I find so many of these comments and debates fascinating as a lay person. I'm more tech savy than mostI meet, built my own PCs, know my way around some more 'advanced' things like terminal a bit and have a deeper understanding of computer systems, software, etc. than most people I know. It has always been more of a hobby for me. People look at me as the 'tech' guy even though I'm actually not.
Something I know very little about is coding. I know there are different languages with pros and cons to each. I know some work across operating systems while others don't but other than that I don't know too much.
For the first time I just started working on my own app in Codex and it feels absolutely amazing and magical. I've not seen the code, would have basically no idea how to read it, but i'm working on a niche application for my job that it is custom tailored to my needs and if it works I'll be thrilled. Even better is that the process of building is just feels so special and awesome.
This really does feel like it is on the precipice of something entirely different. I think back to computers before a GUI interface. I think back to even just computers before mobile touch interfaces. I am sure there are plenty of people who thought some of these things wouldn't work for different reasons but I think that is the wrong idea. The focus should be on who this will work for and why and there, I think, there are a ton of possibilities.
For reference, I'm a middle school Assistant Principal working on an app to help me with student scheduling.
My observation is that "AI" makes easy things easier and hard things impossible. You'll get your niche app out of it, you'll be thrilled, then you'll need it to do more. Then you will struggle to do more, because the AI created a pile of technical debt.
Programmers dream of getting a green field project. They want to "start it the right way this time" instead of being stuck unwinding technical debt on legacy projects. AI creates new legacy projects instantly.
After 10+ years of stewing on an idea, I started building an app (for myself) that I've never had the courage or time to start until now.
I really wanted to learn the coding, the design patterns, etc, but truthfully, it was never gonna happen without a Claude. I could never get past the unknown-unknowns (and I didn't even grasp how broad is the domain of knowledge it actually requires.) Best case I would have started small chunks and abandoned it countless times, piling on defeatism and disappointment each time.
Now in under two weeks of spare time and evenings, I've got a working prototype that's starting to resemble my dream. Does my code smell? Yes. Is it brittle? Almost certainly. Is it a security risk? I hope not. (It's not.)
I want to be intentional about how I use AI; I'm nervous about how it alters how we think and learn. But seeing my little toy out in the real world is flippin incredible.
It very probably is, but if it's a personal project you're not planning on releasing anywhere, it doesn't matter much.
You should still be very cognizant that LLMs will currently fairly reliably implement massive security risks once a project grows beyond a certain size, though.
They can also identify and fix vulnerabilities when prompted. AI is being used heavily by security researchers for this purpose.
It’s really just a case of knowing how to use the tools. Said another way, the risk is being unaware of what the risks are. And awareness can help one get out of the bad habits that create real world issues.
Has a paper from 1976 but this seems in line with what I've read elsewhere
basically, 2-3 minutes is probably good for most of your lifting, you could go to 5 minutes if you are doing your heaviest lift of the day
this is also a reasonable way to make sure your workouts aren't going to take 3 hours at a time
some people really mix max this though if they're focusing on super heavy lifts. i remember being at the gym and watching people take 8-10 minutes between sets when they were putting up 400-500lbs on a squat. they also arrived before me and weren't done when i was leaving and, i'm assuming, they were interested in powerlifting competitions
i've actually started looking at reactive training system with mike tuchscherer who has a lot of interesting things to say about training, rest times, etc. been startin to build his stuff on RPE and fatigue percentages in to my training and it has already been super insightful and helpful
i definitely agree it is more nuanced! might not have communicated it well that in the context of untrained people and beginners that these guidelines will work for quite a while and most of the nuance applies much more once you get past the easy beginner gains
for example, if someone new starts with low weight to work on proper technique and form, and adds weight each week they will continue to both get stronger and to gain muscle
i'd imagine the average person who is casually lifting might not even get to this point and could easily spend a couple of years before really hitting a spot where the nuance is more important
not an expert, 2 years of serious lifting, but this is probably a good adage for the average person from my current understanding
training to failure puts you at higher risk of injury and there are diminishing returns as you approach your 1 rep max and/or failure
hypertrophy can happen with more reps or more weight
strength gains are usually just focused on progressive overload
though, of course, hypertrophy will happen either way and contributes to increased strength, but this seems to be further confirmation that you can gain muscle size either way
fairly new to lifting myself (2+ years taking it seriously) but this thing seems to jive with what I've read across different areas
bodybuilders can build muscle size with high reps and lower weight or lower reps and high weight as long as they do it close to failure with only a few reps in reserve (rir)
powerlifters, or those focusing on strength, usually go for high weight and lower reps because they might be training for a competition that focuses on 1 rep max and/or the body can really only handle so many reps when pushing it at 80-90% of 1 rep max
neither is inherently better but a matter of what goals you have in mind, plus, hypertrophy contributes to overall strength, too
Mostly depends on which features are most important for you. I'm a SWE, so using their Assistant for Web RAG nearly exclusively for work-related stuff and for most of my personal queries. I'm rarely using multi-modal content, mostly sticking to text. They support many providers and new notable models are typically rolled out only a few days after release which is always great to test out. I have a standalone subscription for coding agent LLM. If above aligns - might be a good choice.
I do a lot of help with spreadsheets and some ongoing threads in ChatGPT.
I’m an Assistant Principal so use it to help me get better with spreadsheets, churn through complex formulas, and some other miscellaneous tasks for feedback and assistance. Definitely use a lot of screenshots of things to also help consume info in there.
I think I might be stuck with both for a while as I’m not sure Kagi can quite fill this gap yet.
I use regular Kagi assistant for most of my questions. I use Openrouter chat to chat with Gemini 2.5 Pro and GPT 5 at the same time and continue only the productive conversation. My OR account is for my coding agent and its completely pay as you go, no fixed monthly costs.
I’ve stuck with chatgpt and do dump screenshots, spreadsheets, etc. in there with some regularity. Screenshots are mostly for convenience and spreadsheets when I’m still stuck on something. Didn’t even think about loading in different things. I can see potential for this in the future but I’ve been with ChatGPT for so long exactly because it does so well with accepting files to work with.
I don’t use 20 minutes a day or so. It is more like I don’t use it a ton and then tend to go through periods where I might lean on it a lot. This is why I feel like it is tough to make the call.
I guess I should also explore how capable the free version is at this point, too.
That’s what I did and I’m pretty happy with it. I just fall back to something free on the rare occasion I want an image generated (tbh, mostly emojis of my dog).
been so tempted to try one but concerned about long term updates and viability
if it runs android 13, how long will it get updates for? how long until the apps you're using won't be updated?
i'd like my ebook reader to last years without issue
my oasis from 2020 still does all the things i need it to though i'd like to get a good reason to leave the kindle ecosystem but still want to have access to all the books i've purchased to read on eink
i kind of also wonder if other companies, i.e. kobo, will jump into this form factor given the popularity of boox
