Weirder PC Macroboards, but These are Virtual!

Previously we'd talked about the wonderful wacky world of PC macroboards, where "programmable" boards of every size a shape hopes via for your dollars with promise to help you be more productive. 

But there's one subcategory I did not mention... the virtual macropad! 

Got an old smartphone or tablet lying around gathering dust? You can probably turn it into a macropad. There are two software options: Touch Portal, and StreamDeck Mobile. 

Touch Portal, via Touch Portal

Touch Portal has been around a bit longer, and can be run on very old mobile hardware (as old as Android 4!)  It claims to be compatible with a TON of native PC, individual apps, even games and streaming utilities, with multiple layers of customization. If you can get the software working, you can enjoy some very powerful capabilities and automations for a low price. Download the PC host program free, and download the Touch Portal client to the mobile device (sideloading is fine) and let them see each other by joining the same wifi network. Done! Add a few buttons to see if it's working for you. There are a ton of options for each button and you can definitely customize the behavior to a very deep degree. 

However, you are limited in the number of buttons you can put on screen with the free version, as well as lack of any plug-in support. To get that, you need to fork over $13 for the pro version upgrade (that's lifetime, NOT a subscription!) An optional upgrades is the multi-device upgrade ($6.99 so you can use multiple tablets or phones, each with its own copy of Touch Portal sending commands to the PC), as well as some graphics upgrades. The payment is one-and-done, NOT a subscription. And that is pretty darn cheap, IMHO, but kinda complicated to setup. But they have a Discord channel if you need some help. 

Stream Deck Mobile tries to achieve the same thing as Touch Portal, but uses their own Stream Deck program on the PC as the host to receive those commands. Stream Deck Mobile offers a fully working demo for 30 days. Once demo time expires, your stream deck mobile will shrink to only have 6 keys (like Stream Deck mini), but it will keep working. The pro license, is $2.99 a month, $25 for a full year, or $49.95 for a lifetime license. That pro license gives you the full power, over 100 buttons per page and access to any premium content. Here's the link to the Android and iOS versions. 

And here comes G.skill that tries to have the cake and eat it too, by selling a dedicated... "tablet" with customized widgets/buttons on screen they are calling the Wigidash. 

Also keep in mind that due to StreamDeck's popularity, there are clones appearing on the market. Ajazz makes one that looks identical, except in white, There are some generic names, like "IYUT D15", that's also a virtually identical clone. Same device is on sale at Aliexpress for as low as $55 and known as Miratech 293S (or just 293S). This appears to be a legally reverse engineered device from a clean room and thus the basic functions will work fine. However, whether it enjoys third-party support is the real question there.  

All these lead Elgato to release the new "Neo" product line, which also has a new version of Stream Deck that has some twist knobs for analog adjustments, similar to their previous "Stream Deck Plus" version, as well as buttons with multiple layers of functions. 

If you got the money, setting up such devices to automate your setup has never been easier!

Can AI Compose Music? Test It Yourself at Suno.com

By now, you have probably heard of DALL-E 3 or Midjourney and other prompt-based image generators where you give the bot a bunch of words, and the bot will take those words, interpret them in its own ways, and generate a picture out of what you gave it. The picture can be as simple as Minecraft style blocks or hyper realistic neon cityscapes in 4K. (I am not going to talk about the POTENTIAL legal and moral ramifications of that, that's up to lawyers and philosophers) This is heralded as an advancement in AI. 

What if I tell you that AI can now make music the same way? Give it instructions like you want music of a certain genre, with lyrics (or without), in the style of artist X, add element Y, minimize element Z... What will it end up generating? 

Photo by Marius Masalar on Unsplash

For funsies, I tried the text prompt: "A theme tune about a scifi beach romance, make it lively and romantic, but not too bubbly, synth and futuristic, but not too mechanical, and make it hummable. " and set to "Instrumental". 

Here is what it gave me: https://suno.com/song/9dfa5539-29a9-4fcc-965d-f323404b1811

That's pretty darn impressive! 

So go try this yourself today! (Free registration required, free 10 credits per day, each song is about 1 credit. You can pay for more if you need more, but this is fun to fool around with.)

 

Another Suspected Employment Scam, This Time on Craigslist?

Previously I've told you about a suspected bogus job listing on LinkedIn. Well, I am still looking for a job. And this time, I ran into another suspected bogus job listing on Craigslist. 

On May 30th, I replied to a "technical support" position on Craigslist with my resume. The description was a little vague, but not vague to raise suspicion. 

Today, a "Scott" replied, implying he's the employer, but made no specific references to which company he may be replying for. However, I watermark all of my email addresses and resumes so was able to track it back to the job listing on May 30th via Craigslist. (You may want to do that in your future submissions)

Scott basically said that while they have choose their candidates and it was an overwhelming response, he was intrigued by my resume that he's going to refer me to a different guy who's also hiring, except this guy offers to pays double of the original CL job listing. Feel free to use him as a reference, include this email as proof, etc. etc. 

Something sounds fishy already... If you find my resume intriguing, YOU could have forwarded my resume to that guy and put in a good word for me. Why sent it back to me, with instruction to to contact that guy myself? That's just extra rounds of email? 

So I decided to dive deeper, and it's muddy waters indeed. This other guy has a email address with a domain name that IDs as an oil company. 

Googling the oil company shows an actual stock symbol, and a website, AND a LinkedIn Profile... except the website is only one page, no contact info, one address, at the famous New York 55 5th Ave building. The website contains no shot of the office, only of the building. 

The suite number is specifically listed by the leasing office as a SAMPLE UNIT available for lease. 

And the domain name was only registered in January 2024, for ONLY 12 months, and all private details blocked via proxy registar PrivacyGuard. 

Further research shows that the company was merged into a different oil company in 2012, and effectively ceased to exist then. It was headquartered in Texas, and registered as a corporation in Delaware. It was NEVER in New York. 

This is a fake company. And I've been referred to a fake person. 

Which means Scott, who referred me, is very likely fake as well. 

And now he has my resume, and god knows how many other people's resume who sent it in hoping it's a real job offer. 

P.S. "Scott" actually tried to ping me again, asking me did I get hold of his buddy. I did not bother replying. 

Quick Review of EyeKeeper's Clearance Titanium Readers

Previously I talked about Eyekeeper and how I ordered TWO Titanium framed readers for $20. Well, are they any good? 

Given that I bought BOTH together for $20 that is tremendous value. My only complaint was these are shipped from China, so the label of "US Warehouse" was a bit misleading, and transit time was over a week. However, customer service was excellent, when they realized they don't have the reader in black. I told them to ship me gold or gunmetal and I got gold. 

Yes, the designs are pretty generic, but I am more interested in performance and robustness, not fashion. I've destroyed more than a few pairs of "fashion" readers just by wearing them (Gunnar / Razer, *cough*)

Oh, and BOTH pairs came with full sunglasses semi-hardcase and lenscloth. One even came with a drawstring cloth baggie. Not worth much, but it's the thought that counts, right? 

Okay, enough yapping. How does it look? Well, see for yourself. Here's the reader. Yes, I did try to bend the frame. It's not breakable, not that I try very hard. 

And here's the bifocal reader:

The bifocal reader has the magnifier area very close to the nosepads. For normal use you stare straight ahead and you barely notice those areas are there. But if you look downward you'll notice the magnified area. In the photo you can barely tell due to the dark amber tint, which is VERY blue-blocking. 

(And yes, I know my room's messy)

I did have to add a rubber "retainer" at the end of each arm to help hold the glasses in place, as they keep wanting to slip down my nose. But those are very cheap, like $2 for 10 pairs or something like that. 

Remember, you can get a discount at https://www.eyekeeper.com/ by using my discount code KASEYCHANG and this works on top of any applicable discount code. (i.e. they stack). 

Enjoy!

The Wonderful and Wacky World of MacroBoards (for PC)

A Macroboard is basically a small keyboard that one can program to to perform a whole series of functions (aka macros). However, there are a wide variety of them, from cheap to expensive, from nearly useless to extremely useful, from cheap crap to built like a tank, from a tiny three-key all the way up to a 64-key keyboard plus extra control knobs and such. Welcome to the wonderful wacky world of macroboards. 

DOIO Megalodon Console 64 keyboard/macroboard

3-key macroboard on Alliexpress.com, about $6 USD

As I am a PC Windows user, I am going to talk about it from the PC users' perspective. Don't own a Mac, can't talk about them. 

Anyway, as you can see the sizes of these keyboards vary greatly. You can also sometimes find twist-knobs on these to give you 1-D scrolling control. The knob has a geeky name: rotary encoder. And often act as a pushbutton key itself. 

So these macroboards come in various sizes and shapes and layouts, and there are a ton of other differentiating factors, which we will list here:

• Size (how many keys, how many encoders)
• Layout (how the keys and encoders are arranged)
• Interface to computer (MicroUSB or USB-C wired, 2.4 GHz wireless, Bluetooth)
• Backlight for the keys (none, white, RGB)
• Firmware (proprietary simple, proprietary GUI, GMK / VIA ROM) 
• Display keys or mini-display per key as labels (expensive)
• Number of layers supported (more layers, more keys can be programmed)
• Key mounting method (if MX stems, can be replaced with other MX keys)
• Key switch mounting method (if swappable)
• Case material (acrylic, plastic, aluminum, mixed, etc.) and color (if any choice)
• Source/vendor: retailer, etsy?, Aliexpress, Temu, Amazon, Newegg, keyboard shop, etc.
• Others?

Generally, the more features you see (the larger it is, it supports wireless and wired, etc.) the most it will cost. The little 3-key board costs about $6 on Aliexpress. A 6-key 1-knob board costs about $12-20. Something that's the size of a numpad (about 18-20 keys) should be between $35-90 depending on feature set. At the higher end, the Console 64 board above costs well over $200 depending on what switches and keys you want with it, but it's also GMK/VIA compatible. 

For the truly high-end, there are the per-key display macroboards such as the Elgato StreamDeck and proprietary editing boards such as the LoupeDeck and even single purpose boards such as the Davinci Resolve Speed Editor from Black Magic Designs, to be used with Davinci Resolve video editor. 

Elgato Stream Deck Mk II courtesy of Elgato

Loupedeck+Loupedeck+ courtesy of Loupedeck

BMD Davinci Resolve Speed Editor

If you prefer something DIY many mechanical keyboard shops offer proprietary kits. You just add your own mechanical keyboard switches and keycaps, and assemble a few other things. Adafruit, for example, has their RP2040 which even has an OLED display, in addition to 12 keys and a rotary encoder. 

Generally, you get what you pay for. If it's too cheap, they probably took a shortcut somewhere and you may not realize it until you got it in hand and test it yourself. As an example, I dug up My 3-knob 11-key macropad and decided to use it, then found out that while it "supports" 3 layers, the only way to switch among the layers was via a TINY button that's NOT one of the 11 buttons on top, making it almost impossible to use. It also require a proprietary software that were difficult to download, and the directly linked version doesn't work, requiring you to download an "upgraded" version. It's a piece of junk, basically. I know I didn't pay more than $50 for this, and I still feel ripped off. 

But what can a macropad do for you? Quite a bit. 

• Launch programs and put them in specific spots on the screen
• Trigger specific functions in almost any software on your PC
• Automatically switch customization as it detects different software loading
• Control not just overall volume, but volume for individual apps, great for streaming
• Add soundboard and reaction functions to the stream, no need to pick from menu
• Map all the video conference controls to buttons, from mute all to kick user
• Control your smarthome with a few button presses
• And much more...

That is, of course, ONLY if your macroboard can be mapped to those functions, which is why the big brands, like Elgato, enjoys an advantage here due to their wide support by 3rd party vendors, and GMK/VIA, because they standardized the interface, thus requiring NO special drivers once the macros were loaded into the hardware. 

If you barely use your keyboard, then macroboard probably will NOT help you much. But if you spend a LOT of time fiddling with controls on your PC and wish you can just push ONE button to get it all done, or need to control a lot of different software, preferably with a single control center, then a macroboard may seem like a godsend. 

If you just want something cheap to get your "feet wet", so to speak, and you don't mind ordering from China, here's one... multiple knobs, 9 keys, less than $40, VIA compatible. You will need to indicate which kit you want, and what switches you want on those, AND you need extra keys to put on the switches. This is NOT a ready-to-unbox product. If you want one that's ready to run out of the box that'll cost you $50-60. 

And if you're willing to pay that much, why not pay for the best? That'd be the Xencelabs Quick Keys. Yes, it's $100, but it has a wheel, 4 layers, and 10 keys (so 40 shortcuts), and there's a per-key display so you don't have to guess what each key does. It will literally tell you. Sure, you can get better looking ones, like Elgato Steam Deck with per button display, but why when this costs less? 

Again, welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of macroboards. May you find interesting uses for them (and not spend the money on the wrong things). 

Restaurant Review: Ikea Food Hall San Francisco, specifically the Ikea Cafe (will try others next time)

The Ikea Saluhall opened in San Francisco (5th and Market) back in April, and I've been inside Ikea before, but never visited the food hall. Well, I'm going in today, as I've read about it in both the SF Standard and SF Gate, and apparently it gets rave reviews... if you pay for the top-end entrees. Being a relatively poor guy, I want to see what the low end taste like. 

It's NOT great. 

Photo by Jueun Song on Unsplash

I went inside and walked around. The ground floor has 2 bars with food, and a soft-serve stand. As I don't drink and don't need a softserve, I headed upstairs... Only to find out that the elevators are back OUTSIDE. I had to walk up the stairs, yikes. 

Okay, got up to 2nd floor... Seems half of the food upstairs are vegan. I have no problem with vegan food, but they don't exactly come cheap. Fortunately, the lines to each are minimal, and choices are certainly eclectic... Vegan tacos, Sichuan noodles, open-faced vegan burger (made with Beyond Meat), mushroom nuggets... Indian street food curry, Algerian dish... But as I said, they ain't cheap. So I opted for the cheapest option... Ikea's own stuff. 

I was going to order the meatball, but in the end, I chose "pulled pork sandwich" with mac and cheese on the side, a diet pepsi, a regular hot dog, and a cinnamon roll, for about $12+tax. 

I think I made a mistake in choosing these items. 

Apparently so few people chose the pulled pork sandwich, they have to toast the brioche rolls from scratch, and that takes an extra five minutes. By the time I got the sandwich the rest of the items are cold (and the diet pepsi is warming up). 

This is what it looks like, BTW...

Pulled pork w/ mac and cheese,
hot dog, cinnamon bun, Pepsi
at Ikea Saluhall, San Francisco

The mac and cheese... tastes a little strange. The first few bites are okay, but the last half of it got a strange chemical taste to it I can't quite describe... a certain... funk? 

The sandwich itself... the roll is okay, it's toasted so the wet pulled pork didn't soak through, but they also squeezed quite a bit of liquid out of the meat so it's a little dry and thus, a bit short on flavor, mostly sweet, not much salt or spice. Pretty much tasteless. 

The hotdog was 6 inches long, and extremely thin. Like a fat-fountain-pen type of thickness, nowhere close to American hot dogs like Nathan's or Bar's or even Oscar Meyers. There's almost no snap to it, and when paired with tasteless hotdog bun, means there's also no flavor in the dogs. I ended up munching on the dogs alone, without the bun, and that made it slightly more palatable. I guess I could have tried to drown it with mustard and ketchup, but there's really no point to that. Sure, it's cheap, but Costco have no need to be concerned. They are are in no danger from Ikea dogs, regular, veggie, or plant versions. 

All in all, not fun to eat, but it does fill the stomach. Will have to go back and try the other places, even if they're vegan. 

Ikea Cafeteria: C+

Oh, and the cinnamon roll... It's tiny. While it's only 1.50, I should have just sprung for the cake. The rolls by that time is room temp and hardened up, sweetness barely showing, and icing no longer sweet. 

App Discovery: LM Studio -- explore your personal ChatGPT / Gemini / Llama / Claude type chatbot

If you have access to tech news, you've no doubt heard of the wonder world of "AI", that seems to be smart about answering questions about... Anything, from general knowledge to math, and can act as anything from career coach to fitness coach. Some examples are OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, or Facebook's Llama, but these are actually "large language models", i.e. a pool of knowledge, verified and validated by humans and "learning models" that curates the pool of knowledge, where it both retained the knowledge as well as a way to compose sentences that are human-like. It had NOT yet learned how to think... It just fools you into thinking that it does. 

And one way these LLMs learn is by taking the input you gave it as a part of their dataset. That's why you are able to give it thumbs up / down ratings... You are helping the maker validate its output, and continually tune the variables. And this brings up some privacy concerns, as not everything you ask these LLMs will remain "private". In fact, one of the most given advice when it comes to "build resume with AI" is you need to "sanitize" the resume so your personal details do not appear, lest it got scraped and incorporated into a future training dataset. 

What if I tell you that there are "smaller" LLMs you can run locally on your own PC, as long as you have enough RAM and VRAM on your GPU? So you don't have to worry about privacy (because you didn't upload anything)? Obviously these "smaller" LLMs are less capable than their cloud-based brothers, but they may be enough for your needs, and you can try a couple different ones. 

Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash

Go download LMStudio from https://lmstudio.ai/  as it's available for Windows (requires CPU that supports AVX2), the new Mx CPU Macs, and there's an experimental build running on Linux. GPU is optional. 

Once you got it downloaded and installed, then use it to download one of the smaller LLMs, such as Phi3 from Google, but there are dozens and dozens to choose from. Then let LMStudio load it into memory (if it fits) and you can keyboard chat with it just like their cloud-based cousins (sorry, nothing like the multi-modal input like ChatGPT-4o yet). Got tired of it? Go download another LLM and play with that. They are a few GB each. 

If you are interested in this field, and want to learn prompt engineering, yet don't want to stay online indefinitely or pay for "plus" or "premium", doing it locally is a viable alternative. 

So go download it today and have fun! 

P.S. You will be able to TRAIN your own agent soon... so it sounds like you, and haves like you, and maybe even perform actions for you like an avatar!