This is my annual list of DjangoCon US talks I’d like to see. I have been doing this since 2015, and it’s one of my favorite traditions.
DjangoCon US 2026 is in Chicago this year, August 24-28.
The CFP is open. The deadline is March 23, 2026 at 11 AM...
I first got exposed to django-simple-nav while working with Josh Thomas at the Westervelt Company over the last two or three years. It quickly became a go-to library in my toolkit. django-simple-nav lets you define nav items and groupings in Python,...
If you use a Mac, you’ve probably noticed that the menu bar fills up with icons pretty quickly. Bartender and Ice (sadly, now an unfortunate name) are apps that let you manage and hide unwanted icons from your macOS menu bar so it stays clean and...
Today I learned about displayplacer - “macOS command line utility to configure multi-display resolutions and arrangements.”
In December, I upgraded to MacOS Tahoe and picked up the TS4 dock for my work machine.
While my upgrade was painless, the...
My friend Trey Hunner showed me the GLM set of models before Thanksgiving. While traveling to see family, I somehow messed up my Claude Code setup because of a wrapper I have with mise-en-place. I couldn’t use it for a while, and that made me realize...
I’ve been fighting a runaway OpenAI bill for the last few weeks. I was worried I was leaking one of my API keys in a non-obvious way, possibly in one of my public projects.
Two weeks ago, I deleted all my keys and contacted OpenAI support. I created...
So, picture this: you’re working at a walking desk, you’ve got a cool voice-to-text tool like MacWhisper running, and you want to control it all with just a couple of dedicated keys. That was the dream that led me to build what I now call my “Vibe...
I’m hosting office hours on the next two Fridays in November.
Office Hours Schedule
Friday, November 14, 2025, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm CT
Starting at 2pm CT, I’ll be working on some community/open source projects if anyone wants to see Claude Code or...
Here are my Default Apps 2025, which builds from my Default Apps 2024 and Default Apps 2023 posts.
🤖 AI Coding Assistant: Claude Code + GitHub Copilot CLI + Codex
⚙️ Automation: Hammerspoon
🎒 Backups: Backblaze
🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop.io
🌐 Browser:...
I checked out William Vincent’s The Secret Prompts in GitHub Copilot CLI tonight, and I wanted to share a few tips and what stood out to me.
GitHub Copilot CLI uses Claude Sonnet 4.5 by default
No luck other than confirming it is using Claude models...
I do not want Discord’s Nitro.
I do not want it, friend or foe.
I will not boost, I will not pay,
I do not want it any day.
I do not want it on my phone,
I do not want it when I’m alone.
I do not want it for more emoji,
I do not want it—it feels too...
I will be in Chicago this Saturday through next week for DjangoCon US 2025 (September 8-12). I hope to see people there in person. If you can’t make it, please consider getting an online ticket. They are relatively inexpensive, you get three full days...
I’m hosting office hours on the next two Fridays in August.
Office Hours Schedule
Friday, August 22, 2025, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm CT
Friday, August 29, 2025, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm CT
Join Us
These sessions are open to anyone, especially those working...
Syncthing 2.0 was released last week, and I upgraded my Macs and my Intel NUC. I’m pleased with the performance. I never had complaints about it being slow, but the new app is much faster. I like that they’re using a SQLite database, which makes it...
Today I came across Pieter Levels' post about “VibeOps,” a workflow that involves SSHing to a cheap VPS server and installing Claude Code directly on it. I’m running this setup on a cheap Hetzner box. While this approach might sound risky at...
Today, I fired up the Voices macOS app, which I occasionally use to convert blog posts or documentation text to audio files that I can take on the go. I usually use one of OpenAI’s Text to speech APIs, but today I noticed there was a new option called...
I’ve been diving deep into AI-assisted development this summer, and I’ve collected some of the best articles I’ve found on the topic. This reading list focuses heavily on Claude Code and practical AI coding workflows, featuring insights from...
I’m hosting a regular afternoon edition tomorrow (Friday, May 30) to wrap up the month of May.
After that, I’ll be away on vacation, so I’m skipping the first two Fridays in June and the first Friday in July.
Here’s the plan:
Friday, June 6, 2025: No...
🤔 I struggle with most research papers, but the Vending-Bench: A Benchmark for Long-Term Coherence of Autonomous Agents was an easy read. The paper follows a fascinating study where researchers simulate various LLM models running a vending machine...
Today I learned about pdftoppm, a simple CLI tool that can convert each page of a PDF into separate image files.
My use case was to chop up a few big PDF reports to make OCR and data analysis easier, but scanning them a page at a time.
Install
I’m...
I miss Visual Basic. I could build something meaningful with it in 15 to 30 minutes in a way that I have never seen anything since then, even come close to.
“For example, I personally believe that Visual Basic did more for programming than...
This Friday, I’m hosting a morning edition of my office hours, and here is my schedule for the rest of May:
Friday, May 9th, 2025, 8am to 10:30am - 🌄 Early edition (Time.is link for CT)
Friday, May 16th, 2025: No office hours. I’ll be at PyCon...
I recently came across Simon Willison’s post about Matt Webb’s Apple Watch dictation setup on Interconnected. He records voice notes while running with the Whisper Memos app, then cleans up the transcript with Claude when he gets home.
Matt Webb...
Blogging is back, so why not bring back Webrings, too?
The Great Django Webring is a tribute to the early web. It’s a cozy loop of community sites and projects, all linked together jor the joy of discovery.
Join the ring. Explore the community....
This post caught my eye this afternoon: mastodon.social/@daringfi…
I have read both for over 20 years, but I’m always surprised when I see one of Jon’s articles on HN. They have always felt like different crowds to me. HN has always felt more about...