🧀The Cheez-It Cafe, the Apple Watch Phone, and the Daylight Computer
I love Cheez-its
Hello!
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Land of Random. We had a wonderful time in Arkansas last week - visiting our family.
It was a pretty quick trip too - just Friday to Monday!
Lots of fun too.
Happy Memorial Day! It’s so commercialized these days but I do try to stop and read/remember the sacrifices of the many soldiers throughout the US’s history.
Last year we watched Hacksaw Ridge - which is an incredible story.
The internet was filled with quite a bit of drama this week - ranging from Chris-Chans alleged cursed sonic medallions, ducks watching a meteor, or Spotify planning to brick all Carthings in December.
AND SUCH SADNESS - Kabosu the doge dog died. :( Much Sad. Such loss.
I’m quite annoyed about the second - I use my Carthing every time I hop in the car. It’s extremely convenient!
Hey everyone - pay money for this device so we can brick it in a few years - making your purchase worthless!
It’s frustrating enough to make me go buy an iPod and swear off streaming music - but I’m not there yet.
Did you hear about the War of the Worlds horror survival shooter? It looks really interesting. I’d like to give it a shot in addition to trying Once Human.
Oh! and Hyundai might actually put the N74 into production.
Let’s hop in shall we?
🧀The Cheez-it Cafe
I don’t eat many Cheez-Its these days, but I do love them so much.
They’re cheesy, crispy, salty . . .
I know they’re full of all sorts of things that aren’t good for me - but I’ll always have a fond place in my heart for a big box of cheez-its.
I heard earlier last week that a Cheez-It diner was opening up for a week long popup in New York - and I instantly fantasized about driving to New York.
Like - look at these photos.
Retro 50’s aesthetic, cheez-it flavored everything.
(Cheez-it chicken tenders, biscuits, fries, and even a milkshake!)
The diner looks really cool - there’s even a jukebox that works when you put in an actual cheez-it.
Ray Out There covers this and other cool stuff in his video review.
There’s a bunch of short TikTok videos and such but I do like a good longform review.
The saddest part about this whole experience is that it was only open for one week - and it closed a few days ago . . .
I wish these kinds of brand collabs lasted longer, or were perhaps even semi-permanent.
Why not have it open for a year or three?
Anyway - at least we have the Tacobell Cheez-it collab to look forward to!
Read more about it at the link!
📞The Apple Watch Phone
Remember the Rabbit R1? That quirky little AI device that kinda feels like a real life NFT?
I was pretty stoked when I heard about it and watched the launch video - but now i’m like - how actually useful would this be. Probably not so useful . . . It can’t do enough features on its own to survive without a cellphone.
CoffeeZilla has practically bodied the company.
What if the idea of the R1 (a third way device) could be remixed?
Cake uses an Apple Watch as its base - a clever idea since modern Apple Watches can act as a stand alone device these days.
The idea seems to be that you can choose this device as an alternative to smartphones or dumbphones - enough screen to do the essentials, but NOT scroll mindlessly.
It’s an intriguing idea - a mini device that can do all the things we need without being as limited as the lightphone.
I imagine that they’ll be building some kind of custom app to make this idea feel fluid and not “janky.”
How will they make this work within the Apple Ecosystem?
Let’s see what happens!
☀The Daylight Computer
The “third way” of the computer age is ratcheting up every year.
From the Lightphone to Boox eink tablets, and other devices (including the Cake concept we just discussed) the desire to have tech but stop the endless scroll is strong.
I wrote a bit about the growing E-ink ecosystem back in October if you’re interested.
The Daylight Computer is a black and white eink tablet that runs at 60 FPS (wild).
We refuse to accept a future where our devices are exhausting, addictive, and distracting . . . The vision for Daylight is to build a whole ecosystem of healthier, more humane computers that respect our health, attention, and freedom. (source)
It’s Android - so you can install whatever you like. but would you?
Think of Daylight as the ultra cool competitor to a brand like Boox and its Tab Ultra C Pro.
It has an amber glow at night (no blue light), a HUGE battery, and a variety of other features. Personally, my favorite feature is the wacom pen you don’t have to recharge.
The idea of this Tablet is really interesting - though you could install Instagram or other apps - the black and white screen would strongly discourage you.
However - it’d be perfect for reading, writing, and other such activities.
Go check it out!
🐙The Land of Random
Let’s get Random, shall we?
Red Lobster Nostalgia
In honor of Red Lobsters impending bankruptcy, let’s watch some old commercials. (Also - unlimited crab legs for 5 bucks back in 1977 is nuts)
Slice the Pizza
It’s like Fruit Ninja but really lo-fi.
Cicada 3301 - A Solution?
A fascinating dive into a theory that Julian Assange created Cicada 3301.
Open Source Cloud Gaming
That’s just wild - selfhost your own cloud gaming?
Bongo Cat Fidget Toy
Do you love Bongo Cat? Follow along on this clever project!
Scratch and Sniff Stamps
France is selling scratch and sniff stams that smell like a baguette!
You Need to Clean Your Screen
I need to clean my screen
🥀Walled Garden Finds
bro brings a chainless chainsaw to Airsoft
How did you become a millionaire? bento boxes in the USA fam. bento boxes.
AND it’s a labor of love to get these fun old flip phones to work.
Shout out to the Spotify Carthing Subreddit for going to war over the device.
That’s all for this week - unless you’re interested in this creepy seaside condo for sale.