SEP.27.2025 - #42

Hi all 👋, this week while writing clicks 'n clacks, I set my sights on picking up IKEA's newest plate/bowl hybrids when they become available next week. I also got hyped watching Sony's most recent State of Play that had exciting announcements and trailers for games like Saros, Insomniac's Wolverine, and FF Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles—all games I can't wait for. Additionally, I loved joining in on Three & Three's latest community meetup where Jon talked about his newest health-tech project.

Some updates to previous features—Serene Industries, makers of the brutalist Icebreaker board, released a new heavy-metal cardholder, and Raspberry Pi released a 500+ device that features a fancy new built-in low profile mechanical keyboard.

Additionally, for all you Canadian folk, there is a local keyboard meetup happening here in Toronto around November. It was just recently finalized and the tickets for the event went on sale last night. Attendance is capped at 250 people and I am not sure how quickly they will sell out, but I plan on attending so maybe I'll see some of you there!

Time for the main event!

clicks 🔗

Next-level launchpad

→ One of my biggest complaints, and a feature I miss the most after moving to macOS Tahoe, is the removal of the launchpad. With Tahoe, all Mac apps are now auto-sorted and searchable under the new “enhanced” Spotlight. For someone like me who uses (and tests) a lot of apps, I like to keep track of them in my own way—it's the same reason I don't end up using the App Library on iOS either. I am much more comfortable sorting and organizing everything myself, and that option was taken away entirely in this update. Enter LaunchMe, a launchpad replacement that not only reintroduces the old launcher functionality but enhances it with a plethora of customization. Dev Sergey Newton also felt the gaping hole left behind when launchpad was taken away and decided to do something about it. LaunchMe can help you organize all your apps, lets you add widgets, freely place apps anywhere, customize the grid size, upload custom icons, and even set live wallpapers. Most basic features (pretty much everything launchpad had) are free, with some of the enhanced customization add-ons locked behind a reasonably priced upgrade—I especially appreciate the “lite” premium option available at lower price.

Upgrade your timepiece

→ As a big fan of Casio in general and many of their watches, it's very cool to see this product, the Ollee watch, gaining so much traction and getting lots of love. After discovering Ollee last week, it's already been featured in bigger publications like The Verge and Yanko Design—demand for the product has skyrocketed and there is even a waitlist for some items! The Ollee watch is a simple mod for Casio models that adds features like Bluetooth time-syncing, a step counter, heart rate monitor (manually operated, counting up to 20 heartbeats), and even a few simple games! One of my favourite Casio watches, the GMW-B5000TVA-1, includes some of these features—they are incredibly useful and it's great to see it become more accessible with the Ollee. I do also own an A158W model so perhaps I'll give this mod a go and test it out on that. Bonus points for the Ollee watch being fully based in, designed, programmed, and assembled in Canada 🇨🇦!

MagBased

→ I own a lot of random MagSafe wallets and accessories—I love the ecosystem and form-factor—but I've never stuck to a brand or platform that I truly love. Rolling Square comes close to what I want in terms of adaptability between devices and build quality, but their Edge Pro is a bit on the expensive side, so I'm always on the lookout for other options. Hyodo is a new player in the MagSafe game—they successfully Kickstarted their newest product, the MagBase, which is currently in a pre-order phase on their website. MagBase is a wallet system that has interchangeable plates which offer different use-cases to extend the product's life cycle as a whole (ideally the plates can be replaced as needed while the base remains intact). If you too are a fan of the MagSafe ecosystem, do check this out—personally, I'll be waiting just a bit longer to see real products in reviewers' hands before deciding to pull the trigger.

clacks ⌨️

Ramune60

→ This beautiful board designed by Hatoworks pays homage to the classic Japanese soda called Ramune—a carbonated, citrus-y soft drink known for its distinct glass bottle and encased marble. Just like the drink, this keeb has an opaque top case (colourful packaging), transparent bottom case (glass bottle), stainless steel weight (iconic marble), and 4 colourways (flavours)(blue, silver, pink, and a special “Kuro” blacked-out edition). It doesn't end there—in the group buy you can select more options like 3 layouts (HHKB, WKL, and WK), 4 plate varieties (blue/black/pink aluminum, acrylic, PEI, and PP), and numerous PCB choices! Drink up!!

Magnet-powered mighty keeb

→ Next up is a keyboard layout that I have never seen before and I certainly haven't featured before—the Datahand. It's a super odd design that originated in the 90's, with each hand operating an independent board that has five omni-directional “keys” for each finger. Svalboard is making a modern revision of this layout—manufacturing in small runs, they added a trackball to their design and are making it more accessible with QMK/Via capability, modular parts, and offering a self-print kit. If you want a visual walkthrough of this board and layout, Svalboard has a great resource with in-depth info. What fascinated me the most was the “switches” that the board uses—they are called “magneto-optical” and they are unlike any switches I've seen before. They have a super light actuation weight of only 20g's, are super easy to operate, and still have a tactile feel due to the magnets inside each switch cluster. Cool to see this layout evolve, be modernized, and continue to grow with many dedicated users.

Surprise!!

→ One of my favourite Canadian vendors, Osume, recently had a restock of their most popular items this week coinciding with their recent opening of a US warehouse to aid in tariff/tax relief for US customers. Along with this restock, they also dropped a new surprise charm set that stays true to the adorable pastel Osume vibes. Each set has one of 8 original keyboard-inspired characters, and 1 secret character 👀. The designs are just too cute so I picked up a couple to try my luck at which designs I receive.

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!!