Now it is the beginning of a fantastic story!

Published stuff

For Stuff’s 300th issue, I wrote a gargantuan feature that covered the best gadgets released during the magazine’s long life. It’s now online, with our picks from 1996 to the present day.

I also wrote about Lego Animal Crossing (or, given my age, what looks like The Revenge of Fabuland), and the mobile gaming revolution that wasn’t – the N-Gage.

This week’s column: I’ve had it with new streaming tiers. ‘Good enough’ subs are the way forward for me. Which goes a bit Black Mirror in several different ways.

Over at TapSmart, Blackbar is added to my classic apps series, and I take a look at the best interactive widgets for iOS 17.

Upcoming stuff

Aside from my regular features for the next issue of Stuff, I’m immersed in yet more mini-console shenanigans. This time, I’m digging into two Super Pocket units. These are essentially mini Evercades with a bunch of built-in games – either Taito or Capcom.

They’ve proven divisive among the Evercade community, which I understand. Evercade creators Blaze went big on physical media, and yet now has two consoles out with built-in games. (The Capcom titles are also bundled with the EXP). But I see the Super Pockets as perfect gift fodder for people keen on a bit of retro, with the cart slots being a bonus for anyone who fancies exploring further afield than the dozen or so titles that come with the handheld.

Still, more as and when I’ve put them through rather more rigorous testing than firing up and cooing at Bubble Bobble and Puzzle Bobble.

Other stuff

Before smashing out these words, I was supposed to be working on articles and sorting taxes. So naturally I spent half an hour arranging a loop that’s been sitting around forever (with the catchy title ‘chiangmai 48 – in-between track to work on — edit’) into a full track. It turned out really well. That made me feel… relaxed. Happy. Whole. Clearly, I need to be doing more of this music thing again…