Blogs
That look Codex gives me when I say the website content is loading too slowly…
Before vs. After
Music search (search_p1)
- Before: ~285.5ms p50 / 311.0ms p95
- After: ~250.4ms p50 / 280.9ms p95
- Change: -35.1ms p50, -30.1ms p95
Music search (search_p1, earlier baseline)
- Before: ~295.6ms p50 / 569.6ms p95
- After: ~250.4ms p50 / 280.9ms p95
- Change: -45.2ms p50, -288.7ms p95
Music most_played
- Before: ~26.6ms p50 / 41.5ms p95
- After: ~27.4ms p50 / 31.3ms p95
- Change: p95 improved by 10.2ms
This is something I’m really excited about. There’s now a Trim function on https://fcc.cc/music that allows logged-in users to clip leading and trailing audio from each track. The full audio is still preserved and available if someone prefers it; however, cutting out the audience noise makes it much more enjoyable when you’re not listening to an entire performance from start to finish.
Additionally, there’s now an Alias function that allows a track to be marked as a cover of an artist—Joni Mitchell, for example. This allows the performance to show up in search results for Joni Mitchell, hopefully making it easier for people to find and enjoy it.
Hey, I think this is the end-of-world button everyone is so afraid of in AI.
Run. Close your laptop. Say no. Think twice. If you wanted it, you probably would have asked for it.
I’ve made real progress turning https://fcc.cc/music into a website I actually want to visit. It’s great right now because I’m the only person using it. :D
User logins to save playlists and preferences are mostly ready. I’ve spent most of my time trying to tweak the search results so they align more with what’s intended. Now I can actually find something other than weird electronica, so that’s a win.
I tried Gemini for the first time today and it did not go well. I feel as though Codex/ChatGPT and I have such a rapport that it understands me when I’m less clear than is needed and prompts me to follow up to ensure we are on the same page. Gemini just rolls with the punches and says, “I GOT THIS” before coming back with dubious results.
I recently began listening to the A16Z podcast, and one of the voices there said that Codex is best for backend and Gemini for frontend. Codex has been struggling to get my CSS 100% on point, so I thought I’d give Gemini a whirl. I’m not using it in the Google site directly, but rather the CLI from Homebrew. Maybe that’s the problem. I’ll keep toying around.
This is an update I’m excited about: a voting system has been integrated into https://news.fcc.cc/ . In typical democratic fasion, the vote doesn’t seem to have much effect but I love it anyway.
Oh no! Codex is capped. All week I was shocked that this tool is available for the $20 I am already paying for ChatGPT and I waited for the other shoe to drop. Yet all things considered, the value is still beyond real. In under one week I was able to implement with such an ease that my focus has been redirected to the creative aspect of a project. Codex has already changed the way I engage with a computer. We are now in the era that we watched in Star Trek in this capacity.
I finally have a first real version of https://music.fcc.cc up and running.
It is a simple, distraction-free web player for Archive.org audio. No ads, no tracking, just search and play.
Some highlights so far:
- Search with some opinionated cleanup so titles are easier to scan
- A “This Week” pick plus featured items
- Save/favorite items and tracks
- Playlists and shuffle mix
- Installable PWA (so it behaves more like an app on your phone)
It is definitely still a moving target, and I will probably break it a few more times while I tighten up the UX. But it already feels like the kind of music tool I actually want to use.
I’ve begun work on https://music.fcc.cc/ . It’s just a web player that plays Archive.org content, but it’s a whole new challenge. Archive.org has such a mess of stuff available from users who were not very clear on naming conventions. But it’s coming along after some hours of work. It has a distinct RealPlayer vibe, which I am enjoying!