The top comment (as of this writing) summed things up well: “It's exactly because Firefox is so important that you'll see people here complaining when Firefox does things to push away users . . .”
Overall, the passion for Firefox was on full display. I hope Mozilla staffers take this thread as feedback and use it to improve Firefox in ways that boost market share.
I kind of regret my reference to “over thinkers on Hacker News” because it could be taken as an insult. A casual glance around this site, though, will show that I do plenty of overthinking myself.
I recall one time when someone accused me of overthinking something, I shot back that he was underthinking it. Ah, those were the days.
A comment about the moving background being “nauseating” caught my attention. It didn’t exactly move, but the stars fading in and out for a twinkling effect could give that impression.
I myself found the twinkling stars distracting, not just because of the twinkles but also because it is improbable that stars would appear this way in outer space, which is what this is supposed to depict.
So I’ve commented out a couple of lines of CSS and stopped the twinkling. I also stopped the barely perceptible wisps of cloud from blowing by.
The stars are based, by the way, on a video by Carla Notarobot. This was from six years ago, so chances are Carla really was not a robot.
Finally, it’s comments like these that make me love Hacker News:
“wait, is this a thing? firefox is the only mainstream browser with an rcfile, that alone gives you incredible powers. I hope one day it also grows something like chrome's CDP. What is everyone so upset about?”
I checked the Wikipedia article, and still only have a vague idea of what an rcfile is.
According to Wikipedia, it’s an adage that goes back to 1512 in Germany. People have known for hundreds of years that you should be careful not to throw out a good and vital thing in your zeal to get rid of a minor annoyance.
I think about this when I see people dumping on Firefox.
The latest was a post from a prolific blogger who has switched to Vivaldi because Firefox is now on X. He is somehow able to reconcile this with the fact that Vivaldi is also on X — not to mention Meta’s Threads, Facebook and Instagram, along with Google’s YouTube.
Meanwhile, the over thinkers on Hacker News come up with convoluted reasons to hate on Firefox every time the subject arises. It makes me wonder if it’s a bot campaign by Google — except, why would they bother?
Firefox is our last best hope for browser engine diversity and competition. Without it we would be stuck with Google Chrome and its spinoffs everywhere (including Vivaldi). The only holdout would be Apple Safari, hanging in there only because it’s the enforced default on iPhones.
I’m sure the reason Firefox is on X is because they’re hoping to reach out to new users. Considering their small and diminishing market share worldwide, they desperately need to reach out wherever they can.
During the last week, 39 per cent of visitors to Newsonaut were using Linux. That’s about as hard-core indie as you can get when it comes to systems. And it was ahead of all the others.
Although I’m on macOS myself, I’m glad to see that my small indie contribution is making headway among Linux users. I respect their do-it-yourself spirit.
I was a little disappointed, though, to see that Chrome is the top browser with 60 per cent. I’d love to see Firefox doing better than a measly 12 per cent. Still, it’s pretty decent compared with the tiny 3.3 per cent worldwide in July.
By the way, I’m getting these stats from GoatCounter, a donation-supported open source analytics platform that I use to satisfy my curiosity. It’s all general stuff, nothing about individual visitors.
I’ve been doing tai chi off and on for over 40 years. I’m at the point where I feel qualified to teach it. Yet I’ve never written about it until now.
It’s hard to write about, not just for me but for anyone. I have read books and articles about tai chi and they are interesting to a certain extent, but always somehow seem lacking.
The only way you can really get an understanding of tai chi is by experiencing it. The only way you can learn is from an instructor, who in turn learned from another instructor.
Books, articles and videos can be an affirmation of your experience. They may support what you have learned in class. But they can never be a substitute for the real thing.
Tai chi has to become part of your life, something you do regularly because it embodies what you are, or what you are becoming. It’s not something out there. It’s something inside.
Back in 2006, when I first started Thriftmac, it was hard to find free Mac apps. In fact, it was hard to find any Mac apps at all.
That meant snapping up links to pretty much any freeware I could find. On the plus side, it also meant that those few apps were likely maintained by developers willing to stick it out with the platform despite its tiny market share.
Twenty years later, there is a tsunami of new Mac apps driven by vibe coders. The good news is that we have a much larger selection. The bad news is that much of it is best avoided.
As an example, I use Ghost Crop to crop the transparent pixels that often surround the icons I post on Thriftmac. It’s been out for four years and works fine. I gave it five stars.
A few days ago, I came across an app that costs about the same and does a bunch of other image-related things as well. I downloaded the trial version and gave it a try. The results were pretty bad.
This developer is quite prolific, with dozens of apps on his site up for grabs. The prices are quite reasonable.
But it has to make you wonder. How can someone crank out so many apps and offer them so cheaply? They have to be vibe coded. And not only that, but vibe coded without attention to detail. If users report issues, I’m sure he’ll get Claude to fix them. It doesn’t inspire confidence.
Meanwhile, Ighor July has a blog that I’ve come to appreciate over the past few months called Reverse Everything.
He has his own apps for sale, but also recommends others. Without exception, these are apps that have stood the test of time, coming from an era when vibe coding did not exist.
His interviews with the developers of these apps are inspirational. Their dedication and perseverance give you faith that this is software you can rely on.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I’m having a tougher time selecting apps for Thriftmac. It’s reached the point where it would be impossible to list them all, so I’m leaning more heavily on the curation side of things.
Am I qualified to do that? Well, I’ve had over 20 years of experience, so that should count for something. In the end, though, that’s for you to decide, dear reader.
Before and after: In AR mode, the centre of the galaxy is on the other side of a heat register in the floor.
Galactic Compass is an iPhone app that does one thing and one thing only — shows a big green 3-D arrow pointing to the centre of the galaxy 26,000 light years away.
The direction changes with where Earth is in its orbit, along with where you are and what time it is.
The app has somehow survived periodic purges over the years of apps I no longer use. Probably because it’s nice to get yourself oriented on a galactic scale now and then.
I was a bit surprised yesterday when I discovered that the app had been updated with a new augmented reality mode. You now have the option of looking at the big-ass arrow floating wherever you happen to be.
Two other new features include an Apple Watch app and liquid glass appearance.
I checked the settings to see if there was anything else of interest, and saw that the app is made by Matt Webb, a noted developer in London.
I know of him because I recently placed a link on Newsonaut to a website he created for people who aren’t familiar with RSS feeds. About Feeds is his way of promoting RSS and the link is my way of supporting this effort.
So at least one small part of the galaxy is unfolding as it should.
I really wanted to stick with Sublime Text, and I gave it my best shot ever. But VS Code has pulled me back in again.
This time is was format on save. It’s a must-have I forgot to mention — the code you mess up becomes tidy again when you hit save.
Three packages and a few hacks later, I couldn’t make it work the way I wanted. Meanwhile, with VS Code, it takes zero effort.
But what about those slow cold starts. They’re still there — 23 bounces in the dock plus eight seconds of non-bounce waiting. So a total of about half a minute compared with near instant for Sublime Text. And this is after another round of Claude helping me optimize.
My solution is the same one I have for Bitwarden, another slow poke. Just leave it running.
Update: VSCodium looks like the solution I want. It has no AI bloat or telemetry, so it loads somewhat faster. The only catch was that I had to do a bit of a hack to get the City Lights theme.
It’s popular for certain news organizations to have their reporters ask politicians how many genders there are.
The “right” answer, apparently, is two.
But a question like this is not fair to the politician or to voters.
A politician’s opinion about the number of genders is irrelevant. The number is what it is, and their opinion changes nothing.
It also puts them on the spot. They know if they want votes from a particular segment of the population, they will have to resort to pandering. That is, they say what they think those voters want them to say, regardless of what they really think.
It’s unfair to voters because all they’ve really learned from the answer is whether that politician is willing to indulge them. It could be a different story once they’re elected.
A better question would be one about their stand on policy regarding gender in health care, education, and other areas. There is plenty that could be asked about that.
The answers would require more thought and nuance — certainly something more than a number. Still, it’s the kind of answer voters deserve and the kind of answer politicians should be encouraged to give.
Sometimes, in conversation, someone will say a word or phrase and immediately follow it up with “Oh, I guess we’re not allowed to say that.”
Usually it’s something racial, but it might also refer to sex or gender.
I’m never sure how to respond. I mean, why would you want to, even if you were “allowed”?
If you know that a group of people prefers to be called a certain thing, why wouldn’t you do them courtesy of using that word?
If you know that some people find a word offensive, why wouldn’t you have the decency not to use it?
They aren’t necessarily being malicious — they may be genuinely confused by a seemingly endless parade of words going in and out of fashion. Life would be easier if they could blurt out whatever comes to mind.
I can still remember the first time I saw pronouns in an email signature. It was baffling. Even after it was explained to me, I had a feeling of the world changing too fast for my comfort.
Still, it provides insight into the dilemma many people feel, and how I could answer the question of what they’re allowed to say.
“It can be hard to keep up. But it’s worth the effort.”
