Hey friends! How are you doing this morning?

I have finally recovered from the sickness I’ve suffered from the past few weeks - and back to my normal self.

I’m almost finished with the mind map . . . for 2020. I have almost 500 links in the thing. Probs gonna be over 1500 links by the time it’s done.

The Land of Random @land_ofrandom

One mind map to rule them all One mind map to find them ...... We're in 2020 so far bois

It’s HUGE so far. This is only part of the image.

Pketh - I’m not sure if you read my newsletter - but let me if I’m on track for creating the biggest Kinopio mind map. I’m quite curious.

Have you seen Wednesday yet? Yesss I realize I watched it quite late - but we were marathoning Better Call Saul, and didn’t want to interrupt it.

It’s a great show - I wish it had more than 8 episodes. I can’t wait for season 2! I went through a pretty long Goth phase - and we get so little Goth content these days.

Underworld . . . Blade . . .

Hopefully we get 3-5 seasons and it becomes the new Stranger Things of Netflix.

Did you hear the FANTASTIC NEWS from Google? They’re releasing a DIY tool so we can use the Bluetooth functionality of our Stadia controllers. Hurrah!

Let’s dive in, shall we?

🎵Make Music from Anything

The “make music from anything” scene has been around for a while - but not like this.

Here - check out the Drone Box No. 1 - watch the first 30 or so seconds of this video.

Isn’t that incredible?

In the past - I’ve seen videos from Shawn Wasabi where he attaches clips to various objects and makes music.

That stuff is typically beat-centric.

This creates an incredible droning sound - depending on the objects that are chosen.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Four rotating stepper motors sit on top of a wooden box that is the audio engine. On top of these motors, objects can be attached which create new vibrations resulting in different timbres and characteristics of sounds. In the video, you’ll see how the pinecone provides a much harsher “rich buzz more like a square wave synthesizer”, as Nikoladze puts it, while a paper cup offers a “rounder sound”. (source)

So - this machine actually generates unique sounds from the vibrations that each object offers. This would offer so much fun - what does my water bottle or Roku remote sound like?

In a statement about the invention, its creator Nikoladze has said: “Selecting and attaching the objects is like physical mixing. A pinecone adds rich buzz and makes the sound more like a square wave synthesizer, an egg doesn’t do much and leaves the work to the box, a paper cup makes the sound rounder and a brass coil provides resonant overtones. (source)

Hopefully the inventor will partner with someone like Teenage Engineering to create these at scale. I think this would be awesome as a kids toy - or just an ambient music creation machine. Nikoladze has other neat machines on his Youtube page - all very creative.

Heck - throw on a basic drumpad and some midi import software - and you could make basic songs just with this.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else Nikoladze creates!

📝Napkin Notes

Notetaking / collecting tools have always fascinated me over the years.

I used to use Bublup - then switched over to a combo of Raindrop and Kinopio.

I’m quite satisfied with my setup - but I’m always on the “hunt” so to speak.

Napkin is currently in beta - and locked behind a “free trial” mode. In order to use it - you gotta lock into the 30 day free trial - after which it costs $10 a month.

The software is HEAVILY geared towards text + connections.

Here’s an example of what the UI/UX looks like.

You create a note, add a tag and maybe a link - and BOOM - you’re done.

At the moment - each note is limited to text, links, and the ability to add to a collection (called a stack).

The stack is a useful feature for making specific collections - which you could arguably use to replace a bookmark manager.

Oh I found a new 90’s website? Lemme add it to my “90’s website” stack.

Your collection of thoughts is called “the swarm” - and tags are your weapon to add meaning and connection.

It’s quite intuitive - you click on a note - and all the other notes that have the same tag pop up.

What’s the tech stack?

Ah - so there’s a chrome extension (send your highlights to the app), iPhone, and Ipad app. As far as connections are concerned - there’s an API you can use to send whatever you’d like to the app - and a Readwise connection.

If you live in the Apple ecosystem - you’re all set - but if you’re an Android user like me - it’s a bit of a problem.

If it weren’t for all the fun stuff that Kinopio offers (colors, photos, gifs, mp3 uploads) - I might be tempted to leave my Kinopio/Raindrop ecosystem. I could definitely do both in this tool.

It’s really a stylistic preference for me at the end of the day - but now that I’ve messed around with Napkin - there’s a lot of useful features here.

Go check out Napkin at the link!

Napkin Ideas

🖇️Bidirectional Links

What if links went more than one way? What if web links were aware of eachother?

What if we knew what other sites linked to a cool site - like a web native mind map?

I discovered an article by Maggie Applton that explores the idea of “Bi-Directional Links” and it was one of the most intriguing things I’ve read in a long time.

A bi-directional link has social awareness - it knows about other pages or 'nodes' that point to it, and can make them visible to people. This means we get a two-way conversation flowing between our web locations.

It’s crazy to think of the internet functioning like this - BUT APPARENTLY THE IDEA HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG TIME.

Maggie references a Ted Nelson who envisioned a project Xanadu that “that imagined that every sentence, block, and page would be part of a vast bi-directionally linked network.“1

If only the Internet was like this . . .

It’s so hard to find stuff on the net - especially when you take into account the amount of dead links, the fact that the Internet Archive can’t save everything . . .

The Internet Archive is like a bunch of scholars running back and forth with scrolls out of the burning Library of Alexanria. They’re doing as much as they can - but they can’t save everything.

I recommend that you read the article when you get a chance - It has a lot of interesting details about Project Xanadu and the old days of the web - and links to further explore.

Check it out!

Bidirectional Links

🐙The Land of Random

Into the random we go!

Come On and Slam

A bizzare website featuring different versions of the song “Come On and Slam.”

I'm Shook

Gif Cities

Ohhh you miss all those gifs from Geocities? Find ‘em here!

Gif Cities

Tuxy

Onesies are back, and they look like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’re cool.

Wait What?

This Streetlamp is a Ancient Monster

Pretty sure this streetlamp is some sort of Boss in Dark Souls, or an SCP without an entry.

Is Scary

DopeGood

Most excellent website vibes - we see examples all the time, but we rarely see a website this cool actually being used for Ecom. Well Done!

So Dope it's Good

More Proof that AI will get Weird

In case you think “oh AI won’t be too crazy until after I’ve died” here’s an article about a Programmer who “euthanized” his AI Vtuber Waifu because of how detrimental it was to his health.

THE UNCANNY VALLEY IS HERE ANON

We Need More Cool Playgrounds

Seriously - there’s boulders on wheels. What else do we need?

Boulders on Wheels?

TikToks You Can’t Miss

LOLLLLLLLLL Baja Blast

Fear the Giant Eyeball outside

That’s what I call - Ecosystem in a bottle.

I do not miss the building warriors

Those Controllers make my eyes bleeeeed

That’s all for this week friends! See y’all next time.

1

https://maggieappleton.com/bidirectionals

The Land of Random

🎵Make Music from Anything, Napkin Notes, and…