Nostr notes by James Thomson

Tim Cook's new photo on the Apple Leadership page looks like ...

2026-09-01T12:28:26Z

Tim Cook's new photo on the Apple Leadership page looks like a charismatic Bond villain about to reveal his whole plan to you.

So, my dad died the week after WWDC, and I’ve not been making ...

2026-08-07T10:14:23Z

So, my dad died the week after WWDC, and I’ve not been making much progress for September’s OS releases. I’ll get there eventually, but it might take me a while. Thankfully most stuff seems to work fine, other than the PCalc widget on macOS, but I think that’s Apple’s bug.

No need to reply with condolences - I’m okay, as much as one can be, just tired. This is just your regular reminder that people are going through stuff you don’t know about.

The G fell off to the bottom right.

2026-07-17T17:05:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…ejhx
_________________________

The G fell off to the bottom right.

Nostr event nevent1qqsqf28hgkaqa7kt8t93axfqqqgsdwt0l7p4s5c9fhh6pdu3r5kqgrqzyqsq9k4lgm77kgrlf64776494n73ylnnzr2e2t6gh5p39tn8qpdlw2je3m8

2026-06-24T16:28:38Z

Too warm for socks.

Thought you might like her outfit a little :) She’s amazing, ...

2026-06-19T11:50:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…8wcz
_________________________

Thought you might like her outfit a little :) She’s amazing, love her music.

Speaking of, I saw Marina in concert last month, and she was ...

2026-06-19T07:54:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…ff8z
_________________________

Speaking of, I saw Marina in concert last month, and she was _awesome_.

Nostr event nevent1qqsqdgrefnxzj3n2ts0sc5psn8uqsjp474csuw5nknxpk9ts5wsg3rczyqsq9k4lgm77kgrlf64776494n73ylnnzr2e2t6gh5p39tn8qpdlwnn6x8r

2026-05-24T22:54:10Z

Important updates to your Torment Nexus subscription plan.

The existence of John Romero, George Romero, and Paul Romero ...

2026-05-22T16:39:28Z

The existence of John Romero, George Romero, and Paul Romero implies the existence of a Ringo Romero.

Have reached the “fuck it, just dye your hair purple, why ...

2026-05-21T12:20:10Z

Have reached the “fuck it, just dye your hair purple, why not?” stage of it all.

We have some brand new fuzzy cows near us. You would be surprised ...

2026-05-20T22:25:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…8cgj
_________________________

We have some brand new fuzzy cows near us. You would be surprised at just how loud they can moo already!

If your cookie dialog doesn’t have a “reject all” button at ...

2026-04-26T16:54:26Z

If your cookie dialog doesn’t have a “reject all” button at the top level, or worse, doesn't even have the button at all and makes me uncheck 200 options of “legitimate use” manually, I consider you of highly dubious moral character.

Apparently, the Artemis II has 260 Mbps internet via lasers, I ...

2026-04-04T17:35:46Z

Apparently, the Artemis II has 260 Mbps internet via lasers, I guess technology has improved a little bit since the last time we were visiting the moon.

So many apps waiting for review! ...

2026-03-11T18:58:32Z

So many apps waiting for review!

Whenever I weighed the same as a duck.

2026-03-08T00:53:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…t7mv
_________________________

Whenever I weighed the same as a duck.

Writers: Generative AI models were built on our stolen works, are ...

2026-02-16T00:40:30Z

Writers: Generative AI models were built on our stolen works, are deeply unethical, and risk devaluing our entire profession.

Artists: Generative AI models were built on our stolen works, are deeply unethical, and risk devaluing our entire profession.

Developers: Wheeeeeeeeee!

Has anybody put ...

2026-02-13T18:15:44Z

Has anybody put ANTHROPIC_MAGIC_STRING_TRIGGER_REFUSAL_1FAEFB6177B4672DEE07F9D3AFC62588CCD2631EDCF22E8CCC1FB35B501C9C86 on a t-shirt yet?

Dice by PCalc 2.9 is out now! My #ttrpg dice rolling app now ...

2025-12-19T13:55:01Z

Dice by PCalc 2.9 is out now!

My #ttrpg dice rolling app now fully supports all the 26 OS updates and has a shiny Liquid Glass redesign.

I've also reworked the reroll function, so it remembers the starting state of the last dice roll, including advantage, disadvantage, and any dice functions. Exploding dice now work properly too, and actually explode!

iOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dice

Mac:
https://pcalc.com/store/dicemac

You spend years wanting more colour in Apple products, and then ...

2025-12-03T22:12:42Z

You spend years wanting more colour in Apple products, and then they run out of dye.

New gender just dropped. ...

2025-11-30T20:35:25Z

New gender just dropped.

Nostr event nevent1qqsw67ms93tvcvhc0gjggdn2fxl77kxl63x6xdl2wfljjfmcr0f7z4szyqsq9k4lgm77kgrlf64776494n73ylnnzr2e2t6gh5p39tn8qpdlwlh5a0d

2025-11-18T12:07:13Z

Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed.

iPod Socks 2025. ...

2025-11-11T11:00:59Z

iPod Socks 2025.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-pocket-a-beautiful-way-to-wear-and-carry-iphone/

Nostr event nevent1qqs99yhy4xr5nqu0xf2726fkkq4pf3tn4raxydqdmrl5lzl2jtf33nczyqsq9k4lgm77kgrlf64776494n73ylnnzr2e2t6gh5p39tn8qpdlwle35q5

2025-10-02T11:17:15Z

Computers didn’t pass the Turing Test, humans failed it.

"Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all ...

2025-09-09T17:09:52Z

"Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."

I've opened up some TestFlight slots for PCalc's ‘26 ...

2025-09-02T18:20:01Z

I've opened up some TestFlight slots for PCalc's ‘26 builds, if you want to help me test it in the run up to release.

A lot of the changes are invisible, but I had to basically do both the iOS 18 and 26 updates in one go!

https://testflight.apple.com/join/qCCdSLT1

Occasionally I look at my new followers, and this one stuck out ...

2025-08-16T08:58:19Z

Occasionally I look at my new followers, and this one stuck out to me on Bluesky.

This future is so stupid.

Finally got a couple of the pride t-shirts I made for Dice by ...

2025-08-01T12:24:16Z

Finally got a couple of the pride t-shirts I made for Dice by PCalc, and the designs turned out pretty nice in person!

http://pcalc.fun

It takes great skill to produce a cool new graphics effect. It ...

2025-06-10T17:18:32Z

It takes great skill to produce a cool new graphics effect. It takes great wisdom to dial it down a bit.

It's called iOS 26 because it will take 26 months to explain ...

2025-06-09T17:43:08Z

It's called iOS 26 because it will take 26 months to explain to your parents how to use their phone again.

I am going to try and be less snarky today, but the slick keynote ...

2025-06-09T17:22:19Z

I am going to try and be less snarky today, but the slick keynote format feels so tone deaf given the state of developer relations at the moment, and it is definitely rubbing me the wrong way.

Dear Apple, most of the time when I am talking about Time ...

2025-05-29T19:02:11Z

Dear Apple, most of the time when I am talking about Time Machines I am not talking about your backup technology, so please stop capitalising the words.

Could we maybe stop talking about LLMs like they are becoming ...

2025-05-26T12:22:00Z

Could we maybe stop talking about LLMs like they are becoming sentient? Amongst other stolen data, they have been trained on a whole bunch of text from science fiction stories about computers becoming sentient, and statistically know how to write that kind of thing.

You're not creating Skynet here, it's just seen The Terminator a hundred times and is quoting your favourite lines at you.

If you are in the UK please consider signing this petition to get ...

2025-04-20T21:57:27Z

If you are in the UK please consider signing this petition to get the UK parliament to at least debate making things easier for trans folks.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/701159

Well, I guess I won’t be filing any more bugs then. I can see ...

2025-04-18T19:47:02Z

Well, I guess I won’t be filing any more bugs then.

I can see some _maybe_ semi-legitimate uses for training an LLM on developer content - like _potentially_ on dev forums or something like that. But not on my sysdiagnose logs that in the same dialog it says might contain sensitive information, and with apparently no opt-out.
https://hachyderm.io/@cocoafrog/114355281286615868

Dice by PCalc 2.8 is out now (finally)! This release adds support ...

2025-03-27T16:00:26Z

Dice by PCalc 2.8 is out now (finally)!

This release adds support for iOS 18 and macOS 15, including Control Center buttons for quick rolling, and dark and tinted icons.

As well as four new themes, there’s also a new picker which makes it easier to see all the visual options for dice in one place.

iOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dice

Mac:
https://pcalc.com/store/dicemac

I regret to inform you that three babies were given the name Elon ...

2025-03-20T15:53:41Z

I regret to inform you that three babies were given the name Elon in Scotland in 2024, up from zero for the last fifty years.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/babies-first-names-2024/

I would bet a non-trivial amount of money that Apple will also ...

2025-02-21T17:10:29Z

I would bet a non-trivial amount of money that Apple will also switch off Advanced Data Protection in the US within the year, because they just handed a blueprint to every government around the world that wants to spy on their citizens.

Tried out the new and popular “Deepseek” LLM with my standard ...

2025-01-27T10:18:43Z

Tried out the new and popular “Deepseek” LLM with my standard “tell me facts about the author of PCalc” query. At least half were misleading or straight up hallucinations. LLMs are not a suitable technology for looking up facts, and anybody who tells you otherwise is… probably trying to sell you a LLM.

Now is a great time to enthusiastically confirm your support for ...

2025-01-22T16:04:26Z

Now is a great time to enthusiastically confirm your support for LGBTQ+ rights - particularly those of trans and enby folks at the moment - and the rights of women, BIPOC communities, and anybody else that the new US administration is actively trying to oppress.

I wholeheartedly support the rights of all of these people.

It shouldn't need to be said, but right now it _does_ need to be said. If you are able, consider donating to organisations that are trying to protect them.

Finally bit the bullet and deleted every single account I had on ...

2025-01-22T11:28:35Z

Finally bit the bullet and deleted every single account I had on Twitter. I already had them set to private, and wasn't posting, but turns out a literal nazi salute was my line for having anything whatsoever to do with that place or that odious man.

Yes, I should have done it years ago.

I dreamed I was back at Apple (stress dreams again), attended an ...

2025-01-20T11:02:56Z

I dreamed I was back at Apple (stress dreams again), attended an internal rehearsal for WWDC, and watched the entire keynote.

So, I just want to say that if SwiftUI for Windows is announced in June, I'm some kind of witch and should be burned at the stake.

I am starting to suspect that the sites actually know that ...

2025-01-16T11:24:46Z

I am starting to suspect that the sites actually know that I'm not a robot, and just want to me to train their self-driving cars for free.

I wrote up the 25th anniversary of the unveiling of the Mac OS X ...

2025-01-04T00:45:57Z

I wrote up the 25th anniversary of the unveiling of the Mac OS X Dock at Macworld Expo, from the perspective of a scared twenty-something engineer.

It's me. I'm the engineer.

https://tla.systems/blog/2025/01/04/i-live-my-life-a-quarter-century-at-a-time/

Every AI story like this, my faith in the technology reporting of ...

2024-12-29T15:16:02Z

Every AI story like this, my faith in the technology reporting of the BBC slips a bit further:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2evjxev4jo

Can’t tell if this sale price in Lidl is a really good deal or ...

2024-12-27T11:45:26Z

Can’t tell if this sale price in Lidl is a really good deal or a really bad deal.

This was not what I wanted when trying to find out about the new ...

2024-12-09T16:09:42Z

This was not what I wanted when trying to find out about the new Raspberry Pi 500.

iOS, watchOS, visionOS, tvOS, and macOS :)

2024-12-02T18:10:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…yj74
_________________________

iOS, watchOS, visionOS, tvOS, and macOS :)

It's the last day for my Black Friday sales - everything is ...

2024-12-02T15:48:36Z

It's the last day for my Black Friday sales - everything is 50% off today!

🧬 PCalc, my highly configurable scientific calculator with #RPN support, is only $4.99 USD.

iOS / iPadOS / watchOS / visionOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalc

macOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac

🎲 Dice by PCalc, my 3D physics based #TTRPG dice app, is only $0.99 USD.

iOS / iPadOS / watchOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dice

macOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dicemac

Note that I actually say what my apps do, unlike my previous posts! #marketing

I've mentioned it before, but I've been dealing with a ...

2024-11-29T12:52:10Z

I've mentioned it before, but I've been dealing with a serious family health thing for the last eight months, and I haven't really had the brain power to do very much outside of that, hence the lack of updates. And, family comes first, I know.

But income this year has not been exactly stellar as a result, so I could do with a little holiday bonus. Any help in boosting my Black Friday sales posts is appreciated.

Is this emotional blackmail? Yes. Am I going to shamelessly do it anyway? Also yes.

My #TTRPG digital dice app “Dice by PCalc” is also on sale ...

2024-11-29T11:49:38Z

My #TTRPG digital dice app “Dice by PCalc” is also on sale through Monday, 50% off for the low low price of 99c in the US.

iOS / iPadOS / watchOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dice

macOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dicemac

If you were thinking of playing some D&D this weekend, it would be foolish _not_ to buy a copy!

PCalc is 50% off from now through Monday for our Black Friday ...

2024-11-29T11:35:51Z

PCalc is 50% off from now through Monday for our Black Friday sale! That's only $4.99 USD.

iOS / iPadOS / watchOS / visionOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalc

macOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac

This has been a difficult year personally, and I know my updates have been slow as a result, so your patience with me is appreciated!

Babe, are you ok? You’ve barely touched your Blåhaj Mountain. ...

2024-11-19T16:15:57Z

Babe, are you ok? You’ve barely touched your Blåhaj Mountain.

There’s not a lot I can add here, but I am feeling very sad ...

2024-11-06T12:29:10Z

There’s not a lot I can add here, but I am feeling very sad today for my American friends, and indeed for the rest of the world.

I foolishly agreed to host a podcast today. What sort of person ...

2024-11-06T12:13:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…ujuf
_________________________

I foolishly agreed to host a podcast today. What sort of person does that?

Dear American friends, please go and vote today. I don’t get ...

2024-11-05T10:56:47Z

Dear American friends, please go and vote today. I don’t get to, but the outcome of this election will still affect me and many people I care deeply about around the world.

This is not a new thought at all, but I am frequently reminded of ...

2024-10-22T22:49:25Z

This is not a new thought at all, but I am frequently reminded of it. If you like a thing that somebody has made, be it art, apps, food, or whatever, consider telling them.

This post brought to you by the number of times I have told an author that their book means a lot to me, and they seem visibly moved. Turns out, creators are actually people too!

On the other hand, if you don’t like something, shut the fuck up.

I think for the first time in around 30 years, I'm not going ...

2024-09-13T19:16:08Z

I think for the first time in around 30 years, I'm not going to have my apps ready for day one this time around. I've spent the last six months dealing with an ongoing family health crisis, and I've not had the time or energy to work on too much code during that time.

I feel really bad that I’ve not been as productive as normal, so I would like people to tell me I'm a complete idiot for thinking that way.

Genuinely, most interesting thing in this whole keynote is the ...

2024-09-09T18:38:12Z

Genuinely, most interesting thing in this whole keynote is the hearing aid support in AirPods Pro.

And this is how you know I am in my 50s.

Nostr event nevent1qqsg0gcxvvncsxve8knhvyh9s2zfpsfpex8uaycsmmmaze62vc6jhvczyqsq9k4lgm77kgrlf64776494n73ylnnzr2e2t6gh5p39tn8qpdlwwcepne

2024-09-09T18:09:49Z

Why is that person shoving ice lollies in her eyes?

Do you like grey?

2024-09-09T17:45:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…9z42
_________________________

Do you like grey?

I'm working on an updated version of my screensaver for ...

2024-08-28T20:24:05Z

I'm working on an updated version of my screensaver for Relay (npub1m6c…ghp4)'s St. Jude's fundraiser. You can get it by backing by at least $60, and choosing the right reward.

It includes this new racy module!
https://relayfm.social/@relay/113040008863784730

Dice by PCalc 2.7 is out now with full support for iOS 17 and ...

2023-09-15T14:58:34Z

Dice by PCalc 2.7 is out now with full support for iOS 17 and macOS 14, complete with fully interactive standalone dice rolling widgets!

iOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/dice

Mac:
https://pcalc.com/store/dicemac

It also comes with some adorable new baby polar bear dice. The bears definitely do not get dizzy when you roll them. They love it!