[[40#^bab3f9|Skip to the links]] ## Meta Let's put on the fish-janitor hat: ![[182624883_856620778253995_571075980421732300_n_17904835792889678.webp]] This site is an [[111|iterative experiment]] so let's follow-up on the [[retrospective.png]] actions. Switching from a linear blog to Obsidian works well. Or rather: *using a non-linear publishing tool that reflects the way I think and iterate works **really** well*. There are some parts of Obsidian I don't like, but for now it's *good enough*. Mind you, these are not issues with the product itself but my use-case and personal philosophy. I want something less clever, just a hypertext editing tool with pictures and links. When I say hypertext I mean it in its strictest, pre-web sense: a bunch of linked text documents. I also wish Obsidian Publish offered better customisation, was slightly more performant, and had better custom domain support. There will be a review of both coming soon. ([[Obsidian (personal review)]], [[Abusing and reviewing Obsidian Publish]]). The bottomline is that I can say more, using fewer words, and it's easier for me to manage my time (juggle research, writing, [Say Hi](https://sonnet.io/posts/hi) calls, looking for clients). Also, I didn't have as much time to read as I would've liked to, but luckily I've had a tonne of Say Hi calls and the people I met gave me some really good brain-food! ## Interesting stuff ^bab3f9 **Favourite article:** [Muddle Your Way To Success](https://xeny.net/Muddle%20Your%20Way%20To%20Success) > *(I bet you like it)* This is the body of a message sent by a reader of [[Dog mode]]. Yes, I did like it. I think you might as well. **Favourite project:** [yay.boo](https://yay.boo) [[Brutally simple|Beautifully]] simple drag & drop website publishing tool. A part of me wishes that's where Zeit, now know as Vercel, had stopped. Give it a go and don't forget to check their [favourite sites](https://yay.boo/favorites) gallery. **Favourite piece of tech:** [PartyKit](https://www.partykit.io) Learned about it from [Matt Webb](https://twitter.com/genmon). Related: [Exploring AI interaction design and multiplayer with tldraw](https://blog.partykit.io/posts/ai-interactions-with-tldraw) This is very timely as I'm working on a little project which could be simplified quite a bit with PartyKit. More on that next week! ### Cat printers ![[cat printer aliexpress.webp]] *Cat Printers are tiny BTLE cat-shaped printers.* For a couple of years now I've been playing with the idea of using a network of tiny, Bluetooth-activated printers to send my friends short, physical, tangible messages. Imagine a pretty wooden box sitting on your desk. Once in a while it starts buzzing and produces a quick note from a friend, or a doodle. When was the last time you received a letter that was not a bill, or an ad? Imagine how that would that make you feel. I made some progress on the idea a couple of weeks back, inspired by the work of [Good Enough](https://guestbook.goodenough.us) and [Berg](https://nordprojects.co/projects/littleprinters/). There's also an [[Cat Printer – tools and resources|"*almost*-community"]] of people hacking with this stuff (*almost*, as it's not centralised, just smaller branches, groups of people). I'd like to write about this more in detail, but in short: - the hardware has become **significantly** cheaper - it's relatively easy to hack - you don't need to be a hardware expert to control it the printer programmatically (there are decent high-level python libraries to take care of that) Having said that, there are still issues with making it a sustainable business. I don't care about scale, but I do care about being able to pay rent. Do you think becoming a *boutique handmade digital printer craftsman* is a valid career path? Let me know.  ### Webrings and IndieWeb I visited a site written in a voice I really enjoyed. I opened their *webring* section and it had only one item there - a link to [sonnet.io](https://sonnet.io). I melted a little bit. #### Marginalia.nu and Website Explorer [Marginalia](https://explore.marginalia.nu/view) is a non-commercial search engine maintained by Victor Lofgren. The site also contains a [StumbleUpon-like random site browser](https://explore.marginalia.nu/view). I use it when I feel like reaching for Reddit. Do this. Immerse yourself in its beautiful weirdness, the sheer diversity of voices and styles, the angst, (and the occasional niche programming tips.) ## Things I've written in the past couple of week that people liked - [[How to draw a Janusz]] - [[Projects and apps I built for my own well-being]] - [[Dog mode]] - [[Things to support my own well-being – a wishlist]] Thanks for reading this, here's a [[Nothing Twice|poem]] for you. ## Footnotes [Nothing Twice by Wislawa Szymborska - Poems | Academy of American Poets](https://poets.org/poem/nothing-twice) [Dither it!: a web application for dithering images](https://ditherit.com) [[Wislawa Szymborska]] [What's the Current Week Number?](https://www.epochconverter.com/weeknumbers)