Our Summer Update (2025)

content/english/news/summer-update-2025.md

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+---
+title: "Our Summer Update"
+meta_title: ""
+description: "See where we stand halfway through the year"
+date: 2025-06-21T12:00:00Z
+image: "/images/hmc/ocean.jpg"
+categories: ["Press Release"]
+author: "Abner Coimbre"
+tags: ["meta", "hmc"]
+draft: false
+---
+
+Learn where things stand halfway through the year. Ticket discounts end this weekend!
+
+**Things to Discuss**
+
+- Conference Theme: Handmade at Home
+- Discord Off-Ramp
+- Abner's AI Philosophy
+- Bonus Video: Is Handmade like Suckless?
+
+Dear community member,
+
+Before we get into the newsletter, note that summer's already here! **I've [extended](/tickets) the Spring Sale for the weekend**, after which the discount disappears on Monday and we're back to standard tickets.
+
+{{< button label="Register" link="/tickets" style="solid" >}}
+
+---
+### "Handmade at Home"
+This year's theme for the conferences is *Handmade at Home*. It has a double-meaning.
+
+#### Meaning #1: Clean House
+
+The reader's attention is shot this year. There's SO MUCH going on that it's a huge ask to settle down and reflect, let alone evangelize our values: 
+
+1. Handmade Cities is full of gamedevs and they're [getting massacred](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/topics/layoffs)
+2. International attendance has dropped to [near zero](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44084767). I'm not the only organizer [suffering](https://archive.is/QWmxO) consequences
+3. Morale is at an all-time low due to AI (more on this later)
+
+Therefore I'm keen for talk/demo submissions offering hope, strategies, or inspiration against these realities. I encourage everyone to email suggestions of speakers I should reach out to: ideally candidates near Boston or Seattle.
+
+**Reminder:** Our new content follows an 80-20 split: 80% technical and 20% programmer well-being.
+
+#### Meaning #2: Elevate Our Own Talent
+
+Historically, I've chosen high-profile speakers (outside our community) to come talk to us. This is valuable and I remain open to it... however, I haven't spent enough time platforming community voices. 
+
+We have many [meetups](/meetups) with astounding system programmers and I REALLY want to hear what the best among us have to say.
+
+{{< image src="images/meetups/cowork_seattle_2025.jpg" caption="Seattle Coworking Session (2025)" alt="cline bot landing page" height="806" width="605" position="center" command="fill" option="q100" class="img-fluid" title="image title"  webp="false" >}}
+
+Anyone reading this may be a worthy candidate and not even know it. Submit an informal proposal to submissions@handmadecities.com and we'll start talking.
+
+{{< button label="Submit a Talk" link="mailto:submissions@handmadecities.com" style="solid" >}}
+
+---
+### Discord Off-Ramp 
+I don't think it's controversial to say I want to shut down Discord: everyone can sympathize for one reason or another! Today, I've left all servers except for my own [HMC](https://handmadecities.com/discord) and [TC](https://terminal.click/discord) for now.
+
+What might raise eyebrows is that I'm switching to [Revolt](https://revolt.chat) with an invite-only system. In other words, the folks in this brand new HMC server must be well-known individuals:
+- I know someone personally, so I invite them
+- Someone attends a local meetup, so the host invites them
+- Someone snatched a conference ticket, so they're auto-invited (2025 onwards)
+
+I will allow meetup hosts to send manual invites through my command-line tool, which they already use to send newsletters to their city. (I'm in the middle of completing this feature.)
+
+{{< image src="images/hmc/revolt.png" caption="Revolt is the open-source Discord copycat (and that's a good thing)" alt="cline bot landing page" height="" width="" position="center" command="fill" option="q100" class="img-fluid" title="image title"  webp="false" >}}
+
+Revolt won't be foolproof. The host could go rogue and invite randos, or the ticket holder might take on a fake identity. I'm fine with some cracks on the floor. I am, in essence, [heeding the advice](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44331351) of this HN comment:
+
+> I honestly couldn't tell you right now what the long game looks like. Only to find your humans, build your digital fortresses, and help each other as best you can.
+
+When is this off-ramp? Over the summer! The reader will hear announcements if they're [subscribed](/news).
+
+---
+### Abner's AI Philosophy
+All right, it's a stretch to call my take on artificial intelligence a "real" philosophy, but it is informed from practical studies.
+
+I'm no longer a stranger to AI; I can leverage [cline](https://cline.bot) bot to great effect. I know how to deploy MCP servers. I review, quantize, and self-host open models every other month. Indeed, I stay on top of the "latest and greatest" and even have AI-loving enemies on speed dial (keep dissenting opinions closer than friends!)
+
+So what's the conclusion? I offer two.
+
+{{< image src="images/hmc/cline.png" caption="Cline Bot - Landing Page" alt="cline bot landing page" height="" width="" position="center" command="fill" option="q100" class="img-fluid" title="image title"  webp="false" >}}
+
+#### Conclusion #1: Serious study of the Handmade ethos makes one competitive.
+
+Handmade software like my own [Terminal Click](https://terminal.click) does not benefit from AI tech. It does help at the margins: I've delegated website work to AI since last year and I enjoy seamless CI/CD for the builds. That is significant time saved.
+
+However, when solving novel problems or pushing boundaries, AI gets stuck fast. It's impractical to use for core programming work. (Skeptics should watch the bonus video at the end.)
+
+#### Conclusion #2: A market is opening for the artisinal.
+
+Let's assume LLM agents become essential for true innovation: the top 5% of coders are officially threatened! I don't believe this will happen at all but we must entertain the notion. From what I observe at our in-person events, there's an eternal craving for the purely human.
+
+The most ardent believers of vibe coding I've met agree users will crave Handmade projects the same way people crave artisinal crafts, furniture or goods. They called this market fringe, but I call it sustainable.
+
+**TL;DR:** I don't lose sleep over my craft disappearing. I lose sleep over the automation of mediocrity.
+
+---
+### Is Handmade like Suckless? (Video)
+
+Anyone who's made it this far deserves a fun video! To recall it easily I've set up a permalink at [terminal.click/suckless](https://terminal.click/suckless)
+
+<div style="padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1091637660?badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" title="Handmade is NOT Suckless"></iframe></div><script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
+
+Over the years, new community members sometimes consider [suckless](https://suckless.org) to be similar (if not the same) as Handmade. Out of respect for both communities I can no longer stay silent.
+
+*P.S. If the viewer expects a rigorous philosophical breakdown they might be disappointed. Instead, I've taken their signature suckless terminal and compared it against my own signature project: two real-world products from two competing ideologies.*
+
+Your indie organizer,<br>Abner Coimbre

content/english/tickets/index.md

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 layout: "tickets"
 
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-  - title: "Spring Sale"
+  - title: "Discounts Extended Until Sunday, June 22nd"
     title_class: "text-center text-white mt-2 md:mt-8 lg:mt-8 xl:mt-8 2xl:mt-8"
     side: "center"
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