APR.19.2025 - #20

Hi all 👋, an abundance of exciting developments are happening in the tech and keeb-verse this week and we've got no time to waste, so let's get right into it!!

While writing this issue I've been testing The Browser Company of New York's Dia, currently in invite-only alpha (thanks to Thư for inviting me 🙏). In the past I've been hyper-critical of Arc/Dia/BCNY, but this alpha version is a simple, clean, content-aware, AI-enhanced browser. It's not as much of an over-bearing AI operator as I thought it would be (yet), but I am still skeptical and will be keeping a close eye 👀 on how this product and its features evolve. I also signed up to track Atomic Keyboard's progress on their Severance keyboard replica, have been scrolling through this awesome visual essay by The Pudding about the DNA of music, and am providing backseat IT tech support to my girlfriend who is jailbreaking her Kindle (shoutout to Jeff for his awesome videos on the subject, and for making me want to buy a Spotify CarThing now to mod it).

clicks 🔗

High-res sound, retro look

→ I've been captivated by the vibe of this mini DAC (Digital-to-Analog converter) from Fiio's new sub-brand, Snowsky. It's fair to say Fiio has been a major player in the high-quality audiophile gear game for quite a while now, and the release of this sub-brand brings an interesting refresh, stepping away from Fiio's clean, minimal, and sleek branding. This device, the Retro Nano, is inspired by classic Walkmans and old-school cassette players, vibrantly stands out with two colour-ways (baby blue and bright white), and includes retro-inspired stickers/skins for the casing. It's got a small built-in display to show a “tape-turning” animation or audio statistics, a powerful chip with output to drive medium to high-end IEM's, and my favourite feature is the removable battery which reminds me of a simpler time when all batteries in tech could pop-out to be fixed, replaced, or swapped with ease instead of dealing with proprietary internal fixed batteries.

Access your most used folders, anywhere

→ Folder Slice by Hunter is a small tool for macOS which I've been using recently to help further streamline my workflow and file organization. The app lives as a permanent icon on the menubar which grants quick access to any folder location on your Mac. I use it to quickly access all my screenshots, as I take a lot of screengrabs, and instead of keeping a Finder window open constantly, I can now consistently access them through Folder Slice. I find it useful to be able to browse, filter, sort, and preview the files within any selected folder with this tool, without ever having to leave it. The free version allows you to pin and access only one folder, but there is a premium subscription (with a lifetime option 👍) to pin more and use some other pro features.

Tiny tools that pack a punch

→ Next up is a simple AI powered productivity toolset made to help neurodivergent folk—Goblin Tools is available for free as a web application or as a one-time purchase on the Google Play or iOS App Store. These incredibly wholesome tools were created by Bram De Buyser to aid in the completion of tasks by expanding them, breaking them down, or providing extra context/information. Some of these tools include a magical To-Do list, a Pro/Con consultant, a meal brainstorming tool, and much more! All of this is done with AI models, using ethical generation models wherever available, and is designed to be as accessible as possible. Shout-out to my girlfriend who originally discovered this and insisted I feature it—I was stuck in a rut attempting to find the elusive third feature and Goblin Tools was the perfect link to end off this week's clicks.

clacks ⌨️

Premium ergo split from QK

→ Starting off the clacks strong this week is the long-awaited group buy for the Alice Duo from QwertyKeys. This keeb features the Alice layout, which is an angled format that splits and staggers the keys in order to provide a more ergonomic setup that follows the natural bend of your wrists. The Duo also features a very cool “tenting” feature allowing the board to sit at adjustable angles to further reduce wrist fatigue, and enables you to customize your typing positions. One of my favourite features has to be the cute wireless pod, which gives the board an 8000Hz polling rate in wireless mode while displaying keyboard info like battery, connection, and OS mode. All this comes in a fairly priced package and many of the videos and reviews I've seen so far speak quite highly of the board. I'm deciding whether I should pull the trigger on one of these, but I am plagued with indecision as all the colourways are beautiful.

“Stop trying to make vibe-coding happen”

→ “Engineered for excellence”, “premium feel”, and “10x productivity”—these are some exaggerated claims made by Fine.dev, the makers of the Accept Button, “a single key that transforms your workflow”. I'm gonna burst the bubble a bit here, it's a keycap, just the tab key, that's all it is, just a keycap…selling for $10. Obviously, this “button” is aimed at the ever-growing community of vibe-coders and vibe-coding platforms that have popped-up at an exponentially high rate recently. For the unaware, vibe-coding is the act of writing code and developing apps, websites, or platforms with the heavy assistance of AI doing all the actual code writing for you—”just vibing”, “going with the flow”, or “accepting” the code suggestions as they are presented to you (hence the name of this product). Not so obviously, however, is whether this product is satire—some the marketing/branding seems a bit over the top and kinda jokey, but you can really buy this thing (well the checkout page looks legit, but I'm not spending $10 + shipping + Canadian customs fees just to check) and it launched for real on Product Hunt. I think it's simply a cute, tongue-in-cheek way to have some fun and celebrate the vibe-coding community—Fine even made variants of the keycap for Cursor, Loveable, v0, and Bolt (other vibe-coding or no/low code platforms).

Simple E-Ink PDA

→ A little while ago, my girlfriend discovered this video about a DIY, pocketable, e-ink device made by YouTuber Ashtf. I held off on featuring it—not for any particular reason, it just fell through the cracks as other features kept popping up. But now, Ashtf is back again with a v2 of his mini-productivity machine, and it's here to cap off another wonderful week of incredible features. This little device with no name is a clamshell style personal digital assistant (PDA) with both an e-ink and OLED display, and a fully custom OS created by Ashtf himself. In this second version, I particularly enjoy the hardware upgrades like the touch capacitive bar beside the screen, and the new keyboard which is made up of custom 3D-printed mini keycaps. The software upgrades are nothing to scoff at either—it was fascinating to see Ashtf talk about the difficulties of e-ink displays and their delicate nature, and how some upgrades to the second smaller OLED screen helped to reduce the number of times the main e-ink needed to complete a full refresh. Keep a close eye on Ashtf's channel, as more updates will be on the way soon and maybe, just maybe, a version or dev-kit of this device might be sold once it is fully developed.

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it, and now it’s time to hear from YOU 🫵. I want to know your opinion—what you liked, what you loved, what you didn’t like, what you skipped. Reach out at mail.clicksnclacks.com (or reply to this email!) and have a great weekend!!