Here are some of the news stories, surveys, and studies we discussed in this episode, if you’d like to learn more:

A great list of articles and resources at the bottom of the article.

He argued that human beings always have agency, even when we’re facing a horrible reality that it’s too late to undo. “When we are no longer able to change a situation,” he wrote, “we are challenged to change ourselves.”

sixcolors.com/link/2024…

Apple’s new USB-C-equipped Magic Mouse somehow still has the charging port on the bottom.

Just lazy.

Starting today, as an early developer preview, you can use OpenNext to deploy Next.js apps to Cloudflare Workers via @opennextjs/cloudflare, a new npm package that lets you use the Node.js “runtime” in Next.js on Workers.

That’s excellent. An alternative to having Next.js deployed on Vercel is great for everyone.

Ruby on Rails is a full-stack framework. It has a lot of built-in features, such as ActiveRecord, ActionMailer, ActionCable, and SolidQueue. You don’t need to make a lot of decisions when you start a new project. You can just follow the conventions and get things done.

Years of the JS community and there’s a real feeling of fatigue with each and every decision you gotta make, over and over.

Officially “Turbo is a collection of techniques for creating fast, progressively enhanced web applications without using much JavaScript. All the logic lives on the server, and the browser deals just with the final HTML.”

Alex Morgan, a centerpiece of the U.S. women’s national soccer team that won two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal, and one of the program’s greatest scorers, announced that she will retire after Sunday’s game with the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.

An absolute fucking legend.

My goal here is to walk through my process of building react from the groundup, hopefully giving you an intuition to why things behave the way they do in react. There are many cases where react leaks its abstraction in the interface, so learning how the internals could by implemented is extremely useful to understand the motivation behind those interface designs.

Very cool.

As a developer knee-deep in the JavaScript world since around 2015, I’ve come to a rather disheartening conclusion: React, along with the broader JavaScript community, has failed us. It’s been a ride, but one that’s left me feeling more exhausted than exhilarated. The constant yak-shaving, the spinning of new frameworks—it’s become a cycle that’s far from productive.

The Rise and Fall of React

When React first burst onto the scene, it was a revelation. The virtual DOM was blazing fast, and it did a fantastic job of abstracting the messier parts of the DOM. You didn’t have to deal with the blur, and that was great. But as time went on, we realized that loading a file from a server and then running all the client-side processing in a single thread was slow, especially on mobile or if you weren’t on the latest hardware. It was brutal.

The narrative around React shifted to efficiency. With its abstractions, it could be more efficient—or so we were told. And sure, JSX is nice to look at, and for a while, it seemed like a good trade-off. But after nearly a decade, the supposed efficiency hasn’t translated into performance. React, at this point, might just be the most poisonous part of our toolkit, whether you’re using Next.js or, to a lesser extent, Remix with its more web-friendly approach.

The Next.js Conundrum

React has become synonymous with Next.js as the ecosystem has evolved. But let’s be honest, it’s slow, clunky, and creating a good user experience is a Herculean task. There are a lot of blogs and videos decrying the benefits of Next.js, and you might enjoy some of those, if you deploy specifically to Vercel, and only Vercel. But it’s still a heavy rats nest of virtual DOM eating resources underneath all the over engineered incremental cache validation. The cost of using React now far outweighs its benefits.

I’m working on projects in React and Next.js, and I can’t say I enjoy it. Next.js has some APIs that feel obtuse and don’t translate well to other frameworks. So, what do you start a new project in today? That’s the million-dollar question.

Exploring Alternatives

If you’re looking for alternatives, there are options. Laravel with LiveWire, for instance, is a solid choice. Rails with Hotwire, sprinkling in Inertia.js or Alpine.js, or even an Enhanced dev framework could work. Elixir Phoenix is another route worth considering.

To create the best user experience, you’ll likely need a server-side framework. And here’s where I’ll be blunt: JavaScript server-side is a mess. The serverless trend, with its gross abstractions and limitations, isn’t helping. You’re forced to deal with database connections, pooling, proxies, and a whole lot more just to get to your database.

If you’re set on going server-side with JavaScript, maybe Nuxt is an option. Redwood and Remix are mostly great frameworks, but they still rely on React. I wouldn’t start a new project with them, but if you’re shipping and you know React, I won’t tell you not to use them. However, I do hope they fall out of favor. Not because the people working on them aren’t great, but I no longer believe in the core idea of use React and a foundational part of a good web experience. For the developer or the user.

The JavaScript Community’s Identity Crisis

We don’t have a Rails to Ruby or a Laravel to PHP in the JavaScript world. Why? The community is fragmented, with different interests and agendas. JavaScript runs in the web client, attracting a wider array of users, investors, influencers, and bad actors. This diversity is likely why we don’t have a consistent, dedicated framework for the community.

A Plea for Change

In conclusion, serverless isn’t the cost-saving solution it’s made out to be. It’s likely to cost you more in money and time. For your next project, I dare you to try anything other than React or its derivatives, especially Next.js. Let’s break the cycle and explore the wealth of other technologies out there. It’s time for a change, and it starts with our choices as developers.

He was tasked with getting the most out of a roster gushing with youthful promise and primed to take the next step in the Americans’ drive to the 2026 World Cup. Instead, they fell on their faces. No one expected the U.S. team to win Copa América or even get close to the final, but to not get out of the group stage? Woof.

Enough said. Woof.

Even if subscribers are outside cellular or Wi-Fi range (or if there’s a massive outage), Apple News Plus on iOS 17.5 can still supply them content now that it’s added Offline Mode —

In the year 2024 it is ridiculous to think that an app on my iPhone only gets updated with the OS itself.

In the 1940s, these sidewalk modifications were designed so that war veterans and soldiers with disabilities could better access walking paths. While initially an effort to support a specific community, people with strollers, bikes, and many more found sidewalk curb cuts beneficial to their mobility and access, creating unexpected but welcome positive externalities.

Unexpected. Positive. Externalities.

Wondering about China’s influence on the TikTok algorithm isn’t xenophobic. It’s not about the people. It’s about the leadership. In the same way we can blame Putin for the war in Ukraine and still be sympathetic and trusting of the Russian people, we can be skeptical of the motivations of the Chinese Communist Party and still respect people in China, admire their culture, and welcome Chinese immigrants to America with open arms.

Really well said. 100% agree.

There’s a new Linux distro on the scene today, and it’s a bit specialized. Its development was led by the automotive electronics supplier Elektrobit, and it’s the first open source OS that complies with the automotive industry’s functional safety requirements.

2024 The Year of Linux on the … automobile?

“I think there will be a working group chartered at the W3C to make backwards-compatible changes,” Evan Prodromou explains, “especially clarifying difficult text, and possibly recommending profiles for other standards…”

GE Profile™ is introducing a new over-the-air software upgrade to owners of select wall ovens with in-oven cameras with Cookcam™ AI. The new innovative AI feature recognizes what is being cooked and automates the rest. Harnessing the images of the in-oven cameras, it expertly identifies your food and recommends the best Precision Cooking Mode, ensuring great results every time.

Once the food is placed in the oven and the door is shut, the camera takes images[1] of the oven cavity and uses AI and machine learning to detect and identify the food. Within a few seconds, the oven will chime and recommend a specific Precision Cooking Mode on the oven’s LCD touchscreen and cooking is underway with just a few taps on the screen.

Where to even start?

• over-the-air updates
• built in camera(s) plural
• AI and ML
• touchscreen

An oven should have NONE of these things.

Many, many more people should be getting paid to write free software, but for that to happen we’re going to have to be okay accepting impure or imperfect mechanisms. Criticize those mechanisms if you like. Work to change the underlying societal inequities – please!

But when a maintainer finds a way to get paid, celebrate them. It’s a win for all of us.

I am reminded of a Talk by Mike Monteiro appropriately called “Fuck You. Pay Me” if you haven’t seen it, absolutely worth your time. # Mike Monteiro: F*ck You, Pay Me

Apple says it’s removing homescreen apps for users in the EU because bringing them into compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) would involve “an entirely new integration architecture” that’s “not practical” to build on top of the other changes it’s been forced to make. One of these changes requires Apple to let third-party browsers use their own engines on iOS.

Wow. Just wow. While I shouldn’t be surprised by Apple’s actions, they continue to raise the bar on being actively hostile towards the web and their own users when enacting their service fee isn’t possible.

Despite experiencing steady growth over the past few years, especially with the upheaval of Twitter, Mastodon has struggled to fully welcome the influx of users from other communities and has not made significant technical improvements to enhance the new user experience. It wasn’t originally designed for rapid expansion, which is understandable, but many users, including myself, had hoped it would become a vibrant and safe hub for diverse people, ideas, memes, and news.

Adhere to Our Standards

New Mastodon users often encounter what I liken to a “Home Owners Association” of the platform—overzealous members who enforce their own etiquette, from demanding alt text on images to issuing content warnings. This group, although not the majority, can create an unwelcoming atmosphere, reminiscent of high school cliques, which can be off-putting for those looking to find their community.

Feature Limitations

Mastodon’s design makes it difficult to find people you know, with search functionality limited to your own instance and only a small percentage of users opting into ‘full text search’. Just 4.22% as of Dec 2023. There’s no general user search outside of what Google can index, and any attempt to enhance search capabilities, such as the Ex-Searchtodon experiment, often meets with community backlash. Additionally, features like quote posts and markdown formatting are not supported, as they are seen as tools for negative behavior. While alternative Mastodon forks offer these features, they are not easily accessible to the average social media user.

Looking Forward

The shift from closed social platforms to an open web has been gradual, and we’re just beginning to see the potential. For further progress, we need an open platform like Mastodon but with more flexibility, customization, and better integration. Features like quote posting, markdown, auto-generated hashtags, and more should be readily available, similar to how Wordpress.com allows users to easily add functionality through plugins without technical expertise. The future should allow for such extensibility in social platforms, making them accessible to everyone without the need for technical know-how like server setup or forking code repositories.

The OpenID Connect website says “OpenID Connect 1.0 is a simple identity layer on top of the OAuth 2.0 protocol.” and this gives an impression that OpenID Connect can be implemented easily and seamlessly on top of an existing OAuth 2.0 implementation. However, the truth is utterly different. IMHO, OpenID Connect is virtually OAuth 3.0.

Oh you know. Just some light reading on oauth and openId protocols. 🙃

But the success of TurboTax rests on a shaky foundation, one that could collapse overnight if the U.S. government did what most wealthy countries did long ago and made tax filing simple and free for most citizens.

Seriously. Do it, like yesterday.

American car buyers love purchasing way more car than they need. Have a kid and a dog? You’d better get a Suburban. Need to tow a Hobie Cat to the lake once or twice a year? Get a full-size diesel four-wheel drive pickup. Looking at an EV for your family? Well, it had better do 400 miles at a time and charge in 15 minutes, despite you having a six-mile commute.

On point.

But I need to remember, now and again, that Apple is a corporation, and corporations aren’t people, and they can’t love you back. You wouldn’t love GE or Exxon or Comcast — and you shouldn’t love Apple. It’s not an exception to the rule: there are no exceptions.

Apple doesn’t care about you personally in the least tiny bit, and if you were in their way somehow, they would do whatever their might – effectively infinite compared to your own – enables them to deal with you.

No Exceptions.

Not all of you use these features. Some of you might not have seen them. But I can speak to their effectiveness: In 2023, we added more than 70,000 free subscribers. While I would love to credit that growth exclusively to our journalism and analysis, I believe we have seen firsthand how quickly and aggressively tools like these can grow a publication.

The features referred to here are the network and engagement tools that Substack has built over the last couple years. Mainly Notes and recommendations. These are powerful tools of engagement and discovery. Maybe, just maybe ActivityPub offers the same rolling power to any site on the internet and not just custom, closed silos?