Week in Review: 2024-W21

Hey, what's up!

So… now that this blog is set up and ready for content, it's time to actually write about things. I'm hesitant to put myself on any strict schedule because I don't want to produce sloppy content for the sake of ritual, but it would be good to get into the habit of writing and posting; I think weekly roundups are a good place to start.

In the meantime, I'm working on a couple of long-form essays. Until those are ready, I thought starting with a light recap of things that caught my eye or earned my attention this week.

Okay, enough ado!

JavaScript Registry (JSR)

Announced on May 21, 2023, JSR aims to modernize how JavaScript packages are published. It's currently billed as a "superset" of NPM. However, it exists because it is difficult for maintainers to publish their packages to NPM, specifically when it comes to choosing to distribute in CommonJS, ESModules, or both.

This has the potential to take off and replace NPM for a few reasons:

1. It's created by Ryan Dahl, creator of Node.js and Deno.js
2. Deno.js is gaining traction because it leverages modern JavaScript and TypeScript techniques
3. jsr.io's Detail Pages promote quality development practices, offers copy/paste functionality for multiple build systems like Yarn (it even remembers your preferred system), and compatible packages can also be imported directly in the browser (combining the power of systems like NPM and JSDelivr).

If you don't want to watch the full announcement video, here's a 6-minute overview YouTube video.

Arc Browser

I was initially skeptical of a new browser, but after a few weeks of playing with Arc, it's earned a spot on my roster. I love how it looks in screenshots.

This is what my current roster is looking like

1. Safari (my main) for general browsing
2. Firefox for development
3. Arc for screenshots and recordings
4. Polypane for heavy CSS and Responsive lifting
5. Chrome for G-Suite (Google Meet mostly)

I haven't played with Arc's AI features, but here's my share link if you want to give it a go.

Made by Human, Not by AI

One of the main reasons I'm starting to take blogging seriously is how many people are using AI to spam posts on LinkedIn, Hashnode, etc. I don't want to read the results of someone else's GPT prompt, and I'm willing to bet I'm not alone. That's why I'm supporting Not by AI.

Of course, I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum. If you want to use GPT to summarize GPT-posts and then send a GPT-email to your buddies and colleagues so they can reply with GPT-response, have fun!

But anyway, I'm supporting a human-first community because I value original thoughts, so if you want a human take on the human world, bookmark this site or something. I'll probably add an RSS feed over the weekend.