MAR.29.2025 - #17

Hi all 👋, I hope everyone is having an incredible week and enjoying the first few weeks of Spring.

This week while writing this issue, I've been reading Paul Stamatiou's (aka Stammy) blog post about losing the way we used to browse the internet, getting excited about the casting announcement for the new Avengers movie, creating a new clicks 'n clacks email signature using simple signature, thinking about taking a trip to the new Office TV show themed Chili's, and discovering the quirky and unhinged terminal.shop (thanks to Hiro)—a coffee brand where you can order straight from your command line (it even has a Raycast extension).

In “what I'm watching” news, I got around to watching the Severance finale while wishing Apple would stop playing with us and make the Lumon computer a real thing, watching this video on how Severance Season 2 was edited, and debating whether to cop this merch from BasicAppleGuy (🛑 spoiler warning for all these links 🛑).

Now for the clicks (and clacks)!!

clicks 🔗

New newsletter for new news

→ 3&3—started by Taurean and Pedro (alumni from the Posts.cv closure that I talked about a while ago)—is a newsletter, brand, and meetup platform for design industry folks. The idea originated from a now defunct newsletter that Read/Posts.cv had, which highlighted interesting ideas and creations coming from that community. 3&3 does something similar, sharing “3 industry things to keep you plugged in and 3 non-industry things to keep you curious” along with updates from the community (mostly from the Posts.cv alumni Bluesky feed). I love this idea, of course, as the more that people and communities share what they find, the better the Internet becomes—a core philosophy behind the creation of this newsletter as well. The first 3&3 newsletter was just sent out on March 25th, and included some fun watches and reads like this video on finding your creative style or this blog post on how to get out of “slump mode”. They currently don't have a newsletter archive, so if you'd like to keep up with the releases and any updates, be sure to sign up for the newsletter and follow them on Bluesky here. Additionally, they are holding monthly community meetups to network, facilitate presentations, and more—all information, dates, and registration can be found here on their Luma page.

Hackable e-ink companion

→ I've discovered, forgotten, and re-discovered this product more times than I can count—and it has once again come across my lap this week, so I've decided to finally feature it. TRMNL is an e-ink productivity device meant to add simple, glanceable information to any setup (desk, kitchen, workshop, you name it). It has a growing list of plugins, apps, and community-made extensions for you to use—from calendars to stock prices to RSS feeds and even analytics trackers for services like Beehiiv (the platform I use to send this newsletter)—TRMNL can display almost anything! The creators behind TRMNL also recently announced a new browser extension to mirror/mimic the devices features (you still need to purchase a physical device). I also appreciate their other endeavours (like open-sourcing and bring-your-own-device) to make TRMNL not just a device, but an idea that can span multiple mediums and be as accessible as possible.

Solar-powered website ☀️

→ Closing out this week of clicks is Low-tech Magazine, a website dedicated to sharing articles about sustainability, forgotten technologies, and reliable energy. The website is solar-powered and self-hosted in Barcelona which means that sometimes, if there is a long period of no sun or the battery isn't sufficiently charged, the website will go down. The website tracks and displays all metrics (battery percentage, wattage usage, weather forecast, etc.) related to the website uptime at the bottom of the site, so you can see in realtime how long it's been up for (and predict when it might go down next). Given the website's dedication to sustainable and eco-friendly practices, you can also purchase archives of the website's articles in physical or e-pub format here. I think this is such a cool website and idea, and I highly recommend you check out the website and some of their articles if you get a chance.

clacks ⌨️

“a keyboard dream from the future”

→ This board, the Seneca by Norbauer, has been all over my socials and feeds this week, so I couldn't ignore it and felt like I had to give my two cents. The Seneca is a ten-keyless keyboard with Topre-like capacitive switches made by Ryan Norbauer, who made this board as a “middle finger to aesthetic homogeneity”. Yes it's priced at $3,600, yes it's over-engineered, yes it's over-the-top, yes it's meticulously hand-crafted/assembled, and yes every component is entirely custom-made—that's the point. As Ryan states, it's “Needlessy lavish. Exuberantly irrational”, and I love it. The keyboard is not meant to be practical, it's an excessive creation meant to invoke feelings of curiosity, luxury, and excitement. Now of course, for anyone looking to get into the world of electrostatic capacitive keyboards, this is not the place to start, this is more like the endgame-to-end-all-other-endgame boards. I myself haven't even begun to touch this genre of boards—my ideas for dipping a toe into that realm begin at the HHKB or a Realforce. With that said, the Seneca truly stands out as a one-of-a-kind creation and I love its retrofuturistic look, sound, and vibe. If you like it too I'd recommend looking at Norbauer's keycap set, the R&D 1973 (same set that is on the Seneca), before diving headfirst into a debt-inducing keyboard.

Heavy metal caps

→ Next up is keycap maker Awekeys who create beautiful all-metal keycap sets to give your keyboard a unique look and thocky sound signature. They offer a wide variety of basic coloured sets, individual periodic-table inspired artisans, and fully themed sets (like the yet to be released Viking set). These sets have a variety of finishes (matte/glossy), textures, and supported keyboard layouts, and all the keycaps are made with recycled metal to reduce their ecological footprint. I personally love the sound these keycaps produce, and hopefully in the future I'll be able to try them out on my own personal builds.

TouchID keyboard…again?

→ Similar to another DIY keyboard I featured in Issue #15, this project comes from Reddit user u/merckxite who modded a Logitech K98M (currently only available from Asian markets/suppliers) to work with Apple's TouchID. What caught my eye in particular about this build was the K98M board with its unique transparent outer shell and compacted 100% layout. I haven't seen this board before, but I really hope Logitech releases a North American version of it as I don't know if its worth it (for me) to pay for the board plus all the necessary import+custom fees. The look of the custom keycaps also really stand out to me—they look like this KOA profile set and give off a retro macOS vibe that really works with the theme of this Apple-modded board.

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!!