Andy Toone

The next set of prototype NanoBeasts is awaiting manufacture. Oh boy.

If anyone wants one, assuming they are basically functional, let me know... this is costly work.

It's remarkably easy to move, and to decide who deserves your support.

Its harder to build the services to provide those alternatives. That's our real challenge now.

That's the thing. The human brain is designed for pattern matching "human" behaviours. We see faces in car grilles, hear words in animal noises, and ascribe 'intent' to inanimate objects.

So AI is like human catnip - our brains desperately want to see reasoning and intent behind mechanical process.

It perhaps reflects that a lot of people, particularly in the tech industry, no longer have immediate community. Rather than doing the socially healthy thing of sharing experience and knowledge in person, we get obtuse 'techno-health' questions.

Stop obsessing about your gut, hang out with friends.

I saw Paul in Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards many years back...

Well that's just showing off.

Cloudy here.

*marked safe from the sun*

Grr... my ISP rebooted my server a week or so ago, and killed one of the services... specifically the one that handles orders online.

If you've tried to order a Beast in the last few days - sorry! Things should be back to some sort of normal.

A MicroBeast Z80 kit, looking immaculate.

"Looking high grade cool" - another Beast springs to life!

A couple of years ago I spent nearly eight weeks in hospital for a heart condition. Now I do my best to eat healthily.

So why is it so hard to find heart-healthy savoury snacks? I like acidic, Asian influenced flavours but everything in the shop is fried roast beef with added saturated fat and salt

My strategy: don't have your phone by the bed. Wake up with an old school alarm, and be unable to receive news until you've left your bedroom.

If there's an emergency, they can ring the landline(!!). That helps to give you a space where your mind has a chance to turn off.

MicroBeast runs for at least five hours on this little battery pack.

PCB ordered for a cool new module I'm working on.

If you need to battery-power a project, this will provide dual-supply charging (e.g. USB and AC adapter - 5v to 16v), auto switchover, I2C battery level and charge/discharge estimates, power status and LED indicators.

We play Mario Kart World with our kids on a screen that we wouldn't have believed possible in the days of the N64.

Growing up doesn't mean you have to stop playing.

Reposting this. BlueSky is dominated by American political stuff at the moment, which makes it hard to find retro and maker content for all the noise.

So where are people talking about weird hardware and homebrew software?

This week we finished Small Prophets and Wonderman. Both highly recommended, particularly Small Prophets which managed to delight and surprise.

Both seem to show a shift towards more thoughtful, creative writing - less bombast and spectacle. More like this please!

We really need to disengage from the nonsense being driven into our health system and news by American interests.

Their "values" are bad for our health, our economy and our safety and education.

That print looks immaculate! What a job! Which printer are you using?

Tonight's film - Old Guard. Good fun with Charlize Theron, a refreshing alternative to the Marvel universe and a cracking action adventure. Somehow all the better for ending up in a London pub.

Will definitely watch the sequel.

Whilst also allowing long term organisations (like large corporates and lobby groups) to embed themselves into the system as a driving force.

Brexit kinda played on that by talking about "elites", but only so far as to crystallise dissatisfaction, not address the problem.

This is an argument for most of Western "democracy". The institutions (including the law and civil service) have been around for so long that they are almost completely impervious to the views of the people they putatively represent.

And when you want it back, they look at you funny....

Stompy guy!!

We can hope.

As someone who believes, against all evidence to the contrary, that tech can deliver social good, I really wish we could see the end of this farce.

We could be building nice things.

I want to be building nice things.

"I had to see it, so you have to see it.... It stays with you, that image.... Haunts you."

Break free of Ring's servers, earn a five-figure bounty : Goal is to run software locally and stream only to owners' computers

A bounty of $10,000 is being offered for a way to run Ring cameras locally, without your data being offered to Amazon.

Why don't we go ahead and make a device that natively gives you control over your data? Why send money to Amazon to crack their kit?

www.theregister.com/2026/02/23/r...

Darwinian evolution in action.

What can possibly go wrong?

What happens if I lick these terminals?

Why has the world gone dark?

680uF??? Does it even need batteries with a cap that big?

Yeah, I get that. That's why I built MicroBeast into it's own box that you can put on a bookshelf.

The upcoming machine(s) are smaller and designed to avoid having to be laid out on a desk to work.

Feersum Beasts Brand new old computers, kits and projects. More than just 8 bits.

You can read more about current projects here: feersumbeasts.com