SEP.21.2025 - #41

Hi all 👋, got a tad side-tracked this week so it's not the usual Saturday release for this issue—hope that doesn't throw too large a wrench into anyone's weekend expectations. Regardless…this week while writing clicks 'n clacks I was exploring some great apps that received updates for the recent release of iOS 26 (Croissant, Denim, Play, Remind Me Faster, and Minipaper are my personal faves). In addition to the iOS 26 update (which I am more accustomed to due to my use of the beta) I finally tried MacOS Tahoe, which I have mixed feelings about—this update seems less cohesive than its phone counterpart. Furthermore, I was perplexed by 1Password's latest move, I signed Ben and Jerry's petition for independence, watched Fredrik Backman talk about creative anxiety, and read this fantastic article on affordances in design.

In the realm-du-keyboards, the latest Encore Series 3 by Mode and Mod Musings still have some limited stock of their latest drop, and Alexotos wrote about the impact of keyboards and what the community means to him. Kinetic Labs is also having a flash sale (12% off using the promo code REALART12) on all their desk mats while re-iterating that all of their designs are made by real people, not AI, who earn royalties when you buy 😊.

Let's dive on in!

clicks 🔗

Train like there is a tomorrow

→ From the makers of Gentler Streak—one of my favourite iOS workout apps—comes a new iOS 26 exclusive training app called The Outsiders. It's finely-tuned for athletes and users who train intently, more regularly, and want acute data representation, all while still focusing on smart-training and burnout prevention. I appreciate the intention of Gentler Streak which helped me stop before overworking myself, but sometimes I found it skewed a little on the safe side, especially on intentionally-heavy training days and weeks. That's why I am very excited to give this a go and see how I can use it to truly train as opposed to irregularly working out. I also love the Gentler Steak Apple Watch app, so I'll be patiently waiting to get my hands on The Outsiders Apple Watch companion coming soon-ish. Right now there is an early-bird deal to get access to some of the more premium features, but I do wish there was more of a discount for current Gentler Streak premium users like myself.

56 iPod classics brought back to life

→ Reddit user Olsro started the iPod Click Wheel Games Preservation Project about a year ago in October of 2024 in an attempt to save the original 56 games that were released in the iPod 5th-7th gen era. After a year of community support and some up and downs, the final game—Real Soccer 2009—was found, authenticated, and uploaded to the project. I remember playing some of these games on my old iPods, and now that I own a refurbished one, I am hoping to get these onto it soon. Instructions (not too complicated—involving an offline authenticated virtual machine to sync the games from) are included on the linked GitHub and the download is available as an archive here.

Smartest knob

→ Based off of this original open-source work by Scott Bezek, the SmartKnob by SeedLabs is a pre-assembled 3d-printed knob with a whole world of customization and possibilities. It's got tactile-haptic feedback technology (which was the basis of Scott's work), proximity sensors, additional microcontroller ports, and a lovely matcha-green casing. Check out some of the nifty use-cases and videos of the knob in action on SeedLabs' creator, Grigorii Merkushev's Instagram here.

clacks ⌨️

Marbleous

→ Osidian is a keyboard designer and manufacturer based out of Toronto, Canada making incredible boards crafted from a single slab of marble. This newest iteration, the TKL V2, is paired with a magnetic aluminum frame that houses the switch plate and allows the PCB to be gasket-mounted into the case. Due to each board being milled from natural pieces of marble, every case is entirely unique and has beautiful variations, blemishes, and patterns. This time, the V2 is available in 3 colourways—Lemurian Blue Labradorite, White Carrara, and Nero Marquina Black. The group buy for the Osidian TKL V2 just went live on the 15th of September and is expected to run until the 15th of October—check it out while you can!

Keeb community on the rise

→ Keebuilder is a brand new app and community created by broo.klick and devs, currently available on the iOS App Store and in waitlist for Google Play. Keebuilder allows you to upload your custom keeb builds to the community, discover other user creations, view/rate keyboard vendors, and browse trending Geekhack posts. I have yet to upload my own builds, but I have been browsing and I am impressed by how alive and active this app/community is already. If you want to browse some extraordinary user creations and stay on top of keeb trends, give this app a try—they also have their own weekly newsletter you can sign up for in the app!

Can you handle it?

→ Capping off the week is a fun write-up from software engineer Y.K. Goon and his journey in choosing a new keyboard. His writings are presented in an amusing, interactive way, allowing you to make some decisions for yourself and answer as if you were in Y.K.'s shoes yourself. Explore all the dilemmas faced and the ultimate conclusion that was determined—which was that this board, the Charybdis suited Y.K. the best.

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!!