Ben Johnston

A thread on how great decision making orgs think about decisions. Covering: - why good decision processes are so impactful - how to make better, faster decisions - frameworks & tools Decisions can be systematized, like an assembly line. Read on to learn how👇

@vmelnikova_en In the right neighborhood, big yay. Very jealous of our kids' childhoods in the outer sunset.

SF with kids yay or nay

@amorriscode When I think of scheduled tasks I think of background jobs. Is that coming or am I thinking about it the wrong way.

@benjohnstonsf The app, yeah

y’all want this in the Code tab? 👀

@chalupacaleb Noice. I see in the settings there is a toggle for learning from corrections. Not sure how that could actually work but for me there are a bunch of services etc. that I use that I have to correct all the time e.g. "Zuub" gets transcribed as Zoom. Is there a way to prevent that

@benjohnstonsf Will do!

Introducing almondvoice.com: ultra-fast voice typing for Mac. Not only is Almond 3x faster than the #1 cloud alternative, but it runs 100% locally on your Mac, making it infinitely more private. This is because Almond is architecturally different. Rather than sending your speech to a cloud LLM to "think" and return cleaned-up text (which is slow, unpredictable, and a privacy nightmare), Almond uses rule-based linguistic processing, enabling unparalleled speed and accuracy. Almond adapts to your writing style, supports custom vocabulary, personal shortcuts, name tagging in Slack, and file tagging for developers. Whether you've never tried voice typing or you're already using a cloud alternative, give Almond a try. You'll feel the difference immediately. Try it free for Mac today: almondvoice.com

@DanielLurie @RecParkSF My friend lost $8K in sales on her biggest shopping day of the whole year. Has completely fucked her. Retail should be compensated by PG&E

PG&E has informed us that they expect full power to be restored by 2pm tomorrow. If your power is still out and you need help: 1. Come to the Richmond Rec Center at 251 18th Ave. to charge your devices or get other resources. 2. Call 211 if you need a hotel reservation. We will continue to keep you updated until power is restored. Thank you Supervisor Connie Chan for being on site at the rec center and working with the community during this time.

@hehe6z Can you use it with Livekit?

Today we’re excited to publicly launch Fish Audio S1, the most expressive and natural TTS model on the market. - 6x cheaper than elevenlabs - 20K active developers - 5M ARR (real ARR) Clone your own voice for free and get started 👇

@JoelEngardio Very sorry to hear. What a lovely tribute from a son who must have made her so proud.

My mom died this week. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer less than three weeks ago. When she learned the aggressive tumor could not be treated, her wish was to not have a prolonged or painful death and to not die alone. She was able to pass quickly and it was peaceful at the very end. She asked for a back rub. “That feels nice” were her last words before she faded away. I was there for her final breath, and so was my husband Lionel. I called friends my mom had known for 50 years and held the phone to her ear. I was able to tell her everything I needed to say and she did the same. I told her she was a good mom and that I loved her very much. I’m glad we moved her from Michigan to Vacaville, California six years ago to be closer to me. She thrived in California and enjoyed having that adventure in her 70s. She met a lot of new friends in her senior apartment building and at her local congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. She accepted Lionel as a son (and as her tech support). He had the patience to teach her how to use an iPad and make Zoom calls. The day before she died, my mom told Lionel she loved him and that she was happy we had each other. My mom would have been 77 in December. She left us too soon, but I know her final years were filled with love and joy. Mary Kaye did not have the easiest life. Her father died when she was 12. My father left her when she was six months pregnant. She did her best as a single mom with a high school education. She cleaned houses for a living and brought me along as daycare. My grandmother (who was widowed at 48) supported us the best she could. Grandma only finished 9th grade and my mom decided to go to college. She waited until I was 10 and could handle being home alone (it was the free-range parenting era of the 1980s). She took night classes at the local community college — one class at a time. After 11 years, she finally received a bachelor’s degree at age 43. She stopped cleaning houses and became a social worker. She helped some of the most vulnerable and invisible people: seniors with mental health conditions. She would lead field trips to the zoo or Taco Bell to give her clients fun and exciting experiences outside their group home. My mom loved Shakespeare, mountains, and sunsets. She always had a dog to care for. She made a mean lasagne and a hearty crock pot beef stew with dumplings. Her oatmeal scotchie cookies were my favorite. It’s a comfort to have her handwritten recipes. I’ll use them to keep her memory alive.

@awilkinson It’s the letterboxd of event platforms. Hint hint.

Luma is such an exceptional event hosting platform. Blown away by how elegant it is. Anyone know how it’s doing as a business?

@thogge @chrislhayes 1. Haha 2. But seriously though is fucking concerning no?

@chrislhayes Yes exactly no one has been able to make fun of Trump for years !!!

The countries where comedians can't mock the leader on late night TV are not really ones you want to live in.

@DanielLurie You should try and get @hookfishco to open a location there. Food options are diabolical right now.

A revamped Fisherman's Wharf is getting closer to reality. I can't wait to see these new designs come to life, on target for next summer. When tourism thrives, it brings revenue and energy that benefit our entire city.

@charlierward Get well soon mate. Some intellectually stimulating reading for you when you're in the mood: voiceaiandvoiceagents.com - by @kwindla. Get brought up to speed on how voice ai works and what the state of the art looks like in 2025.

Update - not the news I was hoping for today. I thought I was getting the main operation this morning, then being discharged in a day or two. Instead, they assessed the swelling/a blister on my leg posed risk of infection if they went ahead as planned - so I had an intermediary operation to help alleviate that. Which means I'm in here for at least a week or two longer than we thought. C'est la vie. Things could be worse though: - I have a great support network keeping me well fed and entertained. - our amazing community at @RamenClubHQ are keeping the co-working space running nicely. - I'm reading enough Stoicism to almost convince myself I'm Marcus Aurelius. Audentes fortuna iuvat. So I'm using the time to catch up on some long delayed reading! On the list: - The Art of Gathering by Priya Patel - Setting the Table by Danny Meyer - Recursion by Blake Crouch Any recommendations for books, reads, indie games, whatever, hit me up!

@tyler_agg Memory

I just made a walkthrough that shows you how to give an AI agent real memory - so it gets smarter the more you use it inside you'll learn: – what to track so it remembers user interactions – how to store and reuse that memory – how to personalize outputs based on past chats comment “memory” and I’ll DM you the video (must be following)

@ElevenLabsDevs @expo Didn’t this sdk already exist? What is new?

Introducing the ElevenLabs React Native SDK Build cross-platform conversational AI agents for iOS and Android in minutes. WebRTC and first-class @expo support built in. Docs links below:

@wendythecutter @JoelEngardio ai

@benjohnstonsf @JoelEngardio So will homeless ppl, drug dealers and prostitutes. Don't be so naive. This is SF after all. Schoolyards will become attractive public spaces meaning EVERYONE can come even unsavory ppl.

🚸 SFUSD is shutting down the Shared Schoolyard Program — which opened schoolyards on weekends across San Francisco. I just introduced a resolution to save it. Because every kid deserves a safe place to play near home. Let’s keep our public spaces open. #SaveOurSchoolyards

@Sharkyl Is the song at the end on Spotify? So good.

@elsewhere_today Flat white.

Everyone in SF complains about how every café closes by 5pm and there’s nowhere to work. Introducing Elsewhere: the world’s first late-night café coworking chain for builders, creatives & digital nomads. Launching July 24. Comment your favorite drink & we'll DM you the invite.

@ElevenLabsDevs Does the conversation agent support push-to-talk functionality i.e. agent doesn't respond until user releases button. turn detection tech doesn't work for contemplative answers with lots of pauses.

@Vapi_AI does vapi support push-to-talk functionality i.e. agent doesn't respond until user releases button. turn detection tech doesn't work for contemplative answers with lots of pauses.