Manton Reece

Did a bunch of work on Sunlit and Epilogue this morning, submitted both new versions for approval. The next Epilogue has book barcode scanning! Should be handy when you’re in a bookstore and notice something to add to your to-read list.

Apple chose to make the screen slightly larger on the iPad Mini while reducing the overall size and bezels. I might’ve been interested in a smaller screen, lighter, but perhaps it’s a no-go at that price and when the iPhone Pro Max and Duo exist.

In the future, our job as programmers will be nothing except reviewing auto-generated slop grenades. There won’t be time for new features, but all of our servers will be really secure. 🤪

Inkwell’s Reading Recap feature (Premium-only) continues to churn in the background, doing what it was designed to do. Nice to use when traveling to catch up. Here’s a screenshot showing my own blog’s recap from the last week. It’s a unique and underrated feature.

With Foursquare acquired by private equity, Swarm probably isn’t long for this world, so I’m getting serious about adding location check-ins to our iOS app Sunlit. The Micropub APIs have been there forever. First pass will use Apple Maps, then a custom places db later.

Went to church for the one-year memorial service for my mom this morning. The last year has been a blur. So much has happened, yet it also feels like almost no time has passed.

Watched: Klara and the Sun. Beautiful. It lives up to the book. 🍿

We are so used to the App Store model that I don’t think we pause enough to note that app distribution is actually clunky and slow now. In 1996 it was faster for me to do a Mac app build, copy it to a floppy disk, and drive to a friend’s house with it than it is to ship an iOS app in 2026.

Looking over Block’s voice model Dessa, this aside in the announcement post made me laugh: "LLMs need an insane amount of text. Dessa learned language from hundreds of times fewer words (in fairness, LLMs also have to learn C++ and whatever the hell Angular is)."

Marco Arment blogs about community and his break from Mastodon: "My break from Mastodon has been a relief in some ways, as I’ve felt increasing divergence between what I wanted and what I was getting from it, but I didn’t ... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/24/marco-arment-blogs-about-community.html

I don’t usually enjoy flying, and we had a couple hours of delays because of everyone arriving for F1, but it’s still amazing to have coffee and breakfast with family in NYC and then the same night be back in Austin for the Spurs / Rockets game. 🏀

Nice post by Jason Snell on the iPod’s 25th anniversary. Amazing that it has been that long. I had the original iPod at launch and it really was a special device. On how quickly the iPod was developed, Jason blogs: "Not every produc... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/23/nice-post-by-jason-snell.html

Michael Tsai has a rundown of links about the Mastodon 5 design, closing with this: "My first choice would be to see more people blogging on their own sites. But having longer and richer posts on Mastodon would be preferable to ma... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/23/michael-tsai-has-a-rundown.html

Midnight was great. Love a musical that leaves you stunned at intermission, with no idea what to expect next. 🎭

The Met Cloisters.

168th street station.

Back before the Duo announcement, I blogged: "I still think what I’d really want is a foldable iPad mini with no outer screen." I’m only halfway through John Gruber’s review, and I’m even more convinced that’s what I want: ... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/22/back-before-the-duo-announcement.html

Never seen this before. Iced coffee in a bag at 787 Coffee. I guess handy for keeping it tightly closed, but pretty awkward for everything else. ☕️

I’m not totally surprised that Stratechery is getting an exclusive sponsor, but I am kind of amazed that Andrew Sharp will be flying in so often to record in person: "I am extremely excited to announce that, starting this week,... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/21/im-not-totally-surprised-that.html

Not sure what to make of the WSJ’s report on Anthropic’s draft IPO prospectus: "The company is on the hook to pay around $450 billion in cloud computing agreements over the next seven to ten years. The bulk of these deals are noncancel... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/21/not-sure-what-to-make.html

Joanna Stern reviews the Duo, finding “bugs and general wonkiness throughout iOS on the Duo”, but overall sees the potential in it. Also a cool machine to test durability by folding it thousands of times.

The Bookmarks → Links tab in Micro.blog Premium is practically unknown, but so useful. It archives a copy of everything you link to! HTML, CSS, everything. Really useful to find things later. Here’s a screenshot from my account.

I missed that Foursquare was sold recently. Former CEO Dennis Crowley has a good blog post reflecting on the company: "I was heartbroken by this ending. There are so many people who put so much time and energy and passion and lo... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/21/i-missed-that-foursquare-was.html

We got to see A Few Good Men last night, starring Bradley Whitford and Tom Blyth. So great. Watched the movie just last week, but our daughters hadn’t seen it so it was all new. 🎭

I love the feeling of one minute after arriving in NYC, looking around and thinking, “Yeah, this is the city where things happen.” Almost wish I was in my 20s again so I could experience it with the anything is possible perspective of a full life ahead. Although at 50, I’m still quite the optimist.

Ben Thompson’s daily update today about “thin vs. thick” AI continues to sound right to me: "… you can envision a world where compute is no longer scarce, and very cheap models in the cloud are also good enough; it’s hard ev... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/20/ben-thompsons-daily-update-today.html

Yet more views from the train, earlier today going across a bay on the Hudson River. 🚂 https://www.manton.org/2026/10/19/yet-more-views-from-the.html

Stopped for a while in Albany. 🚂

Mohawk River in Schenectady. 🚂

A few more details in this Fortune story about the short-lived coup against Matt Mullenweg, but still no real explanation for why it happened: "A remarkable level of secrecy surrounded the drama. None of the board members have publicly... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/19/a-few-more-details-in.html

Matthias Pfefferle blogs about a clever way to render OPML in browsers using JavaScript, via @jlelse. I’m going to look into doing this for Micro.blog’s OPML too.

Working on more layout fixes for the iPhone Duo. I’m not sure Apple made the right trade-offs with the design of this thing. Vertical nav controls still feel weird. And with the device backordered for months, hard to justify the time to rethink everything.

Last morning on the train, along Lake Erie. 🚂 https://www.manton.org/2026/10/19/last-morning-on-the-train.html

Chicago Union Station. 🚂

In other Anthropic news today, I’ve been thinking about this bill that Anthropic proposed where it’s not a show-stopper if only 50 people might be killed or seriously injured: "The bill would let the government block a model’s ... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/18/in-other-anthropic-news-today.html

Anthropic announces a new public benefit fund, beyond what the existing b-corp can do: "The Anthropic Public Benefit Fund will have increased flexibility and scale, enabling us to pursue our mission in new ways: for example,... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/18/anthropic-announces-a-new-public.html

There’s a fun site that keeps track of Codex resets. OpenAI is in the middle of a nutty 28-day challenge to ship new features every day or give resets. Feels like a “bank error in your favor” every few days.

Crossing into Wisconsin. 🚂 https://www.manton.org/2026/10/18/crossing-into-wisconsin.html

Mark Gurman is pretty down on the iPhone Duo launch: "Apple has dealt with launch shortages before, but a three-month wait for a new iPhone is practically unprecedented." Doesn’t bother me, but I know some developers are annoyed that they can’t test their apps for months.

Along the Mississippi River as we head out of Minneapolis. 🚂

I’m feeling so lucky that I get to build software for people like @patrickrhone. We were able to catch up this morning as my train stopped just long enough at the Minneapolis - St. Paul station.

Looking over stats for the Mac app. 90% of users on macOS 26 or 27. 98% on Apple Silicon. Only thing I’d like to change going forward is to check for new versions a little more aggressively, so people don’t miss out on improvements. I’m not sure the 2006-era Sparkle UI is the best in 2026.

I took this shot of the stars from Puget Sound a few days ago, then didn’t even look at the result on my phone because I just assumed it would be blurry. Actually it turned out pretty neat. If I had known, I’d have tried again and fiddled with the exposure.

In John Gruber’s initial thoughts on the HomeView, he wonders about the odd $300 pricing for both the regular HomeView and the wall-mounted version: "So the wall-mounted version, when you include a mount, costs more but soun... https://www.manton.org/2026/10/17/in-john-grubers-initial-thoughts.html

No wi-fi and intermittent cell coverage for this trip, as expected. Somehow I managed to upload a video when we got back near a town. I used the offline time to write some code by hand (gasp!) and do yet more editing on the book.

Morning in Montana. 🚂 https://www.manton.org/2026/10/17/morning-in-montana.html

On the Empire Builder. Starting to turn east, with the moon in the sky. 🚂 https://www.manton.org/2026/10/16/on-the-empire-builder-starting.html

Seattle light rail. https://www.manton.org/2026/10/16/seattle-light-rail.html

John Gruber blogging about the Duo pre-orders: "…pre-orders always start before reviews appear. People are left to guess whether they’re going to like it without any word from people who’ve used it." At least Apple is generous with returns. $2k is a lot to put down on faith, though.

At the hotel lobby, a bunch of LEGOs to play with.