Light Your Email on Fire, The Strange World of Funkwhale, and The Rise of Glassmorphism
Because We Need Cooler UI's
Hey everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. Today is Cyber Monday, so if you’re scouring the interwebs looking for deals - best of luck to you.
Is it just me, or have TV’s gotten insanely cheap the past few years? Personally, I think it’s because of how much digital advertising is built into Smart TV’s. YOU are the product, just as you are with smartphones, eh?
5 years ago if you told me I could get a 60 inch 4K Smart TV for $250 I’d have shook my head in disbelief. No way TV could get that cheap!
Just to let you know - I’ve got a special issue coming out soon all about tools for Spatial Thinking. It’s going to be awesome!
Anyway, let’s get into today’s topics, shall we?
🔥 Light Your Email on Fire
Have you ever desired to see your email catch fire? To see an email burn away?
Well, I’ve got great news for you. The people over at Hey (the new email service) have created a service to burn emails - in live time. It’s their little experiment.
What's this experiment all about? Well, 2020's been a rough year. An absolute dumpster fire of a year for a lot of people. That's when it came to us. Can email be a conduit for catharsis? If you could type out an email, press send, and see it being consumed in an actual dumpster fire, would it help reclaim a little bit of what we've lost? Let's find out. (Source)
Seriously! All you have to do is send an email to dumpsterfire@hey.com with a message you want to burn.
They’ll burn it for you in live time - and you can even see it go down a little conveyor belt.
I tried to do it - but I missed the burning. 😢
Sign up now at the link! They’re burnin’ daily 9 AM - 8 PM Central.
🎶The Strange World of Funkwhale
Remember the olde days of Napster, PirateBay, Grooveshark, and all those ancient piracy sites?
Yes, I know - some of them are still alive and kicking.
However, in a world where paying for Spotify is instant and easy, Piracy has lost much of its relevance to the average consumer.
Unless you’re a cash strapped teen or college student - piracy really isn’t on the radar.
Well, Funkwhale is trying to resuscitate the idea of decentralized music sharing - but for the modern era.
Basically, Funkwhale allows you to create your own “Pod” where you host music and share it with friends and family. It’s a bit complicated, but their installation documentation seems quite thorough.
Hypothetically - if you and your friends have a LOT of music - you could create your own private Spotify.
The UI is pretty clean, and it’s fairly easy to use. If you’re interested, you can join other people’s pods. There’s a lot of very indie music to be discovered. It’s kinda like flipping through the Vinyl in the back of the store - but the digital version.
Heck - maybe I’ll upload some of my tracks to it. 😁
Check it out at the link! It’s pretty neat.
🥛The Rise of Glassmorphism
My memories are foggy, but I think I mentioned the UI trend Neumorphism last year? It’s beautiful. Check out this article detailing it here and lots of beautiful pictures here.
Anyway, there’s a brand new trend out now called Glassmorphism, and it’s soo clean.
Here’s an example of the UI, as designed by Mel Baudon
Glassmorphism is defined by - well - glassy translucent features. Michael Malewicz defines it with the following characteristics. (Source)
Transparency (frosted-glass effect using a Background Blur)
Multi-layered approach with objects floating in space
Vivid colors to highlight the blurred transparency
A subtle, light border on the translucent objects.
It’s an extremely futuristic interpretation of UI, and I would love to see an app done in this style. Objects/cards appear to float against the background, and it makes everything feel light and airy.
Wouldn’t you feel like you’re living in the future if you were using an app like this?
I hope the trend catches on!
If you’re interested in creating the effect for your projects (OOOOH - a website done like this would be dope), Malewicz made a fantastic video tutorial that’s worth checking out.
For further reading, I recommend checking out Malewicz’s article all about the trend. He’s got some really neat insights.
🐙The Land of Random
Into the wild links we go!
Let the Algo Draw
Can the Algorithm guess your drawing? See if it can!
Make Your Site Retro
Ever wanted to make your website retro, but retain a modern feel? Well, Kev Quirk has created an excellent free Wordpress theme just for you! Check out his site here, and his code at the link!
Kumospace
Zoom Calls, Google Meet, Gotowebinar - they’re all the same. What if your video chat could be like real life, with rooms, chats, and other features?
Zaidova
So you like very Minimalist websites? This one is on point, with some fascinating 4th wall introspection.
Shiny Links
Need to shorten a link fast? This privacy friendly tool is easy to use. If you need analytics for your links, this tool doesn’t have those.
The New Hummer
I thought the Cybertruck was the end all be all of cool but this new Hummer can crabwalk and lift itself into the air. I’ve never been one to love a car commercial, but this one is worth watching.
Slimvoice
Need to create invoices for your business? This lightweight tool looks pretty awesome, and the processing fee is only 1%.
🎶TikToks You Can’t Miss
Best Point about the IRS ever
The Milk Demons are at it again!
This really does feel like the start to some horror film
I’m not really sure what this is
Ah yes, the old Coffee Pot Cooking hack
The mushrooms are singing to eachother?
Apple really does put the Lifetime in Lifetime Customer Value
Well, that’s all for this issue of The Land of Random! Of course, if you’re willing, please share with your friends, family, and frenemies.