iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

📕👽 Vonnegut struggled for a long time to write Slaughterhouse-Five based on his own WWII experience. I felt that the absurd mixture of styles combines well with his lived experience and the absurdities of war. Rating: ★★★★☆ Full review: puf.io/books/slaught...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 04/10/2026

Ever wonder which of your users is eating up your Firestore read quota? Turns out Firestore audit logs + Cloud Log Analytics = a per-user read breakdown. Here's how 👇 puf.io/posts/countin...

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 03/10/2026

Firebase Extensions will sunset in 2027, but it's best to be prepared already. 🆕 You can now migrate Firebase Extensions to function kits. 📈 The *Stream Firestore to BigQuery* extension has already been ported. Read all about it in the migration docs: firebase.google.com/...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 02/10/2026

📙🚨 Crisis Engineering was an easy read for a potentially complex subject. I especially liked the focus on sensemaking: getting everyone to see the same picture before trying to fix the problem. My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars) Full review: puf.io/books/crisis-...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 30/09/2026

📖👍 Some parts were a bit too obvious and over-the-top, others too subtle and drawn out. For me, though, The Amber Spyglass was a fascinating exploration of these ideas and a good ending to an interesting trilogy. Full review: puf.io/books/the-amb... 3/3

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 30/09/2026

📙🔍 The Amber Spyglass is the last, and seemingly most divisive, book in the trilogy. It’s much more philosophical than the previous two, exploring religion, free will, divine authority, and how love can take many different forms. My review and links 2/3

101

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 30/09/2026

📚3️⃣ Philip Pullman’s oft-praised His Dark Materials trilogy starts with a world and its “magic” system, expands into a multiverse, and increasingly explores responsibility, sacrifice, free will, and divine authority. Book 3 and review 👇 in 🧵 1/3

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 28/09/2026

Since you never know what shows up, I did this search in incognito mode first. I certainly did not expect a lorum ipsum there. 😂 (I was looking for the release year btw, which is always 🤯 to me)

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 25/09/2026

Here's another image from Gemini Nano Banana, after I clarified that it had to use the specs and images of the real iPhone Duo. 2/2

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 25/09/2026

I was curious how the new iPhone Duo fits in my hand (when folded), so I asked Gemini (🔬🍌) to generate an image. Pic 1: the (real) pic I gave as input, with my 2025 Motorola Razr Ultra ❤️ Pic 2: the image Gemini generated The tech is amazing, but so are the problems… 1/2

110

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 24/09/2026

📕🚧 Crisis Engineering is about navigating high-stakes crises, restoring shared clarity, and figuring out what to do when complex systems stop behaving as expected. I especially liked the practical framing around sensemaking. ★★★★☆ Full review: puf.io/books/crisis-...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 24/09/2026

📚🧙 Witches Abroad has all the Terry Pratchett ingredients: fairytales, good intentions gone wrong, free will, expected roles, and plenty of winks along the way. I liked it, but not quite as much as the later Discworld books. ★★★☆☆ Full review: puf.io/books/witches...

010

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 23/09/2026

OMG, this is beyond the uncanny valley!

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 23/09/2026

It took Google Photos Wardrobe a few hours to come up with this list of my most worn itemw. I feel seen... 😂

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 22/09/2026

📚 The Subtle Knife continues the trend from The Golden Compass for me: enjoyable, but not quite living up to the expectations I had for the series. The plot moves nicely though, with a darker ending than the first book. Rating: ★★★☆☆ Full review: puf.io/books/the-sub...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 21/09/2026

Oooh... look at that: there's a speaker guide for FlutterConf LatAm. This is the first time I hear of it, so maybe I should read it. The conference starts tomorrow, so... what could possibly go wrong? 😂 💙🇮🇷📣

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 21/09/2026

At FlutterConf LatAm, learn how I rebuilt a classic multi-player Google Doodle that honors the Mexican Lotería game. Play the original today on: doodles.google/doodl... Or join me live at @FlutterConfLAT on Tuesday at 3:30 for a chance to win a Sparky plushie! 💙❤️‍🔥🇲🇽

011

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 21/09/2026

"She'd never mastered the talent for apologizing, but she appreciated it in other people." - Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 20/09/2026

I mean, I know SF has its own interpretation of "bike lane" - but this drawing takes it into a whole new abstract direction.

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 20/09/2026

🥇 A first for me: I got to read Mother Dearest by Clare Bird as an advance copy. The unusual perspective and epistolary format kept it moving nicely, even if I saw a bit too much of the plot coming. ⭐⭐⭐ Full review: puf.io/books/mother-...

001

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 18/09/2026

❤️🌁 The Hearts in San Francisco statue series never disappoints. Here's Open Heart, which has been at the end of Pier 39 since 2014. So if you're visiting Fisherman's Wharf, grab a shot of this one after you've seen/smelled the sea lions. 🦭 puf.io/tags/hearts-i...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 16/09/2026

📕💥 I just read the book Crisis Engineering about navigating high-stakes crises. A relatively easy read for a potentially complex subject, with lots that felt familiar from working with SREs and on difficult projects at Google. ★★★★☆ Full review: puf.io/books/crisis-...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 15/09/2026

Reading Discworld backwards from its highest rated subseries has made Pratchett’s evolving style fascinating to watch. Witches Abroad is already a long way from the earliest books, even if the deeper ideas still feel a bit obvious. ★★★☆☆ Full review: puf.io/books/witches...

010

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 14/09/2026

New blog post from Firebase: "Introducing Firebase spend caps" From there: > Billing circuit breakers for AI and serverless workloads So you can now set a maximum spend on AI and Cloud Run/Functions, which are the main causes of abuse/runaway mistakes. firebase.blog/posts/...

010

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 14/09/2026

📚🗡️ I finished The Subtle Knife, book two in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Like The Golden Compass, it didn’t fully live up to my expectations, though the plot moves along nicely and ends on a big, darker cliffhanger. ★★★☆☆ More: puf.io/books/the-sub...

001

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 12/09/2026

📔 I've been a pro-wrestling fan since my early teens, and discovered Bret Hart through The Hart Foundation. His memoir is self-centered, bitter, packed with wrestling history, and ultimately fascinating. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ★★★★☆ Full review: puf.io/books/hitman-...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 12/09/2026

📕 Mother Dearest by Clare Bird is the second book I’ve read this year that's written as a bunch of letters. Is there a 2026 trend I don’t know about? 🤔 Easy to read, nicely paced, and an interesting look at some deeply warped reasoning. ⭐⭐⭐ puf.io/books/mother-...

010

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 11/09/2026

Just a few more weeks until we're gonna play ¡La Lotería! at FlutterConf LatAm and the animations are coming together. 💙 + 🔥 = 🫘 Who's joining us at the event? 🎟️ flutterconflatam.dev/ 🗓️ September 22–23 📍Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico #flutterconflatam @FlutterConfLAT

001

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 10/09/2026

That hand on the right is a joke, right?

010

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 10/09/2026

📍🗺️ Geoqueries on Firestore used to mean geohashes and 5.4x read overhead. 💸 With multi-field inequalities, you can now drop that overhead to ~1.3x. But there's a catch: you now pay for index scans. Those *are* much cheaper, but... details 👇 puf.io/posts/how-to-... 1/2

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 09/09/2026

📓💬 Babel had the makings of a four-star read for me. I loved its alternate history and fascinating translation-based magic, but the characters felt one-dimensional and the story somewhat predictable. Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars out of 5) Full review: puf.io/books/babel--...

001

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 08/09/2026

I found Pratchett’s treatment of the deeper moral issues still a bit more obvious and less nuanced here than in many later Discworld books, but it’s already a long way from the earliest works. Fascinating, if not always satisfying. ★★★☆☆ More: puf.io/books/witches... 3/3

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 08/09/2026

🎧📕 I just finished listening to the Witches Abroad audiobook, with Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick confronting fairytale stories, destiny, happily ever after, and a fairy godmother forcing people into expected roles. Review and link 👇 2/3

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 08/09/2026

🥏🌎 In my continuing quest to read Terry Pratchett’s 41 Discworld novels, starting from the highest rated subseries and working backwards, I’m now going through the Witches books. Book outline and review 👇 in 🧵 1/3

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 06/09/2026

📚 Craig Alanson’s Expeditionary Force is a 19-book series about US soldier Joe Bishop, an interstellar conflict, and an ancient AI named Skippy who is as sarcastic as he is brilliant. I’ve now read Book 1, Columbus Day. Rating: ★★★☆☆ Full review: puf.io/books/columbu...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 05/09/2026

📚🗡️ *The Subtle Knife* didn’t fully live up to my expectations. There’s less interesting world-building than book 1, but the plot still moves along nicely﹠ends on as big a cliffhanger as the first book, only darker. Rating: ★★★☆☆ Full review: puf.io/books/the-sub... 3/3

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 05/09/2026

📚🗡️ *The Subtle Knife* starts with 12-year old Will and lives in our world in the late ’90s. He discovers a way to travel to the world Lyra from book 1 went to. They meet, and through a series of adventures and fights, Will ends up in control of the titular knife. More 👇 2/3

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 05/09/2026

📚🗡️ Philip Pullman’s *His Dark Materials* trilogy often ranks as one of the greatest young adult and fantasy series ever written. It’s a coming-of-age story set in an expanding series of parallel universes. Book 2, review, and links 👇 in 🧵 1/3

100

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 05/09/2026

I might have pushed a few too many things to the weekend. Hope yours is starting off swimmingly! ☕️📧

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 05/09/2026

Well... that is certainly a timely heads-up CoPilot. 🤷

020

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 05/09/2026

When your game of La Lotería needs you to mark all four corners… I hope somebody gets a claim sooner then this when we play the game ⌛️ 🎟️ flutterconflatam.dev 🗓️ September 22–23 📍Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico #flutterconflatam @FlutterConfLAT @FlutterDev @Firebase

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 04/09/2026

Bret Hart will remind you every few pages of his Hitman autobiography that he's an exceptional wrestler. And it's not just him saying it. 😉 The book is dense, self-centered, sometimes bitter, but a fascinating personal view of pro-wrestling history: 4/5 puf.io/books/hitman-...

001

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 03/09/2026

What on earth made the Gemini/Chrome team think that I'd want this toggle to be on by default? Gemini in Chrome is definitely getting Google+ levels invasive.

020

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 03/09/2026

📖✍️ I just read Mother Dearest by Clare Bird ⭐⭐⭐ The prose is easy to read, the epistolary format works well, and the plot rolls along nicely, even if it was a bit too predictable for my taste. Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy Full review: puf.io/books/mother-...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 02/09/2026

I guess it's *that* type of day... 🔥💛

010

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 02/09/2026

I finally got to ride a new Waymo Ojai car in San Francisco. It's fun to try and compare their behavior versus the original Jaguar cars at 4-way stops. I know they probably all run the same software, but let's admit it… we all love seeing a personality in whatever they do. 😅

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 31/08/2026

📓🇬🇧🇨🇳 Just read Babel by R.F. Kuang. The world, magic system and almost-but-not-quite-real Oxford are fascinating. The predictable story, one-dimensional characters and often pedantic writing worked less well for me. Rating: ★★★☆☆ Full review: puf.io/books/babel--...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 30/08/2026

I often find myself smiling at small things in daily life: a dog dragging a piece of cardboard around, patterns in flower petals, the colors of houses. Ian Bogost’s The Small Stuff is about noticing such everyday moments﹠finding joy in them. Review: puf.io/books/the-sma...

000

Frank van Puffelen @puf.io · 28/08/2026

Talk about dark UX patterns... Google Antigravity IDE *requires* that you opt into data collection, and then explains that you can opt out later. The correct, non-asshole flow would be to not require your users to opt in to begin with. @antigravity

040