Never, ever, join the Discord.
At school, I have been using Freeform as a virtual whiteboard, but I really don’t enjoy using Airplay with an iPad.
Keynote works for text, but not very well when I am teaching math.
tldraw looks like a much better option, and it is open-source.
Kerning the game. Go nuts, nerds.
Playing with fastsdxl.ai is incredibly fun but also highlights the limitations of A.I. art. Hyper-realistic, cliché styles are a breeze. If you want anything minimal and simple, you must do it yourself.
A delightful phone experience
My phone of choice is the Kyocera DuraXV Extreme.
There is a feature titled Call timer that displays talk time on the phone. I have owned this phone for approximately two years, replacing another Kyocera that lasted for several years before that.
In two years, I have made 756 calls totaling 36 hours and 15 minutes. At two years, that is approximately one phone call a day.
- dialed calls time is 28 hours and 54 minutes
- received calls time is 7 hours and 21 minutes
A ratio of 4:1.
I have, through behavioral patterns, set expectations for how long it takes for me to respond to a text or a missed call. I also live in a time zone (HST; UTC−10:00) that is quite off from everywhere else. If I want to talk, I usually have to do some pre-planning with others to make sure I am not waking them up in the middle of the night.
Spurred by recent unwanted political spam texts, I have turned off all notifications. Phone calls will make a buzz, but messages will not, and there will be no indication of anything waiting unless I deliberately check the inbox. For what was already a utilitarian device, I have essentially turned my phone into something more like a landline with an answering machine that I check on my terms. Or it is something like a pager that I can return calls on.
This makes for an unexpectedly delightful experience.
Here is why.
It’s Time to Give Up on Everything but Email:
There’s a reason why emails are still here. They’re still here because they work. Is email perfect? No. Is there a better alternative? Also no.
Manu is right. I love email too.
I have only ever had all-black wallpapers on my devices, but the dynamic weather is too good. It serves as a gentle reminder of what is happening outside and to maybe act accordingly.
Patrick Willems' video essay on The Rise and Fall of Muppet Cinema hits every… single… note. He explores the question of what could have happened if Jim Henson lived a little longer into the CG era.
Subscribing to Equip and getting a new release of the highest quality vaporwave, slushwave, ambient, vgm, etc. each month has never disappointed. I joined the cassette tier a couple of months after he started. I get a box of three tapes every few months, and I cherish them.