I spoke at Nemertes [next] about how Ink & Switch thinks about doing research as an independent organization. This talk isn't about our work but about the way we work -- if that interests you, check it out.
youtu.be/w7DVlI_Ztq8?...

asking the librarian if they have any books in dark mode

Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
www.inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...

Career advice for developers:

Write normal code. Just the basic good stuff. Don't be fancy, don't be clever. Don't use currying everywhere. You don't need Docker for everything. Also don't write dumb code. Please write good code. But make it normal. As unsurprising as possible.

Thank you

Me: put that down already, we’re working on project B today

Brain: *staring at shiny project A* why not, after all, why shouldn’t I keep it

Me: ffs leave it

Brain: my preci—

Me: don’t

This is a really great real-world, realistic example of how you can use vision LLMs for complex data entry tasks. A 650 page PDF still took an hour of human work even with Gemini's assistance, but the job got done!

Wrote a few of my own notes here: simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/19/...

I continue to have fun doing fantasy cooking with LLMs - this time I tried "Give me a wildly ambitious recipe for zucchini cooked three ways" followed by "Go more ambitious" and now I need to get myself a centrifuge to help spherify my clarified zucchini consommé chatgpt.com/share/685370...

NEW POST

Gen AI for software development is the biggest jump up in abstraction since assembler to HLLs, but also a jump sideways.

martinfowler.com/articles/202...

"The case against conversational interfaces" by Julian Lehr (2025)

julian.digital/2025/03/27/t...