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Tony Arnold

@tonyarnold.com
711 followers 237 following 147 posts

Cocoa-wielding person-like-object. I help to build Reveal: revealapp.com

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Reposted by Tony Arnold
Theo Priestley @theopriestley.net · 29/09/2026
Every AI CEO sounds like this.
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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A rich person can never be held accountable. Therefore, a rich person must never make a societal decision
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Ali (allegedly) 🍑 @oceanvybe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 17/09/2026
Oh wow, Xcode 27.2 has a new project file format (xcproj) that is standard JSON, and an open format: I've been waiting for something like this for most of my career! 🎉
github.com
GitHub - apple/xcode-project-format: A Swift library for reading, writing, and manipulating Xcode's JSON-based project.xcproj format.
A Swift library for reading, writing, and manipulating Xcode's JSON-based project.xcproj format. - apple/xcode-project-format
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/09/2026
Yeah, it has been on a slippery slop slope from the moment the new owners took over. Such a sad, unfortunate end to a newsletter that brought such joy over the years.
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Amy Hoy @amyhoy.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
“what if the AI doesn’t want to be shut down so it kills all humans?” well, the funny thing is, llms don’t exist between prompts. there is no there there. the model is sent a request, it “starts up” to receive it, processes it, and then it “shuts down” again. every single time.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/09/2026
"Shopify has been using LLMs to build software since 2021" (ref ) That's impressive. Shopify must have had some patient, curious engineers on staff to put up with what the state of things would have been 5 years ago!
shopify.engineering
Native is now the future of mobile at Shopify (2026) - Shopify
Coding agents changed what it costs to build mobile apps twice. Here’s why Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 10/09/2026
The iPhone Duo looks amazing - it's obvious that so much polish and care went into creating it 🤩
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 08/09/2026
My good friend, and all-round smart guy Chris Kolbu has been working on a novel, macro-driven testing library called Exhaust that has just hit version 1.0. He gave a really interesting talk about it at #devworld a couple of weeks back, and I'll link that video when it's available, but until then:
forums.swift.org
Exhaust: Cross-platform property-based testing, stateful testing and fuzzing
Exhaust is a feature-rich, macro-driven testing library that works with both Swift Testing and XCTest. Its aim is to empower you to test the values you didn't think of. It is the library I've wanted to have in Swift for years, ever since I started using SwiftCheck: one that matches the ergonomics and test case reduction of Python's Hypothesis with the performance of Swift. A library where you can get started with three lines of code and scale that all the way to coverage-guided fuzzing. Exhaus...
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 07/09/2026
I'm renovating and I enjoy watching YouTube series about people renovating (arguably far more damaged homes than mine). It's not a problem, I can stop whenever I want to.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 30/08/2026
It was so lovely being at #devworld last week, and spending time with people with nuanced views on all the things I've been worrying about over the past year. It reminded me that the conversation here on social media, and on Slack is wildly unserious and not reflective of people's reality.
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Reposted by Tony Arnold
Rosyna Keller @rosyna.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Xounds Redux 1.0 beta 1 out now! Make sure to enable automatic update and read the read me, as it contains important testing information! totallynotmalicious.com
totallynotmalicious.com
Totally Not Malicious Software — Paradise Façade
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Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Reacher should get slightly larger every episode and they just never address it
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 19/08/2026
As I've mentioned a few times recently, I'm renovating my house. I think the most frustrating part for work is that my ethernet ports have all had to be decommissioned so I'm using WiFi for everything, and the only access point is right near the gateway. It's really slow 🥲
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 14/08/2026
Open question: is anyone still seeing _interesting_ mobile development work in the freelance/consulting space? Most of what we're seeing at work is for the big end of town, so it's not naturally "fun" software dev — not sure if that's the same for other folks in the profession, though?
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 14/08/2026
SceneKit being deprecated presents a problem for Reveal — we use it for our 3D view hierarchy. I'm currently having an absolute ball prototyping the same functionality in RealityKit. I'm _pretty_ sure I'm going to hit a wall when it comes to interaction/hit testing, but right now? Fun times!
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/08/2026
Thanks, Graham!
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/08/2026
Just found out the tile company sold us tiles they have no stock of, and there won't be more of until November. The tiler is booked for next week. I am so over renovating.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/08/2026
Will this be recorded, Neil? I'm on the other side of the planet, but would very much like to hear/see @iamleeg.bsky.social's take on this topic.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/08/2026
they're all busy building better hand cranks for their crank start cars
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Reposted by Tony Arnold
Rosyna Keller @rosyna.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I wrote about the upcoming Xounds Redux, Xounds (very extensive interface sounds) for a modern macOS, and the steps required for bringing it to fruition, along with a request for help finding the project. paradisefacade.com/blog/2026/8/...
paradisefacade.com
Coming Soonish: Xounds Redux and Other “Haxies Redux” — Paradise Façade
First, this project needs funding. See below for details, and go here if you wish to help in any little bit. Thanks so much; all help is greatly appreciated! In the days of yore, “ Haxies ” we...
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 10/08/2026
Oh this is a welcome addition to Xcode 27 - you can now allow agent access when Xcode isn't running *and* disable the permission dialogs if you want to! developer.apple.com/documenta...
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 10/08/2026
I think I'm going all in on macOS 27 beta on my personal Mac. It's pretty good, actually.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 10/08/2026
[cheers from the sidelines] go you good thing
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Reposted by Tony Arnold
evil maid @lenazun.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
this website's many discourses can be mapped almost directly to common middle age anxieties.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 24/07/2026
yeah, it's a bit of a bin fire. For a company selling that code is cheap, they sure are interested in saving money by cutting corners with their tech choices.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 24/07/2026
It does it every time I launch it for some reason. Perhaps it's me?
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 23/07/2026
Electron apps that expand their window to the full size of the screen on launch can get in the bin. Slack does it, Codex does it - is this a default behaviour that the framework enacts? Proper macOS apps don't do this.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 23/07/2026
A lot of folks are pinning their hopes on it not mattering, but the general vibe is that they never liked the work in the first place (means to an end). That's fine, but it doesn't absolve you of your responsibility to ship working, reliable, performant software. Thus, it continues to matter.
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ellen teapot 🇨🇦🏳️‍⚧️ @ellenteapot.ca · 22/07/2026
Laundry Naked: Today or Tomorrow
Sign in a laundromat that is intended to read “Laundry Today or Naked Tomorrow”, but instead reads like “Laundry Naked: Today or Tomorrow”
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 22/07/2026
I am quite exhausted between work, renovations and everything else. I totally intended to submit proposals for talks to a number of conferences this year, but I do not have capacity. Bit disappointed by that, but there's always next year.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 22/07/2026
Everyone has a microwave at home, so no need for chefs anymore!
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 17/07/2026
My aging LG 5K Ultrafine has the most amazing burn in - there are permanent Dock and Xcode visuals on screen. What I wouldn't give to be able to afford to replace this thing with a more modern display 🫠
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 14/07/2026
Prediction markets run by next token prediction software seems like an Ouroborous ↻
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 13/07/2026
Good point. That hasn't changed. I'm just sick of half baked early stage shit. Give me the macOS of agents/models, please. I'm ready to move on from weird DOS derivatives.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 13/07/2026
I am probably missing some layer of understanding (skill issue), but even orchestrating subagents, most of the apps I work on turn my sessions into gibberish if I try to cross module boundaries with any higher level of detail. There's a bunch of QoL things as a dev that I shouldn't have to manage.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 13/07/2026
I guess it's an interesting thought exercise, but none of the current gen solutions have context to maintain something that wide. Unless it's some tiny indie app, and then I say have at it! I'd be a cool experiment.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 13/07/2026
Right, yeah, I think I recall I saying that when we talked about it last time.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 13/07/2026
y u no xpc?
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 12/07/2026
Who's ready for another heady day of "Set up Talk to Siri"?
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Reposted by Tony Arnold
Justin Williams @jww.wtf · 10/07/2026
No comment.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/07/2026
Honestly, IMO the developer surfaces for these things are likely to recede back to where we spend time working, which likely won't be the primitive TUIs they've all built, or the model vendor's cheapskate GUIs.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 11/07/2026
Oh yeah, the new ChatGPT app is as bad as first impressions made it out to be. It's not just a slow, RAM hungry shell of a thing, but the design and UX are a poorly thought out kitchen sink approach. Codex has never been great, but this is a confusing mess.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 09/07/2026
Yeah, to me, it seems like they negate the value of the product they're selling by shipping cross platform dross instead of letting their prized bull maintain proper apps per platform. Don't look behind the hype curtain 😏
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 09/07/2026
So Codex is ChatGPT now? Pour one out for the one time a VC backed company built a desktop app using native SDKs.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 07/07/2026
That could have been a blog post. Sorry, folks 😁
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 07/07/2026
Still, it's wild that teams keep making these choices. I don't hold the business accountable for that - but it does raise questions in my mind about how good some of the developers starting these projects actually are at their jobs. There's a lot of unchecked hype.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 07/07/2026
Don't fool yourself that bad choices can *ever* be unwound if your product gets popular. And to be fair - businesses don't "care" about bad software choices until it affects the money they make.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 07/07/2026
If the commonly held belief about "fixing it later" were true, we wouldn't have disastrously poor user experiences like Slack, Teams and other Electron-based wrappers. Those companies are profitable enough to do the work, so the assumption is that the business just doesn't want to.
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Tony Arnold @tonyarnold.com · 07/07/2026
If scrimping over costs is the way you start the thing, that's not going to change once money starts coming in - it's part of the DNA of your product and your team.
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