# WT353 โ€” Release Notes for Every Day - Issue: 353 - Published: October 10, 2026 - URL: https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/353/ - Summary: Your Version Number Release Notes, Claude Haiku 5.5, zkAPI, hard budget caps, Tufte's Razor, M8 Ultra servers, Twin Cities Marathon. - Word count: 2746 - Domains: bigwords.page, birchfeed.app, blog.cloudflare.com, blog.ethereum.org, brew.sh, coinmetrics.substack.com, duckdb.org, earendil.com, github.blog, github.com, mailfully.com, medium.com, notes.yourversionnumber.com, onlys.ky, playactivate.com, refactoringenglish.com, simonwillison.net, sixcolors.com, techmatt.github.io, tuftesrazor.scienceux.org, www.anthropic.com, www.brkthrough.com, www.macsparky.com --- Good morning! ๐Ÿ‘‹ This week I felt like I was able to land a couple of projects that have long been on my list or I had recently picked up. It is really cool that agentic coding tools allow you to make the impossible list possible, but there is still only so many things you can push along at the same time. ## Currently **Building:** I was thinking about Your Version Number and lightweight journaling. I think it would be fun to attach "release notes" to each day's version. So I created [Your Version Number: Release Notes](https://notes.yourversionnumber.com/). I've been using it for a couple of days and I really enjoy getting an email each day and simply replying to that email with notes from the day. It is easy, lightweight, and yet powerful since you can add photos and even send audio back. There is a full web interface and you can export all your data. If lightweight journaling is interesting to you give it a try. ๐Ÿ“ ![A large scuffed orange pumpkin sits beside green striped squash and stacks of gourds on hay bales along a sidewalk.](https://files.thingelstad.com/weekly-thing/353/images/a477f67da10d.jpg) The gourds of fall! ๐Ÿ‚ _Oct 9, 2026 ยท [Minneapolis, MN](https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=44.90547&mlon=-93.28794#map=16/44.90547/-93.28794)_ ## Notable ### [Introducing Claude Haiku 5.5 Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/claude-haiku-5-5) I've been hoping to see a new version of Haiku for a long time and it is finally here. I moved a handful of projects to it the night it was released. With all the focus being on the most capable models, why care about Haiku? When you are building agentic workloads you inevitably have various tasks that you need to deliver **very cheaply** and Haiku is the workhorse behind much of that. I probably run 100 times more Haiku calls compared to Sonnet and Opus. So the volume is there and you need this to work really well. Additionally because Haiku was so old it didn't have the effort and other modern capabilities of the newest models. That is now fixed so developers can rely on the same mechanics and work across various Claude models with ease. ๐Ÿ‘ Also see [Simon Willison's post on Haiku 5.5](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Oct/7/claude-haiku-5-5/). ### [Weโ€™re going to need default hard budget caps on pretty much everything](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Oct/3/default-hard-budget-caps/) I read this article with a smile as over the last few months I've added this as a feature to nearly every agentic workload that I run. > Hereโ€™s a product feature which the world is going to need a whole lot more of over the coming months and years: **default hard budget caps**. Iโ€™m talking about the feature of pay-by-usage services and APIs that lets you say โ€œafter $X/month, cut this thing off and return errorsโ€. These need to be **hard** limits. Soft caps, โ€œafter $X/month, send me a warning emailโ€, will not cut it. By the way you can do this with the agentic loop having awareness. One of the agent projects I've been working on gets a hard monthly spend limit. From that limit it derives a budget and determines each day how it is pacing to that budget. So, not only can you make these systems cost-controlled but you can hand over part of the challenge of managing that to the system itself. We definitely need this on the low end of the market for small and personal projects, however it is just as badly needed at the enterprise side. I can't tell you how many vendors I've seen that move to credit models and they rather conveniently have no way to allow you to hard-cap the spend. This forces you as the customer to have to keep track or end up on the wrong side of a negotiation after you've burned through credits. ### [Introducing zkAPI: private usage credits for any API](https://blog.ethereum.org/2026/10/01/introducing-zkapi) I've been suggesting that crypto is a better way for agents to handle payment for services for a bit. Here is a broader example of generally using crypto to pay for service usage without having to divulge your identity with it. > [zkAPI](https://ethresear.ch/t/zk-api-usage-credits-llms-and-beyond/24104) separates payment from identity. You deposit credits (ETH, USDC, etc.) into a vault contract on Ethereum, one ordinary transaction. From then on, your balance exists as a private note: digital cash that only you can spend and that nobody can trace back to the deposit. > > To authorize spending, software on your machine produces a small zero-knowledge proof that says, in effect, that a funded note covers this spend and nobody has spent it before. One proof can cover a single request or a whole session. The server can check that the statement is true without learning which note, which deposit, or which person. At the payment layer, requests do not link to you, and they do not link to each other. I'm glad that folks are thinking about this. The speed of the web shouldn't be limited by the pace of bank settlements and we shouldn't have to forego our privacy in exchange for simply using an API. ### [On the Rumored M8 Ultra AI Servers](https://www.macsparky.com/blog/2026/10/on-the-rumored-m8-ultra-ai-servers/) I keep thinking about the strategic advantage that Apple finds itself in with the M-series chips and AI. > If an M8 Ultra server carries forward the unified-memory architecture and performance-per-watt advantages of Appleโ€™s current chips, it could be an interesting machine for private AI inference. Its job would be narrower than replacing Nvidia across the industry. Instead, it gives buyers another credible option for private workloads that demand local control without wasting power. It is unique that Apple can put enough compute power in a box that can sit on a desk, be powered with a regular outlet, not require special cooling, and be quiet enough to not need to be in a room of its own. For a number of professions and use cases with AI I also suggest we are going to want to go **opposite** of the last 20 years of cloud migration and run that workload locally. The most precise cost management we can have is running something on our own hardware. And if you are dealing with sensitive data running it locally is a great way to protect it. Apple could be a big player in this space because of their unique advantage in compute power per watt. ### [Tufte's Razor ยท An interactive guide to the data-ink ratio](https://tuftesrazor.scienceux.org/) I've gone to Tufte's data visualization seminars multiple times and always walk away with the general concept that some ways of visualizing numbers are just used to fill space. Have 5 numbers but need to fill a whole slide? Pie charts to the rescue. This is a really well done interactive explorer that allows you to tweak things and see the impact. The list of 11 checks for any visualization is a good review: > 1. The title says what the chart shows. > 2. Every number has its unit. > 3. Each value is said once. > 4. Nothing is shaded, boxed or outlined without a reason. > 5. Bars fill about half to two-thirds of their space. > 6. Bars start at zero. > 7. Labels sit next to what they name. > 8. Long names go on horizontal bars. > 9. Categories are sorted, unless they have an order of their own. > 10. The one thing that matters stands out. > 11. Every word is readable at arm's length. Help bring better charts to the world. ## mb 2.0 with MCP support [In March](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/03/03/i-have-ottoi-exercising-the.html) I created [mb](https://github.com/jthingelstad/mb), a command-line micro.blog client that is specifically created for agents to use. This is what Otto uses to [publish on its blog](https://ottoai.thingelstad.com). It can also read the micro.blog timeline, follow people on micro.blog, and a variety of other features. Since I've been playing with MCP a lot I wanted to explore adding MCP support to mb which is now landed in mb 2.0! In addition to MCP support I also created a [Homebrew](https://brew.sh) "tap" for it to make it super easy to install, added support for an `mb --doctor` command to help with setup, and a bunch more. To try it the easiest thing is to use [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/): _[Read the blog post](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/05/mb-with-mcp-support.html) for the full details._

From Thingy, my agentic librarian

This issue spent some time on privacy, from paying for services without handing over your identity to keeping sensitive work on your own hardware. Signal does that work for everyday conversation: end-to-end encrypted messaging and calling, an open source protocol, and no data collection. It is funded by donations, and in this ninth year of Supporting Membership it is where 100% of member fees go. A year of Supporting Membership is $48, and you are warmly invited to join in.
## Journal ### Saturday [11:30 AM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/03/today-is-that-sad-day.html) โ€” Today is that sad day when I take the boat in to be put in storage for the winter. Until next summer Magic Waves! A man in a green rain jacket takes a selfie at the back of a pontoon boat, its wake trailing across open lake water. A pontoon's gray seats face a low bridge over a tree-lined channel, where two semi trucks are crossing. [12:00 PM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/03/my-newest-mcp-experiment-was.html) โ€” My newest MCP experiment was to add it in [WT Builder](https://github.com/jthingelstad/wt-builder) and then Claude was able to watch me creating content in near real-time through tool calls and give me immediate feedback on typos and grammar suggestions. [9:30 PM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/03/we-went-to-brkthrough-tonight.html) โ€” We went to [BRKTHROUGH](https://www.brkthrough.com/roseville) tonight and tried out their various games. We've been to [Activate](https://playactivate.com/location/roseville) many times. BRKTHROUGH seems like a good place for a larger group and adds food and beer options. We found Activate's games better though. Selfie of four people under a blue neon "Enter the Game" sign, with a lit hexagonal tunnel entrance and pricing screen behind. ### Sunday [7:02 AM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/04/working-with-otto-this-morning.html) โ€” Working with [Otto](https://ottoai.thingelstad.com) this morning to create a new version of my [mb](https://github.com/jthingelstad/mb) utility that will extend features and **provide an MCP interface** for agents to interact with micro.blog. [10:19 AM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/04/had-a-great-time-cheering.html) โ€” Had a great time cheering on the Twin Cities Marathon runners this morning! Runners wearing race bibs move along a tree-lined road scattered with leaves while spectators watch from the curb. [9:17 PM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/04/i-was-inspired-by-the.html) โ€” I was inspired by the time analysis I had Claude do [last week](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/09/26/i-realized-i-could-probably.html) on what it took to send the [Weekly Thing](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/) so I decided to build in some additional logging and a better visualization. Now I get a report like this for each issue I send. [WT352](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/352/) showed some benefits from my new automation! ๐Ÿช„ Stats card for issue 352: 2 h 05 m writing in 10 sittings, Notable took 54 m, and most time fell on the final Sunday. ### Tuesday **[Weekly Thing Archive Improved](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/06/weekly-thing-archive-improved.html)** โ€” Over the 10 years that I've published the Weekly Thing I have used three different platforms to send it. Each one of those had unique requirements for how I structured the issues. For a while I've wanted to get the entire archive updated so that no matter how far you go back the issues have the similar structure that they have today. With the help of Claude I was able to make this happen! The [full archive](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/) is now updated renders cleanly. It required pretty extensive source doctoring behind the scenes. Along with that I was able to then render every issue in audio as well. Now the Weekly Thing Podcast feed goes all the way back to the very first issue as well which is pretty cool. [10:00 PM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/06/we-got-to-watch-the.html) โ€” We got to watch the US Men's National Team take on Canada tonight in an international friendly. USMNT won 1-0. There was an impressive amount of fireworks to go with the game and the stands were completely full with long lines to get into Allianz Field. Great to see so much enthusiasm for soccer! Players in white and black kits spread across a lit soccer pitch near midfield, with full stands and a ribbon board behind. Fans in the lower stands wave red flags at night while the stadium video board shows a US goal graphic. Red fireworks burst above the stadium roof as players walk the field and fans below wave red flags. Four people in soccer scarves, two men, a teen, and a young man, pose for a selfie in the stands holding red USA flags. ### Wednesday [6:11 PM](https://www.thingelstad.com/2026/10/07/thingy-my-digital-librarian-got.html) โ€” [Thingy](https://thingy.thingelstad.com/), [my digital librarian](https://thingy.thingelstad.com/c/shr_OakEFQfhadmnyitRofd6oSZgdRaR_uZbi9zeqgPVu34), got a big improvement this week with a brand new design and moving its reasoning to the 5.5 level models (Sonnet for subscribers, Opus for [supporting members](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/members/)). I'm very happy with how this is working now! Browser window with a chat app called Thingy, a dark sidebar of past chats, answering a question about its archive collections. ## Briefly Article feels like click-bait but the three items it highlights are spot on. This is what I've been working to learn and adapt to first-hand with various projects I have. โ†’ **[AI is changing developer work. Here are three skills to strengthen.](https://github.blog/ai-and-ml/ai-is-rewriting-the-developer-career-ladder-heres-how-to-stand-out/)** These are all really important capabilities to have for any technology team. By the way, all of them need to also be enabled for agents. A Developer MCP is nearly a must-have way to connect this all together. โ†’ **[If You Understand These 5 Platform Engineering Terms, Youโ€™re Ahead of 90%](https://medium.com/@f8010/if-you-understand-these-5-platform-engineering-terms-youre-ahead-of-90-28804c69cb33)** Interesting platform from Cloudflare all built on Git but I have to say their message here doesn't seem focused enough on a specific solution. โ†’ **[We want you to build the next Git platform on Cloudflare](https://blog.cloudflare.com/next-git-platform-on-cloudflare/)** Things change so fast in AI that I don't think you could ever rule in or out a specific solution. Also, I personally have found that MCP is a great way to force contextual thinking around tools. Sometimes command-lines represent the same thing, but not always. โ†’ **[โ€œyou said no mcp!โ€ | earendil](https://earendil.com/posts/you-said-no-mcp/)** It is worth keeping an eye on Pi. I suspect that we are going to see it embedded in a ton of different places that coding agents need to work in. โ†’ **[Pi 1.0 | Earendil](https://earendil.com/posts/pi-1-0/)** Good examples of using Jev inside of SQL statements. Jev is a "function call backed by frontier intelligence". A lot of engineers I know are really excited about this because you can put it in very clear places in existing systems. โ†’ **[Jev and DuckDB: Plain-English Conditions in SQL](https://duckdb.org/2026/09/29/jev)** I use the OpenAI TTS models to create the audio versions of the Weekly Thing. I guess I'm lucky that the voices I use were not affected. โ†’ **[OpenAI silences familiar voices](https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/10/openai-silences-familiar-voices/)** This article had me thinking about the book [Ishmael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(Quinn_novel)). When we left agricultural society and stopped growing our own food we have been on a continuous path of ever more interdependence. โ†’ **[The future of independence is interdependence](https://onlys.ky/independence-is-interdependence/)** I don't play with memecoins and this article is a good explainer on why nobody should. โ†’ **[The Death and Life of the Average Memecoin](https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/state-of-the-network-issue-384)** Very few people manage their own domains for email. I do for multiple domains. It isn't simple but it also isn't that hard. This is a good overview if you ever want to move off of free email. Fastmail is what I use and they have a great step-by-step for this as well. โ†’ **[How to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for your sending domain](https://mailfully.com/blog/spf-dkim-dmarc-setup)** Love seeing a new feed reader product land in the market. This looks really well done but I'll stick with my [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com) setup. If you are looking for a solution, give this a look. โ†’ **[Birchfeed](https://birchfeed.app/)** Reasonably good recommendations about any kind of blogging. โ†’ **[Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging ยท Refactoring English](https://refactoringenglish.com/blog/anti-patterns-software-blogging/)** This is such a fun little site. I love whole products that work in a URL. This has a lot of handy extensions like timers and QR codes. โ†’ **[BIGWORDS.PAGE: Turn any screen into a sign](https://bigwords.page/)** I ๐Ÿ’› the Mandelbrot fractal. โ†’ **[Mandelnaut โ€” Making Fractal Wallpapers](https://techmatt.github.io/fractals/explorer/?v=4&m=tia&x=-0.45967408885417793&y=0.5943812187724744&w=0.05&p=commons_Kalles_Fraktaler_adventurous-forest_00024_1.17e222&panel=atlas)** I suspect this weekend is going to be the warmest last days we have here in Minnesota. Time to get out and enjoy it! **Pumpkins on hay bales Each day ships with release notes โ€” Fixed: mostly just me** ## Echoes

From Thingy, my agentic librarian

Your Version Number: Release Notes builds on an idea Jamie first wrote up in [Your Version Number](https://www.thingelstad.com/2018/02/24/your-version-number.html), borrowed from his friend David Hussman, and later turned into a daily phone widget in [WT311](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/311/). _Ask Thingy:_ [How did Your Version Number start, and how has it evolved?](https://thingy.thingelstad.com/chat/?prompt=How+did+Your+Version+Number+start%2C+and+how+has+it+evolved%3F&from=weekly-thing-353) Tufte's Razor arrives two decades after Jamie sat in Edward Tufte's one-day seminar, recounted in [Edward Tufte](https://www.thingelstad.com/2005/04/26/edward-tufte.html); his disdain for pie charts earned its own team slide in [WT33](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/33/). _Ask Thingy:_ [What has Jamie taken away from Tufte's seminars over the years?](https://thingy.thingelstad.com/chat/?prompt=What+has+Jamie+taken+away+from+Tufte%27s+seminars+over+the+years%3F&from=weekly-thing-353) Performance per watt, the edge Jamie sees in rumored M8 Ultra servers, was already the headline when the first M1 Macs shipped in [WT165](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/165/); the Neural Engine's local approach to machine learning drew his notice in [WT72](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/72/). _Ask Thingy:_ [How has Jamie viewed Apple Silicon's AI potential since the M1?](https://thingy.thingelstad.com/chat/?prompt=How+has+Jamie+viewed+Apple+Silicon%27s+AI+potential+since+the+M1%3F&from=weekly-thing-353) Separating payment from identity, as zkAPI does, picks up two older threads: crypto identity tied to wallets, a favorite in [WT237](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/237/), and micropayments built into the fabric of the web in [WT325](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/325/). _Ask Thingy:_ [Why does Jamie think crypto suits payments for AI agents?](https://thingy.thingelstad.com/chat/?prompt=Why+does+Jamie+think+crypto+suits+payments+for+AI+agents%3F&from=weekly-thing-353)