Dev
- Dart 3.3 and Flutter 3.19– I am one of a very small set of people running a Flutter web app in production, so excited to see work going into better JS interoperability and a path to WASM. Impeller support for Android is neat to see as well.
- How Custom RenderObjects can make your life easier (FlutterCon) – One of my aha moments with Android was when I finally understood how the layout engine worked (which led to a custom framework that was very popular for a while). I am starting to feel the need for a similar aha moment with Flutter given how much widget code is in our codebase that feels unoptimized.
- Micropayment capabilities in Chromium – I read this on a forum (fine, Reddit) and there was a lot of criticism of this move, but if folks don’t want ads, then you have to let publishers at least offer payment based access. I remember the “small fractional payments” was the original pitch for Bitcoin but it’s interesting to see the Web Monetization API finally be a thing 15 years later.
Design
- GitButler product demo – Unlike most apps for working with Git that faithfully surface Git’s capabilities but don’t really think about user mental models or approaches when working with it, GitButler takes a different approach and tries a few new ideas around developer workflows. I like it.
- MyMind’s share UI – Very calming confirmation screen when you share something to MyMind (a personal notes/images app with AI).
Misc
- The Tarnished History of Mac Tonight – I missed this part of Americana (being in India during its prime). Now I know way too much about this forgotten Mac mascot
- The Art of James Gurney – I have never heard of Dinotopia earlier, but found it this week and the art blew me away.
Code Zen 