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🧐The Internet Looks Inward, and Van Life

alt social media 2 explore

David Nichols

Sep 18, 2023

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

It’s been a busy week in the world - the new iPhone unveiling, Binance US looking like it might collapse, and a new trailer for the Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty DLC.

(Can’t wait to play it - I’ve started a new Cyberpunk playthrough under “corpo” - and will likely play as “street kid” as a parallel playthrough once Phantom Liberty drops).

I tend to be a “run and gun” guy when it comes to FPS games - but I’m going to try and get more into the hacking this time around.

OH - and we CAN’T forget Unity adding new fees based on game installs - a move that has garnered an insane amount of blowback.

We’re still getting used to our son’s sleep schedule - well I should say - lack thereof.

He doesn’t like to sleep at nights . . .

It’s starting to cool down here in Middle Tennessee. It’s cool in the mornings/ nights - but around 80 during the day.

Have you checked out Spotify’s new “Daylist” playlist? It evolves throughout your day - based on your previous listening history. It’s really neat!

OH - today’s first article is so long (oops) that I’m only doing two main topics this week (a rarity I know).

Well - let’s dive on in!

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🧐The Internet Looks Inward

I wonder if we’re on the cusp of a return to “myspace-style” social media.

As with all new apps - only a few will survive, most will perish, and maybe - just maybe - one will go viral.

MAYBE one of ‘em will that that Bereal “indie” hit - or the “this is another app you will spend an hour on every day for Lord knows how long” TikTok glow-up.

I’ve been keeping an eye on several apps recently - but this Techcrunch article about “Stealth Startup Favs” was the one that made me go . . .

Ok - I’ve started seeing a lot of these now.

Taking elements of old apps - and stripping them down to minimalist intimate apps with your friends.

Even Clubhouse is trying to rebrand to being centered around voice-only group chats with your friends.

The article mentions Retro (essentially a private Instagram for just you and your close friends -not on android yet - RIP) and a few others I hadn’t heard of.

The creator Saba Karim - has noticed just how different modern social media is - and wanted to focus on real-life friends.

he had kept a particularly close eye on the consumer social space and saw the growing demand for networks that were re-focusing on real-world friendships and connections, like Rex, Moments, Catchup and Retro.“Social media today is really full of ads, brand creators and influencers,” he says. “That’s not a bad thing. I enjoy that. But I feel like there’s too much noise — where’s my friends in it?” (source)

Yeah! Where are our friends in all the ads and brand memes?

Favs currently has a VIP waitlist (it’s a long google form I’ll warn ya) and seems to “ focus on friends’ updates and what’s really going on in their lives.“ (source)

Before we dive into the apps I’ve been tracking - I’ll do a few quick bullet points on the others mentioned in the Techcrunch article.

Rex - Discover your friend’s recommendations - I gave it a download and it’s essentially a private version of Google Maps reviews. Could be very useful if you “and the squad” do a lot of stuff out and about
Moments app - Wants to be a “single flow” - it’s a lot like TikTok tbh. Eh. I’m not convinced.
Catchup is designed quite literally just to nudge you to connect with your friends - at intervals you decide. Nifty!!!

Ok - now that those are out of the way - here’s the ones I’ve been personally tracking. I have a “fragment” underneath each one to off-hand mention how features have been “unbundled” from major platforms.

Shelf App - Share what you’re into with your friends (music, books, tv shows, podcast, etc) - Can’t wait to check this out. It’s like all the things you randomly mention that you like on FB/IG/Tiktok all slammed into one app.

FRAGMENT - It’s Facebook interests from your profile - but in one cohesive app.

Daze is “a calendar for friends” - I have no idea what this is or when it comes out - but it’s by at least some of the same crew that was behind the TRAGICALY DECEASED muze.chat.

FRAGMENT - who knows.

The Airbuds App - Your friends’ music living in a WIDGET on your homescreen. Looks like so much fun - just passively see what you’re friends are into.

FRAGMENT - Spotify/Facebook/Discord where you can see what your friends are listening to.

Nospace.app - Looking like a minimalist return of Myspace. :) While we’re here, we can’t forget old Spacehey. :)

FRAGMENT - Rejection of FB - embracing of minimalist social media.

Slingshot - Another twist on Snapchat - but faster and more minimalist.

FRAGMENT: - Snapchat is bloated these days, and Bereal’s rules are annoying.

Ok! That’s about all I have on this topic for now. I’m looking forward to seeing which one of these makes it!

🚙Van Life

Ahhhh - the Van Life. Oh to explore the world in a giant camper van.

Well - ideally a “sleeper build” so people can’t eyeball your camper.

Like this one. This one is awesome.

I watch more of these than I should - perhaps we’ll try this someday after the kids move away . . .

I discovered a company on TikTok that build entire “slide in units” to instantly convert any van to a sleeper van.

WHAT? That’s so COOL.

The company is called Vancubic, and they’ll CAMPERIZE YOUR VAN IN ONE HOUR.

They have these giant cubes filled with important items like kitchens, beds . . . and they slide them RIGHT INTO YOUR VAN.

Check out this sick demo video

Isn’t that SO COOL?

The cheapest version starts at 15,990 euros - all the way up to 23,990 euros (depending on what features you want).

With this setup - you could easily retrofit a used van to be a nomad van in no time. Everyone loves the idea of DIY - but between the many hours of DIY or the expensive cost of a new modern build - this could fit somewhere in the middle.

I’m not sure if you could get them shipped to the States, but I hope so!

Go check out Vancubic at the link.

Vancubic

🐙The Land of Random

Randommmm Randoommmmmmm

Search Wikipedia by Vibes

When you want to search Wikipedia using normal semantics - for example - “Spiderman villain with electricity” gets you to Electro. It’s a pretty cool tool!

Start Searching

Watch videos, listen to songs - and more - by TIME

pudding.cool has done it again with multiple little projects where you can interact with the time by music, yt videos, and more - based on the minute of the day.

Oh Look at the Time