Hi all 👋, this week while writing I reviewed the amazing deals part of the summer edition of Indie App Sales, watched how an F1 car is made, and played a Pokémon Red recreation after seeing it blow up on Threads. I was also trying to keep up with all the news spinning out of SDCC last weekend, including all the amazing books and creators that won Eisner awards. Side note: of all the plentiful coverage from comic con, it's surprisingly hard to find a news article that focuses on the actual comic side of comic con.
In keyboard-town, LumeKeebs is holding an anniversary and moving sale, SaberKeebs underwent a rebrand/update (great DIY/accessory selection here), fan-fave X-Ray keycaps are back-in-stock many places worldwide, and QwertyKeys launched a back-to-school sale!
Onto the features!!
clicks 🔗
Courtesy of @godeskos on instagram.com
→ DeskOS feels like the ultimate command centre upgrade — kind of like if the popular Stream Deck and now defunct Spotify Car Thing had a baby! Made by Toronto-local Connor Savage, this small-screened device is Windows and Mac compatible, and adds three super-powered screens to your setup. The first is a homepage filled with easily glance-able info (time, date, weather), second is a detailed music page that displays lyrics, tracks, album art, etc., and the third is a controller page that's fully customizable. Launch programs, execute shortcuts, control apps, adjust volume with precise control, and it's even got a dev API to create your own custom plugins. All this and it's $60 cheaper than a Stream Deck, which retails for around $150 — sounds like a steal to me. Only addition I would love to see (which I'm not even sure is technically possible) is a BYOS (bring-your-own-screen) option to use an existing monitor or tablet to replicate the DeskOS feature-set.
Courtesy of @louiscada on threads.com
→ Productivity apps are always fun finds to test out and explore as I'm always looking for new ways to help organize my life and creative projects — masterfile by Louis combines a ton of useful tools into one central place. 5 tools in 1 app are on feature here — scratchpad, notes, vault for passwords or accounts, budgeting, and a kanban board for projects. Two standouts for me here are the scratchpad and kanban. Scratchpad feels mandatory for an app like this — without diving into other sections of the app, you just jot anything down on the pad when you launch the app, and masterfile will recommend where and how to file it. It also acts as a temporary space for thoughts to live before they get more officially dealt with or stored away. Kanban board is great here as well, something I've sorely missed when switching from Notion to Obsidian, so it's nice to have that visual task breakdown format here.
clacks 🔗
Courtesy of @its.hymn on instagram.com
→ A project over four years in the making, Type Box 101800 has finally arrived. Keyboard designer and render artist hYmn first posted about this board in 2022 and while small design changes and new variants were developed over the years, the project skyrocketed when Werk Technica joined the effort in December of last year. Werk is a keyboard company based out of Tübingen, Germany with a few boards and GBs already under their belt. Their other boards fit beautifully with the design language and style of the Typebox — as Zaum from Werk puts it best, their “futuristic yet nostalgic” boards were the perfect match for a collaboration. The Type Box is a big (and heavy) board, so that means it's also going to be expensive. Regardless, it's amazing to see this project come to fruition after this long. It's invite only for now, but the board is launching tomorrow, August 2nd, on a first come-first serve basis through Werk Technica's website.
Courtesy of keychron.com
→ One of the standout announcements at CES this year was one that flew a bit under the radar from Keychron — their new Nape Pro. After a few months of mostly radio silence, the Nape Pro, a trackball/macropad hybrid, has finally released. It's got a unique look with the main trackball in the middle, surrounded by a dial, and 6 silent click buttons. The idea here is that it can be placed anywhere, in any orientation — under the spacebar, left/right of your board, in-between a split, etc. — and acts as a full mouse replacement or supplement to any existing setup. Big draw here is also the ZMK firmware compatibility, meaning every button, click, and function on the mouse can be programmed and changed to another key or action. I only wish they kept the HAL 9000-esque red trackball.
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. Email [email protected] (or reply to this issue!) and have a great weekend!!
