Blaze Smith demoing constraint.systems

constraint.systems demo by Blaze Smith on TikTok

Thanks to Maxim for letting me know this happened.

Screenshot of prototype for converting movie files and GIFs

Making progress on the web-frontend + node-server-to-call-ffmpeg movie/gif converter. Mainly so far learning Node sort of has access to all your files if you want it too... optimistic if still not entirely sure where this one is going.

Screenshot of my desk with several computers out

Made some more wooden boxes. All the computers are out for some file transfer reorg.

I'm thinking about making a GIF/video converter with an HTML frontend that uses shell (ffmpeg and gifsicle) commands to do the conversions.

Screenshot of a figma prototype sketch

Desk with hanging box for mixer and hinged box for cords.

Three small additions to the desk today. Trying to tidy up based on where things have accumulated.

Open desk box with USB hubs.

Basement project table with sewing machine and marked off project section

I feel like these quick builds are an exercise in building intuition about "how wood goes together". And then using it is building intuition about "what makes a table feel good to use", that then feeds into the next build.

Process

Left wall I've my office, now filled with shoebox-sized bins.

I've gone all in on clear shoebox + masking tape storage. Great for locating cords and small electronics so far. Still more to be figured out in terms of overall sorting (I'm hoping a natural cache will emerge?).

Garden posting interface

New posting interface up for this site (garden.grantcuster.com). Complete with media (S3) upload, markdown preview and posting to Bluesky.

Hand range test

Experimenting with mediapipe hand-tracking for value adjustments.

Experimenting with running a modified version of Masks on movies (Fight Club).

Me recording my face using masks

Masks - Collage faces using your webcam.

Dev notes

Working om masks

New desk experiments - stashing a beheaded desktop below the desk with string loops.

Bottom view - laptop body tied to the underside of the desk

Top view - strings coming out of drilled holes

New desk setup as of this weekend

Process

Materials, with extra for later

I'm doing some more experimentation with raspberry pi's around the house. Working on a base ubuntu setup, that is pretty close to what I would do with ubuntu on any other computer.

Flashing

Install ubuntu-server through rpi-imager. Annoying rpi-imager doesn't work with sway, something about QT apps and security. I've been flashing from my work macbook so far. I'd like to get a better setup. I could do it from the command line with dd but I'm not sure how to replicate the settings presets that the imager has, which is especially nice for automatically connecting to wifi. Still, I should dig in and get this figured out.

Organizing a new quotes repo: https://github.com/grantcuster/quotes

pokemonsay hooked up to my quotes text file

Inspired by dynamicland to try some real world manipulation linked to digital objects. I'd guessed coarse color matching would be enough here - it may not be.

Red construction paper in real life moves sloth on computer

The elements: mini PC, AR glasses, portable battery, bluetooth keyboard

Simulation of POV from the porch. A floating window over the world.

After trying out a DIY deck version, I've redone my cyberdeck experiment using AR glasses. It's not perfect but I've been using it pretty consistently on subway commutes and porch nights.

Redid CSS zoom method again. Hopefully a base to build on for future projects at https://github.com/GrantCuster/zoom

Zooming in on the sloth

Source, output, data. More wyswig work.