💻Revisiting Kosmik, Cool Music Finds, and outdated tech inflections
how do we use this old stuff?
Hey everyone! Welcome to this week’s edition of . . . The Land of Random.
We’re FINALLY over this wretched flu. The whole family is better, and there’s nary a cough to be had.
Did you pick up a Vision Pro?
I’m amazed at all the videos that I’ve seen of people walking about with them on. It’s the craziest flex.
There’s some really cool apps - like this ambient “living” AI pet simulator.
SAO Ordinal Scale feels a lot more realistic now haha.
Could this be it? the moment VR/AR enters the mainstream?
Who knows. All I know is that I won’t consider it until it’s a LOT more affordable haha.
Arc Internet seems to be RAMPING UP - I’ll be waiting to go all in when the Windows app is officially out. Arc Search looks fun! The “Browse for me” function is epic.
I’ve been getting back into Found Footage Movies. This week, I watched Devil’s Pass - it’s a pretty decent flick!
It’s scary, but not tooo scary. I’m currently watching Grave Encounters (looks to be a lot more scary).
Triangle is a pretty fun thriller horror movie too - I watched that this week.
It’s pretty annoying that Google is getting rid of cached pages. An internet archive likely to rival the work of THE internet Archive - and they’re getting rid of it. (Let’s save lots of money and delete possibly the biggest internet archive ever!)
Sigh.
I really need to go back and archive all my interesting links.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
💻Revisiting Kosmik
Kosmik 2.0 recently launched - so I decided to dive back into the tool.
Kosmik is a really neat blank canvas tool you can use on PC, Mac, and the Web. It’s quite useful for free-flow creativity and research!
Several new and very useful features like tags and multiplayer have been shipped, and public links are coming soon!
The browsable web sticker (you can put websites in your canvas, and browse them) allows you to grab copy and images - and put them directly in your canvas. No switching between tabs!
You can upload PDFs and do the same thing - extracting quotes, paragraphs, and images with a few simple clicks.
Here’s a closer look at one of my noteboards.
I’ve dragged in some notes and screenshots about that TryMinimalist phone to use for the newsletter, as well as a reminder to check out the “Buy Wander” website when it goes live in a few days.
One aspect I really appreciate about Kosmik is that I can do whatever I want - I can make a collage of images like a moodboard, or put sticky notes everywhere.
For example, here’s a mood board I recently put together.
I wonder what other features will be added soon?
For now - Kosmik has made it into my workflow as an active notetaking tool while I write. Once the public links go live - I’ll be sharing them each week!
Stay tuned.
Check out Kosmik at the link!
🎶Cool Music Finds
I’ve been stacking interesting music things, and figured I’d share them today!
Beatblox - This is a fun little drumbeat maker that runs right in your browser. My favorite aspect is that you can play the drumbeats of other users AND modify their beats! It does require account creation - I will warn you. Go check it out.
Faircamp - With the uneasy state of Bandcamp after all the layoffs many indie musicians have been musing over other solutions. Bandcamp has so much useful infrastructure that a world without it would be a sad one indeed. Faircamp is a static site generator made specifically for artists, with all sorts of cool features. Go check it out.
Websynths - Got a fancy to start making some synth music? Check out this fun tool.
Spotify Clients - Am I at the point where I want to start trying alternative Spotify clients (yes I’ll still be paying for premium) just so I don’t have to deal with the over-cluttered UI/UX of Spotify’s official client? I’m almost there. Psst looks fairly interesting, and so does Spotube. You can use BOTH to log into your Spotify account (yes there’s security risks of course).
Ambicular - Listen to a fun tune with a cool dynamic background. It’s a vibe. not sure why there’s just one song, but ok. This website changes every so often . . . Check it out and listen.
48 Key Midi Controller - One of the coolest custom midi controllers I’ve seen in a while. Check it out.
Classical Vaporwave?
😒Outdated Tech Inflections
I have a very ancient iPad Mini that’s permanently stuck on IOS 9.3.5
Most apps don’t work anymore, and even if you do the “download the current app on your other Apple device, then try to download the last compatible version” thing, most of those won’t even log in!
What does work?
Pinterest, Raindrop, Safari, and Puffin Browser
Other apps like YouTube or Reddit will download, but won’t work (or if they do work, won’t let you log in).
I’m sure others work, but . . .
It’s a cat and mouse game of obsolescence.
Eventually, nothing will work, except maybe a few apps kept running by those who want to keep old tech alive.
It’s a vicious cycle that will lead to millions and millions of worthless electronic devices.
Is there anything we can do?
Yeah, we can use them as clocks, calendars, external displays, and all manner of various and asundry very basic functions.
Reddit is full of these sorts of suggestions.
But we rarely go to the trouble - we just toss em’
What if there was some sort of cloud-based web browser created to function across any Smartphone, computer, and Tablet?
Some sort of “Last Resort” designed to allow any old device to live as long as it runs, with the ability to access web versions of any site without the “this is out of date” message.
Maybe some sort of “Legacy OS” with basic apps / web browsing that’s available whenever an old OS hits its expiration date.
I don’t know if it’s possible, but we can dream - right?
🐙The Land of Random
Intoooo the Land of Random we goooo.
The Pinball Map
Find Pinball machines NEAR YOU. There’s even a mobile app so you can leave comments on machines and such.
Infinite Crafting
This is a lot of fun! Just keep dragging and combining elements until you get rocket ships, moon bases, libraries . . . It’s honestly pretty trippy.
Wash with a Whirlpool
Really cool technique for washing laundry with a literal whirlpool
The Ancient Graveyard
Who are the knights? How did we revert back to the Middle Ages? Art by Blake Rottinger
Pixelated Pathways
This is a really sick, really in-depth, and really awesome neocities website, full of all sorts of fun links and resources. If you click one link in this newsletter - it’s this one.
Framework Cyberdeck
THIS IS SUCH A COOL CYBERDECK
The Retro Web
A database for old tech - really cool resources in here.
🎶TikToks You Can’t Miss
This guy is a full-on menace
BattleBots get crazier every decade - A NAILGUN?
No - I don’t think I’ll be playing this.
🤖AI AHHHHHHHHHH
Want to extend your AI Art?
Ok Ok this is a pretty sick art generation though
That’s all for this week, unless . . . you want to read about this insane yacht submarine.