel like every shot of a human was dim and washed out. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-10-09h38m28s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-10T00:38:28+00:00 2026-09-10T09:40:59+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-08-14h41m03s/<![CDATA[Gonna go on record one last time and say that I hope Apple names its folding phone the iBook. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-08-14h41m03s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-08T05:41:03+00:00 2026-09-08T14:41:31+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-20h46m14s/<![CDATA[Maybe it's because I got to see it in IMAX, but I really liked Christopher Nolan's Castaway reboot. Casting Zendaya as Wilson was a bold choice, though. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-20h46m14s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-06T11:46:14+00:00 2026-09-06T20:52:18+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-12h05m25s/<![CDATA[Biggest knock on Astra so far is that when I raise an issue during a long-running task, it will acknowledge my concern and then stop all work. Then I put the Tim Cook anecdote with "then why are you still here?" in my AGENTS.md and that seems to have fixed it. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-06-12h05m25s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-06T03:05:25+00:00 2026-09-06T12:06:48+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-05-10h55m00s/<![CDATA[First Astra impressions: it's like Fable, but faster. If you value your time, I can't see why you'd drive a coding agent with anything less than a Fable/Astra model. They produce so much less rework. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-05-10h55m00s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-05T01:55:00+00:00 2026-09-05T10:56:58+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v56-persistent-mode/ Breaking Change podcast v56 - Persistent Mode https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v56-persistent-mode/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-31T06:21:17+00:00 2026-08-31T08:00:08+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-30-10h59m09s/ Introducing OuijaRouter https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-30-10h59m09s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-30T01:59:09+00:00 2026-08-30T11:00:16+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-09h23m38s/<![CDATA[Asked Codex and Claude Code to each try their hand at a tricky Core Text layout issue for Japanese vertical writing: GPT 5.6 Sol xHigh: 1,581,445 tokens and 2189 lines changed Fable 5 medium: 37,000 tokens and 1 line changed Fable's solution worked, Codex just made a mess. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-09h23m38s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-30T00:23:38+00:00 2026-08-30T09:26:52+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-00h26m42s/<![CDATA[/goal is a special command for OpenAI Codex in which it will keep working toward whatever goal you set until it gradually convinces itself that the stated goal is not what you wanted but rather some much easier objective was the real goal all along. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-30-00h26m42s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-29T15:26:42+00:00 2026-08-30T00:27:39+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-29-14h01m59s/<![CDATA[Whenever I need to eke out some extra intelligence from an LLM, I ask it to speak to me in a British accent. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-29-14h01m59s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-29T05:01:59+00:00 2026-08-29T14:02:39+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-26-13h01m54s/ Engrish is so back https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-26-13h01m54s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-26T04:01:54+00:00 2026-08-26T13:18:11+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-22-16h24m02s/<![CDATA[Talking about a conversation you had with an LLM is like telling people about your dreams: absolutely unacceptable no matter what. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-22-16h24m02s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-22T07:24:02+00:00 2026-08-22T16:27:43+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-21h20m48s/<![CDATA[Many of you sent feedback about your experiences with agents at work—but it was all too positive! I want to hear about some goddamn disasters of team & organizational dysfunction, too! Send in your (anonymous) horror stories, please! https://justin.searls.co/feedback ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-20T12:20:48+00:00 2026-08-20T12:40:43+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-19h39m17s/<![CDATA[Demoed a component of my unreleased memorization app today. Reactions included: • "Scary!" • "I kinda want the opposite actually" • "Do you want me to NOT use your app?" Things are going great. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-19h39m17s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-20T10:39:17+00:00 2026-08-20T19:40:56+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-20-08h13m38s/<![CDATA[Do you work on a team or at a company where most people are actually using agents in earnest? I'd love to hear your experience for a piece. Quick e-mail, call, whatever. Hit me up with my fancy new feedback form: https://justin.searls.co/feedback ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-19T23:13:38+00:00 2026-08-20T01:18:28+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-19-21h56m36s/<![CDATA[The Opposite of Brooks's Law: > Removing manpower from a late software project makes it less late. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-19-21h56m36s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-19T12:56:36+00:00 2026-08-19T21:58:32+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-17-19h57m04s/<![CDATA[Now that I stand to gain very little financially from posting correct takes on the Internet, I find myself less motivated to post correct takes on the Internet. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-17-19h57m04s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-17T10:57:04+00:00 2026-08-17T20:00:46+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-13-17h34m03s/<![CDATA["You can't afford bad engineers anymore." https://blog.florianherrengt.com/ai-removing-middle-class-software-engineering.html ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-13T08:34:03+00:00 2026-08-13T17:34:30+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-08-11-claude-doesnt-need-you-anymore/ Claude doesn't need you anymore https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-08-11-claude-doesnt-need-you-anymore/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-11T05:35:36+00:00 2026-08-11T05:43:33+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v55-im-a-good-guyjin/ Breaking Change podcast v55 - I'm a good guyjin https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v55-im-a-good-guyjin/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-07T22:38:50+00:00 2026-08-08T07:14:44+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-05-14h20m09s/ Chill some Netflix and Chill https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-08-05-14h20m09s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-05T05:20:09+00:00 2026-08-05T14:22:58+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-05-11h13m35s/<![CDATA[In 2025, I bought four WD Black 8TB NVMe SSDs, slammed them in a Thunderbolt enclosure, and set them up as a 32TB Raid 0 volume for my Mac Studio. Price in April 2025: $2,199.96 Price today: $5,836.00 Felt stupidly expensive at the time, but now I feel like a genius. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-05-11h13m35s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-05T02:13:35+00:00 2026-08-05T11:16:22+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-04-12h53m45s/<![CDATA[I realize this is Very Rude, but I've noticed a lot of the people who think AI sucks at writing code never seemed very good at writing code themselves. At this point, if you can't get it working, it's probably a skill issue. https://www.seangoedecke.com/llms-reward-expertise/ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-04T03:53:45+00:00 2026-08-04T03:57:33+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-04-10h18m55s/<![CDATA[I joked last year that by leveraging coding agents I now "played the orchestra", by directing multiple programmers at once. I have changed jobs again. Now I tell Fable to conduct an orchestra of Opus 5 agents for me. It's closed 55 GitHub issues in 6 hours across my iOS apps. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-08-04-10h18m55s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-04T01:18:55+00:00 2026-08-04T10:24:48+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-07-30-20h25m27s/<![CDATA[When I'm AFK, I want to just create issues and reply to them and have an agent spin up, do stuff, and wind down. order_taker seems to do that p well. https://github.com/searlsco/order_taker ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-07-30T11:25:27+00:00 2026-07-30T11:27:23+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-07-24-22h02m34s/<![CDATA[I'd describe my approach to work as, "light-hearted and heavy-handed." 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-07-24-22h02m34s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-07-24T13:02:34+00:00 2026-07-24T22:03:50+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v54-hot-sleeper/ Breaking Change podcast v54 - Hot Sleeper https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v54-hot-sleeper/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-07-23T02:04:47+00:00 2026-07-23T13:58:34+09:00 https://justin.searls.co/mails/2026-03/ Content Hiatus https://justin.searls.co/mails/2026-03/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-04-13T00:32:32+00:00 2026-04-13T00:32:36+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v53-pod-freeze/ Breaking Change podcast v53 - Pod Freeze https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v53-pod-freeze/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-20T18:38:37+00:00 2026-03-21T01:54:55+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-19-09h45m28s/<![CDATA[Update on using MacBook Neo for dev tasks: this is definitely a device you should to reboot daily, even without Chrome or any Electron apps. This morning, Zed (a native Rust app) was 500% CPU without a single window open, 3 macOS internal daemons had crashed, 800ms input lag. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-19-09h45m28s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-19T13:45:28+00:00 2026-03-19T09:59:56-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-18-10h28m56s/<![CDATA[Using MacBook Neo for "real" development work and it's simultaneously juggling: • Running Claude Code in three tabs at once • Compiling multi-package Xcode builds • Automating two iOS Simulators and a Mac build of my app Hasn't missed a beat. Not bad for a phone chip. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-18-10h28m56s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-18T14:28:56+00:00 2026-03-18T10:33:02-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-16h57m49s/<![CDATA[Claude sure goes down a lot for being a product targeting businesses. Maybe Anthropic is just doing humanity a solid by helping us understand how much it will suck when the era of subsidized pricing for LLM-based products ends. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-16h57m49s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T20:57:49+00:00 2026-03-17T16:58:58-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-13h38m21s/<![CDATA[Sent the DLSS 5 video to some not-very-online friends and they thought it looked incredible. Shame on them for not knowing that real gamers are supposed to be outraged! (I happen to think it looks slick as hell and am looking forward to using it.) https://youtu.be/4ZlwTtgbgVA ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T17:38:21+00:00 2026-03-17T17:42:13+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/merge-commits-freecodecamp-which-devs-are-screwed/ Merge Commits podcast v - freeCodeCamp: Which Devs Are Screwed? https://justin.searls.co/casts/merge-commits-freecodecamp-which-devs-are-screwed/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T12:00:00+00:00 2026-03-17T13:22:47-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-07h50m27s/<![CDATA[We blew past this milestone without much fanfare, but it bears repeating: building awareness & goodwill by releasing open source no longer makes strategic sense for many companies. Agents increasingly consume & adapt OSS—often without users' knowledge—and cut out the creator. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-17-07h50m27s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-17T11:50:27+00:00 2026-03-17T07:55:09-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-03-16-models-are-commodities-harnesses-are-differentiators/ Models are commodities, harnesses are differentiators https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-03-16-models-are-commodities-harnesses-are-differentiators/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-16T17:03:58+00:00 2026-03-16T18:38:16+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-15-15h41m02s/<![CDATA[Marathon is the first PVP-heavy game to get its hooks in me since… Unreal Tournament in 2001? I fucking suck, but even playing solo it can feel incredible when you do manage to come out on top. If you want to roll with me, I'm Searls#2430 (or just email me justin@searls.co) 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-15-15h41m02s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-15T19:41:02+00:00 2026-03-15T15:45:18-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/posts/dual-loop-bdd-is-the-new-red-green-tdd/ Dual-loop BDD is the new Red-green TDD https://justin.searls.co/posts/dual-loop-bdd-is-the-new-red-green-tdd/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-15T12:00:00+00:00 2026-03-15T12:49:53-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-14-11h34m10s/<![CDATA[Pro-tip to any devs who only discovered TDD thanks to coding agents: refactoring is inherently **directional**. It's more like prefactoring—you rearrange code to make the next change easy. That means you (and your agent) should know the next planned change before you refactor! 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-14-11h34m10s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T15:34:10+00:00 2026-03-14T11:41:20-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-03-14-08h55m56s/ Red-green rally https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-03-14-08h55m56s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T12:55:56+00:00 2026-03-14T09:12:06-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-14-07h19m36s/<![CDATA[Claude's electron app for macOS is such a buggy mess that I've uninstalled it and sequestered it to a Safari tab, just like I did to Slack, Discord, etc., six years ago. ChatGPT is a native app where things like the stop button actually work (usually) https://tonsky.me/blog/fall-of-native/ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-14T11:19:36+00:00 2026-03-14T11:21:34+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-13-12h10m21s/<![CDATA[I'll admit, it's hard not to get frustrated by all the posts about coding agents going viral lately that are saying the same shit I've been blogging and podcasting for multiple years at this point with little to no fanfare. https://blog.lmorchard.com/2026/03/11/grief-and-the-ai-split/ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-13T16:10:21+00:00 2026-03-13T16:13:32+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-11-14h18m08s/<![CDATA[GPT 4.1? In 2026? Is the State Department on a budget? Is every diplomatic cable just going to have 300 space-delimited emdashes now? https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2026/03/state-offloads-claude-underpinning-model-flagship-statechat/412022/ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-11T18:18:08+00:00 2026-03-11T18:19:30+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-10-10h57m26s/<![CDATA[Want to buy Becky's iPhone Air? I can vouch that it's in excellent condition (unlocked, $300 less than MSRP). Buy here on Swappa or send me your best offer justin@searls.co https://swappa.com/listing/view/LACO93287 ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-10T14:57:26+00:00 2026-03-10T10:58:58-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-08-23h18m29s/<![CDATA[I need a new blog to subscribe to. Know any you think I'd like? E-mail me: justin@searls.co 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-08-23h18m29s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-09T03:18:29+00:00 2026-03-08T23:20:11-04:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-08-12h54m22s/<![CDATA[Barely a month goes by where I can check the news without being reminded of the Cracked skit about two comedy writers who were hired to run a fake Donald Trump campaign and then accidentally got him elected https://youtu.be/8qIQbydyHwc?si=COq7K0HLng3LHI1R ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-08T16:54:22+00:00 2026-03-08T16:58:45+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52.0.1-len-testa-bring-back-the-starcruiser/ Breaking Change podcast v52.0.1 - Len Testa: Bring back the Starcruiser https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52.0.1-len-testa-bring-back-the-starcruiser/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-07T18:44:29+00:00 2026-03-07T15:46:46-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-07-10h23m05s/<![CDATA[For the extremely narrow Venn diagram of people who love both I Think You Should Leave and Disco Elysium, this is amazing https://youtu.be/6OKgdTXLWIg?si=RyS95BqxFBSEVwyQ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-07T15:23:05+00:00 2026-03-07T15:24:35+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-06-15h49m22s/<![CDATA[If Nothing releases a folding phone, they should absolutely name it the Nothing Burger https://www.pcmag.com/news/hands-on-nothing-4a-series-midrange-phones ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-06T20:49:22+00:00 2026-03-06T20:52:23+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-05-15h45m01s/<![CDATA[Dear prospective sponsors, You can't pay me to say nice things about you, but you CAN pay me to not say mean things about you. Please send inquiries to sponsorship@searls.co https://www.theverge.com/news/889595/tim-sweeney-signed-away-his-right-to-criticize-google-until-2032 ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-05T20:45:01+00:00 2026-03-05T21:11:04+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-05-08h27m49s/<![CDATA[You know, a lot of lefties are loathe to admit that the oil companies have been working hard to abolish ICE since before most of them were born 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-05-08h27m49s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-05T13:27:49+00:00 2026-03-05T08:28:01-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-04-15h55m50s/<![CDATA["$599 is a fucking statement." https://daringfireball.net/2026/03/599_not_a_piece_of_junk_macbook_neo ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-04T20:55:50+00:00 2026-03-04T20:56:35+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-04-12h35m32s/<![CDATA[A lot of people were confused by Trump's immediate embrace of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, but it makes a lot more sense when you consider that he thinks they spell it "Golf" 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-04-12h35m32s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-04T17:35:32+00:00 2026-03-04T17:38:52+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-03-15h41m53s/<![CDATA[Can confirm, Claude Cowork is very cool, but if you actually use it for more than a few minutes it'll bring any Mac to its knees. Entire system becomes unresponsive eventually. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/22543 ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-03T20:41:53+00:00 2026-03-03T20:43:07+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-03-02-14h11m46s/<![CDATA[The M4 iPad Air is notable, because it will set Apple apart as the only company to release a product in 2026 sporting more RAM for the same price as the outgoing model. (8GB to 12GB) https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/02/apple-announces-ipad-air-with-m4-chip/ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-02T19:11:46+00:00 2026-03-02T14:16:41-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52-skynet-anypercent/ Breaking Change podcast v52 - Skynet any% https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v52-skynet-anypercent/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-03-01T18:06:30+00:00 2026-03-01T21:10:30-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-28-10h16m20s/<![CDATA[Was always so inspired by that speech where JFK said "we will go to the moon... or do some other stuff instead" https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/27/nasa-changes-delays-moon-missions ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-28T15:16:20+00:00 2026-02-28T15:17:46+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-02-27-07h55m19s/ Sushi Izuki https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-02-27-07h55m19s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-27T12:55:19+00:00 2026-02-27T08:24:28-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-26-22h09m35s/<![CDATA[The new Star Trek Voyager game is such a thorough simulation that I think it's convinced me to abandon my dreams of joining Starfleet when I grow up. Being a captain is no fun at all! 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-26-22h09m35s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-27T03:09:35+00:00 2026-02-26T23:51:57-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/posts/agents-are-ushering-in-the-antisocial-coding-era/ Agents are ushering in the Antisocial Coding era https://justin.searls.co/posts/agents-are-ushering-in-the-antisocial-coding-era/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-26T16:26:27+00:00 2026-02-26T11:35:28-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-26-09h16m42s/<![CDATA[If you've posted an issue to any of my repos and I never responded: GitHub apparently disabled automatic watching for new repositories last year and nobody noticed. Issues are now graveyards from Day 1. No wonder my inbox has been so peaceful! https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/157470 ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-26T14:16:42+00:00 2026-02-26T09:23:21-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-25-09h19m00s/<![CDATA[My coding agent harnesses are designed to enable parallel serial work—multiple agents running in multiple tabs, all committing to main instead of worktrees. turbocommit does this by linking each session's commits: https://github.com/searlsco/turbocommit?tab=readme-ov-file#continuity-across-workstreams ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-25T14:19:00+00:00 2026-02-25T09:22:36-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-16h30m08s/<![CDATA[Ever hear of the Cart of Thesius? It's when every single item you ordered from Instacart has been replaced with something else. It's a thought experiment: are the bags on your porch still your order? Their customer support contends that it is. I feel pretty strongly that it's not. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-16h30m08s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T21:30:08+00:00 2026-02-24T16:37:10-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-13h18m48s/<![CDATA[Speaking of me nailing predictions, I feel like this one from 2023 is aging like wine. Not least of which because the decades-long debate over "10x developers" has been rendered moot by agents. https://testdouble.com/insights/the-looming-demise-of-the-10x-developer ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T18:18:48+00:00 2026-02-24T18:20:49+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-24-12h12m46s/<![CDATA[Are they sure it was the Citrini Research sci-fi substack that caused the crash and not my much tighter, more grounded "Brace for the Fuckening" post written three days prior? Who's to say. https://apple.news/AaV5OdPkJR12OiHpdMqOdYQ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T17:12:46+00:00 2026-02-24T17:24:06+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-22h33m30s/<![CDATA[The startup acronym of the day is "DTC", which stands for Down To Consume. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-22h33m30s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-24T03:33:30+00:00 2026-02-23T22:34:05-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-12h10m16s/<![CDATA[Common feedback when I write about AI: "if job loss is a real risk, then tell people WTF to do beyond, 'generate more revenue than you cost your employer!'" Answer: if there were a process or playbook to make yourself irreplaceable, AI agents would follow it. And replace you. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-12h10m16s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-23T17:10:16+00:00 2026-02-23T10:15:12-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-07h21m43s/<![CDATA[Saying "please" and "thank you to Siri: iOS 5-26: idiotic waste of time iOS 27+: productivity life hack 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-23-07h21m43s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-23T15:21:43+00:00 2026-02-23T07:23:22-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-22-13h15m59s/<![CDATA[Over and over again, agents like Claude Code exhibit relentless productivity, exhaustive research, and mind-bending speed. But there's one thing they constitutionally lack: innovative solutions in the face of apparent obstacles. Humans who lack that gear are absolutely fucked. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-22-13h15m59s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-22T18:15:59+00:00 2026-02-22T11:22:34-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-22-11h00m28s/<![CDATA[A VP of Engineering wrote in to say my latest essay, "is fantastic and terrifying and absolutely necessary for us to be having conversations about." And that most people still, "have no idea what we're actually on the precipice of." https://justin.searls.co/posts/brace-for-the-fuckening/ ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-22T16:00:28+00:00 2026-02-22T16:06:49+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-21-08h14m06s/<![CDATA[Just had a really clever idea, but because I now work with 5 instances of Claude instead of actual humans—and knowing they'll all forget how smart I just was in a median 125k tokens from now—it feels kind of hollow. So FYI, I just had a great fucking idea. Feelin' cute. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-21-08h14m06s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-21T13:14:06+00:00 2026-02-21T08:17:30-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-20-22h12m36s/<![CDATA[It's been a weird experience enabling turbocommit on my repos and watching it do a better job titling commits than I ever do. That it preserves my agent transcripts in the commit message alongside code changes is really nice! https://github.com/searlsco/turbocommit ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-21T03:12:36+00:00 2026-02-21T03:14:56+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-20-11h32m41s/<![CDATA[Glad to see John Roberts finally take meaningful action on America's affordability crisis. Just like the framers intended. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-20-11h32m41s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-20T16:32:41+00:00 2026-02-20T16:33:56+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/posts/brace-for-the-fuckening/ Brace for the Fuckening https://justin.searls.co/posts/brace-for-the-fuckening/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-19T16:32:19+00:00 2026-02-19T11:57:56-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-18-19h46m59s/<![CDATA[Honestly after 15 years of hiring reporters to write but not report, maybe it's time we tried hiring them to report but not write https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02/journalism-schools-are-teaching-fear-of-the-future-letter-from-the-editor.html ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-19T00:46:59+00:00 2026-02-19T00:48:27+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-16h53m35s/<![CDATA[If you're with me on team #CommitsDontMatter, then you might be interested in this Claude hook that just auto-commits after every turn with the title coming from Claude's result and the body containing the originating prompt https://gist.github.com/searls/841837b0e3ecd0461c292a0d1639a49f ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T21:53:35+00:00 2026-02-17T21:54:51+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-11h17m27s/<![CDATA[One thing I haven't heard many people talking about is that coding agents can more or less cure RSI after decades of mashing out programs by hand. Not saying programmers will be remembered as coal miners or 9/11 heroes or anything, but I'm not _not_ saying that. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-11h17m27s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T16:17:27+00:00 2026-02-17T11:53:03-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-08h30m19s/<![CDATA[Pointed Claude Cowork at two Japanese lease applications in Excel. It asked me a few questions, then filled both perfectly. (Better than I could—when I did the same via Excel for macOS, I broke the lookup formulas.) Welcome to the identity crisis, fellow office workers! 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-17-08h30m19s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T13:30:19+00:00 2026-02-17T09:50:58-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-22h45m10s/<![CDATA[Bought a bag of pears 3 weeks ago and they're still hard as rocks. Really looking forward to that 8 hour window next week when they all simultaneously ripen before rotting the following day. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-22h45m10s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-17T03:45:10+00:00 2026-02-16T22:45:51-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-13h58m46s/<![CDATA[At first glance, it looks like Apple has provided podcasts hosts no documented way to host video for their podcasts except through a third-party hosting provider. Boo. https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5593-how-to-publish-video ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T18:58:46+00:00 2026-02-16T19:00:06+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v51-praise-bomb/ Breaking Change podcast v51 - Praise-bomb https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v51-praise-bomb/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T17:35:38+00:00 2026-02-16T20:37:21-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-16-08h10m37s/<![CDATA[Enjoyed Dave's post coining Deterministic Core, Agentic Shell. Functions aren't going anywhere, but imperative code is shifting from if/else to an LLM's decisions. Lotta folks losing the thread here. https://blog.davemo.com/posts/2026-02-14-deterministic-core-agentic-shell.html ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T13:10:37+00:00 2026-02-16T13:17:37+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-15-21h27m21s/<![CDATA[One month left on Anthropic CEO's prediction that, "in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code." Myself and the folks I talk to have already been there for awhile. https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-ceo-ai-90-percent-code-3-to-6-months-2025-3 ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-16T02:27:21+00:00 2026-02-16T02:30:59+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-16h27m06s/<![CDATA[One year into living with Tesla Full-Self Driving and: it's good. The improvement from v13 to v14 is remarkable. Tap Start and it pulls out of the garage, drives you, and parks itself. Another tap and it drives home, opens garage, parks itself. More advanced than people assume. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-16h27m06s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-14T21:27:06+00:00 2026-02-14T16:30:30-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-14h20m41s/<![CDATA[How many billions of dollars does Anthropic need to update their apps to preserve newlines on paste? Absolutely bizarre how bad their apps are. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-14-14h20m41s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-14T19:20:41+00:00 2026-02-14T14:21:14-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-22h06m48s/<![CDATA[I'm developing apps for Apple platforms for the first time in 16 years so stop me if this is nuts, but the best feedback loops I've managed are when I've made the Mac build the primary one. No simulator jank. No waiting on devices. Claude Code doing a better job self-verifying 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-22h06m48s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-13T03:06:48+00:00 2026-02-12T22:09:38-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-13h37m53s/<![CDATA[I like my doctor but his office is always full of sick people. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-12-13h37m53s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-12T18:37:53+00:00 2026-02-12T13:38:05-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-20h53m14s/<![CDATA[Sometimes for old times' sake, I'll Google for something instead of just asking an AI agent. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-20h53m14s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-12T01:53:14+00:00 2026-02-11T20:54:44-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-19h50m29s/<![CDATA[The new No Man's Sky × Wall•E mashup looks great https://youtu.be/tPuqNYu5kBs ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-12T00:50:29+00:00 2026-02-12T00:51:52+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-13h08m36s/<![CDATA[PSA: iPhone Air's microphone is located on the left side of the bottom edge of the device, AKA where a right-handed person's pinky would naturally rest when gripping the phone with one hand. Anyway, that's why all your videos sound like shit. You're holding it wrong. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-11-13h08m36s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-11T18:08:36+00:00 2026-02-11T13:11:47-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-10-16h11m22s/<![CDATA[Added a `/prove` skill to my prove_it library. It pushes Claude Code to go beyond merely analyzing source and running tests to demonstrate the code is working. Example: it spun up a complete example project and ACTUALLY proved my cached test runner works https://github.com/searlsco/prove_it ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-10T21:11:22+00:00 2026-02-10T21:16:09+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-10-11h07m25s/<![CDATA[One happy accident of the fact that Claude Code Opus 4.6 turns seem to reliably take 3-5 minutes in my experience is that it's proving to be the perfect companion to a strength training workout. I just write prompts between sets. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-10-11h07m25s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-10T16:07:25+00:00 2026-02-10T11:08:28-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-09-07h37m20s/<![CDATA[Free idea: hyperbolic_links. Let users create symbolic links mapped to HTTP resources. Since you can't literally link a file to a URL without changing the actual file system, hyperbolic would centrally handle journaling, cache/etag, updates. 🔗 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-09-07h37m20s/]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-09T12:37:20+00:00 2026-02-09T07:40:22-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-08-09h57m02s/ I just haggled with a chatbot https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-08-09h57m02s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-08T14:57:02+00:00 2026-02-08T13:04:48-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-02-07-14h04m25s/<![CDATA[My prove_it CLI is already proving valuable. Just watched Opus 4.6 complete an hourlong rewrite without me… ONLY because 6 times prove_it's own script & agent hooks blocked Claude from prematurely declaring victory. It's letting me focus on WHAT, not HOW https://github.com/searlsco/prove_it ]]> Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-07T19:04:25+00:00 2026-02-07T19:10:54+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-02-06-is-the-tool-bad-or-is-it-a-skill-issue/ Is the tool bad or is it a skill issue? https://justin.searls.co/links/2026-02-06-is-the-tool-bad-or-is-it-a-skill-issue/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-06T13:01:26+00:00 2026-02-06T13:18:11+00:00 https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-05-20h17m49s/ I bought a Doggett https://justin.searls.co/shots/2026-02-05-20h17m49s/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-06T01:17:49+00:00 2026-02-05T20:30:31-05:00 https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v50-spacexxx/ Breaking Change podcast v50 - SpaceXXX https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v50-spacexxx/ Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-02-05T16:53:25+00:00 2026-02-05T14:22:44-05:00

Permalinks

https://justin.searls.co/takes/2026-09-11-10h12m13s/ 🔥 My ARSE® process for building apps with coding… Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-09-11T01:12:13+00:00 2026-09-11T11:20:40+09:00 My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents:

[A]mbitiously create by handing an agent a HUGE task to do over hours/days
[R]age at your computer as you uncover all its stupid decisions
[S]culpt the app by fixing things in shorter, bursty sessions
[E]njoy what you built

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My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents:

You'll never guess what happens next…

Newsletters

https://justin.searls.co/mails/2026-03/ Content Hiatus Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-04-13T00:32:32+00:00 2026-04-13T00:32:36+00:00 I've decided to go on a content hiatus. This will be my last dispatch for a while. I don't know how long I'll be gone.

Why? Because I've been posting to an anonymous audience on the Internet almost every day since I was eleven years old. I posted through Bill Clinton's impeachment, 9/11, the Iraq War, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the version of Siri that would tell you where to hide a body, binders full of women, and a pandemic that changed everything and then nothing at all.

To be continued…

Merge Commits

o0MCO7Ry2VS9iB6K2Axeu0G9 Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000 freeCodeCamp: Which Devs Are Screwed? freeCodeCamp: Which Devs Are Screwed? Justin Searls 01:29:33 Justin Searls https://justin.searls.co/casts/merge-commits-freecodecamp-which-devs-are-screwed/ Quincy Larson over at freeCodeCamp had me on their podcast to discuss how the rapidly changing software industry is impacting junior developers and what they can do about it. I don't normally spend time talking about this stuff, because I started programming in the 90s and can't claim to know anything about what it's like to just be starting now. I've also always discouraged people from getting into software development unless they're super passionate about it, which has been out of step with the "learn to code" hype train that gathered steam over the last fifteen years only to run into a brick wall recently.

What happens next will shock you…

Digest

https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v56-persistent-mode/ 🎙️ Breaking Change podcast v56 - Persistent Mode Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-08-31T06:21:17+00:00 2026-08-31T08:00:08+00:00

Direct link to podcast audio file

The summer heat has finally broken here in Shizuoka, and I'm enjoying a cool, wet, and cloudy day huddled around my microphone for warmth. I hope you'll join around my verbal campfire for yet another one of these.

As always, you can e-mail the show at podcast@searls.co. Only a small proportion of listeners will ever write an e-mail, so I now offer a second option: the justin.searls.co/feedback form. People love filling out forms! Go try it out! Check the anonymous checkbox! Hell, enter a fake e-mail address—see if I care!

What happens next will shock you…

Breaking Change

SsslR6Wf6eCaTwgGwj2Qhh4J Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:21:17 +0000 v56 - Persistent Mode v56 - Persistent Mode 63 Justin Searls 02:54:09 Justin Searls https://justin.searls.co/casts/breaking-change-v56-persistent-mode/ The summer heat has finally broken here in Shizuoka, and I'm enjoying a cool, wet, and cloudy day huddled around my microphone for warmth. I hope you'll join around my verbal campfire for yet another one of these.

Content warning: more content…

[A]mbitiously create by handing an agent a HUGE task to do over hours/days
[R]age at your computer as you uncover all its stupid decisions
[S]culpt the app by fixing things in shorter, bursty sessions
[E]njoy what you built

]]>

My ARSE® process for building apps with coding agents:

To be continued…

https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-06-11-05h36m45s/ 📍 Tabelogged: 戸隠そば呉服町店 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-06-11T05:36:45+00:00 2026-06-11T05:36:47+00:00 I visited 戸隠そば呉服町店 on June 11, 2026. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog.

近くのジムに通っていて、いつも行列を見ていたのでようやく来店。普段はそばは温かいので頼むが、ここの名物は明らかにおろしの冷たい一皿に具をのせたものなので、それを注文。麺はコシが強く、きのこと卵の素材の質が良かった。普通盛りでかなりの満腹感。大盛りは想像できない。

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I visited 戸隠そば呉服町店 on June 11, 2026. I gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog.

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https://justin.searls.co/spots/2026-06-09-10h40m01s/ 📍 Tabelogged: 十千花前 Justin Searls website@searls.co 2026-06-09T10:40:01+00:00 2026-06-09T10:40:09+00:00 I visited 十千花前 on June 9, 2026. I gave it a 3.6 on Tabelog.

Let's dive in and find out…