Francisco Tolmasky
@tolmasky.bsky.social
Founder @runkitdev and TC-39 Delegate. Previously: Original iPhone team on MobileSafari, Creator of Objective-J and Cappuccino.
I hit “Download All” to prepare for my flight, and Disney+ helpfully prioritized them in the most logical and obvious download order: 3, 2, 1, 4.
September 24, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I hit “Download All” to prepare for my flight, and Disney+ helpfully prioritized them in the most logical and obvious download order: 3, 2, 1, 4.
I was vaguely aware that there was a nihilism epidemic in Gen Z but this is ridiculous.
September 17, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I was vaguely aware that there was a nihilism epidemic in Gen Z but this is ridiculous.
Here is an attempt at making my LLM thread screenshot more legible (previous paragraph of each portion is included in each successive image to hopefully ease context). Original bsky thread below, and I'll also just quote second in the next post. Wish I could just edit...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
September 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Here is an attempt at making my LLM thread screenshot more legible (previous paragraph of each portion is included in each successive image to hopefully ease context). Original bsky thread below, and I'll also just quote second in the next post. Wish I could just edit...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Some thoughts on "contributing” code to open source projects using LLMs.
September 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Some thoughts on "contributing” code to open source projects using LLMs.
The MagSafe battery is so silly. It takes battery that *should be in the phone* and puts it in a *heavier* and *less efficient* (Qi) package. Look at how much of this *isn’t* battery: Qi coils, a *motherboard*, etc. Why? Just put the battery in the phone! And hey it’ll never accidentally fall off.
September 10, 2025 at 12:25 AM
The MagSafe battery is so silly. It takes battery that *should be in the phone* and puts it in a *heavier* and *less efficient* (Qi) package. Look at how much of this *isn’t* battery: Qi coils, a *motherboard*, etc. Why? Just put the battery in the phone! And hey it’ll never accidentally fall off.
The Trump statue was bad enough, did they really have to *also* offer the iPhone in Trump Orange? #AppleEvent
September 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM
The Trump statue was bad enough, did they really have to *also* offer the iPhone in Trump Orange? #AppleEvent
Look at this bizarre design. Imagine if instead of *3 distinct & asymmetric levels of thickness* the back just came out to the lenses. It'd look better, not tip on a table, be easier to hold, & probably 2x the battery. But then they couldn't talk about how thin the uh... "thin" part is. #AppleEvent
September 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Look at this bizarre design. Imagine if instead of *3 distinct & asymmetric levels of thickness* the back just came out to the lenses. It'd look better, not tip on a table, be easier to hold, & probably 2x the battery. But then they couldn't talk about how thin the uh... "thin" part is. #AppleEvent
Having more or less exhausted the marketability of “cool,” Apple is now aiming to the corner the market on “doofus”. Step aside fanny pack! #AppleEvent
September 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Having more or less exhausted the marketability of “cool,” Apple is now aiming to the corner the market on “doofus”. Step aside fanny pack! #AppleEvent
“Design isn’t just looks, it’s how it works. Take this statue for example, it may not *look* like much, but it *worked* at getting us exempted from tariffs.” #AppleEvent
September 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
“Design isn’t just looks, it’s how it works. Take this statue for example, it may not *look* like much, but it *worked* at getting us exempted from tariffs.” #AppleEvent
Apple design today is quite literally indistinguishable from Google design, both in concept and execution. Remember the big Gmail redesign that was just "hey just plaster a random fucking landscape photo across the entire app so we can be freed from ever having to think about design again?"
August 17, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Apple design today is quite literally indistinguishable from Google design, both in concept and execution. Remember the big Gmail redesign that was just "hey just plaster a random fucking landscape photo across the entire app so we can be freed from ever having to think about design again?"
Liquid Glass shows one legacy of flat design is designers are terrified of choosing a new "inherent" window texture. All these blurs & whatnot let you avoid ever choosing an real “UI material”. When glass absolutely won't work, Apple seems to prefer going full WhatsApp saying "fuck it, use a photo”:
August 17, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Liquid Glass shows one legacy of flat design is designers are terrified of choosing a new "inherent" window texture. All these blurs & whatnot let you avoid ever choosing an real “UI material”. When glass absolutely won't work, Apple seems to prefer going full WhatsApp saying "fuck it, use a photo”:
I just barely managed to gain the upper hand in this cerebral chess match against GPT-5's PhD-level reasoning.
August 8, 2025 at 2:10 PM
I just barely managed to gain the upper hand in this cerebral chess match against GPT-5's PhD-level reasoning.
I elaborated on this last point a bit more in a mastodon post linked below. I've screenshotted the most relevant bit here though. (16/16)
mastodon.social/@tolmasky/11...
mastodon.social/@tolmasky/11...
August 8, 2025 at 1:48 AM
I elaborated on this last point a bit more in a mastodon post linked below. I've screenshotted the most relevant bit here though. (16/16)
mastodon.social/@tolmasky/11...
mastodon.social/@tolmasky/11...
Critically, notice how there is no clear best plan. It's not the "good, better, best" model Apple theoretically uses for its hardware. No, you need to actually work out which one is best for you. Remind you of anything? Another set of plans that always seem to be changing for "your benefit”? (4/🧵)
August 8, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Critically, notice how there is no clear best plan. It's not the "good, better, best" model Apple theoretically uses for its hardware. No, you need to actually work out which one is best for you. Remind you of anything? Another set of plans that always seem to be changing for "your benefit”? (4/🧵)
So is Apple going to release an updated version of this book with the AirPower and Trump Trophy or what?
August 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM
So is Apple going to release an updated version of this book with the AirPower and Trump Trophy or what?
Exciting news! Google has apparently made a major enshittification breakthrough! They've managed to enshittify *confirmation dialogs*! The key insight was to replace “Allow”/“Disallow" buttons with "Allow”/"See ad". Almost feels silly that we were wasting that monetization opportunity in the past.
July 16, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Exciting news! Google has apparently made a major enshittification breakthrough! They've managed to enshittify *confirmation dialogs*! The key insight was to replace “Allow”/“Disallow" buttons with "Allow”/"See ad". Almost feels silly that we were wasting that monetization opportunity in the past.
I like to imagine that Apple employees really do spend their time just moving little glass pucks around a table all day. Like "Sorry honey, looks like I won't be home for dinner again tonight, I've just got such a backlog of pushing glass lozenges around, I can't afford to get any further behind."
June 16, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I like to imagine that Apple employees really do spend their time just moving little glass pucks around a table all day. Like "Sorry honey, looks like I won't be home for dinner again tonight, I've just got such a backlog of pushing glass lozenges around, I can't afford to get any further behind."
Finally figured out what Liquid Glass reminds me of.
June 15, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Finally figured out what Liquid Glass reminds me of.
Is it just a coincidence that Mareep (the Pokemon), in Spanish, is an “oveja” (sheep) that has “abejas” (bees) for its “orejas” (ears)? It seems too crazy to be a coincidence, but on the other hand I doubt the Pokemon Co wanted to make some Spanish pun, and I haven’t found anyone pointing this out.
April 19, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Is it just a coincidence that Mareep (the Pokemon), in Spanish, is an “oveja” (sheep) that has “abejas” (bees) for its “orejas” (ears)? It seems too crazy to be a coincidence, but on the other hand I doubt the Pokemon Co wanted to make some Spanish pun, and I haven’t found anyone pointing this out.
Is there a name to this design trend of removing the window titlebar... sometimes only in screenshots, but sometimes in the actual program itself?
April 6, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Is there a name to this design trend of removing the window titlebar... sometimes only in screenshots, but sometimes in the actual program itself?
“It’s real good what you did. Real good that you banished TikTok to the cornfields and then brought it back 12 hours later.“
January 19, 2025 at 9:35 PM
“It’s real good what you did. Real good that you banished TikTok to the cornfields and then brought it back 12 hours later.“
December 20, 2024 at 12:06 AM
Come on, you have to choose “Computer Program” or you’re just comparing the generic terms. Look at related queries for React (Computer Program) vs. Lit generic. Those clearly aren’t JS searches. The fact “Computer Program” isn’t even an option for Lit means not enough people search for it for that.
December 6, 2024 at 8:43 AM
Come on, you have to choose “Computer Program” or you’re just comparing the generic terms. Look at related queries for React (Computer Program) vs. Lit generic. Those clearly aren’t JS searches. The fact “Computer Program” isn’t even an option for Lit means not enough people search for it for that.
I mean, not really though, right? Doing worse than Haskell when you are the "native technology" of one of the biggest platforms and have been around for close to a decade now is a pretty bad showing, I would say.
December 6, 2024 at 4:54 AM
I mean, not really though, right? Doing worse than Haskell when you are the "native technology" of one of the biggest platforms and have been around for close to a decade now is a pretty bad showing, I would say.
This is a *really big deal*. But people probably won’t realize just how game changing this is until it’s sister Proposal “Rename import to require” hits Stage 1 early next year!
December 4, 2024 at 11:45 PM
This is a *really big deal*. But people probably won’t realize just how game changing this is until it’s sister Proposal “Rename import to require” hits Stage 1 early next year!