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I love how Jack just shoved a Seiko NH38 into an old Apple Watch. Repurposing ftw!

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macOS Sonoma features I look forward to:

  • Safari web apps & profiles
  • Sorting groceries into categories in Reminders
  • Support for linking between Notes
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Amazing. 🤯

Protovision, I’ve got you now! David’s room from 1983 Wargames. Scratch built 1:12 scale model.

Miniature 1:12 scale model of David Lightman bedroom from the movie Wargames from 1983. A normal sized hand is seen entering the frame of the picture from the left, holding a miniature printout paper.

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It was inevitable. I’ve orbited around @[email protected]’s Uxn project for a while, knowing I would fall down the rabbit hole sooner or later. Today, I wrote my first lines of Uxntal, probably not my last. Uxn is an ecosystem (assembler, emulator, etc.) around a little fantasy computer.

Two windows on a macOS desktop. A text editor with assembly source code, mentioning “alien art formula” in the comments, and generated graphics. The graphics resemble the fractal Sierpiński triangle rendered in light-on-dark green.

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Thanks to Veronique and Manu for letting me know about CtrI-ZINE. I plan to catch up on all four issues from the hammock this summer.

[T]hese are the stories and entries of those who love the Web. … We want “what’s best” for us. The Netizens at-large. Be it a digital native, a mobile-first upbringing, oldcore BBS’ers from the last century, or those who will get help with their homework from AI. It (the Web) is BY and FOR us - let’s do our damnedest to have it serve us well!
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Love Hultén’s creations always put a smile on my face. Here’s TEGEL, a sound sculpture based on biodata. 🪴

An intricate sculpture, crafted from miniature bricks, that doubles as a synthesizer, exuding an aura of vintage industrial charm. It features an array of buttons and an authentic analog meter. Encased in a glass dome, a tiny tree plant is ingeniously connected to the synthesizer, adding an organic touch to the mechanical marvel.

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Apple devices will be getting on-device voice cloning later this year, and I’m pretty excited to give it a whirl, even though it’s only available in English for now. Among the Big Five, I have a hunch that Apple might be the one to offer machine learning features in a way that respects our privacy.

Users can create a Personal Voice by reading along with a randomized set of text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio on iPhone or iPad. … [It] integrates seamlessly with Live Speech so users can speak with their Personal Voice when connecting with loved ones.
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I just updated my now page! I’m deep into the new Zelda game, almost done with Aurora, still figuring out large language models, and preparing for a party. What are you up to?

Link stands before a stone ruin amidst a field of golden grass. Trees, their leaves echoing the same autumnal hue, dot the landscape. In the distance, an island appears to be floating in the sky. Link, armed with a shield and an axe, readies for adventure. This is a screenshot from the early stages of Tears of the Kingdom.

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The release date of Tears of the Kingdom has never been closer and yet so far away. I’m struggling with the urge to just download the leaked version rather than wait for seven more days for my preloaded copy to unlock. 🫠 🎮

Nintendo Switch with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom preloaded – but not playable.

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New sci-fi concept album from The Cotton Modules is out today. 🎵 Of course, it comes with a tappable short story because… Robin Sloan. 🥰

The Deep Space Sloop John Bethel was leaving Earth because culture had stopped.

It was an age of paranoia and boredom.

Politics and entertainment ran in a dumb, dark loop — the regurgitations of banal AIs that were, apparently, good enough.

Album art. Some kind of vessel floating around in space. Probably the deep space sloop John Bethel. It says The Cotton Modules: The Greatest Remaining Hits.

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Exclusive: unveiling the elusive sight of my foot after a delightful strut through the enchanting Tiveden! 🌲

I love the woods of Tiveden, which lie just half an hour from our cabin. It’s like entering the world of John Bauer. You expect to see a magical being around every giant stone.

@sod and I walked for hours and relished the April sun. A fabulous Friday. A great start to the weekend.

A couple sitting outdoors, sipping coffee from thermos mugs. Only their arms and legs are visible in the frame. The view over a lake is magnificent.

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So, @sannalund surprised me with a gift-for-no-special-reason the other day (aren’t those the best kind of gifts?): Moonbound by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm. Looks stellar! Can’t wait to read it. 📚

A gritty illustrated comic book cover, featuring the moon on the bottom and an upside-down astronaut on the top.

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It’s #FeedReaderFriday again! 🥳 Rachel Simone Weil makes wonderful art like Hello Kitty Land (a Super Mario Bros. ROM-hack) and connectedNES (a Wi-Fi “modem” for the NES). She also curates the FEMICOM Museum. Follow her blog and Mastodon feed (they are RSS too).

Six years ago, I built a WiFi "modem" and live Twitter feed cartridge for the Nintendo NES. With Twitter's relevance on the decline, what other kind of live text feed would you like to see on the NES? Reply here with your ideas—maybe I'll port one of them to ConnectedNES!

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It’s Tuesday evening. I just had coffee, emptied my feed reader, and learned that:

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The 2023 spring issue of the html review is out, and I’m eager to dive into it! 🫨

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To me, one of the more unbelievable scenes in Tetris is when Henk asks

This game is programmed in C, yeah?

gets an affirmative answer, goes on to produce some original 2-bit graphics, and ports Tetris to the Game Boy in like 10 seconds.

There are C compilers for the Game Boy today, but back then, the games were written in assembly for the Sharp LR35902. Of course, I wasn’t a programmer at Nintendo R&D1 in the 80s – I wish! – but I did have some fun reverse engineering Tetris for Game Boy to get rid of Bullet-Proof Software’s copyright screen. 🤓

The movie? It was a fun ride. 🍿🕹️

A frame from the movie Tetris. Henk stares at a prototype Game Boy. The subtitles says: this game is programmed in C, yeah?

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🔭 Search Space is out of beta! 🥂 New in version 1.0.0:

  • 🎙️ Transcripts can be indexed!
  • 🪚 Post content in search results is truncated at 300 characters.
  • 🗂️ Indexing replies and transcripts are optional.
  • 👋 The greeting text (Welcome to Search Space …) can be edited in the settings.
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One wikipedian had fun with today’s Did you know … section. 🙃 Love it! Via Molly White.

Screenshot from Wikipedia. Did you know … that after one of Piet Mondrian’s paintings (shown) was discovered to have been hanging upside down for decades, the museum left it as is? The photo of the painting and the following text is presented upside down by the Wikipedia editor: New York City I (1941), upside down.

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Remember! There’s no such thing as having too many book-related newsletter subscriptions. If you’re a fan of sci-fi and/or horror, subscribe to Frights, Flights, and Literary Delights. Curated by @sannalund and yours truly.

Or read our first issue on the web. 📚

In a fantastical black and white illustration, a person sits on a hill, reading, aided by the moonlight. In the stars above, a hideous, Kaiju-like creature manifests. Is it for real or the reader’s imagination?

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Stil frame from a movie. A man is looking out a window at the woman next door, looking out her window. They’re having a conversation.

– I do a nude scene. Do you want to see it?
– Huh? Did I say yes?
– You didn’t say anything.
– I meant yes, my mouth didn’t speak.

🤩 From the trailer for Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City.