Sam Clemente

@samclemente.me

Founder @stygiantech.dev Social Web Builder/Creator Professional Maker of Sand Thoughts LGBTQ+ | Autistic ATProto Projects: The Social Wire | L@tr.link With more to come You can just build things

273 followers447 following78 stories

Longform Stories

The Rich Aren’t Fucking Special

Rich people tend to act like they’re something special when in reality they’re really just lucky

May 5·1 min read·21 words

A New Age for The Digital Renaissance

I’ve rebuilt the whole site on a new platform to connect it to the Social Web in a different way

Apr 22·1 min read·27 words

Sora Is Dead—And It Won’t Be the Last To Die

We’re starting to see where AI is really going to matter—and it’s not as consumer-facing as previously thought

Mar 25·1 min read·28 words

It’s Time To Rethink the Computer

With MacBook Neo joining the lineup, there’s no better time to stop thinking about the computer as just the chip inside. It's time to start thinking of the whole package.

Mar 14·1 min read·36 words

If You’re Reading This, MacBook Neo is Not For You

Just because it’s not for you doesn’t mean it’s not a good product

Mar 6·1 min read·23 words

Increasing My Velocity As a Solo Developer

A reflection on the workflow and AI tools that let me keep shipping while working full-time and traveling

Mar 2·1 min read·25 words

Anthropic—Accused of Stealing Data to Create Their Product—Accuses Others of Stealing Data to Create Their Product

I see someone brought stones to the glass house again

Feb 23·1 min read·26 words

…What’s Up With Threads

Threads was supposed to be a new take on corporate social media and…it’s really not, is it? They kinda just gave up on the whole Social Web thing…

Feb 19·1 min read·32 words

On: Building the ‘Everything Account’ for the Social Web

Since I’ve been involved in the Social Web, I’ve been fascinated in enabling an ‘everything account’ that serves as your single identity as you build your home on the web.

Feb 15·1 min read·39 words

Welcoming New Communities to the Social Web

Please stop being pretentious, we're building a community here

Feb 15·1 min read·16 words

GPT-4o Is Dead—Good Riddance

It’s time for the most dangerous model to have been released to die, hopefully freeing many from their AI psychosis

Feb 13·1 min read·24 words

Having a Seat at the Table is No Longer an Excuse

A lot of people write off their staying on Twitter or giving Trump useless trophies as doing what they need to do to have a seat at the table; that maybe if they stay they can do something to make thi…

Feb 9·1 min read·53 words

Own Your Ideas

Don’t just hand all of your ideas over to some company, publish them somewhere that’s sustainable and a place that you can control

Feb 5·1 min read·26 words

The Browser Company Keeps Proving Me Wrong — And I Love It

I’ve been an avid follower of The Browser Company for years and I haven’t always been their biggest supporter, but time and time again they keep proving me wrong and I’m honestly here for it!

Feb 1·1 min read·47 words

The AI Revolution Is Happening…on the Mac?

For the longest time, if you wanted to develop on a platform with reach, you’d build on Windows. Though recently we’ve been seeing a whole host of AI apps that are coming to the Mac first.

Jan 31·1 min read·43 words

Elon Musk Cannot Spend His Entire Net Worth (And Neither Can You)

Let’s talk a little bit about how to stop wealth hoarding

Jan 10·1 min read·23 words

How Useful Are Prediction Markets, Anyway?

It’s still just guessing…

Dec 21·1 min read·10 words

Yup. It’s a Browser. It Browses.

You can almost just forget about the AI part of most AI browsers

Dec 20·1 min read·19 words

Is It Dia’s Time?

As an Arc power user, can I finally switch over to Dia?

Dec 18·1 min read·16 words

On: Apple’s Exec-sodus

Apple’s big, sweeping changes at the executive level can cause chaos, but there’s also potential for a lot of good here

Dec 17·1 min read·24 words

It’s Time for Equal Opportunity Securities Fraud

Usually this kind of fraud is reserved for Elon Musk, but not anymore!

Dec 13·1 min read·20 words

Alright, Dia. You Got Me.

Dia’s finally starting to come into its own as the successor of Arc and the future of The Browser Company

Nov 9·1 min read·25 words

The Odd Technical Battle Within the AI Browser Explosion

The Browser Company made some interesting claims about not being able to get the performance needed out of SwiftUI for Dia, but Atlas went all in on it

Nov 3·1 min read·37 words

“They Win By Making You Think You’re Alone”: Why All of This Matters

There are a lot of things we do in protest that are to show people they are not alone

Oct 28·1 min read·32 words

I Am Still Not Quite Sure What an AI Browser is For

All of these AI browsers are supposed to be the next big thing…but I don’t actually know what to do with them at this point

Oct 25·1 min read·37 words

There’s No Such Thing as a Backdoor for the Good Guys

If Bluesky built robust moderation software for the whole of the platform it’s just Twitter

Oct 19·1 min read·26 words

Seriously, What the Fuck, OpenAI

What exactly made you think that releasing Sora as a social media app was a GOOD IDEA

Oct 19·1 min read·22 words

Technological Desire Paths

You can’t make people use tech a certain way

Oct 12·1 min read·12 words

‘Revealed Preference’ Is Really Just Playing on Addictions

There’s a concept in the world of algorithms that they show a ‘revealed preference’; that, even if someone says they want a particular thing, the algorithm is able to look past that and show what a pe…

Oct 10·1 min read·47 words

Classic Apple

Apple showed us that it’s still the company we all became fascinated with—and the company with English narrators and white backgrounds

Sep 29·1 min read·23 words

Finally: Instagram Released an iPad App

I can’t believe we waited 15 years for this app and it sucks. Maybe Threads will be next to suffer the same fate?

Sep 7·1 min read·29 words

The Startups’ Death Knell: My Thoughts on The Browser Company’s Acquisition

We all know that getting acquired by an enterprise software company isn’t exactly good news

Sep 7·1 min read·26 words

Don’t Make Yourself Think: A Sarcastic Rant on UI Design

Y’all: I Literally Never Think About Liquid Glass

Sep 5·1 min read·18 words

Ugmonk’s Analog from the Perspective of a Digital Native

I’m a digital-first Gen-Z-er and I am basically swimming in technology, but here’s a few thoughts on some low tech gear in my life

Jul 28·1 min read·33 words

AI’s Cambrian Explosion

AI is everywhere, but that’s not forever. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen many times and when the dust clears, I believe that good products will emerge.

Jul 23·1 min read·31 words

iPadOS 26 is Really Great—And It’s Confusing as Hell

iPadOS feels more like a laptop replacement with the latest updates to multitasking—but as iPad blurs the line between it and a Mac, how I use the two has become more confusing

Jun 18·1 min read·41 words

Let the AI Assistant Die—Kill It if You Have To

The future of AI is probably not going to be in a bespoke assistant

Jun 17·1 min read·24 words

Arc, Dia, and the Web

Dia is starting to get into more people’s hands and, honestly I’m really not that impressed right now

May 31·1 min read·23 words

On: Material 3 Expressive

Google must have read my last blog post because this is the kind of attention to detail that I'm talking about

May 26·1 min read·25 words

On: Objects

Yeah it’s time for the autistic person to do a post about texture

May 17·1 min read·15 words

[Republish] Epic Games Never Cared About You

It was always about the money

May 4·1 min read·13 words

A Eulogy for Arc

I’ve finally hit the acceptance stage of grief following the end of Arc’s journey

Apr 27·1 min read·18 words

The Case for Good iPad Apps

I think iPad is a great little device, but I think people need to make better apps for it (myself included)

Apr 19·1 min read·27 words

Robinhood Just Made the Banking Product Apple Should Have

Just this week Robinhood announced a comprehensive set of banking products as Apple struggles to keep its credit card alive

Mar 29·1 min read·29 words

On: Apple Intelligence

If I’m being honest, I’m not really concerned about Apple’s ability to make this happen

Mar 21·1 min read·18 words

Know Thy Enemy

It’s important to understand the systems you are trying to dismantle so that you can do it without unintended consequences

Mar 20·1 min read·23 words

Who Is All This Power For?

As Apple’s silicon has evolved over the past few years people are asking “who can use this power” well, here’s who

Mar 12·1 min read·27 words

On: The State of Artificial Intelligence

There’s a lot of shit going on with AI, let’s talk a little bit about it

Mar 3·1 min read·22 words

My Home on the Internet

Basically this is my digital fort

Feb 16·1 min read·11 words

Music Blog Challenge

Here’s my attempt at the music blog challenge—I don’t know how but I think this is more chaotic than the tech one

Feb 6·1 min read·25 words

Technology Blog Challenge

Here's my sleep-deprived attempt at the technology blog challenge going around—I'm sorry (no I'm not)

Feb 5·1 min read·18 words

On: Choosing How You React

Sometimes people like to conflate “choose how you react” with “ignore the problem” but that’s just not it

Feb 1·1 min read·23 words

What’s the Matter with Matter?

I Only Use Matter Over Thread Smart Home, here’s how it’s going

Jan 30·1 min read·17 words

DeepSeek Didn’t Win Anything, but It Is Interesting

Hey maybe open source and regulation is a good thing—who'da thunk it

Jan 28·1 min read·20 words

Voting With Your Dollar Doesn’t Mean Shit Anymore

Hooray for late-stage capitalism

Jan 9·1 min read·12 words

A Realist’s Guide to CES

A lot of stuff goes down on this fateful week, let’s talk about navigating it

Jan 7·1 min read·20 words

When Apps Do Too Much

So I spent the better part of two weeks converting (most of) my productivity system to Notion, but some things didn’t move over. Here’s why.

Dec 23·1 min read·30 words

On: Stage Manager

Stage Manager is one of those super controversial Apple features, I figured I would share some thoughts on it

Dec 20·1 min read·22 words

On: Narcissism, ‘Tech Bro’-ism, & the Loneliness Epidemic

So there’s been quite a bit of talk about how tech bros operate, as someone who exists alongside the demographic, I thought I would share my observations

Dec 18·1 min read·35 words

What do You People Want?

People are mad at Bluesky over their moderation policies…but it’s a decentralized service with composable moderation

Dec 13·1 min read·21 words

Wait—So When is Murder Okay?

We all know about the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, lots of people are celebrating his death, let’s talk about it

Dec 6·1 min read·27 words

What Casting a Play Taught Me About Product Development

I spent a decent chunk of my life working in theater and that time has taught me to really hear people out when they have a weird idea

Dec 3·1 min read·37 words

How to Prevent Enshittification Without Really Trying

People talk all the time about how the internet is experiencing major enshittification, but the solution isn’t something they’re fond of

Dec 3·1 min read·28 words

Okay, Browser Company: You’ve Got My Attention

Browser Company CEO Josh Miller basically just made a 'hear me out' cake video for their new idea, let's take a look at what they've got

Dec 2·1 min read·33 words

What's In a [Product] Name?

Apple's kinda infamous for giving a lot of their products stupid names and we're going to get into exactly why they do

Nov 25·1 min read·27 words

NFTs Are Good*—Actually

Oh don't we all love the stupid little ape pictures? Yeah, didn't think so, but I do like the tech so let's talk about it.

Nov 24·1 min read·28 words

macOS Might Have an Apps Problem in the World of Apple Intelligence

Apple has been pushing for the dominance of native apps on iOS, but macOS isn't quite the same—can it hold up in the world of Apple Intelligence?

Nov 20·1 min read·39 words

Apple Intelligence Might Give iPadOS the Edge Over macOS it Needed

iPadOS may have an easier time implementing certain Apple Intelligence features, which could potentially give it a competitive edge over the Mac for some people

Nov 18·1 min read·36 words

Well, Here We Go Again

Well, people are mad at another company again. Big surprise. Let's talk about people fleeing Threads and the Fediverse for Bluesky.

Nov 12·1 min read·26 words

Why People Treat Macs Differently

Reviewers seem to treat Macs differently when it comes to how they perceive particular upgrades—here’s why I think that happens

Nov 10·1 min read·25 words

On The Pursuit of Profits

It seems like Big Tech is no longer the haven of progressivism it once was—thanks to the power of a shitload of cash

Nov 6·1 min read·28 words

On The Pursuit of Happiness

With the election behind us, everyone has their ways of processing their emotions, and I decided I would put mine out there for everyone to see

Nov 6·1 min read·31 words

Am I Missing Something With This Nintendo App?

Nintendo just released their own music streaming app and a lot of people like it...am I the only one who thinks it's a little user hostile?

Nov 5·1 min read·34 words

Gen-Z-er Here—No, iMessage is Not Where "Kids These Days" Are

Everyone talks about how everyone is on iMessage all the time but, as a Gen-Z-er on the internet I'm here to give you a little glimpse into what I see going on.

Nov 4·1 min read·42 words

Has The Browser Company Lost the Plot With Arc?

The Browser Company has built something great with their Arc browser, but with recent talk of pivoting to a new project, it seems they may be losing the plot

Nov 4·1 min read·38 words

Elon Musk Broke Corporate Valuations

Modern companies seem to be able to base their entire valuation on the words of their CEOs, even if the actual business activity of the company is at odds with that statement

Oct 31·1 min read·37 words

Breaking Down How Much Apple Made This Quarter

Join me for a thorough breakdown of Apple's earnings this quarter, taking a look at sales, expenses, net income, and profit margins

Oct 31·1 min read·30 words

Apple's Image Playground is Entirely Unserious—By Design

Apple's new Image Playground tool has been met with quite a bit of controversy around whether or not such an app should even exist, I go into detail about why I think it does

Oct 30·1 min read·41 words