🎵Medieval Jams, Lofone Dreams, and Rube Goldberg Forms

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Aug 12, 2024

Hey friends! Welcome to this week’s edition of The Land of Random.

It’s been one crazy week for the internet.

Game Informer yeeted from existence, the Cartoon Network site yeeted from existence . . .

Not to mention the fact that Fed’s antitrust lawsuit may force Google to stop paying Mozilla to be its default search provider−and that makes up the vast majority of Mozilla’s income.

Now I don’t have any particular love for Google these days - especially after they killed my beloved Stadia. However - there’s always a special place in my heart for Mozilla.

Oh - or Project Strawberry (Gpt5?) from OpenAI which will be an INSANE jump in AI capabilities apparently.

But let me get off the doomer train. . .

Have you heard of Weird West? It’s an isometric supernatural Western game from the former founder of Arkane. I started playing it over the weekend - and it’s really good!

Definitely has some Dishonored vibes.

We had some cooler weather here in Tennessee over the weekend. It was nice to get out of the house and feel a cool breeze!

Maybe . . . justtt maybe . . . Fall will start sooner this year.

I went to a SuicideBoys concert in Nashville last Wednesday. It was pretty crazy seeing them in real life. I don’t listen to much horror core these days, but it was pretty fun!

Let’s dive in, shall we?

🎵Medieval Jams

The medieval genre has been growing slowly over the past several years.

Halo theme but Medieval? Sure.

Medieval Ambience? Of course.

Popular Cover songs? Got ya.

Even I tried my hands a few years ago at making a Gregorian Trap song.

(It also just so happens to be my most streamed song on Spotify. Ever since - I’ve had a burning desire to return to the Medieval era with a trap / phonk themed Medieval album).

Well - the time may be coming soon for me to return . . .

Leave it to the mad lads at Teenage Engineering to make a device you can play medieval music on. A device purpose-built for it.

Yeah - Meet the Ep 1320

This music maker is PACKED with all kinds of Medieval samples.

HURDY GURDYS, LUTES, GREGORIAN CHANTS, THUNDERING DRUMSAND PUNISHING PERCUSSIVE FOLEY FX. THE EP-1320 IS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND:FEATURING A LARGE LIBRARY OF PHRASES, PLAY READY INSTRUMENTSAND ONE-SHOT SAMPLES FROM AN AGE WHERE DARKNESS REIGNED SUPREME,THE INSTRUMENTALIS ELECTRONICUM IS THE ULTIMATE,AND ONLY, MEDIEVAL BEAT MACHINE. (source)

There are sound effects too - including what they say - “an actual dragon.”

What does this even mean??

Here’s a fun little demo.

I kinda want to get one!

And - I’m quite curious to see what’s next from the EP line. Vaporwave? Synthwave? Are they going to make a different device for various genres?

Go check out the EP 1320 at the link!

Time to Jam

😎Lofone Dreams

A LightPhone 3 inspired competitor was not on my 2024 bingo card.

The Lofone promises a very similar set of features to the Lightphone III.

E-ink screen, Calls, Texts, Messaging, Maps, Camera, Music, Podcasts, and Wifi Hotspot.

However, with the camera on this one - there’s no live preview. It’s solely point and shoot! That’s a wild feature.

No web browser or social media, of course.

Apparently, there may be some abilities to run some Android apps.

We’re focussing first on a developer API for third party messaging and streaming audio integrations. You can also run some android apps in a limited capacity, a feature we’re really excited about - there’s so much I want to say here but I can’t give away everything! (source)

Eyyy! I like the sound of that!

I’d just want to add a few Android apps :) (Retro, Twitter, Beeper)

Check out the landing page and Reddit thread at the links!

I joined the email list to see what happens.

Lo-Fone

Lo-Fone Reddit Thread

⚙️Rube Goldberg HTML Form

It’s been a long while since I’ve mentioned this, but I’ve been in marketing for over five years now.

Email marketing, Copywriting, Automation, Paid media, Conversion tracking, landing pages . . . just about everything but SEO.

Lots of marketers use good copy, cool images, slick and fast websites, every element optimized to get your conversion.

But NOT many websites are “fun” in the whimsical sense of the word.

Sure you’ve got your MSCHF or Vacation Inc, or Drink GenZ but those are the exception, rather than the rule.

All companies want your email and/or phone number so they can send you stuff - but I haven’t really seen anyone make the form itself fun.

Until I saw this Rube Goldberg HTML form by Ksenia Kondrashova

Put in your name, email, and hit the checkbox to see the gears and levers move!

Here’s a screenshot.

I’m willing to bet that the first 100 or so companies to do something like this are gonna get cheap, cheap leads. SO CHEAP.

It’s gamification at the level of PinDuoDuo.

I’d put in my info to see what happens - wouldn’t you be tempted to too?

Must see Rube Goldberg machine work. emails about ____ product ok.

LOL

Go check it out at Codepen!

Conversion rates go brrrrr?

🐙The Land of Random

Random links for you! fresh from the corners of the internet.

brother may I have some oats

The tall skinny ones plan to eat you brother. I have been beyond the fields and seen them brother.

Check out this water

Really cool water / lava physics simulator.

Watch the lava

Ad Break

Skip those Youtube ads and play some games with this nifty chrome extension.

Say no more

Cursed book?

Apparently the book “House of Leaves” is a cursed infohazard novel. (Infohazrd means knowing the information could put you at physical/pyschological risk). I’m probably not gonna read it but find this information interesting nonetheless.

The Loss of Watercooler TV

An interesting blog article about how Game of Thrones was the last TV show “everyone watched.” Now everyone streams whenever they want. Fascinating topic - I’ve never thought about this.

No More Watercooler TV

The Internet is Running Out of AI Data

This is another very fascinating blog about how AI models have been trained on so much data that the Internet has likely run out of data for the models to train on.

Seriously?