MAR.08.2025 - #14

Hi all 👋, Spring has almost sprung, the sun has begun to shine, and I am hoping for warmer days ahead 🤞.

This week while writing this issue, I've been raving about Daredevil: Born Again to anyone I could talk to. The first two episodes released on Tuesday March 4th and I loved them—the show is a fantastic continuation/revival of the original series. I even hosted a watch party for my friends and I, just like we used to do when the older Netflix shows were released and we'd binge the entire season in one go. If you're a fan of the older Daredevil show, or even if you've never seen it before, I highly recommend you check out Born Again. You can watch this recap which helped me get all the information needed to watch the new series. To further scratch the Daredevil itch, I've been catching up on the most recent Daredevil ongoing series by Saladin Ahmed. I've been enjoying this relaunch of the series quite a bit—it feels fresh and original, and the cover art by John Romita Jr. is stunning. If you're interested in Daredevil comics, I recommend the aforementioned run as well as Chip Zdarsky’s 2022 run, Charles Soule’s 2015 run, the Shadowland event from 2011, and of course Frank Miller’s 1993 The Man Without Fear, which heavily inspired the original Netflix TV series.

TV and comics aside, this week we witnessed the announcement of Opera's new AI operator within their browser, a topic I spoke to at length in last week's issue—yet another competitor enters the AI operator space. Tapbots, creator of the famous Tweetbot Twitter client, also revealed they are making a Bluesky third-party client called Phoenix to go along with their existing third-party client for Mastodon, Ivory. This shows how quickly Bluesky is growing (32 million registered users as of today), and how the need for more app options is also rising. I love using Ivory when I'm active on Mastodon (which I'll admit is less and less these days) and used Tweetbot a bit back when it existed, so I will definitely be there when Phoenix for Bluesky arrives.

Let's get into the clicks!

clicks 🔗

Recipes for photo perfection

→ This new photography editing app, FujiStyle, has been a blessing to use during these past few weeks as I have been attempting to get outside more to shoot some pics for Hiro's Photo Composition Challenge. During this challenge, I've been using my Fuji X100V digital camera which is known for its classic/compact build, excellent image quality, and Fuji's film simulations. These film simulations are in-camera customizable presets that allow you to re-create the look of analog film stocks with ease. This feature was one of the main reasons I picked up my X100V back in 2020—I loved exploring all the different styles and settings it had to offer. However, the X100V only has a few preset styles baked into camera when you receive it, further exploration and experimentation is left up to you and the Fuji community. FujiStyle fills this void—it not only allows me to edit, add watermarks/borders, but most importantly, I can discover and save film simulation styles. Along with the amazing app itself, FujiStyle is active on Threads and Instagram, sharing and promoting photos and simulation presets from all around the community! I'd also like to highlight another member of the Fuji community, Ritchie Roesch who created a similar blog and app called Fuji X Weekly all the way back in 2017 to share film simulations and photos from his own Fuji journey. I've been following Fuji X Weekly since I got my X100V, and still use it to this day! Along with this new app, my X100V and I will be unstoppable 💪.

Music in your pocket 🎵

→ Next up is a beautifully designed 3D printable case for Teenage Engineering's pocket operators which are miniature synthesizers for creating music, samples, and sound effects. This case was created by fellow Torontonian, designer, and creative Andrew Keung and his new design practice "here and there studio". While Teenage Engineering does make and sell their own cases for their pocket operators, I much prefer what Andrew has achieved here with this more minimal and elegant look for his case. Andrew is also a keycap/keyboard designer over at studio blb where there are some amazing artisan and keycap sets, check them out too!

Beautiful minimal products

→ This new website launch from Easlo (the expert in digital minimalism and productivity) is all about curating amazing, beautiful, and minimal products for your home or desk setup. I've been following Easlo for a while now and his Notion setups, ideas, and templates were a game-charger for me when I started this newsletter. All my organization, notes, and link databases for clicks 'n clacks live in Notion—having everything organized and properly sorted is a must. I don't claim to have or practice as much digital minimalism as Easlo but his content has always been a goal to aspire to in order to help prevent burnout and over-consumption. If you love the minimalist aesthetic, I recommend you check out Easlo and his new website.

clacks ⌨️

The Bayleaf board

→ First clack of the week comes from Brand Designer Sebastian Graz who prototyped this sleek, low-profile, aluminum, and fully wireless split keyboard called Bayleaf. His goal with this keeb was to achieve a polished and professional look, straying from the rugged, DIY, and raw looks of other custom built boards. I'd say he achieved and even greatly surpassed this goal. I love the unique look of this board and how thin Graz was able to make it, with Kailh Ultra Thin butterfly switches and custom blank low-profile keycaps. Unlike some other custom keyboard builds I've featured recently on this newsletter, this build blog is a fairly short one—I admire the concise nature and brevity of the article. Additionally, Graz is gauging interest on this prototype to determine if he will scale up to create/sell future versions. If you are at all interested, or want to follow along with future iterations of this board, sign up for his email list at the bottom of this write-up!

DIY dream keyboard

→ This video from Christian Selig captures his exciting foray into the world of custom keyboard building. Christian is an iOS developer who created the now defunct third-party Reddit app, Apollo. I used the Apollo app for Reddit a lot—it was an amazing app and I am so grateful for all the work Christian put in to make it work for the dedicated user-base. Unfortunately, the app was shutdown when Reddit announced a new, absurdly expensive pricing strategy for their API use. Along with many other Reddit apps, Apollo ceased operations during this time and I, like many others, refused to transition (or rather be forced to transition) to the official Reddit app. Now, I almost never use Reddit (with the exception of a few subreddits), and I don't think I will ever go back. For me, the Reddit experience was intrinsically linked to Apollo and it was never the same after it shut down. Rant aside, I loved watching Christian build his dream board, and you know I am a sucker for detailed keyboard build videos. Additionally, he has a short write-up of the experience on his blog here—feel free to check out his other writings while you're there, they are worth the read.

Keycaps from another galaxy

→ Another banger set of keycaps in a uniform profile—PBS Galaxy from CannonKeys and Keyreative—are here! I've talked at length about the new-ish PBS keycap profile here before, and it's exciting to see more and more designs/sets become available. The Galaxy was already a popular theme from CannonKeys and manufacturer NicePBT, here they brought this design to the PBS profile along with some brand new galaxy-themed desk mats. The group buy for this set is currently running and ends on March 31st.

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!!