Sound Buttons is an intentionally tiny, mildly meditative, app for your iPhone. Find it here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sound-buttons-tiny-music-toy/id6743234562 Why did I make this? I made Sound Buttons in order to try out a few things: Overall, this was a successful project! More on each of those points below: React Native I’d last tried React Native about 4 […]
Night Lights a Toddler Toy Update
Always fun opening an old code base! Years ago a friend and I published an iOS app that we designed for our (at the time) toddlers to play. It’s a really simple colors, shapes, and sounds app that is purposefully designed to not be annoying for parents. That’s an underserved niche on the app store! […]
Converting a Yuba Boda Boda into a Cargo EBike
Last week I finished converting a Yuba Boda Boda Step-Over from an acoustic bike to an electric bike. I’ve now taken it out on a few rides to the gym and to downtown (once with a kid on the back!) and can confirm that it works very well. It’s quick, quiet, and rides smoothly. I […]
“So what’s next?”
Last week, along with a cadre of incredible people, my time at SkySpecs came to an end. Everyone I worked with there was smart, driven, and a joy to be around. I’m immensely proud of the work we were able to do together. Go hire all of them! Your organization will be better for it. […]
A Short Synopsis of Types in TypeScript
A year or so ago I was working with an intern who was new to TypeScript. It made me realize that getting up to speed on syntax for types can be somewhat tricky. At the time it was hard to google for answers to basic questions (I think the age of LLMs being everywhere has […]
Adjusting tone arm vertical travel and the motor speed on a Denon DP-300F
Recently picked up a used Denon DP-300F for a very good price from FB Marketplace. The price was due to a few issues it had that I was pretty sure I could fix. The seller disclosed the first one and the second one was a surprise: Both adjustments, now that I have done them, were […]
Let’s Encrypt SSL Certs on Namecheap
I’ve been very happy with my move to Namecheap for hosting. The only downside so far has been their SSL certs. They don’t support Let’s Encrypt in their cpanel and instead make you pay for certs. The first year, however, is free! Well, it’s been about a year and I started to get emails about […]
Caldigit TS3 Plus Audio Jack and Spotify
March 12 2025 update: nope, happening with Plexamp as well. Guessing this is just a problem with the Caldigit dock and M1 macbooks. It does seem to get worse the more than is going on with my computer. Probably related to system resources. Feb. 24 2025 update: I switched to using a usb-c to headphone […]
Do you have any thoughts on programs or stacks for learning web development?
A friend asked me this recently and I wanted to capture my response. I’m curious to look back on it in a few years to see what will have changed. Assuming they want to work on the web: there’s a few primary categories of programming computers you need to know about: I do think it’s […]
DuPage County Hardcore
There was a surprisingly robust hardcore music scene in the extremely suburban county I grew up in. I was never fully in that world for a lot of reasons; however, I hung out on the periphery and have a fondness for it. Recently I ran across the work by Dave Hofer to digitize the music […]