AUG.08.2026 - #78

Hi all 👋, this week while writing I watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day 🕷️, studied Blade Runner's title card typography, and got hyped over the new Neuromancer trailer (I think you can see the Cyberpunk vibe emerging this week). There was also a big update for one of my favourite features in recent newsletter history, Pocket Bird, and One of Zero has a great selection of promos and sales ongoing!

Here we go!

→ In general, I'm not a fan of in-ear or closed back headphones — I have trouble getting behind basically anything that reduces the outside environment during listening sessions. Hard to work around, considering the popularity of products like the AirPods or the Sony XM series — that's why two recent releases have caught my eye. The Daisy One, a debut over-the-ear headphone with focus and transparency modes, and the Clip Pro, a unique clip-on design that is completely open, from Nothing's budget sister brand, CMF. Two very different designs, price-points, and visual styles, however there is a surprising amount of similarities here. I like the open-air sound profiles present in the two, they also both prominently feature a rotating dial/knob in their designs, and each one is priced competitively within their respective domains. CMF's option is probably going to be the easier of the two to get your hands on — the Daisy One released very recently and is already out of stock, and I've had no problems getting Nothing/CMF products in the past (big fan of my Nothing Ear (stick)) through various retailers.

→ There's a lot of bookmarking tools out there, and rather than attempt to replace my current solution — Raindrop soon to be moved to LinkWarden — with another confusing setup, I wanted to supplement it with something new. Tinypad turned out to be just what I needed. It's an always online bookmarking tool/starter page for any browser, meaning you can access it from anywhere, including mobile devices. This is where it's been especially useful to me — using it less like a bookmarking tool to save everything, and more of a jump-pad to start my browsing sessions from. The free version is quite generous, but it also has a one-time paid version, and you can import your existing bookmarks to get started.

→ I wanted to revisit this board, which was mentioned way back in Issue #17, when an r/MechKeys Reddit user modded one with TouchID. Back then this was only available in China, without distribution in North America. Time flew by and the K98M was released in NA markets at the end of 2025. Now, I wanted to take the chance to feature it as a more “relatable” board. I feel like the keeb community, myself included, tends to get caught up in the high-end enthusiast level boards, caps, and accessories. And while these are awesome projects, they are often unobtainable for most people, even long-time or hardcore keyboard hobbyists. So, this is the Alto Keys, a wireless 98% board by Logitech that has all the keys you'd ever need, a brand new “UniCushion” gasket mounting system, a 12-month long battery life, hot-swappable keys, and slightly more modest price tag. UniCushion is the star of the show here — when a bigger name brand or company releases a board like this, I often expect it to be loaded with foams and sound too dampened, muted, and mushy. That's not the case here — it sounds unexpectedly good, and if this is the way Logitech is going to be developing the rest of their keyboard line-up, it's a lot of steps in the right direction.

→ Double deskmat feature! Following up on the promise made last month by Apos Audio, they've begun to roll out a plethora of mechanical keyboard projects and products. One of them being the Bob Ross deskmat — 6 officially licensed landscapes from The Joy of Painting printed on premium mousepad material. Relive the iconic artistry and add some calm vibes to your setup with these happy little trees. Switching gears, another deskpad on my radar just opened up for pre-order yesterday — The Blueprint by Slam&Co. This one is a double-sided (blue and black) pad based off the traditional white on blue technical drawing process. With The Blueprint, not only does it emulate the look of those drawings, but it is totally functional as well! It comes with a white pen to scribble out notes, drawings, to-dos, or anything else you think of — and it wipes away easily with water to draw and draw again!

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!!