⚡ 08MAR2026: Flower Cards

Happy Sunday everyone!

This week I've been nursing a rib injury, so we're getting a leaner, tighter issue this evening. I've spent a lot of recovery time on the couch finally getting some play time with Pokemon Z-A in preparation for Pokemon Pokopia, which I'm really eager to dive into. I was also delighted to learn from Jason Kottke that the classic Mac HyperCard game The Manhole is playable for free on the Internet Archive. Beyond gaming, I spent a lot of time doom scrolling, but was so delighted by this Threads thread about a photographer who took a chance on asking a stranger for a street portrait— read all the way to the end for the delightful conclusion.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 👩🏼‍💻 MacBook Neo - While it's gotten a mixed reaction within the techsphere, I'm thrilled about Apple finally releasing an affordable, entry-level Mac for the masses. With an education discount, you can get it for just $499 ($599 standard price). Would you want to use this Mac for editing multiple 8K ProRes RAW videos at once, or running massive local LLMs? Absolutely not. But for everyone else that just wants a secure, approachable computer that can surf the web, check email, do homework, back up photos, etc., this thing is a home run. I'd love to see these start replacing the ubiquitous Chromebooks that have a stranglehold on the public education system these days.
• 🖊️ FontCrafter - This is a really cool web project that lets you turn your handwriting into a custom font— the best part is it's all done locally, for free, with no account needed, using JavaScript in your browser. No data leaves your computer. Simply print out the handwriting template, fill in all the letters, numbers, and punctuation, then take a photo of it with your phone and drop it into your browser. You'll get a bundle of OTF, TTF, WOFF2, and Base64 versions of your font you can use wherever you want. I'm eager to try it out.
• 🎴 Junior Hanafuda Cards - Indie designer Louis Mantia has been making gorgeous playing card sets for years. He's now offering some beautiful sets that feature a custom-made wooden box sourced from Japan. While he offers lovely standard playing cards, I'm eager to grab a set of the Hanafuda flower cards he offers. He even has a really helpful site that teaches you how to play a number of different games with both standard cards and Hanafuda cards.
• ⌨️ QK65 Mk3 Prebuilt Mechanical Keyboard - I stumbled across this fun, pricey keeb after a tip from Andrew over at Clicksnclacks. I'm mostly into keyboards for how they look and sound; I don't understand most of the nuances of different configurations, switches, etc., so I tend to drift to pre-built boards like this. This one in particular has fun retro video game vibes to it and an awesome LCD screen for displaying information and even playing mini games. I'm going to be filing this one away for a future Christmas list.
• 💡 Philips Hue Bridge Pro - I have been a big fan of Hue lights for a long time. I recently redid my whole office lighting setup with Hue bulbs, which has been fun for fine-tuning the exact color temperature and brightness I want while I work, when I switch over to video calls, etc. That said, I've been using the same home bridge for a little less than 10 years and I've been noticing a little lagginess. Sure enough, Hue now has a new "Pro" version of their bridge that supports over 150 lights at once and adds really cool motion sensor tech that basically triangulates wireless interference between the bulbs in the house to detect motion, which can then be used to trigger lights turning on/off as you pass from room to room. I will probably pick one of these up sooner than later.

That's it for this week— may you find peace everywhere you look.