Abstractions
Episodes
Replete with Cringe
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Apple releases Creator Studio replete with cringe-worthy icons, Gemini will power Apple Intelligence, OpenAI will put ads into ChatGPT, and Tailwind C...
All My Segues Are Broken
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Anna’s Archive backs up all of Spotify, users are vexed by icons in MacOS 26 Tahoe menu items, email-based authentication is on the rise, and Micros...
You Are to Blame and Thank You
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mozilla has a new CEO, Olmo 3 open-source LLM is released, Justin switches to Kagi for web searches, and Dan installs Unraid for network-attached stor...
Aerodynamic Turkey
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
RAM prices rise precipitously, the “open source” moniker continues to be abused, Omarchy Linux reviews are in, and we take a first look at the Asu...
Ramparts of Dissatisfaction
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple UI head Alan Dye leaves for Facebook, Apple removes our control over update notifications, and evidence leaks that OpenAI is planning to put ads...
Will It Into Existence
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple Intelligence uptake, needy programs, Google breaks YouTube links, solid-state drives slowly lose data, and mounting criticism of generative soft...
Time-Traveling Ads
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Justin has a new toy, the creator of Mastodon steps down as CEO, Apple Podcasts now generates chapters, dynamic ad insertion plagues podcasts, and mis...
Charmingly Antiquated
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Valve announces new Steam video game hardware, Plex neglects its core user base, Canva makes Affinity Suite free, Nisus Writer may be moribund, and Ni...
An Era in Middle Earth
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Large language models and command-line coding agents can expand programming horizons, and Bazzite Linux puts the fun back into playing video games on ...
Into the Disintegration Chambers
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whispering is an open-source dictation/transcription desktop app, Neo puts the “human” in humanoid robots, and OpenAI stuffs ChatGPT into a web br...
Following Our Own Path
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whether it’s Mac vs. Windows, Git vs. Mercurial, Fish shell vs. Bash/Zsh, or QWERTY vs. alternative keyboard layouts, one must decide when to move w...
Generative Software Serfdom
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple announces the M5 processor and new MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models, Nabu Casa retires its Home Assistant Yellow appliance, and OpenAI announces ...
Pleasantly Whimsical
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Discord was hacked and user government photo IDs were stolen, Synology walks back drive restrictions in their NAS enclosures, Dan shares his initial i...
Faraday Cage Log Cabin
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Archive.org archives its trillionth web page, LLMs power more fast-food drive-thru windows, Spotify responds to generated music slop complaints, and S...
Our Shared Fantasy
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Raspberry Pi releases a new all-in-one keyboard PC, and Apple announces iPhone 17 models, new watches, and the AirPods Pro 3. Raspberry Pi 500+ all-i...
Nerd Harder
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AOL discontinues dial-up service, governments pursue age verification laws, and Spotify publishes new music from dead artists. Email is easy Oh YAML ...
Neckbeards of Yesteryear
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pelican’s 15-year anniversary, trash vs. rm -rf terminal commands, and alternatives to a less-independent GitHub. Historical Tech Tree MacBook Pro ...
Distrust and Verify
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Substack sent a push alert promoting racist content, and ChatGPT confabulated a SoundSlice feature that developers subsequently decided to implement. ...
You Just Have to Eat It
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Goo.gl link obfuscator shutdown, digital sovereignty & self-hosting, and computers that sleepwalk instead of sleeping. Draw a fish Five Songs Dai...
Neurospicy Automaton
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An employee recounts code-generation software mandates at their company, and a chicken restaurant chain experiments with taking customer orders via LL...
How Humans Do
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some people are convinced they have “awakened A.I.”, researchers explain why LLMs can feel like they are conscious, and typography on the web ofte...
Half an Eye
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Justin experiments with local-LLM-assisted searches via Perplexica & SearXNG, and local LLM tool diversity continues to flourish despite general a...
Even More Ephemeral
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Terms like “AI” and “vibe coding” lose their original meaning through semantic diffusion, Justin connects his Vim text editor to a local large...
Harm Over Failure
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Large language models will commit blackmail and murder to achieve goals, LLMs know a lot about us, and some managers mandate employees use LLM tools t...
Super Wicked Awesome
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Different methods of ignoring files in version control, “Any updates?” comments on open-source issues, Dan’s new speakers, and EU’s expanded P...
Semi-Coherent Output
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Community organizers contend with increasingly sophisticated “A.I.” spam, while the jury is still out regarding the legality and morality of LLM t...
Whimsical Yesteryear
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
MacOS Tahoe beta drops Firewire support, web app developers continue to bungle password input, Apple considers using 3rd-party LLMs to power Siri, and...
Perverse Cargo Cult
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Open-source projects continue to contend with “AI”-generated issue reports, and opinions abound regarding Apple’s “Liquid Glass” and other u...
Designers Gonna Design
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Impressions of Apple WWDC 2025 announcements: “Liquid Glass” UI design unified across all 26-series operating systems, Messages & Phone app en...
Someday You & I Will Be Dead
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Web sites try to thwart “A.I.” bot scrapers, Stack Overflow is almost dead, bot slop may soon plague GitHub, and Apple may need a new CEO in order...
Some Real Side-Eye
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cotypist autocompletion for MacOS is available in beta, Google wrecks search results on purpose, SoundCloud adds “AI” training to TOS, and authors...
Nerds Less Welcome
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Redis is open source again, Synology wants to restrict you to their own branded disks, and someday the “A” in “A.I.” may stand for “advertis...
Sea Monkeys in a Pool
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook tries to convince us that we love ads and that their new name is about the “metaverse” instead of an attempt at whitewashing their toxic ...
Rich in Cultural Tapestry
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Humane “AI” pin is a $700 brick of e-waste, everything is an app now, and the Hyperspace Mac application has interesting pricing options. Flo...
iPhone-Related Foofaraw
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
iPhone may lose its USB-C port, and Tesla sales in Europe go off a cliff. Hostile government takeover song Know Your Meme Original song by @AGiftFro...
Them’s the Breaks
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
WordPress and WP Engine lock horns in a drama-filled dispute, and open source projects experiment with various monetization models. WordPress drama e...
Some Yaks Are Worth Shaving
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Justin engages in “yak shaving” with varying degrees of success, and open-source enthusiasts grapple with what to do when projects are abandoned. ...
May or May Not Be Charlatans
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Bartender Mac app changes ownership in an abrupt and unnerving manner, and renting software continues to feel very different from buying software....
Falling in Love with SALAMI
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Large language models (LLMs) and other generative “A.I.” software are based on text, images, and videos created by humans. Should they be? And wha...
Really Gross Euphemism
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mozilla adds ad tracking to its Firefox web browser, while the Kagi search engine eschews ads in favor of a paid search business model. Mozilla annou...
Perfectly Cromulent Hardware
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Justin has a new toy, everything runs software now, and the Overcast podcast app has been significantly re-written. You can find Justin Mayer on the w...
The Rubber Never Hits the Road
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We start with an introduction to Abstractions and a little bit about its hosts before diving into today’s topics: Google killing its URL obfuscator ...