Human drum machine
Starpowerdrummer is basically a human Drum and Bass/Jungle drum machine. Listen to him play in real life what was previously only possible on a drum machine. He’s so unbelievably clean and exact – it’s kind of mind boggling.
Trying to convince AI they are living in a simulation
Several companies are developing AI powered NPC’s for games – complete with behaviors and realtime voice synthesis. This YouTuber decided to try and tell the NPC’s they were living in a simulation – and the results were not so different than what would happen if you tried this on the streets in real life. With science telling us reality may be a simulation, maybe we’re all just layers of bots in the ether…or destined for a higher reality.
Browsing the internet on a Mac Plus
Hunter Irving picked up a 1986 Macintosh Plus and helped create MacProxy Plus, an open-source app that lets vintage Macs browse the modern web.
He uses a BlueSCSI device to emulate a rare mac ethernet adapter (Daynaport SCSI/Link-T) and a Macproxy to convert modern web pages to something 90’s era html only browsers can display. He improved Macproxy to have modular components with custom handling for specific websites. Thus, MacProxy Plus. He used claude.ai to help write some of the proxy.
He then went on to handle images – and video – using dithering and generated ASCII art.
Links:
- BlueSCSI v2 Pico-W: https://bluescsi.com/v2
- Github: https://github.com/hunterirving/macproxy_plus
- Follow author at Gobbler ( https://hunterirving.com/gobbler ) and Huntergram ( https://hunterirving.com/huntergram ).
AI runs 100m dash
AI Warehouse tasked a group of five AI agents to complete a 100-meter dash. Each was trained using Deep Reinforcement Learning and each agent has different physical characteristics. It’s kind of like watching AI play QWOP.
AI Generated Vintage Christmas
AI Retro Rewind has a few AI generated channels going for Christmas. This one combines AI generated 50’s retro-futuristic images with AI jazzy tunes. Oh, what the AI world has wrought.
Norad Santa Tracker
Norad has their live, fully 3D Santa tracker up. Be sure to get the kids in bed before he flies over.
Tiny Volumetric lamp
Nick Electronics shows how he built a motorized volumetric display that uses a small grid of LEDs and wireless power.
Midnight Mass Carols
The fantastic choir at St Mary’s Cathedral in Portland will be having an hour of singing and carols from 11:00pm until midnight mass on Christmas Eve.
Come in, listen or sign along, and find some peace and joy in a world so desperately in need of both.
Events Around Portland at Christmas
If you want to know all the things going on around Portland for Christmas, here’s the best guides:
PDX Monthly’s list of holiday and light displays and events in and near Portland: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/best-holiday-lights-displays-near-portland
Starts late Nov:
- Nov. 29 to Dec. 30 – Christmas Festival of Lights at the Grotto
- Nov. 22 to Jan. 5 – Portland Zoolights/Brewlights
- Winter Wonderland – Christmas lights at Portland International Raceway
- Hillsboro activities
- Downtown tree lighting
- Ice Skating and winter village at Orenco
- Lightopia at Hillsboro stadium – KOIN
- Pioneer Courthouse Square Tree Lighting
- Holiday Food & Gift Festival
- Vancouver
- Holidays on Franklin – complete with live entertainment, Santa, and blowing snow
Dec:
- Dec. 15–31 Peacock Lane Christmas Lights
- TUBA Christmas Concert
- Christmas Ship Parade
- SantaCon – though now there are multiple competing groups and none are even remotely as interesting as the original Cacophony Society ones late 90’s early 2000’s.
- Pittock Mansion Holiday Display
- Benson Hotel Gingerbread Masterpiece
80’s brand logos for modern companies
Graphic designer Kostya Petrenko create logos for modern brands as if they existed in the 1980s. He has both Instagram and TikTok channels with lots of interesting retro clips.