Manton Reece
@manton
Founder of Micro.blog.
Working on a new Bluesky starter pack discovery interface inside Micro.blog. It’s not comprehensive, but I think I will launch it soon as an experiment. Then later, need to figure out how to integrate it with blogrolls and (maybe) Mastodon collections.
OpenAI has made some improvements to the ChatGPT + Codex mashup app, but it’s still not right. Here’s a mockup that I think fixes all of the problems. Three modes, uncluttered sidebar that works like the old app when needed.
I flipped through this book while at BookPeople the other day. Didn’t end up buying it but snapped a photo to remember. It brought back a lot of memories of going to Liberty Lunch. A special place and time in hindsight, simpler and uncorrupted. No phones, no cameras.
Working on an author screen in Epilogue. Our database of books is pretty cluttered, as you can see in this video, but overall I think this UI is going to work. I’ll ship it soon. https://www.manton.org/2026/07/17/working-on-an-author-screen.html
Rainy morning. Walked from the mechanic around the pond to Central Market for coffee. Reminds me of when my kids were little and we’d play over here. 😢
To John Gruber’s point earlier today, I just opened the App Store and literally the entire screen is just ChatGPT and an ad. Hugely valuable. Millions of people see this.
There is always going to be some water spilling, might as well water the plant with it! Great idea at Lazarus on Airport. ☕️
Something fascinating to me about how relatively little we use AI, compared to what it can do… I don’t spend much on OpenAI’s API, for example, but see this graph of daily costs. What if AI was much faster and much cheaper, what would be possible?
Epilogue 2.4 and AI: https://www.manton.org/2026/07/10/epilogue-and-ai.html Adding new book images and thinking through AI use.
Hmm. Had to verify my age before using Bluesky from the web this morning. Good news is the verification process was fast. I thought the Texas law was to put the burden on the App Store and Google Play to centralize age verification. A little confused now about the scope.
“I’ve got one idea that I’m especially psyched out of my mind about. You know, it’s one of those ideas where you’re just like… Yes!” — Miles Finch
Cleaned up a few things in the web interface for books this week, including a new popup menu for switching bookshelves. Here’s a quick 12-second screencast video. https://www.manton.org/2026/07/08/cleaned-up-a-few-things.html
Finished reading: The Passing of the Dragon by Ken Liu. Beautiful short story. Also includes a surprise commentary on the mess that is social media. 📚
Finished reading: Homebound by Portia Elan. Good concept, but the separate timelines didn’t really come together in a big way at the end as I was hoping. Still enjoyed it. 📚
American flag with 28 stars, on display at the Texas State Library. Wasn’t expecting it to be so big! Texas joined in 1845 and it was only another year until the flag needed 29 stars. 🇺🇸
Here’s a fun screenshot from Mastodon. Micro.blog posts that are federated to Mastodon look better than posts actually created from Mastodon. Markdown → your blog → everywhere.
Food delivery robot trying to navigate a tight space. I thought for sure it was going to get stuck. https://www.manton.org/2026/06/29/food-delivery-robot-trying-to.html
Finished reading: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Unfolds with an interesting island setting and mystery. I liked it, but as the layers are pulled back, there is mostly grief. 📚
Love that this bookstore (Sundog Books) had too many books to fit properly on the shelves. 📚
Got a whole bunch of little things finished this morning for the next release of Epilogue. Finally showing a checkmark for the current bookshelf, and a new default for the Movies tab to show movies and TV shows people are blogging about. Just submitting to Apple for review.
Watched: The Truman Show. So good. Haven’t seen it in years and it holds up perfectly. 🍿
Finished reading: The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. Fantastic. Great world-building, viewpoint switch, and just the right plot surprises. 📚
Love the detail of using these bricks instead of just white paint. The workers put a lot of extra time into cutting everything just right.
Cloudy and breezy evening on the gulf. https://www.manton.org/2026/06/18/cloudy-and-breezy-evening-on.html
Thinking about the new Mastodon collections, it reminded me that we have blogrolls on Micro.blog that don’t get enough attention. Today I improved a few things with adding blog recommendations, including a search across other platforms if you don’t have the URL for someone handy.