FEB.21.2026 - #59

Hi all 👋, this week while writing clicks 'n clacks I've been trying my NiceBuds from issue #52 that finally arrived, testing out a new Apple Music widget/menubar controller called Tuneful, and messing around in Eleonor Rose's suite of nostalgic tools.

Other than that, this week has been a little slower than usual in tech and keyboards. Many vendors and manufacturers have temporarily shut down for the Lunar New Year and surrounding days to spend time with and celebrate with family—myself included. It's been a week full of family and friend visits, and my heart feels full.

I hope everyone has found some time this week to rest and relax, regardless of whether there's anything to celebrate! Join me for this fun-filled issue!

→ Ever since receiving my Xteink X4 reader a few weeks ago, the user-base and communities surrounding it have grown tenfold. I constantly see people receiving theirs on Threads, countless YouTubers creating videos, and even my favourite news site, Aftermath, wrote up a piece on it. I was so glad to get in on it when I did, and to experience all the new creations coming from the open-source devs and creators. Subreddit r/xteinkreader has showcased many projects—firmware like Crosspoint or Sumi, custom themes, syncing apps like CrossX or CrossPoint Sync (S/O to Chris for pointing this one out), and even full transformations into a writerDeck or terminal! It's mind-blowing to see how a little low-tech device can birth such a vibrant and lively group of devoted users. Every project is unique, solving individual users' problems or preferences, iterating like crazy, and I'm sat and ready to experience what will come next.

→ Walkman.land is a gorgeous website dedicated to archiving, collecting, and hosting the largest dedicated database of Walkman music players—all while making it open, accessible, and most importantly…fun! Just last week, they hit 1000 models catalogued, giving you an absurd amount of retro analog sound machines to browse through. Everything is organized by a plethora of tags, years, manufacturers, and even by unofficial groupings of devices called “gangs”—like the Glamour Boys. I loved browsing the fashion page, seeing all the old-school ads, and my favourite group of Walkmans has to be this small collection of very, let's say unique, players.

→ Looking to get started on your RSS journey but have no idea where to start? Look no further—Blog Quest by Robert Alexander is a browser extension which helps you collect and automatically organize any RSS feed you may stumble upon. No need to seek out or search if your favourite blogs, publications, or websites have a /rss page hidden away somewhere. Blog Quest will track, tag, and save any feed—all in the background while you browse! I had installed it for only an hour, browsing/researching for this very newsletter, and within that time I found 3 brand new feeds to add to my reader app. It takes away the fear of missing a good source and replaces the hyperfixation of obsessively researching/scouring every site I visit for a potential feed. It greatly reduced the interruptions in my browsing and I believe it's a fantastic tool for long-time fans of RSS or anyone just getting started with the technology.

→ This video by Koenkun Bricks is one of the most impressive cases of “fine I'll do it myself” I've ever seen. LEGO's own Typewriter set did everything from moving striking arms to a brick-built roller to move paper through the build, but alas, the set could not actually type anything. Enter Koenkun, a masterful LEGO builder with other projects like a full-size Lego pool table or any number of car replicas—taking on the challenge of creating a functional LEGO typewriter. Watching this video I was blown away by the thought processes and creative solutions that went into the final construction. Absolutely every piece is an official LEGO brick, it actually types (well technically slams LEGO pieces onto a LEGO sheet), and I am surprised it managed to stay within a moderate footprint. The sound that emanates from this build is certainly something you've never heard from any other keyboard before.

→ Cream Cheese and Green is a classic keycap set that has been around for well over a decade. Information/sourcing is a little hard to track down, but this set was one of the first keycap sets ever to be available as a “Group Buy” through geekhack.org. Since then, it has only gone through one other round of availability, and now it is being brought back into the modern era by keeb-enthusiast YoonELEC and manufacturer Signature Plastics. The kit is now offered in the DCS profile, with a large variety of extensions and kits available to fit modern boards (ISO, split-space bars, stepped caps lock, etc.). Additionally, YoonELEC has added in a few new red accent keys to complement the off-white cream and green base colours. It's a timeless look, and I appreciate the use of the Gorton font for the legends as well as the vintage Windows logo used in the command keys extension kit. Canadian vendor for this set is Mino Keys.

→ Shout-out to Ross Wintle whose explorations into the world of tiny keyboards led me to discover this very odd, foldable mechanical keyboard by Royal Kludge. It's a 60% board with low-profile (non hot-swappable) switches that folds in half along the horizontal axis. The board is also equipped with a magnetically attached phone/tablet stand, so I assume the ideal use-case here would be for on-the-go setups with mobile devices. I could see folding this and throwing it into a bag upright to make room for other essentials, but ultimately I don't think the volume of space saved here is huge. Would love to see a newer iteration of this, keeping the mechanical low-profile design, but somehow folding the two halves together vertically, like a book, to protect the caps and switches while maybe saving a bit more on space.

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!!