We don't have many painted manhole covers in Tokyo, so I was pretty excited to see some in Lake Akan this week! Most feature the lake itself, marimo, red-crowned cranes, and lily of the valley. ---| LMNT
For the first time since I moved to Japan two years ago, a couple of Japanese people initiated conversation with me. I was listening to music in my headphones and working on an app icon at a Skytree café, when a couple stopped to chat while they were walking by. cute older coupleSorry for interrupting. We love your shirt!! meおっ！ありがとう！It’s made from tenugui. cute older coupleReally! meYeah! This is such a normal thing to happen back in the States. But I think it really is ...| LMNT
Download wallpapers from LMNT You gotta respect the classics. Donkey Kong is the original acrobatic platformer that spawned decades of great video games, with either Mario or DK as their protagonists. This wallpaper interprets a mural from the Donkey Kong Country theme park area, remixing it with its original color scheme from 1981’s Donkey Kong. It goes great with icons from Super Storage, Vol. 1 and the Donkey Kong Bananza expansion, Super Storage, Vol. 2! Get the t-shirt! ---| LMNT
Download icons from LMNT --- Donkey Kong Bananza is so fun and rich with detail, color, and iconography. The icons for Bananza forms and Banandium gems match the low-poly style from Super Storage, Vol. 1. I simply couldn’t resist. ---| LMNT
On the latest episode of The Talk Show, John and I talked for three hours about hoagies, light mode, dark mode, vintage MacOS, NeXT, Mac OS X, modern macOS, perceived stability, Aqua, and—of course—Liquid Glass. Leading up to this episode, I wrote these three posts about Liquid Glass, which you may be interested in: Rose-Gold-Tinted Liquid Glasses I’ve Got Better Things To Do Than This, and Yet A Responsibility to the Industry My issue with Liquid Glass is not an isolated one about the ...| LMNT
Here’s a third recent project to round out this little mini series of “What has Louie been up to?” Tap Tap Revolution. Yeah. Three comps of a theoretical new version of Tap Tap Revolution: its menu, a transition to gameplay, and its iconic red-green-blue tracks.Blast from the past, right? My old boss, Bart Decrem, came to me a little while ago with a wild proposition. What if they remade Tap Tap Revenge today? The original App Store hit. What would it look like? Would it be Tap Tap Revo...| LMNT
Also last year, Marcel sent me a build of Buddies, an app I had comped up and shared online. We started working on refining it together with Johannes, complete with a retro app icon. A screenshot of Buddies, a list of contacts to launch directly into Messages and FaceTime.In the transition from services like AOL Instant Messenger to services like iMessage, I think we lost the intentionality of chatting with friends. Weirdly, I also feel like I lost a very specific buddy-list shaped window on ...| LMNT
In October last year, I started working on a new version of Pixadex with Johannes. For those who are unfamiliar, Pixadex was an icon-organizer app interoperable with CandyBar, an icon-changing app. Both came from a legendary partnership between the Iconfactory and Panic. I have missed these apps so much. Screenshot of Pixadex 4, with collections listed on the left, showing icons inside the “Pixadex” collection on the right: CandyBar, its icontainer, Pixadex, its icontainer, a generic coll...| LMNT
Firstly, I maintain that it makes absolutely no sense that Alan Dye has the power he has, because he simply has no taste. But what’s worse is that he wields that power so clumsily, so carelessly. And because it goes unchallenged, unchecked by someone higher than him, the entire industry suffers the consequences. If that sounds too dramatic, maybe the rest of this post won’t be for you. One reason that developers struggle with implementing Liquid Glass is Apple’s own evolving implementat...| LMNT
The web is so cool. Think about it. You can publish whatever, whenever. And when you do, it is instantly accessible around the globe. It’s one of the freest things. Present anything in any way you want, formatted exactly how you want. The only real limitation is the time it takes to do it. But in my experience, it’s absolutely always worth it. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
For how many news cycles that plastic straws garnered, there is virtually no critique of companies that produce significantly higher volumes of plastic. It’s incomprehensible just how much plastic a company like Disney alone produces for something like popcorn buckets. The volume of plastic per use is worth looking closer at. But it’s genuinely depressing to think about, especially when you consider things like blind-boxed “collectible” vinyl toys, where duplicates are often discarded...| LMNT
Nob got me「るい」千社札(senjafuda, votive slips) recently. I stuck them on my phone and umbrella. I asked the owners of a restaurant I go to a lot if I could stick my senjafuda on the counter where I usually sit.「いいよ！」(Sure!) NobLove it. That’s proof of a regular customer. --- You see, senjafuda are historically stuck on shrine torii or temple buildings. Nowawdays, they’re for your own things, but it also may be sometimes acceptable to stick them at other places you fr...| LMNT
At a yōshoku restaurant with the fami, I ordered a classic: ketchup-fried spaghetti. Instead of the typical sausage, this one arrived with shrimp. And I don’t eat seafood. Nikki (8) knows this and volunteered to eat them. When I picked up Tabasco, Daikichi (11) warned it’ll be too spicy for Nikki. Every time I found a shrimp, Nikki nabbed it. And as she ate the last one, she said it’s safe to use Tabasco now. --- One of the café staff asked about a candy bar he’s never had, Butterfi...| LMNT
A small mushroom because mushrooms are cute even if you don’t like them. Get the t-shirt! --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
A symbol for a secret society. No one knows which one. Get the t-shirt! --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Remember The Good Place? The point system for individual decisions lives rent free in my head. You can’t adhere to this concept too strictly. There’s a long list of decisions that lead to the decision you actually get to make. One of the examples from the show was making a salad, but the tomato you bought was grown in pesticide-rich farmland, farmed by underpaid workers, shipped from Mexico to Indiana using fuel-inefficient vehicles. There are a lot of little trade-offs we’re willing to...| LMNT
Last week, I had a specific daydream. In it, I was walking around my neighborhood, and a delivery person stopped me on the street because they had a package for me. For some reason, I was fascinated with the idea of not being at home and a package still being delivered to me just by recognition. I thought, maybe, this would be proof that I actually live here. (After being constantly self-conscious for two years.) And then today, while I was coming home from the café, it actually happened. Re...| LMNT
It’s now been two complete years since I moved to Tokyo. Looking back at the last year, some things have changed a lot, some things just a tiny bit. Others, not at all. --- § New Opportunities Finding work from Japanese people remains mysterious and unattainable, so I took it upon myself to volunteer some of my time to design a cafe menu. The cafe I go to every day is fairly popular with foreign tourists. And though the staff can speak some English, conversing with customers that expect a ...| LMNT
Well, it’s finally here, the dystopian dream team. Jony Ive and Sam Altman hitched their carts together to create god knows what. While some people are “excited” or “intrigued,” I am frankly “disgusted.” In an intro video with special thanks to the Coppola family and Café Zoetrope for the location, and Harry Gregson-Williams for letting them borrow The Martian score, the two gush about the city of San Francisco, a city not devoid of problems that people like these two men helpe...| LMNT
News agencies have a responsibility to the entire population of the planet to differentiate Israel from Jewish people. To separate Zionism from Judaism. There is a very important difference between antizionism and antisemitism. Please, I’m begging you. Reporters, journalists, editors. Please just make sure you’re using the right words. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT A twee Death Star pattern made from Womprat icons. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
For me, Star Wars went hand-in-hand with customizing my computer. Twenty years ago—when I was just seventeen—my Windows computer was pretending to be a Mac. I had a Dock, jumbo-sized desktop icons, and visual styles made by Javier Ocasio(some of which were ported from Max Rudberg’s OS X themes). I really wanted a Mac, I just didn’t have one yet. I was as into Star Wars then as I am now. And 20 years ago, it was Revenge of the Sith season. I had designed a Mac OS X GUIKIT for ShapeShif...| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Resistance was reborn from the spirit of the Rebel Alliance. It fought the First Order and ultimately established the New Republic. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Sith Eternal was a cult working toward a new Sith Empire. As the First Order weakened with the loss of its Supreme Leader, the Sith Eternal revealed their own fleet, which the Resistance quickly defeated. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The First Order rose from the remnants of the Galactic Empire as the New Republic demilitarized. They fought the Resistance and were superseded by the Final Order, created by the Sith Eternal. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The New Republic was formed after the Rebel Alliance defeated the Galactic Empire. However, its demilitarization left the New Republic defenseless to the First Order. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Rebel Alliance fought against the Galactic Empire and eventually formed the New Republic. It would later become the Resistance. This is an updated version. The prior versions were from August 14, 2020, April 22, 2013 and April 16, 2007. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Imperial Security Bureau was an intelligence agency of the Galactic Empire. The ISB briefly secured the temple of the Jedi Order on Coruscant. Imperial remnants would later give rise to the First Order. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Galactic Empire evolved from the Galactic Republic, founded the Imperial Security Bureau, and fought against the Rebel Alliance. This is an updated version. The prior versions were from August 14, 2020, April 22, 2013 and April 16, 2007. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Confederacy of Independent Systems was a group of separatists who left the Galactic Republic. They were unknowingly manipulated into conflict by a Sith Lord seeking to form the first Galactic Empire. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Galactic Republic was the modern union of planets which lasted thousands of years beginning with the Old Republic, under the protection of the Jedi Order. Seceding planets formed the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which prompted a galactic war with the Republic reorganized into the first Galactic Empire. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Jedi Order was a religious order aligned with the light side of the Force. For thousands of years, the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic since the days of the Old Republic. When the Confederacy of Independent Systems waged war, Jedi Knights became generals in the Grand Army of the Republic. They were subsequently betrayed and killed by their own troops under the newly-formed Galactic Empire. --- If you like this, you can mak...| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT The Old Republic was the first incarnation of the Galactic Republic, which would survive for thousands of years. The Jedi Order guarded the Republic against its enemies, such as the Sith Empire. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
The Sith Empire was a religious order aligned with the dark side of the Force. It fought the Old Republic and though assumed to be defeated, the Sith regained control of the galaxy with the Galactic Empire.| lmnt.me
I suppose it’s tradition now, that I go to DisneySea on my birthday. It was a little more crowded than last year, but not more than any normal day. In just one year, my pace at the parks has become much slower. There’s some vague information about the Oriental Land Company replacing a lot of Port Discovery with something new. Though I understand, it’d be a shame to lose such a unique experience as Aquatopia. I leisurely walked around the park, starting at the Tower of Terror, to Indiana...| LMNT
It’s not just that everyone’s traveling around the country. It’s that everything about this week is completely unpredictable. Is a shop going to be open earlier because more people are out and about? Or will it be open later to give their employees a break too? Is a cafe going to be open on the holidays they normally take off every week because of the influx of people? Or are they closed different days of the week instead, to compensate? You just don’t know!| lmnt.me
After a very long and full life, Chief died this morning. I adopted Chief when he was about 9 months old, almost 20 years ago. When I moved out to California, he came with me. He was my roommate, my companion, my little co-pilot. He followed me wherever I went, sat outside the door until it opened, and laid on the ottoman next to my desk while I worked. He was always right there, wherever I was. Especially when Chief was younger, he would always demand whatever food I was eating, and through ...| LMNT
After finishing two intense, interleaving work projects over the last month, I decided to take a week or so away from doing work tasks, if I can help it. For three days in a row, I watched a Star Wars movie at a cinema. The Phantom Menace, Return of the Jedi, and The Last Jedi. I cannot express how good it feels to watch movies like that in a theater. I’ve become so accustomed to seeing movies at home, and with so much great TV these days, the cinema almost eluded me. The Japanese theater e...| LMNT
Don’t freak out. My website is observing CSS Naked Day. For April 9, this site’s stylesheet is temporarily commented out so you can see what it looks like as plain old HTML. I like it. You might know this, but before I added CSS to this site, I had RSS and individual post pages. No index pages yet! I think it’s a nice way to make a website. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
It’s the most wonderful time of year. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Of any device I own, be it a computer, a phone, tablet, watch, game console, television… the Mac is where I am. It’s where I live and breathe. I have spent less time on my phone every year for years now. And that’s great. My time in front of a Mac has—if anything—gone up. I have a TV but I often watch movies at my desk. I have a phone, but I make calls at my desk. My iPad sits in a drawer. My watch tells me the time and which subway exit I need to take. I don’t have a Vision Pro a...| LMNT
In Tokyo, the sakura are in full bloom now, though it’s been rainy the last few days, which dampens the possibility of having a little hanami picnic. But this time of year always makes me think of playing hanafuda with friends in a park. I don’t talk about my cards as much as I’d like to. So this season is a good reminder to remind you about them! Hanafuda are Japanese flower cards. They’re traditionally smaller and firmer than poker cards you might be familiar with, but years ago I m...| LMNT
We had a little evening out at a campsite. Nob and Daikichi made some fires to roast sausages over, while Nikki, Ayumi, and I went on a little walk to see DisneySea across the bay. We came back with a few snacks. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Not quite cold enough to stick, but cold enough to be far more pleasant than rain. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Working on a new app called Buddies and wanted to make an icon that felt a little nostalgic. Something… a little AOL, a little MSN. I borrowed the general Aqua styling from the old iChat icon, which I think ties it up really nicely. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
I don’t like the word “should.” I react poorly to it, because it’s indicative of some obligation that someone wants to place on me. It carries with it a sense of superiority, of knowing better. Let’s assume I know what I want to do better than anyone else. When people see what I do, they often make suggestions of what they think I should do based solely on their own hopes or expectations of me. With one word, they make their wish into a to-do list item for me. If I seem dismissive o...| LMNT
Chief is 20 years old today. I can no longer claim he’s merely a teenager when anyone says he’s old. The truth is, he is old. Twenty years ago, I was just a teenager myself. I asked my mother if we could just look at kittens. Sure, just to look. But one look was all I needed. Chief pawed through the cage when every other cat asked to be left alone. We didn’t get him that day, because we were just looking. Mom came home later that week with Chief in tow, as a surprise. We’ve been insep...| LMNT
Today I want to share with you a new official designation for apps I make, Kadomaru Shōkai. I’ve been collaborating with Johannes Jakob for a little while now (on a few unreleased apps), but we’re shipping our first one today. Right now. It’s called Daruma, and it’s a goal-tracking app. It’s super simple. Just add an item, begin working on it by selecting the right eye, complete it by selecting the left eye, and burn all your completed goals whenever you’re ready. The process mim...| LMNT
Download wallpapers from LMNT --- This green, squared halftone livery is seen on the face of every E235 series train on the Yamanote line. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Just some fruit at a nearby shrine. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
I’ve never put stickers on my laptop before. The very idea scared me. But this morning, I just did it. Maybe I should let myself have fun. Maybe all the time I spent worrying was actually greater than the amount of time to remove them. I like it. I think it’s cute. The only downside is that I see them less than anyone who’s across from me. Though I don’t sell my stickers, I do give them to friends! And if there are things you can buy with these designs, I’ll link to them below! 龍...| LMNT
MasaLouie, what does “time” mean when ordering? MeWhat? MasaLike, “One time cappuccino, one time latte, one time special morning set…” Me…What in the world? “Time”? Who said this? Are you sure they said “time”? Where were they from? MasaI don’t know. But… ヨーロッパ style. MeHold on. Let me think about this. two minutes laterMeOK. I understand. In German, people order things using “einmal” kind of like 一つ. When translating literally, it could mean “one-t...| LMNT
When it’s chilly outside, you can find Japanese sweet potato trucks. It’s kinda like the reverse of an ice cream truck. It rolls around playing a jingle, sometimes planting itself in a spot to sell treats of the opposite temperature. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpapers from LMNT --- Christopher Nolan’s trilogy represented a shift in tone for comic book movies, and it featured a stylization of Batman’s logo that was so different from anything that came before. This is an updated version. The prior versions were from July 7, 2012, December 21, 2007 and May 26, 2005. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Earlier this week, Luka asked me a great question as they were working on their inaugural blog post for GraferaZone: LukaHow do you not worry about being pleasant online? Setting aside that I think their first blog post is brave and vulnerable and good, being on the Internet is very hard. Our attention is split between more things and more people, so our own Internet existence is often distilled, diluted, or truncated to fit a smaller space for others to consume. That absolutely influences ho...| LMNT
I was roaming the underground shopping area outside Tokyo Station, and walked past a miniature Don Quixote, a discount shop. The normal size one is almost intolerable, so I never ever go there. As I walked by, I saw an orange bag with a Reese’s logo on it, and I finally understood what Peter Arnell was on about with the gravitational pull of Pepsi, because my body involuntarily shifted into the shop. But upon closer inspection, it was actually a bag of Reese’s Dipped Pretzels, which is no...| LMNT
Download wallpapers from LMNT --- Kadomaru means rounded corner. These wallpapers are interpretations of traditional Japanese patterns through the lens of a modern app icon shape. All four are in a rich murasaki color on a light cotton texture. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
[Download the video.] --- Yes, someone in the government is breaking the law, and yes, that other politician is being a hypocrite, and yes again, that one over there is clearly a nazi. It’s all anybody can see. We’re past the point of calling it out. There’s no one left to convince. They’re openly doing it now because there are no consequences. After pointing it out for the thousandth time, they’re not going to feel guilty; they’re going to ask, “Yeah, so what? What are you gonn...| LMNT
There’s a lot to take away from Humane’s story, but first, I want to share something I said on Twitter in July 2022, a full year before Humane revealed their product, the Ai Pin: meI can’t imagine that product being successful. Which makes me wonder— is the whole idea for Humane to patent any technologies it develops in the hopes of licensing those technologies to big companies? Maybe the product is effectively a demo to facilitate Humane selling patents. 👀 Even prior to posting th...| LMNT
Modern cartography should not be determined via political pressure. If we all can’t agree on that, we really should. That’s the basis of why it was so cowardly for both Google and Apple to rename the Gulf of Mexico in their maps. As far as I know, there is no law in the United States that compels any private company to draw or label their maps according to what that country considers its official naming. And because there isn’t means that any company that complies with any country’s o...| LMNT
Luka wrote a really lovely post on Parakeet’s new blog that commemorates our studio’s 10th anniversary. I’m really proud of us and everything we’ve made together. 10 Years --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download icons from LMNT --- The cast of characters in the Super Mario universe is vast. Insetting their badges on low-poly, color-coded Super Mario blocks makes hard drives look super fun. My only regret is not having 34 drives to use them all! --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to buy a beverage in Japan. I love it. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
I was thinking how I’d like to tackle the complexity of this Daruma app icon at smaller sizes. As real daruma decrease in size, brush strokes are simplified. Real life optical sizes! So for this app icon, sizes 128×128 and above feature a visually complex facial hair design, akin to medium-large daruma, but the smaller sizes are simplified in the same way real ones are. You might have to zoom in to see the non-retina 16×16! --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate mo...| LMNT
Just like last year, I went to watch the children’s sumo tournament at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. It’s super charming to see children from around the world come to wrestle in this place. Some of these kids are 14 or so, but there were kids as young as 6 or 7, many of which have already bulked up quite a bit! --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT --- There’s something about the way the PlayStation 2 menu system was. Towers of memory blocks, sparks spiraling, and crystal bars telling the time. It’s such a mood. Goes great with PlayStation Controllers icons. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Download wallpapers from LMNT --- All around Disney Parks are attractions hidden inside enormous warehouse buildings. While some can be obscured, others are painted particular shades of green, brown, or blue. These neutral, earthy colors are just boring enough for you to look in any other direction. This is an updated version. The prior version was from August 28, 2012. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
MasaI never had Subway. It’s too difficult to order. meToo many choices? MasaYes. four hours laterManamiLunch? meHmm… pastrami pork? Manami…only pastrami pork? meNo… SogaAnd cream cheese! meYes, cream cheese. And bread. Louie opens Google TranslatemeWhy am I being forced to order all the ingredients of a sandwich independently? MasaSubway. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
Where’s the line that can’t be crossed? Surely there’s something so vile, so intolerable, so universal in its horror that there’s no other choice but to stop and shut everything down. Something where a hashtag would be insulting, where a march or protest would be insufficient. Something that necessitates an absolute refusal to comply, withholding all work and diverting all focus to rioting, property damage, and violence. Complete civil disobedience. If the pitcher pulls out a pistol a...| LMNT
Bumble, 4:50 PMJuliaEveryone here wants to get married and have 2.5 kids. meTELL ME ABOUT IT --- In Japan, there’s a constant reminder from the government—by way of media amplifying it—that the population is in decline, that birth rates are dropping, and that the aging population will have no younger generation paying enough into social insurance to support them. Japan is a collectivist society, so it’s possible that people feel a responsibility to have children. I’ve never seen so ...| LMNT
Justa Burger started having “smash bacon” on the menu, which is like a thin layer of pork belly added to the burger. I just got this awesome new Game Boy Color color-matched to Pokémon Crystal, which I started playing casually. Almost want to ride around on the Yamanote line all day to just play Pokémon on the train. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
café staffDo you like Harry Potter? meNo. Zero percent. café staffOh. Why? meJK Rowling is an asshole. Louie opens Google TranslateShe has waged a crusade against transgender people for no reason whatsoever. It’s completely unforgivable, and her words about transgender people made me lose every love I once had for Harry Potter. --- There’s been discussion over separating art from the artist for decades. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again. Everyone has to make up their own ...| LMNT
Ever since my very first website, I’ve had a donate button. And over the years, some people have been very generous and I’m very appreciative of that. I’m no stranger to talking about money. It’s part of my job. For most of my career, I’ve been a contractor, specializing in helping indie developers and companies create app icons and icon systems. And that means writing, negotiating, and signing contracts. Discussing payment terms and amounts is really normal for me. While some peopl...| LMNT
John Gruber, to SiriWho won Super Bowl 13? I understand that American football—and by extension, the Super Bowl—is a popular subject and that this seems like a simple question, however, I refuse to believe this kind of question represents how most people use or expect to use Siri, aside from testing its limits for the sole purpose of journalism specific to critiquing Siri. John Gruber, to SiriWho won the 2004 North Dakota high school boys’ state basketball championship? No matter how sp...| LMNT
Tinder, 9:02 PMmeDo you think there are limitations to love? なNo. meDo you think love is limited to one partner? なYes. To me, yes. --- When it comes to family—parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews—presumably you’re allowed to love them all. You can love as many friends as you’d like, no problem. The amount of people you can love is limitless, unless—of course—we’re talking about romantic partners. Then, we’re only allowed one. (At a time,...| LMNT
A few years ago I wanted to make custom cartridge labels for Pokémon. I started with my own version of the Pokémon logo, which reimagines it with some of its quirks, but not all of them. I make no claim that it’s “better,” because the only goal was to satisfy my own brain, which it does. You might wonder, “But those aren’t even the right colors.” Hang in there. --- The games were initially released in Japan in ’96, but Red and Blue saw their debut in America around the same ti...| LMNT
JennyWhy is Jim Carrey always green? meWhat do you mean? JennymeOh, huh. Interesting. You’re right. I don’t know. Wait, do you know Tommy Lee Jones? JennyHmm, no? meMen in Black? Jenny🤔 meBoss Coffee! JennyAh, yes! --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
I saw a few posts and headlines that made me do a double-take. Not because they were particularly shocking, but because they are incredibly avoidable. Ghost is a recently-popular (but actually more than a decade old) blogging platform. People have been moving from Substack(nazis) and Wordpress(bozos) to Ghost. A couple weeks ago, Ghost announced they’re introducing native support for custom fonts, “with even more control over your brand.” WOFF web fonts have existed for 15 years. Read.c...| LMNT
Download wallpapers from LMNT --- One of Japan’s common botanical motifs is ichō (you may know it as ginkgo). By offsetting the leaf horizontally and vertically by half its size, this pattern is reminiscent of others like shippō and seigaiha. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
You may have seen Mark Zuckerberg’s five-minute video about how Facebook is doing literal U-turns on many of their content moderation policies. If you didn’t watch it, I guess you could, but you might just come away so upset and disheartened by how a man who initially built a website to rate the attractiveness of women at Harvard could become so culturally powerful at a global level. I have used social media for a long time. I have seen Facebook and Twitter both go from novel status-shari...| LMNT
Dan CounsellCan we please have the macOS X Lion UI back? 😍 Yes, I would also like that. I would welcome any standard UI that gives us back some tools we lost. There’s a refined clarity to this version of Aqua. It evolved gracefully to this point, where every element was distinctly different and yet cohesive. Consider the search field alone. Now, search fields have the same appearance of every other field: squared. The pill shape distinguished itself. Removing that characteristic introduc...| LMNT
I don’t understand the value of AI summaries compared to traditional truncation. While some headlines are indeed long, summarizing them will always remove context the original publisher thought was necessary. (The same is true for personal messages, but that’s not what this is about.) Headlines are already shortened versions of entire articles. It serves seemingly no purpose at all to summarize them. If Apple wants to—for some reason—further limit the amount of text visible in a stack...| LMNT
I don’t like how the viability of Star Wars is under constant threat from people who Star Wars can never appease. Some fans—primarily men—have gatekept Star Wars for too long. They like Star Wars, but not Return of the Jedi. They like Star Wars, but not the Special Edition. They like Star Wars, but not the prequels. They like Star Wars, but not the sequels. They like Star Wars, but not the animation. Many of these fans—again, primarily men—who claim to like Star Wars actually don’...| LMNT
taco shop staffDo you have Instagram? meI have it, but I don’t really use it anymore. taco shop staffWhy not? meI’m exhausted from social media. I started using Twitter in 2006. taco shop staffI was in preschool. one week latermeHow about LINE? taco shop staffLINE’s good! I use that. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
It’s the new year, and there are 🎍 kadomatsu everywhere. These decorations always have pine and bamboo, but there are also usually some floral element like plum blossoms. Together, these three plants are called shōchikubai, which derives from the “three friends of winter” concept commonly found in old Chinese paintings. A reminder that you can purchase my Japanese flower cards which feature these three plants. There are three editions and a box set containing two. --- If you like th...| LMNT
My tolerance for the vast majority of the web is so small now. It nearly completely eroded over the last decade. My trust, patience, and willingness to put up with the absolute hostility of modern websites is at an all-time low. Just about every website and every app has seemingly given up on the goal of being actually good. Maybe designers don’t have the power they once held, ceding it to businesspeople who entered the industry only to squeeze it dry. Maybe there’s nothing left to solve ...| LMNT
A lot of yearly online recaps focus on the consumption and engagement we’ve had in a year, like what music we listened to. But I want to highlight what I’ve done this year, because I’m really, really proud of it. 2024 was the first full calendar year I’ve lived completely in Japan. I didn’t travel outside the country, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have an itch to travel anywhere. I felt pretty content being exactly where I am with the life I have around me. I sta...| LMNT
Download wallpaper from LMNT --- The world of Monsters, Inc. is so inventive. Every part of the universe seems so well considered, from the very first scene in the film. The simulation room is dimly lit, with a rich, red corporate wallpaper that really sets the tone. --- If you like this, you can make a one-time donation, donate monthly, or buy something from my shop.| LMNT
