A Second Life for the Steam Deck: Switch Emulation and Frame Generation at 60 FPS
This counts as NTR too, surely.
Tinkering 1.47K words
Making the Xiaomi 17 My Daily Driver: Unlocking, Flashing, Rooting, and Hiding Root
The more I tinker, the more I want to tinker. Still going strong in my old age, still going strong!
Tinkering 909 words
Getting Apple Intelligence Working on a China-Market Mac: Region Changes and Extracting ChatGPT
Another WWDC brings new Apple Intelligence features in macOS 27. The workarounds from macOS 26 no longer get through, so the battle of wits with Apple continues.
Tinkering 1.02K words
One TREK, Twenty Stacks
I found a trip-planning tool on GitHub Trending and wanted to host my own instance. Since I was getting a new VPS anyway, I might as well install a little extra. Well, quite a lot extra.
Tinkering 1.15K words
Adventures with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
A friend’s comment got me interested in simulation games. After buying Microsoft Flight Simulator, I discovered streamed maps and models, another account login, oddly hidden tutorials, and awkward keyboard controls. A flight stick and some tinkering with Pico VR finally rounded out the experience.
Tinkering 936 words
MoonTV: An Experiment in Vibe Coding
MoonTV is a new video aggregation platform built with Next.js and React to make following shows convenient. It began as an attempt to improve LibreTV and has attracted substantial attention and usage over several months of development. Cursor made development efficient, although multi-platform support and complex data dependencies posed challenges. As its user base grows, MoonTV continues improving in response to feedback.
Tinkering 1.15K words
Trying Out macOS 26 and iPadOS 26
macOS and iPadOS 26 introduce the Liquid Glass design language, refreshing icons and windows with a more modern look. Windowed apps on iPad are a step toward making it a productivity device. The transparent Control Center and the integration of Launchpad have been controversial, however, and the experience still needs work. Despite its shortcomings, this update lays groundwork for a promising future.
Tinkering 661 words
One Month After Switching to Android
My frequent phone changes took me from OnePlus to iPhone, and from enjoying tinkering to relying on an ecosystem. At my girlfriend’s suggestion, I recently bought an OPPO Find X8 Ultra to improve my photos. Migrating apps out of Apple’s ecosystem reminded me how uneven Android’s app selection remains and how difficult finding replacements can be. A month of migration has been an exercise in friction and adaptation between platforms.
Tinkering 1.52K words
Adding Google Analytics to Astro with Tag Manager
After moving my blog to Astro, the usual Google Analytics integration no longer fit its performance goals. Adding event-reporting JavaScript directly to the head works, but hurts page performance. I used partytown to move the scripts off the main thread so they would not interfere with loading. With a few adjustments to the example code, Google Analytics finally worked, balancing performance with analytics.
Tinkering 357 words
Connecting My Shanghai and Hangzhou Networks
My girlfriend moved from Beijing to Shanghai for work, and I helped arrange broadband too. Shanghai Telecom’s 500M connection costs more than a 1000M line in Hangzhou, frustratingly. I set out to connect the two cities’ networks: transparent proxying in Shanghai, selected traffic exiting through Hangzhou, and access between both LANs. Hangzhou already had a simple setup with a software router and an AP, configured to route my everyday traffic home and ready for the next networking adventure.
Tinkering 973 words
