Karbon Based

Inspiration

Dot — “The AI that grows with you.” I’ll admit I’m extremely bearish on AI assistants, so it was with a heavy dose of skepticism that I installed and tried Dot, but I was pleasantly surprised by the kind, supportive tone and interesting conversations I’ve had in the past few weeks. One downside is that currently Dot is iOS-only, which means you cannot continue interactions on macOS. This will change with Sequoia in the fall, when it’s possible to mirror iPhone to your Mac. Consider the experiment ongoing…
Tuneshine — I’m such a sucker for bespoke, purpose-driven hardware ideas, especially when they involve a combination of software and funky displays. Tuneshine lights up your room with the album artwork from the songs you listen to, with support for various music services including Apple Music. It’s like a digital record album cover on the shelf in my office.
Record Club — Speaking of music, I’m super excited about Record Club, the self-proclaimed “Letterboxd but for music”. I’ve missed the early-aughts days of eMusic and Rdio when I could easily discover new music from friends and strangers. Record Club seems like the perfect fit. Invitations are rolling out slowly, but I’m looking forward to the site growing rapidly over the coming months.
Still Wakes the Deep — “December 1975. Disaster strikes the Beira D oil rig off the coast of Scotland.” While Still Wakes the Deep doesn’t exactly set out on a unique path to its horror—you’ll find a fairly typical “something went wrong and now everything is falling apart” setup at play here—walking the path is immersive and disturbing. Where it is most successful is in its narrative, vocal performances and gorgeous visuals, which come together to elevate that which might have otherwise been a simple, rote horror into something poetic, heartbreaking and moving.

Writing

We failed
newest

The great American experiment ends in a cloud of hate and fear. 2 minutes

Publishing with iPad
Writing Karbon Based from a portable screen. 12 minutes

Irreplaceable
Our children are the lens through which we watch time escape us. 4 minutes

Of all places
The universe isn't out to get you, and even if it is there isn't anything you can do about it. 8 minutes

A fresh start
Time is a luxury. And yet here I am writing words on a website. 2 minutes

Archived Custom Keyboard Builds on YouTube

Fox Lab Leaf 80%
Healios, SA Oblivion with Git Modifiers. My first custom TKL, and it feels terrific. 4 hours, 5 minutes

Rama Works M60-A
67g Zilents, Pulse SA R3 Rams. Probably the best group-buy hardware I've ever seen. 2 hours

Mekanisk Klippe
S-60X PCB, Holtites, BOX Navies. Don't think I'll ever use Holtites again. 3 hours, 30 minutes

Exent by TARO
67g Zilents. Worth the wait, even if it was a year late. 2 hours, 56 minutes

Koobaczech Pearl 40
67g Zilents. A beautiful little tank. Not the easiest to type on. 4 hours, 14 minutes

TINA-C by KBDfans
DZ60 PCB, Holy Panda switches. These switches have a helluva bump. 4 hours, 14 minutes

Karbon Based is the personal weblog and internet home of Garrett Murray.

Garrett is the Founder & Managing Director of Karbon, a mobile apps design and development agency. His current interests include mechanical keyboards, video games, technology and photography. He lives with his wife, two children, and three pets.

The opinions herein are his own, not an official position of Karbon or its clients. He will always strive to navigate this world ethically and morally, but understands the complexity of separating himself from his company when writing or communicating.