Justin Searls
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searls.bsky.social
Justin Searls
@searls.bsky.social
The least online Internet Person you know. https://justin.searls.co is crossposted to this account by https://POSSEparty.com.

Questions? Email me: justin@searls.co
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I'm ready to announce my next thing: POSSE Party! 🎉

It's a new service to reach your people—regardless of which social network they use—by crossposting your content from any RSS/Atom feed. Read the announcement to learn more and RSVP to be among the first to try it at launch: posseparty.com
You're invited to my POSSE party!
Nice
posseparty.com
I've been daily-driving Codex CLI with GPT-5 since release, because OpenAI's "codex" model was—in my experience—bad at coding.

Well, their new "GPT-5.1-Codex-Max" model absolutely smokes any model OpenAI has put out before. Much higher code quality and 2-3 times as fast.
November 20, 2025 at 10:32 PM
On one hand, yes, it's ridiculous I pay $200 a month for ChatGPT Pro. On the other hand, I saved over $800 last month by just letting it crank on scrounging for coupon codes and price matches.

Easily pays for itself if you're creative.
November 20, 2025 at 7:32 PM
First impression of Google Antigravity: this is by far the jankiest VS Code fork I've seen yet.

Should have shipped a CLI with a web product for orchestration.
November 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
TDD is more important than ever
TDD is more important than ever
Lately, I've been reminded of the heady days of my agile (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development) youth by how often I've found myself asking, "how will we test this?" As I've mentioned frequently on podcasts and recent Q&As about AI, an odd paradox has emerged in the software industry: 1. Developers experienced in agile engineering practices like test-driven development tend to be among the most skeptical of AI code generation, often citing fears that software quality is being thrown out the window 2. Developers experienced in agile engineering practices like test-driven development tend to be among the most successful at building great software with coding agents, often citing creative techniques enabling agents to verify the correctness of their work In the late 2000s, I always knew I was talking to a solid programmer if their first question upon being handed a complex task was to ask, "how will we test this?" Agile developers learned back then that literally everything hinged on establishing a fast, reliable, automated way to verify your code fulfilled its intended purpose. Without tests, you can't refactor aggressively, deploy frequently, or delete safely. Over the 2010s, many of us learned patterns and heuristics that allowed us to take shortcuts and tone down our testing zeal in the name of pragmatism and efficiency, but the underlying skill of concocting ways to verify our code never stopped being valuable. Well, here we are again. In 2025, the only thing that matters when it comes to coding agents like Claude Code and Codex CLI is to ensure they are equipped with the tools they need to independently verify the correctness of their work.
justin.searls.co
November 18, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Breaking Change is a lot of things, but likely to be replaced by an AI podslop factory isn't one of them www.thewrap.com/…
November 18, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Codex CLI and I invented a full client-side CMS for the blog using the GitHub and S3 APIs, then I wired up a new "wisp" media type to syndicate Instagram stories. See the top of justin.searls.co/…/
November 17, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Anyone else have some number of HomePods suddenly playing audio with no prompting? Always a few seconds, then it cuts out. Updated to 26.1, no dice. Restored firmware, nada. Won't even pause when I touch the top.

Sigh.
November 14, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Spectrum's technician was denied entry to my neighborhood, because WiFi calling failed to connect the gatehouse's call to my iPhone, because Spectrum's Internet was down. congrats-you-played-yourself.gif
November 13, 2025 at 4:31 PM
If Ed Zitron ends up being proven correct about everything he's reported out about OpenAI, he'll deserve a Peabody for having pantsed the global financial press for multiple years running. www.wheresyoured.at/…
November 13, 2025 at 12:07 PM
My lucky day
My lucky day
What are the odds?* *The odds are 1 in 1.7 million
justin.searls.co
November 12, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Apple is finally selling PSVR2 controllers for use with VIsion Pro… for $249.

I bought a barely-used PSVR 2 headset + controllers for $170 off eBay a couple months ago www.apple.com/…
November 12, 2025 at 10:49 AM
I've been using Tahoe since July and I've really, really tried to like the new Spotlight because I'm encouraged by the direction it's taking, but I'm giving up and going back to Raycast. It's just WAY TOO SLOW.

If you set up quick keys and then type them "too fast," it'll always do som... continued
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
My bro's staying with us, and he's pointed out what a mess our home network is. Spent all weekend detangling a rat's nest of overtorqued ethernet cables, and it's still busted. I feel awful about it.

Kink shaming isn't cool.
November 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I can confirm that visionOS 26 and the new 20 Gbps Developer Strap supports 1 Gbps network connections via USB-C ethernet adapters—very cool! www.amazon.com/…
November 8, 2025 at 12:42 AM
My grandpa left me a tiny 1-inch portable TV growing. It felt like you were watching TV… until you put it next to the real thing.

Sandwich's new ad gave me the same feeling—seeing it in the context of immersive video is an incredible experience. sixcolors.com/…
November 8, 2025 at 12:21 AM
This was a real pain in the ass. Please use it. searlsco.github.io/…
November 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
As part of the Searls LLC Trusted Tester program, @beckysearls.bsky.social has gotten early access to POSSE Party and started syndicating her beckygram.com site to Bluesky. Give her a follow if you want to keep up with my much better half 🌈 bsky.app/profile/beck...
November 4, 2025 at 8:19 PM
The single most destructive metric is a key performance indicator that rises for reasons the business doesn't understand. When it inevitably goes back down, people panic because nobody understands why it was high in the first place. news.ycombinator.com/…
November 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Watching Becky explore the world of bodybuilding, all I know is I would really struggle with my body being scrutinized by others. Surprisingly, though, I'm actually most impressed with the vegan bodybuilders—somehow they all seem to maintain a really healthy self-esteem. Maybe it's beca... continued
November 3, 2025 at 8:10 PM