🚚Mobile Snack Trucks, DIY Guest House, and RIP Internet Explorer

End of an internet era

Helllooooo my friends!

Welcome to another issue of The Land of Random

We’re rapidly approaching 1,250 subscribers. CRAZY.

Just like this Steam Summer Sale I’m desperately avoiding. 😅

no - you don’t need a 2 dollar copy of Dishonored my man

I mean - I need to finish Dying Light 2 and Outriders before I buy anything else.

I’m mulling over (once this whole mortgage process is over and we’ve finished buying the house/ are moved in) creating a premium tier of the newsletter with the following two benefits.

• monthly deep dives into interesting topics - lost websites, old tech . . . fun stuff.

• regular chapters of my “ in progress” novel Z.A.P.D - I’ve written a few chapters so far of a novel about a pizza delivery company in the zombie apocalypse.

I’m still stewing on this - but if you have any feedback about what YOU would like to see in a paid version of my newsletter - pleassseeee let me know. Just respond to the email, comment below, orrr DM me on Twitter.

As always, this version of the newsletter will always be free - delivered to you every Monday regardless of ice, snow, rain, sickness . . .

Seriously - if there’s a Monday you don’t get The Land of Random - start blowing up my inbox.

Anyway, let’s hope in - shall we?

🚚Mobile Snack Stores

Doordash, Ubereats, and the like are egregiously expensive.

Unless I get some sort of discount code that makes using them cheaper than going to the restaurant OR my family is sick - we never really use these services.

Enter Robomart - a mobile convenience store

The first time I heard about this - I was delighted! It’s like the old ice cream truck, but high-tech.

It looks like you’ll order the van to come to you - and buy stuff when it shows up.

instead of making specific selections, Robomart just sends a van that’s already stocked with a variety of items. Selection will vary; some vans will stock standard convenience store munchies, while others will carry personal care and hygiene items such as would be found at the corner drug store. Once the van arrives, the customer will unlock it using the Robomart app, which opens the side door of the van to reveal the attractive and enticing array of goods. Customer selections are logged by RFID sensors, the account is billed, and the van moves on to its next stop. (source)

So cool! I imagine that prices will be a bit more than your average gas station convenience store - but hopefully without all the extra fees.

Someday - the vehicles may be completely autonomous - but are currently piloted by humans.

While CEO and founder Ali Ahmed’s original vision for Robomart was a fleet of self-driving vehicles, and indeed the first prototype van was autonomous, the regulatory structure to support fully autonomous delivery in the company’s target markets just wasn’t in place. So rather than wait for it to catch up, the company wisely chose to test the “store to your door” concept first. It’s arguably the true innovation here anyway, and seeing if the market will reward the idea is probably more important than the gee-whiz factor of having the van be self-driving. They do their best to conceal that fact, though — the van’s windows are heavily tinted, and the driver remains in the cockpit and doesn’t interact with customers during stops. Sounds like a great gig for introverts. (source)

The really cool part is that they have different trucks for different needs - including a pharmacy, cafe, snacks, and groceries.

It’s the convenience of Ubereats - but without the hassle and fees.

I look forward to following along on Robomart’s growth. Hopefully, it comes to all 50 states!

Check them out!

🏚️DIY Guest House

Ever wanted to build your own office?

Now you can!

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of building some sort of external office or guest house - but have always found the plans available rather daunting.

So - I’ve always been really interested in kits. Legos for adults, if you will.

I discovered this external office kit you can buy from Allwood for 9K.

source

Heck - you can even put in a space for a bed if you want to.

It’s about 227 square feet - and would be perfect for a home office. Here’s a concept shot of the space inside.

source

The tricky part would be wiring it up with AC and water - maybe even plumbing. Hypothetically - you could probably turn that little nook on the right-hand side into a teeny tiny bathroom

OR

Install the wall - turn THAT part into a bathroom/shower and put a rollable mattress (Japanese style) in the right-side corner.

It would be a lot of fun to figure out how to turn it into an office / extra room.

Go check it out and Allwood’s other backyard kits. They even have entire homes you can build!

☠️RIP Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is dead.

It’s gone.

The subreddit for it is completely dead - the last post is 2 years old.

The Monster got Internet Explorer Chan

Yeah - That’s an official Microsoft Internet Explorer promo from 8 years ago

Though . . . if you’re in the mood for Internet Explorer anime . . .there’s this hilarious webtoon. Seriously - it’s HILARIOUS and has a ton of niche knowledge about web browsers.

For example

I Forgot about poor Netscape Navigator

Actually - while we’re on the topic of personifying stuff with Anime characters - I’m convinced anything could be turned into a fascinating + emotional story with the webtoon medium.

Seriously - by the 6th minute of this video - you won’t be able to stop watching.

You may be asking - ok, like that “last phone booth” a few weeks ago, there’s gotta be more to this. Microsoft can’t completely stop all IE support.

Internet Explorer is now “mostly dead” - it still exists on a couple versions of Windows for now, but will be phased out soon.

Heck - the page for downloading IE Explorer 11 still exists.

Realistically - I expect it to survive for years to come on Windows 7 Business - but that’ll probably be the last frontier.

I’m sure - even today - there’s thousands of people across the world who are grumbling about using Microsoft Edge.

Heck - i’m betting that there’s some companies that probably got messed up BAD, if this reddit thread is any indication.

Y2K memes right?

source

Yeah - I’m not surprised at all. Many companies run on the “why works, why change it” model.

They’re probably getting by on older versions of Windows that still support IE, or are scraping by using the Microsoft Edge IE mode.

Check out this huge reddit thread for more nostalgia.

🐙The Land of Random

Random Randomness for your random wanderings on the vast and ancient net

Off Grid Island

This is awesome

The Raw Text Club

A niche social network that you can interact with through the GNU/Linux Shell

Microwaver 59

It’s a game within an interactive retro TV

Quasi AI Market

Start playing with AI models - like making poetry, charcoal sketches, 3D designs . . .

Wiki Wars

Ah yes - the old Wiki Wars - but as an app! Can you reach your Wiki page target faster than your opponent.

Let It Go

but in ye olde English

Declassified Drone Swarm docs

Some interesting info about those mysterious drone swarms that flew around US naval ships over the past few years. Crazy stuff.

🎵TikToks You Can’t Miss

It’s true - if you niche down well, you can do well

When the preppy guy hits the beat

I HAD THE YELLOW ONE I MISS THESE

I do not want a snow room - I want a snow ship

Ok - this is meta walking dead humor, but it’s funny

This is true - and I’ve never thought about it

The Land of Web3

Aki Story

Aki Story is an interesting Anime style NFT project with ambitious goals - hoping to create an Artist focused DAO, metaverse gallery, and more! (The metaverse gallery looks really cool). They’re currently working I really like the lo-fi + anime aesthetic, so I picked up one for 0.012 this week. I’m looking forward to seeing how the roadmap develops.

• Before there was BAYC - there was Rare Pepe

• Solar Labs claims to be a decentralized VPN. Interesting!

• Looksrare created conditional NFT listing - very cool

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