Mostly Bits Newsletter

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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #50

Tony’s Pick

This one’s a bit weird, so prepare yourself. Bobby Fingers is my favorite tiny YouTube channel. He meticulously creates incredibly detailed dioramas of problematic celebrities in infamous moments, then buries those dioramas somewhere in the world for you to find. If that sounds bad, it’s better than it sounds. If that sounds awesome - well, it’s better than it sounds. There are only 3 so far, and I’d recommend starting at the beginning, with Mel Gibson.

Go home Mel Gibson, you're drunk

Kyle’s Pick

#50
March 23, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #49

Tony’s Pick

Let’s make fetch happen: tools like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion aren’t AI, they’re SALAMI (“Systematic Approaches to Learning Algorithms and Machine Inferences”).

a SALAMI made this image of salami

Kyle’s Pick

#49
March 15, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #48

Tony’s Pick

Here’s an interesting visualization: Which Generation Controls the Senate? pretty colors

Kyle’s Pick

I’m going with two podcasts this week, both related to my work at a mental health startup.

#48
March 8, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #47

Tony’s Pick

Check out this cool clock.

this clock is cool

Kyle’s Pick

#47
March 1, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #46

(You did not miss an issue - we just accidentally sent two #43s. We’re correcting the numbering here.)

Tony’s Pick

I’m loath to do free PR for billionaire vanity projects, but this announcement by Blue Origin is pretty stellar, pun intended. Solar panels made from only lunar regolith with no water and no carbon emissions (assuming carbon free electricity) is some pretty incredible sci-fi shit.

billionaire moon solar panels

#46
February 22, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #45

Tony’s Pick

LLM commentary is reaching a fever pitch in my corners of the internet. You’ve probably seen the blurry jpeg article, the Tom Scott video, maybe even Bing gaslighting. But have you heard Colin Meloy play a song written for him, nominally in his signature style, by ChatGPT?

Colin Meloy is incredulous about the title

Kyle’s Pick

#45
February 15, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #44

Tony’s Pick

The tiny world of mastodon/fediverse clients on iOS is really quite rich. The official Mastodon app is good, Ivory from Tapbots is a clear favorite in my corner of the fediverse, and there are many many others to check out. By far my favorite is IceCubes. I prefer the look and feel, it’s nicely customizable without being a too focused on configuration, and it’s open source!

Ice Cubes App Icon

Kyle’s Pick

#44
February 8, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #43

Tony’s Pick

I am not particularly interested in origami as such, but I kind of love Origami Simulator. It’s a very cool use of web technology that’s surprisingly fun to play with!

It's a Crane

Kyle’s Pick

#43
February 2, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #42

Tony’s Pick

The Smithsonian has made 4 million digital items public domain with the CC0 license (no attribution required, no copyright, etc), and it’s easily searchable. An awesome resource and a fun opportunity. Check it out!

CHSDM-1901-39-609MattFlynn.jpg

Kyle’s Pick

#42
January 25, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #41

Tony’s Pick

Here’s a fun project that includes an interesting exploration of generative art for blog post graphics and some automation of same. Pretty cool! (h/t to the dastardly Matt Swanson for the link)

image.png

Kyle’s Pick

#41
January 19, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #40

Tony’s Pick

This article about the Atari game Pitfall is interesting on 2 levels: first is the technical feat in the original game, second is that someone reverse engineered it 40 years later, for fun. I’m a little too young to have first hand experience with Atari’s consoles, so Pitfall wasn’t known to me, but it’s still a fun read!

pitfall.jpeg

Kyle’s Pick

#40
January 11, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #39

Tony’s Pick

Kyle’s Pick

We have a friend staying with us over the holidays and decided to play through a throwback 16-bit RPG called Chained Echoes. I saw it described somewhere as “the game you remember loving on the Super Nintendo,” in that it streamlines a lot of the tedium of classic RPGs that you’ve suppressed in your mind. Plus you get to fly around in “Sky Armor,” which is pretty sweet.

chained-echoes-battle.jpg

#39
January 4, 2023
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #38

Tony’s Pick

Kyle’s Pick

I recently bought my wife a Nespresso Vertuo Plus to replace her aging Keurig and was surprised to see that there were no third-party pods available. Nespresso machines have been around in some form since the 1980s, so it was surprising to me that a patent would not have expired by now.

Enter the design patent for a new capsule form. Apparently the Vertuo line was launched in the mid-2010s with a larger capsule design that (seemingly) serves two purposes:

#38
December 28, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #37

This newsletter issue might look a bit different. We’ve (hastily) changed newsletter providers this week. Revue, our previous provider, is the latest victim in Elon Musk’s continued immolation of Twitter.




Tony’s Pick

My personal fediverse feed is getting more interesting as I’ve started following more people. Here’s one of my first finds: screenshots of 90s era Nintendo internal game dev tools.

Screen Shot 2022-12-21 at 11.21.50 AM.png

#37
December 21, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #36

Tony's Pick

Fusion has been in the news recently. Here’s a not-super-technical assessment of the practicalities of various methods of generation electricity from fusion.

If you are evaluating a fusion program, a good question to ask is “does this concept use a steam turbine?”

Why? It comes down to the cost of steam.

— Eli Dourado (@elidourado) December 12, 2022

Kyle's Pick

Does scientific peer review work? The answer seems to be no - or at least not enough to justify the cost of 15,000-reviewer-years of time each year to review papers where only a fraction of errors are caught and rejected papers can be shopped around.

His analysis around number of errors caught felt a little weak to me. Although only 25-30% of major errors were detected, the obviously flawed papers were recommended for rejection most of the time (about 60-70% according to the linked studies). I see some parallels to code review, where I might recommend changes on a Pull Request early if I notice glaring structural issues.

I liked his analysis of “weak-link” vs “strong-link” and why peer review is fundamentally flawed. In a “weak-link” domain, progress depends on the worst work, and peer review makes sense - we should try to weed out bad science. But I’m inclined to agree with him that science is a “strong-link” domain, where bad ideas will eventually flame out while good ideas move us forward.

#36
December 14, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #35

Our Pick

We started a Mastodon server over at nofun.social.

However Twitter turns out, many interesting people that we follow have decided to migrate elsewhere for now, so we’re hedging our bets. If you’re already riding the masto, you can follow us @shipstar and @tonydewan.

#35
December 7, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #34

Tony's Pick

Asterisk Magazine is a new online publication worth a gander. Is Wine Fake? was my entry point (despite the dumb title, a smart analysis), but other pieces are good too.

As a wine lover, turquoise wine is my favorite
As a wine lover, turquoise wine is my favorite

Kyle's Pick

#34
November 30, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #33

Our Pick

We launched our first Playdate game on Itch.io yesterday, called Doink! It’s a mini-roguelike paddle game that changes as you play. According to our first review, it’s pretty fun!

Yes, that's THE ericbn
Yes, that's THE ericbn
#33
November 23, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #32

Tony's Pick

Floor796 is a fun and weird internet art project. Give it 5 minutes of exploration!

Tag yourself
Tag yourself

Kyle's Pick

#32
November 16, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #31

Tony's Pick

I am generally against the development of pervasive surveillance in modern society, doubly so when it’s controlled by giant tech companies with a history of dubious ethics and an insatiable need for growth. On the other hand, doorbell cameras are just so useful! I recently opted for one from Ubiquiti because I own the footage and it’s stored on my local network (additional network appliance required). I’ve since gotten a few other products from UI and am pretty happy so far. It’s pricey stuff, but delivers excellent hardware and software quality.

Hands off my package, Kyle!
Hands off my package, Kyle!

Kyle's Pick

#31
November 9, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #30

Tony's Pick

I’m back with another tiny, independent publisher. KroneckerWellis offers esoterica like a book of Nikola Tesla’s patents and a reprint of the Apollo 13 launch checklist. They also have cool posters. Check them out!

(It seems like most or all of the content is in the public domain, which makes for a clever business model and harkens back to an earlier pick. Public domain publisher of space-themed stuff? This might be my most on-brand pick yet.)

Don't forget to stir the tanks!
Don't forget to stir the tanks!
#30
November 2, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #29

Between moving and traveling, we missed last week’s newsletter. We at Mostly Bits have set an extremely high standard for ourselves and we failed to live up to that. We are very sorry and we have taken steps to address the problem so that it never happens again.

As atonement, enjoy this week’s special Halloween-themed issue.

Tony's Eerie Pick

(In the end, the Halloween theme was inside you all alon

#29
October 27, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #28

Tony's Pick

Teenage Engineering makes really beautiful hardware. (They made Playdate with Panic, icymi). The recently released PO-80 record factory is a lovely little device. Make your own records!

Kyle's Pick

#28
October 12, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #27

Tony's Pick

Continuing a trend with a previous pick, Oro is another small publisher with tons of beautiful books, mostly focused on architecture and urban design. I first learned about Emergent Tokyo (which is on the way!), but many of the other books look great too!

good luck coming up with a joke caption for this, Kyle
good luck coming up with a joke caption for this, Kyle

Kyle's joke sub-caption

#27
October 6, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #26

Tony's Pick

I’ve long supported the Long Now foundation’s clock project and the Rosetta Project. I deeply appreciate the focus on communicating millennia into the future. That’s probably why I loved this tweet thread about The Tripitaka Koreana. “52 million characters of information, transmitted over nearly 8 centuries with zero data loss.” How can you not love that?

Giancarlo Esposito enjoys a novelty-sized book
Giancarlo Esposito enjoys a novelty-sized book

Kyle's Pick

#26
September 28, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #25

Tony's Pick

A lot of the datavis content that gets attention on the internet is more about looking cool than about improving understand of the data. This one is an exception for me. It communicates a lot of data quickly in a relatively obvious way, and with a clear narrative. Brilliant!

Climate change go "shwoosh shwoosh"
Climate change go "shwoosh shwoosh"

Kyle's Pick

#25
September 21, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #24

Tony's Pick

This demo is a real banger because it combines several newish technologies to create a valuable product that otherwise could not exist. Bonus: there’s not a whiff of crypto bullshit.

That poor corn kid
That poor corn kid

Kyle's Pick

#24
September 14, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #23

Tony's Pick

Check out the Public Domain Review. It’s a contemporary web publication that plumbs the depths of content in the public domain. They cleverly monetize the operation by selling prints of public domain images, among other things. Awesome! This greatly aligns with parts of my personal philosophy informed by the likes of Creative Commons, Cory Doctorow, and Kirby Ferguson.

Did you know really big elephants are actually buildings?
Did you know really big elephants are actually buildings?

Kyle's Pick

#23
September 7, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #22

Tony's Pick

More space stuff from me this week. You may have heard that the Artemis I mission is set to launch this week as a trial run for the systems that will send humans back to the moon. If you’re a space nerd like me then you probably also know that the SLS rocket and capsule are a cobbled together Frankenstein’s monster of tech from the cancelled Constellation project and the Space Shuttle. My official pick is this video from the YouTube channel Real Engineering about the SLS, but this mostly an excuse to share this crazy fact: it’s not just Space Shuttle tech - The SLS for Artemis I is literally built with engines salvaged from decommissioned Space Shuttles.

These engines have already been to space
These engines have already been to space

Kyle's Pick

#22
August 31, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #21

Tony's Pick

You’ve probably heard of the “observable universe”, or all places in the universe we can currently observe, which is essentially defined by the speed of light. Here’s a new one for me: the “affectable universe”, or the areas of the universe that we can affect by way of sending light. BUT because the universe is expanding, the affectable universe is shrinking at the same rate that observable universe is expanding. As time goes on, we can see ever more of (the past of) the universe while our ability to impact the universe is ever more constrained.

Not pictured: Tony
Not pictured: Tony

Kyle's Pick

#21
August 25, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #20

Tony's Pick

I’m a sucker for a minimal-nonsense deep dive into technical topics unrelated to my areas of expertise - especially infrastructure. Austin Vernon has several bangers. I’ll point you first to this one about smart grid if only because it provides a great overview of the US grid in general. If you have a good time with that, maybe check out this one on nuclear energy.

more like the alone star state, amirite
more like the alone star state, amirite

Kyle's Pick

#20
August 17, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #19

Tony's Pick

This tweet introduced me to the Flipper Zero. It’s described as a “Multi-tool Device for Geeks” but it’s much cooler than that. I have no need for it in my daily life, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one in my bag.

Kyle's Pick

#19
August 10, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #18

Tony's Pick

Things are picking up steam in the CCS (carbon capture and store) space. I just learned about Noya, which is based on a clever premise. If you put DAC (direct air capture) tech in places where huge volumes of air are already moving, you get higher rates of capture and the cost to the move the air is already sunk. Their target: HVAC cooling towers. (I previously linked to Charm and Climeworks, which are great because you as an individual can pay for verifiable, durable carbon sequestration. )

You see, the air goes in and carbon comes out
You see, the air goes in and carbon comes out

Kyle's Pick

#18
August 3, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #17

Tony's Pick

Turns out people haven’t wanted to work for a long time.

Will someone please think of the editor?
Will someone please think of the editor?

Kyle's Pick

#17
July 28, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #16

Tony's Pick

This Slate article makes the case for the return of the residential hotel in the face of, and as a solution to, our growing affordable housing crisis. I never knew this was a thing outside of the old west, despite those episodes Season 2 of Mad Men when Don Draper lived in a hotel. I just thought it was an impossibly luxurious thing for a top ad executive to do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just chilling at home with my bud
Just chilling at home with my bud

Kyle's Pick

#16
July 20, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #15

Tony's Pick

I was recently introduced the STAR Voting system. It’s an interesting alternative voting mechanism that combines score-based voting with runoffs. For use in capital-D Democratic processes, I’m not sure this is more grokable to the average voter than Ranked Choice, but I like the innovation. Maybe give STAR a try for your next roadmap meeting or group dinner?

She's so lucky, she's a star...voter
She's so lucky, she's a star...voter

Kyle's Pick

#15
July 13, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #14

Tony's Pick

As many of my past picks probably indicate, I’m very into the details of our built environment. One of my favorite cul-de-sacs in that information space is the fact that the Dutch build some of the best transportation infrastructure in the world. This twitter thread is a good light introduction, and basically any video from Not Just Bikes will give you a spicy deep dive (this older one about traffic calming is a good starting point.) I hope you find yourself radicalized about infrastructure!

Paradise is A Dutch Woonerf
Paradise is A Dutch Woonerf

Kyle's Pick

#14
July 7, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #13

Tony's Pick

I’ve recently developed a small passion for ultramarathons, or foot races longer than a marathon. If you didn’t know, ultras have aid stations at various points along the race and it’s very common for runners to have a crew to help them. Check out Hayden Hawkes, in second place at the time, come in to the 30 mile aid station at the Western States 100 this past weekend. This is next level, like a pit stop at an IndyCar race!

arms up, shirts off
arms up, shirts off

Kyle's Pick

#13
June 29, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #12

Tony's Pick

You may or may not be familiar with the source material from this article (I wasn’t!), but it’s still fascinating to learn what was possible with creative use of clever technical knowledge in early film!

Real time image of Kyle giving feedback on pull request
Real time image of Kyle giving feedback on pull request

Kyle's Pick

#12
June 22, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #11

Tony's Pick

This week I’ve got another Apple TV+ show that’s past it’s cultural moment. For All Mankind is good! In case you didn’t know: it’s an alt-history show that posits a world where the Soviets beat the US to the moon. It’s bit of a juicy soap opera and certainly requires some suspension of disbelief as the seasons progress, but it’s also full of cool space stuff. Season 3 has just started, so you’ve got a back catalog to catch up on.

How do I get a jumpsuit?
How do I get a jumpsuit?

Kyle's Pick

#11
June 15, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #10

Sorry for the late send this week - it was all Kyle’s fault.

Tony's Pick

More content for the “neat hardware hacks” file. Charlie Gerard used inaudible sounds to send Stripe payment info as a kind of lo-fi wireless payment dubbed ultrasonic payments. I had no idea this tech was in widespread use already, mostly for creepy advertising stuff:

#10
June 10, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #9

Tony's Pick

We finally watched Severance. I’d avoided it because the previews made me think there was an overt horror component. I was wrong about that and everyone recommending it is right. It’s really great TV, and well worth a month of Apple TV+ if you don’t already have it.

Kyle's Pick

#9
June 1, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #8

Tony's Pick

Bionic Reading showed up a few times in my Twitter feed, but I’ve actually been using it for awhile in my mobile RSS reader (Reeder, and yes I inexplicably still subscribe to RSS feeds.) I can’t speak to the purported improvements in cognition, but I do find I read a bit faster and it’s a bit easier to read long passages for long periods. When I sent this to Kyle he said “That seems clever and I might hate it”, so it’s a win-win for me.

Kyle's Pick

What We're Up To

We’re working on a prototype for the world’s first Souls-like table tennis game, tentatively titled Doink Souls. Along the way, we struggled to find a good beginning tutorial for Playdate SDK development, so we wrote one. You can check it out here:

https://github.com/mostlybits/playdate-unlicensed-paddle-game-tutorial<

#8
May 25, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #7

Tony's Pick

I recently stumbled across Victionary, a Hong Kong-based publisher of art, design and illustration books. Mostly they make very specific reference-style books, like this one about signage and wayfinding or this one about retail packaging for coffee and tea. Interestingly, they also make childrens books and travel guides. One of everything for me, please!

Kyle's Pick

#7
May 18, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #6

Tony's Pick

I’m back on crazy hardware hacks this week. Check out this insane Volumetric Display using an Acoustically Trapped Particle. It uses ultrasonic waves to levitate and move a tiny foam ball to create images. They even use color LEDs to apply color! The video gets pretty technical, but you can ignore all that if you want and just look at the thing in action. Nuts!

It's a butterfly!
It's a butterfly!

Kyle's Pick

#6
May 11, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #5

Tony's Pick

If you’re not using Yoink, you should be! It dramatically improves the experience of dragging and dropping files in macOS. Protip: add it to the share menu so you can quickly share open files (like a downloaded PDF in Preview.)

I used yoink to get this image into this newsletter
I used yoink to get this image into this newsletter

Kyle's Pick

#5
May 4, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #4

Tony's Pick

Last Friday was Earth Day, and my inbox was full of (dubious) marketing messages on that theme. It reminded me: most carbon offsets are indistinguishable from scams, at least if your goal is actually shifting the balance of carbon in the atmosphere. But real, durable, verifiable, carbon offsets do exist from Charm and Climeworks, and they sell directly to consumers.

Kyle's Pick

While Tony was out, I started playing with the Playdate SDK. This is my first time using Lua. As someone who mostly writes Ruby and JavaScript, it feels fairly natural so far. And the SDK has a lot of nice convenience methods, like a built-in A* pathfinding algorithm and a way to display a native “Use the crank!” alert for games that require it.

#4
April 27, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #3

Tony's Pick

Similar to last week’s pick, John Calhoun’s recent e-ink project is a fun hack on esoteric hardware with an artful result. Consider me inspired! Now I just need to figure out something interesting to make with a thermal printer, an e-ink display, and all the servos I have lying around…

Not pictured: Oregon Trail
Not pictured: Oregon Trail

Kyle's Pick

#3
April 20, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #2

Tony's Pick

I have a real soft spot for projects that hack esoteric hardware for some low utility fun. Andrew Schmelyun’s GitHub Issue receipt printer lands squarely in that zone. 

Kyle's Pick

#2
April 13, 2022
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Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #1

Welcome to our inaugural issue! Each week, Tony and Kyle will share something interesting we’ve been reading about or playing with. Sometimes we’ll also share a sneak peek of something we’re working on or a shared pick.

Some things we’re into and/or trying to get better at include programming, design, games, music, art, marketing, running, hardware, gadgets, and sustainability.

Tony's Pick

I find buildings fascinating, and the challenge of designing spaces for human use is very compelling to me. That’s why I aspire to design and build a house some day - and I can only hope I do as thorough and thoughtful a job as Emmanuel Quartey is doing with his family home.

#1
April 6, 2022
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