manton.org - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Interesting proposal similar to robots.txt but for LLMs. When AI is your parser, you can have a single file that is readable by both humans and machines: "The llms.txt file is unusual in that it uses Markdown to str... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/24/interesting-proposal-similar-to-robotstxt.html

submitted 9 minutes ago • 0 comments

Had the Switch 2 pre-order in my cart but kept changing my mind, gonna skip it until there’s a game I really want. Hopefully won’t be too hard to get later. 🕹️

submitted 8 hours ago • 0 comments

Nashville Public Library.

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

AI web search: https://www.manton.org/2025/04/22/ai-web-search.html Reflecting on web search in o4-mini and new reasoning models.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

I really like this post from Ashley Willis, about doubting yourself and the fear of what loud people on the internet might think of your writing: "I don’t know exactly when that changed. There wasn’t one big moment, just a slow fade. Something dimmed. I started second-guessing myself more."

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Micro.blog’s backend is running so much more smoothly now after I addressed some memory issues yesterday. I often assume I know where problems are, and it takes actually digging in to discover I was wrong, the problem is fixable in a different way than I expected.

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Nailed it. I’m too amused by wall outlets and light switches gone wrong, it’s surprisingly common. This one in the hotel stairway.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

I’ll be speaking at EFF-Austin next month! An updated talk about blogs, social networks, the fediverse, and where I think the open web is going.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

In the Bluesky announcement about checkmark verification is the tidbit that 270k accounts have linked their username and domain name. 270k custom domains! That is very cool and a great sign for the open web.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Micro.blog went off the rails today, for some reason the day I’m out of town an old memory leak decided to blow up into a much worse problem. I think I’ve got it under control now.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Speaking of Objective-C, when I see example code that looks like this: NSMutableArray<NSString > paths I simplify it to: NSMutableArray* paths I don’t think declaring types everywhere improved the language at all. Let a dynamic language be dynamic. 🤪

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Experimenting with a special build of Micro.blog for Mac with Gemma 3 (4 billion params) running inside the app. Seems a good balance of download size and RAM, allowing me to run some AI magic on device that might be cost-prohibitive or wasteful on the server.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

There’s no place I appreciate Apple Pay more than at the gas station air pump, instead of using quarters. 🛞

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Yair Rosenberg writing at The Atlantic about the arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s residence. The suspect was struggling with his mental health and influenced by attempts to vilify Josh Shapiro over the war in Gaza: "But tho... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/20/yair-rosenberg-writing-at-the.html

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

New laptop sticker, from Vintage bookstore and wine bar. Booksellers not algorithms. 🍷

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Thinking about AGI. The big step that is missing is personal AI being able to learn when it answers a question. So if I use deep research and my AI goes off and spends 10 minutes researching an answer, all of that should be fed back into the model for later.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Gus Mueller: "To me, Objective-C has always felt expressive and capable, doubly so when I first started using it." After Swift became popular, I felt kind of guilty still using Objective-C so heavily, but I’m over it. Micro.blog for Mac is all Objective-C. I did two new releases this week.

submitted 5 days ago • 4 comments

Finished upgrading a server. Some things should be faster! (And some won’t be.) I’ll continue to look for places to optimize.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Coffee yesterday at Lazarus. ☕️

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Now that I’m using Hetzner in the EU, I’m having difficulty understanding Linode pricing. For example, dedicated 16 CPUs on both hosts: Linode: $288 Hetzner: $110 This is a massive difference. Is Linode that much better? I feel like a fool for paying this.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

I’ve switched my coding questions over to o4-mini. It’s very good and fast enough. At this point, for me personally, not using AI for coding help would be like not using Stack Overflow or Google. I could go back to the 1990s when I had a printed reference open in front of me while coding, but why?

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

The Sam Altman interview at TED is worth a watch. Awkward and full of tension. But some good thoughts in it, probably the most I’ve seen Sam pressed on the big issues.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Didn’t sleep enough. Nightmare that I was arguing with the Subaru mechanics. Too close to reality. 🚙

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Sad to hear there were two deaths in the FSU shooting. When news broke that it was a handgun, it gave me a small bit of hope that it wouldn’t be as terrible as it could’ve been. Imagine an AR-15 instead. That is why they should be banned.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Great post from The Fediverse Report about Bluesky complying with requests from the Turkish government and how a labeling service can be used to hide accounts: "Such a moderation layer allows Bluesky (the app) to apply moderati... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/great-post-from-the-fediverse.html

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Taria & Como looks like a clever, crank-friendly platformer, part of the upcoming season 2 on Playdate. There’s a trailer on YouTube.

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The Internet Archive is asking for help to defend against lawsuits: "A coalition of major record labels has filed a lawsuit against the Internet Archive—demanding $700 million for our work preserving and providing access to hi... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/the-internet-archive-is-asking.html

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Matt Mullenweg blogs about the WordPress 6.8 release, how WordPress might use AI in the future, and the experience of being deposed at the WP Engine trial: "I really appreciated the due process and decorum of the rule of law, ... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/matt-mullenweg-blogs-about-the.html

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

I like the way Tony Stubblebine is running Medium. On sticking with diversity, equity, and inclusion: "Medium was built by and is run by a diverse group of people. This diversity is a raise-the-bar strategy. As a CEO, I feel confident th... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/i-like-the-way-tony.html

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Some interesting data here in the MIT Technology Review about energy use for AI data centers: "Electricity demand is on the rise from a whole host of sources: Electric vehicles, air-conditioning, and appliances will each drive ... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/some-interesting-data-here-in.html

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Dave Winer has more thoughts on the “Twitterlike is a bad shape” post: "Each decision we make in developing our means of discourse shapes the discourse. And with the character limit and the inability to edit, and the incentives ... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/dave-winer-has-more-thoughts.html

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I’m not a Gmail user or Notion user, but gotta say the UI and interactions in Notion Mail look quite good. I’ve watched a few videos for inspiration.

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Twitterlike vs. Micro.blog: https://www.manton.org/2025/04/17/twitterlike-vs-microblog.html Comparing the essay “Twitterlike is a bad shape” with how Micro.blog works.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

I’m following a few Bluesky custom feeds, but I hadn’t paid close attention to Graze until today. I wonder how users will react to seeing ads? It’s an interesting approach because the money here goes mostly to feed creators. Lots of new questions about who should monetize the network.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Describe me: https://www.manton.org/2025/04/16/describe-me.html

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Great post from Ben Werdmuller about the future of Bluesky. Many people can’t get past comparing the technical differences of ATProto and ActivityPub. Surprise, they’re not the same thing. They have different goals. Ben’s post skips that and focuses on how the business fits with an open protocol.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

I’ve been using top for what, 30 years? But honestly my eyes still sometimes glaze over. Realized I can keep a ChatGPT log running and just paste in top results and it can tell me how the utilization is going, if it’s better, worse, where to look for problems.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

This week is mostly about bug fixes and performance for me. Got the new Mac app update out and lots of server work. But got a preview of something @vincent has been cooking up and it’s going to be so nice. Just needs a few more days to fully bake.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Worked a little on archiving all the Core Intuition episodes in one place. We’ve used a few hosts over the years — DreamHost, S3, Libsyn — and things are bound to break eventually if all 600+ episodes aren’t together.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Gutter.

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Upcoming video social app Neptune will allow hiding follower and like counts: "A key distinguishing feature of Neptune is that it lets creators hide their total followers and likes. This “ghost metrics” feature is optional,... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/15/upcoming-video-social-app-neptune.html

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

TechCrunch: OpenAI ships GPT-4.1 without a safety report. I don’t want to overreact to this, but as an OpenAI customer it is a little concerning. System cards are fascinating and even if they don’t paint a perfect picture, the transparency is good.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Meta is a problematic business and more people should move to open platforms, but I have to agree with Ben Thompson’s take on the trial. It’s too late and too complicated to try to unwind the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/15/meta-is-a-problematic-business.html

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I like the attempt at transparency in this statement on AI from Revenant, an animation and effects studio in Scotland, via Cartoon Brew. They’ll use AI for rapid prototypes and streamlining workflows, but: "…we’re also clear on what we... https://www.manton.org/2025/04/15/i-like-the-attempt-at.html

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

AI 2027 is a good read. Both endings seem wildly unrealistic, but as a warning it did make me think. So it worked. Just seems greatly accelerated beyond a few years from now.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Thinking about the Tesla Superchargers that have been torched recently… Anyone who uses violence or property destruction to further their cause is actually undermining it. We’ve gotta be better than that. Protests like the marches a couple weeks ago are the model. Peaceful, legal, effective.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Ran a few tests with the new GPT-4.1 family of models. I think I’ll go 4o → 4.1 for photo keywords and accessibility text, but maybe not immediately. The old pricing and capabilities are still really good. Currently using a mix of 4o, 4o-mini, and 4o-transcribe.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Over the weekend I got to ride in a Waymo for the first time, in Phoenix. See @cheesemaker’s perspective in this video. It’s a surprisingly smooth, nice ride. It drives as good or better than an average human driver. I was expecting to be nervous but after about 30 seconds it feels normal.

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I don’t have any expectations for the FTC vs. Meta trial starting today. It seems wild and unlikely that Meta would ever have to spin out Instagram a decade after acquisition. Feels too late, too closely tied up in the Meta empire.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments