AUG.02.2025 - #35

Hi all 👋, this week while writing this issue I went out to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theatres which was, may I say…fantastic. I think it has been a marvellous summer for blockbusters and each new release continues to one up another. Moreover, I am obsessing over the soundtracks from these films—whether it's listening to the FF orchestra live, watching behind-the-scenes with Hans Zimmer for F1, or gearing up for Tron: Ares with the newest release by NIN. I've also been following some of the ongoing controversy regarding stolen artwork in Pokémon TCG Pocket's newest update, and exploring Ollama's new standalone app.

A fun time-waster and new pastime for me this week was re-discovering the Clockology community/app to spice up my Apple Watch. I was driven to make some of my own watch faces after missing out on the FF X Fossil watch drop I mentioned a few issues ago. You can check out some pics I posted here on Threads, and if you're a Clockology user yourself, you can download my custom faces here. Shout-out to u/nimbus134 on Reddit and the Clockology community on Telegram for inspiration and for their watch faces which I used as templates—definitely check out their great work.

In the keyboard world, vendor LumeKeebs is holding an anniversary sale, ending tomorrow (Aug 3rd)—check out their Reddit post for all the details and discount codes. I've also been watching Matthew Encina's newest videos on re-branding Mode and developing a new “Industrial Series” of keebs and desk accessories.

Time to dive into this week's features!

clicks 🔗

Make phones small again

→ I miss small phones. I miss weird phones. I miss the innovation and oddities that came from smaller brands. With Apple no longer continuing the iPhone mini/SE line-up, or the foldable form-factor still being a large rectangle unfolding to be a slightly larger rectangle, it feels like truly pocketable options are hard to come by. Enter the MindOne—a small, square, card-shaped device made by iKKO. This brand's previous product, the ActiveBuds, are an interesting device that morphed a wireless earbuds case with a touchscreen and loaded with AI. The “loaded with AI” part—which is also a huge selling point for the MindOne—is not appealing to me in the slightest and has also caused big problems for iKKO in the past. However, it seems iKKO may have learned something from this—they fixed most of the bugs/security issues with their ActiveBuds, seem to be more transparent, and are staying in-touch more with the community for the MindOne. Recent updates like GPL v2.0 compliance, a QWERTY keyboard attachment, an unlock-able bootloader, open-sourcing the ROM, and even users on Reddit saying that iKKO can provide a “clean” Android 15 install feel like steps in the right direction. Some uncertainty still looms—until review units actually begin to land in the hands of real people and reviewers, we won't truly know how this device performs. I'll be patiently waiting for that day to arrive with some hope that it turns out to be an awesome device.

Magnificent playlist makeovers!

→ Made by Ashwin, Denim is a wonderful tool to help you create beautiful looking artwork for your playlists on music streaming services. I was looking for a way to enhance the aesthetics of my Apple Music library after fully making the switch from Spotify (due to my strong opposition to the CEO's recent investments), and Denim checked all my boxes. It's simple, beautifully designed, comes pre-loaded with some fun era/genre based artwork, and enables you to make completely custom creations effortlessly. Also in my migration journey from Spotify to Apple Music I found another app, SongShift, incredibly useful—it has made the transfer of playlists, albums, and songs a breeze. If you're looking to make the streaming-switch, or just wanted to refresh some of your stale looking playlists, I can't recommend these two apps enough.

It's all fun and games

→ The Atari 2600 watch is a no-frills fitness tracker and gaming device for your wrist. Based off of the Atari console of the same name, this retro device was made by My Play Watch who also makes other gaming/fitness watches with themes like Space Invaders and Tetris. The 2600 watch is not overly expensive at $79.99 USD, and it keeps it simple in the feature department—no phone notifications/distractions, just basic tracking (heart rate, steps taken, calories burned), and 4 games. The included games are Pong, Centipede, Super Breakout, and Missile Command. In games like Pong or Super Breakout, the built-in twisting crown acts as a control for the paddle. It also has some built-in applications like a timer, stopwatch, calendar, and calculator, so it's still a useful timepiece outside of the gaming distractions.

clacks ⌨️

"Gotta clack 'em all"

→ This week, I received my long awaited delivery from Vietnam-based keycap design studio S-Craft, who make incredibly detailed and limited-edition Pokémon-themed artisan keycaps. Every few months they drop a new group-buy batch. I was able to snag some caps (Fuecoco, Dragonair, and Espeon specifically) along with a stylish Master Ball keycap stand/holder from their 12th batch. Since then, they've released a unique desk-lamp Gengar accessory and dropped another “DreamyMon” keycap collection! I've been following the S-Craft crew for many years now, and I am so glad I was finally able to join in on this limited-time sale. If you're interested, I'd recommend following S-Craft on Instagram and turning on their post notifications to receive the most up-to-date info on future drops!

Mini-ortho precision

→ Keeb-creator Chosfox have recently launched their Kickstarter for the Geonix Rev.2—a low-profile 40% ortholinear keyboard. Geonix is an update and enhancement to their previous board which carries the same name. This time around, the Rev.2 has an all-new case design with a CNC-machined aluminum body, paired with shiny Mahjong tile-like keycaps. It's a nice looking mini-board—perfect for on-the-go typing, and I really like the bright white cap design. Check out all the other switches, caps, and boards that Chosfox produces over on their website too!

Distraction-free DIY e-ink

→ Finishing off this week of features is the ZeroWriter—a DIY/open-source version of the popular FreeWrite e-ink devices (which tend to be on the pricey side). Made by fellow Canadian Adam Wilk, this device is perfect for beginners who are looking for an easy (and cheaper) solution to get into the e-ink typewriter game. I've linked to ZeroWriter's video above, so you can see the steps taken and see it in action—they have all the same info on their GitHub as well if you'd like to read through it all. They also recently announced that you can purchase a pre-assembled version of the ZeroWriter here (which is still cheaper than the FreeWrite devices).

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!!