Sorry, imaginary interlocutors. And non-imaginary canine proxies. Software users. Old flames. Random drive-by students.
It’s nearly certain that no-one will read this — I’m confident the dogs won’t, anyway — but still. Not supposed to let it show. Not even to an audience of none.
I’m usually pretty good at that.
Sorry.
Yet another one. Been up on the software page for a week or so. Inevitably not yet on the App Store, like predecessor Lapidary, for the usual reasons of bureaucratic exhaustion. I will get around to it, probably, but it’s hard to feel motivated.
Elsewhere, it’s that transitional time of year when current students are barreling towards their final essay crisis while a whole new batch are prowling toward their first. And their teachers are grappling with both. Another year looms and I am not fucking ready.
In yet other news, The Vampire Lestat is just fabulous. I am rationing it, currently on ep 4. I laugh out loud watching. That title sequence is a work of genius.
Latest on the software page:
It’s back to the world of effects after recent detours. And hardly a radical stylistic departure, though with a granular veneer this time.
Does the world need this? Probably not. But I find grinding it out sort of soothing in trying times. And it’s a useful test of the capabilities of some AI tooling.
I have to grudgingly admit that Fable 5 is pretty remarkable. Not sure it’ll be enough to keep me on board when it goes to usage based pricing next week. Those tokens rack up fast. But I admit I’m tempted.
At the same time as trying out Fable in Claude Code, I’ve also reawakened piclaw to experiment with some other recent cheaper but still extremely capable models, including GLM 5.2 and MiniMax M3. These are also very good, and I do like pi a bit more than Claude Code. I’m pretty sure I’ll keep those around even if Fable also makes the cut.
As a dyed-in-the-wool AI curmudgeon, this is all very galling. It does not for one second excuse the swirling circular financed hype maelstrom that’s gearing up to immanentise the eschaton, nor does it mean I have any fucking time for the likes of desiccated scamlord Sam Altman, but there’s some fascinating tech wrapped up in this bubble.1
In totally unrelated news, I’ve lost count of which heatwave we’re in at this point.
Here we go again.
Mac version downloadable now from the software page. And I have actually overcome the ennui barrier and submitted this to the App Store — it can run as a standalone app, so there’s at least a chance it’ll sidestep some of the App Review shenanigans that plugins incur. It embeds Twelve too — with a bit of luck we’ll be able to kill two birds with one synth.
Update: Ha ha ha, it is to laugh. Let the shenanigans begin.
Islington is awash. I’m no football fan, but it all seems remarkably good natured.
Hampstead Heath was also awash, but differently.
Pretty good way to see out May.