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Feed title: Chris Coyier
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First item published on 2025-03-27T00:13:17.000Z
Last item published on 2025-01-29T15:33:58.000Z
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<title>Chris Coyier</title>
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<item>
<title>[Igalia Podcast] What Happens If They Sell Chrome?</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/26/igalia-podcast-what-happens-if-they-sell-chrome/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/26/igalia-podcast-what-happens-if-they-sell-chrome/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:13:17 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12160</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I think I preferred talking about it to writing about it as really I just wanted to spout off thoughts and ideas, and hear other people’s. My writing wasn’t real journalism, it was more if it goes this way my guess is it ends badly. There are some real extremes here. At worst: Google is […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I think I preferred <a href="https://www.igalia.com/chats/chris-coyier">talking about it</a> to <a href="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/">writing about it</a> as really I just wanted to spout off thoughts and ideas, and hear other people’s. My writing wasn’t real journalism, it was more<em> if it goes this way my guess is it ends badly.</em></p>
<p>There are some real extremes here. </p>
<p>At worst: Google is forced to sell Chrome, someone shitty buys it, squeezes it, and ruins it, maybe even kills it. Google stops investing time and money in the web. Chromium languishes. Google is also forced to stop writing checks to make other browsers the default search engine. This impacts Apple’s profits to the point they choose to stop investing in Safari/WebKit and only encourage iOS specific development. Mozilla is toast. All browser engines on life support.</p>
<p>At best: Google is slapped on wrist with fine. All browser engines are able to continue investing in a better web. Browsers are forced to ask users which search engine they would like to be default, perhaps even all operating systems forced to allow real browser choice and ask about browser defaults. Justice department focuses on user privacy. Developing for the web first becomes (remains?) obvious best practice. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/26/igalia-podcast-what-happens-if-they-sell-chrome/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12160</post-id>
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<item>
<title>ShopTalk on YouTube</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/19/shoptalk-on-youtube/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/19/shoptalk-on-youtube/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2025 19:31:02 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12090</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We’ve long had a YouTube channel for ShopTalk, but now we’re posting regular ol’ episodes to it, which we’ve never done before. Like this: And “shorts” here and there that we’ll clip out of the shows when it’s fun.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>We’ve long had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ShopTalkShow">a YouTube channel for ShopTalk</a>, but now we’re posting regular ol’ episodes to it, which we’ve never done before. </p>
<p>Like this:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="656: Onboarding Woes, Coloring Links, and AI Slop Theories" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/61Az9ne0_6U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<p>And “shorts” here and there that we’ll clip out of the shows when it’s fun.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="Writing, thinking, feeling, communicating, and coding with AI #podcast #writing #communication" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqWeSE2DK_Q?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12090</post-id>
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<item>
<title>“Open Recent” UI in VS Code Alternatives</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Mar 2025 20:08:11 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12127</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When you open Visual Studio Code without doing something like opening a .workspace file or dragging a folder onto it, you get a fairly blank screen like this: RECORD SCRATCH. I’m an idiot. It was just like that because I had my “Work Bench” set to “none” instead of the default. Putting the value back […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>When you open Visual Studio Code without doing something like opening a <code>.workspace</code> file or dragging a folder onto it, you get a fairly blank screen like this:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="770" data-attachment-id="12128" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12-27-06-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=2394%2C1800&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2394,1800" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 12.27.06 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C226&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C770&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C770&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12128" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C770&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C577&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C1155&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=2048%2C1540&ssl=1 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>RECORD SCRATCH. I’m an idiot. It was just like that because I had my “Work Bench” set to “none” instead of the default. </p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="435" data-attachment-id="12140" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2-46-08-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1646%2C700&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1646,700" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 2.46.08 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C128&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C435&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C435&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12140" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C435&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C128&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C327&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C653&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1646&ssl=1 1646w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>Putting the value back to <code>welcomePage</code> I get recent projects:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="670" data-attachment-id="12145" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-16-10-332x/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=2048%2C1340&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2048,1340" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 16.10.33@2x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=300%2C196&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=1024%2C670&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1024%2C670&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12145" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1024%2C670&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=300%2C196&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=768%2C503&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1536%2C1005&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?w=2048&ssl=1 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>Maybe I turned it off as it was a bit busy, but whatever it’s not that bad. Still a bit interesting to compare how the others do it. I’ll leave the rest of the post alone.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
<p>Speaking for myself, there is about a 95% chance what I want to do is open a recent project. I’ve got good muscle memory for Command-Shift-P to open commands and usually “File: Open Recent…” is among the top choices as I do it a a lot, and I’m good to go. Although I see Control-R is a direct command for that they are trying to teach me.</p>
<p>What I find more interesting as I explored VS Code forks is that <em>all</em> of them I tried implemented a different UI for opening a recent project. </p>
<p>I redacted the actual project names below because you goofballs don’t need to know all my kick ass secret projects.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="841" data-attachment-id="12101" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12101" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1030%2C846&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1030,846" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-13 at 8.56.47 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C246&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C841&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C841&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12101" style="width:717px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C841&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C246&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C631&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1030&ssl=1 1030w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cursor shows a list of 5 recently opened projects.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="888" data-attachment-id="12130" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-13-00-532x/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=1082%2C938&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1082,938" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 13.00.53@2x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=300%2C260&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=1024%2C888&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=1024%2C888&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12130" style="width:715px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=1024%2C888&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=300%2C260&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=768%2C666&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?w=1082&ssl=1 1082w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Windsurf goes as far as just opening whatever the most recent project was, but offers buttons as well for multiple recently opened projects.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="774" height="716" data-attachment-id="12132" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-13-06-262x/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=774%2C716&ssl=1" data-orig-size="774,716" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 13.06.26@2x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=300%2C278&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=774%2C716&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=774%2C716&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12132" style="width:623px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?w=774&ssl=1 774w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=300%2C278&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=768%2C710&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Trae offers a very simple list of recent projects.</figcaption></figure>
<p>To me it’s starting to be weird now VS Code doesn’t do this. It’s cool — you can copy back.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12127</post-id>
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<title>AI Slop Podcasts?</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Mar 2025 15:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12112</guid>
<description><![CDATA[My kid likes listening to podcasts sometimes and it’s cool with me! Story Pirates, for example, rules. She must have typed in “Bluey” at some point into the podcast app we use and found the Bluey Storytime Podcast. It looks kind of official. That’s real Bluey art, it uses the word “Bluey” in the title, […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>My kid likes listening to podcasts sometimes and it’s cool with me! <a href="https://www.storypirates.com/">Story Pirates</a>, for example, rules. She must have typed in “Bluey” at some point into the podcast app we use and found the Bluey Storytime Podcast.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="491" data-attachment-id="12114" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-03-41-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1364%2C654&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1364,654" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.03.41 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C144&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C491&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C491&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12114" style="width:532px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C491&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C144&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C368&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1364&ssl=1 1364w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>It looks <em>kind of </em>official. That’s real Bluey art, it uses the word “Bluey” in the title, in the real Bluey typeface and everything. But then it gets stranger. There is no real intro or outro, no sense of who is doing this podcast and why, and no ads. It’s like if an episode of Bluey was first turned into a short book, and then a voice just reads the book. That feels off to me. Like it doesn’t feel high quality enough for it to be official, and if it’s not official, wouldn’t copyright laws apply? Doesn’t Disney distribute Bluey? Isn’t Disney famously litigious? </p>
<p>But hey the kid likes it. It doesn’t have any of the charm of the show at all, but it <em>reminds</em> you how charming the show was when you watched it for real. Weird.</p>
<p>The more I listened to it, it occurred to me that the voice might not be “real”. It was pretty good sounding, but it didn’t <em>quite</em> feel real. The cadence of the talking, for example, was too perfect. </p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure though, and digging slightly deeper leads different directions. For instance, looking at reviews of the podcast make me think those reviews are just AI slop as well. </p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="872" data-attachment-id="12117" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-25-06-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1652%2C1406&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1652,1406" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.25.06 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C255&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C872&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C872&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12117" style="width:453px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C872&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C255&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C654&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C1307&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1652&ssl=1 1652w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure></div>
<p>I know allowing people to type whatever they want onto the public internet doesn’t usually go well but looking at these reviews make me wonder if society is going illiterate (uh oh — I’m getting old). </p>
<p>This is all making me feel like this show is AI generated slop. “Slop” meaning extremely low effort. Someone downloaded a video of the Bluey episode and fed it to the right LLM with the right prompt, got a script, had the script read, and called it a podcast. Someone pointed me to <a href="https://elevenlabs.io/">Eleven Labs</a> as a likely source of the good quality voice. </p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="679" data-attachment-id="12116" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-17-49-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1264%2C838&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1264,838" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.17.49 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C679&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12116" style="width:413px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C679&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C509&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1264&ssl=1 1264w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Some of the Bluey Storytime podcasts are read by a man’s voice with an Australian accent. See the “Turtleboy” episode for an example. </figcaption></figure></div>
<p>But digging in a different direction goes the other way. The creator is listed as “ForRealLife” which is cute and clever and feels human to me. It doesn’t link anywhere, but if you Google it you can find this other Bluey podcast:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="391" data-attachment-id="12118" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-29-22-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1680%2C642&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1680,642" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.29.22 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C115&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C391&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C391&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12118" style="width:583px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C391&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C115&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C293&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C587&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1680&ssl=1 1680w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p><em>Two</em> ladies talking here, which feels a bit more human. I listened to a few with my pre-primed AI-skeptic brain. I was feeling like the pleasantries they exchanged seemed so brief and generic and I immediately thought it could be generated. </p>
<p>Google’s <a href="https://notebooklm.google/">NotebookLM</a> was making headlines not along ago for the admittedly impressive feature where it basically <em>produces a podcast</em> of two people talking about a subject. Could it be? </p>
<p>I don’t think so, I’m afraid. The search also yielded an Instagram account in which Cherin & Tori are actually clearly two real life mom friends:</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="909" data-attachment-id="12119" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-38-24-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=2000%2C1776&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2000,1776" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.38.24 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C266&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C909&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C909&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12119" style="width:591px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C909&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C266&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C682&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C1364&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure></div>
<p>While I’m sure there are AI slop podcasts out there, I don’t think I discovered one here. I think Cherin & Tori are actually just fans of Bluey and enjoy making content around it. And have really nice voices for it. </p>
<p>It’s my own too-online broken-ass skeptical brain that is making me question more than I need to, apparently. </p>
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<title>Google Being Forced To Sell Chrome is Not Good for the Web</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2025 15:47:23 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12072</guid>
<description><![CDATA[You’ve got a monopoly on lemonade because you pay all the grocery stores to be the default lemonade. So we’re going to force you sell your car. What’s with the weird redirect? If the monopoly is directly caused by paying the grocery stores for placement, then stop that part. We can see this exact redirect […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>You’ve got a monopoly on lemonade because you pay all the grocery stores to be the default lemonade. </p>
<p>So we’re going to force you sell your car. </p>
<p>What’s with the weird redirect? If the monopoly is directly caused by paying the grocery stores for placement, then stop <em>that part.</em> </p>
<p>We can see this exact redirect happening in the ruling in the U.S. vs Google court case.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. <br><br>[…]<br><br>For years, Google has secured default placements through distribution contracts. It has entered into such agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers.<br><br>[…]<br><br>Because many users simply stick to searching with the default, Google receives billions of queries every day through those access points. </p>
<cite>Judge Mehta</cite></blockquote>
<p>In the document:</p>
<div data-wp-interactive="core/file" class="wp-block-file"><object data-wp-bind--hidden="!state.hasPdfPreview" hidden class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of court-memorandum-opinion."></object><a id="wp-block-file--media-97f90ce2-7105-4017-8298-7ec14dc32659" href="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf">court-memorandum-opinion</a><a href="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button wp-element-button" download aria-describedby="wp-block-file--media-97f90ce2-7105-4017-8298-7ec14dc32659">Download</a></div>
<p>It’s spelled out quite clearly that being the default is the monopolistic part and that’s caused by paying for it (which is then self-perpetuating as the placement is so valuable, the money generated by it pays for those default placements.)</p>
<p>Fair enough! Let’s stop that. </p>
<p>Let’s stop the monopoly by telling Google they can’t pay (certain? all?) companies to be the default search engine anymore. A step further could be forcing browsers should ask users what they want their default search engine to be.</p>
<p>This would be in line with how Apple was forced to <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/browser-choice-screen/">allow for browser choice</a>:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="612" data-attachment-id="12076" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12-52-03-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1620%2C968&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1620,968" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 12.52.03 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C179&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C612&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12076" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C179&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C459&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C918&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1620&ssl=1 1620w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>That’s a straight line from problem to solution. </p>
<p>A weird curvy-ass line between problem and solution is this strange solution that is being relentlessly proposed that Google should be forced to <em>sell Chrome.</em></p>
<p>There is a recent round of news covering this that all point to the curvy-ass-line solution. </p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2025/03/11/google-sell-chrome-doj-antitrust/82277792007/">USA Today</a>: “Google will have to part with its dominant Chrome browser if the U.S. Department of Justice has its way.”</li>
<li><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-doj-still-wants-google-to-divest-chrome/">WIRED</a>: “the Department of Justice reiterated that Google should stop paying partners for search placement—and divest its dominant Chrome browser.”</li>
<li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/03/doj-google-must-sell-chrome-android-could-be-next/">Ars Technica</a>: “the government maintains that Chrome must go if the playing field is to be made level again.”</li>
</ul>
<p>It’s true that Chrome ships with Google as the default search engine, because, ya know, they invested billions in Chrome and that’s how business works. But still, a more direct line from problem to solution is forcing default search engine choice, not a forced sale of Chrome itself. </p>
<p>Why do I care? The sale of Chrome is bad for the web.</p>
<p><a href="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/">I’ve written before</a> that Chrome is unusual in that it’s really only particularly useful to Google:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Users don’t pay for Chrome. There aren’t ads in Chrome. There is no <em>direct</em> business model for Chrome. Unlike Safari and Firefox, nobody writes checks to Chrome to make a certain search engine the default.</p>
<p>The value of Chrome is all tangential — it provides value to Google. Whoever buys it does not inherit that same tangential value, they would need to redirect what little of it they can somewhere else, likely fighting against the natural flow that has been baked into it since the beginning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’m not saying Google shouldn’t be forced to sell Chrome just because it’s only valuable to Google. But I do think Google should be allowed to have a browser. Google is a web business, that’s their whole thing. They <em>made</em> a browser to invest in the web itself because what is good for the web is good for Google, and happens to be good for all of us. </p>
<p>Allow me to be more clear about why Chrome is good for all of us. </p>
<p>When you look at (or otherwise experience) anything on a digital device, you’re looking at an operating system. That operating system was probably made by a private company who has total control over it. They have the right to do that, but that operating system exists to serve that company only and entirely. </p>
<p>If you make a native app for mobile devices, it is at the pleasure of the companies who build mobile operating systems and you’ll do it with the technology they allow. Making an app for iOS vs Android is super different and the companies behind them and never going to shake hands and make it easier for developers. It’s largely the same making a native app for desktop computers. While there is a bit more freedom of what you can install there, making a macOS app and a Windows app is two entirely separate endeavors. </p>
<p>Not so with the web. The web is a set of protocols and languages and file formats and other technology that congeal to make digital experiences. No one company owns or controls it. It is designed to be open and it’s <em>good</em> when companies build new things and support web standards. It’s a modern miracle that we have such a thing and it’s on us to protect it. </p>
<p>If I go to a <em>website</em> on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, some Linux distro, my Samsung phone, or whatever device I have that has a web browser on it,<strong> it really is the same set of files</strong> that deliver that experience. You and I and every company in the world can build things once that go everywhere. That’s how it should be. It’s fair and efficient. It’s good for the world. It’s much better than a world where we are forced to build things only for companies proprietary operating systems.</p>
<p>Google, by virtue of having Chrome, invests heavily in <em>the web itself.</em> Not just Chrome-the-browser, but the web standards that power the web. I can’t claim to know every detail of that investment, but I personally know people employed by Google that literally just try to make the web better all day. </p>
<p>It’s not hard to poke around the W3C specs themselves and see them littered with Google employees. </p>
<figure data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"https:\/\/chriscoyier.net\/2025\/03\/14\/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web\/"}' class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="820" data-attachment-id="12105" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-23-29-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1064%2C852&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1064,852" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.23.29 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C820&ssl=1" data-id="12105" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C820&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12105" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C820&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C615&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1064&ssl=1 1064w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="812" height="462" data-attachment-id="12103" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-22-26-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C462&ssl=1" data-orig-size="812,462" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.22.26 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C171&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C462&ssl=1" data-id="12103" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=812%2C462&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12103" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=812&ssl=1 812w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C171&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C437&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px" /></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="812" height="490" data-attachment-id="12104" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-20-27-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C490&ssl=1" data-orig-size="812,490" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.20.27 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C181&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C490&ssl=1" data-id="12104" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=812%2C490&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12104" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=812&ssl=1 812w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C181&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C463&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px" /></figure>
</figure>
<p>And there are evangelists, and documentation writers, and other people who aren’t working directly on Chrome, but really the web itself. </p>
<p>Will Google continue to invest like this if they are forced to sell Chrome? It would be hard to blame them if they did not. </p>
<p>Assuming they find a buyer, that buyer will be scrambling to find a way to make that investment worth it. Will they be choosing to employ people who are just <em>abstractly making the web better?</em> I would think not. </p>
<p>The web will suffer should Google be forced to sell Chrome. I think a fair assumption that overall investment and contribution to the open web will take a dive. </p>
<p>Sure, there will be some canonical fork of Chromium that keeps the sure-to-be-shunned buyer company out of it. Sure, the <a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers">Linux Foundation is getting their ducks in a row</a> to have contributors ready. But I can’t see it going well. </p>
<p>It won’t happen overnight, but stagnation will set in. A stagnated web is incentive for the operating system makers of the world to invest in pulling developers toward those proprietary systems. The browser wars sucked but at least we were still making websites. Being <em>forced</em> to make proprietary apps to reach people is an expensive prospect for the rest of us companies of the world, it will probably be done poorly, and we’ll all suffer for it. Heck, those operating systems aren’t required to ship a web browser <em>at all.</em></p>
<p>Whatever way this goes is bad for Mozilla. It’s possible Google is forced to not pay them for default search engine placement anymore, but even if they aren’t, you can imagine Google’s appetite for cutting that check is severely diminished. Mozilla’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/firefox-maker-mozilla-lays-off-250-workers-says-covid-19-lowered-revenue/">2020 layoffs</a> that was publicly about reducing platform development still has me thinking they aren’t entirely serious about pushing the web forward, particularly with much less help. </p>
<p>And bad things happening for Mozilla is <em>also</em> bad for the web, so another domino may fall. Diminishing investments in the web generally will keep knocking over dominos. </p>
<p>I’ve typed enough. Google does all kinds of shitty stuff. They are surely the worst offenders of user surveillance on the web. Let’s not let them off the hook on that. Let’s see the DOJ get involved in that stuff. But forcing a sale of Chrome is not the way.</p>
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</item>
<item>
<title>On Balatro</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:44:29 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12067</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The ShopTalk Discord #games channel has been pretty heavy on Balatro for like… a year? I was turned off by the game at first as I think I downloaded some unofficial port or something and it was unplayably janky. But now Balatro+ is on Apple Arcade, which I have anyway, and I’ve got a perfectly […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>The ShopTalk Discord #games channel has been pretty heavy on <a href="https://www.playbalatro.com/">Balatro</a> for like… a year? I was turned off by the game at first as I think I downloaded some unofficial port or something and it was unplayably janky. But now <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balatro/id6502451661">Balatro+ is on Apple Arcade</a>, which I have anyway, and I’ve got a perfectly nice copy of the game to play.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="589" data-attachment-id="12085" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6-38-21-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1718%2C988&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1718,988" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 6.38.21 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C173&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C589&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C589&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12085" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C589&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C173&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C442&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C883&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1718&ssl=1 1718w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>And play it I have! </p>
<p>So here’a collection of thoughts.</p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Poker is a great foundation for the game</strong>, as it’s a familiar construct (most people know a full house beats a straight, for example). It’s a <em>pretty loose</em> construct though, only really leaning on the cards and hands. Mostly it feels easier and less nerdy to explain to someone you’re playing a poker game on your phone which is nice.</li>
<li><strong>It gets the scoring right.</strong> It’s a simple concept where you get “chips” and “mult” and the two are multiplied together to get a score for a hand. It’s that perfect mixture of simple and complicated. You <em>can</em> calculate what your score is, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3S3o1qOHo">not knowing is a core design decision</a> and adds to the mystery and excitement.</li>
<li><strong>It gets all the numbers right.</strong> Aside from scoring, there are a number of other important numbers like the number of hands and discards you have. They are prominent and easy to understand. Most importantly, you win <em>money</em> when you win hands, and that is also very easy to understand. You essentially get <em>a few bucks</em> when winning and, if you hold onto money across hands, it can accumulate interest, which is also <em>a few bucks.</em> Then you can buy cards and packs, and they cost <em>a few bucks.</em> But the numbers are always <em>small integers. </em>There is no silly dealing with cents. Money is always a very constrained resource and making decisions about how to use it is crucial.</li>
<li><strong>Jokers are a perfect twist.</strong> You need jokers to score more or earn more money, but each of them do it in off kilter ways. Like just your club cards score more, so you have to adjust your choices to play more clubs. Or you get an extra discard, which doesn’t <em>directly</em> help you score, but it makes it easier to make straights, which are a higher scoring hand. There are 150 jokers (!), and all of them are useful in some sort of way. Ultimately, it’s about how you <em>combine</em> the jokers (along with other choices you make) to get through the game.</li>
<li><strong>But it’s not just jokers.</strong> Interestingly, there is even a “jokerless challenge” where you have to beat a game without using <em>any</em> jokers which is extremely challenging but doable. There are other way to manipulate the game you’re playing: 1) Arcana cards 2) Planet cards and 3) Spectral cards 4) Vouchers 5) Tags. All of them interesting an powerful in their own ways. Most runs will involve jokers and all of these to different degrees.</li>
<li><strong>The art is beautiful.</strong> The pixel style is fun. It makes me think if it was all crisply rendered I wouldn’t like it as much. The individual letters float up and down. Each card has a clever name and unique and detailed metaphoric design. But the <em>design</em> of the game is beautiful as well. The layout, the controls, the animations, the <em>fire</em> that shoots off the scoring when you’re crushing a hand. Just great.</li>
<li><strong>There are <em>so many dials to balance.</em></strong> It’s frankly shocking they got the game balanced. What the jokers do, what they cost, what the rarity is, how it combines with other jokes. What the hands are, how the hands level up, how the hands are affected by card enhancements and the cost and rarity of those enhancements. There are also “bosses” every three blinds which can be quite challenging and are yet another thing to balance. All this stuff is randomized, but it feels like not <em>entirely</em> randomized, like how you always get a joker booster pack after the first blind, and how you always get a planet card that matches a hand you played in the first blind (I think?!). </li>
<li><strong>The creator wanted it to be <a href="https://localthunk.com/blog/solitaire">played like people play it like solitaire</a></strong>, and I think that rules and he nailed it.</li>
<li><strong>It’s really a game of skill.</strong> You can actually get good at it. If you go <em>slow</em> and really analyze every single choice you have at every single step of the way. Your choices about what to buy, what card to pick, what blinds to skip, etc, are just as important as what hands you are playing. I’m not there yet, but it seems to me if you get really good you’re winning 80% of games you start, even on the the harder difficulty settings (in itself an interesting game mechanic). </li>
<li><strong>The YouTube scene around Balatro is strong</strong>, with channels like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@drspectred/videos">Balatro University</a> that are nearly equally fun to watch as playing to me. I feel like they actually help me play better.</li>
<li><strong>It captures peoples imaginations.</strong> The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/balatro/">subreddit</a> is full of people doing fan art and inventing new cards and such. Apparently people even feel compelled to blog about it.</li>
<li><strong>Winning is separated from insane runs.</strong> Winning is done by beating the 8 antes. I found the word ante weird/distracting at first. It’s really just a “round”. It doesn’t cost you anything upfront to play the round, which is what an ante is. If you’ve got a killer setup going, you can go past winning, which lets you bask in your genius.</li>
<li><strong>Unlocking stuff is attainable but not distracting.</strong> You don’t get all the decks at the start (each deck having unique characteristics that affect gameplay). You don’t get all the jokers. You don’t get all the vouchers and tags. It’s a satisfying feeling when you play a run and unlock something new. That slows down the more you play, but the satisfaction is replaced by new things like the good results of making good decisions and beating more difficult challenges. You also don’t have to care at all about the accomplishments. </li>
<li><strong>You’ll never play two runs that feel the same.</strong> There is just far too much stuff that can happen differently. This makes is much more fun than something like solitaire or non-variant sudoku to me. Although you can play a “seeded” game if you intentionally want to repeat which “randomized” things came up.</li>
</ul>
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data-amp-layout="responsive" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Open image 1 of 5 in full-screen"/></figure></div></div><div class="tiled-gallery__row"><div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:100.00000%"><figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12095" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3097/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_3097" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" 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<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12067</post-id>
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<title>It’s almost like they are saying one thing and doing another.</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/05/its-almost-like-they-are-saying-one-thing-and-doing-another/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/05/its-almost-like-they-are-saying-one-thing-and-doing-another/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2025 23:55:36 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12063</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Imagine announcing to the world you’re going to do the difficult job of making big changes and cuts in the government in order to make it more efficient. Then taking an organization that is demonstrably doing that job well already and destroying the whole thing. What if I told you there was a group of […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Imagine announcing to the world you’re going to do the difficult job of making big changes and cuts in the government in order to make it more efficient. Then taking an organization that is demonstrably doing that job well already and destroying the whole thing. </p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>What if I told you there was a group of user researchers, engineers, product managers, and procurement specialists within the federal government whose job was to partner with other federal agencies, learn directly from them and the people they serve what problems they face, and come up with solutions tested with real users? Well there isn’t. Not anymore, anyway, since they were all just fired. I’m being glib, but my point is that 18F excelled at doing all of the things DOGE purports to want, including dramatically eliminating waste. See <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/danhon.com/post/3ljfzhay7s22d">here</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/ronbronson.com/post/3ljdlj4yicc2l">here</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/waldo.net/post/3ljdal256mk26">here</a> for just a few of so, so many examples.</p>
<cite><a href="https://matthenry.fyi/posts/18f/">18F ????</a> — Matt Henry</cite></blockquote>
<p>I’d express my confusion, except that I’m not terribly confused.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Many exclaimed how the agency was known for <em>creating </em>efficiencies and saving taxpayer dollars and time—precisely in line with DOGE’s purported mission—but it’s long been clear at this point that DOGE has little real interest in actually locating efficiencies; it’s aim is to hobble the regulatory state, pursue political objectives, and concentrate power.<br></p>
<cite><a href="https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-mass-firing-of-federal-tech-workers">The mass firing of federal tech workers at 18F is one of DOGE’s most overtly political acts yet</a> — Brian Merchant</cite></blockquote>
<p>The story at USDS is the same.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off. The firings dealt a devastating blow to the government’s ability to administer and safeguard its own technological footprint, they wrote.</p>
<p>“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,” the resignation letter states. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.”</p>
<p>Roughly one-third of the 65 staffers who remained at USDS quit on Tuesday rather than take on new duties under DOGE.</p>
<cite><a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-elon-musk-federal-government-resignations-usds-6b7e9b7022e6d89d69305e9510f2a43c">Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE</a> — AP News</cite></blockquote>
<p></p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12063</post-id>
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<title>JT & Kelsey</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/26/jt-kelsey/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/26/jt-kelsey/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Feb 2025 19:34:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12055</guid>
<description><![CDATA[My sister is a big fan of Justin Timberlake. She & her friends went to go see him in Milwaukee this past weekend, with some swank front-row tickets her husband Aaron scored. She made a little sign to hold up that said “Moms / Teachers Night Out” and JT called them out early in the […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>My sister is a big fan of Justin Timberlake. She & her friends went to go see him in Milwaukee this past weekend, with some swank front-row tickets her husband Aaron scored. </p>
<p>She made a little sign to hold up that said “Moms / Teachers Night Out” and JT called them out early in the show and talked to them directly, saying he loved them and calling them the MVPs. </p>
<figure class="wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player" style="" >
<div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https://videopress.com/embed/H3sKnK0S?cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent="true" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>
</figure>
<p>You can really see how close they were from this angle:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player" style="" >
<div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https://videopress.com/embed/Ec1RwKVI?cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent="true" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>
</figure>
<p>It was a big local moment, getting Kels on the radio and everything:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/clip.mp3"></audio></figure>
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<item>
<title>Calculators & Writing</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/18/calculators-writing/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/18/calculators-writing/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Feb 2025 17:39:50 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12042</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I like the John Warner thing where the problem with outsourcing writing to AI is that the computers aren’t doing a process that is aligned with how humans would do it. On an episode of Search Engine, he said that using a calculator for long division, a tool that some compare to AI generated writing, […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I like the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Words-Think-Writing/dp/1541605500">John Warner thing</a> where the problem with outsourcing <em>writing</em> to AI is that the computers aren’t doing a process that is aligned with how humans would do it. On <a href="https://www.searchengine.show/listen/search-engine-1/playboi-farti-and-his-ai-homework-machine">an episode of Search Engine</a>, he said that using a calculator for long division, a tool that some compare to AI generated writing, is different. The calculator is doing what a human would do, just faster. Whereas with writing, humans are <strong>thinking, feeling, and communicating</strong>. Computers do not do these things. </p>
<p>Using AI to write means you’re robbed of the thinking and feeling it takes to write, which is (most?) of the value. Communicating, I suppose, you’re doing either way, you’re just communicating something you didn’t think about or feel if your writing is generated, which is fucked.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12042</post-id>
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<item>
<title>Meetings & Space</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/12/meetings-space/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/12/meetings-space/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:05:14 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12039</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Seventeen bits of advice from Ariel Salminen on Leading Successful Product Teams. I really like all of them. Allow me to pluck off a few about meetings: People gotta work yo. Including yourself. You gotta give lots of time to let that happen. Context switching has a cost for some people, and I’ve found a […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Seventeen bits of advice from <a href="https://arie.ls/2023/leading-successful-product-teams/">Ariel Salminen on Leading Successful Product Teams</a>. I <em>really</em> like all of them. Allow me to pluck off a few about meetings:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Avoid meetings as much as possible. Instead of having them, communicate asynchronous to each other via tools such as <a href="https://linear.app/">Linear</a>, <a href="https://github.com/arielsalminen">GitHub</a>, <a href="https://www.figma.com/@ariels">Figma</a>, <a href="https://slack.com/">Slack</a>, and <a href="https://nordhealth.design/faq/#what-tools-do-you-use">similar</a>.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Provide at least three days of focus time per week for designers and developers in the team. There should be no interruptions whatsoever during this time. Let them do their work.</strong></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>People gotta work yo. Including yourself. You gotta give lots of time to let that happen. Context switching has a cost for some people, and I’ve found a <em>heavy</em> cost for some. Too much of it, which meetings force, can scuttle an entire week of productivity. </p>
<p>But one is probably good:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p><strong>Don’t do team wide standups or sync meetings, except one meeting at the start of every week. Here you can walk through the tasks and discuss how the team feels, what motivates them right now, and if there are any blockers.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>That’s generally what we do at CodePen right now. One standing meeting on Monday to look at everything going on and make sure everybody has got stuff. Under an hour is the goal. </p>
<p>We do have occasional sync up meetings but only when it’s obviously appropriate, like when a new project is just taking shape. I find these to be highly beneficial, as I find that if you think everyone understands what is going on exactly as you do: you’re wrong. </p>
<p>I also feel the one-on-one stuff (not official One-on-One’s, just like grabbing someone to chat) are the <em>most</em> beneficial, as in our case, they tend to be pair programming sessions and they can really chew through tasks efficiently. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12039</post-id>
</item>
<item>
<title>Control</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/30/control/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/30/control/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jan 2025 23:30:39 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12033</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There is an idea in my bubble that running your own website is A Very Good Idea. I subscribe to the idea that running your own website is A Very Good Idea and will continue to help that along in my career. But there is a heaping helping of It Depends involved here. Perhaps the […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>There is an idea in my bubble that running your own website is A Very Good Idea. I subscribe to the idea that running your own website is A Very Good Idea and will continue to help that along in my career. </p>
<p>But there is a heaping helping of <strong>It Depends</strong> involved here.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest reason having your own site is a good idea is that you are in complete <strong>control</strong>. Platforms come and go, but your site is your site. You control the content, the design, the URLs, the everything. It’s a direct connection between a visitor to your site and you. </p>
<p>But I got some very valid pushback on this on a panel I was on last year. </p>
<p>For some, it actually feels like <em>less</em> control. </p>
<p>Not everybody knows how to update a website. Even if they do, they might not feel particularly good at it or do everything they want to do. And even if they do it, they aren’t sure anybody will see it, particularly in a timely manner.</p>
<p>If you’re a restaurant, it could be argued, it’s better to make an Instagram post saying you’re doing a BBQ popup on Monday from 5pm until sold out there rather than putting it on your own website. It’s probably faster and easier, reaches more people, and doesn’t need to be edited again later. That’s <em>more</em> control using a third-party platform, not less, even if you are ceding control in other ways.</p>
<p>The thing is: it’s not an <em>either or</em> situation. You can do both. <a href="https://indieweb.org/POSSE">POSSE</a> is both, but the technological requirements there are even stiffer. I don’t have any answers here. Except, of course, that everyone on Earth should both do the thing that they need to and love to do the most <em>and</em> be incredibly technologically proficient at the same time. </p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12033</post-id>
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<item>
<title>A Little Arm Chair Businessin’ about Chrome</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jan 2025 15:33:58 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12014</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It was August 5th, 2024 when a federal judge in the US decided that “Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search”. Then November 20th, 2024 when “The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome“. It hasn’t been forced yet and […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>It was August 5th, 2024 when a federal judge in the US decided that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html">“Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search”</a>. Then November 20th, 2024 when “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/technology/google-search-chrome-doj.html">The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome</a>“.</p>
<p>It hasn’t been forced yet and I have no idea if it will be. I’m just a barely-informed but fascinated observer here.</p>
<p>It’s fair to call it a rumor, but there is writing saying <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-18/doj-will-push-google-to-sell-off-chrome-to-break-search-monopoly?embedded-checkout=true">it could sell for $20 billion</a>. </p>
<p>Time for some arm-chair businessing.</p>
<p>Yes, Chrome is an amazing software product. Yes, it has an incredible amount of users. Yes, those users probably log usage statistics that most software products would drool over. </p>
<p>But also: it’s a massive liability.</p>
<p>Users don’t pay for Chrome. There aren’t ads in Chrome. There is no <em>direct</em> business model for Chrome. Unlike Safari and Firefox, nobody writes checks to Chrome to make a certain search engine the default.</p>
<p>The value of Chrome is all tangential — it provides value to Google. Whoever buys it does not inherit that same tangential value, they would need to redirect what little of it they can somewhere else, likely fighting against the natural flow that has been baked into it since the beginning.</p>
<p>Conservatively, it will take several hundred people to operate it. So call that $20m a year minimum<sup data-fn="23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46" class="fn"><a href="#23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46" id="23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46-link">1</a></sup>. And what are the costs of distributing it? Chrome is a couple hundred MB in size. Just the bandwidth for that alone in the numbers it is downloaded is non-trivial.</p>
<p>So some company buys an app for an astronomical amount of money, which has no direct business model and a huge amount of ongoing cost and just hope they can figure out how they can make that work? It just seems highly unlikely. </p>
<p>It’s nice to see this: <a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers">Linux Foundation Announces the Launch of Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers</a>. It feels like it’s in response to all this. <em>Uh oh what if Google is forced to sell Chrome</em>, we’d better line up a bunch of people (and money) who say they’ll continue supporting the open source underpinnings.</p>
<p>I’m no big business apologist, but I do tend to think if you build a search engine, then you build a browser and it defaults to that search engine… that’s fine? And if the problem is about paying other companies to be the default search engine, then have them stop doing that (sad day for Mozilla). In general, I think a forced sale of Chrome itself is a big ol’ net negative for the web, even if it would be a (happy day for Mozilla). <br></p>
<ol class="wp-block-footnotes"><li id="23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46">The real answer for annual operating costs is in the billions, but even ultra conservative numbers here paint a picture that this is not a tenable prospect for almost any buyer. <a href="#23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 1">↩︎</a></li></ol>]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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<title>[Igalia Podcast] What Happens If They Sell Chrome?</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/26/igalia-podcast-what-happens-if-they-sell-chrome/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/26/igalia-podcast-what-happens-if-they-sell-chrome/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:13:17 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12160</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I think I preferred talking about it to writing about it as really I just wanted to spout off thoughts and ideas, and hear other people’s. My writing wasn’t real journalism, it was more if it goes this way my guess is it ends badly. There are some real extremes here. At worst: Google is […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I think I preferred <a href="https://www.igalia.com/chats/chris-coyier">talking about it</a> to <a href="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/">writing about it</a> as really I just wanted to spout off thoughts and ideas, and hear other people’s. My writing wasn’t real journalism, it was more<em> if it goes this way my guess is it ends badly.</em></p>
<p>There are some real extremes here. </p>
<p>At worst: Google is forced to sell Chrome, someone shitty buys it, squeezes it, and ruins it, maybe even kills it. Google stops investing time and money in the web. Chromium languishes. Google is also forced to stop writing checks to make other browsers the default search engine. This impacts Apple’s profits to the point they choose to stop investing in Safari/WebKit and only encourage iOS specific development. Mozilla is toast. All browser engines on life support.</p>
<p>At best: Google is slapped on wrist with fine. All browser engines are able to continue investing in a better web. Browsers are forced to ask users which search engine they would like to be default, perhaps even all operating systems forced to allow real browser choice and ask about browser defaults. Justice department focuses on user privacy. Developing for the web first becomes (remains?) obvious best practice. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12160</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>ShopTalk on YouTube</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/19/shoptalk-on-youtube/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/19/shoptalk-on-youtube/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2025 19:31:02 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12090</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We’ve long had a YouTube channel for ShopTalk, but now we’re posting regular ol’ episodes to it, which we’ve never done before. Like this: And “shorts” here and there that we’ll clip out of the shows when it’s fun.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>We’ve long had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ShopTalkShow">a YouTube channel for ShopTalk</a>, but now we’re posting regular ol’ episodes to it, which we’ve never done before. </p>
<p>Like this:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="656: Onboarding Woes, Coloring Links, and AI Slop Theories" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/61Az9ne0_6U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<p>And “shorts” here and there that we’ll clip out of the shows when it’s fun.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="Writing, thinking, feeling, communicating, and coding with AI #podcast #writing #communication" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqWeSE2DK_Q?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
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<item>
<title>“Open Recent” UI in VS Code Alternatives</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Mar 2025 20:08:11 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12127</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When you open Visual Studio Code without doing something like opening a .workspace file or dragging a folder onto it, you get a fairly blank screen like this: RECORD SCRATCH. I’m an idiot. It was just like that because I had my “Work Bench” set to “none” instead of the default. Putting the value back […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>When you open Visual Studio Code without doing something like opening a <code>.workspace</code> file or dragging a folder onto it, you get a fairly blank screen like this:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="770" data-attachment-id="12128" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12-27-06-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=2394%2C1800&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2394,1800" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 12.27.06 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C226&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C770&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C770&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12128" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C770&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C577&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C1155&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=2048%2C1540&ssl=1 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>RECORD SCRATCH. I’m an idiot. It was just like that because I had my “Work Bench” set to “none” instead of the default. </p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="435" data-attachment-id="12140" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2-46-08-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1646%2C700&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1646,700" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 2.46.08 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C128&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C435&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C435&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12140" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C435&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C128&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C327&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C653&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1646&ssl=1 1646w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>Putting the value back to <code>welcomePage</code> I get recent projects:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="670" data-attachment-id="12145" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-16-10-332x/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=2048%2C1340&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2048,1340" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 16.10.33@2x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=300%2C196&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=1024%2C670&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1024%2C670&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12145" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1024%2C670&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=300%2C196&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=768%2C503&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1536%2C1005&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?w=2048&ssl=1 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>Maybe I turned it off as it was a bit busy, but whatever it’s not that bad. Still a bit interesting to compare how the others do it. I’ll leave the rest of the post alone.</p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
<p>Speaking for myself, there is about a 95% chance what I want to do is open a recent project. I’ve got good muscle memory for Command-Shift-P to open commands and usually “File: Open Recent…” is among the top choices as I do it a a lot, and I’m good to go. Although I see Control-R is a direct command for that they are trying to teach me.</p>
<p>What I find more interesting as I explored VS Code forks is that <em>all</em> of them I tried implemented a different UI for opening a recent project. </p>
<p>I redacted the actual project names below because you goofballs don’t need to know all my kick ass secret projects.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="841" data-attachment-id="12101" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12101" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1030%2C846&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1030,846" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-13 at 8.56.47 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C246&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C841&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C841&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12101" style="width:717px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C841&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C246&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C631&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1030&ssl=1 1030w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cursor shows a list of 5 recently opened projects.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="888" data-attachment-id="12130" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-13-00-532x/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=1082%2C938&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1082,938" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 13.00.53@2x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=300%2C260&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=1024%2C888&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=1024%2C888&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12130" style="width:715px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=1024%2C888&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=300%2C260&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=768%2C666&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?w=1082&ssl=1 1082w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Windsurf goes as far as just opening whatever the most recent project was, but offers buttons as well for multiple recently opened projects.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="774" height="716" data-attachment-id="12132" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-13-06-262x/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=774%2C716&ssl=1" data-orig-size="774,716" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 13.06.26@2x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=300%2C278&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=774%2C716&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=774%2C716&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12132" style="width:623px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?w=774&ssl=1 774w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=300%2C278&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=768%2C710&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Trae offers a very simple list of recent projects.</figcaption></figure>
<p>To me it’s starting to be weird now VS Code doesn’t do this. It’s cool — you can copy back.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12127</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>AI Slop Podcasts?</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Mar 2025 15:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12112</guid>
<description><![CDATA[My kid likes listening to podcasts sometimes and it’s cool with me! Story Pirates, for example, rules. She must have typed in “Bluey” at some point into the podcast app we use and found the Bluey Storytime Podcast. It looks kind of official. That’s real Bluey art, it uses the word “Bluey” in the title, […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>My kid likes listening to podcasts sometimes and it’s cool with me! <a href="https://www.storypirates.com/">Story Pirates</a>, for example, rules. She must have typed in “Bluey” at some point into the podcast app we use and found the Bluey Storytime Podcast.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="491" data-attachment-id="12114" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-03-41-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1364%2C654&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1364,654" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.03.41 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C144&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C491&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C491&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12114" style="width:532px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C491&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C144&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C368&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1364&ssl=1 1364w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>It looks <em>kind of </em>official. That’s real Bluey art, it uses the word “Bluey” in the title, in the real Bluey typeface and everything. But then it gets stranger. There is no real intro or outro, no sense of who is doing this podcast and why, and no ads. It’s like if an episode of Bluey was first turned into a short book, and then a voice just reads the book. That feels off to me. Like it doesn’t feel high quality enough for it to be official, and if it’s not official, wouldn’t copyright laws apply? Doesn’t Disney distribute Bluey? Isn’t Disney famously litigious? </p>
<p>But hey the kid likes it. It doesn’t have any of the charm of the show at all, but it <em>reminds</em> you how charming the show was when you watched it for real. Weird.</p>
<p>The more I listened to it, it occurred to me that the voice might not be “real”. It was pretty good sounding, but it didn’t <em>quite</em> feel real. The cadence of the talking, for example, was too perfect. </p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure though, and digging slightly deeper leads different directions. For instance, looking at reviews of the podcast make me think those reviews are just AI slop as well. </p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="872" data-attachment-id="12117" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-25-06-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1652%2C1406&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1652,1406" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.25.06 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C255&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C872&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C872&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12117" style="width:453px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C872&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C255&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C654&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C1307&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1652&ssl=1 1652w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure></div>
<p>I know allowing people to type whatever they want onto the public internet doesn’t usually go well but looking at these reviews make me wonder if society is going illiterate (uh oh — I’m getting old). </p>
<p>This is all making me feel like this show is AI generated slop. “Slop” meaning extremely low effort. Someone downloaded a video of the Bluey episode and fed it to the right LLM with the right prompt, got a script, had the script read, and called it a podcast. Someone pointed me to <a href="https://elevenlabs.io/">Eleven Labs</a> as a likely source of the good quality voice. </p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="679" data-attachment-id="12116" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-17-49-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1264%2C838&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1264,838" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.17.49 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C679&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12116" style="width:413px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C679&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C509&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1264&ssl=1 1264w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Some of the Bluey Storytime podcasts are read by a man’s voice with an Australian accent. See the “Turtleboy” episode for an example. </figcaption></figure></div>
<p>But digging in a different direction goes the other way. The creator is listed as “ForRealLife” which is cute and clever and feels human to me. It doesn’t link anywhere, but if you Google it you can find this other Bluey podcast:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="391" data-attachment-id="12118" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-29-22-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1680%2C642&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1680,642" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.29.22 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C115&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C391&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C391&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12118" style="width:583px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C391&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C115&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C293&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C587&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1680&ssl=1 1680w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p><em>Two</em> ladies talking here, which feels a bit more human. I listened to a few with my pre-primed AI-skeptic brain. I was feeling like the pleasantries they exchanged seemed so brief and generic and I immediately thought it could be generated. </p>
<p>Google’s <a href="https://notebooklm.google/">NotebookLM</a> was making headlines not along ago for the admittedly impressive feature where it basically <em>produces a podcast</em> of two people talking about a subject. Could it be? </p>
<p>I don’t think so, I’m afraid. The search also yielded an Instagram account in which Cherin & Tori are actually clearly two real life mom friends:</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="909" data-attachment-id="12119" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-38-24-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=2000%2C1776&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2000,1776" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.38.24 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C266&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C909&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C909&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12119" style="width:591px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C909&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C266&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C682&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C1364&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure></div>
<p>While I’m sure there are AI slop podcasts out there, I don’t think I discovered one here. I think Cherin & Tori are actually just fans of Bluey and enjoy making content around it. And have really nice voices for it. </p>
<p>It’s my own too-online broken-ass skeptical brain that is making me question more than I need to, apparently. </p>
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<title>Google Being Forced To Sell Chrome is Not Good for the Web</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2025 15:47:23 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12072</guid>
<description><![CDATA[You’ve got a monopoly on lemonade because you pay all the grocery stores to be the default lemonade. So we’re going to force you sell your car. What’s with the weird redirect? If the monopoly is directly caused by paying the grocery stores for placement, then stop that part. We can see this exact redirect […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>You’ve got a monopoly on lemonade because you pay all the grocery stores to be the default lemonade. </p>
<p>So we’re going to force you sell your car. </p>
<p>What’s with the weird redirect? If the monopoly is directly caused by paying the grocery stores for placement, then stop <em>that part.</em> </p>
<p>We can see this exact redirect happening in the ruling in the U.S. vs Google court case.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. <br><br>[…]<br><br>For years, Google has secured default placements through distribution contracts. It has entered into such agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers.<br><br>[…]<br><br>Because many users simply stick to searching with the default, Google receives billions of queries every day through those access points. </p>
<cite>Judge Mehta</cite></blockquote>
<p>In the document:</p>
<div data-wp-interactive="core/file" class="wp-block-file"><object data-wp-bind--hidden="!state.hasPdfPreview" hidden class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of court-memorandum-opinion."></object><a id="wp-block-file--media-97f90ce2-7105-4017-8298-7ec14dc32659" href="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf">court-memorandum-opinion</a><a href="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button wp-element-button" download aria-describedby="wp-block-file--media-97f90ce2-7105-4017-8298-7ec14dc32659">Download</a></div>
<p>It’s spelled out quite clearly that being the default is the monopolistic part and that’s caused by paying for it (which is then self-perpetuating as the placement is so valuable, the money generated by it pays for those default placements.)</p>
<p>Fair enough! Let’s stop that. </p>
<p>Let’s stop the monopoly by telling Google they can’t pay (certain? all?) companies to be the default search engine anymore. A step further could be forcing browsers should ask users what they want their default search engine to be.</p>
<p>This would be in line with how Apple was forced to <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/browser-choice-screen/">allow for browser choice</a>:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="612" data-attachment-id="12076" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12-52-03-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1620%2C968&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1620,968" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 12.52.03 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C179&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C612&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12076" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C179&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C459&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C918&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1620&ssl=1 1620w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>That’s a straight line from problem to solution. </p>
<p>A weird curvy-ass line between problem and solution is this strange solution that is being relentlessly proposed that Google should be forced to <em>sell Chrome.</em></p>
<p>There is a recent round of news covering this that all point to the curvy-ass-line solution. </p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2025/03/11/google-sell-chrome-doj-antitrust/82277792007/">USA Today</a>: “Google will have to part with its dominant Chrome browser if the U.S. Department of Justice has its way.”</li>
<li><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-doj-still-wants-google-to-divest-chrome/">WIRED</a>: “the Department of Justice reiterated that Google should stop paying partners for search placement—and divest its dominant Chrome browser.”</li>
<li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/03/doj-google-must-sell-chrome-android-could-be-next/">Ars Technica</a>: “the government maintains that Chrome must go if the playing field is to be made level again.”</li>
</ul>
<p>It’s true that Chrome ships with Google as the default search engine, because, ya know, they invested billions in Chrome and that’s how business works. But still, a more direct line from problem to solution is forcing default search engine choice, not a forced sale of Chrome itself. </p>
<p>Why do I care? The sale of Chrome is bad for the web.</p>
<p><a href="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/">I’ve written before</a> that Chrome is unusual in that it’s really only particularly useful to Google:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Users don’t pay for Chrome. There aren’t ads in Chrome. There is no <em>direct</em> business model for Chrome. Unlike Safari and Firefox, nobody writes checks to Chrome to make a certain search engine the default.</p>
<p>The value of Chrome is all tangential — it provides value to Google. Whoever buys it does not inherit that same tangential value, they would need to redirect what little of it they can somewhere else, likely fighting against the natural flow that has been baked into it since the beginning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’m not saying Google shouldn’t be forced to sell Chrome just because it’s only valuable to Google. But I do think Google should be allowed to have a browser. Google is a web business, that’s their whole thing. They <em>made</em> a browser to invest in the web itself because what is good for the web is good for Google, and happens to be good for all of us. </p>
<p>Allow me to be more clear about why Chrome is good for all of us. </p>
<p>When you look at (or otherwise experience) anything on a digital device, you’re looking at an operating system. That operating system was probably made by a private company who has total control over it. They have the right to do that, but that operating system exists to serve that company only and entirely. </p>
<p>If you make a native app for mobile devices, it is at the pleasure of the companies who build mobile operating systems and you’ll do it with the technology they allow. Making an app for iOS vs Android is super different and the companies behind them and never going to shake hands and make it easier for developers. It’s largely the same making a native app for desktop computers. While there is a bit more freedom of what you can install there, making a macOS app and a Windows app is two entirely separate endeavors. </p>
<p>Not so with the web. The web is a set of protocols and languages and file formats and other technology that congeal to make digital experiences. No one company owns or controls it. It is designed to be open and it’s <em>good</em> when companies build new things and support web standards. It’s a modern miracle that we have such a thing and it’s on us to protect it. </p>
<p>If I go to a <em>website</em> on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, some Linux distro, my Samsung phone, or whatever device I have that has a web browser on it,<strong> it really is the same set of files</strong> that deliver that experience. You and I and every company in the world can build things once that go everywhere. That’s how it should be. It’s fair and efficient. It’s good for the world. It’s much better than a world where we are forced to build things only for companies proprietary operating systems.</p>
<p>Google, by virtue of having Chrome, invests heavily in <em>the web itself.</em> Not just Chrome-the-browser, but the web standards that power the web. I can’t claim to know every detail of that investment, but I personally know people employed by Google that literally just try to make the web better all day. </p>
<p>It’s not hard to poke around the W3C specs themselves and see them littered with Google employees. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="820" data-attachment-id="12105" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-23-29-am/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1064%2C852&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1064,852" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.23.29 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C820&ssl=1" data-id="12105" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C820&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12105" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C820&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C615&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1064&ssl=1 1064w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
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</figure>
<p>And there are evangelists, and documentation writers, and other people who aren’t working directly on Chrome, but really the web itself. </p>
<p>Will Google continue to invest like this if they are forced to sell Chrome? It would be hard to blame them if they did not. </p>
<p>Assuming they find a buyer, that buyer will be scrambling to find a way to make that investment worth it. Will they be choosing to employ people who are just <em>abstractly making the web better?</em> I would think not. </p>
<p>The web will suffer should Google be forced to sell Chrome. I think a fair assumption that overall investment and contribution to the open web will take a dive. </p>
<p>Sure, there will be some canonical fork of Chromium that keeps the sure-to-be-shunned buyer company out of it. Sure, the <a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers">Linux Foundation is getting their ducks in a row</a> to have contributors ready. But I can’t see it going well. </p>
<p>It won’t happen overnight, but stagnation will set in. A stagnated web is incentive for the operating system makers of the world to invest in pulling developers toward those proprietary systems. The browser wars sucked but at least we were still making websites. Being <em>forced</em> to make proprietary apps to reach people is an expensive prospect for the rest of us companies of the world, it will probably be done poorly, and we’ll all suffer for it. Heck, those operating systems aren’t required to ship a web browser <em>at all.</em></p>
<p>Whatever way this goes is bad for Mozilla. It’s possible Google is forced to not pay them for default search engine placement anymore, but even if they aren’t, you can imagine Google’s appetite for cutting that check is severely diminished. Mozilla’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/firefox-maker-mozilla-lays-off-250-workers-says-covid-19-lowered-revenue/">2020 layoffs</a> that was publicly about reducing platform development still has me thinking they aren’t entirely serious about pushing the web forward, particularly with much less help. </p>
<p>And bad things happening for Mozilla is <em>also</em> bad for the web, so another domino may fall. Diminishing investments in the web generally will keep knocking over dominos. </p>
<p>I’ve typed enough. Google does all kinds of shitty stuff. They are surely the worst offenders of user surveillance on the web. Let’s not let them off the hook on that. Let’s see the DOJ get involved in that stuff. But forcing a sale of Chrome is not the way.</p>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12072</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>On Balatro</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:44:29 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12067</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The ShopTalk Discord #games channel has been pretty heavy on Balatro for like… a year? I was turned off by the game at first as I think I downloaded some unofficial port or something and it was unplayably janky. But now Balatro+ is on Apple Arcade, which I have anyway, and I’ve got a perfectly […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>The ShopTalk Discord #games channel has been pretty heavy on <a href="https://www.playbalatro.com/">Balatro</a> for like… a year? I was turned off by the game at first as I think I downloaded some unofficial port or something and it was unplayably janky. But now <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balatro/id6502451661">Balatro+ is on Apple Arcade</a>, which I have anyway, and I’ve got a perfectly nice copy of the game to play.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="589" data-attachment-id="12085" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6-38-21-pm/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1718%2C988&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1718,988" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 6.38.21 PM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C173&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C589&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C589&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12085" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C589&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C173&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C442&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C883&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1718&ssl=1 1718w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>
<p>And play it I have! </p>
<p>So here’a collection of thoughts.</p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Poker is a great foundation for the game</strong>, as it’s a familiar construct (most people know a full house beats a straight, for example). It’s a <em>pretty loose</em> construct though, only really leaning on the cards and hands. Mostly it feels easier and less nerdy to explain to someone you’re playing a poker game on your phone which is nice.</li>
<li><strong>It gets the scoring right.</strong> It’s a simple concept where you get “chips” and “mult” and the two are multiplied together to get a score for a hand. It’s that perfect mixture of simple and complicated. You <em>can</em> calculate what your score is, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3S3o1qOHo">not knowing is a core design decision</a> and adds to the mystery and excitement.</li>
<li><strong>It gets all the numbers right.</strong> Aside from scoring, there are a number of other important numbers like the number of hands and discards you have. They are prominent and easy to understand. Most importantly, you win <em>money</em> when you win hands, and that is also very easy to understand. You essentially get <em>a few bucks</em> when winning and, if you hold onto money across hands, it can accumulate interest, which is also <em>a few bucks.</em> Then you can buy cards and packs, and they cost <em>a few bucks.</em> But the numbers are always <em>small integers. </em>There is no silly dealing with cents. Money is always a very constrained resource and making decisions about how to use it is crucial.</li>
<li><strong>Jokers are a perfect twist.</strong> You need jokers to score more or earn more money, but each of them do it in off kilter ways. Like just your club cards score more, so you have to adjust your choices to play more clubs. Or you get an extra discard, which doesn’t <em>directly</em> help you score, but it makes it easier to make straights, which are a higher scoring hand. There are 150 jokers (!), and all of them are useful in some sort of way. Ultimately, it’s about how you <em>combine</em> the jokers (along with other choices you make) to get through the game.</li>
<li><strong>But it’s not just jokers.</strong> Interestingly, there is even a “jokerless challenge” where you have to beat a game without using <em>any</em> jokers which is extremely challenging but doable. There are other way to manipulate the game you’re playing: 1) Arcana cards 2) Planet cards and 3) Spectral cards 4) Vouchers 5) Tags. All of them interesting an powerful in their own ways. Most runs will involve jokers and all of these to different degrees.</li>
<li><strong>The art is beautiful.</strong> The pixel style is fun. It makes me think if it was all crisply rendered I wouldn’t like it as much. The individual letters float up and down. Each card has a clever name and unique and detailed metaphoric design. But the <em>design</em> of the game is beautiful as well. The layout, the controls, the animations, the <em>fire</em> that shoots off the scoring when you’re crushing a hand. Just great.</li>
<li><strong>There are <em>so many dials to balance.</em></strong> It’s frankly shocking they got the game balanced. What the jokers do, what they cost, what the rarity is, how it combines with other jokes. What the hands are, how the hands level up, how the hands are affected by card enhancements and the cost and rarity of those enhancements. There are also “bosses” every three blinds which can be quite challenging and are yet another thing to balance. All this stuff is randomized, but it feels like not <em>entirely</em> randomized, like how you always get a joker booster pack after the first blind, and how you always get a planet card that matches a hand you played in the first blind (I think?!). </li>
<li><strong>The creator wanted it to be <a href="https://localthunk.com/blog/solitaire">played like people play it like solitaire</a></strong>, and I think that rules and he nailed it.</li>
<li><strong>It’s really a game of skill.</strong> You can actually get good at it. If you go <em>slow</em> and really analyze every single choice you have at every single step of the way. Your choices about what to buy, what card to pick, what blinds to skip, etc, are just as important as what hands you are playing. I’m not there yet, but it seems to me if you get really good you’re winning 80% of games you start, even on the the harder difficulty settings (in itself an interesting game mechanic). </li>
<li><strong>The YouTube scene around Balatro is strong</strong>, with channels like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@drspectred/videos">Balatro University</a> that are nearly equally fun to watch as playing to me. I feel like they actually help me play better.</li>
<li><strong>It captures peoples imaginations.</strong> The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/balatro/">subreddit</a> is full of people doing fan art and inventing new cards and such. Apparently people even feel compelled to blog about it.</li>
<li><strong>Winning is separated from insane runs.</strong> Winning is done by beating the 8 antes. I found the word ante weird/distracting at first. It’s really just a “round”. It doesn’t cost you anything upfront to play the round, which is what an ante is. If you’ve got a killer setup going, you can go past winning, which lets you bask in your genius.</li>
<li><strong>Unlocking stuff is attainable but not distracting.</strong> You don’t get all the decks at the start (each deck having unique characteristics that affect gameplay). You don’t get all the jokers. You don’t get all the vouchers and tags. It’s a satisfying feeling when you play a run and unlock something new. That slows down the more you play, but the satisfaction is replaced by new things like the good results of making good decisions and beating more difficult challenges. You also don’t have to care at all about the accomplishments. </li>
<li><strong>You’ll never play two runs that feel the same.</strong> There is just far too much stuff that can happen differently. This makes is much more fun than something like solitaire or non-variant sudoku to me. Although you can play a “seeded” game if you intentionally want to repeat which “randomized” things came up.</li>
</ul>
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data-amp-layout="responsive" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Open image 1 of 5 in full-screen"/></figure></div></div><div class="tiled-gallery__row"><div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:100.00000%"><figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12095" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3097/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_3097" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" 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class="tiled-gallery__row"><div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:100.00000%"><figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12093" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3030/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_3030" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1" data-attachment-id="12093" 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900w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w" alt="" data-height="1320" data-id="12093" data-link="https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12093" data-url="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png" data-width="2868" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Open image 3 of 5 in full-screen"/></figure></div></div><div class="tiled-gallery__row"><div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:100.00000%"><figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12096" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3005/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_3005" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1" data-attachment-id="12096" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3005/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_3005" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=600&ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=900&ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w" alt="" data-height="1320" data-id="12096" data-link="https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12096" data-url="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png" data-width="2868" src="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" tabindex="0" role="button" aria-label="Open image 4 of 5 in full-screen"/></figure></div></div><div class="tiled-gallery__row"><div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:100.00000%"><figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12097" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_2988/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_2988" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1" data-attachment-id="12097" data-permalink="https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_2988/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2868,1320" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_2988" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=600&ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=900&ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 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<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12067</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>It’s almost like they are saying one thing and doing another.</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/05/its-almost-like-they-are-saying-one-thing-and-doing-another/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/05/its-almost-like-they-are-saying-one-thing-and-doing-another/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2025 23:55:36 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12063</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Imagine announcing to the world you’re going to do the difficult job of making big changes and cuts in the government in order to make it more efficient. Then taking an organization that is demonstrably doing that job well already and destroying the whole thing. What if I told you there was a group of […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Imagine announcing to the world you’re going to do the difficult job of making big changes and cuts in the government in order to make it more efficient. Then taking an organization that is demonstrably doing that job well already and destroying the whole thing. </p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>What if I told you there was a group of user researchers, engineers, product managers, and procurement specialists within the federal government whose job was to partner with other federal agencies, learn directly from them and the people they serve what problems they face, and come up with solutions tested with real users? Well there isn’t. Not anymore, anyway, since they were all just fired. I’m being glib, but my point is that 18F excelled at doing all of the things DOGE purports to want, including dramatically eliminating waste. See <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/danhon.com/post/3ljfzhay7s22d">here</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/ronbronson.com/post/3ljdlj4yicc2l">here</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/waldo.net/post/3ljdal256mk26">here</a> for just a few of so, so many examples.</p>
<cite><a href="https://matthenry.fyi/posts/18f/">18F ????</a> — Matt Henry</cite></blockquote>
<p>I’d express my confusion, except that I’m not terribly confused.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Many exclaimed how the agency was known for <em>creating </em>efficiencies and saving taxpayer dollars and time—precisely in line with DOGE’s purported mission—but it’s long been clear at this point that DOGE has little real interest in actually locating efficiencies; it’s aim is to hobble the regulatory state, pursue political objectives, and concentrate power.<br></p>
<cite><a href="https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-mass-firing-of-federal-tech-workers">The mass firing of federal tech workers at 18F is one of DOGE’s most overtly political acts yet</a> — Brian Merchant</cite></blockquote>
<p>The story at USDS is the same.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off. The firings dealt a devastating blow to the government’s ability to administer and safeguard its own technological footprint, they wrote.</p>
<p>“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,” the resignation letter states. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.”</p>
<p>Roughly one-third of the 65 staffers who remained at USDS quit on Tuesday rather than take on new duties under DOGE.</p>
<cite><a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-elon-musk-federal-government-resignations-usds-6b7e9b7022e6d89d69305e9510f2a43c">Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE</a> — AP News</cite></blockquote>
<p></p>
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<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12063</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>JT & Kelsey</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/26/jt-kelsey/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/26/jt-kelsey/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Feb 2025 19:34:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12055</guid>
<description><![CDATA[My sister is a big fan of Justin Timberlake. She & her friends went to go see him in Milwaukee this past weekend, with some swank front-row tickets her husband Aaron scored. She made a little sign to hold up that said “Moms / Teachers Night Out” and JT called them out early in the […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>My sister is a big fan of Justin Timberlake. She & her friends went to go see him in Milwaukee this past weekend, with some swank front-row tickets her husband Aaron scored. </p>
<p>She made a little sign to hold up that said “Moms / Teachers Night Out” and JT called them out early in the show and talked to them directly, saying he loved them and calling them the MVPs. </p>
<figure class="wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player" style="" >
<div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https://videopress.com/embed/H3sKnK0S?cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent="true" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>
</figure>
<p>You can really see how close they were from this angle:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player" style="" >
<div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https://videopress.com/embed/Ec1RwKVI?cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent="true" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>
</figure>
<p>It was a big local moment, getting Kels on the radio and everything:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/clip.mp3"></audio></figure>
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<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
<enclosure url="https://videos.files.wordpress.com/H3sKnK0S/img_6131.mov" length="73530075" type="video/quicktime" />
<enclosure url="https://videos.files.wordpress.com/Ec1RwKVI/img_6407.mov" length="65006353" type="video/quicktime" />
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12055</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Calculators & Writing</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/18/calculators-writing/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/18/calculators-writing/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Feb 2025 17:39:50 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12042</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I like the John Warner thing where the problem with outsourcing writing to AI is that the computers aren’t doing a process that is aligned with how humans would do it. On an episode of Search Engine, he said that using a calculator for long division, a tool that some compare to AI generated writing, […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I like the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Words-Think-Writing/dp/1541605500">John Warner thing</a> where the problem with outsourcing <em>writing</em> to AI is that the computers aren’t doing a process that is aligned with how humans would do it. On <a href="https://www.searchengine.show/listen/search-engine-1/playboi-farti-and-his-ai-homework-machine">an episode of Search Engine</a>, he said that using a calculator for long division, a tool that some compare to AI generated writing, is different. The calculator is doing what a human would do, just faster. Whereas with writing, humans are <strong>thinking, feeling, and communicating</strong>. Computers do not do these things. </p>
<p>Using AI to write means you’re robbed of the thinking and feeling it takes to write, which is (most?) of the value. Communicating, I suppose, you’re doing either way, you’re just communicating something you didn’t think about or feel if your writing is generated, which is fucked.</p>
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<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12042</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Meetings & Space</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/12/meetings-space/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/12/meetings-space/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:05:14 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12039</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Seventeen bits of advice from Ariel Salminen on Leading Successful Product Teams. I really like all of them. Allow me to pluck off a few about meetings: People gotta work yo. Including yourself. You gotta give lots of time to let that happen. Context switching has a cost for some people, and I’ve found a […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Seventeen bits of advice from <a href="https://arie.ls/2023/leading-successful-product-teams/">Ariel Salminen on Leading Successful Product Teams</a>. I <em>really</em> like all of them. Allow me to pluck off a few about meetings:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Avoid meetings as much as possible. Instead of having them, communicate asynchronous to each other via tools such as <a href="https://linear.app/">Linear</a>, <a href="https://github.com/arielsalminen">GitHub</a>, <a href="https://www.figma.com/@ariels">Figma</a>, <a href="https://slack.com/">Slack</a>, and <a href="https://nordhealth.design/faq/#what-tools-do-you-use">similar</a>.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Provide at least three days of focus time per week for designers and developers in the team. There should be no interruptions whatsoever during this time. Let them do their work.</strong></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>People gotta work yo. Including yourself. You gotta give lots of time to let that happen. Context switching has a cost for some people, and I’ve found a <em>heavy</em> cost for some. Too much of it, which meetings force, can scuttle an entire week of productivity. </p>
<p>But one is probably good:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p><strong>Don’t do team wide standups or sync meetings, except one meeting at the start of every week. Here you can walk through the tasks and discuss how the team feels, what motivates them right now, and if there are any blockers.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>That’s generally what we do at CodePen right now. One standing meeting on Monday to look at everything going on and make sure everybody has got stuff. Under an hour is the goal. </p>
<p>We do have occasional sync up meetings but only when it’s obviously appropriate, like when a new project is just taking shape. I find these to be highly beneficial, as I find that if you think everyone understands what is going on exactly as you do: you’re wrong. </p>
<p>I also feel the one-on-one stuff (not official One-on-One’s, just like grabbing someone to chat) are the <em>most</em> beneficial, as in our case, they tend to be pair programming sessions and they can really chew through tasks efficiently. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12039</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Control</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/30/control/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/30/control/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jan 2025 23:30:39 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12033</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There is an idea in my bubble that running your own website is A Very Good Idea. I subscribe to the idea that running your own website is A Very Good Idea and will continue to help that along in my career. But there is a heaping helping of It Depends involved here. Perhaps the […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>There is an idea in my bubble that running your own website is A Very Good Idea. I subscribe to the idea that running your own website is A Very Good Idea and will continue to help that along in my career. </p>
<p>But there is a heaping helping of <strong>It Depends</strong> involved here.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest reason having your own site is a good idea is that you are in complete <strong>control</strong>. Platforms come and go, but your site is your site. You control the content, the design, the URLs, the everything. It’s a direct connection between a visitor to your site and you. </p>
<p>But I got some very valid pushback on this on a panel I was on last year. </p>
<p>For some, it actually feels like <em>less</em> control. </p>
<p>Not everybody knows how to update a website. Even if they do, they might not feel particularly good at it or do everything they want to do. And even if they do it, they aren’t sure anybody will see it, particularly in a timely manner.</p>
<p>If you’re a restaurant, it could be argued, it’s better to make an Instagram post saying you’re doing a BBQ popup on Monday from 5pm until sold out there rather than putting it on your own website. It’s probably faster and easier, reaches more people, and doesn’t need to be edited again later. That’s <em>more</em> control using a third-party platform, not less, even if you are ceding control in other ways.</p>
<p>The thing is: it’s not an <em>either or</em> situation. You can do both. <a href="https://indieweb.org/POSSE">POSSE</a> is both, but the technological requirements there are even stiffer. I don’t have any answers here. Except, of course, that everyone on Earth should both do the thing that they need to and love to do the most <em>and</em> be incredibly technologically proficient at the same time. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12033</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>A Little Arm Chair Businessin’ about Chrome</title>
<link>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/</link>
<comments>https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Coyier]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jan 2025 15:33:58 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12014</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It was August 5th, 2024 when a federal judge in the US decided that “Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search”. Then November 20th, 2024 when “The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome“. It hasn’t been forced yet and […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>It was August 5th, 2024 when a federal judge in the US decided that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html">“Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search”</a>. Then November 20th, 2024 when “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/technology/google-search-chrome-doj.html">The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome</a>“.</p>
<p>It hasn’t been forced yet and I have no idea if it will be. I’m just a barely-informed but fascinated observer here.</p>
<p>It’s fair to call it a rumor, but there is writing saying <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-18/doj-will-push-google-to-sell-off-chrome-to-break-search-monopoly?embedded-checkout=true">it could sell for $20 billion</a>. </p>
<p>Time for some arm-chair businessing.</p>
<p>Yes, Chrome is an amazing software product. Yes, it has an incredible amount of users. Yes, those users probably log usage statistics that most software products would drool over. </p>
<p>But also: it’s a massive liability.</p>
<p>Users don’t pay for Chrome. There aren’t ads in Chrome. There is no <em>direct</em> business model for Chrome. Unlike Safari and Firefox, nobody writes checks to Chrome to make a certain search engine the default.</p>
<p>The value of Chrome is all tangential — it provides value to Google. Whoever buys it does not inherit that same tangential value, they would need to redirect what little of it they can somewhere else, likely fighting against the natural flow that has been baked into it since the beginning.</p>
<p>Conservatively, it will take several hundred people to operate it. So call that $20m a year minimum<sup data-fn="23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46" class="fn"><a href="#23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46" id="23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46-link">1</a></sup>. And what are the costs of distributing it? Chrome is a couple hundred MB in size. Just the bandwidth for that alone in the numbers it is downloaded is non-trivial.</p>
<p>So some company buys an app for an astronomical amount of money, which has no direct business model and a huge amount of ongoing cost and just hope they can figure out how they can make that work? It just seems highly unlikely. </p>
<p>It’s nice to see this: <a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers">Linux Foundation Announces the Launch of Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers</a>. It feels like it’s in response to all this. <em>Uh oh what if Google is forced to sell Chrome</em>, we’d better line up a bunch of people (and money) who say they’ll continue supporting the open source underpinnings.</p>
<p>I’m no big business apologist, but I do tend to think if you build a search engine, then you build a browser and it defaults to that search engine… that’s fine? And if the problem is about paying other companies to be the default search engine, then have them stop doing that (sad day for Mozilla). In general, I think a forced sale of Chrome itself is a big ol’ net negative for the web, even if it would be a (happy day for Mozilla). <br></p>
<ol class="wp-block-footnotes"><li id="23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46">The real answer for annual operating costs is in the billions, but even ultra conservative numbers here paint a picture that this is not a tenable prospect for almost any buyer. <a href="#23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 1">↩︎</a></li></ol>]]></content:encoded>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12014</post-id> </item>
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"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12160",
"title": "[Igalia Podcast] What Happens If They Sell Chrome?",
"description": "I think I preferred talking about it to writing about it as really I just wanted to spout off thoughts and ideas, and hear other people’s. My writing wasn’t real journalism, it was more if it goes this way my guess is it ends badly. There are some real extremes here. At worst: Google is […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/26/igalia-podcast-what-happens-if-they-sell-chrome/",
"published": "2025-03-27T00:13:17.000Z",
"updated": "2025-03-27T00:13:17.000Z",
"content": "<p>I think I preferred <a href=\"https://www.igalia.com/chats/chris-coyier\">talking about it</a> to <a href=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/\">writing about it</a> as really I just wanted to spout off thoughts and ideas, and hear other people’s. My writing wasn’t real journalism, it was more<em> if it goes this way my guess is it ends badly.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some real extremes here. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>At worst: Google is forced to sell Chrome, someone shitty buys it, squeezes it, and ruins it, maybe even kills it. Google stops investing time and money in the web. Chromium languishes. Google is also forced to stop writing checks to make other browsers the default search engine. This impacts Apple’s profits to the point they choose to stop investing in Safari/WebKit and only encourage iOS specific development. Mozilla is toast. All browser engines on life support.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At best: Google is slapped on wrist with fine. All browser engines are able to continue investing in a better web. Browsers are forced to ask users which search engine they would like to be default, perhaps even all operating systems forced to allow real browser choice and ask about browser defaults. Justice department focuses on user privacy. Developing for the web first becomes (remains?) obvious best practice. </p>",
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"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/19/shoptalk-on-youtube/",
"published": "2025-03-19T19:31:02.000Z",
"updated": "2025-03-19T19:31:02.000Z",
"content": "<p>We’ve long had <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@ShopTalkShow\">a YouTube channel for ShopTalk</a>, but now we’re posting regular ol’ episodes to it, which we’ve never done before. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like this:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"656: Onboarding Woes, Coloring Links, and AI Slop Theories\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/61Az9ne0_6U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And “shorts” here and there that we’ll clip out of the shows when it’s fun.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Writing, thinking, feeling, communicating, and coding with AI #podcast #writing #communication\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqWeSE2DK_Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>",
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"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12127",
"title": "“Open Recent” UI in VS Code Alternatives",
"description": "When you open Visual Studio Code without doing something like opening a .workspace file or dragging a folder onto it, you get a fairly blank screen like this: RECORD SCRATCH. I’m an idiot. It was just like that because I had my “Work Bench” set to “none” instead of the default. Putting the value back […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/",
"published": "2025-03-18T20:08:11.000Z",
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"content": "<p>When you open Visual Studio Code without doing something like opening a <code>.workspace</code> file or dragging a folder onto it, you get a fairly blank screen like this:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"770\" data-attachment-id=\"12128\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12-27-06-pm/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=2394%2C1800&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2394,1800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 12.27.06 PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C226&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C770&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C770&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12128\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C770&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C577&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C1155&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-12.27.06%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=2048%2C1540&ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>RECORD SCRATCH. I’m an idiot. It was just like that because I had my “Work Bench” set to “none” instead of the default. </p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"435\" data-attachment-id=\"12140\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2-46-08-pm/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1646%2C700&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1646,700\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-18 at 2.46.08 PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C128&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C435&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C435&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12140\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C435&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C128&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C327&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C653&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-2.46.08%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1646&ssl=1 1646w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Putting the value back to <code>welcomePage</code> I get recent projects:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"670\" data-attachment-id=\"12145\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-16-10-332x/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=2048%2C1340&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2048,1340\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 16.10.33@2x\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=300%2C196&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?fit=1024%2C670&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1024%2C670&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12145\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1024%2C670&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=300%2C196&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=768%2C503&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?resize=1536%2C1005&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-16.10.33%402x.png?w=2048&ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe I turned it off as it was a bit busy, but whatever it’s not that bad. Still a bit interesting to compare how the others do it. I’ll leave the rest of the post alone.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking for myself, there is about a 95% chance what I want to do is open a recent project. I’ve got good muscle memory for Command-Shift-P to open commands and usually “File: Open Recent…” is among the top choices as I do it a a lot, and I’m good to go. Although I see Control-R is a direct command for that they are trying to teach me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I find more interesting as I explored VS Code forks is that <em>all</em> of them I tried implemented a different UI for opening a recent project. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I redacted the actual project names below because you goofballs don’t need to know all my kick ass secret projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"841\" data-attachment-id=\"12101\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12101\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1030%2C846&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1030,846\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-13 at 8.56.47 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C246&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C841&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C841&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101\" style=\"width:717px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C841&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C246&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C631&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-8.56.47%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1030&ssl=1 1030w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cursor shows a list of 5 recently opened projects.</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"888\" data-attachment-id=\"12130\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-13-00-532x/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=1082%2C938&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1082,938\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 13.00.53@2x\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=300%2C260&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?fit=1024%2C888&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=1024%2C888&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12130\" style=\"width:715px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=1024%2C888&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=300%2C260&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?resize=768%2C666&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.00.53%402x.png?w=1082&ssl=1 1082w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Windsurf goes as far as just opening whatever the most recent project was, but offers buttons as well for multiple recently opened projects.</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"774\" height=\"716\" data-attachment-id=\"12132\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/18/open-recent-ui-in-vs-code-alternatives/cleanshot-2025-03-18-at-13-06-262x/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=774%2C716&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"774,716\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"CleanShot 2025-03-18 at 13.06.26@2x\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=300%2C278&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?fit=774%2C716&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=774%2C716&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12132\" style=\"width:623px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?w=774&ssl=1 774w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=300%2C278&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanShot-2025-03-18-at-13.06.26%402x.png?resize=768%2C710&ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trae offers a very simple list of recent projects.</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To me it’s starting to be weird now VS Code doesn’t do this. It’s cool — you can copy back.</p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12112",
"title": "AI Slop Podcasts?",
"description": "My kid likes listening to podcasts sometimes and it’s cool with me! Story Pirates, for example, rules. She must have typed in “Bluey” at some point into the podcast app we use and found the Bluey Storytime Podcast. It looks kind of official. That’s real Bluey art, it uses the word “Bluey” in the title, […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/",
"published": "2025-03-15T15:44:44.000Z",
"updated": "2025-03-15T15:44:44.000Z",
"content": "<p>My kid likes listening to podcasts sometimes and it’s cool with me! <a href=\"https://www.storypirates.com/\">Story Pirates</a>, for example, rules. She must have typed in “Bluey” at some point into the podcast app we use and found the Bluey Storytime Podcast.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"491\" data-attachment-id=\"12114\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-03-41-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1364%2C654&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1364,654\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.03.41 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C144&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C491&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C491&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12114\" style=\"width:532px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C491&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C144&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C368&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.03.41%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1364&ssl=1 1364w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It looks <em>kind of </em>official. That’s real Bluey art, it uses the word “Bluey” in the title, in the real Bluey typeface and everything. But then it gets stranger. There is no real intro or outro, no sense of who is doing this podcast and why, and no ads. It’s like if an episode of Bluey was first turned into a short book, and then a voice just reads the book. That feels off to me. Like it doesn’t feel high quality enough for it to be official, and if it’s not official, wouldn’t copyright laws apply? Doesn’t Disney distribute Bluey? Isn’t Disney famously litigious? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But hey the kid likes it. It doesn’t have any of the charm of the show at all, but it <em>reminds</em> you how charming the show was when you watched it for real. Weird.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more I listened to it, it occurred to me that the voice might not be “real”. It was pretty good sounding, but it didn’t <em>quite</em> feel real. The cadence of the talking, for example, was too perfect. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I’m not 100% sure though, and digging slightly deeper leads different directions. For instance, looking at reviews of the podcast make me think those reviews are just AI slop as well. </p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"872\" data-attachment-id=\"12117\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-25-06-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1652%2C1406&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1652,1406\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.25.06 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C255&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C872&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C872&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12117\" style=\"width:453px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C872&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C255&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C654&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C1307&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.25.06%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1652&ssl=1 1652w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure></div>\n\n\n<p>I know allowing people to type whatever they want onto the public internet doesn’t usually go well but looking at these reviews make me wonder if society is going illiterate (uh oh — I’m getting old). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is all making me feel like this show is AI generated slop. “Slop” meaning extremely low effort. Someone downloaded a video of the Bluey episode and fed it to the right LLM with the right prompt, got a script, had the script read, and called it a podcast. Someone pointed me to <a href=\"https://elevenlabs.io/\">Eleven Labs</a> as a likely source of the good quality voice. </p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"679\" data-attachment-id=\"12116\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-17-49-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1264%2C838&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1264,838\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.17.49 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C679&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12116\" style=\"width:413px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C679&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C509&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.17.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1264&ssl=1 1264w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Some of the Bluey Storytime podcasts are read by a man’s voice with an Australian accent. See the “Turtleboy” episode for an example. </figcaption></figure></div>\n\n\n<p>But digging in a different direction goes the other way. The creator is listed as “ForRealLife” which is cute and clever and feels human to me. It doesn’t link anywhere, but if you Google it you can find this other Bluey podcast:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"391\" data-attachment-id=\"12118\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-29-22-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1680%2C642&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1680,642\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.29.22 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C115&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C391&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C391&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12118\" style=\"width:583px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C391&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C115&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C293&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C587&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1680&ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Two</em> ladies talking here, which feels a bit more human. I listened to a few with my pre-primed AI-skeptic brain. I was feeling like the pleasantries they exchanged seemed so brief and generic and I immediately thought it could be generated. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google’s <a href=\"https://notebooklm.google/\">NotebookLM</a> was making headlines not along ago for the admittedly impressive feature where it basically <em>produces a podcast</em> of two people talking about a subject. Could it be? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don’t think so, I’m afraid. The search also yielded an Instagram account in which Cherin & Tori are actually clearly two real life mom friends:</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"909\" data-attachment-id=\"12119\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/15/ai-slop-podcasts/screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8-38-24-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=2000%2C1776&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1776\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 8.38.24 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C266&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C909&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C909&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12119\" style=\"width:591px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C909&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C266&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C682&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1536%2C1364&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-15-at-8.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure></div>\n\n\n<p>While I’m sure there are AI slop podcasts out there, I don’t think I discovered one here. I think Cherin & Tori are actually just fans of Bluey and enjoy making content around it. And have really nice voices for it. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s my own too-online broken-ass skeptical brain that is making me question more than I need to, apparently. </p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12072",
"title": "Google Being Forced To Sell Chrome is Not Good for the Web",
"description": "You’ve got a monopoly on lemonade because you pay all the grocery stores to be the default lemonade. So we’re going to force you sell your car. What’s with the weird redirect? If the monopoly is directly caused by paying the grocery stores for placement, then stop that part. We can see this exact redirect […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/",
"published": "2025-03-14T15:47:23.000Z",
"updated": "2025-03-14T15:47:23.000Z",
"content": "<p>You’ve got a monopoly on lemonade because you pay all the grocery stores to be the default lemonade. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we’re going to force you sell your car. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>What’s with the weird redirect? If the monopoly is directly caused by paying the grocery stores for placement, then stop <em>that part.</em> </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see this exact redirect happening in the ruling in the U.S. vs Google court case.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. <br><br>[…]<br><br>For years, Google has secured default placements through distribution contracts. It has entered into such agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers.<br><br>[…]<br><br>Because many users simply stick to searching with the default, Google receives billions of queries every day through those access points. </p>\n<cite>Judge Mehta</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In the document:</p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf\" type=\"application/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of court-memorandum-opinion.\"></object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-97f90ce2-7105-4017-8298-7ec14dc32659\" href=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf\">court-memorandum-opinion</a><a href=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/court-memorandum-opinion.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-97f90ce2-7105-4017-8298-7ec14dc32659\">Download</a></div>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s spelled out quite clearly that being the default is the monopolistic part and that’s caused by paying for it (which is then self-perpetuating as the placement is so valuable, the money generated by it pays for those default placements.)</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fair enough! Let’s stop that. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let’s stop the monopoly by telling Google they can’t pay (certain? all?) companies to be the default search engine anymore. A step further could be forcing browsers should ask users what they want their default search engine to be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This would be in line with how Apple was forced to <a href=\"https://developer.apple.com/support/browser-choice-screen/\">allow for browser choice</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"612\" data-attachment-id=\"12076\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12-52-03-pm/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1620%2C968&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1620,968\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 12.52.03 PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C179&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C612&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12076\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C179&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C459&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C918&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-12.52.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1620&ssl=1 1620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That’s a straight line from problem to solution. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>A weird curvy-ass line between problem and solution is this strange solution that is being relentlessly proposed that Google should be forced to <em>sell Chrome.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a recent round of news covering this that all point to the curvy-ass-line solution. </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2025/03/11/google-sell-chrome-doj-antitrust/82277792007/\">USA Today</a>: “Google will have to part with its dominant Chrome browser if the U.S. Department of Justice has its way.”</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/the-doj-still-wants-google-to-divest-chrome/\">WIRED</a>: “the Department of Justice reiterated that Google should stop paying partners for search placement—and divest its dominant Chrome browser.”</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/03/doj-google-must-sell-chrome-android-could-be-next/\">Ars Technica</a>: “the government maintains that Chrome must go if the playing field is to be made level again.”</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s true that Chrome ships with Google as the default search engine, because, ya know, they invested billions in Chrome and that’s how business works. But still, a more direct line from problem to solution is forcing default search engine choice, not a forced sale of Chrome itself. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why do I care? The sale of Chrome is bad for the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/\">I’ve written before</a> that Chrome is unusual in that it’s really only particularly useful to Google:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Users don’t pay for Chrome. There aren’t ads in Chrome. There is no <em>direct</em> business model for Chrome. Unlike Safari and Firefox, nobody writes checks to Chrome to make a certain search engine the default.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The value of Chrome is all tangential — it provides value to Google. Whoever buys it does not inherit that same tangential value, they would need to redirect what little of it they can somewhere else, likely fighting against the natural flow that has been baked into it since the beginning.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I’m not saying Google shouldn’t be forced to sell Chrome just because it’s only valuable to Google. But I do think Google should be allowed to have a browser. Google is a web business, that’s their whole thing. They <em>made</em> a browser to invest in the web itself because what is good for the web is good for Google, and happens to be good for all of us. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Allow me to be more clear about why Chrome is good for all of us. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you look at (or otherwise experience) anything on a digital device, you’re looking at an operating system. That operating system was probably made by a private company who has total control over it. They have the right to do that, but that operating system exists to serve that company only and entirely. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you make a native app for mobile devices, it is at the pleasure of the companies who build mobile operating systems and you’ll do it with the technology they allow. Making an app for iOS vs Android is super different and the companies behind them and never going to shake hands and make it easier for developers. It’s largely the same making a native app for desktop computers. While there is a bit more freedom of what you can install there, making a macOS app and a Windows app is two entirely separate endeavors. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not so with the web. The web is a set of protocols and languages and file formats and other technology that congeal to make digital experiences. No one company owns or controls it. It is designed to be open and it’s <em>good</em> when companies build new things and support web standards. It’s a modern miracle that we have such a thing and it’s on us to protect it. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I go to a <em>website</em> on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, some Linux distro, my Samsung phone, or whatever device I have that has a web browser on it,<strong> it really is the same set of files</strong> that deliver that experience. You and I and every company in the world can build things once that go everywhere. That’s how it should be. It’s fair and efficient. It’s good for the world. It’s much better than a world where we are forced to build things only for companies proprietary operating systems.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google, by virtue of having Chrome, invests heavily in <em>the web itself.</em> Not just Chrome-the-browser, but the web standards that power the web. I can’t claim to know every detail of that investment, but I personally know people employed by Google that literally just try to make the web better all day. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s not hard to poke around the W3C specs themselves and see them littered with Google employees. </p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-carousel-extra='{\"blog_id\":1,\"permalink\":\"https:\\/\\/chriscoyier.net\\/2025\\/03\\/14\\/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web\\/\"}' class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"820\" data-attachment-id=\"12105\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-23-29-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1064%2C852&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1064,852\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.23.29 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=1024%2C820&ssl=1\" data-id=\"12105\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C820&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1024%2C820&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C615&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.23.29%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=1064&ssl=1 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"812\" height=\"462\" data-attachment-id=\"12103\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-22-26-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C462&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"812,462\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.22.26 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C171&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C462&ssl=1\" data-id=\"12103\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=812%2C462&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=812&ssl=1 812w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C171&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.22.26%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C437&ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"812\" height=\"490\" data-attachment-id=\"12104\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/14/google-being-forced-to-sell-chrome-is-not-good-for-the-web/screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8-20-27-am/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C490&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"812,490\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-14 at 8.20.27 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=300%2C181&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?fit=812%2C490&ssl=1\" data-id=\"12104\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=812%2C490&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=812&ssl=1 812w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=300%2C181&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-14-at-8.20.27%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C463&ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px\" /></figure>\n</figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And there are evangelists, and documentation writers, and other people who aren’t working directly on Chrome, but really the web itself. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Will Google continue to invest like this if they are forced to sell Chrome? It would be hard to blame them if they did not. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assuming they find a buyer, that buyer will be scrambling to find a way to make that investment worth it. Will they be choosing to employ people who are just <em>abstractly making the web better?</em> I would think not. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The web will suffer should Google be forced to sell Chrome. I think a fair assumption that overall investment and contribution to the open web will take a dive. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure, there will be some canonical fork of Chromium that keeps the sure-to-be-shunned buyer company out of it. Sure, the <a href=\"https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers\">Linux Foundation is getting their ducks in a row</a> to have contributors ready. But I can’t see it going well. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It won’t happen overnight, but stagnation will set in. A stagnated web is incentive for the operating system makers of the world to invest in pulling developers toward those proprietary systems. The browser wars sucked but at least we were still making websites. Being <em>forced</em> to make proprietary apps to reach people is an expensive prospect for the rest of us companies of the world, it will probably be done poorly, and we’ll all suffer for it. Heck, those operating systems aren’t required to ship a web browser <em>at all.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever way this goes is bad for Mozilla. It’s possible Google is forced to not pay them for default search engine placement anymore, but even if they aren’t, you can imagine Google’s appetite for cutting that check is severely diminished. Mozilla’s <a href=\"https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/firefox-maker-mozilla-lays-off-250-workers-says-covid-19-lowered-revenue/\">2020 layoffs</a> that was publicly about reducing platform development still has me thinking they aren’t entirely serious about pushing the web forward, particularly with much less help. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And bad things happening for Mozilla is <em>also</em> bad for the web, so another domino may fall. Diminishing investments in the web generally will keep knocking over dominos. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I’ve typed enough. Google does all kinds of shitty stuff. They are surely the worst offenders of user surveillance on the web. Let’s not let them off the hook on that. Let’s see the DOJ get involved in that stuff. But forcing a sale of Chrome is not the way.</p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12067",
"title": "On Balatro",
"description": "The ShopTalk Discord #games channel has been pretty heavy on Balatro for like… a year? I was turned off by the game at first as I think I downloaded some unofficial port or something and it was unplayably janky. But now Balatro+ is on Apple Arcade, which I have anyway, and I’ve got a perfectly […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/",
"published": "2025-03-13T15:44:29.000Z",
"updated": "2025-03-13T15:44:29.000Z",
"content": "<p>The ShopTalk Discord #games channel has been pretty heavy on <a href=\"https://www.playbalatro.com/\">Balatro</a> for like… a year? I was turned off by the game at first as I think I downloaded some unofficial port or something and it was unplayably janky. But now <a href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balatro/id6502451661\">Balatro+ is on Apple Arcade</a>, which I have anyway, and I’ve got a perfectly nice copy of the game to play.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"589\" data-attachment-id=\"12085\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6-38-21-pm/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1718%2C988&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1718,988\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"Screenshot 2025-03-12 at 6.38.21 PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=300%2C173&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?fit=1024%2C589&ssl=1\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C589&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12085\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1024%2C589&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=300%2C173&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=768%2C442&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?resize=1536%2C883&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-12-at-6.38.21%E2%80%AFPM.png?w=1718&ssl=1 1718w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And play it I have! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So here’a collection of thoughts.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Poker is a great foundation for the game</strong>, as it’s a familiar construct (most people know a full house beats a straight, for example). It’s a <em>pretty loose</em> construct though, only really leaning on the cards and hands. Mostly it feels easier and less nerdy to explain to someone you’re playing a poker game on your phone which is nice.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It gets the scoring right.</strong> It’s a simple concept where you get “chips” and “mult” and the two are multiplied together to get a score for a hand. It’s that perfect mixture of simple and complicated. You <em>can</em> calculate what your score is, but <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3S3o1qOHo\">not knowing is a core design decision</a> and adds to the mystery and excitement.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It gets all the numbers right.</strong> Aside from scoring, there are a number of other important numbers like the number of hands and discards you have. They are prominent and easy to understand. Most importantly, you win <em>money</em> when you win hands, and that is also very easy to understand. You essentially get <em>a few bucks</em> when winning and, if you hold onto money across hands, it can accumulate interest, which is also <em>a few bucks.</em> Then you can buy cards and packs, and they cost <em>a few bucks.</em> But the numbers are always <em>small integers. </em>There is no silly dealing with cents. Money is always a very constrained resource and making decisions about how to use it is crucial.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jokers are a perfect twist.</strong> You need jokers to score more or earn more money, but each of them do it in off kilter ways. Like just your club cards score more, so you have to adjust your choices to play more clubs. Or you get an extra discard, which doesn’t <em>directly</em> help you score, but it makes it easier to make straights, which are a higher scoring hand. There are 150 jokers (!), and all of them are useful in some sort of way. Ultimately, it’s about how you <em>combine</em> the jokers (along with other choices you make) to get through the game.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>But it’s not just jokers.</strong> Interestingly, there is even a “jokerless challenge” where you have to beat a game without using <em>any</em> jokers which is extremely challenging but doable. There are other way to manipulate the game you’re playing: 1) Arcana cards 2) Planet cards and 3) Spectral cards 4) Vouchers 5) Tags. All of them interesting an powerful in their own ways. Most runs will involve jokers and all of these to different degrees.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The art is beautiful.</strong> The pixel style is fun. It makes me think if it was all crisply rendered I wouldn’t like it as much. The individual letters float up and down. Each card has a clever name and unique and detailed metaphoric design. But the <em>design</em> of the game is beautiful as well. The layout, the controls, the animations, the <em>fire</em> that shoots off the scoring when you’re crushing a hand. Just great.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>There are <em>so many dials to balance.</em></strong> It’s frankly shocking they got the game balanced. What the jokers do, what they cost, what the rarity is, how it combines with other jokes. What the hands are, how the hands level up, how the hands are affected by card enhancements and the cost and rarity of those enhancements. There are also “bosses” every three blinds which can be quite challenging and are yet another thing to balance. All this stuff is randomized, but it feels like not <em>entirely</em> randomized, like how you always get a joker booster pack after the first blind, and how you always get a planet card that matches a hand you played in the first blind (I think?!). </li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The creator wanted it to be <a href=\"https://localthunk.com/blog/solitaire\">played like people play it like solitaire</a></strong>, and I think that rules and he nailed it.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It’s really a game of skill.</strong> You can actually get good at it. If you go <em>slow</em> and really analyze every single choice you have at every single step of the way. Your choices about what to buy, what card to pick, what blinds to skip, etc, are just as important as what hands you are playing. I’m not there yet, but it seems to me if you get really good you’re winning 80% of games you start, even on the the harder difficulty settings (in itself an interesting game mechanic). </li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The YouTube scene around Balatro is strong</strong>, with channels like <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@drspectred/videos\">Balatro University</a> that are nearly equally fun to watch as playing to me. I feel like they actually help me play better.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It captures peoples imaginations.</strong> The <a href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/balatro/\">subreddit</a> is full of people doing fan art and inventing new cards and such. Apparently people even feel compelled to blog about it.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Winning is separated from insane runs.</strong> Winning is done by beating the 8 antes. I found the word ante weird/distracting at first. It’s really just a “round”. It doesn’t cost you anything upfront to play the round, which is what an ante is. If you’ve got a killer setup going, you can go past winning, which lets you bask in your genius.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unlocking stuff is attainable but not distracting.</strong> You don’t get all the decks at the start (each deck having unique characteristics that affect gameplay). You don’t get all the jokers. You don’t get all the vouchers and tags. It’s a satisfying feeling when you play a run and unlock something new. That slows down the more you play, but the satisfaction is replaced by new things like the good results of making good decisions and beating more difficult challenges. You also don’t have to care at all about the accomplishments. </li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>You’ll never play two runs that feel the same.</strong> There is just far too much stuff that can happen differently. This makes is much more fun than something like solitaire or non-variant sudoku to me. Although you can play a “seeded” game if you intentionally want to repeat which “randomized” things came up.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div data-carousel-extra='{\"blog_id\":1,\"permalink\":\"https:\\/\\/chriscoyier.net\\/2025\\/03\\/13\\/on-balatro\\/\"}' class=\"wp-block-jetpack-tiled-gallery aligncenter is-style-rectangular\"><div class=\"\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__gallery\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:100.00000%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12094\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3304/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3304.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" 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1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3304-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3304-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"1320\" data-id=\"12094\" data-link=\"https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12094\" data-url=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3304-1024x471.png\" data-width=\"2868\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3304-1024x471.png?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open image 1 of 5 in full-screen\"/></figure></div></div><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:100.00000%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12095\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3097/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_3097\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"12095\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3097/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" 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1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"1320\" data-id=\"12095\" data-link=\"https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12095\" data-url=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097-1024x471.png\" data-width=\"2868\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3097-1024x471.png?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open image 2 of 5 in full-screen\"/></figure></div></div><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:100.00000%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12093\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3030/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_3030\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"12093\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3030/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" 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1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"1320\" data-id=\"12093\" data-link=\"https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12093\" data-url=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png\" data-width=\"2868\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3030-1024x471.png?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open image 3 of 5 in full-screen\"/></figure></div></div><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:100.00000%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12096\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3005/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_3005\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"12096\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_3005/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_3005\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=600&ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=900&ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"1320\" data-id=\"12096\" data-link=\"https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12096\" data-url=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png\" data-width=\"2868\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_3005-1024x471.png?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open image 4 of 5 in full-screen\"/></figure></div></div><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:100.00000%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12097\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_2988/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_2988\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"12097\" data-permalink=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/13/on-balatro/img_2988/\" data-orig-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=2868%2C1320&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2868,1320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_2988\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=300%2C138&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988.png?fit=1024%2C471&ssl=1\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=600&ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=900&ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"1320\" data-id=\"12097\" data-link=\"https://chriscoyier.net/?attachment_id=12097\" data-url=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png\" data-width=\"2868\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_2988-1024x471.png?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open image 5 of 5 in full-screen\"/></figure></div></div></div></div></div>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12063",
"title": "It’s almost like they are saying one thing and doing another.",
"description": "Imagine announcing to the world you’re going to do the difficult job of making big changes and cuts in the government in order to make it more efficient. Then taking an organization that is demonstrably doing that job well already and destroying the whole thing. What if I told you there was a group of […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/03/05/its-almost-like-they-are-saying-one-thing-and-doing-another/",
"published": "2025-03-05T23:55:36.000Z",
"updated": "2025-03-05T23:55:36.000Z",
"content": "<p>Imagine announcing to the world you’re going to do the difficult job of making big changes and cuts in the government in order to make it more efficient. Then taking an organization that is demonstrably doing that job well already and destroying the whole thing. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>What if I told you there was a group of user researchers, engineers, product managers, and procurement specialists within the federal government whose job was to partner with other federal agencies, learn directly from them and the people they serve what problems they face, and come up with solutions tested with real users? Well there isn’t. Not anymore, anyway, since they were all just fired. I’m being glib, but my point is that 18F excelled at doing all of the things DOGE purports to want, including dramatically eliminating waste. See <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/danhon.com/post/3ljfzhay7s22d\">here</a> and <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/ronbronson.com/post/3ljdlj4yicc2l\">here</a> and <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/waldo.net/post/3ljdal256mk26\">here</a> for just a few of so, so many examples.</p>\n<cite><a href=\"https://matthenry.fyi/posts/18f/\">18F ????</a> — Matt Henry</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I’d express my confusion, except that I’m not terribly confused.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Many exclaimed how the agency was known for <em>creating </em>efficiencies and saving taxpayer dollars and time—precisely in line with DOGE’s purported mission—but it’s long been clear at this point that DOGE has little real interest in actually locating efficiencies; it’s aim is to hobble the regulatory state, pursue political objectives, and concentrate power.<br></p>\n<cite><a href=\"https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-mass-firing-of-federal-tech-workers\">The mass firing of federal tech workers at 18F is one of DOGE’s most overtly political acts yet</a> — Brian Merchant</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The story at USDS is the same.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off. The firings dealt a devastating blow to the government’s ability to administer and safeguard its own technological footprint, they wrote.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,” the resignation letter states. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Roughly one-third of the 65 staffers who remained at USDS quit on Tuesday rather than take on new duties under DOGE.</p>\n<cite><a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doge-elon-musk-federal-government-resignations-usds-6b7e9b7022e6d89d69305e9510f2a43c\">Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE</a> — AP News</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p></p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12055",
"title": "JT & Kelsey",
"description": "My sister is a big fan of Justin Timberlake. She & her friends went to go see him in Milwaukee this past weekend, with some swank front-row tickets her husband Aaron scored. She made a little sign to hold up that said “Moms / Teachers Night Out” and JT called them out early in the […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/26/jt-kelsey/",
"published": "2025-02-26T19:34:30.000Z",
"updated": "2025-02-26T19:34:30.000Z",
"content": "<p>My sister is a big fan of Justin Timberlake. She & her friends went to go see him in Milwaukee this past weekend, with some swank front-row tickets her husband Aaron scored. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>She made a little sign to hold up that said “Moms / Teachers Night Out” and JT called them out early in the show and talked to them directly, saying he loved them and calling them the MVPs. </p>\n\n\n\n\t\t<figure class=\"wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player\" style=\"\" >\n\t\t\t<div class=\"jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper\"> <iframe title=\"VideoPress Video Player\" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https://videopress.com/embed/H3sKnK0S?cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent=\"true\" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figure>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>You can really see how close they were from this angle:</p>\n\n\n\n\t\t<figure class=\"wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player\" style=\"\" >\n\t\t\t<div class=\"jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper\"> <iframe title=\"VideoPress Video Player\" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https://videopress.com/embed/Ec1RwKVI?cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent=\"true\" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figure>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>It was a big local moment, getting Kels on the radio and everything:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https://chriscoyier.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/clip.mp3\"></audio></figure>",
"image": null,
"media": [
{
"url": "https://videos.files.wordpress.com/H3sKnK0S/img_6131.mov",
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"title": null,
"length": 73530075,
"type": "video",
"mimeType": "video/quicktime"
},
{
"url": "https://videos.files.wordpress.com/Ec1RwKVI/img_6407.mov",
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{
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"length": 5480617,
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}
],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12042",
"title": "Calculators & Writing",
"description": "I like the John Warner thing where the problem with outsourcing writing to AI is that the computers aren’t doing a process that is aligned with how humans would do it. On an episode of Search Engine, he said that using a calculator for long division, a tool that some compare to AI generated writing, […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/18/calculators-writing/",
"published": "2025-02-18T17:39:50.000Z",
"updated": "2025-02-18T17:39:50.000Z",
"content": "<p>I like the <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Words-Think-Writing/dp/1541605500\">John Warner thing</a> where the problem with outsourcing <em>writing</em> to AI is that the computers aren’t doing a process that is aligned with how humans would do it. On <a href=\"https://www.searchengine.show/listen/search-engine-1/playboi-farti-and-his-ai-homework-machine\">an episode of Search Engine</a>, he said that using a calculator for long division, a tool that some compare to AI generated writing, is different. The calculator is doing what a human would do, just faster. Whereas with writing, humans are <strong>thinking, feeling, and communicating</strong>. Computers do not do these things. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using AI to write means you’re robbed of the thinking and feeling it takes to write, which is (most?) of the value. Communicating, I suppose, you’re doing either way, you’re just communicating something you didn’t think about or feel if your writing is generated, which is fucked.</p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
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"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
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},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12039",
"title": "Meetings & Space",
"description": "Seventeen bits of advice from Ariel Salminen on Leading Successful Product Teams. I really like all of them. Allow me to pluck off a few about meetings: People gotta work yo. Including yourself. You gotta give lots of time to let that happen. Context switching has a cost for some people, and I’ve found a […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/02/12/meetings-space/",
"published": "2025-02-12T16:05:14.000Z",
"updated": "2025-02-12T16:05:14.000Z",
"content": "<p>Seventeen bits of advice from <a href=\"https://arie.ls/2023/leading-successful-product-teams/\">Ariel Salminen on Leading Successful Product Teams</a>. I <em>really</em> like all of them. Allow me to pluck off a few about meetings:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Avoid meetings as much as possible. Instead of having them, communicate asynchronous to each other via tools such as <a href=\"https://linear.app/\">Linear</a>, <a href=\"https://github.com/arielsalminen\">GitHub</a>, <a href=\"https://www.figma.com/@ariels\">Figma</a>, <a href=\"https://slack.com/\">Slack</a>, and <a href=\"https://nordhealth.design/faq/#what-tools-do-you-use\">similar</a>.</strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Provide at least three days of focus time per week for designers and developers in the team. There should be no interruptions whatsoever during this time. Let them do their work.</strong></li>\n</ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>People gotta work yo. Including yourself. You gotta give lots of time to let that happen. Context switching has a cost for some people, and I’ve found a <em>heavy</em> cost for some. Too much of it, which meetings force, can scuttle an entire week of productivity. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But one is probably good:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Don’t do team wide standups or sync meetings, except one meeting at the start of every week. Here you can walk through the tasks and discuss how the team feels, what motivates them right now, and if there are any blockers.</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>That’s generally what we do at CodePen right now. One standing meeting on Monday to look at everything going on and make sure everybody has got stuff. Under an hour is the goal. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We do have occasional sync up meetings but only when it’s obviously appropriate, like when a new project is just taking shape. I find these to be highly beneficial, as I find that if you think everyone understands what is going on exactly as you do: you’re wrong. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also feel the one-on-one stuff (not official One-on-One’s, just like grabbing someone to chat) are the <em>most</em> beneficial, as in our case, they tend to be pair programming sessions and they can really chew through tasks efficiently. </p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12033",
"title": "Control",
"description": "There is an idea in my bubble that running your own website is A Very Good Idea. I subscribe to the idea that running your own website is A Very Good Idea and will continue to help that along in my career. But there is a heaping helping of It Depends involved here. Perhaps the […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/30/control/",
"published": "2025-01-30T23:30:39.000Z",
"updated": "2025-01-30T23:30:39.000Z",
"content": "<p>There is an idea in my bubble that running your own website is A Very Good Idea. I subscribe to the idea that running your own website is A Very Good Idea and will continue to help that along in my career. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there is a heaping helping of <strong>It Depends</strong> involved here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the biggest reason having your own site is a good idea is that you are in complete <strong>control</strong>. Platforms come and go, but your site is your site. You control the content, the design, the URLs, the everything. It’s a direct connection between a visitor to your site and you. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I got some very valid pushback on this on a panel I was on last year. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some, it actually feels like <em>less</em> control. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not everybody knows how to update a website. Even if they do, they might not feel particularly good at it or do everything they want to do. And even if they do it, they aren’t sure anybody will see it, particularly in a timely manner.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’re a restaurant, it could be argued, it’s better to make an Instagram post saying you’re doing a BBQ popup on Monday from 5pm until sold out there rather than putting it on your own website. It’s probably faster and easier, reaches more people, and doesn’t need to be edited again later. That’s <em>more</em> control using a third-party platform, not less, even if you are ceding control in other ways.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The thing is: it’s not an <em>either or</em> situation. You can do both. <a href=\"https://indieweb.org/POSSE\">POSSE</a> is both, but the technological requirements there are even stiffer. I don’t have any answers here. Except, of course, that everyone on Earth should both do the thing that they need to and love to do the most <em>and</em> be incredibly technologically proficient at the same time. </p>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
},
{
"id": "https://chriscoyier.net/?p=12014",
"title": "A Little Arm Chair Businessin’ about Chrome",
"description": "It was August 5th, 2024 when a federal judge in the US decided that “Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search”. Then November 20th, 2024 when “The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome“. It hasn’t been forced yet and […]",
"url": "https://chriscoyier.net/2025/01/29/a-little-arm-chair-businessin-about-chrome/",
"published": "2025-01-29T15:33:58.000Z",
"updated": "2025-01-29T15:33:58.000Z",
"content": "<p>It was August 5th, 2024 when a federal judge in the US decided that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html\">“Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search”</a>. Then November 20th, 2024 when “<a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/technology/google-search-chrome-doj.html\">The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome</a>“.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It hasn’t been forced yet and I have no idea if it will be. I’m just a barely-informed but fascinated observer here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s fair to call it a rumor, but there is writing saying <a href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-18/doj-will-push-google-to-sell-off-chrome-to-break-search-monopoly?embedded-checkout=true\">it could sell for $20 billion</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time for some arm-chair businessing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, Chrome is an amazing software product. Yes, it has an incredible amount of users. Yes, those users probably log usage statistics that most software products would drool over. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But also: it’s a massive liability.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users don’t pay for Chrome. There aren’t ads in Chrome. There is no <em>direct</em> business model for Chrome. Unlike Safari and Firefox, nobody writes checks to Chrome to make a certain search engine the default.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The value of Chrome is all tangential — it provides value to Google. Whoever buys it does not inherit that same tangential value, they would need to redirect what little of it they can somewhere else, likely fighting against the natural flow that has been baked into it since the beginning.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conservatively, it will take several hundred people to operate it. So call that $20m a year minimum<sup data-fn=\"23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46\" id=\"23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46-link\">1</a></sup>. And what are the costs of distributing it? Chrome is a couple hundred MB in size. Just the bandwidth for that alone in the numbers it is downloaded is non-trivial.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So some company buys an app for an astronomical amount of money, which has no direct business model and a huge amount of ongoing cost and just hope they can figure out how they can make that work? It just seems highly unlikely. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s nice to see this: <a href=\"https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-launch-of-supporters-of-chromium-based-browsers\">Linux Foundation Announces the Launch of Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers</a>. It feels like it’s in response to all this. <em>Uh oh what if Google is forced to sell Chrome</em>, we’d better line up a bunch of people (and money) who say they’ll continue supporting the open source underpinnings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I’m no big business apologist, but I do tend to think if you build a search engine, then you build a browser and it defaults to that search engine… that’s fine? And if the problem is about paying other companies to be the default search engine, then have them stop doing that (sad day for Mozilla). In general, I think a forced sale of Chrome itself is a big ol’ net negative for the web, even if it would be a (happy day for Mozilla). <br></p>\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-footnotes\"><li id=\"23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46\">The real answer for annual operating costs is in the billions, but even ultra conservative numbers here paint a picture that this is not a tenable prospect for almost any buyer. <a href=\"#23b161b2-05ef-4eed-8de2-b315e4dd4a46-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 1\">↩︎</a></li></ol>",
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [
{
"name": "Chris Coyier",
"email": null,
"url": null
}
],
"categories": [
{
"label": "Uncategorized",
"term": "Uncategorized",
"url": null
}
]
}
]
}