is there an alternative to codex that “just works”? by just works i mean i can install as an app in 1 minute, and i get web search, skills, mcp servers, etc? Bonus points if it can control my chrome tabs like codex can, and if it offers remote control from my iPhone (chatgpt app) so i can kick off tasks while i’m out for a walk. Even more bonus points if i can, with 1 button click, share my chats or share the results of a session as a “site” (vercel style).
I’m sure you could put something similar together with a bunch of duct tape and 2 weeks of effort, but it won’t work nearly as nicely nor out of the box. so…what am i missing?
i have not tried it since i’m too scared to try, but i know Codex recently came out with a feature where it can control your chrome browser. Not spin up a chrome browser, but control your open browser tabs.
Presumably you might be able to task it with planning an itinerary with specific dates and bookings in mind, and then ask it to complete the task…sort of. The big gotcha i think is payments. Obviously you wouldn’t want to enter your credit card details into an llm lol. perhaps it would be ok if you had a saved card on file with your favorite airline, etc? Or maybe chrome has a feature to autofill a credit card for quick entry? Not sure.
Still…it’s a messy unsolved problem and we’re definitely not there. I wonder how this tech will look in 10 years from now?
apparently a tight knick family with open / great communication does not exist, and they must be abusive if they like to know where their kids are. LOL.
Yes horrible families exist. the fact that you can’t imagine a family in between those 2 extremes is sad. we’re at an impasse here so let’s just agree to disagree. The world is not black and white like you seem to think it is.
additionally this is already possible today. a parent can attach an airtag to their kids backpack or insert it into the sole of their sneakers, and call it a day. evil people will find ways to be evil. that’s nothing new.
> I would think that the useful notification would be “Erica didn’t make it to school safely”.
That’s an excellent point actually. 100%. I don’t think FindMy can support something like that today which is unfortunate. I think the parent could create an ios shortcut that runs at a certain time every day, but that’s a lot of work lol.
> Luckily, I don’t think that image shows a notification.
It certainly does. It even say “time sensitive”, which is how ios annotates important notifications for a few years now. The FindMy app can also answer the “where is erica?” question (through siri), so i can see why it’s confusing.
well it’s a device that can be smart in some crucial ways, without being distracting like a smartphone is. That’s what i mean. no social media or other cancer for a teenage brain. But it has useful apps for day to day life, like maps, music, messages, etc.
and i totally respect that point of view. but do realize that every family is different for better or worse, and has a different “culture”.
I’m not prescribing how others should run their families or what a good life means. :)
For example my kid is still young. I absolutely plan to use FindMy for peace of mind. Not to spy on them daily, but to quickly check where they are if they’re running 30 min or 60 min behind schedule. Like if they said they’d be home by x time. When they get older (maybe 14?) i’d flip it around and encourage them to disable location sharing with me most of the time, for privacy and autonomy, and ask them to intentionally use the “share location for 1 hour” feature when they want me to know their location. Like when they are in an uber, or walking home late at night from a friends house, etc.
nitpick: the “where is erica?” is a catchy title for the feature being showcased - which is actually a notification that your child made it to school safely. Look at the screenshot closely (i don’t think you did). That’s a genuinely useful feature.
Anyway I agree with you in general! But don’t forget that everyone has a different relationship with their kids and each kid is different. Believe it or not, not every teenager goes through a rebellious phase. some kids might actually appreciate a watch like this because mom and dad will pester them less and be less anxious in general.
Of course the main issue is the person purchasing the watch is the parent, and some parents don’t really respect their children’s feelings. It can definitely be a problem so I hear what you’re saying. It can be used in a way that takes away their freedom. That’s not cool.
another consideration: this device can be a bridge from a dumb phone to a smart-ish device, a device that’s not an actual smart phone.
feeling sorry for single children is just weird, not going to lie. I was a single child. Yes i had many boring days as a toddler. I’m not a sad adult because of that, i’m happily married and expecting my 1st soon. One of my parents passed lately, that had a much more profound impact on me than any boredom during toddlerhood. Playing by myself as a toddler fostered a lot of creativity and imagination… you need that to play by yourself after all.
Eventually my mom set up a “play date” up the street with a neighbor around my age, and that was the start of proper friendship and fun. And when i learned how to socialize and share better.
It sounds like you see many “semi-enthusiastic” parents. Children should ideally live near other children so they can make friends. Or be enrolled in some type of pre-k so they can make friends. That’s a (parent) life decision problem, not a “i have no siblings problem”. There’s also plenty of siblings who don’t get along anyway so that’s a poor reason to have a 2nd.
what you say about your desires makes perfect sense. I too would enjoy that kind of world. But how do you envision that playing out in reality?
Would you just nicely walk up to the White House and ask them to pass a law for UBI? Would you politely knock on Jeff Bezos’s door and ask him to share his billions?
no disrespect intended, but your comment strikes me as one that a young child might say. what I mean by that is - it feels very naïve about the (political and greed) problems we face in the world. Reality is there is a small club of extremely powerful and wealthy people who run the show. It’s a small club and we ain’t in it. if we lived 500 years ago, we could just force them to share. But that’s not going to happen in 2026 with a military and a police force, etc.
One thing confused me though - you felt like the on-device processing is likely a gimmick. I naively assumed this is a big deal because it means it always work, regardless of your cell service. On the subway, on an airplane, in the middle of nowhere, etc.
Unrelated, what app makes the biggest difference to you in your day to day life?
your argument assumes that “fully integrated and in-my-face” == best form factor.
Maybe for certain tasks or certain people. But in general i disagree with that take. The fact that i can stow away my phone into my pocket, not creep out bystanders (they know my camera isn’t recording them, etc), and forget about my phone for a while is a FEATURE.
what about web apps that requires oauth login - for normal users?
For example, is a typical Google Drive user expected to install an official google drive CLI and a skill md file just to interact with Google Drive in the chatgpt app? That seems absurd, IMO. Clicking “install” via an MCP / Plugin marketplace and then logging in via Oauth is less confusing.
MCP is also way more convenient (as a user) if i’m interacting with an API that supports oauth anyway. I don’t need to generate an api key, install a binary, create an md file, etc. CLIs and skills are great too! But not always the best choice.
another take: some people are emotionally “dumb” and have a really hard time feeling empathy for others. This is just another way to force the bully to be in someone else’s shoes…literally.
I’m sure you could put something similar together with a bunch of duct tape and 2 weeks of effort, but it won’t work nearly as nicely nor out of the box. so…what am i missing?