eBay purchase screenshot showing $31.95 paid for a lot of two gen2 Nest thermostats.
I can quit anytime I wantβ¦
eBay purchase screenshot showing $31.95 paid for a lot of two gen2 Nest thermostats.
I can quit anytime I wantβ¦
Claude Code changes the question from βshould designers code?β to βshould designers modify firmware?β Hereβs the story about how I upcycled a deprecated Nest thermostat into a photo gallery.
jasongraphix.com/journal/nest...
This is a fascinating window into how AI SaaS pricing models are evolving. "We could tell we were creating a not-lovable experience."
www.elenaverna.com/p/we-stopped...
That could be cool! One of the hurdles I ran into is that there's no way to render jpg/gif/png on the device, so each photo has to be resized to 320x320 and converted to bgra .raw file. π
That's the plan! To make it easier to update the gallery, the Nest will be pulling the images from a web folder, so you probably won't be able to scrub too quickly. Not sure yet how many I'll be able to cache at a time.
A Gen2 Nest Thermostat in my hand with a family photo on the display and a couple terminal windows on the MacBook in the background.
Iβm converting my deprecated Gen2 Nest into a mini digital photo frame and just got a test image loading. I would have abandoned this project already if it werenβt for Claude Code, which is making the trial and error of it fun.
Having shared the viral video with my teens, it was fun to read about how a 77-year-old curator at the National Gallery of Art started making videos in Gen Z slang.
www.milkkarten.net/i/186801044/...
A deprecated gen2 Nest displaying the NLE (No Longer Evil) logo, indicating that it has been successfully flashed with custom firmware.
Completed the first step of my side quest to do something fun with this little hunk of e-waste.
I love our local UX community. Cesar led us through a great, practical workshop on Journey Mapping at last nightβs Downtown Orlando UX Meetup.
youtu.be/MhztaBCwt6U
Thanks Lauts! Felt good to dive into (and make time to share) a big DIY project again. Been a while! Hope all is good in ATL.
We did it! Our DIY Library Ladder Wall project is complete. It was quite a holiday break marathon to get this built, but we're so happy with how it came together. Check it out:
jasongraphix.com/journal/libr...
Large stack of IKEA cabinet and bookshelf boxes.
The bulk of our winter break DIY project just arrived. Not pictured: vintage 10ft library ladder and butcher block countertops. π
Speed test history chart showing symmetrical ~400mb speeds in June & July, a date in September with 610mb download and almost 0 upload, then a new test this week with ~550mb up and down.
Symmetrical internet is much better than fast download speeds alone. At our old house, a 300mb fiber plan worked great. We moved in September and the upload on our βgigβ cable internet capped out at about 50mb. Just got fiber run with only a 500mb plan, and this chart makes me smile.
What would 2025 have been without the people you work with? Celebrating... Jason Beaird Most Likely to Remind You That We Actually Have to Build This Thing Eventually
One of my product design colleagues shared this from their granola.ai 2025 "crunched" report, and I've never felt more seen.
Selfie with a full, graying, November beard.
Photo of my daughter shaving off part of my beard.
A six shaved into the left side of my beard.
Selfie with the beard completely shaved off.
Time to let the kids shave off my November beard again. Unsurprisingly, they attempted a 6οΈβ£7οΈβ£ this year.
We've been chatting with ProductTank Orlando about doing a collab event for a long time. So excited that it's happening, and that we're meeting in Full Sail's Treehouse, which is such a rad venue!
Adelyn and I in our 5k shirts with our race medals.
Strava post export with a photo of the starting line and our 35:03 finish time.
The weather was perfect for this yearβs Falcon 5k. Adelyn didnβt train at all, so we took it slow and had fun.
nice again?
Creative Mornings Orlando is always inspiring, but it was especially refreshing to hear stories from students and recent grads at todayβs βRising Creativesβ event.Β Β
creativemornings.com/cities/orl/b...
A 4x9 grid with labels overlayed showing the color of the dot inside each cell.
Tonightβs random vibe coding project success, presented without context.
Screenshot of Atlas recognizing that it chose the wrong date from a date picker component.
Experimenting with agent mode in ChatGPT Atlas is a good reminder that designing web experiences that are intuitive and accessible for all humans makes them more usable for everyone, including the robots. Watching Atlas work is like facilitating a user research session.
Old set of 4 caster wheels. One is is missing tread and the looking pretty worn and gross too.
New set of 4 locking caster wheels that are similar to the old set but blueish and with shorter stems.
Photo of desk with new caster wheels installed.
Just put a fresh set of caster wheels on my old standing desk. After about 5y, the tread wore off one from my original set. Still love being able to roll my desk around.
An aluminum storefront style glass door with a top jamb mounted door closer installed.
I Installed a closer on the door of our new home office today. I was a bit nervous as it was my first time having to drill and tap machine screw holes, but it turned out great!
Selfie with my youngest daughter. She's wearing an Alex Warren shirt at the concert last night.
Photo of my oldest daughter wearing a red Benson Boone hoodie at a concert in September.
I took my youngest daughter to see Alex Warren perform at UCF last night. A few weeks ago, my oldest and I went to Benson Boone at Kia Center. Middle school girl dad life is out of the ordinary, but mystical and magical.
Ugh! Home of some of the all-time best lunch breaks.
"Delightful is fleeting. Delight is enduring." - @cameronmoll.bsky.social
chieflydesign.substack.com/p/delight-vs...
Just re-discovered loadmo.re via today's sidebar.io newsletter, which reminded me to check out www.hoverstat.es and httpster.net again too. I need more unconventional design inspiration in my life.
Looking forward to next week's @douxmeetup.com discussion on the UX of AI.
www.meetup.com/downtown-orl...
A residential driveway in Orlando with rainbow stripes painted on it to match the Pulse memorial crosswalk.
Itβs inspiring to see new signs of pride and allyship popping up around Orlando. You can paint over (and pressure wash) a crosswalk, but The City Beautiful will keep shining through.
Two smiling girls with backpacks on, ready for their first day of school.
The school year begins!
We officially have two middle schoolers.