Rain falling at the pond at The Village, behind Epoch. Looks like it’s going to be raining most of the week. 🌧️

Tim Cook in a letter on Apple’s website about stepping down as CEO and welcoming John Ternus:

A new person will be stepping into what I know in my heart is the best job in the world. That leader is John Ternus, a brilliant engineer and thinker who has spent the past 25 years building the Apple products our users love so much, obsessed with every detail, focused on every possible way we can make something better, bolder, more beautiful, and more meaningful.

Heck of a run leading one of the greatest tech companies of all time. Our discussion of Tim’s legacy on Core Int probably still holds.

Victor Wembanyama when asked whether he feels the weight of legends like Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and Gregg Popovich in the building:

I wouldn’t say weight, no. I would say it feels safe. It feels like… If you trip, you know there’s a lot of hands that are ready to catch you. From day one it’s felt that way.

YOLO-ing with Codex computer use. I shouldn’t trust these tools as much as I do, but it still feels like magic, and I want to see the show.

Cracked a crown on my tooth last week. Replaced today. The numbing from the dentist usually takes all day to wear off for me. Currently sipping my coffee, pretending I can drink properly. 🦷

Interesting note from Simon Willison that Claude’s new tokenizer translates to higher costs:

Opus 4.7 uses the same pricing is Opus 4.6 - $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens - but this token inflation means we can expect it to be around 40% more expensive

Anthropic pricing is already much more expensive than OpenAI. With how good the new Codex app for Mac is, I think we’ll see more developers move to Codex. But people are also comfortable with their workflows, so there’s not going to be a quick shift, and models and features change nearly every month.

Dave Winer reflecting on UserLand’s name and now working with AI:

I called my second company UserLand. The idea was that we’d develop software for users, always be thinking of them, and listening and give them more and more power to shape the way their computers worked. It was what I felt was missing from software in the 80s, a focus on the users creating their own future.

Humanoid robot runs a half marathon fast. I’m actually impressed because it just feels like it would fall over at least a few times. But it’s not relevant to human runners… A car can finish a marathon more quickly than a human too! 🤪

Nice story on the Spurs in The New Yorker:

Last season, the team had traded for De’Aaron Fox, an All-Star guard in his prime, which appeared odd to some—wasn’t he too old to be on Wembanyama’s timeline? Now it seemed like a stroke of genius.

Game 1 tonight vs. the Blazers. Excited. Nervous too. 🏀

Terry Godier blogs about the growing disconnect between the traditional paid-up-front App Store and all the new features that free with in-app purchase apps get:

Apple offers you no mechanism for what is arguably the most natural transaction in software: paying for major upgrades. The only option is to create a new app listing or to use an IAP. There’s a strong disadvantage to creating a new app listing, namely losing your accumulated reviews and visibility.

It’s a theme that reminds me of Marco Arment’s blog post from 2009, although that post was focused on cheap quick-hit apps.