Author | Lightnews

Manton Reece @manton.org · 1h

The second of three big things for today: updated Mac app! This has the movies and TV show search that I previewed earlier this week.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 4h

Added one of the oldest requested features to Micro.blog today: editing the slug for a post. There’s a new page for managing URL paths. A couple other things will go here later, like batch delete, to avoid cluttering the main editing interface.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 5h

Good morning! Coffee at Houndstooth. Big day, going to release the new Mac app and blog about the upcoming video hosting. Maybe a new web feature too. ☕️

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 16h

Watched the first quarter of Spurs / Lakers but can’t stay up for the whole game. It’s not helping that the sun seems to set at 5pm now. 🏀

Manton Reece @manton.org · 17h

Thinking again about file over app by Steph Ango. We have a lot of export and import options in Micro.blog, but I always think there’s more to do. It’s hard to make file access seamless with web apps.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 17h

From the NetNewsWire blog about version 6.2:

"…there is one new feature of potential interest: we’ve added support for Markdown in RSS feeds."

Micro.blog feeds also now support Markdown in RSS, for any blogs updated starting today. If you haven’t edited your RSS feed, you’ll get it automatically.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 21h

Good story by David Pierce at The Verge on the coming web browser wars. He talked to people at all the major browser and AI companies. Browser competition will be good, although I don’t see AI replacing the search and address bar the way some companies think it will. (I’m still using Dia.)

Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

Fidji Simo blogs about companies that use AI to do more, not to downsize:

"Organizations that approach AI as a way to multiply what they create will be so much more successful than those that use it to subtract."

Layoffs ma... https://www.manton.org/2025/11/05/fidji-simo-blogs-about-companies.html

Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

ChatGPT Pulse is my favorite product of the year. It’s expensive, but it’s the first new thing I’ve seen in software in years. Love reading about what it’s come up for me each day. Here’s a snapshot, because it knows I’m thinking about Spain. (And if I scroll, it has actual work / code topics too.)

Three travel articles featuring rail trips from Barcelona and Catalan phrases are displayed with images and brief descriptions.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

Ben Thomson in a long article today about the AI bubble and its potential benefits, especially lasting power infrastructure:

"It’s sobering to think about how many things have never been invented because power has never been considered... https://www.manton.org/2025/11/05/ben-thomson-in-a-long.html

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

Tim Sweeney on Twitter / X welcoming a Google proposal to fix exclusive app distribution and payments:

"It genuinely doubles down on Android’s original vision as an open platform to streamline competing store installs globally, redu... https://www.manton.org/2025/11/04/tim-sweeney-on-twitter-x.html

Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

Another excellent article about AI in The New Yorker: The case that AI is thinking. It captures both the fear that we aren’t that special and the inspiration for what might be possible. I continue to find AI clarifying — a signal to focus our work and lives on what are uniquely human strengths.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

In addition to technical debt problems, when using AI for coding we have to be careful of feature creep. If there’s hardly a cost to adding a feature, it’s too easy to add all the wrong features.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 1d

Voting desert. 🇺🇸

A cup of vanilla ice cream with a plastic spoon and a sticker that reads, I Voted Yo Voté.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 2d

Now that we have more confirmation that Siri will be powered in part by Gemini, I think Apple should address the other weakness in their AI strategy: the yearly update schedule. Decouple the cloud improvements so that server changes can be rolled out any time, not only at WWDC or a major iOS update.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 2d

Sneak peek video of next Mac version of Micro.blog with new Movies sidebar item. This will ship later this week. https://www.manton.org/2025/11/04/sneak-peek-video-of-next.html

Manton Reece @manton.org · 2d

Survey results: https://www.manton.org/2025/11/04/survey-results.html

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 2d

Election Day. There are lots of propositions on the Texas ballot. Kind of feel if you can’t easily memorize your vote choices, there are too many. 🇺🇸

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 2d

Wind turbines, driving back from Corpus Christi.

Wind turbines stand prominently in a field under a clear blue sky.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 3d

Mural in Corpus Christi.

A vibrant mural depicts skeletons wearing hats and playing musical instruments against a swirling blue background.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 3d

Working on something new for the Mac app and thinking about how disclosure triangles are sort of a lost art. We’ve web-ified most UI design.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 6d

Simon Willison blogs about doing research that leads into a new blog post:

"…I poked around to answer my own questions and then wrote up what I learned as a short post. Curiosity-driven blogging if you like."

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 6d

Great responses to my little survey about Micro.blog features. Thanks everyone! Really helpful. I’ll keep it open for another week.

Manton Reece @manton.org · 6d

Until today I had never tried the “best of N” feature in AI tools like Codex, where it generates multiple versions of the same feature. Fascinating shift in development. You would never ask a human assistant to code the same thing twice and pick the best one.

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Manton Reece @manton.org · 6d

Everywhere we look — people walking on the sidewalk, people stuck in traffic, people shopping at the grocery store. Everyone is going through something, worried about something, seeing joy in something, feeling heartbreak from something. Remembering this can help ground us in discussions online too.

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