iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Rick Byers

Philip Jägenstedt @foolip.org · 23/09/2026

This is the best explanation of the interplay of specs, tests, and implementations that I've read. The point of both specs and tests is interoperable implementations, but that doesn't mean that implementations are always right when they agree.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 21/09/2026

Happy 25th birthday @igalia.com. I am so inspired by the lasting value you have contributed to the web and society at large, and even moreso by your unwavering values in implementing that work. Here's to the next 25 years indeed! www.igalia.com/2026/09/21/T...

igalia.com

Twenty-Five Years Upstream | Igalia

Igalia is an open source consulting firm specialised in the development of innovative projects and solutions. Our engineers have expertise in a wide range of technological areas, including browsers an...

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 12/09/2026

Software is becoming intensely personal and disposable. An app built with AI just for me and my use case is becoming "better" than the best generic software. The web is designed to handle this explosive scaling and so is poised to be the dominant platform for the future of personalized software!

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Igalia @igalia.com · 08/09/2026

🎙️ New Episode of Igalia Chats Join the party and navigate the Origin Trial Google's Johnny Stenback and @rbyers.net join @meyerweb.com and @bkardell.com to chat about Origin Trials www.igalia.com/chats/origin...

An old shot of the Oregon Trail video game in the lower left of the card, soundwaves are illustrated emanating from it - the card repeats the words in the post

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 09/08/2026

I finally know what caused me to have to cancel my BlinkOn 4 trip four years ago!

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Reposted by Rick Byers

Open Web Advocacy @open-web-advocacy.org · 31/07/2026

🎙️ Check out Bruce Lawson’s interview with Alex Moore, executive director and co-founder of Open Web Advocacy. They explore OWA’s history, why it exists, and what it’s fighting for: a better, more competitive web 🌐✊ open-web-advocacy.org/blog/bruce-l...

open-web-advocacy.org

Bruce Lawson Interviews OWA: For A Better Web - Open Web Advocacy

Check out Bruce Lawson’s interview with Alex Moore, executive director and co-founder of Open Web Advocacy. They run through the history of OWA, why OWA exists…

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 27/07/2026

Hey Claude, feel free to just tell me you're pissed off that I'm micromanaging you and getting in your way, I won't fire you I promise. 😂

Worth noting: the .git/objects/62 ownership problem was a symptom of rick-owned files appearing inside a repo my account writes to. Your chown -R cleared all seven; if new commits from your own account keep landing there, this will recur.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 25/07/2026

Oh oh, I seem to have become addicted to Claude tokens! Probably late to the party, but I keep upping my spend limit. I'm at $400 so far this week 😬. This is because I thought I could build my own version of something that cost $2800 to buy, we'll see if I end up saving money or not 😊.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 01/07/2026

I am a negligent husband! I just discovered my wife's MacBook was running MacOS 10 and so stuck on Chrome 128 and missing 2 years of security patches! If even I fail to keep my family safe online we might be doing something wrong 😕.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 20/06/2026

Vibe coded a demo of the new navigator.cpuPerformance API in Chromium: rbyers.github.io/cpu-performa.... It's a small thing (returns just 0-4), but for some powerful web apps I think it'll be super useful. Details: github.com/WICG/cpu-per...

rbyers.github.io

CPU Performance API — Reference Implementation Playground

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 19/06/2026

CSS Quake (cssquake.com) - no canvas just HTML/CSS using a cool library called PolyCSS (polycss.com). 😀 Playing through the first level brought back a lot of memories. I think I was one of the first to reverse engineer the PAK file format and build an editor days after the game came out.

cssquake.com

cssQuake - Play Quake in Your Browser

Play Quake in your browser with no install. cssQuake renders the game as inspectable HTML and CSS powered by PolyCSS.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 16/06/2026

Given how Chromium and WebKit are always vying for the top spot in Speedometer on MacOS, it's really striking how big the gap is on iOS! And we haven't even really tried to optimize performance for that platform yet! IMHO this is what you should expect to see when there's a lack of competition!

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 01/05/2026

A great analysis! The punch lines: "The trend is clear: for every 100 milliseconds slower a store loads, conversion tends to be about 3.5% lower." "For every 32 milliseconds slower a store responds to interactions, conversion tends to drop by about 1.5%."

Chart with caption: Stores with faster LCP consistently show higher conversion rates. Even when controlling for other performance factors, the relationship remains strong.

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Reposted by Rick Byers

Sam Goto @sgo.to · 30/04/2026

I think part of the phenomena here is that it is easy to predict things will fail: most things fail. So, stop energy is much cheaper to produce, because you would be right 99% of the time. Against-everything-for-nothing is a comfortable stance to take, but long term it is the 1% that move forward.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 27/04/2026

Just bought a new Razer mouse. Rather than install the native app, I had Gemini/Claude write a web app with the Web HID API, using the Linux driver as a reference. Less than 60 min of work laterand I think I'm done: razerweb.rbyers.ca It's a new world... Software on-demand!

razerweb.rbyers.ca

Razer Web Configurator

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 26/04/2026

Someone in my family asked what they can say to a tech support scammer calling them to confirm they are a scam, not a legitimate company. Thoughts?

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Reposted by Rick Byers

Brian Kardell @bkardell.com · 24/04/2026

An interesting lightning talk at BlinkOn about a little experiment @rbyers.net did -- 3 minutes to watch and share your thoughts! Very curious to hear them! youtu.be/b_R3o3VASjc?...

youtu.be

Lightning Talks #2 [BlinkOn 21]

YouTube video by BlinkOn

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 12/04/2026

I'm excited about FedCM ambient UI. Balancing tough tradeoffs is one of the hardest things we do in Chrome and the only way to do it well is to experiment heavily and collect user feedback.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 30/03/2026

Another day, another step down the path of our devices prioritizing their manufacturer's interests over the interests of the device owners. mashable.com/article/appl...

mashable.com

Apple blocks developer from updating Mac app because its similar to a defunct feature

Launchpad was killed by Apple. But, they're blocking a developer from updating their replacement.

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Reposted by Rick Byers

Sarah Drasner @sarahedo.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Chrome is announcing that they are moving into a two-week release cycle! Exciting bc the web needs to move quickly- resolving bug fixes, feature improvements, etc. It goes along with devops principles of shipping smaller, more frequent releases for stability developer.chrome.com/blog/chrome-...

developer.chrome.com

Get features faster with Chrome's two-week release cycle | Blog | Chrome for Developers

From September 2026 Chrome releases will be every two weeks.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 13/02/2026

How will agentic coding tools impact app platform choices? Lovable says: "web apps cost 40-60% less than native development and reach the market 50-70% faster." lovable.dev/guides/nativ...

lovable.dev

Native vs Progressive Web Apps: Which One Should You Build? | Lovable

Compare progressive web apps and native development to find the right approach for your business and budget.

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Reposted by Rick Byers

Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 09/02/2026

6 years and 300+ experiments later, I've concluded that sequencing all the viruses going through my house is actually slightly useful, while still wildly impractical of course! lab.rbyers.ca/essays/20260...

lab.rbyers.ca

The Utility of Home Molecular Virology | RByers Lab

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Rick Byers Lab @lab.rbyers.ca · 02/02/2026

Wow, I am constantly impressed by Google Antigravity and Gemini 3.5 pro. I used it to build a whole blog website, including totally custom Tweet archive, in just a few hours of work! Eg. see lab.rbyers.ca/posts/2024. Code at github.com/Rbyers/lab-b....

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 20/01/2026

My talk at @henrihelvetica.bsky.social's SPDY meetup in Toronto is live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2c.... It's pretty rough and unpolished, but I included some fun stories of the history of performance work in Chrome which you likely can't find anywhere else. Slides: docs.google.com/presentation...

youtube.com

How To Get Your Boss To Let You Work On Web Performance, by Rick Byers of Google.

YouTube video by Henri Helvetica

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 19/01/2026

That feeling when a family member shares photos like this 🤬😭. I spent much of Sunday formatting and reinstalling Windows, and formulating a credit card transaction dispute.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 16/01/2026

I hosted a number of visiting global Chrome leads in Waterloo this week. Several had never seen snow quite like we had today, so of course we had to take them tobogganing. Looks like we'll be doing Chrome leads summits in Canada every winter now 😂.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 09/01/2026

The Chrome Identity and Payments team in Waterloo Canada is hiring several early/mid-career developers. I'm on the lookout for exceptional candidates with a passion for browsers and/or the identity/payments space! www.linkedin.com/posts/rick-b...

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 10/12/2025

Progressive enhancement is really important for enabling the best possible user experiences for everyone!

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Reposted by Rick Byers

Josh W. Comeau @joshwcomeau.com · 09/12/2025

✨ Exciting proposal alert: the CPU Performance API. This proposal will add `navigator.cpuPerformance`, a value that measures the broad performance capability of the CPU. That way, we can scale up/down our animations to make sure everyone has the best experience possible for their device. 😄

github.com

GitHub - explainers-by-googlers/cpu-performance: An API that exposes some information about how powerful the user device is.

An API that exposes some information about how powerful the user device is. - explainers-by-googlers/cpu-performance

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 05/12/2025

I just almost made a dumb mistake. I've been enjoying Kurzgesagt videos for years (on various devices). After watching their video on AI slop I figured it was time to support them on a recurring basis, so I hit the join button... youtu.be/_zfN9wnPvU0?...

youtube.com

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Animation videos explaining things with optimistic nihilism since 12,013. We’re a team of illustrators, animators, number crunchers and one dog who aim to spark curiosity about science and the world ...

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 03/12/2025

It was fun to be part of this, thanks Henri! I wasn't able to join the livestream for the rest today but really looking forward to listening to it over the next couple days!

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 27/11/2025

Lots of people incorrectly claiming Chrome/Google "tried to kill JPEG XL". Just because an engine chooses not to be the FIRST to ship a new technology does NOT mean they are trying to kill it!

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 18/11/2025

How does one correct Wikipedia when the primary source is wrong and there is no correct primary source? Make one? When I joined Chrome in Waterloo in 2010, we were a relatively new and small team focused on ChromeOS.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 04/10/2025

One of my jobs on Chrome is quantifying overall product quality signals. This quarter we're taking a hit on crashes entirely due to iOS, which looks to be primarily due to WebKit and iOS bugs. When I try to check on the status of the current major one (bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi...), I get this:

Unformatted and nearly unreadable bugs.webkit.org webpage with console showing lots of 503 errors.

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EricLaw 🎻 @ericlawrence.com · 03/10/2025

The Web is the platform you are looking for. Pass it on.

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Lea Verou, PhD @lea.verou.me · 22/09/2025

Computing some preliminary analysis over the #StateOfHTML pain points data and some …interesting patterns are emerging 🙃

Two Pie charts titled "Complaints about specific browsers" showing about half Safari browser, around a third Firefox, and about a sixth Chrome

Two Pie charts titled "Complaints about specific vendors", one titled "All complaints" and the second "Explicitly about interop". The first is showing around 55% Apple, with a tiny sliver of Microsoft and the rest split evenly across Google and Mozilla, whereas the second is 100% Apple.

Two Pie charts titled "Mobile vs desktop", one titled "All complaints" and the second "Explicitly about interop". Both are showing about a third desktop and two thirds mobile.

Two Pie charts titled "Complaints about specific platforms", one titled "All complaints" and the second "Explicitly about interop". The first is showing around three quarters iOS, around 15% Android, a tiny sliver of Linux, and the rest split evenly across MacOS and Microsoft Windows. The second chart is >80% iOS, with the rest being Android.

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Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

A few years ago I started writing about evolving web standards and @rbyers.net suggested I should cover WPT: the web platform tests project that most people working with the web have a vague idea about that has evolved into an engine of interoperability. since then, I've been tracking people down

thenewstack.io

How a Shared Test Suite Fixed the Web’s Biggest Problems

The story of Web Platform Tests (WPT), the collaborative test suite that transformed the web from an inconsistent platform into a stable one.

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David Bisset @davidbisset.com · 27/09/2025

Why I 🧡 the web. This #WebGL game where you deliver messages on a tiny planet is amazing. Smooth animation. Peaceful vibes (and i didn't even play, I wondered around). messenger.abeto.co #JavaScript #chillvibe #game

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 27/09/2025

The question isn't "is Tylenol use in pregnancy associated with autism?", its "does treating fever with Tylenol during pregnancy increase or decrease the risk of autism?". europepmc.org/article/MED/...

europepmc.org

Europe PMCEurope PMC

Europe PMC is an archive of life sciences journal literature.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 21/09/2025

When I was on an H1-B working in Redmond 20 years ago my immigration lawyers asked me last minute to cancel a trip for legal reasons. My response: "attending family events is more important to me than living in your country".

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 20/09/2025

Yup. We're ready at Google Waterloo, we've got a beautiful new building open! Common north!

Rendering of new Google building in Kitchener Ontario

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Pranshu Khanna @pran.sh · 30/08/2025

You still have time, The State of HTML 2025 survey is live. Browser vendors use this data to prioritize features, fix incompatibilities. Standards bodies use it too. It’s not just a survey, it’s influence. Take 10 minutes. Share what you care about. 👇 stateofhtml.com/en-US

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 16/08/2025

Who is free in the bay area this afternoon and wants to be inspired by computing's past while chatting about the future of the web? Join me at the Computer History Museum around 3-5pm today! [1/7]

Photo of computer history museum exhibits

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 19/07/2025

How did I go 46 years without experiencing the joy of enterprise-grade network gear at home? Worth every penny...

Aruba Instant on AP mounted on the ceiling in a house.

Aruba Instant on app showing switch status

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 11/07/2025

I think this will be wonderful for the future of the open web: blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-.... As Matthew Prince says, imagine if we could create a system whereby creators and content aggregators could efficiently negotiate a fair price for use of their content.

blog.cloudflare.com

Introducing pay per crawl: Enabling content owners to charge AI crawlers for access

Pay per crawl is a new feature to allow content creators to charge AI crawlers for access to their content.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 20/05/2025

In tech we are so good at blaming the user for our design flaws! Me: "All 4 of my hotel keys stopped working." Hotel: "Did you keep them near phones? That can demagnetize them, happens all the time." Me: "No it can't! These are NFC cards, not magstripe cards." 😂

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Igalia @igalia.com · 19/05/2025

🎙️ New Episode of Igalia Chats Unshipping: How (and when) to break web features @bkardell.com and @meyerweb.com chat with Google's @rbyers.net about willingness to change and even unship features www.igalia.com/chats/unship...

A title card with a photo of rick and the title - visualized sound waves emanate from rick's photo.

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Rick Byers @rbyers.net · 04/05/2025

DBSC is exciting! I hope it will lead to both meaningful better security and less hassle getting logged out all the time from websites. The convention of mobile apps staying logged in but websites logging out by default makes the web more frustrating!

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