Andrew Minchew Online HQ

Links from the past week or so 2026-05-05

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For a while I had enabled the “close my tabs after 24 hours” feature in my mobile browser, which was good for cleanup, but it also meant that I lost the occasional long read or product that I was thinking about purchasing or whatever. I know I could check the history, or use something like Raindrop.io to save links for later, but the visual cue of the tab thumbnails makes it easier to flip through them as a history of recent diversions.

Also, similar to my recent thinking on publishing long discarded ideas to a blog post, this is kind of in the same vein. I have left these tabs open for some reason, either I have thoughts about the article, I considered buying the product and might come back to it later, etc. Putting those things in a note and leaving it to die feels like a waste, so I thought maybe I’ll just turn these into a blog post. You can read them in the meantime, and when I need them, I can just search my own site!

This is a lot of stuff. Hopefully I can build a rythm and post smaller bits, more frequently.

Products

I assume it was after moving into a 2 story house that I started thinking along the lines of “put the tools you need where you need them”. Going to the garage for a tape measure while working on something upstairs, or walking in to the kitchen junk drawer for a box cutter while at my workbench in the garage got on my nerves for the last time. So, I have started gradually adopting a “downstairs, upstairs, and garage” strategy for common tools (box cutter, tape measure, multi-tip screw driver, etc). Also, a box cutter that doesn’t require a screwdriver to change the blade seems like the right way to go. To that end, these are on my shopping list.

Been thinking about getting these or something like it as a stocking stuffer or something along those lines. These flash lights kinda have the same vibe as a zippo lighter, which makes them more compelling for me…

My Xbox One X has been showing its age lately. My wife wanted to play Hogwarts Legacy, I ended up being the surrogate controller operator while we experienced the storyline together. About halfway through, my hard drive bit the dust. I splurged on a 1TB SSD upgrade at IFixIt (good experience, btw). But seeing Forza Horizon 6 coming out in a few weeks and knowing that I’ll be relegated to streaming it… I’m just starting to itch for a new console. Both the kids have Steam Decks, so I’ll confess I’m getting a little steam-pilled. But I’m also a fan of several Nintendo franchises (Mario, Yoshi, Animal Crossing, MarioKart). And finally, the new attention that Xbox is getting from Microsoft has me thinking that whatever is coming down the pipeline there might actually be worth waiting for. But with the ram-pocalypse in full swing, I’m also disinclined to drop a grand on any system… so, considering that I recently picked up a new iPhone after pushing my XS Max to the absolute limit, I’ve started considering simply buying something like the Pocket Taco, or a backbone, and seeing if I can wait it out til the future clears up a little. Also the Playdate looks adorable and fun. Decisions decisions.

These are lightbulbs that you screw into regular sockets, but they have a built in battery and I think they automatically come on if the power goes out? And they have a ‘handle’ so you can easily carry them around as lanterns. I may buy these as a gift for the house as a hurricane preparedness gift.

Along the same lines, these are full on lamps that have a battery built in. I guess I’m smitten with the idea of home lighting that’s really flexible… I’ve often daydreamed about the idea of just having hooks in all the places you need light, but only having one light per person in the house, and then you carry your light around with you throughout your evening activities.

Constrained phones are always compelling to me. I’ve also got a nostalgic streak for anything with a physical keyboard. But if I’m honest with myself, anything that runs a modern phone OS, I’d probably end up loading it down with the same junk I have on my main phone. If I was going to lean into a minimal phone, I think I’d have to get one of the new Nokia 3310s. But there are still a few things that I would hate to carry a second device for (podcasts, music subscription, good camera, maps, threaded chat history).

Software / Web Tools

When ChatGPT first started picking up steam, I had wondered whether it could be a mediator for personal conflicts. Fortunately someone else thought along the same lines and took the time to build a product!

At first I thought this was just like itty.bitty.site, but after spending a little more time I guess it writes the info into the Nostr network and because of that it can actually store infinitely more than whatever the initial setup configuration declares. For a long time I have fantasized about geographically specific forums so that you can only post when you’re at a specific place, or possibly setting up something that’s just for people on my street to keep in touch…

I’m perpetually interested in anything that uses minimal technology. Plaintext or ASCII in the headline is a guaranteed click even if I never end up using them for anything.

I like that someone’s reviving something old, and I like the idea of having to touch phones to connect, but I also have my doubts. But I guess it doesn’t have to become the next Facebook, maybe it’s just a cool, small place for people to hang out. Is my own “how can I turn this hobby into a business” impulse the same impulse that leads people to ask “how can I turn this business into a megacorporationmonopoly”?

I like the thought of adding something like this into my workflow, but I doubt whether I'll ever take the time to implement it.

Hobbies

I started cross stitching in the last 6 months or so, but I haven’t taken the plunge of a text project yet. I’m thinking about doing a poem or a favorite quote. Every time a pixel font post comes across hacker news, I can’t help but look.

This interests me from the “turn a photo into a cross-stitch project” perspective. Tools like FlossCross are great, but you end up with a ton of colors in your project and then the algorithm that scales them back doesn’t seem to have much aesthetic decision making built in.

I’ve been growing more and more curious about playing Mahjong lately. I like that it is more physically than a deck of cards. It’s really old and still actively played, so obviously there’s some strategic depth to it…

Need to remember this tool next time I have a project where I want to enable comments simply.

Media

I only listen to two podcasts anymore these days. Nothing much happens is great for falling asleep to (the stated purpose of the podcast) and No Such Thing as a Fish is great for the short drives that I make over the course of my week. It’s just funny, British people talking about interesting facts. No news, no politics, no anxiety.

Nostalgia for the way the internet used to be…

Neocities hosts some really charming little corners of the small web.

Anxieties

This is a good read. We waited way too long to push back on social media companies - maybe we won’t be buffaloed by AI companies the same way?

This seems like a big problem… a functional government would advocate for the consumers in its constituency, so our only hope is that the EU does something about this…

Hope for the future

I’ve stumbled upon this a few times. Really interesting and I hope we see more microforest projects crop up in the US.

Cool thought, but I doubt it will actually pan out. I think we need more co-ops in America, but it’s hard for me to imagine that a co-op has a chance against a mega-corp in court, and I think it’s inevitable that a successful, competitive co-op would fall prey to malicious litigation from a larger, more corporate competitor.

If you read this far, thanks for sticking around. If you have thoughts about any of this stuff, I'd love to hear it.

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