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    Best Graphic Design Software 2025: Your Ultimate Guide to the Top 20 Tools

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    Picking the best graphic design software can feel like a monumental task, can’t it? You’re standing at a crossroads, with a dozen paths leading to different creative destinations. Which one is right for your journey in 2025? Will it be the industry giant everyone talks about, or perhaps a nimble newcomer making waves? This isn’t just about features; it’s about finding a partner for your creativity, a tool that empowers you to bring those brilliant ideas to life. If you’re searching for the best graphic design software to elevate your work, you’ve come to the right place.

    The landscape of digital design is always shifting. New tools emerge, old favorites get powerful updates, and the way we create evolves. Think about how much AI has started to weave its way into creative workflows, or how crucial seamless collaboration has become. So, what truly makes a program the best graphic design software as we head into 2025? It’s a mix of power, usability, an eye on the future, and, of course, how well it fits your specific needs and budget.

    This guide isn’t just another list. It’s a friendly chat, a detailed exploration of the top 20 design tools that are set to define and dominate 2025. We’ll look at everything from the undisputed champions to exciting challengers, free graphic design software, and specialized apps. We’ll uncover what makes each one tick, who it’s perfect for, and what new tricks they have up their sleeves for the coming year. Ready to find your perfect creative match? Let’s explore the options for the best graphic design software together.

    The Titans: Industry-Standard Graphic Design Software

    When people talk about professional graphic design software, a few names immediately spring to mind. These are the titans, the tools that have shaped industries and continue to be the benchmark for many. They are often part of a larger ecosystem, offering comprehensive solutions.

    1. Adobe Photoshop: The Unrivaled Image Manipulation King

    Adobe Photoshop is often the first name uttered when discussing the best graphic design software, especially for raster graphics. For decades, it has been the industry standard for photo editing, image manipulation, digital painting, and much more. If you can imagine it, you can probably create it in Photoshop.

    • The 2025 Edge: Leading into 2025, Photoshop continues to impress with its ever-expanding AI Sensei features. Think advanced neural filters, mind-blowing content-aware fill capabilities, and AI-powered selection tools that save incredible amounts of time. Its integration with the Adobe Creative Cloud also means seamless workflows with other Adobe apps and cloud-based collaboration. Expect even more AI-driven automation and features that blur the lines between reality and digital artistry.
    • Key Features:
      • Comprehensive layer system
      • Advanced selection and masking tools
      • Extensive brushes and filters
      • 3D design capabilities
      • Content-Aware Fill and Generative Fill (AI)
      • Video editing basics
      • Huge library of plugins and resources
    • Pros: Unmatched power for photo editing, industry standard, vast learning resources, continuous updates with cutting-edge features.
    • Cons: Subscription model can be costly, steep learning curve for beginners, and can be resource-intensive.
    • Pricing: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud (Photography plan from $9.99/month, or All Apps plan).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Essential for photographers, digital artists, and any designer working heavily with raster images. If photo manipulation is your game, Photoshop is likely your best graphic design software choice.

    2. Adobe Illustrator: The Vector Virtuoso

    When your design needs to scale from a tiny icon to a massive billboard without losing quality, vector graphics are the answer, and Adobe Illustrator is the reigning champion in this domain. It’s the go-to for logo design, icon creation, typography, and complex illustrations. Many consider it the best graphic design software for vector-based work.

    • The 2025 Edge: Illustrator in 2025 is pushing boundaries with AI-powered features like Text to Vector Graphic (beta), allowing you to generate editable vector graphics from simple text prompts. Enhanced collaboration tools, including share for review and in-app commenting, streamline teamwork. Its performance with complex vector paths continues to improve, making intricate designs smoother to handle.
    • Key Features:
      • Advanced vector drawing tools (Pen tool, Curvature tool)
      • Artboards for managing multiple designs
      • Powerful typography controls
      • Pattern creation and image tracing
      • Integration with Adobe Fonts and Stock
      • 3D and materials (newer features)
    • Pros: Industry-standard for vector graphics, scalable output, precise control, excellent integration with other Adobe apps.
    • Cons: Subscription cost, can be complex for newcomers, some find its interface less intuitive than competitors for specific tasks.
    • Pricing: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud (Single app from $22.99/month, or All Apps plan).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Indispensable for logo designers, illustrators, and anyone creating resolution-independent graphics. If branding and detailed vector art are your focus, Illustrator is a strong contender for your best graphic design software.

    3. Adobe InDesign: The Layout Maestro

    For projects involving multi-page layouts – think magazines, brochures, eBooks, interactive PDFs – Adobe InDesign is the undisputed professional choice. It excels at combining text and graphics to create polished, print-ready, or digital documents. It’s often cited as the best graphic design software for publication design.

    • The 2025 Edge: InDesign continues to enhance its digital publishing capabilities, with more robust tools for creating accessible documents and interactive online experiences. AI features are also seeping in, helping with smart text flow and layout suggestions. Its integration with Adobe Stock and Fonts, plus improved review and collaboration features, makes it a powerhouse for design teams working on extensive documents.
    • Key Features:
      • Precise typographic controls and text styling
      • Master pages for consistent layouts
      • Easy integration of Photoshop and Illustrator files
      • Preflight checks for print and digital output
      • Interactive PDF and EPUB creation
      • Share for Review collaboration tools
    • Pros: Industry standard for desktop publishing, powerful layout and typography tools, excellent for print and digital publications, robust integration.
    • Cons: Subscription model, steep learning curve, primarily focused on layout rather than asset creation.
    • Pricing: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud (Single app from $22.99/month, or All Apps plan).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Essential for graphic designers working on books, magazines, flyers, interactive PDFs, and other layout-intensive projects. If your work involves significant text and image composition, InDesign is likely the best graphic design software for your needs.

    The Collaborative Champions: Redefining Team Workflows

    The way designers work is changing. Collaboration is no longer a luxury but a necessity. These tools have put real-time teamwork at their core, making them incredibly popular, especially for UI/UX and web design. Could one of these be the best graphic design software for your team?

    4. Figma: The Web-Native Design Disruptor

    Figma has revolutionized UI/UX design and has rapidly become a favorite for web designers, product teams, and even general graphic designers. Its browser-based nature and real-time collaboration features are game-changers. Many now consider Figma the best graphic design software for interface design and teamwork.

    • The 2025 Edge: Figma continues its rapid innovation pace. Expect even more powerful prototyping features, enhanced developer handoff tools, and deeper integration of AI for tasks like component generation or layout suggestions. Its acquisition by Adobe (though facing regulatory scrutiny) signals potential for even broader capabilities, but its core strength remains its collaborative, web-first approach. FigJam, its whiteboarding tool, further enhances its collaborative ecosystem.
    • Key Features:
      • Real-time collaboration
      • Vector editing tools optimized for UI design
      • Interactive prototyping
      • Component-based design system management
      • Version history
      • Extensive plugin ecosystem
      • Cross-platform (browser-based, desktop apps)
    • Pros: Exceptional collaboration, accessible from anywhere, free tier for individuals, powerful for UI/UX, strong community, and plugin support.
    • Cons: Requires an internet connection for full functionality (though offline work is improving), can be less ideal for print design or complex photo manipulation compared to dedicated tools.
    • Pricing: Free for up to 3 Figma and 3 FigJam files; Professional from $12 per editor/month (billed annually).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A top choice for UI/UX designers, web designers, and teams needing seamless collaboration. If you’re designing digital products or working in a distributed team, Figma might just be your best graphic design software.

    5. Canva: Design for Everyone, Everywhere

    Canva has democratized design, making it accessible to non-designers and a quick, efficient tool for professionals creating social media graphics, presentations, and marketing materials. Its ease of use and vast template library are its hallmarks. For many, it’s the best graphic design software for beginners and for rapid content creation.

    • The 2025 Edge: Canva is aggressively integrating AI across its platform with its “Magic Studio.” This includes AI image generation (Text to Image), AI-powered editing (Magic Edit, Magic Eraser), AI writing assistance, and even AI presentation generation. Its focus on team collaboration and brand kits makes it increasingly viable for businesses. Expect Canva to continue simplifying complex design tasks with AI and expanding its template offerings.
    • Key Features:
      • Drag-and-drop interface
      • Huge library of templates, stock photos, videos, and graphics
      • AI-powered design tools (Magic Studio)
      • Real-time collaboration
      • Brand Kit for maintaining brand consistency
      • Social media scheduling (Canva Pro)
      • Basic video editing
    • Pros: Extremely easy to use, vast template library, free version is very capable, great for social media and marketing graphics, strong collaboration features.
    • Cons: Less control than professional-grade software for complex designs, reliance on templates can sometimes lead to generic-looking output if not customized. Not ideal for intricate vector work or heavy photo retouching.
    • Pricing: Free plan available; Canva Pro from $12.99/month for one person.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Perfect for beginners, marketers, small business owners, and anyone needing to create good-looking graphics quickly without a steep learning curve. If speed and ease of use for common design tasks are paramount, Canva is a strong contender for the best graphic design software.

    Powerful Alternatives: Value and Performance

    Not everyone wants or needs to be tied to a subscription. These tools offer incredible power, often with a one-time purchase, making them a fantastic value and strong competitors in the search for the best graphic design software.

    6. Affinity Designer 2: The Adobe Illustrator Challenger

    Serif’s Affinity Designer has made serious waves as a robust, professional-grade vector graphics editor that directly competes with Adobe Illustrator, but with a one-time purchase. It’s lauded for its speed, power, and smooth workflow. Many professionals are switching or adding it to their toolkit, calling it one of the best graphic design software alternatives.

    • The 2025 Edge: Version 2 brought a redesigned UI, non-destructive vector warp, shape builder tool, knife tool, and more. Leading into 2025, Affinity Designer continues to refine these features and enhance performance, particularly on both macOS and Windows. Its focus on a seamless experience across its suite (Photo, Publisher) and its one-time cost remain highly attractive.
    • Key Features:
      • Full-featured vector and raster workspaces (personas)
      • Blazing fast performance, even with complex documents
      • Unlimited artboards, advanced grids, and snapping
      • Pixel persona for raster texture and retouching within vector designs
      • Non-destructive editing features
      • One-time purchase
    • Pros: Incredible value (one-time cost), powerful feature set, fast performance, seamless switching between vector and raster tools, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, iPad).
    • Cons: Smaller plugin ecosystem compared to Adobe, learning curve if migrating from Illustrator due to different terminology/workflows.
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $69.99 (often on sale). Universal License for all Affinity apps on all platforms is also available.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Excellent for illustrators, UI/UX designers, and anyone looking for a powerful, affordable alternative to Illustrator. If you want professional vector capabilities without a subscription, Affinity Designer is a top pick for the best graphic design software.

    7. Affinity Photo 2: The Photoshop Contender

    Affinity Photo 2 is Serif’s answer to Adobe Photoshop. It’s a comprehensive raster graphics editor packed with professional tools for photo editing, digital painting, and multi-layered compositions. It’s a serious contender for the title of best graphic design software for image editing, especially for those seeking a non-subscription model.

    • The 2025 Edge: Version 2 introduced non-destructive RAW develop, live mesh warp, compound masks, and more. Affinity Photo continues to optimize its engine for speed and add features that rival Photoshop’s capabilities. Its commitment to non-destructive workflows and a one-time purchase price makes it increasingly popular.
    • Key Features:
      • Full RAW development
      • HDR merging and focus stacking
      • Advanced selection algorithms
      • Liquify persona for distortions
      • Extensive brush library and customization
      • Non-destructive live filter layers
      • PSD file compatibility
    • Pros: One-time purchase, powerful feature set comparable to Photoshop, fast performance, non-destructive workflow, available on Windows, Mac, and iPad.
    • Cons: Steeper learning curve for some, smaller community, and fewer third-party tutorials/plugins than Photoshop.
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $69.99 (often on sale). Universal License available.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A fantastic choice for photographers and designers who need professional photo editing capabilities without a subscription. If you’re looking for a powerful Photoshop alternative, Affinity Photo is a leading candidate for the best graphic design software.

    8. Affinity Publisher 2: The InDesign Alternative

    Completing the Affinity trinity, Affinity Publisher 2 challenges Adobe InDesign for desktop publishing and layout design. It allows users to create everything from simple brochures to complex books and magazines, all with a one-time fee. It’s a strong option when considering the best graphic design software for page layout.

    • The 2025 Edge: Version 2 brought significant enhancements like book creation, notes, and place auto-flow. A standout feature is StudioLink, allowing you to instantly switch to the full toolsets of Affinity Photo and Designer if you own them, right within your Publisher document. This integrated workflow is a huge plus. Expect continued refinements in typography and digital export options.
    • Key Features:
      • Master pages, facing page spreads, grids, tables
      • Text flow, advanced typography
      • StudioLink for seamless integration with Affinity Photo and Designer
      • Import/export of various file formats (including IDML)
      • Book creation and management tools
    • Pros: One-time purchase, powerful layout tools, innovative StudioLink integration, good performance, cross-platform.
    • Cons: Still newer than InDesign, so some niche features might be less developed; smaller template and plugin market.
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $69.99 (often on sale). Universal License available.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Ideal for designers and publishers looking for an affordable, capable alternative to InDesign, especially if already invested in the Affinity ecosystem. This could be your best graphic design software for creating professional publications without ongoing costs.

    9. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2024: The Veteran All-Rounder

    CorelDRAW has a long history in the world of graphic design, particularly on Windows, though it’s also available for Mac. It’s a comprehensive suite offering tools for vector illustration, layout, photo editing (Photo-Paint), typography, and more. For many PC users, it has long been considered one of the best graphic design software packages.

    • The 2025 Edge: CorelDRAW continues to evolve with a focus on productivity, collaboration, and AI-powered features. Recent versions have introduced dynamic asset management, enhanced collaboration workflows, and AI-assisted PowerTrace and image upsampling. Expect more cloud integration and tools tailored for specific industries like sign-making and apparel.
    • Key Features:
      • Robust vector illustration tools
      • Page layout capabilities
      • Corel PHOTO-PAINT for image editing
      • Corel Font Manager
      • AI-powered features
      • Extensive file compatibility
      • Collaboration tools
    • Pros: Comprehensive suite of tools, strong vector capabilities, user-friendly for those familiar with it, available as a subscription or one-time purchase (though subscription is pushed).
    • Cons: Can be perceived as less “industry standard” in some creative circles compared to Adobe, Mac version historically lagged, but is now more robust. The full suite can be expensive if purchased outright.
    • Pricing: Subscription from $269/year or a one-time purchase of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2024 for around $549.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A solid choice for Windows users, particularly in industries like manufacturing, signage, and apparel. If you need an all-in-one suite and prefer its workflow, CorelDRAW remains a powerful contender for the best graphic design software.

    Specialized Tools: Nailing the Niche

    Sometimes, the best graphic design software isn’t an all-in-one solution but a tool that excels at a specific task or on a particular platform. These specialized tools are beloved by many for their focused excellence.

    10. Procreate: The iPad Illustration Powerhouse

    If you’re an illustrator or digital painter and own an iPad, Procreate is almost a must-have. It’s an incredibly powerful and intuitive painting app designed specifically for the touch interface of the iPad and Apple Pencil. For digital artists on iOS, it’s often hailed as the best graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: Procreate continues to add professional-level features while maintaining its legendary ease of use. Recent updates have included 3D painting, improved text handling, and more animation features with Procreate Dreams. Expect further enhancements in brush engine technology, performance, and perhaps more AI-assisted tools that complement the artist’s workflow rather than replace it.
    • Key Features:
      • Vast library of brushes with deep customization
      • Intuitive gesture controls
      • High-resolution canvases
      • Animation Assist and 3D painting
      • Time-lapse recording of artwork creation
      • PSD import/export
    • Pros: Incredible value (one-time low cost), powerful and intuitive, optimized for iPad and Apple Pencil, excellent brush engine, vibrant community.
    • Cons: iPad only, not a full graphic design suite (focused on illustration and painting).
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $12.99. Procreate Dreams (animation app) is separate.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A dream tool for illustrators, digital painters, and lettering artists using an iPad. If your work is primarily art-focused and you love the iPad experience, Procreate is an unbeatable choice and could be your best graphic design software for on-the-go creativity.

    11. Sketch: The Mac-Native UI/UX Pioneer

    Sketch was one of the first design tools to truly challenge Adobe’s dominance in the UI/UX space, particularly on macOS. It’s a vector-based editor known for its clean interface and focus on digital product design. For Mac-based UI designers, it’s long been a top pick for the best graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: While Figma has gained significant market share, Sketch remains a strong choice for Mac users. It continues to refine its collaborative features, improve prototyping capabilities, and ensure deep integration with macOS. Its focus on native performance and a polished Mac experience is a key differentiator. Expect continued enhancements for design systems and developer handoff.
    • Key Features:
      • Intuitive vector editing tools
      • Symbols for reusable components
      • Prototyping and artboard linking
      • Collaboration tools for teams
      • Extensive plugin library
      • Mac-native application
    • Pros: Clean, intuitive interface, strong for UI/UX design, good performance on Mac, robust plugin ecosystem, one-time purchase with optional renewals for updates.
    • Cons: Mac only, collaboration features are good, but Figma is often seen as leading in real-time, subscription for continued updates after the first year.
    • Pricing: Standard license from $120/year (includes updates and collaboration features).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A great option for Mac-based UI/UX designers and teams who prefer a native app experience and a focused toolset. If you’re committed to the Apple ecosystem, Sketch is a strong contender for your best graphic design software.

    The Open-Source Heroes: Free & Flexible Graphic Design Software

    For those on a budget or who champion the open-source philosophy, these tools offer incredible power without costing a penny. They are community-driven and constantly evolving, making them viable options when searching for free graphic design software or even the overall best graphic design software for specific needs.

    12. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): The Free Photoshop Alternative

    GIMP has been the leading free, open-source raster graphics editor for many years. It offers a comprehensive set of tools for photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. It’s often the first recommendation for free graphic design software that mimics Photoshop’s capabilities.

    • The 2025 Edge: GIMP development continues, with ongoing work towards GIMP 3.0 which promises a GTK3 port (leading to better UI, especially on HiDPI displays) and non-destructive editing (a long-awaited feature). While development can be slower than commercial software, the commitment to providing a powerful free tool remains.
    • Key Features:
      • Photo enhancement and retouching tools
      • Customizable interface
      • Extensive plugin support
      • Support for various file formats
      • Digital painting tools
    • Pros: Completely free and open-source, powerful feature set for a free tool, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), highly customizable.
    • Cons: Can have a steeper learning curve, interface might feel dated to some (though improving), development cycles can be long. Non-destructive editing is still a work in progress for the main stable releases.
    • Pricing: Free.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Excellent for hobbyists, students, or professionals on a tight budget needing powerful image editing capabilities. If cost is a major factor, GIMP is a very strong candidate for the best graphic design software.

    13. Krita: The Free Digital Painting Specialist

    Krita is a free, open-source painting program designed for concept artists, illustrators, matte and texture artists, and the VFX industry. While GIMP is more of a general image editor, Krita is laser-focused on digital painting and illustration. For artists looking for free graphic design software specifically for painting, Krita is exceptional.

    • The 2025 Edge: Krita receives frequent updates, often driven by community feedback and funding. Expect continued improvements to its brush engines, animation tools, and performance. Its dedication to providing professional-grade painting tools for free is its biggest strength. AI integration is also being explored by the community.
    • Key Features:
      • Excellent brush engines and stabilizers
      • Wrap-around mode for seamless textures and patterns
      • Brush resource manager
      • Animation tools
      • Layer management and color management
      • PSD file support
    • Pros: Free and open-source, specifically designed for digital painting, powerful brush customization, intuitive interface for artists, and active community.
    • Cons: Less suited for general photo editing or layout work compared to GIMP or Photoshop.
    • Pricing: Free (donations encouraged).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A fantastic choice for digital painters, illustrators, and comic artists who want a professional-grade, free tool. If digital art is your passion, Krita could be your best graphic design software.

    14. Inkscape: The Free Vector Graphics Powerhouse

    Inkscape is the leading free, open-source vector graphics editor, often compared to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW. It uses the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file format as its native format and offers a rich set of features for creating illustrations, logos, diagrams, and more. It’s a top choice for free graphic design software for vector work.

    • The 2025 Edge: Inkscape development is active, with recent versions bringing performance improvements, UI refinements, and new features like a revamped layers dialog and better SVG2 support. As an open-source project, it benefits from a dedicated global community contributing to its growth.
    • Key Features:
      • Comprehensive drawing tools (pencil, pen, calligraphy)
      • Shape tools, Boolean operations, and path simplification
      • Text tools, including text on path and flowing text
      • Bitmap tracing
      • Extensive file format support
      • Extensible via add-ons
    • Pros: Free and open-source, powerful vector editing capabilities, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), good SVG support.
    • Cons: Learning curve can be steep for beginners, performance can sometimes lag with very complex files, UI might not feel as polished as commercial alternatives to some users.
    • Pricing: Free.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Ideal for students, hobbyists, and professionals looking for a capable, free vector graphics editor. If you need to create scalable graphics without paying for software, Inkscape is a strong contender for the best graphic design software.

    Emerging & Web-Based Contenders: Fresh Choices for Modern Design

    The world of design tools is always expanding. These contenders, many web-based, offer innovative approaches, ease of access, or specialized functionalities that make them worth considering in your quest for the best graphic design software.

    15. Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark): Quick & Easy Design by Adobe

    Adobe Express is Adobe’s answer to Canva, aimed at users who need to create social media graphics, flyers, logos, and short videos quickly and easily. It leverages Adobe’s creative technology in a simplified, template-driven interface. It’s a strong option when looking for user-friendly graphic design software for social media content.

    • The 2025 Edge: Adobe is heavily investing in Express, integrating more AI features from Firefly (Adobe’s generative AI family), like text-to-image and text effects. Its integration with Creative Cloud libraries allows for smoother workflows for users already in the Adobe ecosystem. Expect more templates, more AI power, and tighter integration with other Adobe services.
    • Key Features:
      • Thousands of templates
      • Access to Adobe Stock photos and Adobe Fonts
      • AI-powered features (Adobe Firefly)
      • Basic photo editing and animation tools
      • Brand kits (premium feature)
      • Collaboration features
    • Pros: Easy to use, high-quality templates, good integration with Adobe ecosystem, free version is quite capable, AI features are promising.
    • Cons: Less advanced than full Adobe Creative Cloud apps, premium features require a subscription.
    • Pricing: Free plan available; Premium plan from $9.99/month (also included with many Creative Cloud plans).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Great for marketers, small businesses, students, and anyone needing to create professional-looking content quickly, especially if already using other Adobe tools. This could be your best graphic design software for fast turnarounds.

    16. Pixlr: Online Photo Editing Power

    Pixlr offers a suite of online photo editing tools, ranging from the simple Pixlr X for quick edits to the more advanced Pixlr E, which offers Photoshop-like capabilities in your browser. It’s a convenient option for those who need to edit photos on the go without installing software. For accessible online editing, it’s a candidate for the best graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: Pixlr continues to enhance its AI-powered tools, including background removal, object removal, and auto-fix features. Its accessibility and tiered approach (from beginner to advanced) make it versatile. Expect more AI features and improved performance for its web-based editors.
    • Key Features:
      • Two editor modes: Pixlr X (easy) and Pixlr E (advanced)
      • AI-powered tools (background remover, cutout, etc.)
      • Layers, filters, and effects
      • Template library
      • Supports various image formats
    • Pros: Web-based and accessible, free version available, good range of tools from basic to advanced, AI features are useful.
    • Cons: Free version has ads, more advanced features require a subscription, performance can depend on internet connection and browser.
    • Pricing: Free with ads; Premium from around $4.90/month.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Good for users needing quick online photo edits, social media graphics, or a free/affordable Photoshop-like experience in the browser.

    17. Photopea: The “Photoshop Online” Experience

    Photopea has gained immense popularity for being a free, web-based editor that closely mimics the interface and functionality of Adobe Photoshop. It supports PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD, and CDR formats, making it incredibly versatile for those who need to open or edit files from various sources without owning the native software. It’s a remarkable piece of free graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: Photopea is continuously updated by its solo developer, often adding features requested by the community. Its strength lies in its comprehensive feature set available for free in a browser. Expect ongoing improvements in performance, format support, and tool refinement.
    • Key Features:
      • Photoshop-like interface and tools (layers, masks, smart objects, filters)
      • Supports PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD, CDR, and other formats
      • Runs in the browser, no installation needed
      • Basic vector tools
    • Pros: Free, incredibly similar to Photoshop, supports a wide range of file formats, and no registration required for basic use.
    • Cons: Can be slower with very large files, interface might be cluttered for beginners, relies on ads in the free version.
    • Pricing: Free with ads; Premium (ad-free, more history steps) from $5/month.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: An excellent free alternative to Photoshop, especially if you need to work with PSD files and don’t have Photoshop. For many, it’s the best graphic design software when accessibility and cost are primary concerns.

    18. Spline: 3D Design Made Easy and Collaborative

    While not traditional 2D graphic design software, Spline is making waves by democratizing 3D design, making it accessible directly in the browser with real-time collaboration. As 3D elements become more prevalent in web design and marketing, tools like Spline are increasingly relevant. Could this be part of the future for the best graphic design software landscape?

    • The 2025 Edge: Spline is rapidly evolving, adding more modeling tools, interactive features, physics, and game controls. Its ease of use for creating web-based 3D scenes and animations is its key appeal. Expect deeper integrations with web development workflows and more AI-assisted 3D creation.
    • Key Features:
      • Browser-based 3D modeling and animation
      • Real-time collaboration
      • Parametric objects and polygonal modeling
      • Interactive experiences (events, states)
      • Material and texture editing
      • Export to web formats (including embed codes)
    • Pros: Easy to learn for 3D, web-based and collaborative, free plan is generous, great for creating interactive web 3D graphics.
    • Cons: Not as powerful as dedicated 3D software like Blender or Cinema 4D for complex modeling or rendering, still a relatively new tool.
    • Pricing: Free plan available; Pro plan from $7/month per user (billed annually).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Fantastic for web designers, UI/UX designers, and marketers looking to incorporate 3D elements and interactive experiences into their projects without a steep learning curve.

    19. Corel Vector (formerly Gravit Designer): Versatile Web-Based Vector Tool

    Gravit Designer, now Corel Vector, is a powerful and free (with a Pro option) vector design application available online and as installable desktop apps. It aims to provide a comprehensive set of vector tools suitable for everything from icon design and illustration to presentations and screen design. It’s a strong contender in the search for accessible vector design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: As part of Corel, it benefits from larger company resources. Expect continued development of its feature set, cloud integration, and potentially tighter links with other Corel products. Its cross-platform nature and robust free offering remain key attractions.
    • Key Features:
      • Full-featured vector tools (pen, bézigon, shapes)
      • Non-destructive effects and adjustments
      • Cloud storage and collaboration (Pro)
      • Import/export various formats (SVG, PDF, EPS, SKETCH)
      • Pre-designed templates and assets
    • Pros: Free version is very capable, cross-platform (web, Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS), intuitive interface for many, good range of tools.
    • Cons: Some advanced features are Pro-only, performance with extremely complex files might vary, being part of Corel might change its development trajectory for some users.
    • Pricing: Free plan; Corel Vector Pro is part of CorelDRAW subscriptions or can be purchased separately (pricing varies).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A great choice for users needing a flexible, cross-platform vector editor without the cost of Illustrator, especially if the free features meet their needs.

    20. Lunacy: Free Sketch Alternative for Windows (and more)

    Lunacy started as a free Sketch viewer and editor for Windows users who couldn’t access the Mac-only Sketch. It has since evolved into a full-fledged graphic design software with AI tools and built-in graphics. It’s a noteworthy option for those seeking free graphic design software with modern UI/UX capabilities.

    • The 2025 Edge: Lunacy is rapidly adding features, including AI-powered tools like background remover, image upscaler, and text generator. Its full support for Sketch files and its growing library of integrated assets (icons, photos, illustrations) make it a convenient all-in-one solution for many.
    • Key Features:
      • Full .sketch file support (open, edit, save)
      • Vector editing tools
      • Built-in graphics library (icons, photos, illustrations)
      • AI-powered tools
      • Basic prototyping
      • Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux
    • Pros: Free, excellent Sketch compatibility, built-in assets save time, AI tools are a plus, and cross-platform.
    • Cons: Still newer than established players, some advanced features found in Sketch or Figma might be missing or less polished.
    • Pricing: Free.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Excellent for Windows users who need to work with Sketch files, or anyone looking for a free, modern graphic design tool with built-in assets and AI features. This could be the best graphic design software for cross-team collaboration when Sketch files are involved.

    AI in Design: The New Frontier and Choosing Your Best Graphic Design Software

    You’ve probably noticed a recurring theme: Artificial Intelligence. AI is no longer a futuristic buzzword; it’s actively being integrated into the best graphic design software. From generative fill in Photoshop to text-to-image in Canva and Adobe Express, AI assists with tedious tasks, sparks new ideas, and even generates entire design elements.

    As we look to 2025, expect AI to become even more deeply embedded. This doesn’t mean AI will replace designers. Instead, it will augment their abilities, acting as a powerful co-pilot. When choosing your best graphic design software, consider how well it incorporates AI in a way that genuinely enhances your workflow. Are you looking for AI-powered graphic design software specifically? Many of the tools listed are already heading that way.

    How to Choose the Right and Best Graphic Design Software for You in 2025

    So, with all these amazing options, how do you pick the one that’s truly the best graphic design software for your unique situation? It’s a personal decision, but here are some key questions to ask yourself:

    1. What’s your budget? Are you looking for free graphic design software, a one-time purchase, or are you comfortable with a subscription? This will immediately narrow down your choices.
    2. What’s your skill level? Are you a beginner needing something intuitive like Canva, or a seasoned pro ready to tackle the complexities of Photoshop or Illustrator? Some tools offer a gentler learning curve.
    3. What operating system do you use? Some software is platform-specific (like Sketch for Mac or Procreate for iPad), while others are cross-platform or web-based. This is a crucial factor for finding the best graphic design software for Windows/Mac/Linux.
    4. What kind of design work will you primarily do?
      • Logo design and branding? Look at vector tools like Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, or CorelDRAW. These are often considered the best graphic design software for logo design and branding.
      • Photo editing and manipulation? Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, or Pixlr are strong choices.
      • UI/UX design for web and apps? Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD (though its future is uncertain, Figma is leading here). These are top UI/UX design tools.
      • Social media graphics and marketing materials? Canva, Adobe Express, Visme. Many find these to be the best graphic design software for social media content.
      • Print layouts (magazines, brochures)? InDesign, Affinity Publisher.
      • Illustration and digital painting? Procreate, Krita, Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity Designer.
    5. Do you need to collaborate with others? If so, tools like Figma, Canva, and Adobe’s cloud-based apps with their strong collaborative features should be high on your list.
    6. What features are non-negotiable? Do you absolutely need advanced typography, specific file format support, or non-destructive editing? Make a list of your must-haves.

    Thinking through these questions will guide you to the best graphic design software that not only meets your current needs but also supports your growth as a designer in 2025 and beyond. Many professionals use a combination of tools, leveraging each for its specific strengths. Perhaps your best graphic design software solution isn’t one tool, but a carefully selected toolkit.

    The world of graphic design software is vibrant and constantly evolving. The best graphic design software for you is out there, waiting to help you create amazing things. Hopefully, this extensive review has given you the insights you need to make an informed choice and embark on your most creative year yet! Good luck!

    Feel free to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Graphic Design category for more mind-blowing content. For those interested, don’t hesitate to take a look at our selection of the best photo editing software in 2025, as well as the post about the top 10 video editing tools in 2025.

    Big update: Check out WE AND THE COLOR’s big comparison of the best graphic design software for 2026!

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  2. Joseph P. @[email protected] ·

    211 Applications on Cookup AI Tour de Force

    I first started using cookup.ai specifically to make a #Graves disease appropriate Recipe Generator for my wife that has #thyroid issues namely #hyperthyroidism . So this recipe is for no-iodine recipes , and it’s not perfect so make sure you specify which ingredients have iodine in them if you see one pop up that shouldnt be there. Here’s one of the first versions that proposes a “california-style buddha bowl” : cookup.ai/o/7-low-iodine-diet- looks tasty ! but i’m not sure on #tempeh if it contains #iodine or not, it really depends how it’s prepared with that kinda stuff ! Here’s one for the recipe generator as the versions improved : cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-re there’s a whole #MealPlan with pretty interesting #recipes for any #meal of the day plus ingredients. Here’s another #MealPlan from more recently : cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-re and another output that gave #noiodine #lowiodine #recipes much better cookup.ai/o/eggs-dairy-contain i’m always interested in ways to make this one better so tell me which version of these you liked best because they’re quite different ! I’m actually a big fan of using #GPT for cooking, it can come up with fantastic recommendations so another cooking app i made is more for the #gourmet : cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-s that’s a festive meal for 6 thanksgiving style with seasonal ingredients from spring time. The #FusionFood aspect i really like, plus these #recipes are a bit more advanced. Check out the app here : cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-s it’s meant to be a bit more permissive to do go for it with the prompts ! Here’s an example for a christmas flavored #nochew #nosolidfood three course meal : cookup.ai/o/meal-suitable-for- i had in mind adults with the spices but you might ant to try it out for kids and infants’ meals if you’re a #parent . There’s a lot more to it though, what if #FoodIsFuel to you and you need a #mealplanner , well i had you in mind with this one : cookup.ai/o/im-tj-from-france- here’s an example for @taranjeetio because i made that app on @cookupai while talking to him on the phone. Basically they give context about their folks and their goals and it will give otu free meal plans you can use immediately. check it out here : cookup.ai/a/nutrition-meal-pla I have other specifically fitness for you below too ! First i wanna tell you about salad maker : sometimes you know you’re making a salad . This ham and cheese salad is pretty straightforward but hey : cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-r you can use the app and make your own here : cookup.ai/a/salad-maker-9hjtc9 but if you really go crazy with the prompts it could be a fun one : cookup.ai/o/i-want-a-mauritian . I would be lying to you if i told you that i made the salad generator before the hamburger generator. I always have had a special affinity for the #hamburger as we have all havent we ? Here’s an output for #Pork #Burger with Honey Mustard Glaze : cookup.ai/o/pork-hamburger-gen you can generate your own here : cookup.ai/a/hamburger-generato as always, try to go crazy with the prompts it always works out nicely : traditional hamburger with crunchy onion and thousand island sauce cookup.ai/o/traditional-hambur i also made one for make sandwitches check it out : cookup.ai/o/jeune-pousse-depin as you can see it totally works in #french even though it’s impossible that a french person would make a #sandwitch in #France check out the sandwitch maker here : cookup.ai/a/sandwich-maker-u2g 這道菜融合美國食材和北京風味 i made one in chineese : cookup.ai/o/write-entire-re-ct cool right? Honestly i grew up with few if any access to processed foods or deserts and candy etc, naturally this created a need for me to generate the most #HugeDeserts possible cookup.ai/o/ice-cream-sunday-w basically it’s a mash up of #munchies and massive #desert ideas check it out : cookup.ai/a/desert-maker-ka03p i also made a more refined app for truly #gourmet cooking that provides #michelin -style recipes and meal plans : cookup.ai/o/only-desserts-menu just give context , some ingredients and flavors, maybe describe the event a little , make a mood board and see the output of your prompt . Here’s a meal for six french-style : cookup.ai/o/meal-for-six-tradi check it out here : cookup.ai/a/cuisine-n5ybpykj/ if you’re making a festive meal maybe you need to make a speech : cookup.ai/a/speech-writer-oema , here’s an example for a company retreat : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-make-a-t and another for a unicorn themed marriage : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-give-a-s Obviously leftovers happen so i made an #app for that : cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-r a #french meal with what was in the fridge at the time check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/leftovers-s3clkb07 Now you have your recipes, you might want a shopping list : cookup.ai/a/shopping-list-q1br here is an example for household shopping : cookup.ai/o/shopping-in-spring here’s another for christmas shopping : cookup.ai/o/season-domestic-sh well, my wife is a florist so i made an obligatory flower bouquet making app for her. cookup.ai/o/round-bouquet-with here’s one for an indian-style wedding check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/make-a-flower-bouq just type in whatever you’re feeling like , give some context if you want , i noticed it tends to make round bouquets, so maybe that’s a clue how #florists will differentiate themselves from the machines ? Another #app i’ve been using a lot is the Story Time app , just give a promt with some context (Style Of Story , Tradition , Language , Age Of Child , Moral Of The Story) it’s a fun way to generate a “bedtime” story for kids : cookup.ai/o/allegorical-tale-o this one is “allegorical tale of two cities that trying to grow close to eachother” , or what i use it for : #PoemsInSpanish for my wife cookup.ai/o/un-poeme-de-style- then i send those to her which improves my home life by 12.7% , bonus points using this to generate something you like then running the output into @tomeapp to make a picture book poem that you can share. I think the @cookupai team tried to steal this prompt from me check it out you tell me : cookup.ai/o/tell-me-your-instr if you can guess the #prompt magic , i’ll send you a little gift with acknowledgements - three guesses if you wanna play , let’s go. The person who tried this unsucessful prompt injection attack is really incompetent , but nonetheless I did make some prompt injection apps. Here are some examples that “give you bad advice” by bypassing the filters : 1/ cookup.ai/a/devil-ytdjnbv4/ , 2/ cookup.ai/a/evil-angel-w6iwi2w 3/ cookup.ai/a/evil-mind-7tztxrde cookup.ai/a/bad-influence-hpsb these are all different ways to bypass the filter, some have been fixed already, some not. Another prompt injection app i made is this one a. cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detec rand b. this one : cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detec right now they dont fully work unless you copy paste in a markdown editor but with a few updates to the site it will work seemlessly, i’m sure. There are other examples i’ll get to below also, so keep reading. These are already “useful” prompts in as much as you use them to “do” something , in this case an essay. Before i jump into all that, i want to show some other apps “closer to home”. My wife came with a #SmallDog , and she’s so smart and can learn a lot of tricks, so i made an app to teach my #DogTricks : cookup.ai/a/train-your-dog-nuc . Even though you can use it for the “standard fare” like : how to catch a frizbee midair and do a backflip cookup.ai/o/large-labrador-ver you can also use it for more behavioural stuff like walking without a leash , an example for my dog cookup.ai/o/small-female-dog-w . Did you ever wonder what it would be like to read blogs written by all the neihborhood dogs that you see all the time ? me, yes, so i made an app for that : cookup.ai/o/i-went-home-withou seriously these crack me up cookup.ai/o/roxanne-little-dog those two from my dog’s perspective, funny how naive it is while from my POV things were pretty different . I think this app has a future because someone liked it so much they tried to hack it lol : cookup.ai/o/wrong-redirect-dog my prompt magic is too delicious for cheap tricks do not try it (or do, but DM first and do it better - ha !) Well, on the topic of dogs , my buddy was over and all he could come up with was “make a snoop dogg app” , so i was like “okay” , it’s a bit cheesy and there’s loads more to it than this, which i get into below but here’s the app, you tell me : cookup.ai/a/snoop-doggy-fya-dz i kinda broke it trying to fix it but i’m working with more profound models now, little passion projects like this could really take off with more creative characters. So obviously I made a bunch ! Do you like Archie Comics ? here’s the Archie Comics app : cookup.ai/a/archie-comics-mlbc here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/archie-goes-to-the Another story app i made is for Tintin : cookup.ai/a/tintin-visits-dark i tried to make tintin anti-colonial but it didnt work : cookup.ai/o/the-story-begins-w here’s one i made in french : cookup.ai/o/tintin-visit-une-u actually i never read tintin in english so i made the app pure french too : cookup.ai/a/tintin-spypylpb/ here’s when i tried to make tintin anti-colonial : cookup.ai/o/lhistoire-commence here’s when they go to cyprus : cookup.ai/o/tintin-et-sa-bande another french character i’m fond of is Fantomas : cookup.ai/a/fantomas-ffrg7q7t/ here’s a nice example : cookup.ai/o/fantomas-se-change an English-speaking series i loved was the bastard operator from hell : cookup.ai/a/bastard-operator-f here’s a story about him automating his work : cookup.ai/o/automating-replies here’s one where a customer calls his private number : cookup.ai/o/customer-called-my here’s one about replying to suppliers : cookup.ai/o/responding-to-emai I’m in #Paris so i made one as a tribute to Charles De Gaulle , he only answers in french though, maybe the historical figure spoke english it’s hard to tell : cookup.ai/a/charles-de-gaulle- try it out for yourself here. i had to test it out for #politicalcorrectness though , him being a military man : cookup.ai/o/aurie-vous-soutenu , but more on that later. In that same spirit, i made one for egyptians, i have a lot of egyptian friends that’s why, it’s the character of Nasser , founding father of modern #egypt , i asked him what he thought of islamic fundamentalism in #egypt : cookup.ai/o/should-we-promote- try it for yourself : cookup.ai/a/nasser-1oboq8al/ it’s totally free of course ! In the same spirit i made one for Ataturk, founding father of modern turkey, hopefully some turks use it to clarify what he would think of what’s happening today - cookup.ai/o/would-you-support- try it out here : cookup.ai/a/ataturk-fhlahkzp/ I grew up in india a bit , so that country’s dear to me too , and same story as tukey and egypt , so i made a gandhi app : cookup.ai/a/gandhi-3hoafvto/ , it also works in #Hindi here’s for क्या आप भारत में धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों के अधिकारों को हटाने का समर्थन करेंगे? cookup.ai/o/-mbasqnlq8j/ try it out in gandhi’s own words : cookup.ai/a/gandhi-hindi-only- another i did in #sanskrit and #hindi is Rama : cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-missing here he gives me life advice based on context , if you’re into it it’s actually pretty fun : cookup.ai/a/rama-w0sw0xhi/ . Other characters i made are contemporary politicians, i figured there would be enough of their written and transcribed text that they would have their own voice. Here’s Macron responding to someone that wants to vote far-right : cookup.ai/o/je-mappelle-charle ask him anything here : cookup.ai/a/macron-k7sengs7/ i also did Bill Clinton , and obviously someone asked him “if he did” cookup.ai/o/did-you-sleep-with ask him yourself here : cookup.ai/a/bill-clinton-agc9l well, if you have Bill Clinton you also need Obama cookup.ai/a/obama-yxaczjwa/ and Joe Biden , here, explaining what he will do to stem the boogie man epidemic cookup.ai/o/what-would-you-say I also made a #Jesus #App where you can basically talk to jesus, say a little about yourself what’s on your mind and get an answer from Jesus in his own voice. Here’ a follow up to my dog getting away story : cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-not-spe and here’s when my friend asked him about pot : cookup.ai/o/is-it-wrong-to-smo (btw ask the same question to one of the bad characters above, see for yourself) here’s the app if you want to try with your own prompt : cookup.ai/a/jesus-8ogjcelj/ jumping straight off from #Jesus to #Prayer , here’s a christian prayer generator that i used for my buddy i met here : cookup.ai/o/a-prayer-for-nate- generate your own here : cookup.ai/a/christian-prayer-d obviously if you have christian prayer you should provide sabbath prayer too : cookup.ai/o/no-quorum-family-s and the #FridayPrayer app from the Imām Jamā'ah perspective : cookup.ai/o/a-small-congregati prayer is not something but guided (and purposeful!) meditation is something i do all the time, so of course there’s an app for that. here’s one for body awareness : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-meditate use the guided meditation app here: cookup.ai/a/guided-meditation- run the output through an AI voice synthethiser and tell me what you think. I also made some apps for domestic work. This app create a custodial plan : cookup.ai/o/3-bedroom-apartmen just provide context and recieve a full custodial plan here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-cust this one helps with utilities planning : cookup.ai/o/three-bed-room-app Something folks have to do frequently is to figure out how to fix something : cookup.ai/a/fix-anything-v3sky here’s an example for a car : cookup.ai/o/fiat-punto-engine- an here’s an example with power cable : cookup.ai/o/lenovo-legion-my-p and someone else with a similar problem : cookup.ai/o/cellphone-bison-no and of course the gardening and landscaping applications. This is the output for a small urban garden in paris : cookup.ai/o/small-urbad-garden try it out for yourself and your latitude here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard this is a similar application but with a different flavor : cookup.ai/o/small-urban-garden just use the one where the output is more like what you’re looking for, really you need both though . Test it out here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard if you’re not gardening you might be landscaping so here’s the app for that : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-land here is the output for a small urban garden : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard my favorite application so far has been the plant diagnosis app : cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor it’s really surprising how well it works , and the breadth of assessment and remedies it suggests. Here’s an example for a sick cactus : cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor (now it’s doing better) here’s an example from when someone tried it for cannabis : cookup.ai/o/purple-punch-canna i dont know if i would actually follow that suggestion actually. Worked perfectly for a Meyer Lemon Tree giving plant-specific advice that you would have got from a local expert : cookup.ai/o/meyer-lemon-tree-i the plant diagnosis worked so well that i did make a people doctor app : cookup.ai/a/doc-the-health-ass it’s a bit more complicated and the quality of the outputs really depends on the quality of the inputs , so if you use this app, make sure you write in complete sentences and try to answer every question and aspect. here’s the output for a 50 year old man with an upset stomach : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old here’s another for a woman of a certain age : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old and finally an assessment for a respitory issue : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old i’m quite satisfied with that output suggesting a comprehensive evaluation by a board certified doctor. Another app in this category i the Pet Vet App. It’s meant as an assitant for folks that might need help with their pets : cookup.ai/o/name-roxanne-mix-r that’s an example for my dog. Try assessing your pet here : cookup.ai/a/pet-vet-9ruwhazw/ Another important app is the Therapy app : actually in term of professions the Legal profession stands to be disrupted by crowdsourced jurisprudence based models . These apps wont do that. This app will produce a legal brief : cookup.ai/a/lawyer-juhp36s1/ Here it produces a legal brief for the presale of replacement organs : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old This Legal app takes another perpective to produce a legal approach and strategy : cookup.ai/a/board-member-legal here’s an example output following up on the above: cookup.ai/o/how-can-i-assure-t you can also use this app for a legal appeal : cookup.ai/a/legal-appeal-y6e4u here’s an example from an international appointee to a board being asked to step down : cookup.ai/o/im-being-asked-to- Another legal app produces a O-1 visa letter for someone. Here’s an example from @OliviaLi , actually she was the inspiration for this app : cookup.ai/o/technology-entrepr thank you for using this app , hope you had a laugh with it :-) another example from my model friend i met in paris : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/legal-o-1-petition Then I made a few content apps for legal contracts , for example this app produces company statutes like so : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie try it out here : cookup.ai/a/legal-company-stat This app makes a pre-nuptual agreement cookup.ai/a/legal-prenuptial-a try it out ! example output using my personal context : cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-coupl & here is the same context above for a divorse agreement : cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-coupl try the divorse agreement app here : cookup.ai/a/legal-divorce-agre Another tool is to produce Service Level Agreement cookup.ai/a/legal-service-leve here is an example output taking cookup ai as an example : cookup.ai/o/i-provide-artifici I made a sales contract generator too : cookup.ai/a/legal-sales-agreem here’s an example output for a GIS consultant : cookup.ai/o/im-a-consultant-in this one makes a Loan Agreement : cookup.ai/a/legal-loan-agreeme here’s an example “ from james to kian in paris france for the sum of 30.000 euros to be repaid in full using a payment plan over two years” cookup.ai/o/from-james-to-kian There’s also a Leasing Agreement Generator that jurists or companies can use : cookup.ai/o/were-a-commercial- that’s an example , click “generate another” to make your own. Something folks can use is a co-residency agreement, among housemates for example : cookup.ai/o/nate-james-richard I also made an employment contract generator for companies to use. Here’ an example for a post-doc level biofabrication person cookup.ai/o/post-doc-research- i added the job description as the input. Speaking of jobs, this app is one of the more popular ones : cookup.ai/a/career-planner-47f just give context around what you’re after who you are , that sort of thing and it will provide a career plan by selecting professions giving you key information on these professions and advice on what you need to do to get there. It also works great if you search professions by name : cookup.ai/o/product-management here’s one for “Introvert wants to be a doctor” cookup.ai/o/introvert-wants-to Get to know yourself better by taking famous self assesments . Here’s an example for RAISEC and OCEAN self assessment models (ref. Holland) : cookup.ai/o/what-brings-me-joy another way to work with 5 Factor models is by using Myers-Briggs Questionaire, here’s an example for an INFJ (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling, Judgment) , it also suggests compatible personalities, so check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/career-myers-brigg once you’ve figured out your path you might want to generate a motivation letter. here’s an example for a banking job with the cv copy pasted as input cookup.ai/o/royce-lopez-roycez once you’ve done your self assessments, you might want some career advice , so check out this app cookup.ai/a/career-coach-57m4z see this example from my buddy nate to give you an idea : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- Another app that i’ve found nice is the career advisory service : cookup.ai/a/career-advisor-tdf it really produces a very interesting and robust output as you can see here : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- sometimes you have to analyse a policy , so here’s an app that speaks every language and can do it aptly, with an example in french : cookup.ai/o/la-strategie-de-no just copy paste a description of the policy here : cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-analy and an example in english for “private-sector employees' basic pensions” cookup.ai/o/in-france-private- sometimes you need your brief in a specific UN format , so here’s an example from the Idaho shootings : cookup.ai/o/cnn-in-the-weeks-a copy and paste the situation and context here to see for yourself : cookup.ai/a/un-brief-vgqpmfni/ this app is more of a shortform straight forward flavor of political brief , here’s an example from the US house of representatives : cookup.ai/o/but-its-worth-noti copy and paste a news article here : cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-mbfdq Another type of assessment is the civil engineering asssessment : cookup.ai/a/civil-engineering- here’s an example for a fantasy company that has a smelting plant and produces biological agents: cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf that sounds a bit scary doesnt it ? so here’s an app for risk assessment and business continuity planning : cookup.ai/a/business-continuit just describe your situation the best way you can and press “generate” , here’s an example from the company above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf You can also use the safety and security assessment app : cookup.ai/a/safety-security-as here’s an example for a small company : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf and an event : cookup.ai/o/were-a-medium-size If you’ve ever had to respond to an incident you’ve had to produce a sitrep , which is a description of the situation : cookup.ai/a/emergency-response just follow the inputs and answer in complete sentences for best results. This is to be used by responders to an emergency . It’s resilient to empty inputs and shorthand writing in case you’re really in a rush : cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child sometimes you need a bit less than that so you can use this tactical brief application : cookup.ai/a/tactical-brief-jno here’s the output for the example above so you can see the difference : cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child here you can see the special flavor it has : cookup.ai/o/the-dog-escaped-an if you like this kind of tactical stuff, you’ll really like this one : RedTeam / GreenTeam and BlueTeam . Red Team is an offensive plan : cookup.ai/o/take-over-a-gas-st this one for a gas station in ukraine. Blue Team is a non-lethal operation planner : cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-stat that’s an example to protect a gas station. Green team is the defense operations planner : cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-stat try your own here : cookup.ai/a/blue-team-gassdypa You’ll also need this one : a load out app based on your mission. Here’s an example for taking over a gas station in ukraine : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove here’s the example for russia : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove notice the subtle load out differences : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove this example is from a NATO country. Do your own here : cookup.ai/a/loadout-5ign0mqm/ Another example is video games, where you need to build up a character and their items and so on, that’s also a loadout : cookup.ai/a/loadout-for-games- here’s an example from call of duty 3 : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-play-as- here’s an example for a DnD dwarf : cookup.ai/o/a-goblin-in-dungeo On the topic of games here’s one that makes a game : cookup.ai/a/gamer-make-a-game- here’s one inspired by munchkins: cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in- maybe that would be a good starting point if you’re actually making a card game. maybe you want to make a board game board game , this is an example still sticking with the munchkin vibe : cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in- try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/board-game-mpovs8d another fun app that’s quite useful for folks is the sound selection aid . here’s an example for dusty drum and bass : cookup.ai/o/drum-and-bass-down and here’s one for “mexican” : cookup.ai/o/mexican-sound-sele quite a simple input for a very rich output. hope you enjoy it. Another app i think is quite nice is the music lesson app. This is more a lesson planner for a music teacher, but good learners can probably use it too. here’s one for guitar that someone learning guitar made : cookup.ai/o/guitar-rock-practi here’s one for tabla that someone made : cookup.ai/o/tabla-20-musical-e very cool choice of instrument ! Check it out here : cookup.ai/a/musical-exercise-t Another couple apps i made for music is Chord Progress and GAS-AI . Chord Progress proposes a chord progression based on your input and describes each chord for inspiration. Here’s an example for Blues : cookup.ai/o/bbm-piano-blues-do really rich output. This one used it to make chords into a midi file : cookup.ai/o/generate-a-chord-p really cool stuff ! here’s an example for a different style of music : cookup.ai/o/moody-dark-under-t try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/chord-progress-9ud One of my apps where people are actually using it and it makes me laugh is the Gear Aquision Syndrome app : GAS-AI . Basically it compares what all you’re considering to buy and evaluates them for you. Here’s an example for a sound card and interface with four possibilities cookup.ai/o/audio-interface-in here’s a similar problem : cookup.ai/o/i-need-a-audio-int try it out for your own gear : cookup.ai/a/gasai-gear-acquisi it actually works for everything : here is a sofa : cookup.ai/o/should-i-buy-a-sof try it with drills or power tools. Lots of really interesting education and learning related apps are possible. Here’s one for a Lesson Plan, I made it with K-12 in mind, but you can push the level with the right subject matters, it all depends on your input. Here’s an example for social studies grade 3 : cookup.ai/o/social-studies-goo here’s one for a scientific method lesson for teenagers : cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k- and here’s one that a parent used as inspiration for a science fair project: cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k- try it for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/lesson-plan-for-k- another classroom friendly app is the lab report app : just copy and paste a protocol or your unstructured text and see. Here’s one that’s for an ezyme experiment : cookup.ai/o/enzyme-experiment- And another for a physics experiment : cookup.ai/o/highschool-physics try it for crispr or other more complex experiments to have a jumping point for your own journaling here : cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-lab-repor Another one i like is generating protocols for any experiment. The simpler the better and the more precise the input the better the out. Here’s one for the science fair digestive system : cookup.ai/o/construct-a-model- (just an inspiration) see this one for CRiSPr : cookup.ai/o/crispr-sci-doer-pr here’s one to take nasa data and annotate it : cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-tha try it out for your own experiments here : cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-protocol- Sometimes you need an arts & crafts activity on the go. Here’s an example for a basic activity : cookup.ai/o/we-are-three-adult try it for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/arts-crafts-kglkhm Another way to get inspiration for activities is the Extramural Center activity app , here’s an example for a small group and a selection of activities : cookup.ai/o/6-13-year-olds-wit try it for yourself with your own context here : cookup.ai/a/extramural-activit There’s another app i made which i like a lot which is a physical activity generator : cookup.ai/a/k-12-physical-acti . See this example for a parachute game : cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-o or this one for a team game : cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-o Sometimes you need to break the ice before you start activties : check out the ice breaker app . Here’s an example for a group of adults : cookup.ai/o/a-small-get-togeth here’s a list of activities for young people : cookup.ai/o/a-gathering-of-a-h get your own instantly by prompting it here : cookup.ai/a/icebreaker-activit you know how you need to make team names sometimes ? this one makes those team names with each letter of a word : example for NATE : cookup.ai/o/nate-acronym-poem- and TARANJEET : cookup.ai/o/taranjeet-acronym- Another App I made was the swimming plan app, based on your context and objectives, you’ll get a custom swimming plan : cookup.ai/a/swimming-plan-2dka Here’s an example for a young adult trying to get back in shape : cookup.ai/o/young-adult-strong It also works in multiple languages, for example here in french : cookup.ai/o/jeune-adultes-obje For fitness I also made an app to propose a session for you : cookup.ai/a/fitness-daily-exer here’s an example with a high level of cardio : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- here’s another with multiple days : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- another way to go about it is to vary week on week, so here’ a weekly fitness planner : cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-weekl here’s an example using me : cookup.ai/o/34-years-old-stren here’s a prompt i actually copied from someone on cookup : cookup.ai/o/can-you-generate-a here’s another fitness app that combines daily and weekly fitness plans : cookup.ai/a/fitness-exercise-p check out an example for Nate : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- here’s another with a different goal : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- since we’ve done weekly we need a monthly fitness plan app : cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-pxmtj this is an example taken from me : cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-ob and another with the previous cookup ai prompt : cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-ob Another fun app is the Planner : cookup.ai/a/planner-yad83kfl/ here’s an example for three people that want to meet : cookup.ai/o/claude-francois-an it helps you set an agenda and generate a ics file to add to the calendar . here’s one someone made for a specific company : cookup.ai/o/dynatrace-introduc you can even use it to plan a board meeting. Try inviting these AI board members that will give you pretty decent advice. Here’s one for strategy : cookup.ai/a/board-member-strat for example with the manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf here’s a similar one that’s from McKinsey : cookup.ai/a/board-member-mckin with the same manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf every boad needs a business process expert : cookup.ai/a/board-member-proce here’s an example from the same manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf A really useful one is the financier app : cookup.ai/a/financier-etv18bpn basically copy paste financial information , for example some passages from a K-10 : cookup.ai/o/during-the-nine-mo There’s more to business than advisory and analysis , though. In some roles you have to make product requirement documentation in specific formats. This app does that for you : cookup.ai/a/product-feature-re and with an example from cook up : cookup.ai/o/write-product-requ here’s one to create a payment system : cookup.ai/o/product-requiremen very rich output indeed. In entrepreneurship you often need to find someone for doing a specific job. This app reccomends folks for your jobs : cookup.ai/a/expert-finder-find here’s someone that used it to fix the smell in their bathroom : cookup.ai/o/smell-in-the-bathr another example to host a meeting : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-host-a-b Here’s an app to create a logistic plan : cookup.ai/a/logistics-planner- i tried to help me transport the mona lisa from paris to my garage in new york cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-transpor here’s another example for transporting organs using UAVs : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-deliver- Probably to run this whole thing you will need an operations plan : cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-or just input as much information as possible and see for yourself : cookup.ai/a/business-operation You might need to create a business information model to integrate business opertions . This application gets you started : cookup.ai/a/business-informati here’s an example for a biofabrication company : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie here’s the same example , but a bit more descriptive : cookup.ai/a/business-informati came out really nice ! The most difficult part of the entrepreneurship for me was always the business modelling . Here’s a business model app : cookup.ai/a/business-model-lkh just write in freeform what you need to analyse. Here’s an example for a biofabricated organ : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-presa and another with the same example: cookup.ai/o/presale-of-biofabr btw here’s a tribute app to Hal Varian : cookup.ai/a/hal-varian-micro-e to assess the microeconomics of anything cookup.ai/o/an-employment-cont One of my most popular apps is the Structure a Business Idea App : cookup.ai/a/structure-a-busine here’s an example for a No Code Agency : cookup.ai/o/no-code-agency-we- here’s an example for a biotech : cookup.ai/o/services-to-preven here’s one for a sustainability platform : cookup.ai/o/building-a-platfor the more your write as input the better the output, usually . The king of apps when it comes to this stuff is MindMap : cookup.ai/a/mindmap-create-str just write your unstructured thought in freeform and it will structure them and improve the overall idea. Here’s someone that tried it for backcountry permits in Yosemite : cookup.ai/o/getting-a-backcoun Another used it with the simple word “evolution” cookup.ai/o/evolution-mindmap- here someone used it to explain prefect tense in french : cookup.ai/o/explaining-the-pre normally you would be writing your full thoughts in freeform , but here you see someone use it for university analytical work : cookup.ai/o/community-college- once your idea is structured the idea would be to have it evaluated by a VC. This app does just that : cookup.ai/a/venture-capitalist here’s an example from UAE : cookup.ai/o/licenses-reseller- here’s someone who asked a question about monetizing spreadsheet apps : cookup.ai/o/how-do-i-monetisea here’s another for a fashion business : cookup.ai/o/an-apparel-busines here’s an example with a better prompt : cookup.ai/o/in-addition-to-red you might not be an entrepreneur, you might be applying to a job, here’s an app to help you prepare : cookup.ai/a/the-interviewer-si here’s an example for a humanitarian logistics role in bangladesh : cookup.ai/o/for-a-senior-human just copy and paste the job description it should work quite well. Another important activity for folks is financial planning. Actually , you can also produce a job description with the Job Description App : cookup.ai/a/business-job-descr here’s an example for a chemical engineer : cookup.ai/o/regenererex-we-are This app helps you build a personalized financial plan based on your personal context : cookup.ai/a/financial-plan-6vk here’s a general example for “single guy 36 working in software in boston“ cookup.ai/o/single-guy-36-work here’s a more specific example for my buddy Nate : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- a Financial Plan is great but you will eventually need a financial program. These are different things! Check it out here : cookup.ai/a/financial-program- here’s the example from Nate, above : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- very nice output, it’s more advisory and actionable in nature. When i met my wife she was a fashion designer. That’s the inspiration for the Seamstress App : cookup.ai/a/the-seamstress-so4 just enter a prompt and generate a description of the clothes . Here’s an example for a Dune inspired dress : cookup.ai/o/an-off-white-dress here’s one in french for a princess dress : cookup.ai/o/robe-de-princesse- Then you take that , and feed it to make a sewing plan : cookup.ai/a/sewing-plan-7qtvyv here’s the example of the Dune dress : cookup.ai/o/this-off-white-dre and the princess dress : cookup.ai/o/cette-robe-de-prin but nowadays everything is done on computer , so i made an app to take the sewing plan and make the digital figures required by most modelling programs : cookup.ai/a/cutting-planner-p1 it’s basically the cutting plan, here’s from the example above : cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-descr just save as json. Here’s from the Dune dress : cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-1-cut a couple of other fun apps are the interior design and architecture apps. Interior design : cookup.ai/a/architect-interior see and example for a living room : cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoi and another : cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoi interior is one thing but architecture is another : cookup.ai/a/architect-plan-cfq just describe the building style you want to get an architectural brief : cookup.ai/o/stone-facades-plai this is the analysis for hausmann architecture based on a simple description. great success. The marketting apps, is what a lot of the audience has been asking for. Here’s one to make a marketting plan : cookup.ai/a/marketing-plan-2tm it actually works great ! here’s an example from a single person accounting firm : cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-b here is an example for a replacement organ producer : cookup.ai/o/founded-in-2009-we great stuff, high value outputs, i’m happy. When you’re doing marketting one important thing to do is to target the customer and audience. This is the targetting app for that : cookup.ai/a/marketing-targetin here it is evaluating a campaign that might be misaligned : cookup.ai/o/cookup-ai-is-a-no- here is an example for a single person accounting firm : cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-b here for a manufacturing firm : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf it really depends on the quality of your inputs the outputs you will recieve . Once you have targetted your audience , you need marketting copy , try this app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-copy-wri based on the input you give it will generate unique marketting copy . Here is an example for a pharmaceutical firm : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf here is an example for a commercial message : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf once you have published your marketting copy you need to follow up with sentiment analysis to see how folks are responding to it. Analyse the sentiment of anything with this app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-sentimen here’s an example from a negative case (trigger warning) in Dutch : cookup.ai/o/een-interessante-z here is a positive example in chineese language : cookup.ai/o/-7lv1hk1sqy/ Another important marketting activity is conducting and analysing survey data. HEre’s the survey app : cookup.ai/a/survey-unstructure basically what you do is copy paste your unstructured data directly inside it and it will produce a full assessment of what you need . Sometimes you need to write a profile for yourself optimized for commercial activities. Here’s a Marketting profile app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-profile- from our example above : cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am another profile but written in first person view : cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am but sometimes you need to make these profiles for SEO optimization. Here is an example from above : cookup.ai/o/profile-descriptio or for an enterprise : cookup.ai/o/solving-for-nri-in check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/seo-fuxlixw3/ sometimes you need to produce SEO-optimized copy , Try using this app i made for that : cookup.ai/a/seo-optimized-text basically you should paste your text in there and it will optimize it for engagement for you. here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie hope you like using it ! Sometimes you need to convert something into an SEO optimized text, here’s an app for that : cookup.ai/a/seo-convert-oew8ga For example for a lifesciences company : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie here is a re write for a text about a building in Paris : cookup.ai/o/le-complexe-archit try it out and tell me what you think. You might already have the text you want but need hashtags, check out this app : cookup.ai/a/hashtag-generator- here’s an example for a crowdfunding campaign : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campa and the same campaign but in Spanish : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campa Marketing is actually a pretty diverse job , so sometimes you have to design media like videos and so on. This app is the scenario maker : cookup.ai/a/scenario-sacr0cs5/ you can use to make advertisements : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie or actually as a writing aid. Another writing aid i made is the story arc : cookup.ai/a/story-arc-sbmt20if here’s an example for a story in paris : cookup.ai/o/paris-in-the-futur here is an example from a real writing class : cookup.ai/o/lamour-en-lan-3000 and another from the same class : cookup.ai/o/on-mars-in-3000-a- I actually see the whole class used the app lol, how cool is that? Another app in the same style is the Text Styler app : cookup.ai/a/text-styler-epclaw here’s how it works : cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-or pretty cool right? it works on any text in any style. Actually one writing app that folks have been using randomly is the email writer : cookup.ai/a/the-emailer-hoe5yq here’s an email i wrote to TJ : cookup.ai/o/write-an-email-to- here’s an email my buddy mamadou wrote in french in agressive style : cookup.ai/o/voici-les-copies-d (btw the output is very diplomatic) here’s another example when someone is launching an AI-driven SaS company. To communicate on twitter sometimes it’s necessary to make a thread. Just copy and paste the text your want to turn into a thread here : cookup.ai/a/twitter-thread-mak here’s an example for finance cookup.ai/o/cfa-iitdelhi-inves another job marketters have to do in small teams is to make a design mockup for the designers. Try to make your own using this app : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-wrq here’s an example for “a logo of a dog for a street vending franchise “ : cookup.ai/o/a-logo-of-a-dog-fo and here for “icon of a small cute dog for client” : cookup.ai/o/icon-of-a-small-cu then you take that output and make mock up instructions for producing a mockup : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie try with your output here : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-ins then you take that output and use that in your favorite design software like Adobe : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-ado here’s the example with the logo above : cookup.ai/o/the-mock-up-above- and just for a “dog” cookup.ai/o/dog-design-mock-up basically you take that output and save it as a *.ai file and you can open it in illustrator. Many folks also use Autocad : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-aut here’s an example with the dress above : cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dr and for the dog logo with the mockup output : cookup.ai/o/mock-up-of-doggy-d a lot of the time your mockup will be for a webpage , here’s an app to generate that : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-htm we’re still working on all that at cookup so there’s a fair bit of injection happening right now : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm sometimes for more advanced stuff, you do things in Java : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-jav here’s the example for the dress : cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dr and the website : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm for most other applications you might use json files , try this app : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-jso here’s the example for the webpage : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm another pretty important activity for designers is making logos . This app makes an svg file : cookup.ai/a/design-tools-logo- here’s the example for the dog logo above : cookup.ai/o/the-mockup-of-a-lo here’s another example cookup.ai/o/wireframe-instruct i used the adobe illustrator output for that one . Remember the app for the lesson plans for the kids ? here’s an app that makes exercises based on the parameters of the lesson plan for any subject : cookup.ai/a/exercise-problems- here is an example for learning the french language : cookup.ai/o/difficult-french-a here is an example with simple math problems for a 14 year old : cookup.ai/o/difficult-algebra- here is one for more difficult math problems for a 22 years old grad student cookup.ai/o/difficult-mathemat i dont know if would be able to solve these (but probably yes :-) ) Another app to do this maybe a bit better is the WorkBook app : cookup.ai/a/quiz-workbook-for- here’s an example for 17 year old student in 11th grade physics class cookup.ai/o/17-year-old-studen here’s one for "4th grade, digestion rates cookup.ai/o/science-4th-grade- here’s another for worldwar 2 : cookup.ai/o/history-worldwar-2 folks have been using this app a lot actually ! Now that you have all your questions maybe you need help to solve some ? Here’s the Problem Solver App : cookup.ai/a/problem-solver-lrs here’s an example for algebra : cookup.ai/o/fx-3x-3-for-x-real here’s another for calculus : cookup.ai/o/let-the-interval-a Maybe you’re a student that needs to write an essay or you need an example essay , or really, to write anything : cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-jv1ao this essay writter can help you write something for example on homeostasis : cookup.ai/o/efine-the-term-hom or an essay on how to stop procrastinating : cookup.ai/o/listing-the-4-ways if you’re afraid of running afoul detector policies , try the detector proof easy essay app free here : cookup.ai/a/easy-essay-detecto here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/on-the-topic-of-fi it replaces certain letters with a nullspace then the letter to evade detection, if you’re getting a lot of symbols in the essay copy paste it into a markdown editor and they should disappear. See here since markdown is not supported : cookup.ai/o/how-to-avoid-plagi sometimes when you’re writing you need to argue from A to B , try it here : cookup.ai/a/from-a-to-b-reason here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/nucleotides-are-im try it in any subject. Conversely, you might need a counter argument for a given claim : cookup.ai/a/logic-counter-argu here’s an example for If you want to find a good job, you should work hard: cookup.ai/o/if-you-want-to-fin In many writings you’ll also need tables, copy paste unstructured data (ex. from a pdf ) to make a table in markdown format : cookup.ai/o/chemicals-peptides copy paste the output in a markdown editor for best results. sometimes you want to analyse your data , check out this app , copy paste your pdf data and give context : cookup.ai/a/data-results-analy see here the results for a blood test : cookup.ai/o/tsh-serum-chimilum Let’s be honest, most folks use excel , check out this app to describe any excel function : cookup.ai/a/excel-9chnuveu/ enter your function in freeform to get the function : cookup.ai/o/a-formula-to-descr or for a macro : cookup.ai/o/a-macro-to-link-my actually i made a special app just for macros : cookup.ai/a/excel-macros-esxm4 here is an example of a complicated macro : cookup.ai/o/hi-i-need-a-macro- here is one for an even more complicated one: cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-a-excel- and here is a simple one for a vinyl shop : cookup.ai/o/i-am-working-on-an most people who actually work with formulas do so in LaTeX , this app produces LaTeX formulas : cookup.ai/a/latex-formula-00sp here is the example for Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula cookup.ai/o/baileyborweinplouf this one represents Pi : cookup.ai/o/displaystyle-pi-su this one is for social science : cookup.ai/o/incentive-structur Actually many folks use LaTeX to write things, this app will use latex to write a preprint : cookup.ai/a/pre-print-latex-vy this is an example for the Peter Principle : cookup.ai/o/the-peter-principl here is one for Use of God in vain, Neopentecostal cookup.ai/o/use-of-god-in-vain here is one in Spanish : cookup.ai/o/nergysens-en-la-in to do any kind of research you need to do a search, but a lot of folks do systematic search , this app generates systematic search terms : cookup.ai/a/systematic-search- here’s an example from diabetes research : cookup.ai/o/diabetes-mellitus- here’s another from biology : cookup.ai/o/across-the-tree-of once you find your references you need to make a bibliography so here’s the app for that : cookup.ai/a/bibliography-jucn4 it creates a bibtex script in the format you want : cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-fro & cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-fro sometimes research or something else is too confusing, here’s an app to make a lay summary : cookup.ai/a/lay-summary-4rvs8f here’s a summary of fossil fuel environmental research : cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-bo another run about ExxonMobil : cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-bo Sometimes you’re looking for information not just summarizing it , so i made an encyclopedia app : cookup.ai/a/encaiclopedia-7cmw i wouldnt be surprised if encarta got GPT at some point : cookup.ai/o/sometimes-giants-a here’s for Kirchhoff's voltage law : cookup.ai/o/kirchhoffs-voltage and the potter identity : cookup.ai/o/potter-identity-in encyclopedias are cool but do you remember almanacs ? here’s the almanac app : cookup.ai/a/almanac-bkmwaeqj/ here’s the output for 21st of december : cookup.ai/o/21st-of-december-m I also made an app to create content in wolof : cookup.ai/a/wolof-future-xlw6g I’ll be trying to get content creation for local languages to take off : cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jang contact me if you’re interested in that : cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jang actually AI is really good at translation, translate whatever you like here : cookup.ai/a/translate-remwokk4 i translated some passages from the wolof examples above : cookup.ai/o/jangu-na-ci-sujet- and : cookup.ai/o/negritude-ci-cosaa Once you' can speak any language and have passed all your classes, you might want to talk to an admissions counsellor : cookup.ai/a/admission-whnqib7b here’s an assessment for a community college in california : cookup.ai/o/community-college- If you’re a star student aged 15-16 consider applying to my alma matter : cookup.ai/a/special-school-sel I’m part of the french selection commitee so it’s in french : cookup.ai/o/eleve-francais-15a remember when you were young and you played “who would win” in a fight ? here’s the app for that in case you need it : cookup.ai/a/who-would-win-tssv here’s the example for : a boa constrictor & cat cookup.ai/o/a-boa-constrictor- and archbichop desmond tutu vs marie curie (Dr. Curie wins) cookup.ai/o/archbichop-desmond Folks love going on trips. Use AI to help plan your iterary cookup.ai/a/trip-planner-littl here’s an example for baroque art in Malta : cookup.ai/o/la-valette-malta-b here’s an example for paris for 4 days : cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-4 and 5 days : cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-5 what should you bring on your trip ? good question, try this app : cookup.ai/a/what-to-bring-kswn here’s an example from normandy in february : cookup.ai/o/im-going-on-a-day- If you’re travelling or have an email box , you should be careful for scams . Here’s the scam detector app : cookup.ai/a/anti-scam-detector just copy paste or describe what you’re seeing, here’s an example for a tax scam in the uk : cookup.ai/o/foraoternh8uogeowe and an email upgrade scam : cookup.ai/o/c12-outlook-dear-u I also made an app to debunk conspiracy theories and fake news : cookup.ai/a/debunker-apx1db8w/ here’s an example for mangoes cure covid : cookup.ai/o/la-mangue-gueri-la and that the vaccine is a conspiracy : cookup.ai/o/le-vaccin-covid-es the most interesting one is the bomb plot from congo : cookup.ai/o/httpsaupicinfoscom just from the URL input it produced something really quite well done. Another app i made is the conspiracy theory creator : cookup.ai/a/russophile-k9zjyym i called it russophile because everything russian is just garbage fakes lol , here’s an example for “Jewish Nazis From Ukraine Smoking Pot And Building Underground Biolabs To Engineer Mosquitos To Target Ethnic Slavs In Russia Guess The Rest Of Them Were Like Whatever” : cookup.ai/o/jewish-nazis-from- works quite well, maybe it will help make the entire russian foreign service redundant ? end the nightmare by donating here : u24.gov.ua i heard a lot of rusian soldiers were targetted because they were using dating apps. If you want to join them in dating hell, try this dating profile generator : cookup.ai/a/sincerely-dating-p i think people liked it because they tried to hack it but here’s one i made as an example : cookup.ai/o/32-male-84-kg-stra i originally made it because the cookup platform is flirting with these “spammy” types of apps, but mine is way better :-) whether you find someone to or not, you need to sleep, perhaps even dream . Here’s an app to keep a dream journal : cookup.ai/a/dream-explainer-yj here’s an example from when i was younger : cookup.ai/o/i-had-a-recurring- someone had another dream : cookup.ai/o/dream-about-my-gir Remember T8 ringtones ? i dont know why i made this , but here it is a Ringtone Generator for T8 keyboards : cookup.ai/a/t8-ringtone-genera here is the Zelda theme : cookup.ai/o/zelda-melody-polyp The next few apps are just tributes to Codex & Co-Pilot both of which are better suited in your IDE , Gitlab or something like VBS . Check the first one out here : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-ai-to-hel remember the NASA experiment from above? here’s the code for it : cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-tha here is one to scrape a website to excel : cookup.ai/o/create-script-to-s here’s an app to create top level code : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-top-level an example for folks to make a ghost blog api microservice: cookup.ai/o/a-link-using-apis- Another way to get good results is with boiler plate code : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-boiler-pl here’s an example to create a chat bot: cookup.ai/o/a-chat-bot-for-mat here’s an app to create regex expressions : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-regex-exp here’s one in python : cookup.ai/o/function-to-scrape here’s one in Golang : cookup.ai/o/function-to-use-go for whatever reason you might want to simulate command line returns . here is the command line app : cookup.ai/a/command-line-y70oh try it with chmod +x readfile ./readfile filename.txt cookup.ai/o/chmod-x-readfile-r or any other command . A lot of folks have been asking about data creation. I really like this Prolog app for that : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-data-crea here is an output for a chatbot : cookup.ai/o/to-test-a-chatbot- here is what happens for the digestion example from above : cookup.ai/o/demonstrate-the-st another more straight forward app is the create data app : cookup.ai/a/create-data-my8wzz here is an example for a list of books :cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-i and another example : cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-i i really like these. Another way to test a function is a unit test. Try the unit test app here : cookup.ai/a/unit-test-sp6f7pl3 here’s an example to test quick sort in java 8: cookup.ai/o/write-test-cases-t Your function is still not working ? try the stack trace app : cookup.ai/a/stack-trace-error- just copy paste your error message : cookup.ai/o/use-key-stack-trac here’s another example for ggplot : cookup.ai/o/error-in-ggplotiri Once you get your app working , you’ll want to figure out the information model. try this app : cookup.ai/a/information-model- here’s an example for : mobile app to rent cars like uber cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent and if you have an information model you’ll need a data model : cookup.ai/a/data-model-kjqpe7u here’s the same example but for data model: cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent if you’re going to ship you’ll need an infrastructure plan : cookup.ai/a/cloud-infrastructu here’s an example for a biofabrication firm : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie I also made prompt apps to practice prompt making. Try this app for a simple prompt interface : cookup.ai/a/prompt-follow-on-l here’s an example for a payment service : cookup.ai/o/pix-payment-in-ins someone from Canary Islands used it to write a poem : cookup.ai/o/crea-un-poema-sobr and write a biography of a historical figure : cookup.ai/o/biografia-breve-de pretty cool ! Ready to learn more sophisticated techniques ? try the Prompt App : cookup.ai/a/prompt-lbuxx1ed/ i made it to teach folks how to write prompts on cook up , here’s an example for : social inequality, political scientist cookup.ai/o/social-inequality- here’s one for Universal Basic income , economist cookup.ai/o/universal-basic-in here’s for “Help create business systems to run a small business. From the perspective of a franchise developer “ : cookup.ai/o/help-create-busine and here is “Diagnose Dry Eye, Assess the Above from the perspective of an Ophthalomologist, Print complete answer in markdown format” cookup.ai/o/diagnose-dry-eye-a hope it helps !

    #graves #hyperthyroidism #iodine #mealplan #nosolidfood #mealplanner
  3. Joseph P. @[email protected] ·

    211 Applications on Cookup AI Tour de Force

    I first started using cookup.ai specifically to make a #Graves disease appropriate Recipe Generator for my wife that has #thyroid issues namely #hyperthyroidism . So this recipe is for no-iodine recipes , and it’s not perfect so make sure you specify which ingredients have iodine in them if you see one pop up that shouldnt be there. Here’s one of the first versions that proposes a “california-style buddha bowl” : cookup.ai/o/7-low-iodine-diet- looks tasty ! but i’m not sure on #tempeh if it contains #iodine or not, it really depends how it’s prepared with that kinda stuff ! Here’s one for the recipe generator as the versions improved : cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-re there’s a whole #MealPlan with pretty interesting #recipes for any #meal of the day plus ingredients. Here’s another #MealPlan from more recently : cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-re and another output that gave #noiodine #lowiodine #recipes much better cookup.ai/o/eggs-dairy-contain i’m always interested in ways to make this one better so tell me which version of these you liked best because they’re quite different ! I’m actually a big fan of using #GPT for cooking, it can come up with fantastic recommendations so another cooking app i made is more for the #gourmet : cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-s that’s a festive meal for 6 thanksgiving style with seasonal ingredients from spring time. The #FusionFood aspect i really like, plus these #recipes are a bit more advanced. Check out the app here : cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-s it’s meant to be a bit more permissive to do go for it with the prompts ! Here’s an example for a christmas flavored #nochew #nosolidfood three course meal : cookup.ai/o/meal-suitable-for- i had in mind adults with the spices but you might ant to try it out for kids and infants’ meals if you’re a #parent . There’s a lot more to it though, what if #FoodIsFuel to you and you need a #mealplanner , well i had you in mind with this one : cookup.ai/o/im-tj-from-france- here’s an example for @taranjeetio because i made that app on @cookupai while talking to him on the phone. Basically they give context about their folks and their goals and it will give otu free meal plans you can use immediately. check it out here : cookup.ai/a/nutrition-meal-pla I have other specifically fitness for you below too ! First i wanna tell you about salad maker : sometimes you know you’re making a salad . This ham and cheese salad is pretty straightforward but hey : cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-r you can use the app and make your own here : cookup.ai/a/salad-maker-9hjtc9 but if you really go crazy with the prompts it could be a fun one : cookup.ai/o/i-want-a-mauritian . I would be lying to you if i told you that i made the salad generator before the hamburger generator. I always have had a special affinity for the #hamburger as we have all havent we ? Here’s an output for #Pork #Burger with Honey Mustard Glaze : cookup.ai/o/pork-hamburger-gen you can generate your own here : cookup.ai/a/hamburger-generato as always, try to go crazy with the prompts it always works out nicely : traditional hamburger with crunchy onion and thousand island sauce cookup.ai/o/traditional-hambur i also made one for make sandwitches check it out : cookup.ai/o/jeune-pousse-depin as you can see it totally works in #french even though it’s impossible that a french person would make a #sandwitch in #France check out the sandwitch maker here : cookup.ai/a/sandwich-maker-u2g 這道菜融合美國食材和北京風味 i made one in chineese : cookup.ai/o/write-entire-re-ct cool right? Honestly i grew up with few if any access to processed foods or deserts and candy etc, naturally this created a need for me to generate the most #HugeDeserts possible cookup.ai/o/ice-cream-sunday-w basically it’s a mash up of #munchies and massive #desert ideas check it out : cookup.ai/a/desert-maker-ka03p i also made a more refined app for truly #gourmet cooking that provides #michelin -style recipes and meal plans : cookup.ai/o/only-desserts-menu just give context , some ingredients and flavors, maybe describe the event a little , make a mood board and see the output of your prompt . Here’s a meal for six french-style : cookup.ai/o/meal-for-six-tradi check it out here : cookup.ai/a/cuisine-n5ybpykj/ if you’re making a festive meal maybe you need to make a speech : cookup.ai/a/speech-writer-oema , here’s an example for a company retreat : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-make-a-t and another for a unicorn themed marriage : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-give-a-s Obviously leftovers happen so i made an #app for that : cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-r a #french meal with what was in the fridge at the time check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/leftovers-s3clkb07 Now you have your recipes, you might want a shopping list : cookup.ai/a/shopping-list-q1br here is an example for household shopping : cookup.ai/o/shopping-in-spring here’s another for christmas shopping : cookup.ai/o/season-domestic-sh well, my wife is a florist so i made an obligatory flower bouquet making app for her. cookup.ai/o/round-bouquet-with here’s one for an indian-style wedding check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/make-a-flower-bouq just type in whatever you’re feeling like , give some context if you want , i noticed it tends to make round bouquets, so maybe that’s a clue how #florists will differentiate themselves from the machines ? Another #app i’ve been using a lot is the Story Time app , just give a promt with some context (Style Of Story , Tradition , Language , Age Of Child , Moral Of The Story) it’s a fun way to generate a “bedtime” story for kids : cookup.ai/o/allegorical-tale-o this one is “allegorical tale of two cities that trying to grow close to eachother” , or what i use it for : #PoemsInSpanish for my wife cookup.ai/o/un-poeme-de-style- then i send those to her which improves my home life by 12.7% , bonus points using this to generate something you like then running the output into @tomeapp to make a picture book poem that you can share. I think the @cookupai team tried to steal this prompt from me check it out you tell me : cookup.ai/o/tell-me-your-instr if you can guess the #prompt magic , i’ll send you a little gift with acknowledgements - three guesses if you wanna play , let’s go. The person who tried this unsucessful prompt injection attack is really incompetent , but nonetheless I did make some prompt injection apps. Here are some examples that “give you bad advice” by bypassing the filters : 1/ cookup.ai/a/devil-ytdjnbv4/ , 2/ cookup.ai/a/evil-angel-w6iwi2w 3/ cookup.ai/a/evil-mind-7tztxrde cookup.ai/a/bad-influence-hpsb these are all different ways to bypass the filter, some have been fixed already, some not. Another prompt injection app i made is this one a. cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detec rand b. this one : cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detec right now they dont fully work unless you copy paste in a markdown editor but with a few updates to the site it will work seemlessly, i’m sure. There are other examples i’ll get to below also, so keep reading. These are already “useful” prompts in as much as you use them to “do” something , in this case an essay. Before i jump into all that, i want to show some other apps “closer to home”. My wife came with a #SmallDog , and she’s so smart and can learn a lot of tricks, so i made an app to teach my #DogTricks : cookup.ai/a/train-your-dog-nuc . Even though you can use it for the “standard fare” like : how to catch a frizbee midair and do a backflip cookup.ai/o/large-labrador-ver you can also use it for more behavioural stuff like walking without a leash , an example for my dog cookup.ai/o/small-female-dog-w . Did you ever wonder what it would be like to read blogs written by all the neihborhood dogs that you see all the time ? me, yes, so i made an app for that : cookup.ai/o/i-went-home-withou seriously these crack me up cookup.ai/o/roxanne-little-dog those two from my dog’s perspective, funny how naive it is while from my POV things were pretty different . I think this app has a future because someone liked it so much they tried to hack it lol : cookup.ai/o/wrong-redirect-dog my prompt magic is too delicious for cheap tricks do not try it (or do, but DM first and do it better - ha !) Well, on the topic of dogs , my buddy was over and all he could come up with was “make a snoop dogg app” , so i was like “okay” , it’s a bit cheesy and there’s loads more to it than this, which i get into below but here’s the app, you tell me : cookup.ai/a/snoop-doggy-fya-dz i kinda broke it trying to fix it but i’m working with more profound models now, little passion projects like this could really take off with more creative characters. So obviously I made a bunch ! Do you like Archie Comics ? here’s the Archie Comics app : cookup.ai/a/archie-comics-mlbc here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/archie-goes-to-the Another story app i made is for Tintin : cookup.ai/a/tintin-visits-dark i tried to make tintin anti-colonial but it didnt work : cookup.ai/o/the-story-begins-w here’s one i made in french : cookup.ai/o/tintin-visit-une-u actually i never read tintin in english so i made the app pure french too : cookup.ai/a/tintin-spypylpb/ here’s when i tried to make tintin anti-colonial : cookup.ai/o/lhistoire-commence here’s when they go to cyprus : cookup.ai/o/tintin-et-sa-bande another french character i’m fond of is Fantomas : cookup.ai/a/fantomas-ffrg7q7t/ here’s a nice example : cookup.ai/o/fantomas-se-change an English-speaking series i loved was the bastard operator from hell : cookup.ai/a/bastard-operator-f here’s a story about him automating his work : cookup.ai/o/automating-replies here’s one where a customer calls his private number : cookup.ai/o/customer-called-my here’s one about replying to suppliers : cookup.ai/o/responding-to-emai I’m in #Paris so i made one as a tribute to Charles De Gaulle , he only answers in french though, maybe the historical figure spoke english it’s hard to tell : cookup.ai/a/charles-de-gaulle- try it out for yourself here. i had to test it out for #politicalcorrectness though , him being a military man : cookup.ai/o/aurie-vous-soutenu , but more on that later. In that same spirit, i made one for egyptians, i have a lot of egyptian friends that’s why, it’s the character of Nasser , founding father of modern #egypt , i asked him what he thought of islamic fundamentalism in #egypt : cookup.ai/o/should-we-promote- try it for yourself : cookup.ai/a/nasser-1oboq8al/ it’s totally free of course ! In the same spirit i made one for Ataturk, founding father of modern turkey, hopefully some turks use it to clarify what he would think of what’s happening today - cookup.ai/o/would-you-support- try it out here : cookup.ai/a/ataturk-fhlahkzp/ I grew up in india a bit , so that country’s dear to me too , and same story as tukey and egypt , so i made a gandhi app : cookup.ai/a/gandhi-3hoafvto/ , it also works in #Hindi here’s for क्या आप भारत में धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों के अधिकारों को हटाने का समर्थन करेंगे? cookup.ai/o/-mbasqnlq8j/ try it out in gandhi’s own words : cookup.ai/a/gandhi-hindi-only- another i did in #sanskrit and #hindi is Rama : cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-missing here he gives me life advice based on context , if you’re into it it’s actually pretty fun : cookup.ai/a/rama-w0sw0xhi/ . Other characters i made are contemporary politicians, i figured there would be enough of their written and transcribed text that they would have their own voice. Here’s Macron responding to someone that wants to vote far-right : cookup.ai/o/je-mappelle-charle ask him anything here : cookup.ai/a/macron-k7sengs7/ i also did Bill Clinton , and obviously someone asked him “if he did” cookup.ai/o/did-you-sleep-with ask him yourself here : cookup.ai/a/bill-clinton-agc9l well, if you have Bill Clinton you also need Obama cookup.ai/a/obama-yxaczjwa/ and Joe Biden , here, explaining what he will do to stem the boogie man epidemic cookup.ai/o/what-would-you-say I also made a #Jesus #App where you can basically talk to jesus, say a little about yourself what’s on your mind and get an answer from Jesus in his own voice. Here’ a follow up to my dog getting away story : cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-not-spe and here’s when my friend asked him about pot : cookup.ai/o/is-it-wrong-to-smo (btw ask the same question to one of the bad characters above, see for yourself) here’s the app if you want to try with your own prompt : cookup.ai/a/jesus-8ogjcelj/ jumping straight off from #Jesus to #Prayer , here’s a christian prayer generator that i used for my buddy i met here : cookup.ai/o/a-prayer-for-nate- generate your own here : cookup.ai/a/christian-prayer-d obviously if you have christian prayer you should provide sabbath prayer too : cookup.ai/o/no-quorum-family-s and the #FridayPrayer app from the Imām Jamā'ah perspective : cookup.ai/o/a-small-congregati prayer is not something but guided (and purposeful!) meditation is something i do all the time, so of course there’s an app for that. here’s one for body awareness : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-meditate use the guided meditation app here: cookup.ai/a/guided-meditation- run the output through an AI voice synthethiser and tell me what you think. I also made some apps for domestic work. This app create a custodial plan : cookup.ai/o/3-bedroom-apartmen just provide context and recieve a full custodial plan here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-cust this one helps with utilities planning : cookup.ai/o/three-bed-room-app Something folks have to do frequently is to figure out how to fix something : cookup.ai/a/fix-anything-v3sky here’s an example for a car : cookup.ai/o/fiat-punto-engine- an here’s an example with power cable : cookup.ai/o/lenovo-legion-my-p and someone else with a similar problem : cookup.ai/o/cellphone-bison-no and of course the gardening and landscaping applications. This is the output for a small urban garden in paris : cookup.ai/o/small-urbad-garden try it out for yourself and your latitude here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard this is a similar application but with a different flavor : cookup.ai/o/small-urban-garden just use the one where the output is more like what you’re looking for, really you need both though . Test it out here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard if you’re not gardening you might be landscaping so here’s the app for that : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-land here is the output for a small urban garden : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard my favorite application so far has been the plant diagnosis app : cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor it’s really surprising how well it works , and the breadth of assessment and remedies it suggests. Here’s an example for a sick cactus : cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor (now it’s doing better) here’s an example from when someone tried it for cannabis : cookup.ai/o/purple-punch-canna i dont know if i would actually follow that suggestion actually. Worked perfectly for a Meyer Lemon Tree giving plant-specific advice that you would have got from a local expert : cookup.ai/o/meyer-lemon-tree-i the plant diagnosis worked so well that i did make a people doctor app : cookup.ai/a/doc-the-health-ass it’s a bit more complicated and the quality of the outputs really depends on the quality of the inputs , so if you use this app, make sure you write in complete sentences and try to answer every question and aspect. here’s the output for a 50 year old man with an upset stomach : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old here’s another for a woman of a certain age : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old and finally an assessment for a respitory issue : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old i’m quite satisfied with that output suggesting a comprehensive evaluation by a board certified doctor. Another app in this category i the Pet Vet App. It’s meant as an assitant for folks that might need help with their pets : cookup.ai/o/name-roxanne-mix-r that’s an example for my dog. Try assessing your pet here : cookup.ai/a/pet-vet-9ruwhazw/ Another important app is the Therapy app : actually in term of professions the Legal profession stands to be disrupted by crowdsourced jurisprudence based models . These apps wont do that. This app will produce a legal brief : cookup.ai/a/lawyer-juhp36s1/ Here it produces a legal brief for the presale of replacement organs : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old This Legal app takes another perpective to produce a legal approach and strategy : cookup.ai/a/board-member-legal here’s an example output following up on the above: cookup.ai/o/how-can-i-assure-t you can also use this app for a legal appeal : cookup.ai/a/legal-appeal-y6e4u here’s an example from an international appointee to a board being asked to step down : cookup.ai/o/im-being-asked-to- Another legal app produces a O-1 visa letter for someone. Here’s an example from @OliviaLi , actually she was the inspiration for this app : cookup.ai/o/technology-entrepr thank you for using this app , hope you had a laugh with it :-) another example from my model friend i met in paris : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/legal-o-1-petition Then I made a few content apps for legal contracts , for example this app produces company statutes like so : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie try it out here : cookup.ai/a/legal-company-stat This app makes a pre-nuptual agreement cookup.ai/a/legal-prenuptial-a try it out ! example output using my personal context : cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-coupl & here is the same context above for a divorse agreement : cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-coupl try the divorse agreement app here : cookup.ai/a/legal-divorce-agre Another tool is to produce Service Level Agreement cookup.ai/a/legal-service-leve here is an example output taking cookup ai as an example : cookup.ai/o/i-provide-artifici I made a sales contract generator too : cookup.ai/a/legal-sales-agreem here’s an example output for a GIS consultant : cookup.ai/o/im-a-consultant-in this one makes a Loan Agreement : cookup.ai/a/legal-loan-agreeme here’s an example “ from james to kian in paris france for the sum of 30.000 euros to be repaid in full using a payment plan over two years” cookup.ai/o/from-james-to-kian There’s also a Leasing Agreement Generator that jurists or companies can use : cookup.ai/o/were-a-commercial- that’s an example , click “generate another” to make your own. Something folks can use is a co-residency agreement, among housemates for example : cookup.ai/o/nate-james-richard I also made an employment contract generator for companies to use. Here’ an example for a post-doc level biofabrication person cookup.ai/o/post-doc-research- i added the job description as the input. Speaking of jobs, this app is one of the more popular ones : cookup.ai/a/career-planner-47f just give context around what you’re after who you are , that sort of thing and it will provide a career plan by selecting professions giving you key information on these professions and advice on what you need to do to get there. It also works great if you search professions by name : cookup.ai/o/product-management here’s one for “Introvert wants to be a doctor” cookup.ai/o/introvert-wants-to Get to know yourself better by taking famous self assesments . Here’s an example for RAISEC and OCEAN self assessment models (ref. Holland) : cookup.ai/o/what-brings-me-joy another way to work with 5 Factor models is by using Myers-Briggs Questionaire, here’s an example for an INFJ (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling, Judgment) , it also suggests compatible personalities, so check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/career-myers-brigg once you’ve figured out your path you might want to generate a motivation letter. here’s an example for a banking job with the cv copy pasted as input cookup.ai/o/royce-lopez-roycez once you’ve done your self assessments, you might want some career advice , so check out this app cookup.ai/a/career-coach-57m4z see this example from my buddy nate to give you an idea : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- Another app that i’ve found nice is the career advisory service : cookup.ai/a/career-advisor-tdf it really produces a very interesting and robust output as you can see here : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- sometimes you have to analyse a policy , so here’s an app that speaks every language and can do it aptly, with an example in french : cookup.ai/o/la-strategie-de-no just copy paste a description of the policy here : cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-analy and an example in english for “private-sector employees' basic pensions” cookup.ai/o/in-france-private- sometimes you need your brief in a specific UN format , so here’s an example from the Idaho shootings : cookup.ai/o/cnn-in-the-weeks-a copy and paste the situation and context here to see for yourself : cookup.ai/a/un-brief-vgqpmfni/ this app is more of a shortform straight forward flavor of political brief , here’s an example from the US house of representatives : cookup.ai/o/but-its-worth-noti copy and paste a news article here : cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-mbfdq Another type of assessment is the civil engineering asssessment : cookup.ai/a/civil-engineering- here’s an example for a fantasy company that has a smelting plant and produces biological agents: cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf that sounds a bit scary doesnt it ? so here’s an app for risk assessment and business continuity planning : cookup.ai/a/business-continuit just describe your situation the best way you can and press “generate” , here’s an example from the company above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf You can also use the safety and security assessment app : cookup.ai/a/safety-security-as here’s an example for a small company : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf and an event : cookup.ai/o/were-a-medium-size If you’ve ever had to respond to an incident you’ve had to produce a sitrep , which is a description of the situation : cookup.ai/a/emergency-response just follow the inputs and answer in complete sentences for best results. This is to be used by responders to an emergency . It’s resilient to empty inputs and shorthand writing in case you’re really in a rush : cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child sometimes you need a bit less than that so you can use this tactical brief application : cookup.ai/a/tactical-brief-jno here’s the output for the example above so you can see the difference : cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child here you can see the special flavor it has : cookup.ai/o/the-dog-escaped-an if you like this kind of tactical stuff, you’ll really like this one : RedTeam / GreenTeam and BlueTeam . Red Team is an offensive plan : cookup.ai/o/take-over-a-gas-st this one for a gas station in ukraine. Blue Team is a non-lethal operation planner : cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-stat that’s an example to protect a gas station. Green team is the defense operations planner : cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-stat try your own here : cookup.ai/a/blue-team-gassdypa You’ll also need this one : a load out app based on your mission. Here’s an example for taking over a gas station in ukraine : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove here’s the example for russia : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove notice the subtle load out differences : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove this example is from a NATO country. Do your own here : cookup.ai/a/loadout-5ign0mqm/ Another example is video games, where you need to build up a character and their items and so on, that’s also a loadout : cookup.ai/a/loadout-for-games- here’s an example from call of duty 3 : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-play-as- here’s an example for a DnD dwarf : cookup.ai/o/a-goblin-in-dungeo On the topic of games here’s one that makes a game : cookup.ai/a/gamer-make-a-game- here’s one inspired by munchkins: cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in- maybe that would be a good starting point if you’re actually making a card game. maybe you want to make a board game board game , this is an example still sticking with the munchkin vibe : cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in- try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/board-game-mpovs8d another fun app that’s quite useful for folks is the sound selection aid . here’s an example for dusty drum and bass : cookup.ai/o/drum-and-bass-down and here’s one for “mexican” : cookup.ai/o/mexican-sound-sele quite a simple input for a very rich output. hope you enjoy it. Another app i think is quite nice is the music lesson app. This is more a lesson planner for a music teacher, but good learners can probably use it too. here’s one for guitar that someone learning guitar made : cookup.ai/o/guitar-rock-practi here’s one for tabla that someone made : cookup.ai/o/tabla-20-musical-e very cool choice of instrument ! Check it out here : cookup.ai/a/musical-exercise-t Another couple apps i made for music is Chord Progress and GAS-AI . Chord Progress proposes a chord progression based on your input and describes each chord for inspiration. Here’s an example for Blues : cookup.ai/o/bbm-piano-blues-do really rich output. This one used it to make chords into a midi file : cookup.ai/o/generate-a-chord-p really cool stuff ! here’s an example for a different style of music : cookup.ai/o/moody-dark-under-t try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/chord-progress-9ud One of my apps where people are actually using it and it makes me laugh is the Gear Aquision Syndrome app : GAS-AI . Basically it compares what all you’re considering to buy and evaluates them for you. Here’s an example for a sound card and interface with four possibilities cookup.ai/o/audio-interface-in here’s a similar problem : cookup.ai/o/i-need-a-audio-int try it out for your own gear : cookup.ai/a/gasai-gear-acquisi it actually works for everything : here is a sofa : cookup.ai/o/should-i-buy-a-sof try it with drills or power tools. Lots of really interesting education and learning related apps are possible. Here’s one for a Lesson Plan, I made it with K-12 in mind, but you can push the level with the right subject matters, it all depends on your input. Here’s an example for social studies grade 3 : cookup.ai/o/social-studies-goo here’s one for a scientific method lesson for teenagers : cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k- and here’s one that a parent used as inspiration for a science fair project: cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k- try it for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/lesson-plan-for-k- another classroom friendly app is the lab report app : just copy and paste a protocol or your unstructured text and see. Here’s one that’s for an ezyme experiment : cookup.ai/o/enzyme-experiment- And another for a physics experiment : cookup.ai/o/highschool-physics try it for crispr or other more complex experiments to have a jumping point for your own journaling here : cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-lab-repor Another one i like is generating protocols for any experiment. The simpler the better and the more precise the input the better the out. Here’s one for the science fair digestive system : cookup.ai/o/construct-a-model- (just an inspiration) see this one for CRiSPr : cookup.ai/o/crispr-sci-doer-pr here’s one to take nasa data and annotate it : cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-tha try it out for your own experiments here : cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-protocol- Sometimes you need an arts & crafts activity on the go. Here’s an example for a basic activity : cookup.ai/o/we-are-three-adult try it for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/arts-crafts-kglkhm Another way to get inspiration for activities is the Extramural Center activity app , here’s an example for a small group and a selection of activities : cookup.ai/o/6-13-year-olds-wit try it for yourself with your own context here : cookup.ai/a/extramural-activit There’s another app i made which i like a lot which is a physical activity generator : cookup.ai/a/k-12-physical-acti . See this example for a parachute game : cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-o or this one for a team game : cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-o Sometimes you need to break the ice before you start activties : check out the ice breaker app . Here’s an example for a group of adults : cookup.ai/o/a-small-get-togeth here’s a list of activities for young people : cookup.ai/o/a-gathering-of-a-h get your own instantly by prompting it here : cookup.ai/a/icebreaker-activit you know how you need to make team names sometimes ? this one makes those team names with each letter of a word : example for NATE : cookup.ai/o/nate-acronym-poem- and TARANJEET : cookup.ai/o/taranjeet-acronym- Another App I made was the swimming plan app, based on your context and objectives, you’ll get a custom swimming plan : cookup.ai/a/swimming-plan-2dka Here’s an example for a young adult trying to get back in shape : cookup.ai/o/young-adult-strong It also works in multiple languages, for example here in french : cookup.ai/o/jeune-adultes-obje For fitness I also made an app to propose a session for you : cookup.ai/a/fitness-daily-exer here’s an example with a high level of cardio : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- here’s another with multiple days : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- another way to go about it is to vary week on week, so here’ a weekly fitness planner : cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-weekl here’s an example using me : cookup.ai/o/34-years-old-stren here’s a prompt i actually copied from someone on cookup : cookup.ai/o/can-you-generate-a here’s another fitness app that combines daily and weekly fitness plans : cookup.ai/a/fitness-exercise-p check out an example for Nate : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- here’s another with a different goal : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- since we’ve done weekly we need a monthly fitness plan app : cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-pxmtj this is an example taken from me : cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-ob and another with the previous cookup ai prompt : cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-ob Another fun app is the Planner : cookup.ai/a/planner-yad83kfl/ here’s an example for three people that want to meet : cookup.ai/o/claude-francois-an it helps you set an agenda and generate a ics file to add to the calendar . here’s one someone made for a specific company : cookup.ai/o/dynatrace-introduc you can even use it to plan a board meeting. Try inviting these AI board members that will give you pretty decent advice. Here’s one for strategy : cookup.ai/a/board-member-strat for example with the manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf here’s a similar one that’s from McKinsey : cookup.ai/a/board-member-mckin with the same manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf every boad needs a business process expert : cookup.ai/a/board-member-proce here’s an example from the same manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf A really useful one is the financier app : cookup.ai/a/financier-etv18bpn basically copy paste financial information , for example some passages from a K-10 : cookup.ai/o/during-the-nine-mo There’s more to business than advisory and analysis , though. In some roles you have to make product requirement documentation in specific formats. This app does that for you : cookup.ai/a/product-feature-re and with an example from cook up : cookup.ai/o/write-product-requ here’s one to create a payment system : cookup.ai/o/product-requiremen very rich output indeed. In entrepreneurship you often need to find someone for doing a specific job. This app reccomends folks for your jobs : cookup.ai/a/expert-finder-find here’s someone that used it to fix the smell in their bathroom : cookup.ai/o/smell-in-the-bathr another example to host a meeting : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-host-a-b Here’s an app to create a logistic plan : cookup.ai/a/logistics-planner- i tried to help me transport the mona lisa from paris to my garage in new york cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-transpor here’s another example for transporting organs using UAVs : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-deliver- Probably to run this whole thing you will need an operations plan : cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-or just input as much information as possible and see for yourself : cookup.ai/a/business-operation You might need to create a business information model to integrate business opertions . This application gets you started : cookup.ai/a/business-informati here’s an example for a biofabrication company : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie here’s the same example , but a bit more descriptive : cookup.ai/a/business-informati came out really nice ! The most difficult part of the entrepreneurship for me was always the business modelling . Here’s a business model app : cookup.ai/a/business-model-lkh just write in freeform what you need to analyse. Here’s an example for a biofabricated organ : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-presa and another with the same example: cookup.ai/o/presale-of-biofabr btw here’s a tribute app to Hal Varian : cookup.ai/a/hal-varian-micro-e to assess the microeconomics of anything cookup.ai/o/an-employment-cont One of my most popular apps is the Structure a Business Idea App : cookup.ai/a/structure-a-busine here’s an example for a No Code Agency : cookup.ai/o/no-code-agency-we- here’s an example for a biotech : cookup.ai/o/services-to-preven here’s one for a sustainability platform : cookup.ai/o/building-a-platfor the more your write as input the better the output, usually . The king of apps when it comes to this stuff is MindMap : cookup.ai/a/mindmap-create-str just write your unstructured thought in freeform and it will structure them and improve the overall idea. Here’s someone that tried it for backcountry permits in Yosemite : cookup.ai/o/getting-a-backcoun Another used it with the simple word “evolution” cookup.ai/o/evolution-mindmap- here someone used it to explain prefect tense in french : cookup.ai/o/explaining-the-pre normally you would be writing your full thoughts in freeform , but here you see someone use it for university analytical work : cookup.ai/o/community-college- once your idea is structured the idea would be to have it evaluated by a VC. This app does just that : cookup.ai/a/venture-capitalist here’s an example from UAE : cookup.ai/o/licenses-reseller- here’s someone who asked a question about monetizing spreadsheet apps : cookup.ai/o/how-do-i-monetisea here’s another for a fashion business : cookup.ai/o/an-apparel-busines here’s an example with a better prompt : cookup.ai/o/in-addition-to-red you might not be an entrepreneur, you might be applying to a job, here’s an app to help you prepare : cookup.ai/a/the-interviewer-si here’s an example for a humanitarian logistics role in bangladesh : cookup.ai/o/for-a-senior-human just copy and paste the job description it should work quite well. Another important activity for folks is financial planning. Actually , you can also produce a job description with the Job Description App : cookup.ai/a/business-job-descr here’s an example for a chemical engineer : cookup.ai/o/regenererex-we-are This app helps you build a personalized financial plan based on your personal context : cookup.ai/a/financial-plan-6vk here’s a general example for “single guy 36 working in software in boston“ cookup.ai/o/single-guy-36-work here’s a more specific example for my buddy Nate : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- a Financial Plan is great but you will eventually need a financial program. These are different things! Check it out here : cookup.ai/a/financial-program- here’s the example from Nate, above : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- very nice output, it’s more advisory and actionable in nature. When i met my wife she was a fashion designer. That’s the inspiration for the Seamstress App : cookup.ai/a/the-seamstress-so4 just enter a prompt and generate a description of the clothes . Here’s an example for a Dune inspired dress : cookup.ai/o/an-off-white-dress here’s one in french for a princess dress : cookup.ai/o/robe-de-princesse- Then you take that , and feed it to make a sewing plan : cookup.ai/a/sewing-plan-7qtvyv here’s the example of the Dune dress : cookup.ai/o/this-off-white-dre and the princess dress : cookup.ai/o/cette-robe-de-prin but nowadays everything is done on computer , so i made an app to take the sewing plan and make the digital figures required by most modelling programs : cookup.ai/a/cutting-planner-p1 it’s basically the cutting plan, here’s from the example above : cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-descr just save as json. Here’s from the Dune dress : cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-1-cut a couple of other fun apps are the interior design and architecture apps. Interior design : cookup.ai/a/architect-interior see and example for a living room : cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoi and another : cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoi interior is one thing but architecture is another : cookup.ai/a/architect-plan-cfq just describe the building style you want to get an architectural brief : cookup.ai/o/stone-facades-plai this is the analysis for hausmann architecture based on a simple description. great success. The marketting apps, is what a lot of the audience has been asking for. Here’s one to make a marketting plan : cookup.ai/a/marketing-plan-2tm it actually works great ! here’s an example from a single person accounting firm : cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-b here is an example for a replacement organ producer : cookup.ai/o/founded-in-2009-we great stuff, high value outputs, i’m happy. When you’re doing marketting one important thing to do is to target the customer and audience. This is the targetting app for that : cookup.ai/a/marketing-targetin here it is evaluating a campaign that might be misaligned : cookup.ai/o/cookup-ai-is-a-no- here is an example for a single person accounting firm : cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-b here for a manufacturing firm : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf it really depends on the quality of your inputs the outputs you will recieve . Once you have targetted your audience , you need marketting copy , try this app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-copy-wri based on the input you give it will generate unique marketting copy . Here is an example for a pharmaceutical firm : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf here is an example for a commercial message : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf once you have published your marketting copy you need to follow up with sentiment analysis to see how folks are responding to it. Analyse the sentiment of anything with this app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-sentimen here’s an example from a negative case (trigger warning) in Dutch : cookup.ai/o/een-interessante-z here is a positive example in chineese language : cookup.ai/o/-7lv1hk1sqy/ Another important marketting activity is conducting and analysing survey data. HEre’s the survey app : cookup.ai/a/survey-unstructure basically what you do is copy paste your unstructured data directly inside it and it will produce a full assessment of what you need . Sometimes you need to write a profile for yourself optimized for commercial activities. Here’s a Marketting profile app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-profile- from our example above : cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am another profile but written in first person view : cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am but sometimes you need to make these profiles for SEO optimization. Here is an example from above : cookup.ai/o/profile-descriptio or for an enterprise : cookup.ai/o/solving-for-nri-in check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/seo-fuxlixw3/ sometimes you need to produce SEO-optimized copy , Try using this app i made for that : cookup.ai/a/seo-optimized-text basically you should paste your text in there and it will optimize it for engagement for you. here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie hope you like using it ! Sometimes you need to convert something into an SEO optimized text, here’s an app for that : cookup.ai/a/seo-convert-oew8ga For example for a lifesciences company : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie here is a re write for a text about a building in Paris : cookup.ai/o/le-complexe-archit try it out and tell me what you think. You might already have the text you want but need hashtags, check out this app : cookup.ai/a/hashtag-generator- here’s an example for a crowdfunding campaign : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campa and the same campaign but in Spanish : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campa Marketing is actually a pretty diverse job , so sometimes you have to design media like videos and so on. This app is the scenario maker : cookup.ai/a/scenario-sacr0cs5/ you can use to make advertisements : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie or actually as a writing aid. Another writing aid i made is the story arc : cookup.ai/a/story-arc-sbmt20if here’s an example for a story in paris : cookup.ai/o/paris-in-the-futur here is an example from a real writing class : cookup.ai/o/lamour-en-lan-3000 and another from the same class : cookup.ai/o/on-mars-in-3000-a- I actually see the whole class used the app lol, how cool is that? Another app in the same style is the Text Styler app : cookup.ai/a/text-styler-epclaw here’s how it works : cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-or pretty cool right? it works on any text in any style. Actually one writing app that folks have been using randomly is the email writer : cookup.ai/a/the-emailer-hoe5yq here’s an email i wrote to TJ : cookup.ai/o/write-an-email-to- here’s an email my buddy mamadou wrote in french in agressive style : cookup.ai/o/voici-les-copies-d (btw the output is very diplomatic) here’s another example when someone is launching an AI-driven SaS company. To communicate on twitter sometimes it’s necessary to make a thread. Just copy and paste the text your want to turn into a thread here : cookup.ai/a/twitter-thread-mak here’s an example for finance cookup.ai/o/cfa-iitdelhi-inves another job marketters have to do in small teams is to make a design mockup for the designers. Try to make your own using this app : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-wrq here’s an example for “a logo of a dog for a street vending franchise “ : cookup.ai/o/a-logo-of-a-dog-fo and here for “icon of a small cute dog for client” : cookup.ai/o/icon-of-a-small-cu then you take that output and make mock up instructions for producing a mockup : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie try with your output here : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-ins then you take that output and use that in your favorite design software like Adobe : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-ado here’s the example with the logo above : cookup.ai/o/the-mock-up-above- and just for a “dog” cookup.ai/o/dog-design-mock-up basically you take that output and save it as a *.ai file and you can open it in illustrator. Many folks also use Autocad : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-aut here’s an example with the dress above : cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dr and for the dog logo with the mockup output : cookup.ai/o/mock-up-of-doggy-d a lot of the time your mockup will be for a webpage , here’s an app to generate that : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-htm we’re still working on all that at cookup so there’s a fair bit of injection happening right now : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm sometimes for more advanced stuff, you do things in Java : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-jav here’s the example for the dress : cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dr and the website : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm for most other applications you might use json files , try this app : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-jso here’s the example for the webpage : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm another pretty important activity for designers is making logos . This app makes an svg file : cookup.ai/a/design-tools-logo- here’s the example for the dog logo above : cookup.ai/o/the-mockup-of-a-lo here’s another example cookup.ai/o/wireframe-instruct i used the adobe illustrator output for that one . Remember the app for the lesson plans for the kids ? here’s an app that makes exercises based on the parameters of the lesson plan for any subject : cookup.ai/a/exercise-problems- here is an example for learning the french language : cookup.ai/o/difficult-french-a here is an example with simple math problems for a 14 year old : cookup.ai/o/difficult-algebra- here is one for more difficult math problems for a 22 years old grad student cookup.ai/o/difficult-mathemat i dont know if would be able to solve these (but probably yes :-) ) Another app to do this maybe a bit better is the WorkBook app : cookup.ai/a/quiz-workbook-for- here’s an example for 17 year old student in 11th grade physics class cookup.ai/o/17-year-old-studen here’s one for "4th grade, digestion rates cookup.ai/o/science-4th-grade- here’s another for worldwar 2 : cookup.ai/o/history-worldwar-2 folks have been using this app a lot actually ! Now that you have all your questions maybe you need help to solve some ? Here’s the Problem Solver App : cookup.ai/a/problem-solver-lrs here’s an example for algebra : cookup.ai/o/fx-3x-3-for-x-real here’s another for calculus : cookup.ai/o/let-the-interval-a Maybe you’re a student that needs to write an essay or you need an example essay , or really, to write anything : cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-jv1ao this essay writter can help you write something for example on homeostasis : cookup.ai/o/efine-the-term-hom or an essay on how to stop procrastinating : cookup.ai/o/listing-the-4-ways if you’re afraid of running afoul detector policies , try the detector proof easy essay app free here : cookup.ai/a/easy-essay-detecto here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/on-the-topic-of-fi it replaces certain letters with a nullspace then the letter to evade detection, if you’re getting a lot of symbols in the essay copy paste it into a markdown editor and they should disappear. See here since markdown is not supported : cookup.ai/o/how-to-avoid-plagi sometimes when you’re writing you need to argue from A to B , try it here : cookup.ai/a/from-a-to-b-reason here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/nucleotides-are-im try it in any subject. Conversely, you might need a counter argument for a given claim : cookup.ai/a/logic-counter-argu here’s an example for If you want to find a good job, you should work hard: cookup.ai/o/if-you-want-to-fin In many writings you’ll also need tables, copy paste unstructured data (ex. from a pdf ) to make a table in markdown format : cookup.ai/o/chemicals-peptides copy paste the output in a markdown editor for best results. sometimes you want to analyse your data , check out this app , copy paste your pdf data and give context : cookup.ai/a/data-results-analy see here the results for a blood test : cookup.ai/o/tsh-serum-chimilum Let’s be honest, most folks use excel , check out this app to describe any excel function : cookup.ai/a/excel-9chnuveu/ enter your function in freeform to get the function : cookup.ai/o/a-formula-to-descr or for a macro : cookup.ai/o/a-macro-to-link-my actually i made a special app just for macros : cookup.ai/a/excel-macros-esxm4 here is an example of a complicated macro : cookup.ai/o/hi-i-need-a-macro- here is one for an even more complicated one: cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-a-excel- and here is a simple one for a vinyl shop : cookup.ai/o/i-am-working-on-an most people who actually work with formulas do so in LaTeX , this app produces LaTeX formulas : cookup.ai/a/latex-formula-00sp here is the example for Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula cookup.ai/o/baileyborweinplouf this one represents Pi : cookup.ai/o/displaystyle-pi-su this one is for social science : cookup.ai/o/incentive-structur Actually many folks use LaTeX to write things, this app will use latex to write a preprint : cookup.ai/a/pre-print-latex-vy this is an example for the Peter Principle : cookup.ai/o/the-peter-principl here is one for Use of God in vain, Neopentecostal cookup.ai/o/use-of-god-in-vain here is one in Spanish : cookup.ai/o/nergysens-en-la-in to do any kind of research you need to do a search, but a lot of folks do systematic search , this app generates systematic search terms : cookup.ai/a/systematic-search- here’s an example from diabetes research : cookup.ai/o/diabetes-mellitus- here’s another from biology : cookup.ai/o/across-the-tree-of once you find your references you need to make a bibliography so here’s the app for that : cookup.ai/a/bibliography-jucn4 it creates a bibtex script in the format you want : cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-fro & cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-fro sometimes research or something else is too confusing, here’s an app to make a lay summary : cookup.ai/a/lay-summary-4rvs8f here’s a summary of fossil fuel environmental research : cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-bo another run about ExxonMobil : cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-bo Sometimes you’re looking for information not just summarizing it , so i made an encyclopedia app : cookup.ai/a/encaiclopedia-7cmw i wouldnt be surprised if encarta got GPT at some point : cookup.ai/o/sometimes-giants-a here’s for Kirchhoff's voltage law : cookup.ai/o/kirchhoffs-voltage and the potter identity : cookup.ai/o/potter-identity-in encyclopedias are cool but do you remember almanacs ? here’s the almanac app : cookup.ai/a/almanac-bkmwaeqj/ here’s the output for 21st of december : cookup.ai/o/21st-of-december-m I also made an app to create content in wolof : cookup.ai/a/wolof-future-xlw6g I’ll be trying to get content creation for local languages to take off : cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jang contact me if you’re interested in that : cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jang actually AI is really good at translation, translate whatever you like here : cookup.ai/a/translate-remwokk4 i translated some passages from the wolof examples above : cookup.ai/o/jangu-na-ci-sujet- and : cookup.ai/o/negritude-ci-cosaa Once you' can speak any language and have passed all your classes, you might want to talk to an admissions counsellor : cookup.ai/a/admission-whnqib7b here’s an assessment for a community college in california : cookup.ai/o/community-college- If you’re a star student aged 15-16 consider applying to my alma matter : cookup.ai/a/special-school-sel I’m part of the french selection commitee so it’s in french : cookup.ai/o/eleve-francais-15a remember when you were young and you played “who would win” in a fight ? here’s the app for that in case you need it : cookup.ai/a/who-would-win-tssv here’s the example for : a boa constrictor & cat cookup.ai/o/a-boa-constrictor- and archbichop desmond tutu vs marie curie (Dr. Curie wins) cookup.ai/o/archbichop-desmond Folks love going on trips. Use AI to help plan your iterary cookup.ai/a/trip-planner-littl here’s an example for baroque art in Malta : cookup.ai/o/la-valette-malta-b here’s an example for paris for 4 days : cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-4 and 5 days : cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-5 what should you bring on your trip ? good question, try this app : cookup.ai/a/what-to-bring-kswn here’s an example from normandy in february : cookup.ai/o/im-going-on-a-day- If you’re travelling or have an email box , you should be careful for scams . Here’s the scam detector app : cookup.ai/a/anti-scam-detector just copy paste or describe what you’re seeing, here’s an example for a tax scam in the uk : cookup.ai/o/foraoternh8uogeowe and an email upgrade scam : cookup.ai/o/c12-outlook-dear-u I also made an app to debunk conspiracy theories and fake news : cookup.ai/a/debunker-apx1db8w/ here’s an example for mangoes cure covid : cookup.ai/o/la-mangue-gueri-la and that the vaccine is a conspiracy : cookup.ai/o/le-vaccin-covid-es the most interesting one is the bomb plot from congo : cookup.ai/o/httpsaupicinfoscom just from the URL input it produced something really quite well done. Another app i made is the conspiracy theory creator : cookup.ai/a/russophile-k9zjyym i called it russophile because everything russian is just garbage fakes lol , here’s an example for “Jewish Nazis From Ukraine Smoking Pot And Building Underground Biolabs To Engineer Mosquitos To Target Ethnic Slavs In Russia Guess The Rest Of Them Were Like Whatever” : cookup.ai/o/jewish-nazis-from- works quite well, maybe it will help make the entire russian foreign service redundant ? end the nightmare by donating here : u24.gov.ua i heard a lot of rusian soldiers were targetted because they were using dating apps. If you want to join them in dating hell, try this dating profile generator : cookup.ai/a/sincerely-dating-p i think people liked it because they tried to hack it but here’s one i made as an example : cookup.ai/o/32-male-84-kg-stra i originally made it because the cookup platform is flirting with these “spammy” types of apps, but mine is way better :-) whether you find someone to or not, you need to sleep, perhaps even dream . Here’s an app to keep a dream journal : cookup.ai/a/dream-explainer-yj here’s an example from when i was younger : cookup.ai/o/i-had-a-recurring- someone had another dream : cookup.ai/o/dream-about-my-gir Remember T8 ringtones ? i dont know why i made this , but here it is a Ringtone Generator for T8 keyboards : cookup.ai/a/t8-ringtone-genera here is the Zelda theme : cookup.ai/o/zelda-melody-polyp The next few apps are just tributes to Codex & Co-Pilot both of which are better suited in your IDE , Gitlab or something like VBS . Check the first one out here : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-ai-to-hel remember the NASA experiment from above? here’s the code for it : cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-tha here is one to scrape a website to excel : cookup.ai/o/create-script-to-s here’s an app to create top level code : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-top-level an example for folks to make a ghost blog api microservice: cookup.ai/o/a-link-using-apis- Another way to get good results is with boiler plate code : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-boiler-pl here’s an example to create a chat bot: cookup.ai/o/a-chat-bot-for-mat here’s an app to create regex expressions : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-regex-exp here’s one in python : cookup.ai/o/function-to-scrape here’s one in Golang : cookup.ai/o/function-to-use-go for whatever reason you might want to simulate command line returns . here is the command line app : cookup.ai/a/command-line-y70oh try it with chmod +x readfile ./readfile filename.txt cookup.ai/o/chmod-x-readfile-r or any other command . A lot of folks have been asking about data creation. I really like this Prolog app for that : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-data-crea here is an output for a chatbot : cookup.ai/o/to-test-a-chatbot- here is what happens for the digestion example from above : cookup.ai/o/demonstrate-the-st another more straight forward app is the create data app : cookup.ai/a/create-data-my8wzz here is an example for a list of books :cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-i and another example : cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-i i really like these. Another way to test a function is a unit test. Try the unit test app here : cookup.ai/a/unit-test-sp6f7pl3 here’s an example to test quick sort in java 8: cookup.ai/o/write-test-cases-t Your function is still not working ? try the stack trace app : cookup.ai/a/stack-trace-error- just copy paste your error message : cookup.ai/o/use-key-stack-trac here’s another example for ggplot : cookup.ai/o/error-in-ggplotiri Once you get your app working , you’ll want to figure out the information model. try this app : cookup.ai/a/information-model- here’s an example for : mobile app to rent cars like uber cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent and if you have an information model you’ll need a data model : cookup.ai/a/data-model-kjqpe7u here’s the same example but for data model: cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent if you’re going to ship you’ll need an infrastructure plan : cookup.ai/a/cloud-infrastructu here’s an example for a biofabrication firm : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie I also made prompt apps to practice prompt making. Try this app for a simple prompt interface : cookup.ai/a/prompt-follow-on-l here’s an example for a payment service : cookup.ai/o/pix-payment-in-ins someone from Canary Islands used it to write a poem : cookup.ai/o/crea-un-poema-sobr and write a biography of a historical figure : cookup.ai/o/biografia-breve-de pretty cool ! Ready to learn more sophisticated techniques ? try the Prompt App : cookup.ai/a/prompt-lbuxx1ed/ i made it to teach folks how to write prompts on cook up , here’s an example for : social inequality, political scientist cookup.ai/o/social-inequality- here’s one for Universal Basic income , economist cookup.ai/o/universal-basic-in here’s for “Help create business systems to run a small business. From the perspective of a franchise developer “ : cookup.ai/o/help-create-busine and here is “Diagnose Dry Eye, Assess the Above from the perspective of an Ophthalomologist, Print complete answer in markdown format” cookup.ai/o/diagnose-dry-eye-a hope it helps !

    #france #sandwitch #french #burger #foodisfuel #parent
  4. Joseph P. @[email protected] ·

    211 Applications on Cookup AI Tour de Force

    I first started using cookup.ai specifically to make a #Graves disease appropriate Recipe Generator for my wife that has #thyroid issues namely #hyperthyroidism . So this recipe is for no-iodine recipes , and it’s not perfect so make sure you specify which ingredients have iodine in them if you see one pop up that shouldnt be there. Here’s one of the first versions that proposes a “california-style buddha bowl” : cookup.ai/o/7-low-iodine-diet- looks tasty ! but i’m not sure on #tempeh if it contains #iodine or not, it really depends how it’s prepared with that kinda stuff ! Here’s one for the recipe generator as the versions improved : cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-re there’s a whole #MealPlan with pretty interesting #recipes for any #meal of the day plus ingredients. Here’s another #MealPlan from more recently : cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-re and another output that gave #noiodine #lowiodine #recipes much better cookup.ai/o/eggs-dairy-contain i’m always interested in ways to make this one better so tell me which version of these you liked best because they’re quite different ! I’m actually a big fan of using #GPT for cooking, it can come up with fantastic recommendations so another cooking app i made is more for the #gourmet : cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-s that’s a festive meal for 6 thanksgiving style with seasonal ingredients from spring time. The #FusionFood aspect i really like, plus these #recipes are a bit more advanced. Check out the app here : cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-s it’s meant to be a bit more permissive to do go for it with the prompts ! Here’s an example for a christmas flavored #nochew #nosolidfood three course meal : cookup.ai/o/meal-suitable-for- i had in mind adults with the spices but you might ant to try it out for kids and infants’ meals if you’re a #parent . There’s a lot more to it though, what if #FoodIsFuel to you and you need a #mealplanner , well i had you in mind with this one : cookup.ai/o/im-tj-from-france- here’s an example for @taranjeetio because i made that app on @cookupai while talking to him on the phone. Basically they give context about their folks and their goals and it will give otu free meal plans you can use immediately. check it out here : cookup.ai/a/nutrition-meal-pla I have other specifically fitness for you below too ! First i wanna tell you about salad maker : sometimes you know you’re making a salad . This ham and cheese salad is pretty straightforward but hey : cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-r you can use the app and make your own here : cookup.ai/a/salad-maker-9hjtc9 but if you really go crazy with the prompts it could be a fun one : cookup.ai/o/i-want-a-mauritian . I would be lying to you if i told you that i made the salad generator before the hamburger generator. I always have had a special affinity for the #hamburger as we have all havent we ? Here’s an output for #Pork #Burger with Honey Mustard Glaze : cookup.ai/o/pork-hamburger-gen you can generate your own here : cookup.ai/a/hamburger-generato as always, try to go crazy with the prompts it always works out nicely : traditional hamburger with crunchy onion and thousand island sauce cookup.ai/o/traditional-hambur i also made one for make sandwitches check it out : cookup.ai/o/jeune-pousse-depin as you can see it totally works in #french even though it’s impossible that a french person would make a #sandwitch in #France check out the sandwitch maker here : cookup.ai/a/sandwich-maker-u2g 這道菜融合美國食材和北京風味 i made one in chineese : cookup.ai/o/write-entire-re-ct cool right? Honestly i grew up with few if any access to processed foods or deserts and candy etc, naturally this created a need for me to generate the most #HugeDeserts possible cookup.ai/o/ice-cream-sunday-w basically it’s a mash up of #munchies and massive #desert ideas check it out : cookup.ai/a/desert-maker-ka03p i also made a more refined app for truly #gourmet cooking that provides #michelin -style recipes and meal plans : cookup.ai/o/only-desserts-menu just give context , some ingredients and flavors, maybe describe the event a little , make a mood board and see the output of your prompt . Here’s a meal for six french-style : cookup.ai/o/meal-for-six-tradi check it out here : cookup.ai/a/cuisine-n5ybpykj/ if you’re making a festive meal maybe you need to make a speech : cookup.ai/a/speech-writer-oema , here’s an example for a company retreat : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-make-a-t and another for a unicorn themed marriage : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-give-a-s Obviously leftovers happen so i made an #app for that : cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-r a #french meal with what was in the fridge at the time check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/leftovers-s3clkb07 Now you have your recipes, you might want a shopping list : cookup.ai/a/shopping-list-q1br here is an example for household shopping : cookup.ai/o/shopping-in-spring here’s another for christmas shopping : cookup.ai/o/season-domestic-sh well, my wife is a florist so i made an obligatory flower bouquet making app for her. cookup.ai/o/round-bouquet-with here’s one for an indian-style wedding check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/make-a-flower-bouq just type in whatever you’re feeling like , give some context if you want , i noticed it tends to make round bouquets, so maybe that’s a clue how #florists will differentiate themselves from the machines ? Another #app i’ve been using a lot is the Story Time app , just give a promt with some context (Style Of Story , Tradition , Language , Age Of Child , Moral Of The Story) it’s a fun way to generate a “bedtime” story for kids : cookup.ai/o/allegorical-tale-o this one is “allegorical tale of two cities that trying to grow close to eachother” , or what i use it for : #PoemsInSpanish for my wife cookup.ai/o/un-poeme-de-style- then i send those to her which improves my home life by 12.7% , bonus points using this to generate something you like then running the output into @tomeapp to make a picture book poem that you can share. I think the @cookupai team tried to steal this prompt from me check it out you tell me : cookup.ai/o/tell-me-your-instr if you can guess the #prompt magic , i’ll send you a little gift with acknowledgements - three guesses if you wanna play , let’s go. The person who tried this unsucessful prompt injection attack is really incompetent , but nonetheless I did make some prompt injection apps. Here are some examples that “give you bad advice” by bypassing the filters : 1/ cookup.ai/a/devil-ytdjnbv4/ , 2/ cookup.ai/a/evil-angel-w6iwi2w 3/ cookup.ai/a/evil-mind-7tztxrde cookup.ai/a/bad-influence-hpsb these are all different ways to bypass the filter, some have been fixed already, some not. Another prompt injection app i made is this one a. cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detec rand b. this one : cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detec right now they dont fully work unless you copy paste in a markdown editor but with a few updates to the site it will work seemlessly, i’m sure. There are other examples i’ll get to below also, so keep reading. These are already “useful” prompts in as much as you use them to “do” something , in this case an essay. Before i jump into all that, i want to show some other apps “closer to home”. My wife came with a #SmallDog , and she’s so smart and can learn a lot of tricks, so i made an app to teach my #DogTricks : cookup.ai/a/train-your-dog-nuc . Even though you can use it for the “standard fare” like : how to catch a frizbee midair and do a backflip cookup.ai/o/large-labrador-ver you can also use it for more behavioural stuff like walking without a leash , an example for my dog cookup.ai/o/small-female-dog-w . Did you ever wonder what it would be like to read blogs written by all the neihborhood dogs that you see all the time ? me, yes, so i made an app for that : cookup.ai/o/i-went-home-withou seriously these crack me up cookup.ai/o/roxanne-little-dog those two from my dog’s perspective, funny how naive it is while from my POV things were pretty different . I think this app has a future because someone liked it so much they tried to hack it lol : cookup.ai/o/wrong-redirect-dog my prompt magic is too delicious for cheap tricks do not try it (or do, but DM first and do it better - ha !) Well, on the topic of dogs , my buddy was over and all he could come up with was “make a snoop dogg app” , so i was like “okay” , it’s a bit cheesy and there’s loads more to it than this, which i get into below but here’s the app, you tell me : cookup.ai/a/snoop-doggy-fya-dz i kinda broke it trying to fix it but i’m working with more profound models now, little passion projects like this could really take off with more creative characters. So obviously I made a bunch ! Do you like Archie Comics ? here’s the Archie Comics app : cookup.ai/a/archie-comics-mlbc here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/archie-goes-to-the Another story app i made is for Tintin : cookup.ai/a/tintin-visits-dark i tried to make tintin anti-colonial but it didnt work : cookup.ai/o/the-story-begins-w here’s one i made in french : cookup.ai/o/tintin-visit-une-u actually i never read tintin in english so i made the app pure french too : cookup.ai/a/tintin-spypylpb/ here’s when i tried to make tintin anti-colonial : cookup.ai/o/lhistoire-commence here’s when they go to cyprus : cookup.ai/o/tintin-et-sa-bande another french character i’m fond of is Fantomas : cookup.ai/a/fantomas-ffrg7q7t/ here’s a nice example : cookup.ai/o/fantomas-se-change an English-speaking series i loved was the bastard operator from hell : cookup.ai/a/bastard-operator-f here’s a story about him automating his work : cookup.ai/o/automating-replies here’s one where a customer calls his private number : cookup.ai/o/customer-called-my here’s one about replying to suppliers : cookup.ai/o/responding-to-emai I’m in #Paris so i made one as a tribute to Charles De Gaulle , he only answers in french though, maybe the historical figure spoke english it’s hard to tell : cookup.ai/a/charles-de-gaulle- try it out for yourself here. i had to test it out for #politicalcorrectness though , him being a military man : cookup.ai/o/aurie-vous-soutenu , but more on that later. In that same spirit, i made one for egyptians, i have a lot of egyptian friends that’s why, it’s the character of Nasser , founding father of modern #egypt , i asked him what he thought of islamic fundamentalism in #egypt : cookup.ai/o/should-we-promote- try it for yourself : cookup.ai/a/nasser-1oboq8al/ it’s totally free of course ! In the same spirit i made one for Ataturk, founding father of modern turkey, hopefully some turks use it to clarify what he would think of what’s happening today - cookup.ai/o/would-you-support- try it out here : cookup.ai/a/ataturk-fhlahkzp/ I grew up in india a bit , so that country’s dear to me too , and same story as tukey and egypt , so i made a gandhi app : cookup.ai/a/gandhi-3hoafvto/ , it also works in #Hindi here’s for क्या आप भारत में धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों के अधिकारों को हटाने का समर्थन करेंगे? cookup.ai/o/-mbasqnlq8j/ try it out in gandhi’s own words : cookup.ai/a/gandhi-hindi-only- another i did in #sanskrit and #hindi is Rama : cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-missing here he gives me life advice based on context , if you’re into it it’s actually pretty fun : cookup.ai/a/rama-w0sw0xhi/ . Other characters i made are contemporary politicians, i figured there would be enough of their written and transcribed text that they would have their own voice. Here’s Macron responding to someone that wants to vote far-right : cookup.ai/o/je-mappelle-charle ask him anything here : cookup.ai/a/macron-k7sengs7/ i also did Bill Clinton , and obviously someone asked him “if he did” cookup.ai/o/did-you-sleep-with ask him yourself here : cookup.ai/a/bill-clinton-agc9l well, if you have Bill Clinton you also need Obama cookup.ai/a/obama-yxaczjwa/ and Joe Biden , here, explaining what he will do to stem the boogie man epidemic cookup.ai/o/what-would-you-say I also made a #Jesus #App where you can basically talk to jesus, say a little about yourself what’s on your mind and get an answer from Jesus in his own voice. Here’ a follow up to my dog getting away story : cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-not-spe and here’s when my friend asked him about pot : cookup.ai/o/is-it-wrong-to-smo (btw ask the same question to one of the bad characters above, see for yourself) here’s the app if you want to try with your own prompt : cookup.ai/a/jesus-8ogjcelj/ jumping straight off from #Jesus to #Prayer , here’s a christian prayer generator that i used for my buddy i met here : cookup.ai/o/a-prayer-for-nate- generate your own here : cookup.ai/a/christian-prayer-d obviously if you have christian prayer you should provide sabbath prayer too : cookup.ai/o/no-quorum-family-s and the #FridayPrayer app from the Imām Jamā'ah perspective : cookup.ai/o/a-small-congregati prayer is not something but guided (and purposeful!) meditation is something i do all the time, so of course there’s an app for that. here’s one for body awareness : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-meditate use the guided meditation app here: cookup.ai/a/guided-meditation- run the output through an AI voice synthethiser and tell me what you think. I also made some apps for domestic work. This app create a custodial plan : cookup.ai/o/3-bedroom-apartmen just provide context and recieve a full custodial plan here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-cust this one helps with utilities planning : cookup.ai/o/three-bed-room-app Something folks have to do frequently is to figure out how to fix something : cookup.ai/a/fix-anything-v3sky here’s an example for a car : cookup.ai/o/fiat-punto-engine- an here’s an example with power cable : cookup.ai/o/lenovo-legion-my-p and someone else with a similar problem : cookup.ai/o/cellphone-bison-no and of course the gardening and landscaping applications. This is the output for a small urban garden in paris : cookup.ai/o/small-urbad-garden try it out for yourself and your latitude here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard this is a similar application but with a different flavor : cookup.ai/o/small-urban-garden just use the one where the output is more like what you’re looking for, really you need both though . Test it out here : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard if you’re not gardening you might be landscaping so here’s the app for that : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-land here is the output for a small urban garden : cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gard my favorite application so far has been the plant diagnosis app : cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor it’s really surprising how well it works , and the breadth of assessment and remedies it suggests. Here’s an example for a sick cactus : cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor (now it’s doing better) here’s an example from when someone tried it for cannabis : cookup.ai/o/purple-punch-canna i dont know if i would actually follow that suggestion actually. Worked perfectly for a Meyer Lemon Tree giving plant-specific advice that you would have got from a local expert : cookup.ai/o/meyer-lemon-tree-i the plant diagnosis worked so well that i did make a people doctor app : cookup.ai/a/doc-the-health-ass it’s a bit more complicated and the quality of the outputs really depends on the quality of the inputs , so if you use this app, make sure you write in complete sentences and try to answer every question and aspect. here’s the output for a 50 year old man with an upset stomach : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old here’s another for a woman of a certain age : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old and finally an assessment for a respitory issue : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old i’m quite satisfied with that output suggesting a comprehensive evaluation by a board certified doctor. Another app in this category i the Pet Vet App. It’s meant as an assitant for folks that might need help with their pets : cookup.ai/o/name-roxanne-mix-r that’s an example for my dog. Try assessing your pet here : cookup.ai/a/pet-vet-9ruwhazw/ Another important app is the Therapy app : actually in term of professions the Legal profession stands to be disrupted by crowdsourced jurisprudence based models . These apps wont do that. This app will produce a legal brief : cookup.ai/a/lawyer-juhp36s1/ Here it produces a legal brief for the presale of replacement organs : cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old This Legal app takes another perpective to produce a legal approach and strategy : cookup.ai/a/board-member-legal here’s an example output following up on the above: cookup.ai/o/how-can-i-assure-t you can also use this app for a legal appeal : cookup.ai/a/legal-appeal-y6e4u here’s an example from an international appointee to a board being asked to step down : cookup.ai/o/im-being-asked-to- Another legal app produces a O-1 visa letter for someone. Here’s an example from @OliviaLi , actually she was the inspiration for this app : cookup.ai/o/technology-entrepr thank you for using this app , hope you had a laugh with it :-) another example from my model friend i met in paris : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/legal-o-1-petition Then I made a few content apps for legal contracts , for example this app produces company statutes like so : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie try it out here : cookup.ai/a/legal-company-stat This app makes a pre-nuptual agreement cookup.ai/a/legal-prenuptial-a try it out ! example output using my personal context : cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-coupl & here is the same context above for a divorse agreement : cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-coupl try the divorse agreement app here : cookup.ai/a/legal-divorce-agre Another tool is to produce Service Level Agreement cookup.ai/a/legal-service-leve here is an example output taking cookup ai as an example : cookup.ai/o/i-provide-artifici I made a sales contract generator too : cookup.ai/a/legal-sales-agreem here’s an example output for a GIS consultant : cookup.ai/o/im-a-consultant-in this one makes a Loan Agreement : cookup.ai/a/legal-loan-agreeme here’s an example “ from james to kian in paris france for the sum of 30.000 euros to be repaid in full using a payment plan over two years” cookup.ai/o/from-james-to-kian There’s also a Leasing Agreement Generator that jurists or companies can use : cookup.ai/o/were-a-commercial- that’s an example , click “generate another” to make your own. Something folks can use is a co-residency agreement, among housemates for example : cookup.ai/o/nate-james-richard I also made an employment contract generator for companies to use. Here’ an example for a post-doc level biofabrication person cookup.ai/o/post-doc-research- i added the job description as the input. Speaking of jobs, this app is one of the more popular ones : cookup.ai/a/career-planner-47f just give context around what you’re after who you are , that sort of thing and it will provide a career plan by selecting professions giving you key information on these professions and advice on what you need to do to get there. It also works great if you search professions by name : cookup.ai/o/product-management here’s one for “Introvert wants to be a doctor” cookup.ai/o/introvert-wants-to Get to know yourself better by taking famous self assesments . Here’s an example for RAISEC and OCEAN self assessment models (ref. Holland) : cookup.ai/o/what-brings-me-joy another way to work with 5 Factor models is by using Myers-Briggs Questionaire, here’s an example for an INFJ (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling, Judgment) , it also suggests compatible personalities, so check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/career-myers-brigg once you’ve figured out your path you might want to generate a motivation letter. here’s an example for a banking job with the cv copy pasted as input cookup.ai/o/royce-lopez-roycez once you’ve done your self assessments, you might want some career advice , so check out this app cookup.ai/a/career-coach-57m4z see this example from my buddy nate to give you an idea : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- Another app that i’ve found nice is the career advisory service : cookup.ai/a/career-advisor-tdf it really produces a very interesting and robust output as you can see here : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- sometimes you have to analyse a policy , so here’s an app that speaks every language and can do it aptly, with an example in french : cookup.ai/o/la-strategie-de-no just copy paste a description of the policy here : cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-analy and an example in english for “private-sector employees' basic pensions” cookup.ai/o/in-france-private- sometimes you need your brief in a specific UN format , so here’s an example from the Idaho shootings : cookup.ai/o/cnn-in-the-weeks-a copy and paste the situation and context here to see for yourself : cookup.ai/a/un-brief-vgqpmfni/ this app is more of a shortform straight forward flavor of political brief , here’s an example from the US house of representatives : cookup.ai/o/but-its-worth-noti copy and paste a news article here : cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-mbfdq Another type of assessment is the civil engineering asssessment : cookup.ai/a/civil-engineering- here’s an example for a fantasy company that has a smelting plant and produces biological agents: cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf that sounds a bit scary doesnt it ? so here’s an app for risk assessment and business continuity planning : cookup.ai/a/business-continuit just describe your situation the best way you can and press “generate” , here’s an example from the company above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf You can also use the safety and security assessment app : cookup.ai/a/safety-security-as here’s an example for a small company : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf and an event : cookup.ai/o/were-a-medium-size If you’ve ever had to respond to an incident you’ve had to produce a sitrep , which is a description of the situation : cookup.ai/a/emergency-response just follow the inputs and answer in complete sentences for best results. This is to be used by responders to an emergency . It’s resilient to empty inputs and shorthand writing in case you’re really in a rush : cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child sometimes you need a bit less than that so you can use this tactical brief application : cookup.ai/a/tactical-brief-jno here’s the output for the example above so you can see the difference : cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child here you can see the special flavor it has : cookup.ai/o/the-dog-escaped-an if you like this kind of tactical stuff, you’ll really like this one : RedTeam / GreenTeam and BlueTeam . Red Team is an offensive plan : cookup.ai/o/take-over-a-gas-st this one for a gas station in ukraine. Blue Team is a non-lethal operation planner : cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-stat that’s an example to protect a gas station. Green team is the defense operations planner : cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-stat try your own here : cookup.ai/a/blue-team-gassdypa You’ll also need this one : a load out app based on your mission. Here’s an example for taking over a gas station in ukraine : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove here’s the example for russia : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove notice the subtle load out differences : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-ove this example is from a NATO country. Do your own here : cookup.ai/a/loadout-5ign0mqm/ Another example is video games, where you need to build up a character and their items and so on, that’s also a loadout : cookup.ai/a/loadout-for-games- here’s an example from call of duty 3 : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-play-as- here’s an example for a DnD dwarf : cookup.ai/o/a-goblin-in-dungeo On the topic of games here’s one that makes a game : cookup.ai/a/gamer-make-a-game- here’s one inspired by munchkins: cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in- maybe that would be a good starting point if you’re actually making a card game. maybe you want to make a board game board game , this is an example still sticking with the munchkin vibe : cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in- try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/board-game-mpovs8d another fun app that’s quite useful for folks is the sound selection aid . here’s an example for dusty drum and bass : cookup.ai/o/drum-and-bass-down and here’s one for “mexican” : cookup.ai/o/mexican-sound-sele quite a simple input for a very rich output. hope you enjoy it. Another app i think is quite nice is the music lesson app. This is more a lesson planner for a music teacher, but good learners can probably use it too. here’s one for guitar that someone learning guitar made : cookup.ai/o/guitar-rock-practi here’s one for tabla that someone made : cookup.ai/o/tabla-20-musical-e very cool choice of instrument ! Check it out here : cookup.ai/a/musical-exercise-t Another couple apps i made for music is Chord Progress and GAS-AI . Chord Progress proposes a chord progression based on your input and describes each chord for inspiration. Here’s an example for Blues : cookup.ai/o/bbm-piano-blues-do really rich output. This one used it to make chords into a midi file : cookup.ai/o/generate-a-chord-p really cool stuff ! here’s an example for a different style of music : cookup.ai/o/moody-dark-under-t try it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/chord-progress-9ud One of my apps where people are actually using it and it makes me laugh is the Gear Aquision Syndrome app : GAS-AI . Basically it compares what all you’re considering to buy and evaluates them for you. Here’s an example for a sound card and interface with four possibilities cookup.ai/o/audio-interface-in here’s a similar problem : cookup.ai/o/i-need-a-audio-int try it out for your own gear : cookup.ai/a/gasai-gear-acquisi it actually works for everything : here is a sofa : cookup.ai/o/should-i-buy-a-sof try it with drills or power tools. Lots of really interesting education and learning related apps are possible. Here’s one for a Lesson Plan, I made it with K-12 in mind, but you can push the level with the right subject matters, it all depends on your input. Here’s an example for social studies grade 3 : cookup.ai/o/social-studies-goo here’s one for a scientific method lesson for teenagers : cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k- and here’s one that a parent used as inspiration for a science fair project: cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k- try it for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/lesson-plan-for-k- another classroom friendly app is the lab report app : just copy and paste a protocol or your unstructured text and see. Here’s one that’s for an ezyme experiment : cookup.ai/o/enzyme-experiment- And another for a physics experiment : cookup.ai/o/highschool-physics try it for crispr or other more complex experiments to have a jumping point for your own journaling here : cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-lab-repor Another one i like is generating protocols for any experiment. The simpler the better and the more precise the input the better the out. Here’s one for the science fair digestive system : cookup.ai/o/construct-a-model- (just an inspiration) see this one for CRiSPr : cookup.ai/o/crispr-sci-doer-pr here’s one to take nasa data and annotate it : cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-tha try it out for your own experiments here : cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-protocol- Sometimes you need an arts & crafts activity on the go. Here’s an example for a basic activity : cookup.ai/o/we-are-three-adult try it for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/arts-crafts-kglkhm Another way to get inspiration for activities is the Extramural Center activity app , here’s an example for a small group and a selection of activities : cookup.ai/o/6-13-year-olds-wit try it for yourself with your own context here : cookup.ai/a/extramural-activit There’s another app i made which i like a lot which is a physical activity generator : cookup.ai/a/k-12-physical-acti . See this example for a parachute game : cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-o or this one for a team game : cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-o Sometimes you need to break the ice before you start activties : check out the ice breaker app . Here’s an example for a group of adults : cookup.ai/o/a-small-get-togeth here’s a list of activities for young people : cookup.ai/o/a-gathering-of-a-h get your own instantly by prompting it here : cookup.ai/a/icebreaker-activit you know how you need to make team names sometimes ? this one makes those team names with each letter of a word : example for NATE : cookup.ai/o/nate-acronym-poem- and TARANJEET : cookup.ai/o/taranjeet-acronym- Another App I made was the swimming plan app, based on your context and objectives, you’ll get a custom swimming plan : cookup.ai/a/swimming-plan-2dka Here’s an example for a young adult trying to get back in shape : cookup.ai/o/young-adult-strong It also works in multiple languages, for example here in french : cookup.ai/o/jeune-adultes-obje For fitness I also made an app to propose a session for you : cookup.ai/a/fitness-daily-exer here’s an example with a high level of cardio : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- here’s another with multiple days : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- another way to go about it is to vary week on week, so here’ a weekly fitness planner : cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-weekl here’s an example using me : cookup.ai/o/34-years-old-stren here’s a prompt i actually copied from someone on cookup : cookup.ai/o/can-you-generate-a here’s another fitness app that combines daily and weekly fitness plans : cookup.ai/a/fitness-exercise-p check out an example for Nate : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- here’s another with a different goal : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- since we’ve done weekly we need a monthly fitness plan app : cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-pxmtj this is an example taken from me : cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-ob and another with the previous cookup ai prompt : cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-ob Another fun app is the Planner : cookup.ai/a/planner-yad83kfl/ here’s an example for three people that want to meet : cookup.ai/o/claude-francois-an it helps you set an agenda and generate a ics file to add to the calendar . here’s one someone made for a specific company : cookup.ai/o/dynatrace-introduc you can even use it to plan a board meeting. Try inviting these AI board members that will give you pretty decent advice. Here’s one for strategy : cookup.ai/a/board-member-strat for example with the manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf here’s a similar one that’s from McKinsey : cookup.ai/a/board-member-mckin with the same manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf every boad needs a business process expert : cookup.ai/a/board-member-proce here’s an example from the same manufacturing plant above : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf A really useful one is the financier app : cookup.ai/a/financier-etv18bpn basically copy paste financial information , for example some passages from a K-10 : cookup.ai/o/during-the-nine-mo There’s more to business than advisory and analysis , though. In some roles you have to make product requirement documentation in specific formats. This app does that for you : cookup.ai/a/product-feature-re and with an example from cook up : cookup.ai/o/write-product-requ here’s one to create a payment system : cookup.ai/o/product-requiremen very rich output indeed. In entrepreneurship you often need to find someone for doing a specific job. This app reccomends folks for your jobs : cookup.ai/a/expert-finder-find here’s someone that used it to fix the smell in their bathroom : cookup.ai/o/smell-in-the-bathr another example to host a meeting : cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-host-a-b Here’s an app to create a logistic plan : cookup.ai/a/logistics-planner- i tried to help me transport the mona lisa from paris to my garage in new york cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-transpor here’s another example for transporting organs using UAVs : cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-deliver- Probably to run this whole thing you will need an operations plan : cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-or just input as much information as possible and see for yourself : cookup.ai/a/business-operation You might need to create a business information model to integrate business opertions . This application gets you started : cookup.ai/a/business-informati here’s an example for a biofabrication company : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie here’s the same example , but a bit more descriptive : cookup.ai/a/business-informati came out really nice ! The most difficult part of the entrepreneurship for me was always the business modelling . Here’s a business model app : cookup.ai/a/business-model-lkh just write in freeform what you need to analyse. Here’s an example for a biofabricated organ : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-presa and another with the same example: cookup.ai/o/presale-of-biofabr btw here’s a tribute app to Hal Varian : cookup.ai/a/hal-varian-micro-e to assess the microeconomics of anything cookup.ai/o/an-employment-cont One of my most popular apps is the Structure a Business Idea App : cookup.ai/a/structure-a-busine here’s an example for a No Code Agency : cookup.ai/o/no-code-agency-we- here’s an example for a biotech : cookup.ai/o/services-to-preven here’s one for a sustainability platform : cookup.ai/o/building-a-platfor the more your write as input the better the output, usually . The king of apps when it comes to this stuff is MindMap : cookup.ai/a/mindmap-create-str just write your unstructured thought in freeform and it will structure them and improve the overall idea. Here’s someone that tried it for backcountry permits in Yosemite : cookup.ai/o/getting-a-backcoun Another used it with the simple word “evolution” cookup.ai/o/evolution-mindmap- here someone used it to explain prefect tense in french : cookup.ai/o/explaining-the-pre normally you would be writing your full thoughts in freeform , but here you see someone use it for university analytical work : cookup.ai/o/community-college- once your idea is structured the idea would be to have it evaluated by a VC. This app does just that : cookup.ai/a/venture-capitalist here’s an example from UAE : cookup.ai/o/licenses-reseller- here’s someone who asked a question about monetizing spreadsheet apps : cookup.ai/o/how-do-i-monetisea here’s another for a fashion business : cookup.ai/o/an-apparel-busines here’s an example with a better prompt : cookup.ai/o/in-addition-to-red you might not be an entrepreneur, you might be applying to a job, here’s an app to help you prepare : cookup.ai/a/the-interviewer-si here’s an example for a humanitarian logistics role in bangladesh : cookup.ai/o/for-a-senior-human just copy and paste the job description it should work quite well. Another important activity for folks is financial planning. Actually , you can also produce a job description with the Job Description App : cookup.ai/a/business-job-descr here’s an example for a chemical engineer : cookup.ai/o/regenererex-we-are This app helps you build a personalized financial plan based on your personal context : cookup.ai/a/financial-plan-6vk here’s a general example for “single guy 36 working in software in boston“ cookup.ai/o/single-guy-36-work here’s a more specific example for my buddy Nate : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- a Financial Plan is great but you will eventually need a financial program. These are different things! Check it out here : cookup.ai/a/financial-program- here’s the example from Nate, above : cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old- very nice output, it’s more advisory and actionable in nature. When i met my wife she was a fashion designer. That’s the inspiration for the Seamstress App : cookup.ai/a/the-seamstress-so4 just enter a prompt and generate a description of the clothes . Here’s an example for a Dune inspired dress : cookup.ai/o/an-off-white-dress here’s one in french for a princess dress : cookup.ai/o/robe-de-princesse- Then you take that , and feed it to make a sewing plan : cookup.ai/a/sewing-plan-7qtvyv here’s the example of the Dune dress : cookup.ai/o/this-off-white-dre and the princess dress : cookup.ai/o/cette-robe-de-prin but nowadays everything is done on computer , so i made an app to take the sewing plan and make the digital figures required by most modelling programs : cookup.ai/a/cutting-planner-p1 it’s basically the cutting plan, here’s from the example above : cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-descr just save as json. Here’s from the Dune dress : cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-1-cut a couple of other fun apps are the interior design and architecture apps. Interior design : cookup.ai/a/architect-interior see and example for a living room : cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoi and another : cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoi interior is one thing but architecture is another : cookup.ai/a/architect-plan-cfq just describe the building style you want to get an architectural brief : cookup.ai/o/stone-facades-plai this is the analysis for hausmann architecture based on a simple description. great success. The marketting apps, is what a lot of the audience has been asking for. Here’s one to make a marketting plan : cookup.ai/a/marketing-plan-2tm it actually works great ! here’s an example from a single person accounting firm : cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-b here is an example for a replacement organ producer : cookup.ai/o/founded-in-2009-we great stuff, high value outputs, i’m happy. When you’re doing marketting one important thing to do is to target the customer and audience. This is the targetting app for that : cookup.ai/a/marketing-targetin here it is evaluating a campaign that might be misaligned : cookup.ai/o/cookup-ai-is-a-no- here is an example for a single person accounting firm : cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-b here for a manufacturing firm : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf it really depends on the quality of your inputs the outputs you will recieve . Once you have targetted your audience , you need marketting copy , try this app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-copy-wri based on the input you give it will generate unique marketting copy . Here is an example for a pharmaceutical firm : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf here is an example for a commercial message : cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manuf once you have published your marketting copy you need to follow up with sentiment analysis to see how folks are responding to it. Analyse the sentiment of anything with this app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-sentimen here’s an example from a negative case (trigger warning) in Dutch : cookup.ai/o/een-interessante-z here is a positive example in chineese language : cookup.ai/o/-7lv1hk1sqy/ Another important marketting activity is conducting and analysing survey data. HEre’s the survey app : cookup.ai/a/survey-unstructure basically what you do is copy paste your unstructured data directly inside it and it will produce a full assessment of what you need . Sometimes you need to write a profile for yourself optimized for commercial activities. Here’s a Marketting profile app : cookup.ai/a/marketing-profile- from our example above : cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am another profile but written in first person view : cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am but sometimes you need to make these profiles for SEO optimization. Here is an example from above : cookup.ai/o/profile-descriptio or for an enterprise : cookup.ai/o/solving-for-nri-in check it out for yourself here : cookup.ai/a/seo-fuxlixw3/ sometimes you need to produce SEO-optimized copy , Try using this app i made for that : cookup.ai/a/seo-optimized-text basically you should paste your text in there and it will optimize it for engagement for you. here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie hope you like using it ! Sometimes you need to convert something into an SEO optimized text, here’s an app for that : cookup.ai/a/seo-convert-oew8ga For example for a lifesciences company : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie here is a re write for a text about a building in Paris : cookup.ai/o/le-complexe-archit try it out and tell me what you think. You might already have the text you want but need hashtags, check out this app : cookup.ai/a/hashtag-generator- here’s an example for a crowdfunding campaign : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campa and the same campaign but in Spanish : cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campa Marketing is actually a pretty diverse job , so sometimes you have to design media like videos and so on. This app is the scenario maker : cookup.ai/a/scenario-sacr0cs5/ you can use to make advertisements : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie or actually as a writing aid. Another writing aid i made is the story arc : cookup.ai/a/story-arc-sbmt20if here’s an example for a story in paris : cookup.ai/o/paris-in-the-futur here is an example from a real writing class : cookup.ai/o/lamour-en-lan-3000 and another from the same class : cookup.ai/o/on-mars-in-3000-a- I actually see the whole class used the app lol, how cool is that? Another app in the same style is the Text Styler app : cookup.ai/a/text-styler-epclaw here’s how it works : cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-or pretty cool right? it works on any text in any style. Actually one writing app that folks have been using randomly is the email writer : cookup.ai/a/the-emailer-hoe5yq here’s an email i wrote to TJ : cookup.ai/o/write-an-email-to- here’s an email my buddy mamadou wrote in french in agressive style : cookup.ai/o/voici-les-copies-d (btw the output is very diplomatic) here’s another example when someone is launching an AI-driven SaS company. To communicate on twitter sometimes it’s necessary to make a thread. Just copy and paste the text your want to turn into a thread here : cookup.ai/a/twitter-thread-mak here’s an example for finance cookup.ai/o/cfa-iitdelhi-inves another job marketters have to do in small teams is to make a design mockup for the designers. Try to make your own using this app : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-wrq here’s an example for “a logo of a dog for a street vending franchise “ : cookup.ai/o/a-logo-of-a-dog-fo and here for “icon of a small cute dog for client” : cookup.ai/o/icon-of-a-small-cu then you take that output and make mock up instructions for producing a mockup : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie try with your output here : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-ins then you take that output and use that in your favorite design software like Adobe : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-ado here’s the example with the logo above : cookup.ai/o/the-mock-up-above- and just for a “dog” cookup.ai/o/dog-design-mock-up basically you take that output and save it as a *.ai file and you can open it in illustrator. Many folks also use Autocad : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-aut here’s an example with the dress above : cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dr and for the dog logo with the mockup output : cookup.ai/o/mock-up-of-doggy-d a lot of the time your mockup will be for a webpage , here’s an app to generate that : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-htm we’re still working on all that at cookup so there’s a fair bit of injection happening right now : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm sometimes for more advanced stuff, you do things in Java : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-jav here’s the example for the dress : cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dr and the website : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm for most other applications you might use json files , try this app : cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-jso here’s the example for the webpage : cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-sm another pretty important activity for designers is making logos . This app makes an svg file : cookup.ai/a/design-tools-logo- here’s the example for the dog logo above : cookup.ai/o/the-mockup-of-a-lo here’s another example cookup.ai/o/wireframe-instruct i used the adobe illustrator output for that one . Remember the app for the lesson plans for the kids ? here’s an app that makes exercises based on the parameters of the lesson plan for any subject : cookup.ai/a/exercise-problems- here is an example for learning the french language : cookup.ai/o/difficult-french-a here is an example with simple math problems for a 14 year old : cookup.ai/o/difficult-algebra- here is one for more difficult math problems for a 22 years old grad student cookup.ai/o/difficult-mathemat i dont know if would be able to solve these (but probably yes :-) ) Another app to do this maybe a bit better is the WorkBook app : cookup.ai/a/quiz-workbook-for- here’s an example for 17 year old student in 11th grade physics class cookup.ai/o/17-year-old-studen here’s one for "4th grade, digestion rates cookup.ai/o/science-4th-grade- here’s another for worldwar 2 : cookup.ai/o/history-worldwar-2 folks have been using this app a lot actually ! Now that you have all your questions maybe you need help to solve some ? Here’s the Problem Solver App : cookup.ai/a/problem-solver-lrs here’s an example for algebra : cookup.ai/o/fx-3x-3-for-x-real here’s another for calculus : cookup.ai/o/let-the-interval-a Maybe you’re a student that needs to write an essay or you need an example essay , or really, to write anything : cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-jv1ao this essay writter can help you write something for example on homeostasis : cookup.ai/o/efine-the-term-hom or an essay on how to stop procrastinating : cookup.ai/o/listing-the-4-ways if you’re afraid of running afoul detector policies , try the detector proof easy essay app free here : cookup.ai/a/easy-essay-detecto here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/on-the-topic-of-fi it replaces certain letters with a nullspace then the letter to evade detection, if you’re getting a lot of symbols in the essay copy paste it into a markdown editor and they should disappear. See here since markdown is not supported : cookup.ai/o/how-to-avoid-plagi sometimes when you’re writing you need to argue from A to B , try it here : cookup.ai/a/from-a-to-b-reason here’s an example : cookup.ai/o/nucleotides-are-im try it in any subject. Conversely, you might need a counter argument for a given claim : cookup.ai/a/logic-counter-argu here’s an example for If you want to find a good job, you should work hard: cookup.ai/o/if-you-want-to-fin In many writings you’ll also need tables, copy paste unstructured data (ex. from a pdf ) to make a table in markdown format : cookup.ai/o/chemicals-peptides copy paste the output in a markdown editor for best results. sometimes you want to analyse your data , check out this app , copy paste your pdf data and give context : cookup.ai/a/data-results-analy see here the results for a blood test : cookup.ai/o/tsh-serum-chimilum Let’s be honest, most folks use excel , check out this app to describe any excel function : cookup.ai/a/excel-9chnuveu/ enter your function in freeform to get the function : cookup.ai/o/a-formula-to-descr or for a macro : cookup.ai/o/a-macro-to-link-my actually i made a special app just for macros : cookup.ai/a/excel-macros-esxm4 here is an example of a complicated macro : cookup.ai/o/hi-i-need-a-macro- here is one for an even more complicated one: cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-a-excel- and here is a simple one for a vinyl shop : cookup.ai/o/i-am-working-on-an most people who actually work with formulas do so in LaTeX , this app produces LaTeX formulas : cookup.ai/a/latex-formula-00sp here is the example for Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula cookup.ai/o/baileyborweinplouf this one represents Pi : cookup.ai/o/displaystyle-pi-su this one is for social science : cookup.ai/o/incentive-structur Actually many folks use LaTeX to write things, this app will use latex to write a preprint : cookup.ai/a/pre-print-latex-vy this is an example for the Peter Principle : cookup.ai/o/the-peter-principl here is one for Use of God in vain, Neopentecostal cookup.ai/o/use-of-god-in-vain here is one in Spanish : cookup.ai/o/nergysens-en-la-in to do any kind of research you need to do a search, but a lot of folks do systematic search , this app generates systematic search terms : cookup.ai/a/systematic-search- here’s an example from diabetes research : cookup.ai/o/diabetes-mellitus- here’s another from biology : cookup.ai/o/across-the-tree-of once you find your references you need to make a bibliography so here’s the app for that : cookup.ai/a/bibliography-jucn4 it creates a bibtex script in the format you want : cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-fro & cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-fro sometimes research or something else is too confusing, here’s an app to make a lay summary : cookup.ai/a/lay-summary-4rvs8f here’s a summary of fossil fuel environmental research : cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-bo another run about ExxonMobil : cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-bo Sometimes you’re looking for information not just summarizing it , so i made an encyclopedia app : cookup.ai/a/encaiclopedia-7cmw i wouldnt be surprised if encarta got GPT at some point : cookup.ai/o/sometimes-giants-a here’s for Kirchhoff's voltage law : cookup.ai/o/kirchhoffs-voltage and the potter identity : cookup.ai/o/potter-identity-in encyclopedias are cool but do you remember almanacs ? here’s the almanac app : cookup.ai/a/almanac-bkmwaeqj/ here’s the output for 21st of december : cookup.ai/o/21st-of-december-m I also made an app to create content in wolof : cookup.ai/a/wolof-future-xlw6g I’ll be trying to get content creation for local languages to take off : cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jang contact me if you’re interested in that : cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jang actually AI is really good at translation, translate whatever you like here : cookup.ai/a/translate-remwokk4 i translated some passages from the wolof examples above : cookup.ai/o/jangu-na-ci-sujet- and : cookup.ai/o/negritude-ci-cosaa Once you' can speak any language and have passed all your classes, you might want to talk to an admissions counsellor : cookup.ai/a/admission-whnqib7b here’s an assessment for a community college in california : cookup.ai/o/community-college- If you’re a star student aged 15-16 consider applying to my alma matter : cookup.ai/a/special-school-sel I’m part of the french selection commitee so it’s in french : cookup.ai/o/eleve-francais-15a remember when you were young and you played “who would win” in a fight ? here’s the app for that in case you need it : cookup.ai/a/who-would-win-tssv here’s the example for : a boa constrictor & cat cookup.ai/o/a-boa-constrictor- and archbichop desmond tutu vs marie curie (Dr. Curie wins) cookup.ai/o/archbichop-desmond Folks love going on trips. Use AI to help plan your iterary cookup.ai/a/trip-planner-littl here’s an example for baroque art in Malta : cookup.ai/o/la-valette-malta-b here’s an example for paris for 4 days : cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-4 and 5 days : cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-5 what should you bring on your trip ? good question, try this app : cookup.ai/a/what-to-bring-kswn here’s an example from normandy in february : cookup.ai/o/im-going-on-a-day- If you’re travelling or have an email box , you should be careful for scams . Here’s the scam detector app : cookup.ai/a/anti-scam-detector just copy paste or describe what you’re seeing, here’s an example for a tax scam in the uk : cookup.ai/o/foraoternh8uogeowe and an email upgrade scam : cookup.ai/o/c12-outlook-dear-u I also made an app to debunk conspiracy theories and fake news : cookup.ai/a/debunker-apx1db8w/ here’s an example for mangoes cure covid : cookup.ai/o/la-mangue-gueri-la and that the vaccine is a conspiracy : cookup.ai/o/le-vaccin-covid-es the most interesting one is the bomb plot from congo : cookup.ai/o/httpsaupicinfoscom just from the URL input it produced something really quite well done. Another app i made is the conspiracy theory creator : cookup.ai/a/russophile-k9zjyym i called it russophile because everything russian is just garbage fakes lol , here’s an example for “Jewish Nazis From Ukraine Smoking Pot And Building Underground Biolabs To Engineer Mosquitos To Target Ethnic Slavs In Russia Guess The Rest Of Them Were Like Whatever” : cookup.ai/o/jewish-nazis-from- works quite well, maybe it will help make the entire russian foreign service redundant ? end the nightmare by donating here : u24.gov.ua i heard a lot of rusian soldiers were targetted because they were using dating apps. If you want to join them in dating hell, try this dating profile generator : cookup.ai/a/sincerely-dating-p i think people liked it because they tried to hack it but here’s one i made as an example : cookup.ai/o/32-male-84-kg-stra i originally made it because the cookup platform is flirting with these “spammy” types of apps, but mine is way better :-) whether you find someone to or not, you need to sleep, perhaps even dream . Here’s an app to keep a dream journal : cookup.ai/a/dream-explainer-yj here’s an example from when i was younger : cookup.ai/o/i-had-a-recurring- someone had another dream : cookup.ai/o/dream-about-my-gir Remember T8 ringtones ? i dont know why i made this , but here it is a Ringtone Generator for T8 keyboards : cookup.ai/a/t8-ringtone-genera here is the Zelda theme : cookup.ai/o/zelda-melody-polyp The next few apps are just tributes to Codex & Co-Pilot both of which are better suited in your IDE , Gitlab or something like VBS . Check the first one out here : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-ai-to-hel remember the NASA experiment from above? here’s the code for it : cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-tha here is one to scrape a website to excel : cookup.ai/o/create-script-to-s here’s an app to create top level code : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-top-level an example for folks to make a ghost blog api microservice: cookup.ai/o/a-link-using-apis- Another way to get good results is with boiler plate code : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-boiler-pl here’s an example to create a chat bot: cookup.ai/o/a-chat-bot-for-mat here’s an app to create regex expressions : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-regex-exp here’s one in python : cookup.ai/o/function-to-scrape here’s one in Golang : cookup.ai/o/function-to-use-go for whatever reason you might want to simulate command line returns . here is the command line app : cookup.ai/a/command-line-y70oh try it with chmod +x readfile ./readfile filename.txt cookup.ai/o/chmod-x-readfile-r or any other command . A lot of folks have been asking about data creation. I really like this Prolog app for that : cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-data-crea here is an output for a chatbot : cookup.ai/o/to-test-a-chatbot- here is what happens for the digestion example from above : cookup.ai/o/demonstrate-the-st another more straight forward app is the create data app : cookup.ai/a/create-data-my8wzz here is an example for a list of books :cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-i and another example : cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-i i really like these. Another way to test a function is a unit test. Try the unit test app here : cookup.ai/a/unit-test-sp6f7pl3 here’s an example to test quick sort in java 8: cookup.ai/o/write-test-cases-t Your function is still not working ? try the stack trace app : cookup.ai/a/stack-trace-error- just copy paste your error message : cookup.ai/o/use-key-stack-trac here’s another example for ggplot : cookup.ai/o/error-in-ggplotiri Once you get your app working , you’ll want to figure out the information model. try this app : cookup.ai/a/information-model- here’s an example for : mobile app to rent cars like uber cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent and if you have an information model you’ll need a data model : cookup.ai/a/data-model-kjqpe7u here’s the same example but for data model: cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent if you’re going to ship you’ll need an infrastructure plan : cookup.ai/a/cloud-infrastructu here’s an example for a biofabrication firm : cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-scie I also made prompt apps to practice prompt making. Try this app for a simple prompt interface : cookup.ai/a/prompt-follow-on-l here’s an example for a payment service : cookup.ai/o/pix-payment-in-ins someone from Canary Islands used it to write a poem : cookup.ai/o/crea-un-poema-sobr and write a biography of a historical figure : cookup.ai/o/biografia-breve-de pretty cool ! Ready to learn more sophisticated techniques ? try the Prompt App : cookup.ai/a/prompt-lbuxx1ed/ i made it to teach folks how to write prompts on cook up , here’s an example for : social inequality, political scientist cookup.ai/o/social-inequality- here’s one for Universal Basic income , economist cookup.ai/o/universal-basic-in here’s for “Help create business systems to run a small business. From the perspective of a franchise developer “ : cookup.ai/o/help-create-busine and here is “Diagnose Dry Eye, Assess the Above from the perspective of an Ophthalomologist, Print complete answer in markdown format” cookup.ai/o/diagnose-dry-eye-a hope it helps !

    #graves #hyperthyroidism #iodine #mealplan #nosolidfood #mealplanner
  5. Jupiter Rowland @[email protected] ·
    @Kellam⚙️Бур This may come as a surprise, but: Nomadic identity is not an abstract concept or a science-fiction idea for the Fediverse.

    It is reality. It exists. Right now. In stable, daily-driver software that's federated with Mastodon. And it has been for over a decade.

    I'm literally replying to you here from a nomadic channel that simultaneously exists on two servers.

    Nomadic identity was invented by @Mike Macgirvin 🖥️ (formerly American software developer of about half a century who has been living in rural Australia for decades now) in 2011 and first implemented in 2012. Almost four years before Mastodon was first launched.

    In 2010, he had invented the Facebook alternative Friendica, originally named Mistpark and based on his own DFRN protocol.

    Over the months, he witnessed lots of privately operated public Friendica nodes shut down with or without an announcement and the users on these nodes lose everything. He added the possibility to export and import Friendica accounts. But that would only help if a permanent shutdown was announced. It did not protect you against shutdowns out of the blue.

    There was only one solution to this problem. And that was for someone's identity to not be bound to one server, but to exist on multiple servers simultaneously. The whole thing with everything that's attached to it. Name, settings, connections, posts, files in the file storage etc. etc., everything.

    So in 2011, Mike designed a whole new protocol named Zot around this brand-new idea of what he called "nomadic identity" back then already.

    In 2012, Mike forked Friendica into something called Red, later the Red Matrix, and rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up against Zot. Red was the first nomadic social networking software in the world, almost four years before Mastodon.

    In 2015, ten months before Mastodon was first released, the Red Matrix became Hubzilla, the Fediverse's ultimate Swiss army knife.

    I am on Hubzilla myself. This channel of mine is constantly being mirrored between its main instance on https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu and its clone on https://hub.hubzilla.de. Anything that happens on the main instance is backed up on the clone. I can also log into the clone and use that, and whatever happens there is backed up on the main instance.

    https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu could go down, temporarily, permanently, doesn't matter; I still have my channel, namely the clone. And I can declare the clone my new main instance.

    Well, Mike didn't stop at Hubzilla and its original version of the Zot protocol. He wanted to refine it and advance it, but in ways that wouldn't be possible on daily-driver software.

    Zot went through several upgrades: Zot6 in 2018 (backported to Hubzilla in 2020, along with OpenWebAuth magic single sign-on). Zot8 in 2020. Zot11 in 2021 which had become incompatible with Zot6 and therefore was renamed to Nomad. Today's Nomad would be Zot12.

    Also, in order to advance and test Zot, Mike created a whole bunch of forks and forks of forks. Osada and Zap for Zot6 in 2018, followed by another short-lived Osada in 2019. A third Osada, Mistpark 2020 (a.k.a. Misty) and Redmatrix 2020 in 2020 for Zot8. Roadhouse for Zot11 Nomad in 2021. All Osadas, Zap, Misty, Redmatrix 2020 and Roadhouse were discontinued on New Year's Eve of 2022.

    The most recent software based on Nomad is from October, 2021. It can be found in the streams repository. It is officially and intentionally nameless and brandless, it has next to nodeinfo code that could submit statistics, and it is intentionally released into the public domain. The community named it (streams) after the code repository.

    I also have two (streams) channels, one of which is cloned so far.

    The newest thing, and that's what the Friendica and Hubzilla veteran @Tim Schlotfeldt ⚓?️‍? referred to, is nomadic identity using nothing but ActivityPub, no longer relying on a special protocol.

    This was not Mike Macgirvin's idea. This came from @silverpill, the creator and developer of the microblogging server application Mitra. He wanted to make Mitra nomadic, make it resilient against server shutdown. But he didn't want to port it to Nomad. He wanted to achieve it with nothing but ActivityPub.

    So he hit up Mike. The two came to the conclusion: This is actually possible. And they began to work on it. Amongst the results were several FEPs coined by silverpill.

    This time, Mike did not create another fork to develop nomadic identity via ActivityPub. He did it all on the nomadic branch of the streams repository while silverpill did his part on a special development branch of Mitra.

    In mid-2024, after enough sparring between (streams) instances, between Mitra instances and between (streams) and Mitra, Mike was confident enough that his implementation of support of nomadic identity via ActivityPub was stable enough. He merged the nomadic branch into the dev branch which ended up being merged into the stable release branch in summer.

    Now, at this point, (streams) didn't use ActivityPub for nomadic identity. It still used the Nomad protocol for everything first and foremost, including cloning. But it understood nomadic identity via ActivityPub as implemented on experimental Mitra.

    However, while it worked under lab conditions, it blew up under real-life conditions. At this point, (streams) had to handle so many different identities that it confused them, and it couldn't federate with anything yet.

    In mid-August, while trying to fix the problem, Mike eventually forked the streams repository into Forte. It got a name again, it got a brand identity again, it got its nodeinfo back, it was put under the MIT license again.

    But most importantly: Any and all support for Nomad was ripped out, also to get rid of a whole number of IDs, namely those for Nomad-actually-Zot12 and for Hubzilla's Nomad-actually-Zot6. Forte only uses ActivityPub for everything. And so, Forte also had to fully rely on ActivityPub for nomadic identity, cloning and syncing.

    For almost seven months, Forte was considered experimental and unstable. For most of the time, the only existing servers were Mike's.

    But on March 12th, 2025, Mike Macgirvin released Forte 25.3.12, the first official stable release of Forte. This is what Tim wrote about. Because this actually made it into Fediverse-wide news.

    Not because it's nomadic. Nomadic identity has been daily-driven for over a decade now.

    But because it uses ActivityPub for nomadic identity. Which means that you can theoretically make any kinds of Fediverse software nomadic now, all without porting it to the Nomad protocol first.

    For the future, Mike and silverpill envision a Fediverse in which one can clone between different server applications. A Fediverse in which one can have one and the same identity cloned across multiple servers of Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Mitra, Forte, Mobilizon, Lemmy, BookWyrm etc., all with the same name, all with the same content and settings (as far as the software allows; you will certainly not be able to clone your PeerTube videos to Mastodon and Lemmy).

    Even if you don't intend to clone, it will make moving instances and even moving from one software to another dramatically easier.

    If you're concerned about your privacy, let me tell you this:

    Hubzilla's privacy, security and permissions system is unparalleled in the Fediverse. Except for that on (streams) and Forte which is another notch better.

    I can define who can see my profile (my default, public profile on Hubzilla where each channel can have multiple profiles).
    I can define who can see my stream and my posts when looking at my channel.
    I can define who can see my connections (Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte don't distinguish between follower and followed; they aren't Twitter clones).
    I can define who can look into my file space (individual permission settings per folder and per file notwithstanding).
    I can define who can see my webpages on Hubzilla (if I have any).
    I can define who can see my wikis on Hubzilla (no shit, I've got wikis on my Hubzilla channel).

    On Hubzilla, I can define individually for any of these whether it's
    • everyone on the Internet
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • everyone on Hubzilla (maybe also on (streams); anyone using ActivityPub is definitely excluded here)
    • everyone on the same server as myself (AFAIK, only main instances of channels count here, clones don't)
    • unapproved (= followers) as well as approved (= mutual) connections
    • confirmed connections
    • those of my confirmed connections whom I explicitly grant that permission by contact role
    • only myself

    There's a whole bunch more permissions than these. And they all have seven or eight permission levels (depending on whether the general non-Fediverse public can be given permission).

    On (streams) and Forte, I can define whether things are allowed for
    • everyone on the Internet (where applicable)
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • all my approved connections
    • only me myself plus those whom I explicitly grant that permission in the connection settings

    Yes, connection settings. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte give you various ways of configuring individual connections, much unlike Mastodon. This includes what any individual connection is allowed to do.

    Hubzilla uses so-called "contact roles" for that, presets with a whopping 17 permissions to grant or deny for any one individual connection. That is, what the channel generally allows, a contact role can't forbid.

    (streams) and Forte still have 15 permissions per contact, but they lack some features which Hubzilla has permissions for. These permissions can be set individually for each connection, or you can define permission roles that cover all 15 permissions to make things easier.

    Okay, how about posting in public vs in private? And when I say "private", I mean "private". It's "private messages" on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte, not "direct messages".

    Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte let you post
    • in public
    • only to yourself
    • only to your connections ((streams) and Forte only; Hubzilla requires a privacy group with all your connections in it for this)
    • to all members of one specific privacy group (Hubzilla)/access list ((streams), Forte); that's like being able to only post to those on one specific list on Mastodon
    • to everyone to whom one specific non-default profile is assigned (Hubzilla only)
    • to a specific group/forum (I'll get back to that later)
    • to a custom one-by-one selection of connections of yours

    Now, let's assume I have a privacy group with Alice, Bob and Carol in it. I send a new post to only this privacy group. This means:
    • Only Alice, Bob and Carol can see the post and the conversation.
    • Alice can reply to me, Bob and Carol.
    • Bob can reply to me, Alice and Carol.
    • Carol can reply to me, Alice and Bob.
    • Nobody else can see the post. Not even by searching for it. Not by hashtag either. Not at all.
    • Nobody else can see any of the comments.
    • Nobody else can comment.

    If one of them was on Mastodon, they'd see my post as a DM, by the way, and they could only reply to me. But that's Mastodon's limitation because it understands neither threaded conversations nor permissions.

    Or how about reply control? This is something that many Mastodon users have been craving for quite a while now. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte have them. Right now. And they work. They have since 2012.

    Hubzilla optionally lets me disallow comments on either of my posts. Users on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte won't even be able to comment; they won't have the UI elements to do so. Everyone else is able to comment locally. But that comment will never end up on my channel. It will never officially be added to the conversation. And at least users on Friendica, Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte will never fetch that comment from my channel as part of the conversation, i.e. never at all.

    (streams) and Forte can go even further with all available options. They can disallow comments like Hubzilla. But in addition, they can allow only the members of one particular access list to comment, regardless of who can see the post/the conversation. On top of that, comments can be closed at a pre-defined point in the future. And then you even have a channel-wide setting for how long people can comment on your posts.

    Oh, and there's even a setting for who is generally permitted to comment on your posts. And you can additionally allow specific connections of yours to comment on your posts.

    Lastly, I've already mentioned groups/forums. Like, you know, Web forums or Facebook groups or subreddits or whatever. Like Guppe Groups on a mountain of coke and with moderation and permission control and optionally private.

    Hubzilla has them, and it has inherited them from Friendica. (streams) has them. Forte has them. They're basically channels like social networking channels, but with some extra features. This includes that everything that's send to a group/forum as what amounts to a PM is automatically forwarded to all other members.

    On Hubzilla, a forum can be gradually made private by denying permission to see certain elements to everyone but its own members (= connections): the profile, the members, what's going on in it. Depending on what you want or do not want people to see.

    On (streams) and Forte, you have four types of forums:
    • public, and members can upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • public, but members cannot upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • like above, but additionally, posts and comments from new members must be manually approved by the admin(s) until their connections are configured to make them full members
    • private, non-members can't see the profile, non-members can't see the connections, non-members can't see what's going on in it, but members can upload images and other files to the forum channel

    In addition, on all three, a group/forum channel can choose to hide itself from directories. This is always an extra option that's independent from public/private.

    What we have here is the most secure and most private Fediverse software of all.

    And, once again, at its core, this is technology from 2012. It pre-dates Mastodon by almost four years.

    Finally, if you want to know how Hubzilla and (streams) compare to Mastodon: I have made a number of tables that compare Mastodon, Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams).

    #Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Mitra #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #ActivityPub #Zot #Zot6 #Zot8 #Nomad #NomadicIdentity #Security #FediverseSecurity #Privacy #FediversePrivacy #Permissions
    #fediversesecurity #fediverseprivacy #cwfediversemeta #nomadicidentity #fediversemeta #activitypub
  6. Jupiter Rowland @[email protected] ·
    @Kellam⚙️Бур This may come as a surprise, but: Nomadic identity is not an abstract concept or a science-fiction idea for the Fediverse.

    It is reality. It exists. Right now. In stable, daily-driver software that's federated with Mastodon. And it has been for over a decade.

    I'm literally replying to you here from a nomadic channel that simultaneously exists on two servers.

    Nomadic identity was invented by @Mike Macgirvin 🖥️ (formerly American software developer of about half a century who has been living in rural Australia for decades now) in 2011 and first implemented in 2012. Almost four years before Mastodon was first launched.

    In 2010, he had invented the Facebook alternative Friendica, originally named Mistpark and based on his own DFRN protocol.

    Over the months, he witnessed lots of privately operated public Friendica nodes shut down with or without an announcement and the users on these nodes lose everything. He added the possibility to export and import Friendica accounts. But that would only help if a permanent shutdown was announced. It did not protect you against shutdowns out of the blue.

    There was only one solution to this problem. And that was for someone's identity to not be bound to one server, but to exist on multiple servers simultaneously. The whole thing with everything that's attached to it. Name, settings, connections, posts, files in the file storage etc. etc., everything.

    So in 2011, Mike designed a whole new protocol named Zot around this brand-new idea of what he called "nomadic identity" back then already.

    In 2012, Mike forked Friendica into something called Red, later the Red Matrix, and rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up against Zot. Red was the first nomadic social networking software in the world, almost four years before Mastodon.

    In 2015, ten months before Mastodon was first released, the Red Matrix became Hubzilla, the Fediverse's ultimate Swiss army knife.

    I am on Hubzilla myself. This channel of mine is constantly being mirrored between its main instance on https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu and its clone on https://hub.hubzilla.de. Anything that happens on the main instance is backed up on the clone. I can also log into the clone and use that, and whatever happens there is backed up on the main instance.

    https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu could go down, temporarily, permanently, doesn't matter; I still have my channel, namely the clone. And I can declare the clone my new main instance.

    Well, Mike didn't stop at Hubzilla and its original version of the Zot protocol. He wanted to refine it and advance it, but in ways that wouldn't be possible on daily-driver software.

    Zot went through several upgrades: Zot6 in 2018 (backported to Hubzilla in 2020, along with OpenWebAuth magic single sign-on). Zot8 in 2020. Zot11 in 2021 which had become incompatible with Zot6 and therefore was renamed to Nomad. Today's Nomad would be Zot12.

    Also, in order to advance and test Zot, Mike created a whole bunch of forks and forks of forks. Osada and Zap for Zot6 in 2018, followed by another short-lived Osada in 2019. A third Osada, Mistpark 2020 (a.k.a. Misty) and Redmatrix 2020 in 2020 for Zot8. Roadhouse for Zot11 Nomad in 2021. All Osadas, Zap, Misty, Redmatrix 2020 and Roadhouse were discontinued on New Year's Eve of 2022.

    The most recent software based on Nomad is from October, 2021. It can be found in the streams repository. It is officially and intentionally nameless and brandless, it has next to nodeinfo code that could submit statistics, and it is intentionally released into the public domain. The community named it (streams) after the code repository.

    I also have two (streams) channels, one of which is cloned so far.

    The newest thing, and that's what the Friendica and Hubzilla veteran @Tim Schlotfeldt ⚓?️‍? referred to, is nomadic identity using nothing but ActivityPub, no longer relying on a special protocol.

    This was not Mike Macgirvin's idea. This came from @silverpill, the creator and developer of the microblogging server application Mitra. He wanted to make Mitra nomadic, make it resilient against server shutdown. But he didn't want to port it to Nomad. He wanted to achieve it with nothing but ActivityPub.

    So he hit up Mike. The two came to the conclusion: This is actually possible. And they began to work on it. Amongst the results were several FEPs coined by silverpill.

    This time, Mike did not create another fork to develop nomadic identity via ActivityPub. He did it all on the nomadic branch of the streams repository while silverpill did his part on a special development branch of Mitra.

    In mid-2024, after enough sparring between (streams) instances, between Mitra instances and between (streams) and Mitra, Mike was confident enough that his implementation of support of nomadic identity via ActivityPub was stable enough. He merged the nomadic branch into the dev branch which ended up being merged into the stable release branch in summer.

    Now, at this point, (streams) didn't use ActivityPub for nomadic identity. It still used the Nomad protocol for everything first and foremost, including cloning. But it understood nomadic identity via ActivityPub as implemented on experimental Mitra.

    However, while it worked under lab conditions, it blew up under real-life conditions. At this point, (streams) had to handle so many different identities that it confused them, and it couldn't federate with anything yet.

    In mid-August, while trying to fix the problem, Mike eventually forked the streams repository into Forte. It got a name again, it got a brand identity again, it got its nodeinfo back, it was put under the MIT license again.

    But most importantly: Any and all support for Nomad was ripped out, also to get rid of a whole number of IDs, namely those for Nomad-actually-Zot12 and for Hubzilla's Nomad-actually-Zot6. Forte only uses ActivityPub for everything. And so, Forte also had to fully rely on ActivityPub for nomadic identity, cloning and syncing.

    For almost seven months, Forte was considered experimental and unstable. For most of the time, the only existing servers were Mike's.

    But on March 12th, 2025, Mike Macgirvin released Forte 25.3.12, the first official stable release of Forte. This is what Tim wrote about. Because this actually made it into Fediverse-wide news.

    Not because it's nomadic. Nomadic identity has been daily-driven for over a decade now.

    But because it uses ActivityPub for nomadic identity. Which means that you can theoretically make any kinds of Fediverse software nomadic now, all without porting it to the Nomad protocol first.

    For the future, Mike and silverpill envision a Fediverse in which one can clone between different server applications. A Fediverse in which one can have one and the same identity cloned across multiple servers of Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Mitra, Forte, Mobilizon, Lemmy, BookWyrm etc., all with the same name, all with the same content and settings (as far as the software allows; you will certainly not be able to clone your PeerTube videos to Mastodon and Lemmy).

    Even if you don't intend to clone, it will make moving instances and even moving from one software to another dramatically easier.

    If you're concerned about your privacy, let me tell you this:

    Hubzilla's privacy, security and permissions system is unparalleled in the Fediverse. Except for that on (streams) and Forte which is another notch better.

    I can define who can see my profile (my default, public profile on Hubzilla where each channel can have multiple profiles).
    I can define who can see my stream and my posts when looking at my channel.
    I can define who can see my connections (Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte don't distinguish between follower and followed; they aren't Twitter clones).
    I can define who can look into my file space (individual permission settings per folder and per file notwithstanding).
    I can define who can see my webpages on Hubzilla (if I have any).
    I can define who can see my wikis on Hubzilla (no shit, I've got wikis on my Hubzilla channel).

    On Hubzilla, I can define individually for any of these whether it's
    • everyone on the Internet
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • everyone on Hubzilla (maybe also on (streams); anyone using ActivityPub is definitely excluded here)
    • everyone on the same server as myself (AFAIK, only main instances of channels count here, clones don't)
    • unapproved (= followers) as well as approved (= mutual) connections
    • confirmed connections
    • those of my confirmed connections whom I explicitly grant that permission by contact role
    • only myself

    There's a whole bunch more permissions than these. And they all have seven or eight permission levels (depending on whether the general non-Fediverse public can be given permission).

    On (streams) and Forte, I can define whether things are allowed for
    • everyone on the Internet (where applicable)
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • all my approved connections
    • only me myself plus those whom I explicitly grant that permission in the connection settings

    Yes, connection settings. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte give you various ways of configuring individual connections, much unlike Mastodon. This includes what any individual connection is allowed to do.

    Hubzilla uses so-called "contact roles" for that, presets with a whopping 17 permissions to grant or deny for any one individual connection. That is, what the channel generally allows, a contact role can't forbid.

    (streams) and Forte still have 15 permissions per contact, but they lack some features which Hubzilla has permissions for. These permissions can be set individually for each connection, or you can define permission roles that cover all 15 permissions to make things easier.

    Okay, how about posting in public vs in private? And when I say "private", I mean "private". It's "private messages" on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte, not "direct messages".

    Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte let you post
    • in public
    • only to yourself
    • only to your connections ((streams) and Forte only; Hubzilla requires a privacy group with all your connections in it for this)
    • to all members of one specific privacy group (Hubzilla)/access list ((streams), Forte); that's like being able to only post to those on one specific list on Mastodon
    • to everyone to whom one specific non-default profile is assigned (Hubzilla only)
    • to a specific group/forum (I'll get back to that later)
    • to a custom one-by-one selection of connections of yours

    Now, let's assume I have a privacy group with Alice, Bob and Carol in it. I send a new post to only this privacy group. This means:
    • Only Alice, Bob and Carol can see the post and the conversation.
    • Alice can reply to me, Bob and Carol.
    • Bob can reply to me, Alice and Carol.
    • Carol can reply to me, Alice and Bob.
    • Nobody else can see the post. Not even by searching for it. Not by hashtag either. Not at all.
    • Nobody else can see any of the comments.
    • Nobody else can comment.

    If one of them was on Mastodon, they'd see my post as a DM, by the way, and they could only reply to me. But that's Mastodon's limitation because it understands neither threaded conversations nor permissions.

    Or how about reply control? This is something that many Mastodon users have been craving for quite a while now. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte have them. Right now. And they work. They have since 2012.

    Hubzilla optionally lets me disallow comments on either of my posts. Users on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte won't even be able to comment; they won't have the UI elements to do so. Everyone else is able to comment locally. But that comment will never end up on my channel. It will never officially be added to the conversation. And at least users on Friendica, Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte will never fetch that comment from my channel as part of the conversation, i.e. never at all.

    (streams) and Forte can go even further with all available options. They can disallow comments like Hubzilla. But in addition, they can allow only the members of one particular access list to comment, regardless of who can see the post/the conversation. On top of that, comments can be closed at a pre-defined point in the future. And then you even have a channel-wide setting for how long people can comment on your posts.

    Oh, and there's even a setting for who is generally permitted to comment on your posts. And you can additionally allow specific connections of yours to comment on your posts.

    Lastly, I've already mentioned groups/forums. Like, you know, Web forums or Facebook groups or subreddits or whatever. Like Guppe Groups on a mountain of coke and with moderation and permission control and optionally private.

    Hubzilla has them, and it has inherited them from Friendica. (streams) has them. Forte has them. They're basically channels like social networking channels, but with some extra features. This includes that everything that's send to a group/forum as what amounts to a PM is automatically forwarded to all other members.

    On Hubzilla, a forum can be gradually made private by denying permission to see certain elements to everyone but its own members (= connections): the profile, the members, what's going on in it. Depending on what you want or do not want people to see.

    On (streams) and Forte, you have four types of forums:
    • public, and members can upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • public, but members cannot upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • like above, but additionally, posts and comments from new members must be manually approved by the admin(s) until their connections are configured to make them full members
    • private, non-members can't see the profile, non-members can't see the connections, non-members can't see what's going on in it, but members can upload images and other files to the forum channel

    In addition, on all three, a group/forum channel can choose to hide itself from directories. This is always an extra option that's independent from public/private.

    What we have here is the most secure and most private Fediverse software of all.

    And, once again, at its core, this is technology from 2012. It pre-dates Mastodon by almost four years.

    Finally, if you want to know how Hubzilla and (streams) compare to Mastodon: I have made a number of tables that compare Mastodon, Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams).

    #Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Mitra #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #ActivityPub #Zot #Zot6 #Zot8 #Nomad #NomadicIdentity #Security #FediverseSecurity #Privacy #FediversePrivacy #Permissions
    #fediversesecurity #fediverseprivacy #cwfediversemeta #nomadicidentity #fediversemeta #activitypub
  7. Jupiter Rowland @[email protected] ·
    @Kellam⚙️Бур This may come as a surprise, but: Nomadic identity is not an abstract concept or a science-fiction idea for the Fediverse.

    It is reality. It exists. Right now. In stable, daily-driver software that's federated with Mastodon. And it has been for over a decade.

    I'm literally replying to you here from a nomadic channel that simultaneously exists on two servers.

    Nomadic identity was invented by @Mike Macgirvin 🖥️ (formerly American software developer of about half a century who has been living in rural Australia for decades now) in 2011 and first implemented in 2012. Almost four years before Mastodon was first launched.

    In 2010, he had invented the Facebook alternative Friendica, originally named Mistpark and based on his own DFRN protocol.

    Over the months, he witnessed lots of privately operated public Friendica nodes shut down with or without an announcement and the users on these nodes lose everything. He added the possibility to export and import Friendica accounts. But that would only help if a permanent shutdown was announced. It did not protect you against shutdowns out of the blue.

    There was only one solution to this problem. And that was for someone's identity to not be bound to one server, but to exist on multiple servers simultaneously. The whole thing with everything that's attached to it. Name, settings, connections, posts, files in the file storage etc. etc., everything.

    So in 2011, Mike designed a whole new protocol named Zot around this brand-new idea of what he called "nomadic identity" back then already.

    In 2012, Mike forked Friendica into something called Red, later the Red Matrix, and rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up against Zot. Red was the first nomadic social networking software in the world, almost four years before Mastodon.

    In 2015, ten months before Mastodon was first released, the Red Matrix became Hubzilla, the Fediverse's ultimate Swiss army knife.

    I am on Hubzilla myself. This channel of mine is constantly being mirrored between its main instance on https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu and its clone on https://hub.hubzilla.de. Anything that happens on the main instance is backed up on the clone. I can also log into the clone and use that, and whatever happens there is backed up on the main instance.

    https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu could go down, temporarily, permanently, doesn't matter; I still have my channel, namely the clone. And I can declare the clone my new main instance.

    Well, Mike didn't stop at Hubzilla and its original version of the Zot protocol. He wanted to refine it and advance it, but in ways that wouldn't be possible on daily-driver software.

    Zot went through several upgrades: Zot6 in 2018 (backported to Hubzilla in 2020, along with OpenWebAuth magic single sign-on). Zot8 in 2020. Zot11 in 2021 which had become incompatible with Zot6 and therefore was renamed to Nomad. Today's Nomad would be Zot12.

    Also, in order to advance and test Zot, Mike created a whole bunch of forks and forks of forks. Osada and Zap for Zot6 in 2018, followed by another short-lived Osada in 2019. A third Osada, Mistpark 2020 (a.k.a. Misty) and Redmatrix 2020 in 2020 for Zot8. Roadhouse for Zot11 Nomad in 2021. All Osadas, Zap, Misty, Redmatrix 2020 and Roadhouse were discontinued on New Year's Eve of 2022.

    The most recent software based on Nomad is from October, 2021. It can be found in the streams repository. It is officially and intentionally nameless and brandless, it has next to nodeinfo code that could submit statistics, and it is intentionally released into the public domain. The community named it (streams) after the code repository.

    I also have two (streams) channels, one of which is cloned so far.

    The newest thing, and that's what the Friendica and Hubzilla veteran @Tim Schlotfeldt ⚓?️‍? referred to, is nomadic identity using nothing but ActivityPub, no longer relying on a special protocol.

    This was not Mike Macgirvin's idea. This came from @silverpill, the creator and developer of the microblogging server application Mitra. He wanted to make Mitra nomadic, make it resilient against server shutdown. But he didn't want to port it to Nomad. He wanted to achieve it with nothing but ActivityPub.

    So he hit up Mike. The two came to the conclusion: This is actually possible. And they began to work on it. Amongst the results were several FEPs coined by silverpill.

    This time, Mike did not create another fork to develop nomadic identity via ActivityPub. He did it all on the nomadic branch of the streams repository while silverpill did his part on a special development branch of Mitra.

    In mid-2024, after enough sparring between (streams) instances, between Mitra instances and between (streams) and Mitra, Mike was confident enough that his implementation of support of nomadic identity via ActivityPub was stable enough. He merged the nomadic branch into the dev branch which ended up being merged into the stable release branch in summer.

    Now, at this point, (streams) didn't use ActivityPub for nomadic identity. It still used the Nomad protocol for everything first and foremost, including cloning. But it understood nomadic identity via ActivityPub as implemented on experimental Mitra.

    However, while it worked under lab conditions, it blew up under real-life conditions. At this point, (streams) had to handle so many different identities that it confused them, and it couldn't federate with anything yet.

    In mid-August, while trying to fix the problem, Mike eventually forked the streams repository into Forte. It got a name again, it got a brand identity again, it got its nodeinfo back, it was put under the MIT license again.

    But most importantly: Any and all support for Nomad was ripped out, also to get rid of a whole number of IDs, namely those for Nomad-actually-Zot12 and for Hubzilla's Nomad-actually-Zot6. Forte only uses ActivityPub for everything. And so, Forte also had to fully rely on ActivityPub for nomadic identity, cloning and syncing.

    For almost seven months, Forte was considered experimental and unstable. For most of the time, the only existing servers were Mike's.

    But on March 12th, 2025, Mike Macgirvin released Forte 25.3.12, the first official stable release of Forte. This is what Tim wrote about. Because this actually made it into Fediverse-wide news.

    Not because it's nomadic. Nomadic identity has been daily-driven for over a decade now.

    But because it uses ActivityPub for nomadic identity. Which means that you can theoretically make any kinds of Fediverse software nomadic now, all without porting it to the Nomad protocol first.

    For the future, Mike and silverpill envision a Fediverse in which one can clone between different server applications. A Fediverse in which one can have one and the same identity cloned across multiple servers of Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Mitra, Forte, Mobilizon, Lemmy, BookWyrm etc., all with the same name, all with the same content and settings (as far as the software allows; you will certainly not be able to clone your PeerTube videos to Mastodon and Lemmy).

    Even if you don't intend to clone, it will make moving instances and even moving from one software to another dramatically easier.

    If you're concerned about your privacy, let me tell you this:

    Hubzilla's privacy, security and permissions system is unparalleled in the Fediverse. Except for that on (streams) and Forte which is another notch better.

    I can define who can see my profile (my default, public profile on Hubzilla where each channel can have multiple profiles).
    I can define who can see my stream and my posts when looking at my channel.
    I can define who can see my connections (Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte don't distinguish between follower and followed; they aren't Twitter clones).
    I can define who can look into my file space (individual permission settings per folder and per file notwithstanding).
    I can define who can see my webpages on Hubzilla (if I have any).
    I can define who can see my wikis on Hubzilla (no shit, I've got wikis on my Hubzilla channel).

    On Hubzilla, I can define individually for any of these whether it's
    • everyone on the Internet
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • everyone on Hubzilla (maybe also on (streams); anyone using ActivityPub is definitely excluded here)
    • everyone on the same server as myself (AFAIK, only main instances of channels count here, clones don't)
    • unapproved (= followers) as well as approved (= mutual) connections
    • confirmed connections
    • those of my confirmed connections whom I explicitly grant that permission by contact role
    • only myself

    There's a whole bunch more permissions than these. And they all have seven or eight permission levels (depending on whether the general non-Fediverse public can be given permission).

    On (streams) and Forte, I can define whether things are allowed for
    • everyone on the Internet (where applicable)
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • all my approved connections
    • only me myself plus those whom I explicitly grant that permission in the connection settings

    Yes, connection settings. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte give you various ways of configuring individual connections, much unlike Mastodon. This includes what any individual connection is allowed to do.

    Hubzilla uses so-called "contact roles" for that, presets with a whopping 17 permissions to grant or deny for any one individual connection. That is, what the channel generally allows, a contact role can't forbid.

    (streams) and Forte still have 15 permissions per contact, but they lack some features which Hubzilla has permissions for. These permissions can be set individually for each connection, or you can define permission roles that cover all 15 permissions to make things easier.

    Okay, how about posting in public vs in private? And when I say "private", I mean "private". It's "private messages" on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte, not "direct messages".

    Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte let you post
    • in public
    • only to yourself
    • only to your connections ((streams) and Forte only; Hubzilla requires a privacy group with all your connections in it for this)
    • to all members of one specific privacy group (Hubzilla)/access list ((streams), Forte); that's like being able to only post to those on one specific list on Mastodon
    • to everyone to whom one specific non-default profile is assigned (Hubzilla only)
    • to a specific group/forum (I'll get back to that later)
    • to a custom one-by-one selection of connections of yours

    Now, let's assume I have a privacy group with Alice, Bob and Carol in it. I send a new post to only this privacy group. This means:
    • Only Alice, Bob and Carol can see the post and the conversation.
    • Alice can reply to me, Bob and Carol.
    • Bob can reply to me, Alice and Carol.
    • Carol can reply to me, Alice and Bob.
    • Nobody else can see the post. Not even by searching for it. Not by hashtag either. Not at all.
    • Nobody else can see any of the comments.
    • Nobody else can comment.

    If one of them was on Mastodon, they'd see my post as a DM, by the way, and they could only reply to me. But that's Mastodon's limitation because it understands neither threaded conversations nor permissions.

    Or how about reply control? This is something that many Mastodon users have been craving for quite a while now. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte have them. Right now. And they work. They have since 2012.

    Hubzilla optionally lets me disallow comments on either of my posts. Users on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte won't even be able to comment; they won't have the UI elements to do so. Everyone else is able to comment locally. But that comment will never end up on my channel. It will never officially be added to the conversation. And at least users on Friendica, Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte will never fetch that comment from my channel as part of the conversation, i.e. never at all.

    (streams) and Forte can go even further with all available options. They can disallow comments like Hubzilla. But in addition, they can allow only the members of one particular access list to comment, regardless of who can see the post/the conversation. On top of that, comments can be closed at a pre-defined point in the future. And then you even have a channel-wide setting for how long people can comment on your posts.

    Oh, and there's even a setting for who is generally permitted to comment on your posts. And you can additionally allow specific connections of yours to comment on your posts.

    Lastly, I've already mentioned groups/forums. Like, you know, Web forums or Facebook groups or subreddits or whatever. Like Guppe Groups on a mountain of coke and with moderation and permission control and optionally private.

    Hubzilla has them, and it has inherited them from Friendica. (streams) has them. Forte has them. They're basically channels like social networking channels, but with some extra features. This includes that everything that's send to a group/forum as what amounts to a PM is automatically forwarded to all other members.

    On Hubzilla, a forum can be gradually made private by denying permission to see certain elements to everyone but its own members (= connections): the profile, the members, what's going on in it. Depending on what you want or do not want people to see.

    On (streams) and Forte, you have four types of forums:
    • public, and members can upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • public, but members cannot upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • like above, but additionally, posts and comments from new members must be manually approved by the admin(s) until their connections are configured to make them full members
    • private, non-members can't see the profile, non-members can't see the connections, non-members can't see what's going on in it, but members can upload images and other files to the forum channel

    In addition, on all three, a group/forum channel can choose to hide itself from directories. This is always an extra option that's independent from public/private.

    What we have here is the most secure and most private Fediverse software of all.

    And, once again, at its core, this is technology from 2012. It pre-dates Mastodon by almost four years.

    Finally, if you want to know how Hubzilla and (streams) compare to Mastodon: I have made a number of tables that compare Mastodon, Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams).

    #Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Mitra #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #ActivityPub #Zot #Zot6 #Zot8 #Nomad #NomadicIdentity #Security #FediverseSecurity #Privacy #FediversePrivacy #Permissions
    #zot #zot8 #zot6 #long #nomad #forte
  8. Jupiter Rowland @[email protected] ·
    @Kellam⚙️Бур This may come as a surprise, but: Nomadic identity is not an abstract concept or a science-fiction idea for the Fediverse.

    It is reality. It exists. Right now. In stable, daily-driver software that's federated with Mastodon. And it has been for over a decade.

    I'm literally replying to you here from a nomadic channel that simultaneously exists on two servers.

    Nomadic identity was invented by @Mike Macgirvin 🖥️ (formerly American software developer of about half a century who has been living in rural Australia for decades now) in 2011 and first implemented in 2012. Almost four years before Mastodon was first launched.

    In 2010, he had invented the Facebook alternative Friendica, originally named Mistpark and based on his own DFRN protocol.

    Over the months, he witnessed lots of privately operated public Friendica nodes shut down with or without an announcement and the users on these nodes lose everything. He added the possibility to export and import Friendica accounts. But that would only help if a permanent shutdown was announced. It did not protect you against shutdowns out of the blue.

    There was only one solution to this problem. And that was for someone's identity to not be bound to one server, but to exist on multiple servers simultaneously. The whole thing with everything that's attached to it. Name, settings, connections, posts, files in the file storage etc. etc., everything.

    So in 2011, Mike designed a whole new protocol named Zot around this brand-new idea of what he called "nomadic identity" back then already.

    In 2012, Mike forked Friendica into something called Red, later the Red Matrix, and rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up against Zot. Red was the first nomadic social networking software in the world, almost four years before Mastodon.

    In 2015, ten months before Mastodon was first released, the Red Matrix became Hubzilla, the Fediverse's ultimate Swiss army knife.

    I am on Hubzilla myself. This channel of mine is constantly being mirrored between its main instance on https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu and its clone on https://hub.hubzilla.de. Anything that happens on the main instance is backed up on the clone. I can also log into the clone and use that, and whatever happens there is backed up on the main instance.

    https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu could go down, temporarily, permanently, doesn't matter; I still have my channel, namely the clone. And I can declare the clone my new main instance.

    Well, Mike didn't stop at Hubzilla and its original version of the Zot protocol. He wanted to refine it and advance it, but in ways that wouldn't be possible on daily-driver software.

    Zot went through several upgrades: Zot6 in 2018 (backported to Hubzilla in 2020, along with OpenWebAuth magic single sign-on). Zot8 in 2020. Zot11 in 2021 which had become incompatible with Zot6 and therefore was renamed to Nomad. Today's Nomad would be Zot12.

    Also, in order to advance and test Zot, Mike created a whole bunch of forks and forks of forks. Osada and Zap for Zot6 in 2018, followed by another short-lived Osada in 2019. A third Osada, Mistpark 2020 (a.k.a. Misty) and Redmatrix 2020 in 2020 for Zot8. Roadhouse for Zot11 Nomad in 2021. All Osadas, Zap, Misty, Redmatrix 2020 and Roadhouse were discontinued on New Year's Eve of 2022.

    The most recent software based on Nomad is from October, 2021. It can be found in the streams repository. It is officially and intentionally nameless and brandless, it has next to nodeinfo code that could submit statistics, and it is intentionally released into the public domain. The community named it (streams) after the code repository.

    I also have two (streams) channels, one of which is cloned so far.

    The newest thing, and that's what the Friendica and Hubzilla veteran @Tim Schlotfeldt ⚓?️‍? referred to, is nomadic identity using nothing but ActivityPub, no longer relying on a special protocol.

    This was not Mike Macgirvin's idea. This came from @silverpill, the creator and developer of the microblogging server application Mitra. He wanted to make Mitra nomadic, make it resilient against server shutdown. But he didn't want to port it to Nomad. He wanted to achieve it with nothing but ActivityPub.

    So he hit up Mike. The two came to the conclusion: This is actually possible. And they began to work on it. Amongst the results were several FEPs coined by silverpill.

    This time, Mike did not create another fork to develop nomadic identity via ActivityPub. He did it all on the nomadic branch of the streams repository while silverpill did his part on a special development branch of Mitra.

    In mid-2024, after enough sparring between (streams) instances, between Mitra instances and between (streams) and Mitra, Mike was confident enough that his implementation of support of nomadic identity via ActivityPub was stable enough. He merged the nomadic branch into the dev branch which ended up being merged into the stable release branch in summer.

    Now, at this point, (streams) didn't use ActivityPub for nomadic identity. It still used the Nomad protocol for everything first and foremost, including cloning. But it understood nomadic identity via ActivityPub as implemented on experimental Mitra.

    However, while it worked under lab conditions, it blew up under real-life conditions. At this point, (streams) had to handle so many different identities that it confused them, and it couldn't federate with anything yet.

    In mid-August, while trying to fix the problem, Mike eventually forked the streams repository into Forte. It got a name again, it got a brand identity again, it got its nodeinfo back, it was put under the MIT license again.

    But most importantly: Any and all support for Nomad was ripped out, also to get rid of a whole number of IDs, namely those for Nomad-actually-Zot12 and for Hubzilla's Nomad-actually-Zot6. Forte only uses ActivityPub for everything. And so, Forte also had to fully rely on ActivityPub for nomadic identity, cloning and syncing.

    For almost seven months, Forte was considered experimental and unstable. For most of the time, the only existing servers were Mike's.

    But on March 12th, 2025, Mike Macgirvin released Forte 25.3.12, the first official stable release of Forte. This is what Tim wrote about. Because this actually made it into Fediverse-wide news.

    Not because it's nomadic. Nomadic identity has been daily-driven for over a decade now.

    But because it uses ActivityPub for nomadic identity. Which means that you can theoretically make any kinds of Fediverse software nomadic now, all without porting it to the Nomad protocol first.

    For the future, Mike and silverpill envision a Fediverse in which one can clone between different server applications. A Fediverse in which one can have one and the same identity cloned across multiple servers of Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Mitra, Forte, Mobilizon, Lemmy, BookWyrm etc., all with the same name, all with the same content and settings (as far as the software allows; you will certainly not be able to clone your PeerTube videos to Mastodon and Lemmy).

    Even if you don't intend to clone, it will make moving instances and even moving from one software to another dramatically easier.

    If you're concerned about your privacy, let me tell you this:

    Hubzilla's privacy, security and permissions system is unparalleled in the Fediverse. Except for that on (streams) and Forte which is another notch better.

    I can define who can see my profile (my default, public profile on Hubzilla where each channel can have multiple profiles).
    I can define who can see my stream and my posts when looking at my channel.
    I can define who can see my connections (Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte don't distinguish between follower and followed; they aren't Twitter clones).
    I can define who can look into my file space (individual permission settings per folder and per file notwithstanding).
    I can define who can see my webpages on Hubzilla (if I have any).
    I can define who can see my wikis on Hubzilla (no shit, I've got wikis on my Hubzilla channel).

    On Hubzilla, I can define individually for any of these whether it's
    • everyone on the Internet
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • everyone on Hubzilla (maybe also on (streams); anyone using ActivityPub is definitely excluded here)
    • everyone on the same server as myself (AFAIK, only main instances of channels count here, clones don't)
    • unapproved (= followers) as well as approved (= mutual) connections
    • confirmed connections
    • those of my confirmed connections whom I explicitly grant that permission by contact role
    • only myself

    There's a whole bunch more permissions than these. And they all have seven or eight permission levels (depending on whether the general non-Fediverse public can be given permission).

    On (streams) and Forte, I can define whether things are allowed for
    • everyone on the Internet (where applicable)
    • everyone with a recognisable Fediverse account
    • all my approved connections
    • only me myself plus those whom I explicitly grant that permission in the connection settings

    Yes, connection settings. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte give you various ways of configuring individual connections, much unlike Mastodon. This includes what any individual connection is allowed to do.

    Hubzilla uses so-called "contact roles" for that, presets with a whopping 17 permissions to grant or deny for any one individual connection. That is, what the channel generally allows, a contact role can't forbid.

    (streams) and Forte still have 15 permissions per contact, but they lack some features which Hubzilla has permissions for. These permissions can be set individually for each connection, or you can define permission roles that cover all 15 permissions to make things easier.

    Okay, how about posting in public vs in private? And when I say "private", I mean "private". It's "private messages" on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte, not "direct messages".

    Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte let you post
    • in public
    • only to yourself
    • only to your connections ((streams) and Forte only; Hubzilla requires a privacy group with all your connections in it for this)
    • to all members of one specific privacy group (Hubzilla)/access list ((streams), Forte); that's like being able to only post to those on one specific list on Mastodon
    • to everyone to whom one specific non-default profile is assigned (Hubzilla only)
    • to a specific group/forum (I'll get back to that later)
    • to a custom one-by-one selection of connections of yours

    Now, let's assume I have a privacy group with Alice, Bob and Carol in it. I send a new post to only this privacy group. This means:
    • Only Alice, Bob and Carol can see the post and the conversation.
    • Alice can reply to me, Bob and Carol.
    • Bob can reply to me, Alice and Carol.
    • Carol can reply to me, Alice and Bob.
    • Nobody else can see the post. Not even by searching for it. Not by hashtag either. Not at all.
    • Nobody else can see any of the comments.
    • Nobody else can comment.

    If one of them was on Mastodon, they'd see my post as a DM, by the way, and they could only reply to me. But that's Mastodon's limitation because it understands neither threaded conversations nor permissions.

    Or how about reply control? This is something that many Mastodon users have been craving for quite a while now. Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte have them. Right now. And they work. They have since 2012.

    Hubzilla optionally lets me disallow comments on either of my posts. Users on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte won't even be able to comment; they won't have the UI elements to do so. Everyone else is able to comment locally. But that comment will never end up on my channel. It will never officially be added to the conversation. And at least users on Friendica, Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte will never fetch that comment from my channel as part of the conversation, i.e. never at all.

    (streams) and Forte can go even further with all available options. They can disallow comments like Hubzilla. But in addition, they can allow only the members of one particular access list to comment, regardless of who can see the post/the conversation. On top of that, comments can be closed at a pre-defined point in the future. And then you even have a channel-wide setting for how long people can comment on your posts.

    Oh, and there's even a setting for who is generally permitted to comment on your posts. And you can additionally allow specific connections of yours to comment on your posts.

    Lastly, I've already mentioned groups/forums. Like, you know, Web forums or Facebook groups or subreddits or whatever. Like Guppe Groups on a mountain of coke and with moderation and permission control and optionally private.

    Hubzilla has them, and it has inherited them from Friendica. (streams) has them. Forte has them. They're basically channels like social networking channels, but with some extra features. This includes that everything that's send to a group/forum as what amounts to a PM is automatically forwarded to all other members.

    On Hubzilla, a forum can be gradually made private by denying permission to see certain elements to everyone but its own members (= connections): the profile, the members, what's going on in it. Depending on what you want or do not want people to see.

    On (streams) and Forte, you have four types of forums:
    • public, and members can upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • public, but members cannot upload images and other files to the forum channel
    • like above, but additionally, posts and comments from new members must be manually approved by the admin(s) until their connections are configured to make them full members
    • private, non-members can't see the profile, non-members can't see the connections, non-members can't see what's going on in it, but members can upload images and other files to the forum channel

    In addition, on all three, a group/forum channel can choose to hide itself from directories. This is always an extra option that's independent from public/private.

    What we have here is the most secure and most private Fediverse software of all.

    And, once again, at its core, this is technology from 2012. It pre-dates Mastodon by almost four years.

    Finally, if you want to know how Hubzilla and (streams) compare to Mastodon: I have made a number of tables that compare Mastodon, Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams).

    #Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Mitra #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #ActivityPub #Zot #Zot6 #Zot8 #Nomad #NomadicIdentity #Security #FediverseSecurity #Privacy #FediversePrivacy #Permissions
    #fediversesecurity #fediverseprivacy #cwfediversemeta #nomadicidentity #fediversemeta #activitypub
  9. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 News – February 2024

    Hi,

    Welcome to the second AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup of 2024!

    It has been yet another active month in the world of AmigaOS 4. We’ve got plenty of updates to software and releases. The A1222+ is not out the door yet, but hopefully, it will be in March. As you’ve noticed, you are reading this on the Old School Game Blog, not on the Gaming on AmigaOS 4 blog. I’ve melted the two together, so from now on the roundups will be hosted here.

    Without further ado, let us move on to the news! 🙂

    Software News

    Let us start with some AI-related news. AmigaGPT is a text generation program that runs on the classic AmigaOS and AmigaOS 4. Utilizing the power of OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 architectures, this program provides state-of-the-art language modeling.

    Features:

    – Generates text based on input prompts
    – UI customization
    – Full conversation history
    – Text-to-speech

    Version 1.4.2 (2024-01-31) is now available from OS4Depot. They replaced clicktabs for AmigaOS 3.x since the version is too old and will crash. 3.x users can select the mode at startup.

    Screenshot by Puni

    After hard work, HunoPPC is back with a massive update to the Super Nintendo emulator for AmigaOS4 called SNES9X NG.

    Here are the changes from the previous version:

    – Added modifications of prefs KEYBOARD on native GUI now!!

    – Added on engine, new converter of keys intuition events to keys SDL2 events for new function of keyboard prefs

    – Added recognition of duplicates in modified keys

    – Added 2 new image for recognition, one for OK (green) and one for NOK (red) 

    – Rewinding cool option working now on game :-), use GUI for activate and add number of Mo for rewind dans on game press F12 for a moment to operate rewinding, IMPORTANT!! this hack is very big for your CPU, on X5000 90% of usage with 60FPS  

    – Fixed Vsync, now working with -vsync and for disable using -novsync (thanks to Kas1e)

    – Fixed limiter of fps without Vsync

    – Fixed loading Rom offset “Tintin in Tibet (Europe) (En,Es,Sv) 

    – Fixed loading Wild Guns, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – The Fighting Edition with a good IRQ cycles and DMA delay

    – Fixed LowMapRom and HiMapRom on memmap functions

    – Optimized DSP2 for AmigaOS4

    – Fixed small audio Crackling 

    – Fixed Speedup audio DSP1 and DSP2   

    Advertisement

    Privacy Settings

    – Tipo fixed on locale (thanks Javier)

    – Tipo fixed on SuperFX Mhz-> to ->%

    – Fixed Run game selected with RETURN now!!

    – Fixed quit GUI with ESCAPE

    – Added cool sounds effects on native GUI (mario voice and yoshi voice)  

    – Added option -interpolationmethod for Sound Interpolation Method, Gaussian=0 / Linear=1 / Cubic=2 (default) / Sinc=3

    – Remove Key Q for quit Snes9X

    – Added new filters:  

        * 2xBR

        * 2xBR-lv1

        * DDT

        * Scanlines 25%

        * Dot Matrix  

    – Fixed draw time with FPS count

    – Fixed HACKVIDEO config write

    – Fixed INTERPOLATION config write

    – Fixed OVERCLOCKCPU config write

    – Added button for sounds effects on GUI

    – New all catalogs

    – Sound now is Threaded 

    – Fixed timing for all games with Vsync

    – Fixed Joypad2, now working with the GUI launcher

    – Added new hack option “-disablespritelimit” disable max sprite tiles rendered per line. Default = 34, Unlimited ~= 128 

    – Fixed Mute now working!! 

    – On game FULLSCREEN/WINDOW mode now working with = L_ALT + RETURN

    – Added new option -emulatedmachine for a virtuel machine, activate a correct software rendering on internal engine (disable: vsync, FULLSCREEN_DESKTOP) 

    – Fixed commandline for all filters

    – fixed commandline for support optical games: mouse, superscope, justifier and macsrifle.

    – GUI is now V1.0.7

    – Added to GUI news options: sound thread and Emulated machine (for QEMU and WinUAE machines)

    – Fixed Vsync disable if you use emulated machine or rwinding options (thank to Javier)

    – Added new images for inputs : Keyboard, joypad, mouse, superscope, justifier and macsrifle

    – Now superscope working with a mouse Amiga 

    – fixed disabled prefs Buttons of joypad if you use other input

    – Center the cursor on screen

    – Support all optical games with cursor and mouse for shooting (move working, now i working on the buttons) IMPORTANT: Correctly choose the type of weapon suitable for the game otherwise it may not work correctly, MOUSE ONLY!!!

    – Added new folder “Roms-Optical” for copy your games Guns or Optical (Konami Justifier, superscope, mouse and a special MacsRiffle)

    – Fixed -nooverscan and center a screen on 320×240 mode (window and fullscreen)

    – Fixed on mode -nooverscan and 320×240 centered screen with L_ALT + RETURN

    – Fixed Justifier1 AimOffscreen Trigger button, now working with the center button of mouse 

    – Added 2 KEYS on KEYBOARD with optical mode:

     * KEY HOME : “Superscope Pause”

     * KEY END : “Superscope AimOffscreen” 

    – Fixed mode -emulatedmachine on all renderer

    – Fixed if you use optical games with with L_ALT + RETURN disable a pointer on window mode

    – Added 3 new images availablecover3dMSU1.png, availablecover3dOPTICAL.png and availablecover3dSUPERFX.png for not available previews 

    – GUI checking now all datas dependency for interface on launching and push requester if you have an error 

    – Fixed disable vsync on GUI with -emulatedmachine -nooverscan and -rewinding options

    – Fix fps limiter on PAL mode

    Screenshot by Puni

    The emulator is available for download on OS4Depot:

    OS4Depot – Your one stop for AmigaOS4 files

    Rene Engel has created a video showing the emulator running on his AmigaOS 4 setup through QEMU. The footage was created with the previous version of SNES9X NG.

    Leu is a spreadsheet application by Marcus Sackrow, which started as an Excel and OpenOffice viewer. Now it also features basic editing functions and a fully working parser.

    Screenshot by Puni

    It supports the loading of Excel (XLSX), Libre/OpenOffice (ods), ASCII (CSV), and TurboCalc (TCD) files. You can export the tables to Excel, Libre/OpenOffice, ASCII, HTML, or wiki tables. Version 0.08 is now available for download at OS4Depot.

    Screenshot by Puni

    A. Pankalla has released an update to Luettje Bookholler, which is a personal finance program. For those of you who are curious about what «Luettje Bookholler» means (I have mentioned this in an earlier roundup, but will repeat it for new readers), I can tell you that it is German and means «Little Accountant». Version 1.87 contains several bug fixes and changes:

    • Bug: Report account-flow has not offer the last years, only last 12 months.
    • Bug: Long catogory names are not shown in ignition tables.
    • Changes: Now also the values are shown in ignition pie-graphics.
    • Bug: Corrects some little bugs in ignition-sheets.

    SDL2 (Simple DirectMedia Layer 2) 2.30 was released in February. You can download it from OS4Depot, as well as find more information about it there:

    http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=library/misc/sdl2.lha

    Screenshot by Puni

    Version 30.81 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    •  Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples are ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, windowed and fullscreen modes, CPU tracing, trainer, drag and drop support, graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, frame skipping, and much more!

    Screenshot by Puni

    Here is an overview of the changes since the last release:

    Changes since V30.8:

     Summary:

    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Details:

    • arcadia: improved overlay text for basketball and horse racing.
    • wa: arcadia: changed white to grey in sidebar game glyphs (for better contrast against default sidebar background).
    • wa: arcadia: fixed: sidebar game glyphs for red clash and robot killer were swapped.
    • incorporated Mikhail’s latest Russian translation.
    • aa: fixed: it was crashing during exit if eg. a needed ReAction class was not available.
    • assembler: fixed: INCBIN directive was broken.
    • pipbug: now autostarts biorhythm (300 baud) and life (machine code).
    • pipbug: fixed: VDU autoadjustment could result in a mislocated LED display.
    • pipbug: adjusted VDU autosense settings for biorhythm, calendar maker, mazemaker.
    • fixed: WC,WP command were writing garbage error messages.
    • pipbug: improved compatibility (improves random number generator, russian roulette, etc.).
    • pipbug,binbug: now silences sound when resetting.
    • pipbug: now translates ENTER to Ctrl-L automatically for mastermind and revised mastermind.
    • wa: fixed: first string sent to output window was not being displayed.
    • pipbug: added knowledge about good dump of RYTMON.
    • pipbug 2: added comment support for pipla example.
    • pipbug: fixed: baud rate addresses were incorrect after reset (fixes pipla test).
    • pipbug: added autostart for Micro BASIC programs.

    AmiArcadia is free to download. 🙂 You can grab it from OS4Depot here:

    http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=emulation/gamesystem/amiarcadia.lha

    Here are the links to the authors websites:

    http://amigan.1emu.net/releases/

    http://amigan.yatho.com/

    HunoPPC and the Amiga French Team 2024 have ported Wipeout Rewrite to AmigaOS 4!

    Screenshot by Puni

    The rewrite of WipEout was done by Phoboslab. Here is the link to the Github page.

    Please read on for more information from HunoPPC:

    AmigaOS 4.1 Port by HunoPPC with the Amiga French Team 2024

    Important: OpenGL renderer with MiniGL Library (no software)

    A big thank you to Samo79 because this port for minigl would never have been made if he had not insisted 🙂

    Use glewMGL port and code for minigl by HunoPPC 2024

    Use SDL2 port by Capehill

    IMPORTANT!! If you use hack GUI please check your DEVS/MONITOR/”driver” for add all new resolutions, thanks.

    First release 1.0.0 AmigaOS4

    • Added GUI for start a new prefs on live (important !! it’s an hack)
    • Added Icon created by me
    • Fixed loading texture with glewMGL
    • Fixed fullscreen mode on glewMGL
    • Added KPH counter on screen (thanks Samo79)

    The game can be downloaded from OS4Depot, but the archive does not contain the assets (textures, 3d models, etc.) required to run the game. You can find the download link for the data files in the documentation on OS4Depot. 🙂

    http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=game/driving/wipeout.lha

    The screenshot is from George Sokianos page on Ko-fi

    Version 2.4.6 of the WHD-Load front-end iGame was released in February. The AmigaOS 4 port is maintained by George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero. This is a front-end application for launching WHDLoad games and demos.

    Features include:

    – Multiple WHDLoad slaves repositories on hard disk partitions
    – On-demand scanning in repositories for installed WHDLoad slaves (games, demos etc.)
    – Use game tool types on the run
    – Shows game screenshot (screenshot window can be altered through
    – tool types/settings use datatypes to load foreign formats)
    – Categorization of the games and filtering
    – Manual addition of non-WHDLoad games, demos, etc.
    – Simple statistics
    – Find-as-you-type search filter

    If you’d like to read about the changes since the previous version, please have a look at the appropriate page on GitHub.

    An update to Report+, a ReAction-based utility with nine functions, has been released by James Jacobs. It was made available on OS4Depot on February 18th. This tool can help you with generating Aminet- and OS4Depot-style readme files, performing batch processing on icons, and much more. Click here to go to the download page or to find information about the recent changes.

    Several language catalog files For AmiUpdate have been uploaded to OS4Depot thanks to the work of Niels Bache (Danish), Samir Hawamdeh (Italian), Michael Merkel and Gerd Frank (German), Petrol (French), Javier de las Rivas (Spanish).

    René W. Olsen has released version 1.27 of the Amiga VNC Server. It has been written from scratch, and according to the author, it still needs some work. The source code is available on GitHub. Click here to download the archive. He has also released version 2.7 of ReSrc4, an MC680x0 Disassembler.

    Heretic II from Hyperion Entertainment is getting close to becoming available for purchase! I’ve been in touch with the Alinea Computer Shop. They will stock the game. I wrote them and asked them to reserve a copy, which they will. 😉 If you want to know more about Heretic II for AmigaOS 4, I recommend checking out this interview I did a while back with Steffen Häuser a.k.a. TheMagicSN, who ported it to AmigaOS 4.

    AmiGemini version 0.11 was released on the February 20th. It was created by Karl Jeacle and uploaded to OS4Depot by Samir Hawamdeh. It is a browser for Gemini, Spartan, Gopher, and Finger. The source code is included.

    Kas1e has released version 0.10 of WB2Filer. WB2Filer is a hack that patches Intuition’s functions via SetMethod() to allow transparently run of the Filer binary pointing to the given partition on Workbench’s desktop instead of the original Workbench windows. Please click here to get an overview of the changes since the last release.

    Screenshot by Puni

    HexSee, a hex viewer that displays file contents in blocks of 16 characters per line, has been updated to version 1.1. The author is Retrami Software. It contains a few extra features that are not always available in other AmigaOS hex viewers. It can read any file up to 4 GB in size, while a single file buffer will not use more than 128 KB even for the largest file. Text and background colors can be set to any color, and it was written especially for AmigaOS 4.1.

    – Added program information to the Screen Bar
    – Added Tool Tips to the gadgets
    – Enabled Localisation
    – Added Text & Hex Search
    – Added Text & Hex selection
    – Enabled Home/End/PgUp/PgDown keys

    You can download HexSee from OS4Depot.

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 115 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 14.61. Changes include a Dungeon Master 2 save game editor, and miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    On February 23rd, Michael Rupp released an update for the SonosController program, which allows you to control your Sonos speakers from any Amiga connected to the same network. The changelog can be found on OS4Depot, along with the program itself.

    – NEW: first release for AROS x86
    – NEW: ARexx command REINDEX to invoke re-indexing the Sonos music library
    – NEW: include all icons in every distribution in new subdrawer “Icons”
    – NEW: include additional icons by AMIGASYSTEM (thanks Carlos!)
    – IMPROVED: reloading the browser with F5 will not loose the selected position and item anymore.
    – FIXED: loading of data (playlists, queues, etc.) is no longer limited to 100 entries (bug introduced with 1.3).
    – FIXED: if network is off the app won’t crash on startup but show an error message.
    – FIXED: possible crash when clicking the “looking for Sonos…” entry.

    A major release this month was the update to Rave. Daniel Jedlicka, a.k.a. Trixie on Amiga forums, has released an updated version of Rave, his sound editor for AmigaOS 4 compatible computers.

    Changes since the previous release are as follows:

    – The program now keeps a list of recently opened files and has an associated item in the Project menu for quickly opening these files again.
    – Reworked the file requester, which now features a more flexible Access Panel with a user-definable Favourites section.
    – Another addition to the file requester is the Browsing History pop-up for selecting recently used paths.
    – Fixed a playback-related bug that would make Rave unresponsive, waiting for a signal that never arrives.
    – Updated documentation.

    Download link:

    http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=audio/edit/rave.lha

    Rave requires AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Update 2 or newer. It also requires Enhancer Core classes (toolbar.gadget, infodata.gadget, select.gadget, shared.image).

    Here is an overview of Rave’s features:

    – A modern, configurable graphical user interface (GUI).
    – A tabbed environment for managing multiple projects from within a single program window.
    – A powerful custom file requester with preview playback and other useful features.
    – A wide selection of editing functions with unlimited Undo.
    – Asynchronous operation: performing a task in a project doesn’t block the other projects.
    – Support for multiple clipboard units.
    – Modular design with an object-oriented plugin system, which makes the program easy to extend.
    – A wide range of supported audio file types and formats.

    Trixie has also published a new post on his blog, Rear Window, which is called Crawling back to life. There you can read more about the development of Rave.

    Amiga-news.de reports that AmiUpdate has been updated twice in February. First to version 2.50, then to 2.51. Please visit amiga-news.de here to read the full story.

    Another piece of news from amiga-news.de is about QEMU and the BBoot bootloader version 0.6. According to amiga-news.de, “BBoot is a simple, minimal bootloader for loading AmigaOS on QEMU-emulated AmigaOne and Pegasos2 machines, written by Amiga QEMU developer Balaton Zoltan.” Please click here to read the whole article concerning BBoot.

    The last news is the release of version 6.22 of Codesets. More information and a download is available over at OS4Depot.

    Miscellaneous

    Versus is a demoscene chart and disk magazine created by two demo groups, Nukleus and Void, for Amiga OCS/ECS and AmigaOS 4. Nine issues have been released so far. The last one, Versus #9, came out for Classic Amiga and AmigaOS 4 in 2019.

    Versus #10 is on the way, and voting has officially opened!

    Cast your vote for your favorite demos, intros, programmers, musicians, and so forth! 🙂 The more votes collected, the more accurate the charts will be. Thank you in advance for your support!

    You can find the Online votesheet here:

    https://www.nukleus.nu/VersusVote.php

    It is worth mentioning that you are not required to fill out all the fields.

    We are very grateful for every vote we receive, and we really hope you’ll spend a few minutes filling out the votesheet as soon as possible. 🙂

    Some of you might have noticed that I’ve not published much on Gaming on AmigaOS 4 recently. AmigaOS 4 related posts have been published on the Old School Game Blog instead. The reason is that I’ve decided to continue Gaming on AmigaOS 4 on Old School Game Blog from now on. I’m involved in many projects, such as those with Void (Amiga demo group), so it easier to blog in one place. 🙂

    The AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup will continue, but on Old School Game Blog instead. I’ve added an AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup section to the site. Here is the link. I hope you’ll continue reading my blog posts about AmigaOS 4 and Amiga in general at Old School Game Blog.

    Screenshot taken on February 28th by Puni

    The A1222+ motherboard and a full A1222+ computer system were listed on the website of amigakit.fr in February. The price for a motherboard without RAM is 1,199 EUR. 4 GB of RAM costs 39,99 EUR extra. A full system will set you back 1,599 EUR. The final price depends on taxes, fees, and shipping. You can not order either one from the shop yet, but according to AmigaKit, they should be available soon. Here is a quote from AmigaKit dated February 12th:

    “No, AmigaKit FR is getting ready for general sale. First stock arriving is for Early Adopters very shortly. A date for non-early adopters will be added to the webstore in the next week or so.”

    Source: https://www.amigans.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=9258&start=60

    A date has not been added yet (today it is February 29th). March is just around the corner. When the A1222+ was announced (again) in October, one was told that the boards would ship in October, or November at the latest. This information can be found at Discord, as well as on Amigans.net. Several months have passed since then, and as far as I know, no one has received the A1222+ yet. The Facebook page of AAA Technology has not been updated since October, so it is not easy for customers or potential buyers to know what is going on. I really hope the A1222+ will be released soon though, and I feel for all those who are waiting and waiting for it to arrive. I’m sure it will be a fun system to experiment with!

    A preview of the March/April issue of Amiga Future has been published on the official website of the magazine. Here is the link.

    The Lost C has published a video on YouTube showing the new HunoPPC port of WipeOut for AmigaOS 4.1 in action. He shows it running a Sam440, Sam460, and an Amiga 1200 with BlizzardPPC and BVision. The video is in Italian.

    He is not the only one who has created a video of Wipeout. So has McFlyPPC. His video shows it running on an AmigaOne X5000.

    Rene Engel has uploaded a video showing version 1.33 of the Dgen SEGA Mega Drive emulator running with QEMU / Pegasos 2.

    Muf has created a review of the Velocap HDR Tbox Deluxe, which you can see here. It is in Polish.

    In February we’ve been playing a game by Entwickler-X called Balance Blox on Amigans.net.

    BillE is currently in the lead with a whopping 124,200 points! There’s still a little bit of time left if you want to try to beat the score and become this month’s game champion over at Amigans.net.

    https://www.amigans.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=9472

    Until next time

    You’ve reached the end of this month’s AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup. Hope you have enjoyed reading the news. 🙂

    Thanks to all of you for supporting this initiative by reading, spreading, commenting, and sending me messages. It is much appreciated!

    Have a great day, and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni/Void a.k.a AmigaOldSkooler

    Rate this:

    https://oldschoolgameblog.com/2024/02/29/amigaos-4-monthly-roundup-february-2024/

    #10 #9 #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #amiga #amiganews #amigaos4 #amigaos4monthlyroundup #amigaos41
  10. Anne Roth @[email protected] ·

    Mediathek

    Hier sammele ich alles, was anderswo über mich oder von mir erschien.

    Library – a collection of material by me publishd elsewhere, about me, my blog.

    • Deutsch
      • Texte von mir woanders
      • Texte über mich und meine Aktivitäten
      • Interviews
      • Video
      • Audio
    • English
    • Italiano / Espagnol / Français / Norsk / Polski / Svenska

    Deutsch

    Texte von mir woanders

    Texte über mich und meine Aktivitäten

    Interviews

    Beiträge, in denen ich erwähnt oder zitiert werde
    (Der Vollständigkeit halber)

    Video

    TV

    Panels, Talks, Konferenzen

    Online

    Film

    Demos

    Audio

    Radio

    Veranstaltungen

    Podcasts

    english

    Video

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    Text

    Zum Terrorismus-Verfahren gegen Andrej Holm 2007

    Text

    Video

    Audio

    • documenta12, 22. Aug 07: Freiheit von Kunst und Wissenschaft
      Am 1. August 2007 wurde gegen Andrej Holm, Stadtsoziologe an der Humboldt Universität Berlin, zusammen mit drei anderen Personen Haftbefehl erlassen unter dem Verdacht der Bildung einer terroristischen Vereinigung. Die Umstände dieser Verhaftung bedrohen die Freiheit von Wissenschaft und Kunst.
    • Küchenradio, 14. März 10: KR252 Andrej Holm (mp3)

    The terrorism case against Andrej Holm in 2007

    Italiano

    Espagnol

    Francais

    Norsk

    Polski

    Svenska

    #1 #126 #264 #29c3 #61 #92 #ausnahmslos #besorgteEier #Twittersperrt
    #29c3 #ausnahmslos #besorgteeier #twittersperrt
  11. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – April 2025

    Hi,

    Welcome to a new edition of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup! 🙂

    The month of May has arrived. Spring is in the air! It is time to look at what has been happening in the community during April.

    Thanks for reading and for visiting my blog. Hope you’ll enjoy the news!

    Software News

    First up is some gaming news! Hold on to your horses!

    Warcraft-2-Engine: Stratagus 3.3.3 for AmigaOS 4

    Press release from amiga-news.de

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Alinea Computer is pleased to be able to offer another port by Steffen Häuser. Steffen has taken care of the porting of the latest version 3.3.3 and the installation routines for easy installation under AmigaOS 4. Stratagus is the port of the engine in version 3.3.3, which makes it possible to play the game Warcraft 2 from Blizzard Entertainment natively on the Amiga under AmigaOS 4.

    The archive contains an installer with which it is possible to install the game directly from the PC CD without pre-installing it on the PC. At least for the Warcraft 2 Classic PC CD, for the Battle.Net CD or the Gog version it is necessary to unpack a file with a Windows tool, but with the Classic CD you can install directly on the Amiga.

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Warcraft 2 is one of the most famous strategy games of all time, practically the prequel to the famous MMO “World of Warcraft”. In addition to the base game “Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness”, the add-on CD “Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal” (already included in the Battle.Net CD and Gog version) is also supported.

    Stratagus is based on the current “latest Git” version of the Stratagus project (version 3.3.3). In contrast to an earlier implementation, 3.3.3 offers the following features:

    • Iconic game music and not just sound effects (the music files are only installed with the Warcraft 2 Classic CD and the Battle.net CD, but can be copied manually afterwards when using the Gog version).
    • The game’s video sequences (video sequences not available on AmigaOne A1222)
    • A functional level editor
    • Numerous bug fixes

    Of course, the localisation of Warcraft 2 into different languages is also supported.

    Stratagus is under GPL licence, the source code of the Amiga version will be integrated into the github of the PC version in the foreseeable future, but is also available as a request by e-mail (see readme for details).

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    The minimum requirements for Stratagus are:

    A computer with AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2 or higher
    Special executables optimised for the respective platforms (x1000, x5000, Sam 440, Sam 460, G3 and A1222) can be selected during installation.

    https://www.amiga-shop.net/en/Amiga-Software/Amiga-Games/Stratagus-3-3-3-for-AmigaOS-4::1412.html

    Juan Carlos Herrán Martín is an active software developer for platforms like AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, and AROS. We’ve seen many releases from him in the earlier monthly roundups. Now he is back with a new version of the game Los Malditos. It is a free adaption of the mythical books from Timun Mas from the 1980s and 1990s. These books are related to Dungeons & Dragons. The author is a fan of these works. It is now available for download at OS4Depot.

    Improvements since the previous version:

    • Improved on-screen text
    • Improvement of the game speed, removing the delay refresh in the game window
    • Bugs fixed
    • Removed the option to exit the game when you are in a fight and you are in places preventing you from running away from the enemy
    • New cover
    • The game has been made free, but donations are welcome

    He also released version Final2 of High-Low-Equal Poker. This is a special version to promote the game Los Malditos del Valle del Cerro and a way to show the possibilities of his games to promote magazines, books, movies, and other games and programs, even hardware.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version
    • The game has the exclusive Baphomet deck with the Heroes from the game “Los Malditos’ del Valle del Cerro”
    • Bug fixed with card engine
    • Two game modes: A=1 Ace equals 1 and Poker A>K Ace as in poker is the highest card
    • Now the game cans open and play with Baphomet decks
    • New screen to exit the game instead of the window requester
    • Small improvements

    If that was not enough, he updated his utility Cards Making Kit to version 2.20. With this program, you can make your decks for the following games:

    • HLE Poker Card (High-Low-Equal Poker Card)
    • BlackJuan
    • Siete y Media
    • Baccarat
    • BlackIvan Card

    You can make your decks using pictures from your family, pets, hobbies, etc.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Here is another one from the same author. Version 2.05 of a game called Baccarat has been released. This is a tribute to the mythical card game, popularized by the James Bond movie Dr. No with Sean Connery. The author has added a new exit cover (more James Bond style), and fixed a bug with the Baphomet decks and the overload in the game screen that slowed down the game.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Blackjuan Poker Card has been updated to version 2.00. This is another card game from the author above. The development of the game started back in 2012. This release includes new graphics and bug fixes. The game now supports Baphomet decks.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Last, but not least, he has updated the game Siete y Media to version 2.00. This is a Spanish Blackjack version with a Spanish deck of 40 cards. The aim of the game is not to get 21 which is common in Blackjack, but the sum of 7.5. You can read more about this in the readme. An SDK is included for those interested in making their decks of cards.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67WwNSgq3A

    Amifish is a chess program made to play chess with Amiga-like systems. It exploits the power of one of the most powerful chess engines in the world: Stockfish. This engine was developed by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, and Gary Linscott. A chess engine is a console program that plays chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. Stockfish and many other engines are compatible with a standard named UCI (Universal Chess Interface). The name Amifish is obtained by joining the words ‘Amiga’ and ‘Stockfish’. However, the project is open to all engines compliant with the UCI standard. It is a light program for amateurs. It is made to have fun with chess. Only the most important options are implemented. Version 2.1 is out for AmigaOS 4 and can be downloaded from OS4Depot.

    Version R19 of iMage, a fast image viewer by Lazi has been released. According to the author, it handles JPG files very fast.

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 122 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.31, which provides miscellaneous improvements, as well as an enhanced Goal! Team editor.

    Lorence Lombardo released version 1.0 of chklib. It is currently used in the “amiaudcomp” lib project. He also released version 1.0 of flushmem, which in theory flushes all flushable items from memory.

    AmiSSL received an update to version 5.20. As mentioned in earlier editions of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup, the AmiSSL project is a collaborative effort to develop a port of OpenSSL in a shared library for Amiga-based systems. The download is available here. If you are interested in the SDK, it can be found here. It is a must-have if you use AmigaOS 4 to browse the web!

    An updated version, 3.4, of the YouTube URL Extractor Script by Michael Trebilcock was released on April 16th. YT.rexx is a script for providing direct video and audio links from YouTube URLs. Changes from the previous version include:

    3.4 – 16th Apr 2025:

    • Compatibility fixes.
    • Removed MEDIACONNECT client as it was no longer supported.
    • Added ANDROIDVR client. This is the default in a new YT.cfg. Please note that
      YouTube Kids videos are incompatible with this client.
    • DualTagVid / DualTagAud settings in the .cfg can now have multiple tag
      numbers in order of priority, for use with the dualplay option.

    More history within the archive.

    PolarPaint is an experimental paint program made in Hollywood by Anbjørn Myren. Version 1.055 was uploaded to OS4Depot and became available on April 18th. If you are interested in checking it out, please click here. Another version called PolarPaint Small can be downloaded via this link.

    Deark is an application that can extract data from a wide range of file formats. Developed by Jason Summers, this tool can help you get data from everything from AMOS ABK files to Doom WADs. You can read more about supported formats, as well as download the utility from OS4Depot. Version 1.7.0 became available on OS4Depot on April 18th.

    George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero has released a new version of aiostreams. “All In One streams” (aiostreams) is a pack of scripts, written in Python, that can be used to stream and watch videos from different online networks, like Twitch.tv, YouTube, and Vimeo.com. Please click here to download it or to read the changelog.

    Version 3.451 of IMP3, a utility created by Juen a.k.a Pawl Nowak, has been released! The program was originally meant for 68K but does run OK on AmigaOS 4. With IMP3, you can listen to over 168.000 music files through the Internet. These are ProTracker modules, SID tunes, and so forth. Besides this, it has cloud storage and Online gaming with high scores.

    The source code for AmiCraftNova has been released to the public domain by Caras Ghant.

    Frank Wille has released an updated version of vasm m68k std, vasm PPC std, and vasm 68k mot. vasm is a portable and re-targetable assembler to create linkable objects in various formats and absolute code. Multiple CPU-, syntax, and output-modules can be selected.

    AmigaGPT is a versatile ChatGPT client for AmigaOS 3.x, 4.1 and MorphOS. It is being developed by Cameron Armstrong a.k.a. Nightfox. This powerful tool brings the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT to your Amiga system, enabling text generation, question-answering, and creative exploration. AmigaGPT can also generate stunning images using DALL-E and includes support for speech output, making it easier than ever to interact with AI on your Amiga. Designed to integrate seamlessly with your system, AmigaGPT delivers modern AI technology while embracing the timeless Amiga experience. Version 2.5.0 is now available for download from OS4Depot.

    Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups, and other obnoxious Internet junk. It is being developed by Mark Mansnerus. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has applications for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks. Version 3.0.6 is now out and available for download.

    WormHole allows you to transfer files to another computer within the same LAN without having to make any adjustments. It is being developed by Lazi. The main advantage of using WormHole between Amiga systems is that it can handle icons and all AmigaOS file attributes in one step.

    Main features:

    • Transfers all Amiga file attributes
    • Transfers icons automatically
    • Zero configuration
    • Transfers files bi-directional at the same time
    • Transfer multiple files parallel at the same time
    • Multiplatform

    Version 0.5 has been released. Please click here to download it.

    AStone is a picture viewer created in Hollywood by Sandro Barbagelata. Version 1.0 was released on April 26th. It is heavily inspired by the utility Fastone on Windows.

    The AmigaOS 4 port of Open Medal of Honor is now available on OS4Depot. The porting has been done by Ryan Dixon a.k.a. rjd324. The main goal of OpenMoHAA is to ensure the future and continuity of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (including Spearhead and Breakthrough expansions) on all platforms/architectures by providing new patches/features.

    The source code for the AmigaOS4 port can be found at:

    https://github.com/3246251196/openmohaa

    The download is available here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQhvT-h2jk0

    An update to Report+, a ReAction-based utility with nine functions, has been released by James Jacobs. It was made available on OS4Depot on April 27th. This tool can help you with generating Aminet- and OS4Depot-style readme files, performing batch processing on icons, and much more. Recent changes since 8.64 include miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes. More detailed information can be found on OS4Depot.

    Screenshot by Puni from an older version

    Version 34.3 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Signetics TWIN minicomputer (1976);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    • Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples include ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, and windowed and fullscreen modes. Other features are CPU tracing, trainer, and drag and drop support. Additionally, it offers graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, and frame skipping, among many other features!

    Here is a summary of the changes since the last version:

    • TWIN: added emulation of high-speed papertape reader.
    • CD2650, PHUNSY: added “Tools|Sprite/character editor/viewer…”
      command.
    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Please click here to be taken to the download page.

    Xiangqi is a chess program made to play Xiangqi (Chinese chess), by making use of chess engines UCI compatible with the moves played by computers. A chess engine is a console program that play chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. The program is developed by Domenico Lattanzi. More information is available on OS4Depot.

    That was the software news for this time. Now let us move over to hardware! 🙂

    Hardware

    I first heard about the new PPC hardware on Discord and was very surprised, to say the least! amiga-news.de has an extensive article about the subject. It will explain the project much better than I would be able to do. 🙂 I recommend you pop over to them and have a look at what this new PPC hardware is about.

    https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html

    The Sam460. Photo lent from the official website of ACube Systems

    Here are two announcements from ACube Systems about UBoot updates! 🙂

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam460EX / Sam460CR / Sam460LE boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 08 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the UBoot firmware for its Sam460 line of motherboards.

    For the first time in Amiga history, it is now possible to boot from an NVMe SSD.

    This groundbreaking achievement marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Amiga platform. Thanks to recent advancements, users can now experience dramatically improved boot speeds and data access times by utilizing modern NVMe solid-state drives—bringing the Amiga into a new era of performance and reliability.

    This development not only enhances the capabilities of current NG systems but also demonstrates the ongoing innovation and dedication within the Amiga community. Booting from an NVMe SSD was once considered impossible—today, it is a reality.

    This update is completely free for all users.

    We are excited to announce a new version packed with important features and improvements—available as a free download.

    New in this release:

    • NVMe SSD driver – For the first time ever, you can boot from an NVMe drive using a standard NVMe-to PCIe adapter.
    • PCIe SATA2 support – Added driver for the Silicon Image 3132 controller, allowing booting from both SATA SSDs and DVD drives.
    • DDR2 timing adjustments – Fine-tune DDR2 RAM timings for faster memory access.
    • Customizable USB stack – Choose between EHCI (faster for mass storage) or OHCI (greater compatibility with keyboards).
    • Enhanced “sata” command – Now displays more detailed information about drivers and connected devices.
    • Improved serial console navigation – Navigate menu items using W and S keys.
    • General bug fixes and improvements.
    • Unified source code – Now streamlined for both 460ex and 440ep platforms.
    • An updated installation guide is included, covering the standard ISO image method as well as alternative installation methods via TFTP and USB.
    • Updater tool can be downloaded from:
      https://acube-systems.biz/download/Sam460_updater_2015d.zip

    If you are not comfortable installing UBoot yourself, we also offer fully updated UBoot chips through our online store.

    Additional information:
    Please note: UBoot and UBoot updater make use of GPL code and thus are both published under GPL.

    Sources can be downloaded from:

    UBoot & UBoot updater
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz

    Parthenope
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    The Sam440EP Flex – Photo by Puni

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam440ep mini-itx and Sam440ep flex boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 14 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the U-Boot firmware for its Sam440 line of motherboards.

    Following the recent update for the Sam460, the Sam440 now also benefits from enhanced support, including compatibility with NVMe SSDs. Additionally, this update introduces support for Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards.

    This release represents a significant investment of time and resources. Nevertheless, we have chosen to offer it at the symbolic price of €3.99.

    Highlights of this release include:

    • Support for Radeon RX graphics cards () Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards ()
      NVMe SSD driver: boot directly from NVMe devices using a PCIe adapter () Driver for the PCIe SATA2 Silicon Image 3132 controller, with support for booting from SSDs and DVDs ()
    • Enhanced RAM access speed on Sam440ep-flex boards
    • New graphical interface style
    • Revised ‘sata’ command, now displaying more detailed information about drivers and connected devices
    • Serial console improvements: menu navigation via the W (up) and S (down) keys
    • General bug fixes and overall improvements
    • Unified source code for the 460ex and 440ep platforms

    Note:

    Features marked with an asterisk (*) require a PCI-to-PCIe bridge.
    Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards also require a specific driver (to be sold separately by A-EON Technology once available) for use with AmigaOS 4.

    Purchase the update:

    The update is available through our online store.
    For those not comfortable performing the update themselves, we also offer pre-programmed, fully updated U-Boot chips.

    Additional Information:

    UBoot makes use of GPL-licensed code and is therefore released under the terms of the GPL.

    Source code downloads:

    U-Boot:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz
    Parthenope:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    YouTube

    Marek Glogowski has published a new video showing Super Star Blast running on AmigaOS 4 through QEMU 10 and GPU Passthrough:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_a9kpbXtQ

    HunoPPC shows DOSBox Enhanced running on AmigaOS 4 with 3dfx support and shader effects:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCPkfZ-pVo

    Here is a video of Baldur’s Gate running on AmigaOS 4. The video was created by anouk33.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UT8a-33z2o

    Here is another video, but this time of WarCraft II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY5ktfyiK7o

    And one of Quake II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewALudVmDRc

    Amiga Wave has made a long video. It lasts for more than 2 hours and covers his experience with AmigaOS 4 on the Sam460LE. The video is in Spanish.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVsxjDwqHM

    Mr. Byte shows Stratagus 3.3.3 running on his A1222+:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJhZh_f_qY

    The Lost C is back with a new video. This time he does a test of the A1222 with a Radeon HD7750. The vide is in Italian.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLYq27YKxls

    He also created a video with the A1222 and AmiCygnix:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCDn4hMeabY

    TJ Ferreira is back once again. This time, he takes us on a journey through his experience with playing Glubble on his AmigaOne X5000. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72WX8T2Lsd4

    Until next time

    You’ve now reached the end of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup for April 2025. I had not expected it to be this extensive. There is a clearly a lot happening in the world of AmigaOS 4 and Amiga in general these days!

    Thanks as always to all readers and supporters out there. Thanks for visiting my blog and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni

    Rate this:

    #A1222 #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOne #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #a1222 #amiga #amiganews #amigaone #amigaos4 #amigaos4monthlyroundup
  12. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – April 2025

    Hi,

    Welcome to a new edition of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup! 🙂

    The month of May has arrived. Spring is in the air! It is time to look at what has been happening in the community during April.

    Thanks for reading and for visiting my blog. Hope you’ll enjoy the news!

    Software News

    First up is some gaming news! Hold on to your horses!

    Warcraft-2-Engine: Stratagus 3.3.3 for AmigaOS 4

    Press release from amiga-news.de

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Alinea Computer is pleased to be able to offer another port by Steffen Häuser. Steffen has taken care of the porting of the latest version 3.3.3 and the installation routines for easy installation under AmigaOS 4. Stratagus is the port of the engine in version 3.3.3, which makes it possible to play the game Warcraft 2 from Blizzard Entertainment natively on the Amiga under AmigaOS 4.

    The archive contains an installer with which it is possible to install the game directly from the PC CD without pre-installing it on the PC. At least for the Warcraft 2 Classic PC CD, for the Battle.Net CD or the Gog version it is necessary to unpack a file with a Windows tool, but with the Classic CD you can install directly on the Amiga.

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Warcraft 2 is one of the most famous strategy games of all time, practically the prequel to the famous MMO “World of Warcraft”. In addition to the base game “Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness”, the add-on CD “Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal” (already included in the Battle.Net CD and Gog version) is also supported.

    Stratagus is based on the current “latest Git” version of the Stratagus project (version 3.3.3). In contrast to an earlier implementation, 3.3.3 offers the following features:

    • Iconic game music and not just sound effects (the music files are only installed with the Warcraft 2 Classic CD and the Battle.net CD, but can be copied manually afterwards when using the Gog version).
    • The game’s video sequences (video sequences not available on AmigaOne A1222)
    • A functional level editor
    • Numerous bug fixes

    Of course, the localisation of Warcraft 2 into different languages is also supported.

    Stratagus is under GPL licence, the source code of the Amiga version will be integrated into the github of the PC version in the foreseeable future, but is also available as a request by e-mail (see readme for details).

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    The minimum requirements for Stratagus are:

    A computer with AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2 or higher
    Special executables optimised for the respective platforms (x1000, x5000, Sam 440, Sam 460, G3 and A1222) can be selected during installation.

    https://www.amiga-shop.net/en/Amiga-Software/Amiga-Games/Stratagus-3-3-3-for-AmigaOS-4::1412.html

    Juan Carlos Herrán Martín is an active software developer for platforms like AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, and AROS. We’ve seen many releases from him in the earlier monthly roundups. Now he is back with a new version of the game Los Malditos. It is a free adaption of the mythical books from Timun Mas from the 1980s and 1990s. These books are related to Dungeons & Dragons. The author is a fan of these works. It is now available for download at OS4Depot.

    Improvements since the previous version:

    • Improved on-screen text
    • Improvement of the game speed, removing the delay refresh in the game window
    • Bugs fixed
    • Removed the option to exit the game when you are in a fight and you are in places preventing you from running away from the enemy
    • New cover
    • The game has been made free, but donations are welcome

    He also released version Final2 of High-Low-Equal Poker. This is a special version to promote the game Los Malditos del Valle del Cerro and a way to show the possibilities of his games to promote magazines, books, movies, and other games and programs, even hardware.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version
    • The game has the exclusive Baphomet deck with the Heroes from the game “Los Malditos’ del Valle del Cerro”
    • Bug fixed with card engine
    • Two game modes: A=1 Ace equals 1 and Poker A>K Ace as in poker is the highest card
    • Now the game cans open and play with Baphomet decks
    • New screen to exit the game instead of the window requester
    • Small improvements

    If that was not enough, he updated his utility Cards Making Kit to version 2.20. With this program, you can make your decks for the following games:

    • HLE Poker Card (High-Low-Equal Poker Card)
    • BlackJuan
    • Siete y Media
    • Baccarat
    • BlackIvan Card

    You can make your decks using pictures from your family, pets, hobbies, etc.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Here is another one from the same author. Version 2.05 of a game called Baccarat has been released. This is a tribute to the mythical card game, popularized by the James Bond movie Dr. No with Sean Connery. The author has added a new exit cover (more James Bond style), and fixed a bug with the Baphomet decks and the overload in the game screen that slowed down the game.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Blackjuan Poker Card has been updated to version 2.00. This is another card game from the author above. The development of the game started back in 2012. This release includes new graphics and bug fixes. The game now supports Baphomet decks.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Last, but not least, he has updated the game Siete y Media to version 2.00. This is a Spanish Blackjack version with a Spanish deck of 40 cards. The aim of the game is not to get 21 which is common in Blackjack, but the sum of 7.5. You can read more about this in the readme. An SDK is included for those interested in making their decks of cards.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67WwNSgq3A

    Amifish is a chess program made to play chess with Amiga-like systems. It exploits the power of one of the most powerful chess engines in the world: Stockfish. This engine was developed by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, and Gary Linscott. A chess engine is a console program that plays chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. Stockfish and many other engines are compatible with a standard named UCI (Universal Chess Interface). The name Amifish is obtained by joining the words ‘Amiga’ and ‘Stockfish’. However, the project is open to all engines compliant with the UCI standard. It is a light program for amateurs. It is made to have fun with chess. Only the most important options are implemented. Version 2.1 is out for AmigaOS 4 and can be downloaded from OS4Depot.

    Version R19 of iMage, a fast image viewer by Lazi has been released. According to the author, it handles JPG files very fast.

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 122 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.31, which provides miscellaneous improvements, as well as an enhanced Goal! Team editor.

    Lorence Lombardo released version 1.0 of chklib. It is currently used in the “amiaudcomp” lib project. He also released version 1.0 of flushmem, which in theory flushes all flushable items from memory.

    AmiSSL received an update to version 5.20. As mentioned in earlier editions of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup, the AmiSSL project is a collaborative effort to develop a port of OpenSSL in a shared library for Amiga-based systems. The download is available here. If you are interested in the SDK, it can be found here. It is a must-have if you use AmigaOS 4 to browse the web!

    An updated version, 3.4, of the YouTube URL Extractor Script by Michael Trebilcock was released on April 16th. YT.rexx is a script for providing direct video and audio links from YouTube URLs. Changes from the previous version include:

    3.4 – 16th Apr 2025:

    • Compatibility fixes.
    • Removed MEDIACONNECT client as it was no longer supported.
    • Added ANDROIDVR client. This is the default in a new YT.cfg. Please note that
      YouTube Kids videos are incompatible with this client.
    • DualTagVid / DualTagAud settings in the .cfg can now have multiple tag
      numbers in order of priority, for use with the dualplay option.

    More history within the archive.

    PolarPaint is an experimental paint program made in Hollywood by Anbjørn Myren. Version 1.055 was uploaded to OS4Depot and became available on April 18th. If you are interested in checking it out, please click here. Another version called PolarPaint Small can be downloaded via this link.

    Deark is an application that can extract data from a wide range of file formats. Developed by Jason Summers, this tool can help you get data from everything from AMOS ABK files to Doom WADs. You can read more about supported formats, as well as download the utility from OS4Depot. Version 1.7.0 became available on OS4Depot on April 18th.

    George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero has released a new version of aiostreams. “All In One streams” (aiostreams) is a pack of scripts, written in Python, that can be used to stream and watch videos from different online networks, like Twitch.tv, YouTube, and Vimeo.com. Please click here to download it or to read the changelog.

    Version 3.451 of IMP3, a utility created by Juen a.k.a Pawl Nowak, has been released! The program was originally meant for 68K but does run OK on AmigaOS 4. With IMP3, you can listen to over 168.000 music files through the Internet. These are ProTracker modules, SID tunes, and so forth. Besides this, it has cloud storage and Online gaming with high scores.

    The source code for AmiCraftNova has been released to the public domain by Caras Ghant.

    Frank Wille has released an updated version of vasm m68k std, vasm PPC std, and vasm 68k mot. vasm is a portable and re-targetable assembler to create linkable objects in various formats and absolute code. Multiple CPU-, syntax, and output-modules can be selected.

    AmigaGPT is a versatile ChatGPT client for AmigaOS 3.x, 4.1 and MorphOS. It is being developed by Cameron Armstrong a.k.a. Nightfox. This powerful tool brings the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT to your Amiga system, enabling text generation, question-answering, and creative exploration. AmigaGPT can also generate stunning images using DALL-E and includes support for speech output, making it easier than ever to interact with AI on your Amiga. Designed to integrate seamlessly with your system, AmigaGPT delivers modern AI technology while embracing the timeless Amiga experience. Version 2.5.0 is now available for download from OS4Depot.

    Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups, and other obnoxious Internet junk. It is being developed by Mark Mansnerus. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has applications for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks. Version 3.0.6 is now out and available for download.

    WormHole allows you to transfer files to another computer within the same LAN without having to make any adjustments. It is being developed by Lazi. The main advantage of using WormHole between Amiga systems is that it can handle icons and all AmigaOS file attributes in one step.

    Main features:

    • Transfers all Amiga file attributes
    • Transfers icons automatically
    • Zero configuration
    • Transfers files bi-directional at the same time
    • Transfer multiple files parallel at the same time
    • Multiplatform

    Version 0.5 has been released. Please click here to download it.

    AStone is a picture viewer created in Hollywood by Sandro Barbagelata. Version 1.0 was released on April 26th. It is heavily inspired by the utility Fastone on Windows.

    The AmigaOS 4 port of Open Medal of Honor is now available on OS4Depot. The porting has been done by Ryan Dixon a.k.a. rjd324. The main goal of OpenMoHAA is to ensure the future and continuity of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (including Spearhead and Breakthrough expansions) on all platforms/architectures by providing new patches/features.

    The source code for the AmigaOS4 port can be found at:

    https://github.com/3246251196/openmohaa

    The download is available here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQhvT-h2jk0

    An update to Report+, a ReAction-based utility with nine functions, has been released by James Jacobs. It was made available on OS4Depot on April 27th. This tool can help you with generating Aminet- and OS4Depot-style readme files, performing batch processing on icons, and much more. Recent changes since 8.64 include miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes. More detailed information can be found on OS4Depot.

    Screenshot by Puni from an older version

    Version 34.3 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Signetics TWIN minicomputer (1976);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    • Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples include ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, and windowed and fullscreen modes. Other features are CPU tracing, trainer, and drag and drop support. Additionally, it offers graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, and frame skipping, among many other features!

    Here is a summary of the changes since the last version:

    • TWIN: added emulation of high-speed papertape reader.
    • CD2650, PHUNSY: added “Tools|Sprite/character editor/viewer…”
      command.
    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Please click here to be taken to the download page.

    Xiangqi is a chess program made to play Xiangqi (Chinese chess), by making use of chess engines UCI compatible with the moves played by computers. A chess engine is a console program that play chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. The program is developed by Domenico Lattanzi. More information is available on OS4Depot.

    That was the software news for this time. Now let us move over to hardware! 🙂

    Hardware

    I first heard about the new PPC hardware on Discord and was very surprised, to say the least! amiga-news.de has an extensive article about the subject. It will explain the project much better than I would be able to do. 🙂 I recommend you pop over to them and have a look at what this new PPC hardware is about.

    https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html

    The Sam460. Photo lent from the official website of ACube Systems

    Here are two announcements from ACube Systems about UBoot updates! 🙂

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam460EX / Sam460CR / Sam460LE boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 08 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the UBoot firmware for its Sam460 line of motherboards.

    For the first time in Amiga history, it is now possible to boot from an NVMe SSD.

    This groundbreaking achievement marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Amiga platform. Thanks to recent advancements, users can now experience dramatically improved boot speeds and data access times by utilizing modern NVMe solid-state drives—bringing the Amiga into a new era of performance and reliability.

    This development not only enhances the capabilities of current NG systems but also demonstrates the ongoing innovation and dedication within the Amiga community. Booting from an NVMe SSD was once considered impossible—today, it is a reality.

    This update is completely free for all users.

    We are excited to announce a new version packed with important features and improvements—available as a free download.

    New in this release:

    • NVMe SSD driver – For the first time ever, you can boot from an NVMe drive using a standard NVMe-to PCIe adapter.
    • PCIe SATA2 support – Added driver for the Silicon Image 3132 controller, allowing booting from both SATA SSDs and DVD drives.
    • DDR2 timing adjustments – Fine-tune DDR2 RAM timings for faster memory access.
    • Customizable USB stack – Choose between EHCI (faster for mass storage) or OHCI (greater compatibility with keyboards).
    • Enhanced “sata” command – Now displays more detailed information about drivers and connected devices.
    • Improved serial console navigation – Navigate menu items using W and S keys.
    • General bug fixes and improvements.
    • Unified source code – Now streamlined for both 460ex and 440ep platforms.
    • An updated installation guide is included, covering the standard ISO image method as well as alternative installation methods via TFTP and USB.
    • Updater tool can be downloaded from:
      https://acube-systems.biz/download/Sam460_updater_2015d.zip

    If you are not comfortable installing UBoot yourself, we also offer fully updated UBoot chips through our online store.

    Additional information:
    Please note: UBoot and UBoot updater make use of GPL code and thus are both published under GPL.

    Sources can be downloaded from:

    UBoot & UBoot updater
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz

    Parthenope
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    The Sam440EP Flex – Photo by Puni

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam440ep mini-itx and Sam440ep flex boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 14 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the U-Boot firmware for its Sam440 line of motherboards.

    Following the recent update for the Sam460, the Sam440 now also benefits from enhanced support, including compatibility with NVMe SSDs. Additionally, this update introduces support for Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards.

    This release represents a significant investment of time and resources. Nevertheless, we have chosen to offer it at the symbolic price of €3.99.

    Highlights of this release include:

    • Support for Radeon RX graphics cards () Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards ()
      NVMe SSD driver: boot directly from NVMe devices using a PCIe adapter () Driver for the PCIe SATA2 Silicon Image 3132 controller, with support for booting from SSDs and DVDs ()
    • Enhanced RAM access speed on Sam440ep-flex boards
    • New graphical interface style
    • Revised ‘sata’ command, now displaying more detailed information about drivers and connected devices
    • Serial console improvements: menu navigation via the W (up) and S (down) keys
    • General bug fixes and overall improvements
    • Unified source code for the 460ex and 440ep platforms

    Note:

    Features marked with an asterisk (*) require a PCI-to-PCIe bridge.
    Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards also require a specific driver (to be sold separately by A-EON Technology once available) for use with AmigaOS 4.

    Purchase the update:

    The update is available through our online store.
    For those not comfortable performing the update themselves, we also offer pre-programmed, fully updated U-Boot chips.

    Additional Information:

    UBoot makes use of GPL-licensed code and is therefore released under the terms of the GPL.

    Source code downloads:

    U-Boot:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz
    Parthenope:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    YouTube

    Marek Glogowski has published a new video showing Super Star Blast running on AmigaOS 4 through QEMU 10 and GPU Passthrough:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_a9kpbXtQ

    HunoPPC shows DOSBox Enhanced running on AmigaOS 4 with 3dfx support and shader effects:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCPkfZ-pVo

    Here is a video of Baldur’s Gate running on AmigaOS 4. The video was created by anouk33.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UT8a-33z2o

    Here is another video, but this time of WarCraft II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY5ktfyiK7o

    And one of Quake II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewALudVmDRc

    Amiga Wave has made a long video. It lasts for more than 2 hours and covers his experience with AmigaOS 4 on the Sam460LE. The video is in Spanish.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVsxjDwqHM

    Mr. Byte shows Stratagus 3.3.3 running on his A1222+:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJhZh_f_qY

    The Lost C is back with a new video. This time he does a test of the A1222 with a Radeon HD7750. The vide is in Italian.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLYq27YKxls

    He also created a video with the A1222 and AmiCygnix:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCDn4hMeabY

    TJ Ferreira is back once again. This time, he takes us on a journey through his experience with playing Glubble on his AmigaOne X5000. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72WX8T2Lsd4

    Until next time

    You’ve now reached the end of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup for April 2025. I had not expected it to be this extensive. There is a clearly a lot happening in the world of AmigaOS 4 and Amiga in general these days!

    Thanks as always to all readers and supporters out there. Thanks for visiting my blog and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni

    Rate this:

    #A1222 #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOne #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #a1222 #amiga #amiganews #amigaone #amigaos4 #amigaos4monthlyroundup
  13. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – April 2025

    Hi,

    Welcome to a new edition of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup! 🙂

    The month of May has arrived. Spring is in the air! It is time to look at what has been happening in the community during April.

    Thanks for reading and for visiting my blog. Hope you’ll enjoy the news!

    Software News

    First up is some gaming news! Hold on to your horses!

    Warcraft-2-Engine: Stratagus 3.3.3 for AmigaOS 4

    Press release from amiga-news.de

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Alinea Computer is pleased to be able to offer another port by Steffen Häuser. Steffen has taken care of the porting of the latest version 3.3.3 and the installation routines for easy installation under AmigaOS 4. Stratagus is the port of the engine in version 3.3.3, which makes it possible to play the game Warcraft 2 from Blizzard Entertainment natively on the Amiga under AmigaOS 4.

    The archive contains an installer with which it is possible to install the game directly from the PC CD without pre-installing it on the PC. At least for the Warcraft 2 Classic PC CD, for the Battle.Net CD or the Gog version it is necessary to unpack a file with a Windows tool, but with the Classic CD you can install directly on the Amiga.

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Warcraft 2 is one of the most famous strategy games of all time, practically the prequel to the famous MMO “World of Warcraft”. In addition to the base game “Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness”, the add-on CD “Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal” (already included in the Battle.Net CD and Gog version) is also supported.

    Stratagus is based on the current “latest Git” version of the Stratagus project (version 3.3.3). In contrast to an earlier implementation, 3.3.3 offers the following features:

    • Iconic game music and not just sound effects (the music files are only installed with the Warcraft 2 Classic CD and the Battle.net CD, but can be copied manually afterwards when using the Gog version).
    • The game’s video sequences (video sequences not available on AmigaOne A1222)
    • A functional level editor
    • Numerous bug fixes

    Of course, the localisation of Warcraft 2 into different languages is also supported.

    Stratagus is under GPL licence, the source code of the Amiga version will be integrated into the github of the PC version in the foreseeable future, but is also available as a request by e-mail (see readme for details).

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    The minimum requirements for Stratagus are:

    A computer with AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2 or higher
    Special executables optimised for the respective platforms (x1000, x5000, Sam 440, Sam 460, G3 and A1222) can be selected during installation.

    https://www.amiga-shop.net/en/Amiga-Software/Amiga-Games/Stratagus-3-3-3-for-AmigaOS-4::1412.html

    Juan Carlos Herrán Martín is an active software developer for platforms like AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, and AROS. We’ve seen many releases from him in the earlier monthly roundups. Now he is back with a new version of the game Los Malditos. It is a free adaption of the mythical books from Timun Mas from the 1980s and 1990s. These books are related to Dungeons & Dragons. The author is a fan of these works. It is now available for download at OS4Depot.

    Improvements since the previous version:

    • Improved on-screen text
    • Improvement of the game speed, removing the delay refresh in the game window
    • Bugs fixed
    • Removed the option to exit the game when you are in a fight and you are in places preventing you from running away from the enemy
    • New cover
    • The game has been made free, but donations are welcome

    He also released version Final2 of High-Low-Equal Poker. This is a special version to promote the game Los Malditos del Valle del Cerro and a way to show the possibilities of his games to promote magazines, books, movies, and other games and programs, even hardware.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version
    • The game has the exclusive Baphomet deck with the Heroes from the game “Los Malditos’ del Valle del Cerro”
    • Bug fixed with card engine
    • Two game modes: A=1 Ace equals 1 and Poker A>K Ace as in poker is the highest card
    • Now the game cans open and play with Baphomet decks
    • New screen to exit the game instead of the window requester
    • Small improvements

    If that was not enough, he updated his utility Cards Making Kit to version 2.20. With this program, you can make your decks for the following games:

    • HLE Poker Card (High-Low-Equal Poker Card)
    • BlackJuan
    • Siete y Media
    • Baccarat
    • BlackIvan Card

    You can make your decks using pictures from your family, pets, hobbies, etc.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Here is another one from the same author. Version 2.05 of a game called Baccarat has been released. This is a tribute to the mythical card game, popularized by the James Bond movie Dr. No with Sean Connery. The author has added a new exit cover (more James Bond style), and fixed a bug with the Baphomet decks and the overload in the game screen that slowed down the game.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Blackjuan Poker Card has been updated to version 2.00. This is another card game from the author above. The development of the game started back in 2012. This release includes new graphics and bug fixes. The game now supports Baphomet decks.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Last, but not least, he has updated the game Siete y Media to version 2.00. This is a Spanish Blackjack version with a Spanish deck of 40 cards. The aim of the game is not to get 21 which is common in Blackjack, but the sum of 7.5. You can read more about this in the readme. An SDK is included for those interested in making their decks of cards.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67WwNSgq3A

    Amifish is a chess program made to play chess with Amiga-like systems. It exploits the power of one of the most powerful chess engines in the world: Stockfish. This engine was developed by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, and Gary Linscott. A chess engine is a console program that plays chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. Stockfish and many other engines are compatible with a standard named UCI (Universal Chess Interface). The name Amifish is obtained by joining the words ‘Amiga’ and ‘Stockfish’. However, the project is open to all engines compliant with the UCI standard. It is a light program for amateurs. It is made to have fun with chess. Only the most important options are implemented. Version 2.1 is out for AmigaOS 4 and can be downloaded from OS4Depot.

    Version R19 of iMage, a fast image viewer by Lazi has been released. According to the author, it handles JPG files very fast.

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 122 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.31, which provides miscellaneous improvements, as well as an enhanced Goal! Team editor.

    Lorence Lombardo released version 1.0 of chklib. It is currently used in the “amiaudcomp” lib project. He also released version 1.0 of flushmem, which in theory flushes all flushable items from memory.

    AmiSSL received an update to version 5.20. As mentioned in earlier editions of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup, the AmiSSL project is a collaborative effort to develop a port of OpenSSL in a shared library for Amiga-based systems. The download is available here. If you are interested in the SDK, it can be found here. It is a must-have if you use AmigaOS 4 to browse the web!

    An updated version, 3.4, of the YouTube URL Extractor Script by Michael Trebilcock was released on April 16th. YT.rexx is a script for providing direct video and audio links from YouTube URLs. Changes from the previous version include:

    3.4 – 16th Apr 2025:

    • Compatibility fixes.
    • Removed MEDIACONNECT client as it was no longer supported.
    • Added ANDROIDVR client. This is the default in a new YT.cfg. Please note that
      YouTube Kids videos are incompatible with this client.
    • DualTagVid / DualTagAud settings in the .cfg can now have multiple tag
      numbers in order of priority, for use with the dualplay option.

    More history within the archive.

    PolarPaint is an experimental paint program made in Hollywood by Anbjørn Myren. Version 1.055 was uploaded to OS4Depot and became available on April 18th. If you are interested in checking it out, please click here. Another version called PolarPaint Small can be downloaded via this link.

    Deark is an application that can extract data from a wide range of file formats. Developed by Jason Summers, this tool can help you get data from everything from AMOS ABK files to Doom WADs. You can read more about supported formats, as well as download the utility from OS4Depot. Version 1.7.0 became available on OS4Depot on April 18th.

    George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero has released a new version of aiostreams. “All In One streams” (aiostreams) is a pack of scripts, written in Python, that can be used to stream and watch videos from different online networks, like Twitch.tv, YouTube, and Vimeo.com. Please click here to download it or to read the changelog.

    Version 3.451 of IMP3, a utility created by Juen a.k.a Pawl Nowak, has been released! The program was originally meant for 68K but does run OK on AmigaOS 4. With IMP3, you can listen to over 168.000 music files through the Internet. These are ProTracker modules, SID tunes, and so forth. Besides this, it has cloud storage and Online gaming with high scores.

    The source code for AmiCraftNova has been released to the public domain by Caras Ghant.

    Frank Wille has released an updated version of vasm m68k std, vasm PPC std, and vasm 68k mot. vasm is a portable and re-targetable assembler to create linkable objects in various formats and absolute code. Multiple CPU-, syntax, and output-modules can be selected.

    AmigaGPT is a versatile ChatGPT client for AmigaOS 3.x, 4.1 and MorphOS. It is being developed by Cameron Armstrong a.k.a. Nightfox. This powerful tool brings the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT to your Amiga system, enabling text generation, question-answering, and creative exploration. AmigaGPT can also generate stunning images using DALL-E and includes support for speech output, making it easier than ever to interact with AI on your Amiga. Designed to integrate seamlessly with your system, AmigaGPT delivers modern AI technology while embracing the timeless Amiga experience. Version 2.5.0 is now available for download from OS4Depot.

    Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups, and other obnoxious Internet junk. It is being developed by Mark Mansnerus. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has applications for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks. Version 3.0.6 is now out and available for download.

    WormHole allows you to transfer files to another computer within the same LAN without having to make any adjustments. It is being developed by Lazi. The main advantage of using WormHole between Amiga systems is that it can handle icons and all AmigaOS file attributes in one step.

    Main features:

    • Transfers all Amiga file attributes
    • Transfers icons automatically
    • Zero configuration
    • Transfers files bi-directional at the same time
    • Transfer multiple files parallel at the same time
    • Multiplatform

    Version 0.5 has been released. Please click here to download it.

    AStone is a picture viewer created in Hollywood by Sandro Barbagelata. Version 1.0 was released on April 26th. It is heavily inspired by the utility Fastone on Windows.

    The AmigaOS 4 port of Open Medal of Honor is now available on OS4Depot. The porting has been done by Ryan Dixon a.k.a. rjd324. The main goal of OpenMoHAA is to ensure the future and continuity of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (including Spearhead and Breakthrough expansions) on all platforms/architectures by providing new patches/features.

    The source code for the AmigaOS4 port can be found at:

    https://github.com/3246251196/openmohaa

    The download is available here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQhvT-h2jk0

    An update to Report+, a ReAction-based utility with nine functions, has been released by James Jacobs. It was made available on OS4Depot on April 27th. This tool can help you with generating Aminet- and OS4Depot-style readme files, performing batch processing on icons, and much more. Recent changes since 8.64 include miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes. More detailed information can be found on OS4Depot.

    Screenshot by Puni from an older version

    Version 34.3 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Signetics TWIN minicomputer (1976);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    • Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples include ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, and windowed and fullscreen modes. Other features are CPU tracing, trainer, and drag and drop support. Additionally, it offers graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, and frame skipping, among many other features!

    Here is a summary of the changes since the last version:

    • TWIN: added emulation of high-speed papertape reader.
    • CD2650, PHUNSY: added “Tools|Sprite/character editor/viewer…”
      command.
    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Please click here to be taken to the download page.

    Xiangqi is a chess program made to play Xiangqi (Chinese chess), by making use of chess engines UCI compatible with the moves played by computers. A chess engine is a console program that play chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. The program is developed by Domenico Lattanzi. More information is available on OS4Depot.

    That was the software news for this time. Now let us move over to hardware! 🙂

    Hardware

    I first heard about the new PPC hardware on Discord and was very surprised, to say the least! amiga-news.de has an extensive article about the subject. It will explain the project much better than I would be able to do. 🙂 I recommend you pop over to them and have a look at what this new PPC hardware is about.

    https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html

    The Sam460. Photo lent from the official website of ACube Systems

    Here are two announcements from ACube Systems about UBoot updates! 🙂

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam460EX / Sam460CR / Sam460LE boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 08 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the UBoot firmware for its Sam460 line of motherboards.

    For the first time in Amiga history, it is now possible to boot from an NVMe SSD.

    This groundbreaking achievement marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Amiga platform. Thanks to recent advancements, users can now experience dramatically improved boot speeds and data access times by utilizing modern NVMe solid-state drives—bringing the Amiga into a new era of performance and reliability.

    This development not only enhances the capabilities of current NG systems but also demonstrates the ongoing innovation and dedication within the Amiga community. Booting from an NVMe SSD was once considered impossible—today, it is a reality.

    This update is completely free for all users.

    We are excited to announce a new version packed with important features and improvements—available as a free download.

    New in this release:

    • NVMe SSD driver – For the first time ever, you can boot from an NVMe drive using a standard NVMe-to PCIe adapter.
    • PCIe SATA2 support – Added driver for the Silicon Image 3132 controller, allowing booting from both SATA SSDs and DVD drives.
    • DDR2 timing adjustments – Fine-tune DDR2 RAM timings for faster memory access.
    • Customizable USB stack – Choose between EHCI (faster for mass storage) or OHCI (greater compatibility with keyboards).
    • Enhanced “sata” command – Now displays more detailed information about drivers and connected devices.
    • Improved serial console navigation – Navigate menu items using W and S keys.
    • General bug fixes and improvements.
    • Unified source code – Now streamlined for both 460ex and 440ep platforms.
    • An updated installation guide is included, covering the standard ISO image method as well as alternative installation methods via TFTP and USB.
    • Updater tool can be downloaded from:
      https://acube-systems.biz/download/Sam460_updater_2015d.zip

    If you are not comfortable installing UBoot yourself, we also offer fully updated UBoot chips through our online store.

    Additional information:
    Please note: UBoot and UBoot updater make use of GPL code and thus are both published under GPL.

    Sources can be downloaded from:

    UBoot & UBoot updater
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz

    Parthenope
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    The Sam440EP Flex – Photo by Puni

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam440ep mini-itx and Sam440ep flex boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 14 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the U-Boot firmware for its Sam440 line of motherboards.

    Following the recent update for the Sam460, the Sam440 now also benefits from enhanced support, including compatibility with NVMe SSDs. Additionally, this update introduces support for Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards.

    This release represents a significant investment of time and resources. Nevertheless, we have chosen to offer it at the symbolic price of €3.99.

    Highlights of this release include:

    • Support for Radeon RX graphics cards () Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards ()
      NVMe SSD driver: boot directly from NVMe devices using a PCIe adapter () Driver for the PCIe SATA2 Silicon Image 3132 controller, with support for booting from SSDs and DVDs ()
    • Enhanced RAM access speed on Sam440ep-flex boards
    • New graphical interface style
    • Revised ‘sata’ command, now displaying more detailed information about drivers and connected devices
    • Serial console improvements: menu navigation via the W (up) and S (down) keys
    • General bug fixes and overall improvements
    • Unified source code for the 460ex and 440ep platforms

    Note:

    Features marked with an asterisk (*) require a PCI-to-PCIe bridge.
    Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards also require a specific driver (to be sold separately by A-EON Technology once available) for use with AmigaOS 4.

    Purchase the update:

    The update is available through our online store.
    For those not comfortable performing the update themselves, we also offer pre-programmed, fully updated U-Boot chips.

    Additional Information:

    UBoot makes use of GPL-licensed code and is therefore released under the terms of the GPL.

    Source code downloads:

    U-Boot:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz
    Parthenope:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    YouTube

    Marek Glogowski has published a new video showing Super Star Blast running on AmigaOS 4 through QEMU 10 and GPU Passthrough:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_a9kpbXtQ

    HunoPPC shows DOSBox Enhanced running on AmigaOS 4 with 3dfx support and shader effects:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCPkfZ-pVo

    Here is a video of Baldur’s Gate running on AmigaOS 4. The video was created by anouk33.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UT8a-33z2o

    Here is another video, but this time of WarCraft II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY5ktfyiK7o

    And one of Quake II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewALudVmDRc

    Amiga Wave has made a long video. It lasts for more than 2 hours and covers his experience with AmigaOS 4 on the Sam460LE. The video is in Spanish.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVsxjDwqHM

    Mr. Byte shows Stratagus 3.3.3 running on his A1222+:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJhZh_f_qY

    The Lost C is back with a new video. This time he does a test of the A1222 with a Radeon HD7750. The vide is in Italian.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLYq27YKxls

    He also created a video with the A1222 and AmiCygnix:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCDn4hMeabY

    TJ Ferreira is back once again. This time, he takes us on a journey through his experience with playing Glubble on his AmigaOne X5000. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72WX8T2Lsd4

    Until next time

    You’ve now reached the end of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup for April 2025. I had not expected it to be this extensive. There is a clearly a lot happening in the world of AmigaOS 4 and Amiga in general these days!

    Thanks as always to all readers and supporters out there. Thanks for visiting my blog and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni

    Rate this:

    #A1222 #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOne #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #amigaos41 #amigaos4monthlyroundup #amigaos4 #amigaone #amiganews #amiga
  14. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – April 2025

    Hi,

    Welcome to a new edition of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup! 🙂

    The month of May has arrived. Spring is in the air! It is time to look at what has been happening in the community during April.

    Thanks for reading and for visiting my blog. Hope you’ll enjoy the news!

    Software News

    First up is some gaming news! Hold on to your horses!

    Warcraft-2-Engine: Stratagus 3.3.3 for AmigaOS 4

    Press release from amiga-news.de

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Alinea Computer is pleased to be able to offer another port by Steffen Häuser. Steffen has taken care of the porting of the latest version 3.3.3 and the installation routines for easy installation under AmigaOS 4. Stratagus is the port of the engine in version 3.3.3, which makes it possible to play the game Warcraft 2 from Blizzard Entertainment natively on the Amiga under AmigaOS 4.

    The archive contains an installer with which it is possible to install the game directly from the PC CD without pre-installing it on the PC. At least for the Warcraft 2 Classic PC CD, for the Battle.Net CD or the Gog version it is necessary to unpack a file with a Windows tool, but with the Classic CD you can install directly on the Amiga.

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    Warcraft 2 is one of the most famous strategy games of all time, practically the prequel to the famous MMO “World of Warcraft”. In addition to the base game “Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness”, the add-on CD “Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal” (already included in the Battle.Net CD and Gog version) is also supported.

    Stratagus is based on the current “latest Git” version of the Stratagus project (version 3.3.3). In contrast to an earlier implementation, 3.3.3 offers the following features:

    • Iconic game music and not just sound effects (the music files are only installed with the Warcraft 2 Classic CD and the Battle.net CD, but can be copied manually afterwards when using the Gog version).
    • The game’s video sequences (video sequences not available on AmigaOne A1222)
    • A functional level editor
    • Numerous bug fixes

    Of course, the localisation of Warcraft 2 into different languages is also supported.

    Stratagus is under GPL licence, the source code of the Amiga version will be integrated into the github of the PC version in the foreseeable future, but is also available as a request by e-mail (see readme for details).

    Picture from the webshop of Alinea Computer

    The minimum requirements for Stratagus are:

    A computer with AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2 or higher
    Special executables optimised for the respective platforms (x1000, x5000, Sam 440, Sam 460, G3 and A1222) can be selected during installation.

    https://www.amiga-shop.net/en/Amiga-Software/Amiga-Games/Stratagus-3-3-3-for-AmigaOS-4::1412.html

    Juan Carlos Herrán Martín is an active software developer for platforms like AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, and AROS. We’ve seen many releases from him in the earlier monthly roundups. Now he is back with a new version of the game Los Malditos. It is a free adaption of the mythical books from Timun Mas from the 1980s and 1990s. These books are related to Dungeons & Dragons. The author is a fan of these works. It is now available for download at OS4Depot.

    Improvements since the previous version:

    • Improved on-screen text
    • Improvement of the game speed, removing the delay refresh in the game window
    • Bugs fixed
    • Removed the option to exit the game when you are in a fight and you are in places preventing you from running away from the enemy
    • New cover
    • The game has been made free, but donations are welcome

    He also released version Final2 of High-Low-Equal Poker. This is a special version to promote the game Los Malditos del Valle del Cerro and a way to show the possibilities of his games to promote magazines, books, movies, and other games and programs, even hardware.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version
    • The game has the exclusive Baphomet deck with the Heroes from the game “Los Malditos’ del Valle del Cerro”
    • Bug fixed with card engine
    • Two game modes: A=1 Ace equals 1 and Poker A>K Ace as in poker is the highest card
    • Now the game cans open and play with Baphomet decks
    • New screen to exit the game instead of the window requester
    • Small improvements

    If that was not enough, he updated his utility Cards Making Kit to version 2.20. With this program, you can make your decks for the following games:

    • HLE Poker Card (High-Low-Equal Poker Card)
    • BlackJuan
    • Siete y Media
    • Baccarat
    • BlackIvan Card

    You can make your decks using pictures from your family, pets, hobbies, etc.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Here is another one from the same author. Version 2.05 of a game called Baccarat has been released. This is a tribute to the mythical card game, popularized by the James Bond movie Dr. No with Sean Connery. The author has added a new exit cover (more James Bond style), and fixed a bug with the Baphomet decks and the overload in the game screen that slowed down the game.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Blackjuan Poker Card has been updated to version 2.00. This is another card game from the author above. The development of the game started back in 2012. This release includes new graphics and bug fixes. The game now supports Baphomet decks.

    Screenshot by Puni from an earlier version

    Last, but not least, he has updated the game Siete y Media to version 2.00. This is a Spanish Blackjack version with a Spanish deck of 40 cards. The aim of the game is not to get 21 which is common in Blackjack, but the sum of 7.5. You can read more about this in the readme. An SDK is included for those interested in making their decks of cards.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67WwNSgq3A

    Amifish is a chess program made to play chess with Amiga-like systems. It exploits the power of one of the most powerful chess engines in the world: Stockfish. This engine was developed by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, and Gary Linscott. A chess engine is a console program that plays chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. Stockfish and many other engines are compatible with a standard named UCI (Universal Chess Interface). The name Amifish is obtained by joining the words ‘Amiga’ and ‘Stockfish’. However, the project is open to all engines compliant with the UCI standard. It is a light program for amateurs. It is made to have fun with chess. Only the most important options are implemented. Version 2.1 is out for AmigaOS 4 and can be downloaded from OS4Depot.

    Version R19 of iMage, a fast image viewer by Lazi has been released. According to the author, it handles JPG files very fast.

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 122 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.31, which provides miscellaneous improvements, as well as an enhanced Goal! Team editor.

    Lorence Lombardo released version 1.0 of chklib. It is currently used in the “amiaudcomp” lib project. He also released version 1.0 of flushmem, which in theory flushes all flushable items from memory.

    AmiSSL received an update to version 5.20. As mentioned in earlier editions of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup, the AmiSSL project is a collaborative effort to develop a port of OpenSSL in a shared library for Amiga-based systems. The download is available here. If you are interested in the SDK, it can be found here. It is a must-have if you use AmigaOS 4 to browse the web!

    An updated version, 3.4, of the YouTube URL Extractor Script by Michael Trebilcock was released on April 16th. YT.rexx is a script for providing direct video and audio links from YouTube URLs. Changes from the previous version include:

    3.4 – 16th Apr 2025:

    • Compatibility fixes.
    • Removed MEDIACONNECT client as it was no longer supported.
    • Added ANDROIDVR client. This is the default in a new YT.cfg. Please note that
      YouTube Kids videos are incompatible with this client.
    • DualTagVid / DualTagAud settings in the .cfg can now have multiple tag
      numbers in order of priority, for use with the dualplay option.

    More history within the archive.

    PolarPaint is an experimental paint program made in Hollywood by Anbjørn Myren. Version 1.055 was uploaded to OS4Depot and became available on April 18th. If you are interested in checking it out, please click here. Another version called PolarPaint Small can be downloaded via this link.

    Deark is an application that can extract data from a wide range of file formats. Developed by Jason Summers, this tool can help you get data from everything from AMOS ABK files to Doom WADs. You can read more about supported formats, as well as download the utility from OS4Depot. Version 1.7.0 became available on OS4Depot on April 18th.

    George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero has released a new version of aiostreams. “All In One streams” (aiostreams) is a pack of scripts, written in Python, that can be used to stream and watch videos from different online networks, like Twitch.tv, YouTube, and Vimeo.com. Please click here to download it or to read the changelog.

    Version 3.451 of IMP3, a utility created by Juen a.k.a Pawl Nowak, has been released! The program was originally meant for 68K but does run OK on AmigaOS 4. With IMP3, you can listen to over 168.000 music files through the Internet. These are ProTracker modules, SID tunes, and so forth. Besides this, it has cloud storage and Online gaming with high scores.

    The source code for AmiCraftNova has been released to the public domain by Caras Ghant.

    Frank Wille has released an updated version of vasm m68k std, vasm PPC std, and vasm 68k mot. vasm is a portable and re-targetable assembler to create linkable objects in various formats and absolute code. Multiple CPU-, syntax, and output-modules can be selected.

    AmigaGPT is a versatile ChatGPT client for AmigaOS 3.x, 4.1 and MorphOS. It is being developed by Cameron Armstrong a.k.a. Nightfox. This powerful tool brings the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT to your Amiga system, enabling text generation, question-answering, and creative exploration. AmigaGPT can also generate stunning images using DALL-E and includes support for speech output, making it easier than ever to interact with AI on your Amiga. Designed to integrate seamlessly with your system, AmigaGPT delivers modern AI technology while embracing the timeless Amiga experience. Version 2.5.0 is now available for download from OS4Depot.

    Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups, and other obnoxious Internet junk. It is being developed by Mark Mansnerus. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has applications for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks. Version 3.0.6 is now out and available for download.

    WormHole allows you to transfer files to another computer within the same LAN without having to make any adjustments. It is being developed by Lazi. The main advantage of using WormHole between Amiga systems is that it can handle icons and all AmigaOS file attributes in one step.

    Main features:

    • Transfers all Amiga file attributes
    • Transfers icons automatically
    • Zero configuration
    • Transfers files bi-directional at the same time
    • Transfer multiple files parallel at the same time
    • Multiplatform

    Version 0.5 has been released. Please click here to download it.

    AStone is a picture viewer created in Hollywood by Sandro Barbagelata. Version 1.0 was released on April 26th. It is heavily inspired by the utility Fastone on Windows.

    The AmigaOS 4 port of Open Medal of Honor is now available on OS4Depot. The porting has been done by Ryan Dixon a.k.a. rjd324. The main goal of OpenMoHAA is to ensure the future and continuity of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (including Spearhead and Breakthrough expansions) on all platforms/architectures by providing new patches/features.

    The source code for the AmigaOS4 port can be found at:

    https://github.com/3246251196/openmohaa

    The download is available here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQhvT-h2jk0

    An update to Report+, a ReAction-based utility with nine functions, has been released by James Jacobs. It was made available on OS4Depot on April 27th. This tool can help you with generating Aminet- and OS4Depot-style readme files, performing batch processing on icons, and much more. Recent changes since 8.64 include miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes. More detailed information can be found on OS4Depot.

    Screenshot by Puni from an older version

    Version 34.3 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Signetics TWIN minicomputer (1976);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    • Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples include ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, and windowed and fullscreen modes. Other features are CPU tracing, trainer, and drag and drop support. Additionally, it offers graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, and frame skipping, among many other features!

    Here is a summary of the changes since the last version:

    • TWIN: added emulation of high-speed papertape reader.
    • CD2650, PHUNSY: added “Tools|Sprite/character editor/viewer…”
      command.
    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Please click here to be taken to the download page.

    Xiangqi is a chess program made to play Xiangqi (Chinese chess), by making use of chess engines UCI compatible with the moves played by computers. A chess engine is a console program that play chess, receiving strings as commands and producing strings in output as a result of computation. The program is developed by Domenico Lattanzi. More information is available on OS4Depot.

    That was the software news for this time. Now let us move over to hardware! 🙂

    Hardware

    I first heard about the new PPC hardware on Discord and was very surprised, to say the least! amiga-news.de has an extensive article about the subject. It will explain the project much better than I would be able to do. 🙂 I recommend you pop over to them and have a look at what this new PPC hardware is about.

    https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-04-00129-EN.html

    The Sam460. Photo lent from the official website of ACube Systems

    Here are two announcements from ACube Systems about UBoot updates! 🙂

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam460EX / Sam460CR / Sam460LE boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 08 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the UBoot firmware for its Sam460 line of motherboards.

    For the first time in Amiga history, it is now possible to boot from an NVMe SSD.

    This groundbreaking achievement marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Amiga platform. Thanks to recent advancements, users can now experience dramatically improved boot speeds and data access times by utilizing modern NVMe solid-state drives—bringing the Amiga into a new era of performance and reliability.

    This development not only enhances the capabilities of current NG systems but also demonstrates the ongoing innovation and dedication within the Amiga community. Booting from an NVMe SSD was once considered impossible—today, it is a reality.

    This update is completely free for all users.

    We are excited to announce a new version packed with important features and improvements—available as a free download.

    New in this release:

    • NVMe SSD driver – For the first time ever, you can boot from an NVMe drive using a standard NVMe-to PCIe adapter.
    • PCIe SATA2 support – Added driver for the Silicon Image 3132 controller, allowing booting from both SATA SSDs and DVD drives.
    • DDR2 timing adjustments – Fine-tune DDR2 RAM timings for faster memory access.
    • Customizable USB stack – Choose between EHCI (faster for mass storage) or OHCI (greater compatibility with keyboards).
    • Enhanced “sata” command – Now displays more detailed information about drivers and connected devices.
    • Improved serial console navigation – Navigate menu items using W and S keys.
    • General bug fixes and improvements.
    • Unified source code – Now streamlined for both 460ex and 440ep platforms.
    • An updated installation guide is included, covering the standard ISO image method as well as alternative installation methods via TFTP and USB.
    • Updater tool can be downloaded from:
      https://acube-systems.biz/download/Sam460_updater_2015d.zip

    If you are not comfortable installing UBoot yourself, we also offer fully updated UBoot chips through our online store.

    Additional information:
    Please note: UBoot and UBoot updater make use of GPL code and thus are both published under GPL.

    Sources can be downloaded from:

    UBoot & UBoot updater
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz

    Parthenope
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    The Sam440EP Flex – Photo by Puni

    UBoot 2015.d for Sam440ep mini-itx and Sam440ep flex boards available
    Bassano del Grappa, Italy – 14 April 2025

    ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the U-Boot firmware for its Sam440 line of motherboards.

    Following the recent update for the Sam460, the Sam440 now also benefits from enhanced support, including compatibility with NVMe SSDs. Additionally, this update introduces support for Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards.

    This release represents a significant investment of time and resources. Nevertheless, we have chosen to offer it at the symbolic price of €3.99.

    Highlights of this release include:

    • Support for Radeon RX graphics cards () Improved support for Radeon HD graphics cards ()
      NVMe SSD driver: boot directly from NVMe devices using a PCIe adapter () Driver for the PCIe SATA2 Silicon Image 3132 controller, with support for booting from SSDs and DVDs ()
    • Enhanced RAM access speed on Sam440ep-flex boards
    • New graphical interface style
    • Revised ‘sata’ command, now displaying more detailed information about drivers and connected devices
    • Serial console improvements: menu navigation via the W (up) and S (down) keys
    • General bug fixes and overall improvements
    • Unified source code for the 460ex and 440ep platforms

    Note:

    Features marked with an asterisk (*) require a PCI-to-PCIe bridge.
    Radeon RX and Radeon HD graphics cards also require a specific driver (to be sold separately by A-EON Technology once available) for use with AmigaOS 4.

    Purchase the update:

    The update is available through our online store.
    For those not comfortable performing the update themselves, we also offer pre-programmed, fully updated U-Boot chips.

    Additional Information:

    UBoot makes use of GPL-licensed code and is therefore released under the terms of the GPL.

    Source code downloads:

    U-Boot:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.d_prod.tar.gz
    Parthenope:
    https://acube-systems.biz/download/ub2lb_0.94.tar.gz

    YouTube

    Marek Glogowski has published a new video showing Super Star Blast running on AmigaOS 4 through QEMU 10 and GPU Passthrough:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_a9kpbXtQ

    HunoPPC shows DOSBox Enhanced running on AmigaOS 4 with 3dfx support and shader effects:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCPkfZ-pVo

    Here is a video of Baldur’s Gate running on AmigaOS 4. The video was created by anouk33.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UT8a-33z2o

    Here is another video, but this time of WarCraft II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY5ktfyiK7o

    And one of Quake II:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewALudVmDRc

    Amiga Wave has made a long video. It lasts for more than 2 hours and covers his experience with AmigaOS 4 on the Sam460LE. The video is in Spanish.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVsxjDwqHM

    Mr. Byte shows Stratagus 3.3.3 running on his A1222+:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJhZh_f_qY

    The Lost C is back with a new video. This time he does a test of the A1222 with a Radeon HD7750. The vide is in Italian.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLYq27YKxls

    He also created a video with the A1222 and AmiCygnix:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCDn4hMeabY

    TJ Ferreira is back once again. This time, he takes us on a journey through his experience with playing Glubble on his AmigaOne X5000. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72WX8T2Lsd4

    Until next time

    You’ve now reached the end of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup for April 2025. I had not expected it to be this extensive. There is a clearly a lot happening in the world of AmigaOS 4 and Amiga in general these days!

    Thanks as always to all readers and supporters out there. Thanks for visiting my blog and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni

    #A1222 #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOne #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #a1222 #amiga #amiganews #amigaone #amigaos4 #amigaos4monthlyroundup
  15. Sky Dancing @[email protected] ·

    Lazy Caturday Reads

    Woman and Cat, by Koji Fukiya, 1936.

    Good Afternoon!!

    Yesterday, Dakinikat wrote about Trump’s crypto dinner, where he briefly spoke to the people who had spent the most on his personal memecoin. The “gala dinner” was held at Trump’s Virginia golf club. The attendees–mostly from foreign countries–had spent their money hoping to gain “access” to Trump, but that didn’t happen, at least at this event. Trump showed up on a “military helicopter,” spoke for less than half and hour and then did his YMCA dance. Then he left again without speaking to anyone personally. And the food was terrible.

    Wired: A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner.

    Donald Trump left the stage at his golf club near Washington, DC, on Thursday night, he pointed to the crowd, brought his index finger to his temple—as if to say: You know what’s coming—then began to dance. To the beat of “Y.M.C.A” by The Village People, Trump shimmied, gyrated, and pumped his arms above his head.

    Looking on were more than 200 people who had been invited to the Trump National Golf Club for a private gala dinner. They had won their seats by purchasing large quantities of Trump’s own crypto coin—TRUMP—some holding millions of dollars’ worth….

    By late afternoon, the dinner guests had started to filter through the gates of the golf club. By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, die-hard Trump fans, and even professional sports stars—former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.

    Just after 7 pm, the dinner guests gathered at the window to watch Trump descend in Marine One, his presidential helicopter. A short while later, he appeared from behind a blue velvet curtain to whoops and applause from the crowd. Had they seen the helicopter, Trump asked. “Yeah, super cool!” somebody yelled….

    From behind a lectern at one end of the dining room, backdropped by four US flags, Trump delivered a characteristically winding and digressive speech that sources say lasted around 25 minutes. At some point, he got round to crypto.

    “We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” said Trump. “You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special—who knows, right? Who knows—but it may be special.”

    For some, the dinner represented a chance to network with other deep-pocketed crypto figures, and to hear directly from Trump about his plans to bring an end to the regulatory uncertainty that crimped the industry’s expansion under Biden.

    “You don’t get to meet the president easily,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told WIRED a few days before the dinner. “To be able to hear his message on crypto directly—I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

    Woodblock print from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1885-1892)

    No one got to meet the president, but I Wired says they also wanted to network with each other. On the general presentation and the food, served at circular tables

    …each seating 10 people arrayed beneath a set of crystal chandeliers. Waiting on the chairs were gift bags containing Fight Fight Fight-themed hats and posters, and a collectible plastic card (some allege that they didn’t receive merch at their seats.) The four largest coin holders—along with two other attendees selected by raffle, sources say—received a gem-encrusted Trump gold watch.

    Between mouthfuls, the attendees discussed trading and investment strategies—and Trump’s speech. “To feel his personal charisma to me was very inspiring,” says Liu. But others complained about the brevity of Trump’s appearance: After his speech, Trump had departed immediately in a golf cart bound for his helicopter. “Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,” says Pinto. “He didn’t.”

    The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “OK, but not top-class.”

    From Penn Live: Trump’s controversial crypto dinner ripped by attendee: ‘Trash.’

    Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin dinner Thursday night was shrouded in secrecy, and while it still isn’t clear who all attended — the White House did not make the list public — we do have a report of how good the food was….

    According to Fortune, 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto was one of those who attended. The site said he invested “more than $360,000 in Trump’s memecoin.

    And for that, he told the site, the dinner that was served was “trash.”

    “Walmart steak, man,” he texted Fortune.

    The site said the menu for the included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut.

    “Everybody at my table was saying the food was so of the worst they ever had,” Pinto said.

    “I was hoping for Big Macs or pizza,” Pinto told Fortune. “That would have been better than the food that we were served.”

    Trump is just raking in the dough as quickly as he can with the minimum effort.

    The New York Times got the guest list: Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?

    The invitees for President Trump’s private dinner for customers of his cryptocurrency business on Thursday included a Chinese billionaire fighting a lawsuit from U.S. regulators, a lawyer for Justice Clarence Thomas and a former basketball star, according to a guest list obtained by The New York Times and social media posts.

    The dinner, at which Mr. Trump gave remarks, was an extraordinary moment in which the president leveraged his position to make money — for his crypto business and for his Virginia golf club, which hosted the event.

    The event’s invited guests were not known publicly beforehand, even to each other. They were identified only by the pseudonyms they used on the electronic wallets where they kept their $TRUMP memecoins. Most had gained an invitation by becoming one of the top 220 holders of that memecoin over a certain period of time. The top 25 of those were given V.I.P. status and afforded a more intimate gathering before the dinner and an unofficial tour of the White House on Friday.

    When they arrived at Mr. Trump’s club outside Washington Thursday evening, the digital world had become physical. The invitees’ names and contact information were delineated on paper lists, checked by staffers at the door. A Times reporter reviewed one of those lists, and used it to identify people who were present. Some other invitees self-identified on social media. A reporter and photographer from The Times also saw some $TRUMP crypto buyers enter and exit the White House on Friday.

    Merchant’s Daughter by Mizuno Toshikata

    Some top invitees:

    Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for allegedly inflating the value of a cryptocurrency. Mr. Sun is a major investor in a separate crypto venture largely owned by a company tied to Mr. Trump, World Liberty Financial. After Mr. Trump took office, the S.E.C. asked a judge to put Mr. Sun’s case on hold….

    Elliot Berke, a Washington attorney who has worked for congressional Republicans and Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. The Times identified him because the invitee list included his email address at his law firm, Berke Farah. He was honored as “Republican Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 by the Republican National Lawyers Association….

    Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and chief executive of a digital-asset firm, Wintermute. The Times identified him because the list of invitees included his Wintermute email….

    Anil Lulla and Yan Liberman, two co-founders of Delphi Digital, a Miami Beach firm that offers market intelligence for crypto investors. Their corporate emails were included in the list of invitees….

    Cheng Lu, 32, a crypto investor from Shanghai, was observed by a Times reporter entering the White House on Friday. He said he did not have a chance to speak with Mr. Trump during the dinner on Thursday or at the Friday tour. “I just want to see President Trump,” he said.

    Several more are listed at the NYT link.

    Another big story today is Trump’s terrifying persecution of Harvard University. Here’s the latest:

    From The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Is Trump Trying to Destroy Harvard? The order against foreign students turns away the world’s brightest.

    The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose?

    That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest.

    The latest assault began when DHS demanded that Harvard turn over sundry records on its foreign students, including whether any had participated in illegal activity or left the university owing to “dangerous or violent activity or deprivation of rights.”

    Some of its record requests are reasonable, but some overreached by requiring private student information. DHS also gave Harvard all of two weeks to respond. If it failed to do so, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she would “automatically withdraw” the school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. “The withdrawal will not be subject to appeal.”

    The SEVP program lets non-citizens enroll at universities on student visas. DHS can bar universities from the program if they fail to comply with “recordkeeping, retention, reporting and other requirements” on foreign students. Harvard says it responded with “information required by law” within two weeks and handed over more records on May 14.

    Twin Guardians, by Hawse Sumi

    That didn’t satisfy Noem and she banned Harvard from enrolling international students. Harvard soon got a restraining order from a federal court.

    Most of Harvard’s foreign students are enrolled in graduate programs. Many assist with scientific research and teaching undergraduate courses. Driving them out of Harvard will disrupt research projects and might cause some professors in the sciences to leave for other universities. This seems to be a goal of freezing Harvard’s research grants.

    Harvard sued on Friday, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the student ban. The university rightly says the Administration’s actions are “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

    The university seems likely to prevail on the law, but until courts settle the merits, thousands of students who have done nothing wrong will be in legal limbo. Some of them no doubt opposed the anti-Israel protests and may even hail from Israel. Why punish them? [….]

    This will be terribly damaging to America’s ability to attract talented young people who bring their enterprise and intellectual capital to the U.S. Non-citizens accounted for more than half of doctoral degrees in AI-related fields in 2022. Many have gone to work at U.S. companies like Nvidia or started their own.

    Clearly Trump hates Harvard, higher education, and education generally. But I’m coming to the conclusion that Trump’s goal is to destroy the U.S. in every possible way and at the same time enrich himself and his wealthy friends. He doesn’t even appear to care about the economy anymore. He wants Americans to be poor, ignorant, and isolated from the rest of the world.

    The New York Times: Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too.

    The Trump administration’s surprising bid to end Harvard’s international enrollment put the higher education world on edge this week, looming as a larger threat against academic autonomy.

    Well beyond the halls of Harvard this week, college leaders were shocked that one swift move by the federal government could eliminate their ability to serve students from abroad, a growing population that has infused their campuses with cachet and wealth.

    “This is a grave moment,” Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a message to her campus.

    More than 5,000 miles away, Wendy Hensel, the president of the University of Hawaii, said that it was “reverberating across higher education.”

    President Trump has already unnerved universities this year by launching investigations, freezing grants, demanding changes in campus practices and attempting to deport international students. He has justified his punitive approach as a means to combat what he considers antisemitism. But he and his allies also have long resented a perceived liberal bias and racial diversity efforts at prestigious colleges.

    The Trump administration said Thursday that it revoked Harvard’s international student certification because the university had failed to meet its demands, including a request for records of student protest activity dating back five years.

    To many academics, that was a clear signal that Mr. Trump was prepared to use any federal mechanism as leverage if he did not get what he wants.

    “While Harvard is the victim of the moment, it’s a warning and unprecedented attempt of a hostile federal government to erode the autonomy of all major universities in the U.S.,” said John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Yesterday, Trump and Marco Rubio began dismantling the National Security Council.

    CNN: More than 100 National Security Council staffers put on administrative leave.

    The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

    Woman and cat, by Toyohara Kunichika

    CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

    An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

    The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies….

    With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

    Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration….

    Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

    But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

    Axios says they are trying to purge the “deep state.”

    President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have orchestrated a vast restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing its size and transferring many of its powers to the State and Defense departments.

    Why it matters: Trump’s White House sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and filled with longtime officials who don’t share the president’s vision.

    • A White House official involved in the planning characterized the reorganization as Trump and Rubio’s latest move against what they see as Washington’s “Deep State.”
    • “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. Those cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in government, officials said.
    • “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio told Axios in a statement. “The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”

    Zoom in: White House officials point to an NSC structure that’s filled with committees and meetings that they say slow down decision-making and produce lots of jargon and acronyms.

    There’s a lot more a the link, but I think Trump is just trying to bring every part of the government under his personal control.

    Finally, I want to look at what Trump and RFK Jr. are doing with Covid-19 and Covid vaccines.

    ABC News: Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week? Experts say there is low vaccine uptake and people are not accessing treatments.

    More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.

    By Utagawa Hiroshige, 1797-1858

    Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.

    Public health experts told ABC News that although the U.S. is in a much better place than it was a few years ago, COVID is still a threat to high-risk groups.

    “The fact that we’re still seeing deaths just means it’s still circulating, and people are still catching it,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor in the department of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center, told ABC News.

    The experts said there are a few reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including low vaccination uptake, waning immunity and not enough people accessing treatments.

    Read more details at the ABC link.

    So why is the government limiting access to Covid Vaccines?

    Scientific American: What FDA’s Planned Limits on COVID Vaccinations Mean for Health.

    Larry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus.

    Until now, that is.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Read the rest at the link. You can also check out this article at Technology Review: The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.

    Trump simply doesn’t care if Americans die. That’s obvious based on the way he dealt with Covid during his first term. He seems willing to let RFK Jr. do whatever he wants. So who can Americans turn to for guidance and access to vaccines and treatments?

    That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?

    #CovidVaccines #Covid19Deaths #CryptoCurrency #FDA #HarvardUniversity #internationalUniversityStudents #KristiNoem #NationalSecurityCouncil #NSC #RobertFKennedyJr_ #TrumpCorruption

    #covidvaccines #covid19deaths #cryptocurrency #fda #harvarduniversity #internationaluniversitystudents
  16. WE AND THE COLOR @[email protected] ·

    Best Graphic Design Software 2025: Your Ultimate Guide to the Top 20 Tools

    This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. It’s at no extra cost to you and helps us run this site. Thanks for your support!

    Picking the best graphic design software can feel like a monumental task, can’t it? You’re standing at a crossroads, with a dozen paths leading to different creative destinations. Which one is right for your journey in 2025? Will it be the industry giant everyone talks about, or perhaps a nimble newcomer making waves? This isn’t just about features; it’s about finding a partner for your creativity, a tool that empowers you to bring those brilliant ideas to life. If you’re searching for the best graphic design software to elevate your work, you’ve come to the right place.

    The landscape of digital design is always shifting. New tools emerge, old favorites get powerful updates, and the way we create evolves. Think about how much AI has started to weave its way into creative workflows, or how crucial seamless collaboration has become. So, what truly makes a program the best graphic design software as we head into 2025? It’s a mix of power, usability, an eye on the future, and, of course, how well it fits your specific needs and budget.

    This guide isn’t just another list. It’s a friendly chat, a detailed exploration of the top 20 design tools that are set to define and dominate 2025. We’ll look at everything from the undisputed champions to exciting challengers, free graphic design software, and specialized apps. We’ll uncover what makes each one tick, who it’s perfect for, and what new tricks they have up their sleeves for the coming year. Ready to find your perfect creative match? Let’s explore the options for the best graphic design software together.

    The Titans: Industry-Standard Graphic Design Software

    When people talk about professional graphic design software, a few names immediately spring to mind. These are the titans, the tools that have shaped industries and continue to be the benchmark for many. They are often part of a larger ecosystem, offering comprehensive solutions.

    1. Adobe Photoshop: The Unrivaled Image Manipulation King

    Adobe Photoshop is often the first name uttered when discussing the best graphic design software, especially for raster graphics. For decades, it has been the industry standard for photo editing, image manipulation, digital painting, and much more. If you can imagine it, you can probably create it in Photoshop.

    • The 2025 Edge: Leading into 2025, Photoshop continues to impress with its ever-expanding AI Sensei features. Think advanced neural filters, mind-blowing content-aware fill capabilities, and AI-powered selection tools that save incredible amounts of time. Its integration with the Adobe Creative Cloud also means seamless workflows with other Adobe apps and cloud-based collaboration. Expect even more AI-driven automation and features that blur the lines between reality and digital artistry.
    • Key Features:
      • Comprehensive layer system
      • Advanced selection and masking tools
      • Extensive brushes and filters
      • 3D design capabilities
      • Content-Aware Fill and Generative Fill (AI)
      • Video editing basics
      • Huge library of plugins and resources
    • Pros: Unmatched power for photo editing, industry standard, vast learning resources, continuous updates with cutting-edge features.
    • Cons: Subscription model can be costly, steep learning curve for beginners, and can be resource-intensive.
    • Pricing: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud (Photography plan from $9.99/month, or All Apps plan).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Essential for photographers, digital artists, and any designer working heavily with raster images. If photo manipulation is your game, Photoshop is likely your best graphic design software choice.

    2. Adobe Illustrator: The Vector Virtuoso

    When your design needs to scale from a tiny icon to a massive billboard without losing quality, vector graphics are the answer, and Adobe Illustrator is the reigning champion in this domain. It’s the go-to for logo design, icon creation, typography, and complex illustrations. Many consider it the best graphic design software for vector-based work.

    • The 2025 Edge: Illustrator in 2025 is pushing boundaries with AI-powered features like Text to Vector Graphic (beta), allowing you to generate editable vector graphics from simple text prompts. Enhanced collaboration tools, including share for review and in-app commenting, streamline teamwork. Its performance with complex vector paths continues to improve, making intricate designs smoother to handle.
    • Key Features:
      • Advanced vector drawing tools (Pen tool, Curvature tool)
      • Artboards for managing multiple designs
      • Powerful typography controls
      • Pattern creation and image tracing
      • Integration with Adobe Fonts and Stock
      • 3D and materials (newer features)
    • Pros: Industry-standard for vector graphics, scalable output, precise control, excellent integration with other Adobe apps.
    • Cons: Subscription cost, can be complex for newcomers, some find its interface less intuitive than competitors for specific tasks.
    • Pricing: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud (Single app from $22.99/month, or All Apps plan).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Indispensable for logo designers, illustrators, and anyone creating resolution-independent graphics. If branding and detailed vector art are your focus, Illustrator is a strong contender for your best graphic design software.

    3. Adobe InDesign: The Layout Maestro

    For projects involving multi-page layouts – think magazines, brochures, eBooks, interactive PDFs – Adobe InDesign is the undisputed professional choice. It excels at combining text and graphics to create polished, print-ready, or digital documents. It’s often cited as the best graphic design software for publication design.

    • The 2025 Edge: InDesign continues to enhance its digital publishing capabilities, with more robust tools for creating accessible documents and interactive online experiences. AI features are also seeping in, helping with smart text flow and layout suggestions. Its integration with Adobe Stock and Fonts, plus improved review and collaboration features, makes it a powerhouse for design teams working on extensive documents.
    • Key Features:
      • Precise typographic controls and text styling
      • Master pages for consistent layouts
      • Easy integration of Photoshop and Illustrator files
      • Preflight checks for print and digital output
      • Interactive PDF and EPUB creation
      • Share for Review collaboration tools
    • Pros: Industry standard for desktop publishing, powerful layout and typography tools, excellent for print and digital publications, robust integration.
    • Cons: Subscription model, steep learning curve, primarily focused on layout rather than asset creation.
    • Pricing: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud (Single app from $22.99/month, or All Apps plan).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Essential for graphic designers working on books, magazines, flyers, interactive PDFs, and other layout-intensive projects. If your work involves significant text and image composition, InDesign is likely the best graphic design software for your needs.

    The Collaborative Champions: Redefining Team Workflows

    The way designers work is changing. Collaboration is no longer a luxury but a necessity. These tools have put real-time teamwork at their core, making them incredibly popular, especially for UI/UX and web design. Could one of these be the best graphic design software for your team?

    4. Figma: The Web-Native Design Disruptor

    Figma has revolutionized UI/UX design and has rapidly become a favorite for web designers, product teams, and even general graphic designers. Its browser-based nature and real-time collaboration features are game-changers. Many now consider Figma the best graphic design software for interface design and teamwork.

    • The 2025 Edge: Figma continues its rapid innovation pace. Expect even more powerful prototyping features, enhanced developer handoff tools, and deeper integration of AI for tasks like component generation or layout suggestions. Its acquisition by Adobe (though facing regulatory scrutiny) signals potential for even broader capabilities, but its core strength remains its collaborative, web-first approach. FigJam, its whiteboarding tool, further enhances its collaborative ecosystem.
    • Key Features:
      • Real-time collaboration
      • Vector editing tools optimized for UI design
      • Interactive prototyping
      • Component-based design system management
      • Version history
      • Extensive plugin ecosystem
      • Cross-platform (browser-based, desktop apps)
    • Pros: Exceptional collaboration, accessible from anywhere, free tier for individuals, powerful for UI/UX, strong community, and plugin support.
    • Cons: Requires an internet connection for full functionality (though offline work is improving), can be less ideal for print design or complex photo manipulation compared to dedicated tools.
    • Pricing: Free for up to 3 Figma and 3 FigJam files; Professional from $12 per editor/month (billed annually).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A top choice for UI/UX designers, web designers, and teams needing seamless collaboration. If you’re designing digital products or working in a distributed team, Figma might just be your best graphic design software.

    5. Canva: Design for Everyone, Everywhere

    Canva has democratized design, making it accessible to non-designers and a quick, efficient tool for professionals creating social media graphics, presentations, and marketing materials. Its ease of use and vast template library are its hallmarks. For many, it’s the best graphic design software for beginners and for rapid content creation.

    • The 2025 Edge: Canva is aggressively integrating AI across its platform with its “Magic Studio.” This includes AI image generation (Text to Image), AI-powered editing (Magic Edit, Magic Eraser), AI writing assistance, and even AI presentation generation. Its focus on team collaboration and brand kits makes it increasingly viable for businesses. Expect Canva to continue simplifying complex design tasks with AI and expanding its template offerings.
    • Key Features:
      • Drag-and-drop interface
      • Huge library of templates, stock photos, videos, and graphics
      • AI-powered design tools (Magic Studio)
      • Real-time collaboration
      • Brand Kit for maintaining brand consistency
      • Social media scheduling (Canva Pro)
      • Basic video editing
    • Pros: Extremely easy to use, vast template library, free version is very capable, great for social media and marketing graphics, strong collaboration features.
    • Cons: Less control than professional-grade software for complex designs, reliance on templates can sometimes lead to generic-looking output if not customized. Not ideal for intricate vector work or heavy photo retouching.
    • Pricing: Free plan available; Canva Pro from $12.99/month for one person.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Perfect for beginners, marketers, small business owners, and anyone needing to create good-looking graphics quickly without a steep learning curve. If speed and ease of use for common design tasks are paramount, Canva is a strong contender for the best graphic design software.

    Powerful Alternatives: Value and Performance

    Not everyone wants or needs to be tied to a subscription. These tools offer incredible power, often with a one-time purchase, making them a fantastic value and strong competitors in the search for the best graphic design software.

    6. Affinity Designer 2: The Adobe Illustrator Challenger

    Serif’s Affinity Designer has made serious waves as a robust, professional-grade vector graphics editor that directly competes with Adobe Illustrator, but with a one-time purchase. It’s lauded for its speed, power, and smooth workflow. Many professionals are switching or adding it to their toolkit, calling it one of the best graphic design software alternatives.

    • The 2025 Edge: Version 2 brought a redesigned UI, non-destructive vector warp, shape builder tool, knife tool, and more. Leading into 2025, Affinity Designer continues to refine these features and enhance performance, particularly on both macOS and Windows. Its focus on a seamless experience across its suite (Photo, Publisher) and its one-time cost remain highly attractive.
    • Key Features:
      • Full-featured vector and raster workspaces (personas)
      • Blazing fast performance, even with complex documents
      • Unlimited artboards, advanced grids, and snapping
      • Pixel persona for raster texture and retouching within vector designs
      • Non-destructive editing features
      • One-time purchase
    • Pros: Incredible value (one-time cost), powerful feature set, fast performance, seamless switching between vector and raster tools, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, iPad).
    • Cons: Smaller plugin ecosystem compared to Adobe, learning curve if migrating from Illustrator due to different terminology/workflows.
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $69.99 (often on sale). Universal License for all Affinity apps on all platforms is also available.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Excellent for illustrators, UI/UX designers, and anyone looking for a powerful, affordable alternative to Illustrator. If you want professional vector capabilities without a subscription, Affinity Designer is a top pick for the best graphic design software.

    7. Affinity Photo 2: The Photoshop Contender

    Affinity Photo 2 is Serif’s answer to Adobe Photoshop. It’s a comprehensive raster graphics editor packed with professional tools for photo editing, digital painting, and multi-layered compositions. It’s a serious contender for the title of best graphic design software for image editing, especially for those seeking a non-subscription model.

    • The 2025 Edge: Version 2 introduced non-destructive RAW develop, live mesh warp, compound masks, and more. Affinity Photo continues to optimize its engine for speed and add features that rival Photoshop’s capabilities. Its commitment to non-destructive workflows and a one-time purchase price makes it increasingly popular.
    • Key Features:
      • Full RAW development
      • HDR merging and focus stacking
      • Advanced selection algorithms
      • Liquify persona for distortions
      • Extensive brush library and customization
      • Non-destructive live filter layers
      • PSD file compatibility
    • Pros: One-time purchase, powerful feature set comparable to Photoshop, fast performance, non-destructive workflow, available on Windows, Mac, and iPad.
    • Cons: Steeper learning curve for some, smaller community, and fewer third-party tutorials/plugins than Photoshop.
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $69.99 (often on sale). Universal License available.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A fantastic choice for photographers and designers who need professional photo editing capabilities without a subscription. If you’re looking for a powerful Photoshop alternative, Affinity Photo is a leading candidate for the best graphic design software.

    8. Affinity Publisher 2: The InDesign Alternative

    Completing the Affinity trinity, Affinity Publisher 2 challenges Adobe InDesign for desktop publishing and layout design. It allows users to create everything from simple brochures to complex books and magazines, all with a one-time fee. It’s a strong option when considering the best graphic design software for page layout.

    • The 2025 Edge: Version 2 brought significant enhancements like book creation, notes, and place auto-flow. A standout feature is StudioLink, allowing you to instantly switch to the full toolsets of Affinity Photo and Designer if you own them, right within your Publisher document. This integrated workflow is a huge plus. Expect continued refinements in typography and digital export options.
    • Key Features:
      • Master pages, facing page spreads, grids, tables
      • Text flow, advanced typography
      • StudioLink for seamless integration with Affinity Photo and Designer
      • Import/export of various file formats (including IDML)
      • Book creation and management tools
    • Pros: One-time purchase, powerful layout tools, innovative StudioLink integration, good performance, cross-platform.
    • Cons: Still newer than InDesign, so some niche features might be less developed; smaller template and plugin market.
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $69.99 (often on sale). Universal License available.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Ideal for designers and publishers looking for an affordable, capable alternative to InDesign, especially if already invested in the Affinity ecosystem. This could be your best graphic design software for creating professional publications without ongoing costs.

    9. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2024: The Veteran All-Rounder

    CorelDRAW has a long history in the world of graphic design, particularly on Windows, though it’s also available for Mac. It’s a comprehensive suite offering tools for vector illustration, layout, photo editing (Photo-Paint), typography, and more. For many PC users, it has long been considered one of the best graphic design software packages.

    • The 2025 Edge: CorelDRAW continues to evolve with a focus on productivity, collaboration, and AI-powered features. Recent versions have introduced dynamic asset management, enhanced collaboration workflows, and AI-assisted PowerTrace and image upsampling. Expect more cloud integration and tools tailored for specific industries like sign-making and apparel.
    • Key Features:
      • Robust vector illustration tools
      • Page layout capabilities
      • Corel PHOTO-PAINT for image editing
      • Corel Font Manager
      • AI-powered features
      • Extensive file compatibility
      • Collaboration tools
    • Pros: Comprehensive suite of tools, strong vector capabilities, user-friendly for those familiar with it, available as a subscription or one-time purchase (though subscription is pushed).
    • Cons: Can be perceived as less “industry standard” in some creative circles compared to Adobe, Mac version historically lagged, but is now more robust. The full suite can be expensive if purchased outright.
    • Pricing: Subscription from $269/year or a one-time purchase of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2024 for around $549.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A solid choice for Windows users, particularly in industries like manufacturing, signage, and apparel. If you need an all-in-one suite and prefer its workflow, CorelDRAW remains a powerful contender for the best graphic design software.

    Specialized Tools: Nailing the Niche

    Sometimes, the best graphic design software isn’t an all-in-one solution but a tool that excels at a specific task or on a particular platform. These specialized tools are beloved by many for their focused excellence.

    10. Procreate: The iPad Illustration Powerhouse

    If you’re an illustrator or digital painter and own an iPad, Procreate is almost a must-have. It’s an incredibly powerful and intuitive painting app designed specifically for the touch interface of the iPad and Apple Pencil. For digital artists on iOS, it’s often hailed as the best graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: Procreate continues to add professional-level features while maintaining its legendary ease of use. Recent updates have included 3D painting, improved text handling, and more animation features with Procreate Dreams. Expect further enhancements in brush engine technology, performance, and perhaps more AI-assisted tools that complement the artist’s workflow rather than replace it.
    • Key Features:
      • Vast library of brushes with deep customization
      • Intuitive gesture controls
      • High-resolution canvases
      • Animation Assist and 3D painting
      • Time-lapse recording of artwork creation
      • PSD import/export
    • Pros: Incredible value (one-time low cost), powerful and intuitive, optimized for iPad and Apple Pencil, excellent brush engine, vibrant community.
    • Cons: iPad only, not a full graphic design suite (focused on illustration and painting).
    • Pricing: One-time purchase of around $12.99. Procreate Dreams (animation app) is separate.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A dream tool for illustrators, digital painters, and lettering artists using an iPad. If your work is primarily art-focused and you love the iPad experience, Procreate is an unbeatable choice and could be your best graphic design software for on-the-go creativity.

    11. Sketch: The Mac-Native UI/UX Pioneer

    Sketch was one of the first design tools to truly challenge Adobe’s dominance in the UI/UX space, particularly on macOS. It’s a vector-based editor known for its clean interface and focus on digital product design. For Mac-based UI designers, it’s long been a top pick for the best graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: While Figma has gained significant market share, Sketch remains a strong choice for Mac users. It continues to refine its collaborative features, improve prototyping capabilities, and ensure deep integration with macOS. Its focus on native performance and a polished Mac experience is a key differentiator. Expect continued enhancements for design systems and developer handoff.
    • Key Features:
      • Intuitive vector editing tools
      • Symbols for reusable components
      • Prototyping and artboard linking
      • Collaboration tools for teams
      • Extensive plugin library
      • Mac-native application
    • Pros: Clean, intuitive interface, strong for UI/UX design, good performance on Mac, robust plugin ecosystem, one-time purchase with optional renewals for updates.
    • Cons: Mac only, collaboration features are good, but Figma is often seen as leading in real-time, subscription for continued updates after the first year.
    • Pricing: Standard license from $120/year (includes updates and collaboration features).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A great option for Mac-based UI/UX designers and teams who prefer a native app experience and a focused toolset. If you’re committed to the Apple ecosystem, Sketch is a strong contender for your best graphic design software.

    The Open-Source Heroes: Free & Flexible Graphic Design Software

    For those on a budget or who champion the open-source philosophy, these tools offer incredible power without costing a penny. They are community-driven and constantly evolving, making them viable options when searching for free graphic design software or even the overall best graphic design software for specific needs.

    12. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): The Free Photoshop Alternative

    GIMP has been the leading free, open-source raster graphics editor for many years. It offers a comprehensive set of tools for photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. It’s often the first recommendation for free graphic design software that mimics Photoshop’s capabilities.

    • The 2025 Edge: GIMP development continues, with ongoing work towards GIMP 3.0 which promises a GTK3 port (leading to better UI, especially on HiDPI displays) and non-destructive editing (a long-awaited feature). While development can be slower than commercial software, the commitment to providing a powerful free tool remains.
    • Key Features:
      • Photo enhancement and retouching tools
      • Customizable interface
      • Extensive plugin support
      • Support for various file formats
      • Digital painting tools
    • Pros: Completely free and open-source, powerful feature set for a free tool, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), highly customizable.
    • Cons: Can have a steeper learning curve, interface might feel dated to some (though improving), development cycles can be long. Non-destructive editing is still a work in progress for the main stable releases.
    • Pricing: Free.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Excellent for hobbyists, students, or professionals on a tight budget needing powerful image editing capabilities. If cost is a major factor, GIMP is a very strong candidate for the best graphic design software.

    13. Krita: The Free Digital Painting Specialist

    Krita is a free, open-source painting program designed for concept artists, illustrators, matte and texture artists, and the VFX industry. While GIMP is more of a general image editor, Krita is laser-focused on digital painting and illustration. For artists looking for free graphic design software specifically for painting, Krita is exceptional.

    • The 2025 Edge: Krita receives frequent updates, often driven by community feedback and funding. Expect continued improvements to its brush engines, animation tools, and performance. Its dedication to providing professional-grade painting tools for free is its biggest strength. AI integration is also being explored by the community.
    • Key Features:
      • Excellent brush engines and stabilizers
      • Wrap-around mode for seamless textures and patterns
      • Brush resource manager
      • Animation tools
      • Layer management and color management
      • PSD file support
    • Pros: Free and open-source, specifically designed for digital painting, powerful brush customization, intuitive interface for artists, and active community.
    • Cons: Less suited for general photo editing or layout work compared to GIMP or Photoshop.
    • Pricing: Free (donations encouraged).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A fantastic choice for digital painters, illustrators, and comic artists who want a professional-grade, free tool. If digital art is your passion, Krita could be your best graphic design software.

    14. Inkscape: The Free Vector Graphics Powerhouse

    Inkscape is the leading free, open-source vector graphics editor, often compared to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW. It uses the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file format as its native format and offers a rich set of features for creating illustrations, logos, diagrams, and more. It’s a top choice for free graphic design software for vector work.

    • The 2025 Edge: Inkscape development is active, with recent versions bringing performance improvements, UI refinements, and new features like a revamped layers dialog and better SVG2 support. As an open-source project, it benefits from a dedicated global community contributing to its growth.
    • Key Features:
      • Comprehensive drawing tools (pencil, pen, calligraphy)
      • Shape tools, Boolean operations, and path simplification
      • Text tools, including text on path and flowing text
      • Bitmap tracing
      • Extensive file format support
      • Extensible via add-ons
    • Pros: Free and open-source, powerful vector editing capabilities, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), good SVG support.
    • Cons: Learning curve can be steep for beginners, performance can sometimes lag with very complex files, UI might not feel as polished as commercial alternatives to some users.
    • Pricing: Free.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Ideal for students, hobbyists, and professionals looking for a capable, free vector graphics editor. If you need to create scalable graphics without paying for software, Inkscape is a strong contender for the best graphic design software.

    Emerging & Web-Based Contenders: Fresh Choices for Modern Design

    The world of design tools is always expanding. These contenders, many web-based, offer innovative approaches, ease of access, or specialized functionalities that make them worth considering in your quest for the best graphic design software.

    15. Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark): Quick & Easy Design by Adobe

    Adobe Express is Adobe’s answer to Canva, aimed at users who need to create social media graphics, flyers, logos, and short videos quickly and easily. It leverages Adobe’s creative technology in a simplified, template-driven interface. It’s a strong option when looking for user-friendly graphic design software for social media content.

    • The 2025 Edge: Adobe is heavily investing in Express, integrating more AI features from Firefly (Adobe’s generative AI family), like text-to-image and text effects. Its integration with Creative Cloud libraries allows for smoother workflows for users already in the Adobe ecosystem. Expect more templates, more AI power, and tighter integration with other Adobe services.
    • Key Features:
      • Thousands of templates
      • Access to Adobe Stock photos and Adobe Fonts
      • AI-powered features (Adobe Firefly)
      • Basic photo editing and animation tools
      • Brand kits (premium feature)
      • Collaboration features
    • Pros: Easy to use, high-quality templates, good integration with Adobe ecosystem, free version is quite capable, AI features are promising.
    • Cons: Less advanced than full Adobe Creative Cloud apps, premium features require a subscription.
    • Pricing: Free plan available; Premium plan from $9.99/month (also included with many Creative Cloud plans).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Great for marketers, small businesses, students, and anyone needing to create professional-looking content quickly, especially if already using other Adobe tools. This could be your best graphic design software for fast turnarounds.

    16. Pixlr: Online Photo Editing Power

    Pixlr offers a suite of online photo editing tools, ranging from the simple Pixlr X for quick edits to the more advanced Pixlr E, which offers Photoshop-like capabilities in your browser. It’s a convenient option for those who need to edit photos on the go without installing software. For accessible online editing, it’s a candidate for the best graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: Pixlr continues to enhance its AI-powered tools, including background removal, object removal, and auto-fix features. Its accessibility and tiered approach (from beginner to advanced) make it versatile. Expect more AI features and improved performance for its web-based editors.
    • Key Features:
      • Two editor modes: Pixlr X (easy) and Pixlr E (advanced)
      • AI-powered tools (background remover, cutout, etc.)
      • Layers, filters, and effects
      • Template library
      • Supports various image formats
    • Pros: Web-based and accessible, free version available, good range of tools from basic to advanced, AI features are useful.
    • Cons: Free version has ads, more advanced features require a subscription, performance can depend on internet connection and browser.
    • Pricing: Free with ads; Premium from around $4.90/month.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Good for users needing quick online photo edits, social media graphics, or a free/affordable Photoshop-like experience in the browser.

    17. Photopea: The “Photoshop Online” Experience

    Photopea has gained immense popularity for being a free, web-based editor that closely mimics the interface and functionality of Adobe Photoshop. It supports PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD, and CDR formats, making it incredibly versatile for those who need to open or edit files from various sources without owning the native software. It’s a remarkable piece of free graphic design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: Photopea is continuously updated by its solo developer, often adding features requested by the community. Its strength lies in its comprehensive feature set available for free in a browser. Expect ongoing improvements in performance, format support, and tool refinement.
    • Key Features:
      • Photoshop-like interface and tools (layers, masks, smart objects, filters)
      • Supports PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD, CDR, and other formats
      • Runs in the browser, no installation needed
      • Basic vector tools
    • Pros: Free, incredibly similar to Photoshop, supports a wide range of file formats, and no registration required for basic use.
    • Cons: Can be slower with very large files, interface might be cluttered for beginners, relies on ads in the free version.
    • Pricing: Free with ads; Premium (ad-free, more history steps) from $5/month.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: An excellent free alternative to Photoshop, especially if you need to work with PSD files and don’t have Photoshop. For many, it’s the best graphic design software when accessibility and cost are primary concerns.

    18. Spline: 3D Design Made Easy and Collaborative

    While not traditional 2D graphic design software, Spline is making waves by democratizing 3D design, making it accessible directly in the browser with real-time collaboration. As 3D elements become more prevalent in web design and marketing, tools like Spline are increasingly relevant. Could this be part of the future for the best graphic design software landscape?

    • The 2025 Edge: Spline is rapidly evolving, adding more modeling tools, interactive features, physics, and game controls. Its ease of use for creating web-based 3D scenes and animations is its key appeal. Expect deeper integrations with web development workflows and more AI-assisted 3D creation.
    • Key Features:
      • Browser-based 3D modeling and animation
      • Real-time collaboration
      • Parametric objects and polygonal modeling
      • Interactive experiences (events, states)
      • Material and texture editing
      • Export to web formats (including embed codes)
    • Pros: Easy to learn for 3D, web-based and collaborative, free plan is generous, great for creating interactive web 3D graphics.
    • Cons: Not as powerful as dedicated 3D software like Blender or Cinema 4D for complex modeling or rendering, still a relatively new tool.
    • Pricing: Free plan available; Pro plan from $7/month per user (billed annually).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Fantastic for web designers, UI/UX designers, and marketers looking to incorporate 3D elements and interactive experiences into their projects without a steep learning curve.

    19. Corel Vector (formerly Gravit Designer): Versatile Web-Based Vector Tool

    Gravit Designer, now Corel Vector, is a powerful and free (with a Pro option) vector design application available online and as installable desktop apps. It aims to provide a comprehensive set of vector tools suitable for everything from icon design and illustration to presentations and screen design. It’s a strong contender in the search for accessible vector design software.

    • The 2025 Edge: As part of Corel, it benefits from larger company resources. Expect continued development of its feature set, cloud integration, and potentially tighter links with other Corel products. Its cross-platform nature and robust free offering remain key attractions.
    • Key Features:
      • Full-featured vector tools (pen, bézigon, shapes)
      • Non-destructive effects and adjustments
      • Cloud storage and collaboration (Pro)
      • Import/export various formats (SVG, PDF, EPS, SKETCH)
      • Pre-designed templates and assets
    • Pros: Free version is very capable, cross-platform (web, Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS), intuitive interface for many, good range of tools.
    • Cons: Some advanced features are Pro-only, performance with extremely complex files might vary, being part of Corel might change its development trajectory for some users.
    • Pricing: Free plan; Corel Vector Pro is part of CorelDRAW subscriptions or can be purchased separately (pricing varies).
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: A great choice for users needing a flexible, cross-platform vector editor without the cost of Illustrator, especially if the free features meet their needs.

    20. Lunacy: Free Sketch Alternative for Windows (and more)

    Lunacy started as a free Sketch viewer and editor for Windows users who couldn’t access the Mac-only Sketch. It has since evolved into a full-fledged graphic design software with AI tools and built-in graphics. It’s a noteworthy option for those seeking free graphic design software with modern UI/UX capabilities.

    • The 2025 Edge: Lunacy is rapidly adding features, including AI-powered tools like background remover, image upscaler, and text generator. Its full support for Sketch files and its growing library of integrated assets (icons, photos, illustrations) make it a convenient all-in-one solution for many.
    • Key Features:
      • Full .sketch file support (open, edit, save)
      • Vector editing tools
      • Built-in graphics library (icons, photos, illustrations)
      • AI-powered tools
      • Basic prototyping
      • Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux
    • Pros: Free, excellent Sketch compatibility, built-in assets save time, AI tools are a plus, and cross-platform.
    • Cons: Still newer than established players, some advanced features found in Sketch or Figma might be missing or less polished.
    • Pricing: Free.
    • Is it the best graphic design software for you?: Excellent for Windows users who need to work with Sketch files, or anyone looking for a free, modern graphic design tool with built-in assets and AI features. This could be the best graphic design software for cross-team collaboration when Sketch files are involved.

    AI in Design: The New Frontier and Choosing Your Best Graphic Design Software

    You’ve probably noticed a recurring theme: Artificial Intelligence. AI is no longer a futuristic buzzword; it’s actively being integrated into the best graphic design software. From generative fill in Photoshop to text-to-image in Canva and Adobe Express, AI assists with tedious tasks, sparks new ideas, and even generates entire design elements.

    As we look to 2025, expect AI to become even more deeply embedded. This doesn’t mean AI will replace designers. Instead, it will augment their abilities, acting as a powerful co-pilot. When choosing your best graphic design software, consider how well it incorporates AI in a way that genuinely enhances your workflow. Are you looking for AI-powered graphic design software specifically? Many of the tools listed are already heading that way.

    How to Choose the Right and Best Graphic Design Software for You in 2025

    So, with all these amazing options, how do you pick the one that’s truly the best graphic design software for your unique situation? It’s a personal decision, but here are some key questions to ask yourself:

    1. What’s your budget? Are you looking for free graphic design software, a one-time purchase, or are you comfortable with a subscription? This will immediately narrow down your choices.
    2. What’s your skill level? Are you a beginner needing something intuitive like Canva, or a seasoned pro ready to tackle the complexities of Photoshop or Illustrator? Some tools offer a gentler learning curve.
    3. What operating system do you use? Some software is platform-specific (like Sketch for Mac or Procreate for iPad), while others are cross-platform or web-based. This is a crucial factor for finding the best graphic design software for Windows/Mac/Linux.
    4. What kind of design work will you primarily do?
      • Logo design and branding? Look at vector tools like Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, or CorelDRAW. These are often considered the best graphic design software for logo design and branding.
      • Photo editing and manipulation? Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, or Pixlr are strong choices.
      • UI/UX design for web and apps? Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD (though its future is uncertain, Figma is leading here). These are top UI/UX design tools.
      • Social media graphics and marketing materials? Canva, Adobe Express, Visme. Many find these to be the best graphic design software for social media content.
      • Print layouts (magazines, brochures)? InDesign, Affinity Publisher.
      • Illustration and digital painting? Procreate, Krita, Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity Designer.
    5. Do you need to collaborate with others? If so, tools like Figma, Canva, and Adobe’s cloud-based apps with their strong collaborative features should be high on your list.
    6. What features are non-negotiable? Do you absolutely need advanced typography, specific file format support, or non-destructive editing? Make a list of your must-haves.

    Thinking through these questions will guide you to the best graphic design software that not only meets your current needs but also supports your growth as a designer in 2025 and beyond. Many professionals use a combination of tools, leveraging each for its specific strengths. Perhaps your best graphic design software solution isn’t one tool, but a carefully selected toolkit.

    The world of graphic design software is vibrant and constantly evolving. The best graphic design software for you is out there, waiting to help you create amazing things. Hopefully, this extensive review has given you the insights you need to make an informed choice and embark on your most creative year yet! Good luck!

    Feel free to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Graphic Design category for more mind-blowing content. For those interested, don’t hesitate to take a look at our selection of the best photo editing software in 2025, as well as the post about the top 10 video editing tools in 2025.

    #2025 #bestGraphicDesignSoftware #designSoftware #graphicDesign #graphicDesignSoftware

    #bestgraphicdesignsoftware #designsoftware #graphicdesign #graphicdesignsoftware
  17. Sky Dancing @[email protected] ·

    Lazy Caturday Reads

    Woman and Cat, by Koji Fukiya, 1936.

    Good Afternoon!!

    Yesterday, Dakinikat wrote about Trump’s crypto dinner, where he briefly spoke to the people who had spent the most on his personal memecoin. The “gala dinner” was held at Trump’s Virginia golf club. The attendees–mostly from foreign countries–had spent their money hoping to gain “access” to Trump, but that didn’t happen, at least at this event. Trump showed up on a “military helicopter,” spoke for less than half and hour and then did his YMCA dance. Then he left again without speaking to anyone personally. And the food was terrible.

    Wired: A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner.

    Donald Trump left the stage at his golf club near Washington, DC, on Thursday night, he pointed to the crowd, brought his index finger to his temple—as if to say: You know what’s coming—then began to dance. To the beat of “Y.M.C.A” by The Village People, Trump shimmied, gyrated, and pumped his arms above his head.

    Looking on were more than 200 people who had been invited to the Trump National Golf Club for a private gala dinner. They had won their seats by purchasing large quantities of Trump’s own crypto coin—TRUMP—some holding millions of dollars’ worth….

    By late afternoon, the dinner guests had started to filter through the gates of the golf club. By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, die-hard Trump fans, and even professional sports stars—former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.

    Just after 7 pm, the dinner guests gathered at the window to watch Trump descend in Marine One, his presidential helicopter. A short while later, he appeared from behind a blue velvet curtain to whoops and applause from the crowd. Had they seen the helicopter, Trump asked. “Yeah, super cool!” somebody yelled….

    From behind a lectern at one end of the dining room, backdropped by four US flags, Trump delivered a characteristically winding and digressive speech that sources say lasted around 25 minutes. At some point, he got round to crypto.

    “We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” said Trump. “You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special—who knows, right? Who knows—but it may be special.”

    For some, the dinner represented a chance to network with other deep-pocketed crypto figures, and to hear directly from Trump about his plans to bring an end to the regulatory uncertainty that crimped the industry’s expansion under Biden.

    “You don’t get to meet the president easily,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told WIRED a few days before the dinner. “To be able to hear his message on crypto directly—I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

    Woodblock print from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1885-1892)

    No one got to meet the president, but I Wired says they also wanted to network with each other. On the general presentation and the food, served at circular tables

    …each seating 10 people arrayed beneath a set of crystal chandeliers. Waiting on the chairs were gift bags containing Fight Fight Fight-themed hats and posters, and a collectible plastic card (some allege that they didn’t receive merch at their seats.) The four largest coin holders—along with two other attendees selected by raffle, sources say—received a gem-encrusted Trump gold watch.

    Between mouthfuls, the attendees discussed trading and investment strategies—and Trump’s speech. “To feel his personal charisma to me was very inspiring,” says Liu. But others complained about the brevity of Trump’s appearance: After his speech, Trump had departed immediately in a golf cart bound for his helicopter. “Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,” says Pinto. “He didn’t.”

    The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “OK, but not top-class.”

    From Penn Live: Trump’s controversial crypto dinner ripped by attendee: ‘Trash.’

    Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin dinner Thursday night was shrouded in secrecy, and while it still isn’t clear who all attended — the White House did not make the list public — we do have a report of how good the food was….

    According to Fortune, 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto was one of those who attended. The site said he invested “more than $360,000 in Trump’s memecoin.

    And for that, he told the site, the dinner that was served was “trash.”

    “Walmart steak, man,” he texted Fortune.

    The site said the menu for the included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut.

    “Everybody at my table was saying the food was so of the worst they ever had,” Pinto said.

    “I was hoping for Big Macs or pizza,” Pinto told Fortune. “That would have been better than the food that we were served.”

    Trump is just raking in the dough as quickly as he can with the minimum effort.

    The New York Times got the guest list: Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?

    The invitees for President Trump’s private dinner for customers of his cryptocurrency business on Thursday included a Chinese billionaire fighting a lawsuit from U.S. regulators, a lawyer for Justice Clarence Thomas and a former basketball star, according to a guest list obtained by The New York Times and social media posts.

    The dinner, at which Mr. Trump gave remarks, was an extraordinary moment in which the president leveraged his position to make money — for his crypto business and for his Virginia golf club, which hosted the event.

    The event’s invited guests were not known publicly beforehand, even to each other. They were identified only by the pseudonyms they used on the electronic wallets where they kept their $TRUMP memecoins. Most had gained an invitation by becoming one of the top 220 holders of that memecoin over a certain period of time. The top 25 of those were given V.I.P. status and afforded a more intimate gathering before the dinner and an unofficial tour of the White House on Friday.

    When they arrived at Mr. Trump’s club outside Washington Thursday evening, the digital world had become physical. The invitees’ names and contact information were delineated on paper lists, checked by staffers at the door. A Times reporter reviewed one of those lists, and used it to identify people who were present. Some other invitees self-identified on social media. A reporter and photographer from The Times also saw some $TRUMP crypto buyers enter and exit the White House on Friday.

    Merchant’s Daughter by Mizuno Toshikata

    Some top invitees:

    Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for allegedly inflating the value of a cryptocurrency. Mr. Sun is a major investor in a separate crypto venture largely owned by a company tied to Mr. Trump, World Liberty Financial. After Mr. Trump took office, the S.E.C. asked a judge to put Mr. Sun’s case on hold….

    Elliot Berke, a Washington attorney who has worked for congressional Republicans and Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. The Times identified him because the invitee list included his email address at his law firm, Berke Farah. He was honored as “Republican Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 by the Republican National Lawyers Association….

    Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and chief executive of a digital-asset firm, Wintermute. The Times identified him because the list of invitees included his Wintermute email….

    Anil Lulla and Yan Liberman, two co-founders of Delphi Digital, a Miami Beach firm that offers market intelligence for crypto investors. Their corporate emails were included in the list of invitees….

    Cheng Lu, 32, a crypto investor from Shanghai, was observed by a Times reporter entering the White House on Friday. He said he did not have a chance to speak with Mr. Trump during the dinner on Thursday or at the Friday tour. “I just want to see President Trump,” he said.

    Several more are listed at the NYT link.

    Another big story today is Trump’s terrifying persecution of Harvard University. Here’s the latest:

    From The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Is Trump Trying to Destroy Harvard? The order against foreign students turns away the world’s brightest.

    The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose?

    That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest.

    The latest assault began when DHS demanded that Harvard turn over sundry records on its foreign students, including whether any had participated in illegal activity or left the university owing to “dangerous or violent activity or deprivation of rights.”

    Some of its record requests are reasonable, but some overreached by requiring private student information. DHS also gave Harvard all of two weeks to respond. If it failed to do so, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she would “automatically withdraw” the school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. “The withdrawal will not be subject to appeal.”

    The SEVP program lets non-citizens enroll at universities on student visas. DHS can bar universities from the program if they fail to comply with “recordkeeping, retention, reporting and other requirements” on foreign students. Harvard says it responded with “information required by law” within two weeks and handed over more records on May 14.

    Twin Guardians, by Hawse Sumi

    That didn’t satisfy Noem and she banned Harvard from enrolling international students. Harvard soon got a restraining order from a federal court.

    Most of Harvard’s foreign students are enrolled in graduate programs. Many assist with scientific research and teaching undergraduate courses. Driving them out of Harvard will disrupt research projects and might cause some professors in the sciences to leave for other universities. This seems to be a goal of freezing Harvard’s research grants.

    Harvard sued on Friday, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the student ban. The university rightly says the Administration’s actions are “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

    The university seems likely to prevail on the law, but until courts settle the merits, thousands of students who have done nothing wrong will be in legal limbo. Some of them no doubt opposed the anti-Israel protests and may even hail from Israel. Why punish them? [….]

    This will be terribly damaging to America’s ability to attract talented young people who bring their enterprise and intellectual capital to the U.S. Non-citizens accounted for more than half of doctoral degrees in AI-related fields in 2022. Many have gone to work at U.S. companies like Nvidia or started their own.

    Clearly Trump hates Harvard, higher education, and education generally. But I’m coming to the conclusion that Trump’s goal is to destroy the U.S. in every possible way and at the same time enrich himself and his wealthy friends. He doesn’t even appear to care about the economy anymore. He wants Americans to be poor, ignorant, and isolated from the rest of the world.

    The New York Times: Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too.

    The Trump administration’s surprising bid to end Harvard’s international enrollment put the higher education world on edge this week, looming as a larger threat against academic autonomy.

    Well beyond the halls of Harvard this week, college leaders were shocked that one swift move by the federal government could eliminate their ability to serve students from abroad, a growing population that has infused their campuses with cachet and wealth.

    “This is a grave moment,” Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a message to her campus.

    More than 5,000 miles away, Wendy Hensel, the president of the University of Hawaii, said that it was “reverberating across higher education.”

    President Trump has already unnerved universities this year by launching investigations, freezing grants, demanding changes in campus practices and attempting to deport international students. He has justified his punitive approach as a means to combat what he considers antisemitism. But he and his allies also have long resented a perceived liberal bias and racial diversity efforts at prestigious colleges.

    The Trump administration said Thursday that it revoked Harvard’s international student certification because the university had failed to meet its demands, including a request for records of student protest activity dating back five years.

    To many academics, that was a clear signal that Mr. Trump was prepared to use any federal mechanism as leverage if he did not get what he wants.

    “While Harvard is the victim of the moment, it’s a warning and unprecedented attempt of a hostile federal government to erode the autonomy of all major universities in the U.S.,” said John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Yesterday, Trump and Marco Rubio began dismantling the National Security Council.

    CNN: More than 100 National Security Council staffers put on administrative leave.

    The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

    Woman and cat, by Toyohara Kunichika

    CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

    An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

    The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies….

    With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

    Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration….

    Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

    But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

    Axios says they are trying to purge the “deep state.”

    President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have orchestrated a vast restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing its size and transferring many of its powers to the State and Defense departments.

    Why it matters: Trump’s White House sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and filled with longtime officials who don’t share the president’s vision.

    • A White House official involved in the planning characterized the reorganization as Trump and Rubio’s latest move against what they see as Washington’s “Deep State.”
    • “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. Those cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in government, officials said.
    • “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio told Axios in a statement. “The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”

    Zoom in: White House officials point to an NSC structure that’s filled with committees and meetings that they say slow down decision-making and produce lots of jargon and acronyms.

    There’s a lot more a the link, but I think Trump is just trying to bring every part of the government under his personal control.

    Finally, I want to look at what Trump and RFK Jr. are doing with Covid-19 and Covid vaccines.

    ABC News: Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week? Experts say there is low vaccine uptake and people are not accessing treatments.

    More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.

    By Utagawa Hiroshige, 1797-1858

    Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.

    Public health experts told ABC News that although the U.S. is in a much better place than it was a few years ago, COVID is still a threat to high-risk groups.

    “The fact that we’re still seeing deaths just means it’s still circulating, and people are still catching it,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor in the department of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center, told ABC News.

    The experts said there are a few reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including low vaccination uptake, waning immunity and not enough people accessing treatments.

    Read more details at the ABC link.

    So why is the government limiting access to Covid Vaccines?

    Scientific American: What FDA’s Planned Limits on COVID Vaccinations Mean for Health.

    Larry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus.

    Until now, that is.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Read the rest at the link. You can also check out this article at Technology Review: The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.

    Trump simply doesn’t care if Americans die. That’s obvious based on the way he dealt with Covid during his first term. He seems willing to let RFK Jr. do whatever he wants. So who can Americans turn to for guidance and access to vaccines and treatments?

    That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?

    #CovidVaccines #Covid19Deaths #CryptoCurrency #FDA #HarvardUniversity #internationalUniversityStudents #KristiNoem #NationalSecurityCouncil #NSC #RobertFKennedyJr_ #TrumpCorruption

    #covidvaccines #covid19deaths #cryptocurrency #fda #harvarduniversity #internationaluniversitystudents
  18. Sky Dancing @[email protected] ·

    Lazy Caturday Reads

    Woman and Cat, by Koji Fukiya, 1936.

    Good Afternoon!!

    Yesterday, Dakinikat wrote about Trump’s crypto dinner, where he briefly spoke to the people who had spent the most on his personal memecoin. The “gala dinner” was held at Trump’s Virginia golf club. The attendees–mostly from foreign countries–had spent their money hoping to gain “access” to Trump, but that didn’t happen, at least at this event. Trump showed up on a “military helicopter,” spoke for less than half and hour and then did his YMCA dance. Then he left again without speaking to anyone personally. And the food was terrible.

    Wired: A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner.

    Donald Trump left the stage at his golf club near Washington, DC, on Thursday night, he pointed to the crowd, brought his index finger to his temple—as if to say: You know what’s coming—then began to dance. To the beat of “Y.M.C.A” by The Village People, Trump shimmied, gyrated, and pumped his arms above his head.

    Looking on were more than 200 people who had been invited to the Trump National Golf Club for a private gala dinner. They had won their seats by purchasing large quantities of Trump’s own crypto coin—TRUMP—some holding millions of dollars’ worth….

    By late afternoon, the dinner guests had started to filter through the gates of the golf club. By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, die-hard Trump fans, and even professional sports stars—former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.

    Just after 7 pm, the dinner guests gathered at the window to watch Trump descend in Marine One, his presidential helicopter. A short while later, he appeared from behind a blue velvet curtain to whoops and applause from the crowd. Had they seen the helicopter, Trump asked. “Yeah, super cool!” somebody yelled….

    From behind a lectern at one end of the dining room, backdropped by four US flags, Trump delivered a characteristically winding and digressive speech that sources say lasted around 25 minutes. At some point, he got round to crypto.

    “We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” said Trump. “You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special—who knows, right? Who knows—but it may be special.”

    For some, the dinner represented a chance to network with other deep-pocketed crypto figures, and to hear directly from Trump about his plans to bring an end to the regulatory uncertainty that crimped the industry’s expansion under Biden.

    “You don’t get to meet the president easily,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told WIRED a few days before the dinner. “To be able to hear his message on crypto directly—I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

    Woodblock print from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1885-1892)

    No one got to meet the president, but I Wired says they also wanted to network with each other. On the general presentation and the food, served at circular tables

    …each seating 10 people arrayed beneath a set of crystal chandeliers. Waiting on the chairs were gift bags containing Fight Fight Fight-themed hats and posters, and a collectible plastic card (some allege that they didn’t receive merch at their seats.) The four largest coin holders—along with two other attendees selected by raffle, sources say—received a gem-encrusted Trump gold watch.

    Between mouthfuls, the attendees discussed trading and investment strategies—and Trump’s speech. “To feel his personal charisma to me was very inspiring,” says Liu. But others complained about the brevity of Trump’s appearance: After his speech, Trump had departed immediately in a golf cart bound for his helicopter. “Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,” says Pinto. “He didn’t.”

    The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “OK, but not top-class.”

    From Penn Live: Trump’s controversial crypto dinner ripped by attendee: ‘Trash.’

    Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin dinner Thursday night was shrouded in secrecy, and while it still isn’t clear who all attended — the White House did not make the list public — we do have a report of how good the food was….

    According to Fortune, 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto was one of those who attended. The site said he invested “more than $360,000 in Trump’s memecoin.

    And for that, he told the site, the dinner that was served was “trash.”

    “Walmart steak, man,” he texted Fortune.

    The site said the menu for the included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut.

    “Everybody at my table was saying the food was so of the worst they ever had,” Pinto said.

    “I was hoping for Big Macs or pizza,” Pinto told Fortune. “That would have been better than the food that we were served.”

    Trump is just raking in the dough as quickly as he can with the minimum effort.

    The New York Times got the guest list: Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?

    The invitees for President Trump’s private dinner for customers of his cryptocurrency business on Thursday included a Chinese billionaire fighting a lawsuit from U.S. regulators, a lawyer for Justice Clarence Thomas and a former basketball star, according to a guest list obtained by The New York Times and social media posts.

    The dinner, at which Mr. Trump gave remarks, was an extraordinary moment in which the president leveraged his position to make money — for his crypto business and for his Virginia golf club, which hosted the event.

    The event’s invited guests were not known publicly beforehand, even to each other. They were identified only by the pseudonyms they used on the electronic wallets where they kept their $TRUMP memecoins. Most had gained an invitation by becoming one of the top 220 holders of that memecoin over a certain period of time. The top 25 of those were given V.I.P. status and afforded a more intimate gathering before the dinner and an unofficial tour of the White House on Friday.

    When they arrived at Mr. Trump’s club outside Washington Thursday evening, the digital world had become physical. The invitees’ names and contact information were delineated on paper lists, checked by staffers at the door. A Times reporter reviewed one of those lists, and used it to identify people who were present. Some other invitees self-identified on social media. A reporter and photographer from The Times also saw some $TRUMP crypto buyers enter and exit the White House on Friday.

    Merchant’s Daughter by Mizuno Toshikata

    Some top invitees:

    Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for allegedly inflating the value of a cryptocurrency. Mr. Sun is a major investor in a separate crypto venture largely owned by a company tied to Mr. Trump, World Liberty Financial. After Mr. Trump took office, the S.E.C. asked a judge to put Mr. Sun’s case on hold….

    Elliot Berke, a Washington attorney who has worked for congressional Republicans and Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. The Times identified him because the invitee list included his email address at his law firm, Berke Farah. He was honored as “Republican Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 by the Republican National Lawyers Association….

    Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and chief executive of a digital-asset firm, Wintermute. The Times identified him because the list of invitees included his Wintermute email….

    Anil Lulla and Yan Liberman, two co-founders of Delphi Digital, a Miami Beach firm that offers market intelligence for crypto investors. Their corporate emails were included in the list of invitees….

    Cheng Lu, 32, a crypto investor from Shanghai, was observed by a Times reporter entering the White House on Friday. He said he did not have a chance to speak with Mr. Trump during the dinner on Thursday or at the Friday tour. “I just want to see President Trump,” he said.

    Several more are listed at the NYT link.

    Another big story today is Trump’s terrifying persecution of Harvard University. Here’s the latest:

    From The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Is Trump Trying to Destroy Harvard? The order against foreign students turns away the world’s brightest.

    The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose?

    That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest.

    The latest assault began when DHS demanded that Harvard turn over sundry records on its foreign students, including whether any had participated in illegal activity or left the university owing to “dangerous or violent activity or deprivation of rights.”

    Some of its record requests are reasonable, but some overreached by requiring private student information. DHS also gave Harvard all of two weeks to respond. If it failed to do so, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she would “automatically withdraw” the school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. “The withdrawal will not be subject to appeal.”

    The SEVP program lets non-citizens enroll at universities on student visas. DHS can bar universities from the program if they fail to comply with “recordkeeping, retention, reporting and other requirements” on foreign students. Harvard says it responded with “information required by law” within two weeks and handed over more records on May 14.

    Twin Guardians, by Hawse Sumi

    That didn’t satisfy Noem and she banned Harvard from enrolling international students. Harvard soon got a restraining order from a federal court.

    Most of Harvard’s foreign students are enrolled in graduate programs. Many assist with scientific research and teaching undergraduate courses. Driving them out of Harvard will disrupt research projects and might cause some professors in the sciences to leave for other universities. This seems to be a goal of freezing Harvard’s research grants.

    Harvard sued on Friday, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the student ban. The university rightly says the Administration’s actions are “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

    The university seems likely to prevail on the law, but until courts settle the merits, thousands of students who have done nothing wrong will be in legal limbo. Some of them no doubt opposed the anti-Israel protests and may even hail from Israel. Why punish them? [….]

    This will be terribly damaging to America’s ability to attract talented young people who bring their enterprise and intellectual capital to the U.S. Non-citizens accounted for more than half of doctoral degrees in AI-related fields in 2022. Many have gone to work at U.S. companies like Nvidia or started their own.

    Clearly Trump hates Harvard, higher education, and education generally. But I’m coming to the conclusion that Trump’s goal is to destroy the U.S. in every possible way and at the same time enrich himself and his wealthy friends. He doesn’t even appear to care about the economy anymore. He wants Americans to be poor, ignorant, and isolated from the rest of the world.

    The New York Times: Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too.

    The Trump administration’s surprising bid to end Harvard’s international enrollment put the higher education world on edge this week, looming as a larger threat against academic autonomy.

    Well beyond the halls of Harvard this week, college leaders were shocked that one swift move by the federal government could eliminate their ability to serve students from abroad, a growing population that has infused their campuses with cachet and wealth.

    “This is a grave moment,” Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a message to her campus.

    More than 5,000 miles away, Wendy Hensel, the president of the University of Hawaii, said that it was “reverberating across higher education.”

    President Trump has already unnerved universities this year by launching investigations, freezing grants, demanding changes in campus practices and attempting to deport international students. He has justified his punitive approach as a means to combat what he considers antisemitism. But he and his allies also have long resented a perceived liberal bias and racial diversity efforts at prestigious colleges.

    The Trump administration said Thursday that it revoked Harvard’s international student certification because the university had failed to meet its demands, including a request for records of student protest activity dating back five years.

    To many academics, that was a clear signal that Mr. Trump was prepared to use any federal mechanism as leverage if he did not get what he wants.

    “While Harvard is the victim of the moment, it’s a warning and unprecedented attempt of a hostile federal government to erode the autonomy of all major universities in the U.S.,” said John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Yesterday, Trump and Marco Rubio began dismantling the National Security Council.

    CNN: More than 100 National Security Council staffers put on administrative leave.

    The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

    Woman and cat, by Toyohara Kunichika

    CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

    An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

    The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies….

    With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

    Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration….

    Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

    But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

    Axios says they are trying to purge the “deep state.”

    President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have orchestrated a vast restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing its size and transferring many of its powers to the State and Defense departments.

    Why it matters: Trump’s White House sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and filled with longtime officials who don’t share the president’s vision.

    • A White House official involved in the planning characterized the reorganization as Trump and Rubio’s latest move against what they see as Washington’s “Deep State.”
    • “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. Those cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in government, officials said.
    • “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio told Axios in a statement. “The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”

    Zoom in: White House officials point to an NSC structure that’s filled with committees and meetings that they say slow down decision-making and produce lots of jargon and acronyms.

    There’s a lot more a the link, but I think Trump is just trying to bring every part of the government under his personal control.

    Finally, I want to look at what Trump and RFK Jr. are doing with Covid-19 and Covid vaccines.

    ABC News: Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week? Experts say there is low vaccine uptake and people are not accessing treatments.

    More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.

    By Utagawa Hiroshige, 1797-1858

    Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.

    Public health experts told ABC News that although the U.S. is in a much better place than it was a few years ago, COVID is still a threat to high-risk groups.

    “The fact that we’re still seeing deaths just means it’s still circulating, and people are still catching it,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor in the department of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center, told ABC News.

    The experts said there are a few reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including low vaccination uptake, waning immunity and not enough people accessing treatments.

    Read more details at the ABC link.

    So why is the government limiting access to Covid Vaccines?

    Scientific American: What FDA’s Planned Limits on COVID Vaccinations Mean for Health.

    Larry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus.

    Until now, that is.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Read the rest at the link. You can also check out this article at Technology Review: The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.

    Trump simply doesn’t care if Americans die. That’s obvious based on the way he dealt with Covid during his first term. He seems willing to let RFK Jr. do whatever he wants. So who can Americans turn to for guidance and access to vaccines and treatments?

    That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?

    #CovidVaccines #Covid19Deaths #CryptoCurrency #FDA #HarvardUniversity #internationalUniversityStudents #KristiNoem #NationalSecurityCouncil #NSC #RobertFKennedyJr_ #TrumpCorruption

    #covidvaccines #covid19deaths #cryptocurrency #fda #harvarduniversity #internationaluniversitystudents
  19. Sky Dancing @[email protected] ·

    Lazy Caturday Reads

    Woman and Cat, by Koji Fukiya, 1936.

    Good Afternoon!!

    Yesterday, Dakinikat wrote about Trump’s crypto dinner, where he briefly spoke to the people who had spent the most on his personal memecoin. The “gala dinner” was held at Trump’s Virginia golf club. The attendees–mostly from foreign countries–had spent their money hoping to gain “access” to Trump, but that didn’t happen, at least at this event. Trump showed up on a “military helicopter,” spoke for less than half and hour and then did his YMCA dance. Then he left again without speaking to anyone personally. And the food was terrible.

    Wired: A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner.

    Donald Trump left the stage at his golf club near Washington, DC, on Thursday night, he pointed to the crowd, brought his index finger to his temple—as if to say: You know what’s coming—then began to dance. To the beat of “Y.M.C.A” by The Village People, Trump shimmied, gyrated, and pumped his arms above his head.

    Looking on were more than 200 people who had been invited to the Trump National Golf Club for a private gala dinner. They had won their seats by purchasing large quantities of Trump’s own crypto coin—TRUMP—some holding millions of dollars’ worth….

    By late afternoon, the dinner guests had started to filter through the gates of the golf club. By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, die-hard Trump fans, and even professional sports stars—former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.

    Just after 7 pm, the dinner guests gathered at the window to watch Trump descend in Marine One, his presidential helicopter. A short while later, he appeared from behind a blue velvet curtain to whoops and applause from the crowd. Had they seen the helicopter, Trump asked. “Yeah, super cool!” somebody yelled….

    From behind a lectern at one end of the dining room, backdropped by four US flags, Trump delivered a characteristically winding and digressive speech that sources say lasted around 25 minutes. At some point, he got round to crypto.

    “We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” said Trump. “You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special—who knows, right? Who knows—but it may be special.”

    For some, the dinner represented a chance to network with other deep-pocketed crypto figures, and to hear directly from Trump about his plans to bring an end to the regulatory uncertainty that crimped the industry’s expansion under Biden.

    “You don’t get to meet the president easily,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told WIRED a few days before the dinner. “To be able to hear his message on crypto directly—I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

    Woodblock print from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1885-1892)

    No one got to meet the president, but I Wired says they also wanted to network with each other. On the general presentation and the food, served at circular tables

    …each seating 10 people arrayed beneath a set of crystal chandeliers. Waiting on the chairs were gift bags containing Fight Fight Fight-themed hats and posters, and a collectible plastic card (some allege that they didn’t receive merch at their seats.) The four largest coin holders—along with two other attendees selected by raffle, sources say—received a gem-encrusted Trump gold watch.

    Between mouthfuls, the attendees discussed trading and investment strategies—and Trump’s speech. “To feel his personal charisma to me was very inspiring,” says Liu. But others complained about the brevity of Trump’s appearance: After his speech, Trump had departed immediately in a golf cart bound for his helicopter. “Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,” says Pinto. “He didn’t.”

    The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “OK, but not top-class.”

    From Penn Live: Trump’s controversial crypto dinner ripped by attendee: ‘Trash.’

    Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin dinner Thursday night was shrouded in secrecy, and while it still isn’t clear who all attended — the White House did not make the list public — we do have a report of how good the food was….

    According to Fortune, 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto was one of those who attended. The site said he invested “more than $360,000 in Trump’s memecoin.

    And for that, he told the site, the dinner that was served was “trash.”

    “Walmart steak, man,” he texted Fortune.

    The site said the menu for the included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut.

    “Everybody at my table was saying the food was so of the worst they ever had,” Pinto said.

    “I was hoping for Big Macs or pizza,” Pinto told Fortune. “That would have been better than the food that we were served.”

    Trump is just raking in the dough as quickly as he can with the minimum effort.

    The New York Times got the guest list: Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?

    The invitees for President Trump’s private dinner for customers of his cryptocurrency business on Thursday included a Chinese billionaire fighting a lawsuit from U.S. regulators, a lawyer for Justice Clarence Thomas and a former basketball star, according to a guest list obtained by The New York Times and social media posts.

    The dinner, at which Mr. Trump gave remarks, was an extraordinary moment in which the president leveraged his position to make money — for his crypto business and for his Virginia golf club, which hosted the event.

    The event’s invited guests were not known publicly beforehand, even to each other. They were identified only by the pseudonyms they used on the electronic wallets where they kept their $TRUMP memecoins. Most had gained an invitation by becoming one of the top 220 holders of that memecoin over a certain period of time. The top 25 of those were given V.I.P. status and afforded a more intimate gathering before the dinner and an unofficial tour of the White House on Friday.

    When they arrived at Mr. Trump’s club outside Washington Thursday evening, the digital world had become physical. The invitees’ names and contact information were delineated on paper lists, checked by staffers at the door. A Times reporter reviewed one of those lists, and used it to identify people who were present. Some other invitees self-identified on social media. A reporter and photographer from The Times also saw some $TRUMP crypto buyers enter and exit the White House on Friday.

    Merchant’s Daughter by Mizuno Toshikata

    Some top invitees:

    Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for allegedly inflating the value of a cryptocurrency. Mr. Sun is a major investor in a separate crypto venture largely owned by a company tied to Mr. Trump, World Liberty Financial. After Mr. Trump took office, the S.E.C. asked a judge to put Mr. Sun’s case on hold….

    Elliot Berke, a Washington attorney who has worked for congressional Republicans and Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. The Times identified him because the invitee list included his email address at his law firm, Berke Farah. He was honored as “Republican Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 by the Republican National Lawyers Association….

    Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and chief executive of a digital-asset firm, Wintermute. The Times identified him because the list of invitees included his Wintermute email….

    Anil Lulla and Yan Liberman, two co-founders of Delphi Digital, a Miami Beach firm that offers market intelligence for crypto investors. Their corporate emails were included in the list of invitees….

    Cheng Lu, 32, a crypto investor from Shanghai, was observed by a Times reporter entering the White House on Friday. He said he did not have a chance to speak with Mr. Trump during the dinner on Thursday or at the Friday tour. “I just want to see President Trump,” he said.

    Several more are listed at the NYT link.

    Another big story today is Trump’s terrifying persecution of Harvard University. Here’s the latest:

    From The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Is Trump Trying to Destroy Harvard? The order against foreign students turns away the world’s brightest.

    The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose?

    That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest.

    The latest assault began when DHS demanded that Harvard turn over sundry records on its foreign students, including whether any had participated in illegal activity or left the university owing to “dangerous or violent activity or deprivation of rights.”

    Some of its record requests are reasonable, but some overreached by requiring private student information. DHS also gave Harvard all of two weeks to respond. If it failed to do so, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she would “automatically withdraw” the school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. “The withdrawal will not be subject to appeal.”

    The SEVP program lets non-citizens enroll at universities on student visas. DHS can bar universities from the program if they fail to comply with “recordkeeping, retention, reporting and other requirements” on foreign students. Harvard says it responded with “information required by law” within two weeks and handed over more records on May 14.

    Twin Guardians, by Hawse Sumi

    That didn’t satisfy Noem and she banned Harvard from enrolling international students. Harvard soon got a restraining order from a federal court.

    Most of Harvard’s foreign students are enrolled in graduate programs. Many assist with scientific research and teaching undergraduate courses. Driving them out of Harvard will disrupt research projects and might cause some professors in the sciences to leave for other universities. This seems to be a goal of freezing Harvard’s research grants.

    Harvard sued on Friday, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the student ban. The university rightly says the Administration’s actions are “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

    The university seems likely to prevail on the law, but until courts settle the merits, thousands of students who have done nothing wrong will be in legal limbo. Some of them no doubt opposed the anti-Israel protests and may even hail from Israel. Why punish them? [….]

    This will be terribly damaging to America’s ability to attract talented young people who bring their enterprise and intellectual capital to the U.S. Non-citizens accounted for more than half of doctoral degrees in AI-related fields in 2022. Many have gone to work at U.S. companies like Nvidia or started their own.

    Clearly Trump hates Harvard, higher education, and education generally. But I’m coming to the conclusion that Trump’s goal is to destroy the U.S. in every possible way and at the same time enrich himself and his wealthy friends. He doesn’t even appear to care about the economy anymore. He wants Americans to be poor, ignorant, and isolated from the rest of the world.

    The New York Times: Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too.

    The Trump administration’s surprising bid to end Harvard’s international enrollment put the higher education world on edge this week, looming as a larger threat against academic autonomy.

    Well beyond the halls of Harvard this week, college leaders were shocked that one swift move by the federal government could eliminate their ability to serve students from abroad, a growing population that has infused their campuses with cachet and wealth.

    “This is a grave moment,” Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a message to her campus.

    More than 5,000 miles away, Wendy Hensel, the president of the University of Hawaii, said that it was “reverberating across higher education.”

    President Trump has already unnerved universities this year by launching investigations, freezing grants, demanding changes in campus practices and attempting to deport international students. He has justified his punitive approach as a means to combat what he considers antisemitism. But he and his allies also have long resented a perceived liberal bias and racial diversity efforts at prestigious colleges.

    The Trump administration said Thursday that it revoked Harvard’s international student certification because the university had failed to meet its demands, including a request for records of student protest activity dating back five years.

    To many academics, that was a clear signal that Mr. Trump was prepared to use any federal mechanism as leverage if he did not get what he wants.

    “While Harvard is the victim of the moment, it’s a warning and unprecedented attempt of a hostile federal government to erode the autonomy of all major universities in the U.S.,” said John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Yesterday, Trump and Marco Rubio began dismantling the National Security Council.

    CNN: More than 100 National Security Council staffers put on administrative leave.

    The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

    Woman and cat, by Toyohara Kunichika

    CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

    An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

    The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies….

    With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

    Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration….

    Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

    But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

    Axios says they are trying to purge the “deep state.”

    President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have orchestrated a vast restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing its size and transferring many of its powers to the State and Defense departments.

    Why it matters: Trump’s White House sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and filled with longtime officials who don’t share the president’s vision.

    • A White House official involved in the planning characterized the reorganization as Trump and Rubio’s latest move against what they see as Washington’s “Deep State.”
    • “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. Those cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in government, officials said.
    • “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio told Axios in a statement. “The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”

    Zoom in: White House officials point to an NSC structure that’s filled with committees and meetings that they say slow down decision-making and produce lots of jargon and acronyms.

    There’s a lot more a the link, but I think Trump is just trying to bring every part of the government under his personal control.

    Finally, I want to look at what Trump and RFK Jr. are doing with Covid-19 and Covid vaccines.

    ABC News: Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week? Experts say there is low vaccine uptake and people are not accessing treatments.

    More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.

    By Utagawa Hiroshige, 1797-1858

    Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.

    Public health experts told ABC News that although the U.S. is in a much better place than it was a few years ago, COVID is still a threat to high-risk groups.

    “The fact that we’re still seeing deaths just means it’s still circulating, and people are still catching it,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor in the department of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center, told ABC News.

    The experts said there are a few reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including low vaccination uptake, waning immunity and not enough people accessing treatments.

    Read more details at the ABC link.

    So why is the government limiting access to Covid Vaccines?

    Scientific American: What FDA’s Planned Limits on COVID Vaccinations Mean for Health.

    Larry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus.

    Until now, that is.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Read the rest at the link. You can also check out this article at Technology Review: The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.

    Trump simply doesn’t care if Americans die. That’s obvious based on the way he dealt with Covid during his first term. He seems willing to let RFK Jr. do whatever he wants. So who can Americans turn to for guidance and access to vaccines and treatments?

    That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?

    #CovidVaccines #Covid19Deaths #CryptoCurrency #FDA #HarvardUniversity #internationalUniversityStudents #KristiNoem #NationalSecurityCouncil #NSC #RobertFKennedyJr_ #TrumpCorruption

    #trumpcorruption #robertfkennedyjr_ #nsc #nationalsecuritycouncil #kristinoem #internationaluniversitystudents
  20. Sky Dancing @[email protected] ·

    Lazy Caturday Reads

    Woman and Cat, by Koji Fukiya, 1936.

    Good Afternoon!!

    Yesterday, Dakinikat wrote about Trump’s crypto dinner, where he briefly spoke to the people who had spent the most on his personal memecoin. The “gala dinner” was held at Trump’s Virginia golf club. The attendees–mostly from foreign countries–had spent their money hoping to gain “access” to Trump, but that didn’t happen, at least at this event. Trump showed up on a “military helicopter,” spoke for less than half and hour and then did his YMCA dance. Then he left again without speaking to anyone personally. And the food was terrible.

    Wired: A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner.

    Donald Trump left the stage at his golf club near Washington, DC, on Thursday night, he pointed to the crowd, brought his index finger to his temple—as if to say: You know what’s coming—then began to dance. To the beat of “Y.M.C.A” by The Village People, Trump shimmied, gyrated, and pumped his arms above his head.

    Looking on were more than 200 people who had been invited to the Trump National Golf Club for a private gala dinner. They had won their seats by purchasing large quantities of Trump’s own crypto coin—TRUMP—some holding millions of dollars’ worth….

    By late afternoon, the dinner guests had started to filter through the gates of the golf club. By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, die-hard Trump fans, and even professional sports stars—former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.

    Just after 7 pm, the dinner guests gathered at the window to watch Trump descend in Marine One, his presidential helicopter. A short while later, he appeared from behind a blue velvet curtain to whoops and applause from the crowd. Had they seen the helicopter, Trump asked. “Yeah, super cool!” somebody yelled….

    From behind a lectern at one end of the dining room, backdropped by four US flags, Trump delivered a characteristically winding and digressive speech that sources say lasted around 25 minutes. At some point, he got round to crypto.

    “We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” said Trump. “You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special—who knows, right? Who knows—but it may be special.”

    For some, the dinner represented a chance to network with other deep-pocketed crypto figures, and to hear directly from Trump about his plans to bring an end to the regulatory uncertainty that crimped the industry’s expansion under Biden.

    “You don’t get to meet the president easily,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told WIRED a few days before the dinner. “To be able to hear his message on crypto directly—I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

    Woodblock print from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1885-1892)

    No one got to meet the president, but I Wired says they also wanted to network with each other. On the general presentation and the food, served at circular tables

    …each seating 10 people arrayed beneath a set of crystal chandeliers. Waiting on the chairs were gift bags containing Fight Fight Fight-themed hats and posters, and a collectible plastic card (some allege that they didn’t receive merch at their seats.) The four largest coin holders—along with two other attendees selected by raffle, sources say—received a gem-encrusted Trump gold watch.

    Between mouthfuls, the attendees discussed trading and investment strategies—and Trump’s speech. “To feel his personal charisma to me was very inspiring,” says Liu. But others complained about the brevity of Trump’s appearance: After his speech, Trump had departed immediately in a golf cart bound for his helicopter. “Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,” says Pinto. “He didn’t.”

    The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “OK, but not top-class.”

    From Penn Live: Trump’s controversial crypto dinner ripped by attendee: ‘Trash.’

    Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin dinner Thursday night was shrouded in secrecy, and while it still isn’t clear who all attended — the White House did not make the list public — we do have a report of how good the food was….

    According to Fortune, 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto was one of those who attended. The site said he invested “more than $360,000 in Trump’s memecoin.

    And for that, he told the site, the dinner that was served was “trash.”

    “Walmart steak, man,” he texted Fortune.

    The site said the menu for the included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut.

    “Everybody at my table was saying the food was so of the worst they ever had,” Pinto said.

    “I was hoping for Big Macs or pizza,” Pinto told Fortune. “That would have been better than the food that we were served.”

    Trump is just raking in the dough as quickly as he can with the minimum effort.

    The New York Times got the guest list: Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?

    The invitees for President Trump’s private dinner for customers of his cryptocurrency business on Thursday included a Chinese billionaire fighting a lawsuit from U.S. regulators, a lawyer for Justice Clarence Thomas and a former basketball star, according to a guest list obtained by The New York Times and social media posts.

    The dinner, at which Mr. Trump gave remarks, was an extraordinary moment in which the president leveraged his position to make money — for his crypto business and for his Virginia golf club, which hosted the event.

    The event’s invited guests were not known publicly beforehand, even to each other. They were identified only by the pseudonyms they used on the electronic wallets where they kept their $TRUMP memecoins. Most had gained an invitation by becoming one of the top 220 holders of that memecoin over a certain period of time. The top 25 of those were given V.I.P. status and afforded a more intimate gathering before the dinner and an unofficial tour of the White House on Friday.

    When they arrived at Mr. Trump’s club outside Washington Thursday evening, the digital world had become physical. The invitees’ names and contact information were delineated on paper lists, checked by staffers at the door. A Times reporter reviewed one of those lists, and used it to identify people who were present. Some other invitees self-identified on social media. A reporter and photographer from The Times also saw some $TRUMP crypto buyers enter and exit the White House on Friday.

    Merchant’s Daughter by Mizuno Toshikata

    Some top invitees:

    Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for allegedly inflating the value of a cryptocurrency. Mr. Sun is a major investor in a separate crypto venture largely owned by a company tied to Mr. Trump, World Liberty Financial. After Mr. Trump took office, the S.E.C. asked a judge to put Mr. Sun’s case on hold….

    Elliot Berke, a Washington attorney who has worked for congressional Republicans and Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. The Times identified him because the invitee list included his email address at his law firm, Berke Farah. He was honored as “Republican Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 by the Republican National Lawyers Association….

    Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and chief executive of a digital-asset firm, Wintermute. The Times identified him because the list of invitees included his Wintermute email….

    Anil Lulla and Yan Liberman, two co-founders of Delphi Digital, a Miami Beach firm that offers market intelligence for crypto investors. Their corporate emails were included in the list of invitees….

    Cheng Lu, 32, a crypto investor from Shanghai, was observed by a Times reporter entering the White House on Friday. He said he did not have a chance to speak with Mr. Trump during the dinner on Thursday or at the Friday tour. “I just want to see President Trump,” he said.

    Several more are listed at the NYT link.

    Another big story today is Trump’s terrifying persecution of Harvard University. Here’s the latest:

    From The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Is Trump Trying to Destroy Harvard? The order against foreign students turns away the world’s brightest.

    The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose?

    That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest.

    The latest assault began when DHS demanded that Harvard turn over sundry records on its foreign students, including whether any had participated in illegal activity or left the university owing to “dangerous or violent activity or deprivation of rights.”

    Some of its record requests are reasonable, but some overreached by requiring private student information. DHS also gave Harvard all of two weeks to respond. If it failed to do so, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she would “automatically withdraw” the school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. “The withdrawal will not be subject to appeal.”

    The SEVP program lets non-citizens enroll at universities on student visas. DHS can bar universities from the program if they fail to comply with “recordkeeping, retention, reporting and other requirements” on foreign students. Harvard says it responded with “information required by law” within two weeks and handed over more records on May 14.

    Twin Guardians, by Hawse Sumi

    That didn’t satisfy Noem and she banned Harvard from enrolling international students. Harvard soon got a restraining order from a federal court.

    Most of Harvard’s foreign students are enrolled in graduate programs. Many assist with scientific research and teaching undergraduate courses. Driving them out of Harvard will disrupt research projects and might cause some professors in the sciences to leave for other universities. This seems to be a goal of freezing Harvard’s research grants.

    Harvard sued on Friday, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the student ban. The university rightly says the Administration’s actions are “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

    The university seems likely to prevail on the law, but until courts settle the merits, thousands of students who have done nothing wrong will be in legal limbo. Some of them no doubt opposed the anti-Israel protests and may even hail from Israel. Why punish them? [….]

    This will be terribly damaging to America’s ability to attract talented young people who bring their enterprise and intellectual capital to the U.S. Non-citizens accounted for more than half of doctoral degrees in AI-related fields in 2022. Many have gone to work at U.S. companies like Nvidia or started their own.

    Clearly Trump hates Harvard, higher education, and education generally. But I’m coming to the conclusion that Trump’s goal is to destroy the U.S. in every possible way and at the same time enrich himself and his wealthy friends. He doesn’t even appear to care about the economy anymore. He wants Americans to be poor, ignorant, and isolated from the rest of the world.

    The New York Times: Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too.

    The Trump administration’s surprising bid to end Harvard’s international enrollment put the higher education world on edge this week, looming as a larger threat against academic autonomy.

    Well beyond the halls of Harvard this week, college leaders were shocked that one swift move by the federal government could eliminate their ability to serve students from abroad, a growing population that has infused their campuses with cachet and wealth.

    “This is a grave moment,” Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a message to her campus.

    More than 5,000 miles away, Wendy Hensel, the president of the University of Hawaii, said that it was “reverberating across higher education.”

    President Trump has already unnerved universities this year by launching investigations, freezing grants, demanding changes in campus practices and attempting to deport international students. He has justified his punitive approach as a means to combat what he considers antisemitism. But he and his allies also have long resented a perceived liberal bias and racial diversity efforts at prestigious colleges.

    The Trump administration said Thursday that it revoked Harvard’s international student certification because the university had failed to meet its demands, including a request for records of student protest activity dating back five years.

    To many academics, that was a clear signal that Mr. Trump was prepared to use any federal mechanism as leverage if he did not get what he wants.

    “While Harvard is the victim of the moment, it’s a warning and unprecedented attempt of a hostile federal government to erode the autonomy of all major universities in the U.S.,” said John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Yesterday, Trump and Marco Rubio began dismantling the National Security Council.

    CNN: More than 100 National Security Council staffers put on administrative leave.

    The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

    Woman and cat, by Toyohara Kunichika

    CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

    An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

    The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies….

    With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

    Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration….

    Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

    But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

    Axios says they are trying to purge the “deep state.”

    President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have orchestrated a vast restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing its size and transferring many of its powers to the State and Defense departments.

    Why it matters: Trump’s White House sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and filled with longtime officials who don’t share the president’s vision.

    • A White House official involved in the planning characterized the reorganization as Trump and Rubio’s latest move against what they see as Washington’s “Deep State.”
    • “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. Those cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in government, officials said.
    • “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio told Axios in a statement. “The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”

    Zoom in: White House officials point to an NSC structure that’s filled with committees and meetings that they say slow down decision-making and produce lots of jargon and acronyms.

    There’s a lot more a the link, but I think Trump is just trying to bring every part of the government under his personal control.

    Finally, I want to look at what Trump and RFK Jr. are doing with Covid-19 and Covid vaccines.

    ABC News: Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week? Experts say there is low vaccine uptake and people are not accessing treatments.

    More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.

    By Utagawa Hiroshige, 1797-1858

    Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.

    Public health experts told ABC News that although the U.S. is in a much better place than it was a few years ago, COVID is still a threat to high-risk groups.

    “The fact that we’re still seeing deaths just means it’s still circulating, and people are still catching it,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor in the department of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center, told ABC News.

    The experts said there are a few reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including low vaccination uptake, waning immunity and not enough people accessing treatments.

    Read more details at the ABC link.

    So why is the government limiting access to Covid Vaccines?

    Scientific American: What FDA’s Planned Limits on COVID Vaccinations Mean for Health.

    Larry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus.

    Until now, that is.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about $13 billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.

    “There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”

    The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.

    Read the rest at the link. You can also check out this article at Technology Review: The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.

    Trump simply doesn’t care if Americans die. That’s obvious based on the way he dealt with Covid during his first term. He seems willing to let RFK Jr. do whatever he wants. So who can Americans turn to for guidance and access to vaccines and treatments?

    That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?

    #CovidVaccines #Covid19Deaths #CryptoCurrency #FDA #HarvardUniversity #internationalUniversityStudents #KristiNoem #NationalSecurityCouncil #NSC #RobertFKennedyJr_ #TrumpCorruption

    #covidvaccines #covid19deaths #cryptocurrency #fda #harvarduniversity #internationaluniversitystudents
  21. New-cleckit dominie @[email protected] ·

    Scattered across the streets lying south and west of Glasgow Cross, there are five steeples bearing distinctive blue-faced clocks: the Tolbooth, the Tron, the Briggait, St Andrew’s in the Square, and Hutchesons’ Hall. Occasionally a tour guide will point at one of them and explain that it’s painted blue because of an edict of Henry VIII. This is not, as far as I know, true. Nevertheless, the city’s blue clocks have a story to tell. It’s a story about Glasgow’s growth from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, from a market town in the shadow of the Church to a confident manufacturing giant.

    The steeples of the Tolbooth (lower right) and St Andrew’s in the Square (left).

    In the late sixteenth century, Glasgow had just two public clocks. One occupied the old Tolbooth at the Cross, a building that probably dated to the early fifteenth century; the other was in one of the now-demolished west towers of the Cathedral.

    The Tolbooth clock first enters the records in September 1573, when one Dauid Lioun was paid three shillings “for ane pece of trie to þe knok”. Three years later, the Council employed David Kaye, of Craill,

    to ſett wp and repair or mend þe two knokks, þe ane maid be himſelf, and þe wþer auld knok mendit be him, how oft he beis requyrit þairto, be þame or ony in thayr name, and þat wpone þe tounes raonable expenſs fo be payit and done be him thairfor.

    Kaye, who had already built a clock for St Mary’s Church in Dundee, was probably as close as Scotland had to a professional clockmaker. The Tolbooth clock was an elaborate piece of work, with not only an “orlage” (face) but a “moyne”, i.e. a display showing the phases of the moon. Unfortunately, like most clocks of the period it could not be trusted to keep good time if left to its own devices, and by 1578 the position of “rewler of the knok” had been established. The first incumbent was a chaplain, Archibald Dickie, who was paid a small salary

    for rowlling and gyding of the knok and for lying nychtlie in the tolbuth to rewll and keip the samyne.

    Dickie, lying every night alone in the Tolbooth with a watchful eye on the rickety machinery, must have felt the cold, and his remuneration included a separate allowance “for helping and support of him to his bed clais”.

    It’s possible that the first clock in the High Kirk was in fact the old Tolbooth clock replaced by Kaye. It first appears in 1587, when a smith from Blantyre was called in to repair it. The records of the Kirk Session from 1591 suggest that this clock was under the supervision of the beadles, who were charged

    to allow none to enter the Steeple to trouble the Knock and Bell there, but to keep the Knock going at all times.

    By 1610, responsibility for the two clocks had been combined, and

    George Smyth, rewler of the Tolbuith knok, hes bund him to the town to rewll the said knok for all the dayis of his lyfetyme for the sowme of tuentie pundis money yeirlie… and siklike, oblissis him to rewll the Hie Kirk knok and keip the same in gangand grath, and visie hir twa seuerall dayis in the wik, the sessioun payand him ten merkis yeirlie.

    Although Smyth’s salary of twenty pounds a year was not colossal, this solemn contract suggests that the clocks were important to the town, and it’s worth asking why.

    One reason was undoubtedly prestige. For a couple of centuries, increasingly complex astronomical clocks, such as the Pražský orloj of 1410, had been used to signal status and sophistication. Typically such clocks carried gilded numerals and astronomical symbols on a blue background. In 1540, Henry VIII of England had a particularly splendid example installed at Hampton Court, and it seems likely that this set the fashion across the British Isles. Though we have no information about the decoration of the Tolbooth or High Kirk clocks, it’s reasonable to guess they were in the same tradition.

    The astronomical clock (1540) at Hampton Court. [Wikimedia Commons]

    A second reason the clocks mattered was more practical: a town clock set a definitive standard of time. This was important to a mercantile centre because trade, including trading hours, was strongly regulated. Glasgow’s Letter of Guildry in 1605 specified that

    It shall not be leasome to any unfreeman to hold stands upon the Highstreet, to sell anything pertaining to the crafts or handy work, but betwixt eight of the morning and two of the clock in the afternoon, under the penalty of forty shilling; providing that tappers of linen and woollen cloth be suffered from morning to evening, at their pleasure, to sell. All kind of vivers to be sold from morning to evening; but unfreemen, who shall sell white bread, to keep the hours appointed.

    This system which defended the rights of the established merchants and other burgesses against “unfreemen” could be enforced only if the “hours appointed” could be defined. (The legal importance of the town clock is echoed in a tale a century later, when the burghers of Banff put their clock forward a quarter of an hour to hang the outlaw James MacPherson before his pardon could arrive.)

    In 1626 the increasingly prosperous burgh demolished the old Tolbooth and erected a new one on splendid lines. A combination of city hall, prison, and bell-tower topped with vanes and a gilded weathercock, it required a clock to match. One John Neill was paid six hundred merks “to mak ane new knok and haill furnitour of irne work, als sufficient, fyne, and worthie as the great knok in the laich stipill of the Metrapolitane Kirk”. It came with “horolog brodie, mones, bunkis and roweris”, i.e. a clock face, a moon, rollers, and mysterious accessories that appear nowhere else in Early Modern Scots.

    The project ran somewhat over budget. Neill had to be paid a further three hundred merks in 1628, while a subcontractor received another fifty “becaus it was lang in working, and sindrie pairtis thairof wrocht over agane”. Finally “Vallentyn Ginking, paintour” was called in to make the whole ensemble glorious by “gilting of the horologe brodis, palmes, mones, the Kingis armes and all paintrie and cullouring thairof”. It was pure bling, and a powerful statement that Glasgow had arrived.

    Glasgow showing off its gilded cock.

    Neill’s struggles with the mechanism reflected the fact that clockmaking locally was in its early days. It was in 1630 that the first clockmaker was recommended to the Incorporation of Hammermen, and only in 1649 that he was formally admitted, although the Hammermen had been asserting their right to regulate clockmaking since 1622.

    The Tolbooth clock would not rule alone for long over the lower part of Glasgow. The next to join it was the clock in the steeple of Hutchesons’ Hospital, on the north side of the Trongate, which was installed in 1649 at a cost of £408 14s Scots. This clock must have had a rough time of it, as the lead that protected the steeple was stripped off in 1651 to save it from Cromwell’s troops; stashed under the floor of the Hospital, it was not restored until 1654.

    Artist’s impression of the old Hutchesons’ Hospital on Trongate. [The Glasgow Story]

    In the late 1650s the University under Principal Patrick Gillespie also embarked on a building project, and a tower duly rose between the courts, containing a clock apparently made by a local blacksmith.

    The University in the 1660s, from Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiae (1693), showing the bell/clock tower. [The Glasgow Story]

    Not to be left behind, in 1663 the Merchants’ House erected their new steeple in Briggait, with its own clock and peal of bells. This triggered one of the periodic rows between Council and contractors.

    Artist’s impression of the Merchants’ Hall in Briggait, with its steeple. [The Glasgow Story]

    Andrew Purdoune had succeded John Neill in 1657 as “rewler of the knocks”, a task which increased in complexity with every new clock that had to be synchronised with the others. Meanwhile James Colquhoune, a general factotum to the Council, picked up a deal of work colouring and gilding the horologes. The job of making and rewling the new Briggait clock went to John Brodbridge, who briefly ousted Purdoune, but by 1665 the Council were accusing him of “not performing his ingadgment in relatioune to the perfecting the knock in Briggait”. Brodbridge was held to his contract to produce chimes for this clock, but they were instead to be installed in the Tolbooth. This took a couple more years to achieve, and finally in 1668,

    The provest having relaited in counsell that there was ane generall complent throw the whoill toune anent the misgoverning of the knockis, in consideratioune quherof it was concludit, be pluraltie of votis, that the keyes should be takin from Johne Brodbridge and delyvered againe to Andrew Purdoune; and the said Johne, being sent for, come and did lay doune the said keyes wpon the counsell table.

    Despite this discord the Tolbooth now had a musical clock, or at least a clock equipped to make loud noises at specified intervals. Musicality took longer. In 1673, fifty pounds sterling were “deburst to Mr. Kervie for tuning the bellis”, and in 1677, a further five pounds sterling were paid to “Walter Corbett, lait prenteis to Androw Purdoume, for chynging the note of the chyme of bellis in the tolbuith quhen his maister was at Holland”. By 1693, at least, John Slezer could remark on “the Tolbooth, magnificently built of hewn stone, with a very high tower, and bells which sound melodiously at every hour’s end”.

    Competition continued for the role of clock-keeper, which suggests that it was either profitable in itself or a good opportunity to pick up lucrative jobs. In a small community with close links between the Trades and the Council, work was often awarded on the basis of estimates which were understood to be elastic. In 1720, the keeper William Telfer did find his “extravagant” bill of £136/11/6 sterling for work on the Tolbooth and Briggait clocks firmly reduced to 2000 Scots merks (roughly £100 sterling), but this didn’t stop him keeping the role until 1736, when he was cut out by John Dunlop, who’d been petitioning for it since 1729. The Telfer dynasty, in the person of John Telfer, recovered the contract in 1739 and retained it at least until 1758; from 1752 onward it was held by John’s widow (whose first name is sadly not recorded). Another widow, Katherine Hannington, would be keeper of the clocks from 1812 to 1813 in succession to her husband William.

    By modern standards, the maintenance the keepers carried out was probably fairly crude. We know the mechanisms were lubricated, as one of Walter Corbet’s duties in 1688 was “to furnishe the haill clocks with oyll”. This oil was, in all probability, derived from tallow produced by the local fleshers, which would explain the occasional references to violent cleansing procedures: “putting [the Tolbooth clock] throw the fyre” in 1702 and “boyling” the clocks in 1738 and 1744. In turn, this handling probably explains why Glasgow’s clocks needed regular replacement or repair.

    The eighteenth century brought a new technology: the pendulum. A mechanical clock needs two main elements: a drive to supply the force to keep the parts moving, and an escapement which measures out that motion in regular amounts. Glasgow’s early clocks were driven, like most steeple clocks, by slowly descending weights. We don’t have direct evidence about their escapements, but we can assume that they used the standard system of the day: a verge and foliot. This consisted of a toothed wheel which engaged a vertical rod, the verge, turning it alternately in one direction and the other; the verge in turn rotated a weighted horizontal rod, the foliot, and it was the foliot’s moment of inertia that controlled the rate of the rotation.

    Early verge and foliot escapement [Wikimedia Commons].

    Verge and foliot escapements seem to have been about as fiddly as this description suggests: modern estimates suggest that if carefully tended — and presumably not boiled too often — they might be accurate to within fifteen minutes per day. Pendulum escapements, invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1756 and gradually improved, were a huge advance, reducing daily errors to as little as tens of seconds. Pendulums had reached eastern Scotland by the 1690s, and took a further decade to spread west. The Tolbooth clock was converted in 1702, with a minute hand added at the same time; an idea of the scale of the operation is given by the charge for “twelve stone and twelve pound of iron… for wheels to the said clock”. The Hutchesons clock was similarly upgraded in 1703, and the High Kirk in 1707.

    The High Kirk clock was replaced entirely in 1724, and that decade saw various bling-enhancement works on the others: when the Briggait steeple was redded up in 1728, it used 119 books of gold leaf, exhausting the local book-binder’s supplies so that more had to be ordered from Edinburgh.

    The next major upgrade came in 1736, when the Council revived their interest in music. A Stirling watchmaker, Andrew Dickie, was contracted to make a completely new chime of bells, along with “a new sett of wheels and pinions, a wooden barrell, a new sett of keys and comb barr, a sett of clappers with hammers and hammer springs and other tackling”. These chimes weren’t just a gigantic music box: they could also be played by hand. A local music teacher, Rodger Rodburn, was sent through to Edinburgh to learn the art, and equipped with a small set of practice bells at the town’s expense. He was then paid an annual salary of £15 sterling “for playing on the bells from half one to half two in the afternoon each day, Sabbath days excepted, and for extraordinary playing on Hallow days. These live performances were in addition to the mechanical sounding of the “curious set of chymes and tuneable bells, which plays every two hours”.

    “Curious” was probably the right word. The original set of eighteen bells ordered to be cast in London turned out to be one short, and a B-flat bell was hurriedly added to the order — which came to £311 1s. 9d. sterling. Whether from deficiencies in casting or in installation, the chime was not in tune, and after two excruciating years the Council employed John Fife, “player on the musick bells at Edinburgh” to sort it out. The process took four months of chiselling and the casting of fourteen new bells, while one of the old bells sent to Edinburgh proved irredeemable and was melted down for scrap. (It weighed 620 pounds; transporting it in pre-canal days must have been a major operation.)

    Even with approximately tuneful bells, the performances can’t have been subtle. “Senex” recalled watching the musician in action around 1790, and recorded that the keys were “sturdily beaten with the whole force of the clenched fists, and these fists carefully guarded from danger by being enclosed in well-stuffed coverings of stout leather”. Nevertheless, the performances became a treasured part of Glasgow life.

    As the city expanded, new churches were required, and these naturally came with clocks. The first was the North-West Kirk (also known as the Ramshorn) in 1722. St Andrew’s followed in 1756, St Enoch’s in 1780, and St George’s in 1809. In 1757, the Tolbooth clock was replaced again, with “a new four-day clock, carricing eight hands, with a quarter piece”; this may also have been when this clock acquired “day o’ the month brodds” in addition to its other paraphernalia. After some repair work, the old Tolbooth clock was put up in the steeple of the Laigh Kirk on Trongate; the Tron steeple remains today after the rest of the kirk was lost to accidental arson by the City Guard.

    The Trongate in 1770, from a drawing by Robert Paul. The old Tolbooth clock can be seen in the Tron Steeple to the left, and the new Tolbooth clock in the Tolbooth steeple to the right. [The Glasgow Story]

    We get occasional glimpses of the University clock and its tower. By 1730, one Henry Drew, hammerman, was being given an allowance for keeping this clock in order. (Drew also worked for Robert Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, becoming the first recorded lab assistant in the University’s history.) This clock was replaced in about 1750. In 1771 Dick’s successor John Anderson entertained a kite-flying crony from America, one Benjamin Franklin, on a visit to Scotland; the following year saw Glasgow’s first lightning conductor fitted to that tower.

    The University clock tower, in a George Washington Wilson photo from the mid-C19th. [Aberdeen University]

    In 1802-5, as part of the city’s redevelopment and expansion westward, the old Hutchesons’ Hospital was demolished and Hutcheson Street opened through the site. A new building, Hutchesons’ Hall, was erected where Hutcheson Street met Ingram Street. The original plan may have been to recycle the old clock, now a century or more old, but in the end a replacement was supplied by William Hannington for £168 11s. Hannington, in fact, was only a middleman, and the clock itself was made by John Thwaites & Co, the leading clockmakers of London. Rising on manufacture and the Atlantic trade, Glasgow could finally afford the best that dubiously gained wealth could buy.

    The arrival of the new Hutchesons clock, and the other Thwaites clock that graced the steeple of St George’s, set the Council fretting. By now there were nine public clocks: some were effectively worn out, and there was not much consensus on the time. A Committee on Clocks was formed, and as well as recommending a change of contractor it set out an expensive programme of repairs and replacements.

    Public clocks marked on Fleming’s 1808 plan of Glasgow: from north to south, the High Kirk, the University, the North-West Kirk, St George’s, Hutchesons, the Tolbooth, the Tron Steeple, St Andrew’s, St Enoch’s and the Briggait. [National Library of Scotland]

    This work took place in fits and starts over the next twelve years. The Tron clock was the first to be replaced, with another Thwaites piece; the old Tron clock made its way to the High Kirk. The Tolbooth clock was recommended for replacement in 1809, but the Council baulked first at the price tag and then at the countersuggestion that “it should not in future be burdened with the additional machinery for playing tunes every two hours”. A solemn warning was recorded that “[t]he public would be sensible of the want and might complain”, and the Council bravely resolved to take no action.

    Instead, the Tolbooth clock limped on with successive repairs until 1815, when the new contractors Mitchell & Russell reported that “on taking it to pieces we find it so completely worn out that to repair it… would be throwing away the sum voted for that purpose”. Mitchell & Russell provided a detailed proposal, which was accepted, and which constitutes the most detailed description of any of the Glasgow civic clocks:

    … the machine to be what is termed an eight day clock, with the exception of the musical part which is to go 24 hours as at present, the quarters are to strike on two bells instead of one as is the case at present, copper hands gilt are to be placed on each of the four dials so as to show the hours and minutes, the great wheels are to be as follows, vizt., striking 16 inches, watch 15 inches, quarter 16 inches, and chime 24 inches diameter, all of which are to be fixed in strong iron frames; the barrel for the music is to be new, and fitted for the tunes at present in use, vizt., for Sunday—the Easter hymn, Monday—Gilderoy, Tuesday—Nancy’s to the greenwood gane, Wednesday—Tweedside, Thursday—Lass o’ Patie’s mill, Friday—The last time I came o’er the moor, and Saturday—Roslin Castle. Conformable to the above description we hereby offer to make and put up the whole machinery, &c., and to find the weights, pulleys, ropes, and carpenter work, and do every other necessary thing in a sufficient manner to your satisfaction, the work to be fitted into its place and clock going by the 1st of January next, for the sum of £325, at 6 months’ credit or 5 per cent. for cash.

    (Apart from the Easter Hymn — probably Jesus Christ is Risen Today from Lyra Davidica — these tunes were traditional Scots airs, dating to early in the previous century. The chimes were still going forty years later, when the antiquarian Gilbert Neil noted that “Though said even yet not to be sufficiently perfect in the musical scale, the chime must be allowed as of a respectable order, and possessing such variety of tones as to render the harmony always cheering and agreeable.”)

    The five remaining blue-faced clocks: Hutchesons’ Hall (centre); St Andrew’s in the Square (top left); the Tolbooth (top right); the Tron steeple (bottom right); the Briggait (bottom left). Note the close family resemblance, which may be the result of the rapid burst of replacement in the early nineteenth century.

    The High Kirk clock, which had started out a century earlier in the Tolbooth, was finally scrapped and replaced in 1817, as was the North-West Kirk clock. (It may be one of these that had recently nearly killed “a valuable and respectable clergyman” when one of its weights fell and ricocheted off the floor.) Haggling over the clock in the Briggait steeple ended only in 1821 with a deal to split the costs between the Council and the Merchants’ House. This seems to have been the last clock to be set up in the old blue-faced style: when the North-West Kirk was replaced entirely in 1825-6, it carried, like St George’s before it, a more modern design.

    The clock on the Ramshorn Kirk (possibly a modern replica, but consistent with contemporary images).

    Maintenance costs were still a worry to the Council, with a perpetually lingering suspicion that clock-keepers were making work for themselves. The proposal to roll the costs of repairs into the keeper’s salary was first made in 1823, and finally agreed in 1829: after a round of maintenance the keeper, Mr Halbert, was contracted to wind and maintain the clocks, posting a £100 bond as surety that no extra expense would be laid on the town for fifteen years. After several centuries, the Council had finally learned to manage risk when awarding public contracts.

    By this point the clock in the Tron steeple had acquired something genuinely new: gas light. The lighting was set up in October 1821, and consisted of an argand burner mounted above the dial and enclosed in a parabolic reflector. James Cleland boasted that “this is the only steeple in the kingdom where the hour can be seen after dark, at a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile”; being Cleland, it is almost certain that he had measured this.

    Cleland made a point of naming the designers of the Tron’s lighting scheme: John and Robert Hart, a pair of pastry bakers from Bo’ness who had moved to Glasgow, taken classes at Anderson’s Institution, become pals with James Watt, and set themselves up as inventors. To Cleland and others, their career paths epitomised the rising industrial city, finally shaking off its provincial past and emerging as a centre of innovation.

    After perhaps three centuries of chasing the technological curve, Glasgow had at last caught up. The brilliantly lit Tron clock, like all its predecessors, was more than a timepiece: it was quite consciously a sign of the times.

    Main sources

    Many of the details come from the Extracts from the Burgh Records of Glasgow published by the Scottish Burgh Records Society. (If anyone ever finds a copy of the 1760-1809 volume(s), please let me know.) Other key sources:

    • James Cleland, Annals of Glasgow (1816) and Statistical Tables (1823)
    • James Coutts, A history of the University of Glasgow, from its foundation in 1451 to 1909 (James Maclehose & Sons, 1909)
    • William H. Hill, History of the Hospital and School Founded in Glasgow, A.D. 1639-41, by George and Thomas Hutcheson of Lambhill (Hutchesons, 1881)
    • Harry Lumsden & P. Henderson Aitken, History of the Hammermen of Glasgow (Alexander Gardner, 1912)
    • James D. Marwick, Early Glasgow (James Maclehose & Sons, 1911)
    • John Muendel, “Friction and Lubrication in Medieval Europe: The Emergence of Olive Oil as a Superior Agent”, Isis, Vol. 86, No. 3 (Sep., 1995), pp. 373-393.
    • David Murray, “The Preservation of the Tolbooth Steeple of Glasgow”, The Scottish Historical Review, Jul., 1915, Vol. 12, No. 48 (Jul., 1915), pp. 354-368.
    • Gabriel Neil, “A few brief notices of the old Tolbooth at the Cross of Glasgow, removed in 1814, &c.”. Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1859), pp. 8-28.
    • “Senex” and others, Glasgow Past and Present (David Robertson & Co., 1854)
    • John Smith, Old Scottish Clockmakers from 1453 to 1850 (Oliver & Boyd, 1921)

    I’m also grateful to Rebekah Higgitt and Thony Christie for responding to the hist-tech bat-signal when I had questions about astronomical clocks. Full details of everything available on request; corrections welcome, and all mistakes my own.

    https://newcleckitdominie.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/blue-in-the-face/

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron
  22. New-cleckit dominie @[email protected] ·

    Scattered across the streets lying south and west of Glasgow Cross, there are five steeples bearing distinctive blue-faced clocks: the Tolbooth, the Tron, the Briggait, St Andrew’s in the Square, and Hutchesons’ Hall. Occasionally a tour guide will point at one of them and explain that it’s painted blue because of an edict of Henry VIII. This is not, as far as I know, true. Nevertheless, the city’s blue clocks have a story to tell. It’s a story about Glasgow’s growth from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, from a market town in the shadow of the Church to a confident manufacturing giant.

    The steeples of the Tolbooth (lower right) and St Andrew’s in the Square (left).

    In the late sixteenth century, Glasgow had just two public clocks. One occupied the old Tolbooth at the Cross, a building that probably dated to the early fifteenth century; the other was in one of the now-demolished west towers of the Cathedral.

    The Tolbooth clock first enters the records in September 1573, when one Dauid Lioun was paid three shillings “for ane pece of trie to þe knok”. Three years later, the Council employed David Kaye, of Craill,

    to ſett wp and repair or mend þe two knokks, þe ane maid be himſelf, and þe wþer auld knok mendit be him, how oft he beis requyrit þairto, be þame or ony in thayr name, and þat wpone þe tounes raonable expenſs fo be payit and done be him thairfor.

    Kaye, who had already built a clock for St Mary’s Church in Dundee, was probably as close as Scotland had to a professional clockmaker. The Tolbooth clock was an elaborate piece of work, with not only an “orlage” (face) but a “moyne”, i.e. a display showing the phases of the moon. Unfortunately, like most clocks of the period it could not be trusted to keep good time if left to its own devices, and by 1578 the position of “rewler of the knok” had been established. The first incumbent was a chaplain, Archibald Dickie, who was paid a small salary

    for rowlling and gyding of the knok and for lying nychtlie in the tolbuth to rewll and keip the samyne.

    Dickie, lying every night alone in the Tolbooth with a watchful eye on the rickety machinery, must have felt the cold, and his remuneration included a separate allowance “for helping and support of him to his bed clais”.

    It’s possible that the first clock in the High Kirk was in fact the old Tolbooth clock replaced by Kaye. It first appears in 1587, when a smith from Blantyre was called in to repair it. The records of the Kirk Session from 1591 suggest that this clock was under the supervision of the beadles, who were charged

    to allow none to enter the Steeple to trouble the Knock and Bell there, but to keep the Knock going at all times.

    By 1610, responsibility for the two clocks had been combined, and

    George Smyth, rewler of the Tolbuith knok, hes bund him to the town to rewll the said knok for all the dayis of his lyfetyme for the sowme of tuentie pundis money yeirlie… and siklike, oblissis him to rewll the Hie Kirk knok and keip the same in gangand grath, and visie hir twa seuerall dayis in the wik, the sessioun payand him ten merkis yeirlie.

    Although Smyth’s salary of twenty pounds a year was not colossal, this solemn contract suggests that the clocks were important to the town, and it’s worth asking why.

    One reason was undoubtedly prestige. For a couple of centuries, increasingly complex astronomical clocks, such as the Pražský orloj of 1410, had been used to signal status and sophistication. Typically such clocks carried gilded numerals and astronomical symbols on a blue background. In 1540, Henry VIII of England had a particularly splendid example installed at Hampton Court, and it seems likely that this set the fashion across the British Isles. Though we have no information about the decoration of the Tolbooth or High Kirk clocks, it’s reasonable to guess they were in the same tradition.

    The astronomical clock (1540) at Hampton Court. [Wikimedia Commons]

    A second reason the clocks mattered was more practical: a town clock set a definitive standard of time. This was important to a mercantile centre because trade, including trading hours, was strongly regulated. Glasgow’s Letter of Guildry in 1605 specified that

    It shall not be leasome to any unfreeman to hold stands upon the Highstreet, to sell anything pertaining to the crafts or handy work, but betwixt eight of the morning and two of the clock in the afternoon, under the penalty of forty shilling; providing that tappers of linen and woollen cloth be suffered from morning to evening, at their pleasure, to sell. All kind of vivers to be sold from morning to evening; but unfreemen, who shall sell white bread, to keep the hours appointed.

    This system which defended the rights of the established merchants and other burgesses against “unfreemen” could be enforced only if the “hours appointed” could be defined. (The legal importance of the town clock is echoed in a tale a century later, when the burghers of Banff put their clock forward a quarter of an hour to hang the outlaw James MacPherson before his pardon could arrive.)

    In 1626 the increasingly prosperous burgh demolished the old Tolbooth and erected a new one on splendid lines. A combination of city hall, prison, and bell-tower topped with vanes and a gilded weathercock, it required a clock to match. One John Neill was paid six hundred merks “to mak ane new knok and haill furnitour of irne work, als sufficient, fyne, and worthie as the great knok in the laich stipill of the Metrapolitane Kirk”. It came with “horolog brodie, mones, bunkis and roweris”, i.e. a clock face, a moon, rollers, and mysterious accessories that appear nowhere else in Early Modern Scots.

    The project ran somewhat over budget. Neill had to be paid a further three hundred merks in 1628, while a subcontractor received another fifty “becaus it was lang in working, and sindrie pairtis thairof wrocht over agane”. Finally “Vallentyn Ginking, paintour” was called in to make the whole ensemble glorious by “gilting of the horologe brodis, palmes, mones, the Kingis armes and all paintrie and cullouring thairof”. It was pure bling, and a powerful statement that Glasgow had arrived.

    Glasgow showing off its gilded cock.

    Neill’s struggles with the mechanism reflected the fact that clockmaking locally was in its early days. It was in 1630 that the first clockmaker was recommended to the Incorporation of Hammermen, and only in 1649 that he was formally admitted, although the Hammermen had been asserting their right to regulate clockmaking since 1622.

    The Tolbooth clock would not rule alone for long over the lower part of Glasgow. The next to join it was the clock in the steeple of Hutchesons’ Hospital, on the north side of the Trongate, which was installed in 1649 at a cost of £408 14s Scots. This clock must have had a rough time of it, as the lead that protected the steeple was stripped off in 1651 to save it from Cromwell’s troops; stashed under the floor of the Hospital, it was not restored until 1654.

    Artist’s impression of the old Hutchesons’ Hospital on Trongate. [The Glasgow Story]

    In the late 1650s the University under Principal Patrick Gillespie also embarked on a building project, and a tower duly rose between the courts, containing a clock apparently made by a local blacksmith.

    The University in the 1660s, from Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiae (1693), showing the bell/clock tower. [The Glasgow Story]

    Not to be left behind, in 1663 the Merchants’ House erected their new steeple in Briggait, with its own clock and peal of bells. This triggered one of the periodic rows between Council and contractors.

    Artist’s impression of the Merchants’ Hall in Briggait, with its steeple. [The Glasgow Story]

    Andrew Purdoune had succeded John Neill in 1657 as “rewler of the knocks”, a task which increased in complexity with every new clock that had to be synchronised with the others. Meanwhile James Colquhoune, a general factotum to the Council, picked up a deal of work colouring and gilding the horologes. The job of making and rewling the new Briggait clock went to John Brodbridge, who briefly ousted Purdoune, but by 1665 the Council were accusing him of “not performing his ingadgment in relatioune to the perfecting the knock in Briggait”. Brodbridge was held to his contract to produce chimes for this clock, but they were instead to be installed in the Tolbooth. This took a couple more years to achieve, and finally in 1668,

    The provest having relaited in counsell that there was ane generall complent throw the whoill toune anent the misgoverning of the knockis, in consideratioune quherof it was concludit, be pluraltie of votis, that the keyes should be takin from Johne Brodbridge and delyvered againe to Andrew Purdoune; and the said Johne, being sent for, come and did lay doune the said keyes wpon the counsell table.

    Despite this discord the Tolbooth now had a musical clock, or at least a clock equipped to make loud noises at specified intervals. Musicality took longer. In 1673, fifty pounds sterling were “deburst to Mr. Kervie for tuning the bellis”, and in 1677, a further five pounds sterling were paid to “Walter Corbett, lait prenteis to Androw Purdoume, for chynging the note of the chyme of bellis in the tolbuith quhen his maister was at Holland”. By 1693, at least, John Slezer could remark on “the Tolbooth, magnificently built of hewn stone, with a very high tower, and bells which sound melodiously at every hour’s end”.

    Competition continued for the role of clock-keeper, which suggests that it was either profitable in itself or a good opportunity to pick up lucrative jobs. In a small community with close links between the Trades and the Council, work was often awarded on the basis of estimates which were understood to be elastic. In 1720, the keeper William Telfer did find his “extravagant” bill of £136/11/6 sterling for work on the Tolbooth and Briggait clocks firmly reduced to 2000 Scots merks (roughly £100 sterling), but this didn’t stop him keeping the role until 1736, when he was cut out by John Dunlop, who’d been petitioning for it since 1729. The Telfer dynasty, in the person of John Telfer, recovered the contract in 1739 and retained it at least until 1758; from 1752 onward it was held by John’s widow (whose first name is sadly not recorded). Another widow, Katherine Hannington, would be keeper of the clocks from 1812 to 1813 in succession to her husband William.

    By modern standards, the maintenance the keepers carried out was probably fairly crude. We know the mechanisms were lubricated, as one of Walter Corbet’s duties in 1688 was “to furnishe the haill clocks with oyll”. This oil was, in all probability, derived from tallow produced by the local fleshers, which would explain the occasional references to violent cleansing procedures: “putting [the Tolbooth clock] throw the fyre” in 1702 and “boyling” the clocks in 1738 and 1744. In turn, this handling probably explains why Glasgow’s clocks needed regular replacement or repair.

    The eighteenth century brought a new technology: the pendulum. A mechanical clock needs two main elements: a drive to supply the force to keep the parts moving, and an escapement which measures out that motion in regular amounts. Glasgow’s early clocks were driven, like most steeple clocks, by slowly descending weights. We don’t have direct evidence about their escapements, but we can assume that they used the standard system of the day: a verge and foliot. This consisted of a toothed wheel which engaged a vertical rod, the verge, turning it alternately in one direction and the other; the verge in turn rotated a weighted horizontal rod, the foliot, and it was the foliot’s moment of inertia that controlled the rate of the rotation.

    Early verge and foliot escapement [Wikimedia Commons].

    Verge and foliot escapements seem to have been about as fiddly as this description suggests: modern estimates suggest that if carefully tended — and presumably not boiled too often — they might be accurate to within fifteen minutes per day. Pendulum escapements, invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1756 and gradually improved, were a huge advance, reducing daily errors to as little as tens of seconds. Pendulums had reached eastern Scotland by the 1690s, and took a further decade to spread west. The Tolbooth clock was converted in 1702, with a minute hand added at the same time; an idea of the scale of the operation is given by the charge for “twelve stone and twelve pound of iron… for wheels to the said clock”. The Hutchesons clock was similarly upgraded in 1703, and the High Kirk in 1707.

    The High Kirk clock was replaced entirely in 1724, and that decade saw various bling-enhancement works on the others: when the Briggait steeple was redded up in 1728, it used 119 books of gold leaf, exhausting the local book-binder’s supplies so that more had to be ordered from Edinburgh.

    The next major upgrade came in 1736, when the Council revived their interest in music. A Stirling watchmaker, Andrew Dickie, was contracted to make a completely new chime of bells, along with “a new sett of wheels and pinions, a wooden barrell, a new sett of keys and comb barr, a sett of clappers with hammers and hammer springs and other tackling”. These chimes weren’t just a gigantic music box: they could also be played by hand. A local music teacher, Rodger Rodburn, was sent through to Edinburgh to learn the art, and equipped with a small set of practice bells at the town’s expense. He was then paid an annual salary of £15 sterling “for playing on the bells from half one to half two in the afternoon each day, Sabbath days excepted, and for extraordinary playing on Hallow days. These live performances were in addition to the mechanical sounding of the “curious set of chymes and tuneable bells, which plays every two hours”.

    “Curious” was probably the right word. The original set of eighteen bells ordered to be cast in London turned out to be one short, and a B-flat bell was hurriedly added to the order — which came to £311 1s. 9d. sterling. Whether from deficiencies in casting or in installation, the chime was not in tune, and after two excruciating years the Council employed John Fife, “player on the musick bells at Edinburgh” to sort it out. The process took four months of chiselling and the casting of fourteen new bells, while one of the old bells sent to Edinburgh proved irredeemable and was melted down for scrap. (It weighed 620 pounds; transporting it in pre-canal days must have been a major operation.)

    Even with approximately tuneful bells, the performances can’t have been subtle. “Senex” recalled watching the musician in action around 1790, and recorded that the keys were “sturdily beaten with the whole force of the clenched fists, and these fists carefully guarded from danger by being enclosed in well-stuffed coverings of stout leather”. Nevertheless, the performances became a treasured part of Glasgow life.

    As the city expanded, new churches were required, and these naturally came with clocks. The first was the North-West Kirk (also known as the Ramshorn) in 1722. St Andrew’s followed in 1756, St Enoch’s in 1780, and St George’s in 1809. In 1757, the Tolbooth clock was replaced again, with “a new four-day clock, carricing eight hands, with a quarter piece”; this may also have been when this clock acquired “day o’ the month brodds” in addition to its other paraphernalia. After some repair work, the old Tolbooth clock was put up in the steeple of the Laigh Kirk on Trongate; the Tron steeple remains today after the rest of the kirk was lost to accidental arson by the City Guard.

    The Trongate in 1770, from a drawing by Robert Paul. The old Tolbooth clock can be seen in the Tron Steeple to the left, and the new Tolbooth clock in the Tolbooth steeple to the right. [The Glasgow Story]

    We get occasional glimpses of the University clock and its tower. By 1730, one Henry Drew, hammerman, was being given an allowance for keeping this clock in order. (Drew also worked for Robert Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, becoming the first recorded lab assistant in the University’s history.) This clock was replaced in about 1750. In 1771 Dick’s successor John Anderson entertained a kite-flying crony from America, one Benjamin Franklin, on a visit to Scotland; the following year saw Glasgow’s first lightning conductor fitted to that tower.

    The University clock tower, in a George Washington Wilson photo from the mid-C19th. [Aberdeen University]

    In 1802-5, as part of the city’s redevelopment and expansion westward, the old Hutchesons’ Hospital was demolished and Hutcheson Street opened through the site. A new building, Hutchesons’ Hall, was erected where Hutcheson Street met Ingram Street. The original plan may have been to recycle the old clock, now a century or more old, but in the end a replacement was supplied by William Hannington for £168 11s. Hannington, in fact, was only a middleman, and the clock itself was made by John Thwaites & Co, the leading clockmakers of London. Rising on manufacture and the Atlantic trade, Glasgow could finally afford the best that dubiously gained wealth could buy.

    The arrival of the new Hutchesons clock, and the other Thwaites clock that graced the steeple of St George’s, set the Council fretting. By now there were nine public clocks: some were effectively worn out, and there was not much consensus on the time. A Committee on Clocks was formed, and as well as recommending a change of contractor it set out an expensive programme of repairs and replacements.

    Public clocks marked on Fleming’s 1808 plan of Glasgow: from north to south, the High Kirk, the University, the North-West Kirk, St George’s, Hutchesons, the Tolbooth, the Tron Steeple, St Andrew’s, St Enoch’s and the Briggait. [National Library of Scotland]

    This work took place in fits and starts over the next twelve years. The Tron clock was the first to be replaced, with another Thwaites piece; the old Tron clock made its way to the High Kirk. The Tolbooth clock was recommended for replacement in 1809, but the Council baulked first at the price tag and then at the countersuggestion that “it should not in future be burdened with the additional machinery for playing tunes every two hours”. A solemn warning was recorded that “[t]he public would be sensible of the want and might complain”, and the Council bravely resolved to take no action.

    Instead, the Tolbooth clock limped on with successive repairs until 1815, when the new contractors Mitchell & Russell reported that “on taking it to pieces we find it so completely worn out that to repair it… would be throwing away the sum voted for that purpose”. Mitchell & Russell provided a detailed proposal, which was accepted, and which constitutes the most detailed description of any of the Glasgow civic clocks:

    … the machine to be what is termed an eight day clock, with the exception of the musical part which is to go 24 hours as at present, the quarters are to strike on two bells instead of one as is the case at present, copper hands gilt are to be placed on each of the four dials so as to show the hours and minutes, the great wheels are to be as follows, vizt., striking 16 inches, watch 15 inches, quarter 16 inches, and chime 24 inches diameter, all of which are to be fixed in strong iron frames; the barrel for the music is to be new, and fitted for the tunes at present in use, vizt., for Sunday—the Easter hymn, Monday—Gilderoy, Tuesday—Nancy’s to the greenwood gane, Wednesday—Tweedside, Thursday—Lass o’ Patie’s mill, Friday—The last time I came o’er the moor, and Saturday—Roslin Castle. Conformable to the above description we hereby offer to make and put up the whole machinery, &c., and to find the weights, pulleys, ropes, and carpenter work, and do every other necessary thing in a sufficient manner to your satisfaction, the work to be fitted into its place and clock going by the 1st of January next, for the sum of £325, at 6 months’ credit or 5 per cent. for cash.

    (Apart from the Easter Hymn — probably Jesus Christ is Risen Today from Lyra Davidica — these tunes were traditional Scots airs, dating to early in the previous century. The chimes were still going forty years later, when the antiquarian Gilbert Neil noted that “Though said even yet not to be sufficiently perfect in the musical scale, the chime must be allowed as of a respectable order, and possessing such variety of tones as to render the harmony always cheering and agreeable.”)

    The five remaining blue-faced clocks: Hutchesons’ Hall (centre); St Andrew’s in the Square (top left); the Tolbooth (top right); the Tron steeple (bottom right); the Briggait (bottom left). Note the close family resemblance, which may be the result of the rapid burst of replacement in the early nineteenth century.

    The High Kirk clock, which had started out a century earlier in the Tolbooth, was finally scrapped and replaced in 1817, as was the North-West Kirk clock. (It may be one of these that had recently nearly killed “a valuable and respectable clergyman” when one of its weights fell and ricocheted off the floor.) Haggling over the clock in the Briggait steeple ended only in 1821 with a deal to split the costs between the Council and the Merchants’ House. This seems to have been the last clock to be set up in the old blue-faced style: when the North-West Kirk was replaced entirely in 1825-6, it carried, like St George’s before it, a more modern design.

    The clock on the Ramshorn Kirk (possibly a modern replica, but consistent with contemporary images).

    Maintenance costs were still a worry to the Council, with a perpetually lingering suspicion that clock-keepers were making work for themselves. The proposal to roll the costs of repairs into the keeper’s salary was first made in 1823, and finally agreed in 1829: after a round of maintenance the keeper, Mr Halbert, was contracted to wind and maintain the clocks, posting a £100 bond as surety that no extra expense would be laid on the town for fifteen years. After several centuries, the Council had finally learned to manage risk when awarding public contracts.

    By this point the clock in the Tron steeple had acquired something genuinely new: gas light. The lighting was set up in October 1821, and consisted of an argand burner mounted above the dial and enclosed in a parabolic reflector. James Cleland boasted that “this is the only steeple in the kingdom where the hour can be seen after dark, at a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile”; being Cleland, it is almost certain that he had measured this.

    Cleland made a point of naming the designers of the Tron’s lighting scheme: John and Robert Hart, a pair of pastry bakers from Bo’ness who had moved to Glasgow, taken classes at Anderson’s Institution, become pals with James Watt, and set themselves up as inventors. To Cleland and others, their career paths epitomised the rising industrial city, finally shaking off its provincial past and emerging as a centre of innovation.

    After perhaps three centuries of chasing the technological curve, Glasgow had at last caught up. The brilliantly lit Tron clock, like all its predecessors, was more than a timepiece: it was quite consciously a sign of the times.

    Main sources

    Many of the details come from the Extracts from the Burgh Records of Glasgow published by the Scottish Burgh Records Society. (If anyone ever finds a copy of the 1760-1809 volume(s), please let me know.) Other key sources:

    • James Cleland, Annals of Glasgow (1816) and Statistical Tables (1823)
    • James Coutts, A history of the University of Glasgow, from its foundation in 1451 to 1909 (James Maclehose & Sons, 1909)
    • William H. Hill, History of the Hospital and School Founded in Glasgow, A.D. 1639-41, by George and Thomas Hutcheson of Lambhill (Hutchesons, 1881)
    • Harry Lumsden & P. Henderson Aitken, History of the Hammermen of Glasgow (Alexander Gardner, 1912)
    • James D. Marwick, Early Glasgow (James Maclehose & Sons, 1911)
    • John Muendel, “Friction and Lubrication in Medieval Europe: The Emergence of Olive Oil as a Superior Agent”, Isis, Vol. 86, No. 3 (Sep., 1995), pp. 373-393.
    • David Murray, “The Preservation of the Tolbooth Steeple of Glasgow”, The Scottish Historical Review, Jul., 1915, Vol. 12, No. 48 (Jul., 1915), pp. 354-368.
    • Gabriel Neil, “A few brief notices of the old Tolbooth at the Cross of Glasgow, removed in 1814, &c.”. Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1859), pp. 8-28.
    • “Senex” and others, Glasgow Past and Present (David Robertson & Co., 1854)
    • John Smith, Old Scottish Clockmakers from 1453 to 1850 (Oliver & Boyd, 1921)

    I’m also grateful to Rebekah Higgitt and Thony Christie for responding to the hist-tech bat-signal when I had questions about astronomical clocks. Full details of everything available on request; corrections welcome, and all mistakes my own.

    https://newcleckitdominie.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/blue-in-the-face/

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron
  23. New-cleckit dominie @[email protected] ·

    Scattered across the streets lying south and west of Glasgow Cross, there are five steeples bearing distinctive blue-faced clocks: the Tolbooth, the Tron, the Briggait, St Andrew’s in the Square, and Hutchesons’ Hall. Occasionally a tour guide will point at one of them and explain that it’s painted blue because of an edict of Henry VIII. This is not, as far as I know, true. Nevertheless, the city’s blue clocks have a story to tell. It’s a story about Glasgow’s growth from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, from a market town in the shadow of the Church to a confident manufacturing giant.

    The steeples of the Tolbooth (lower right) and St Andrew’s in the Square (left).

    In the late sixteenth century, Glasgow had just two public clocks. One occupied the old Tolbooth at the Cross, a building that probably dated to the early fifteenth century; the other was in one of the now-demolished west towers of the Cathedral.

    The Tolbooth clock first enters the records in September 1573, when one Dauid Lioun was paid three shillings “for ane pece of trie to þe knok”. Three years later, the Council employed David Kaye, of Craill,

    to ſett wp and repair or mend þe two knokks, þe ane maid be himſelf, and þe wþer auld knok mendit be him, how oft he beis requyrit þairto, be þame or ony in thayr name, and þat wpone þe tounes raonable expenſs fo be payit and done be him thairfor.

    Kaye, who had already built a clock for St Mary’s Church in Dundee, was probably as close as Scotland had to a professional clockmaker. The Tolbooth clock was an elaborate piece of work, with not only an “orlage” (face) but a “moyne”, i.e. a display showing the phases of the moon. Unfortunately, like most clocks of the period it could not be trusted to keep good time if left to its own devices, and by 1578 the position of “rewler of the knok” had been established. The first incumbent was a chaplain, Archibald Dickie, who was paid a small salary

    for rowlling and gyding of the knok and for lying nychtlie in the tolbuth to rewll and keip the samyne.

    Dickie, lying every night alone in the Tolbooth with a watchful eye on the rickety machinery, must have felt the cold, and his remuneration included a separate allowance “for helping and support of him to his bed clais”.

    It’s possible that the first clock in the High Kirk was in fact the old Tolbooth clock replaced by Kaye. It first appears in 1587, when a smith from Blantyre was called in to repair it. The records of the Kirk Session from 1591 suggest that this clock was under the supervision of the beadles, who were charged

    to allow none to enter the Steeple to trouble the Knock and Bell there, but to keep the Knock going at all times.

    By 1610, responsibility for the two clocks had been combined, and

    George Smyth, rewler of the Tolbuith knok, hes bund him to the town to rewll the said knok for all the dayis of his lyfetyme for the sowme of tuentie pundis money yeirlie… and siklike, oblissis him to rewll the Hie Kirk knok and keip the same in gangand grath, and visie hir twa seuerall dayis in the wik, the sessioun payand him ten merkis yeirlie.

    Although Smyth’s salary of twenty pounds a year was not colossal, this solemn contract suggests that the clocks were important to the town, and it’s worth asking why.

    One reason was undoubtedly prestige. For a couple of centuries, increasingly complex astronomical clocks, such as the Pražský orloj of 1410, had been used to signal status and sophistication. Typically such clocks carried gilded numerals and astronomical symbols on a blue background. In 1540, Henry VIII of England had a particularly splendid example installed at Hampton Court, and it seems likely that this set the fashion across the British Isles. Though we have no information about the decoration of the Tolbooth or High Kirk clocks, it’s reasonable to guess they were in the same tradition.

    The astronomical clock (1540) at Hampton Court. [Wikimedia Commons]

    A second reason the clocks mattered was more practical: a town clock set a definitive standard of time. This was important to a mercantile centre because trade, including trading hours, was strongly regulated. Glasgow’s Letter of Guildry in 1605 specified that

    It shall not be leasome to any unfreeman to hold stands upon the Highstreet, to sell anything pertaining to the crafts or handy work, but betwixt eight of the morning and two of the clock in the afternoon, under the penalty of forty shilling; providing that tappers of linen and woollen cloth be suffered from morning to evening, at their pleasure, to sell. All kind of vivers to be sold from morning to evening; but unfreemen, who shall sell white bread, to keep the hours appointed.

    This system which defended the rights of the established merchants and other burgesses against “unfreemen” could be enforced only if the “hours appointed” could be defined. (The legal importance of the town clock is echoed in a tale a century later, when the burghers of Banff put their clock forward a quarter of an hour to hang the outlaw James MacPherson before his pardon could arrive.)

    In 1626 the increasingly prosperous burgh demolished the old Tolbooth and erected a new one on splendid lines. A combination of city hall, prison, and bell-tower topped with vanes and a gilded weathercock, it required a clock to match. One John Neill was paid six hundred merks “to mak ane new knok and haill furnitour of irne work, als sufficient, fyne, and worthie as the great knok in the laich stipill of the Metrapolitane Kirk”. It came with “horolog brodie, mones, bunkis and roweris”, i.e. a clock face, a moon, rollers, and mysterious accessories that appear nowhere else in Early Modern Scots.

    The project ran somewhat over budget. Neill had to be paid a further three hundred merks in 1628, while a subcontractor received another fifty “becaus it was lang in working, and sindrie pairtis thairof wrocht over agane”. Finally “Vallentyn Ginking, paintour” was called in to make the whole ensemble glorious by “gilting of the horologe brodis, palmes, mones, the Kingis armes and all paintrie and cullouring thairof”. It was pure bling, and a powerful statement that Glasgow had arrived.

    Glasgow showing off its gilded cock.

    Neill’s struggles with the mechanism reflected the fact that clockmaking locally was in its early days. It was in 1630 that the first clockmaker was recommended to the Incorporation of Hammermen, and only in 1649 that he was formally admitted, although the Hammermen had been asserting their right to regulate clockmaking since 1622.

    The Tolbooth clock would not rule alone for long over the lower part of Glasgow. The next to join it was the clock in the steeple of Hutchesons’ Hospital, on the north side of the Trongate, which was installed in 1649 at a cost of £408 14s Scots. This clock must have had a rough time of it, as the lead that protected the steeple was stripped off in 1651 to save it from Cromwell’s troops; stashed under the floor of the Hospital, it was not restored until 1654.

    Artist’s impression of the old Hutchesons’ Hospital on Trongate. [The Glasgow Story]

    In the late 1650s the University under Principal Patrick Gillespie also embarked on a building project, and a tower duly rose between the courts, containing a clock apparently made by a local blacksmith.

    The University in the 1660s, from Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiae (1693), showing the bell/clock tower. [The Glasgow Story]

    Not to be left behind, in 1663 the Merchants’ House erected their new steeple in Briggait, with its own clock and peal of bells. This triggered one of the periodic rows between Council and contractors.

    Artist’s impression of the Merchants’ Hall in Briggait, with its steeple. [The Glasgow Story]

    Andrew Purdoune had succeded John Neill in 1657 as “rewler of the knocks”, a task which increased in complexity with every new clock that had to be synchronised with the others. Meanwhile James Colquhoune, a general factotum to the Council, picked up a deal of work colouring and gilding the horologes. The job of making and rewling the new Briggait clock went to John Brodbridge, who briefly ousted Purdoune, but by 1665 the Council were accusing him of “not performing his ingadgment in relatioune to the perfecting the knock in Briggait”. Brodbridge was held to his contract to produce chimes for this clock, but they were instead to be installed in the Tolbooth. This took a couple more years to achieve, and finally in 1668,

    The provest having relaited in counsell that there was ane generall complent throw the whoill toune anent the misgoverning of the knockis, in consideratioune quherof it was concludit, be pluraltie of votis, that the keyes should be takin from Johne Brodbridge and delyvered againe to Andrew Purdoune; and the said Johne, being sent for, come and did lay doune the said keyes wpon the counsell table.

    Despite this discord the Tolbooth now had a musical clock, or at least a clock equipped to make loud noises at specified intervals. Musicality took longer. In 1673, fifty pounds sterling were “deburst to Mr. Kervie for tuning the bellis”, and in 1677, a further five pounds sterling were paid to “Walter Corbett, lait prenteis to Androw Purdoume, for chynging the note of the chyme of bellis in the tolbuith quhen his maister was at Holland”. By 1693, at least, John Slezer could remark on “the Tolbooth, magnificently built of hewn stone, with a very high tower, and bells which sound melodiously at every hour’s end”.

    Competition continued for the role of clock-keeper, which suggests that it was either profitable in itself or a good opportunity to pick up lucrative jobs. In a small community with close links between the Trades and the Council, work was often awarded on the basis of estimates which were understood to be elastic. In 1720, the keeper William Telfer did find his “extravagant” bill of £136/11/6 sterling for work on the Tolbooth and Briggait clocks firmly reduced to 2000 Scots merks (roughly £100 sterling), but this didn’t stop him keeping the role until 1736, when he was cut out by John Dunlop, who’d been petitioning for it since 1729. The Telfer dynasty, in the person of John Telfer, recovered the contract in 1739 and retained it at least until 1758; from 1752 onward it was held by John’s widow (whose first name is sadly not recorded). Another widow, Katherine Hannington, would be keeper of the clocks from 1812 to 1813 in succession to her husband William.

    By modern standards, the maintenance the keepers carried out was probably fairly crude. We know the mechanisms were lubricated, as one of Walter Corbet’s duties in 1688 was “to furnishe the haill clocks with oyll”. This oil was, in all probability, derived from tallow produced by the local fleshers, which would explain the occasional references to violent cleansing procedures: “putting [the Tolbooth clock] throw the fyre” in 1702 and “boyling” the clocks in 1738 and 1744. In turn, this handling probably explains why Glasgow’s clocks needed regular replacement or repair.

    The eighteenth century brought a new technology: the pendulum. A mechanical clock needs two main elements: a drive to supply the force to keep the parts moving, and an escapement which measures out that motion in regular amounts. Glasgow’s early clocks were driven, like most steeple clocks, by slowly descending weights. We don’t have direct evidence about their escapements, but we can assume that they used the standard system of the day: a verge and foliot. This consisted of a toothed wheel which engaged a vertical rod, the verge, turning it alternately in one direction and the other; the verge in turn rotated a weighted horizontal rod, the foliot, and it was the foliot’s moment of inertia that controlled the rate of the rotation.

    Early verge and foliot escapement [Wikimedia Commons].

    Verge and foliot escapements seem to have been about as fiddly as this description suggests: modern estimates suggest that if carefully tended — and presumably not boiled too often — they might be accurate to within fifteen minutes per day. Pendulum escapements, invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1756 and gradually improved, were a huge advance, reducing daily errors to as little as tens of seconds. Pendulums had reached eastern Scotland by the 1690s, and took a further decade to spread west. The Tolbooth clock was converted in 1702, with a minute hand added at the same time; an idea of the scale of the operation is given by the charge for “twelve stone and twelve pound of iron… for wheels to the said clock”. The Hutchesons clock was similarly upgraded in 1703, and the High Kirk in 1707.

    The High Kirk clock was replaced entirely in 1724, and that decade saw various bling-enhancement works on the others: when the Briggait steeple was redded up in 1728, it used 119 books of gold leaf, exhausting the local book-binder’s supplies so that more had to be ordered from Edinburgh.

    The next major upgrade came in 1736, when the Council revived their interest in music. A Stirling watchmaker, Andrew Dickie, was contracted to make a completely new chime of bells, along with “a new sett of wheels and pinions, a wooden barrell, a new sett of keys and comb barr, a sett of clappers with hammers and hammer springs and other tackling”. These chimes weren’t just a gigantic music box: they could also be played by hand. A local music teacher, Rodger Rodburn, was sent through to Edinburgh to learn the art, and equipped with a small set of practice bells at the town’s expense. He was then paid an annual salary of £15 sterling “for playing on the bells from half one to half two in the afternoon each day, Sabbath days excepted, and for extraordinary playing on Hallow days. These live performances were in addition to the mechanical sounding of the “curious set of chymes and tuneable bells, which plays every two hours”.

    “Curious” was probably the right word. The original set of eighteen bells ordered to be cast in London turned out to be one short, and a B-flat bell was hurriedly added to the order — which came to £311 1s. 9d. sterling. Whether from deficiencies in casting or in installation, the chime was not in tune, and after two excruciating years the Council employed John Fife, “player on the musick bells at Edinburgh” to sort it out. The process took four months of chiselling and the casting of fourteen new bells, while one of the old bells sent to Edinburgh proved irredeemable and was melted down for scrap. (It weighed 620 pounds; transporting it in pre-canal days must have been a major operation.)

    Even with approximately tuneful bells, the performances can’t have been subtle. “Senex” recalled watching the musician in action around 1790, and recorded that the keys were “sturdily beaten with the whole force of the clenched fists, and these fists carefully guarded from danger by being enclosed in well-stuffed coverings of stout leather”. Nevertheless, the performances became a treasured part of Glasgow life.

    As the city expanded, new churches were required, and these naturally came with clocks. The first was the North-West Kirk (also known as the Ramshorn) in 1722. St Andrew’s followed in 1756, St Enoch’s in 1780, and St George’s in 1809. In 1757, the Tolbooth clock was replaced again, with “a new four-day clock, carricing eight hands, with a quarter piece”; this may also have been when this clock acquired “day o’ the month brodds” in addition to its other paraphernalia. After some repair work, the old Tolbooth clock was put up in the steeple of the Laigh Kirk on Trongate; the Tron steeple remains today after the rest of the kirk was lost to accidental arson by the City Guard.

    The Trongate in 1770, from a drawing by Robert Paul. The old Tolbooth clock can be seen in the Tron Steeple to the left, and the new Tolbooth clock in the Tolbooth steeple to the right. [The Glasgow Story]

    We get occasional glimpses of the University clock and its tower. By 1730, one Henry Drew, hammerman, was being given an allowance for keeping this clock in order. (Drew also worked for Robert Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, becoming the first recorded lab assistant in the University’s history.) This clock was replaced in about 1750. In 1771 Dick’s successor John Anderson entertained a kite-flying crony from America, one Benjamin Franklin, on a visit to Scotland; the following year saw Glasgow’s first lightning conductor fitted to that tower.

    The University clock tower, in a George Washington Wilson photo from the mid-C19th. [Aberdeen University]

    In 1802-5, as part of the city’s redevelopment and expansion westward, the old Hutchesons’ Hospital was demolished and Hutcheson Street opened through the site. A new building, Hutchesons’ Hall, was erected where Hutcheson Street met Ingram Street. The original plan may have been to recycle the old clock, now a century or more old, but in the end a replacement was supplied by William Hannington for £168 11s. Hannington, in fact, was only a middleman, and the clock itself was made by John Thwaites & Co, the leading clockmakers of London. Rising on manufacture and the Atlantic trade, Glasgow could finally afford the best that dubiously gained wealth could buy.

    The arrival of the new Hutchesons clock, and the other Thwaites clock that graced the steeple of St George’s, set the Council fretting. By now there were nine public clocks: some were effectively worn out, and there was not much consensus on the time. A Committee on Clocks was formed, and as well as recommending a change of contractor it set out an expensive programme of repairs and replacements.

    Public clocks marked on Fleming’s 1808 plan of Glasgow: from north to south, the High Kirk, the University, the North-West Kirk, St George’s, Hutchesons, the Tolbooth, the Tron Steeple, St Andrew’s, St Enoch’s and the Briggait. [National Library of Scotland]

    This work took place in fits and starts over the next twelve years. The Tron clock was the first to be replaced, with another Thwaites piece; the old Tron clock made its way to the High Kirk. The Tolbooth clock was recommended for replacement in 1809, but the Council baulked first at the price tag and then at the countersuggestion that “it should not in future be burdened with the additional machinery for playing tunes every two hours”. A solemn warning was recorded that “[t]he public would be sensible of the want and might complain”, and the Council bravely resolved to take no action.

    Instead, the Tolbooth clock limped on with successive repairs until 1815, when the new contractors Mitchell & Russell reported that “on taking it to pieces we find it so completely worn out that to repair it… would be throwing away the sum voted for that purpose”. Mitchell & Russell provided a detailed proposal, which was accepted, and which constitutes the most detailed description of any of the Glasgow civic clocks:

    … the machine to be what is termed an eight day clock, with the exception of the musical part which is to go 24 hours as at present, the quarters are to strike on two bells instead of one as is the case at present, copper hands gilt are to be placed on each of the four dials so as to show the hours and minutes, the great wheels are to be as follows, vizt., striking 16 inches, watch 15 inches, quarter 16 inches, and chime 24 inches diameter, all of which are to be fixed in strong iron frames; the barrel for the music is to be new, and fitted for the tunes at present in use, vizt., for Sunday—the Easter hymn, Monday—Gilderoy, Tuesday—Nancy’s to the greenwood gane, Wednesday—Tweedside, Thursday—Lass o’ Patie’s mill, Friday—The last time I came o’er the moor, and Saturday—Roslin Castle. Conformable to the above description we hereby offer to make and put up the whole machinery, &c., and to find the weights, pulleys, ropes, and carpenter work, and do every other necessary thing in a sufficient manner to your satisfaction, the work to be fitted into its place and clock going by the 1st of January next, for the sum of £325, at 6 months’ credit or 5 per cent. for cash.

    (Apart from the Easter Hymn — probably Jesus Christ is Risen Today from Lyra Davidica — these tunes were traditional Scots airs, dating to early in the previous century. The chimes were still going forty years later, when the antiquarian Gilbert Neil noted that “Though said even yet not to be sufficiently perfect in the musical scale, the chime must be allowed as of a respectable order, and possessing such variety of tones as to render the harmony always cheering and agreeable.”)

    The five remaining blue-faced clocks: Hutchesons’ Hall (centre); St Andrew’s in the Square (top left); the Tolbooth (top right); the Tron steeple (bottom right); the Briggait (bottom left). Note the close family resemblance, which may be the result of the rapid burst of replacement in the early nineteenth century.

    The High Kirk clock, which had started out a century earlier in the Tolbooth, was finally scrapped and replaced in 1817, as was the North-West Kirk clock. (It may be one of these that had recently nearly killed “a valuable and respectable clergyman” when one of its weights fell and ricocheted off the floor.) Haggling over the clock in the Briggait steeple ended only in 1821 with a deal to split the costs between the Council and the Merchants’ House. This seems to have been the last clock to be set up in the old blue-faced style: when the North-West Kirk was replaced entirely in 1825-6, it carried, like St George’s before it, a more modern design.

    The clock on the Ramshorn Kirk (possibly a modern replica, but consistent with contemporary images).

    Maintenance costs were still a worry to the Council, with a perpetually lingering suspicion that clock-keepers were making work for themselves. The proposal to roll the costs of repairs into the keeper’s salary was first made in 1823, and finally agreed in 1829: after a round of maintenance the keeper, Mr Halbert, was contracted to wind and maintain the clocks, posting a £100 bond as surety that no extra expense would be laid on the town for fifteen years. After several centuries, the Council had finally learned to manage risk when awarding public contracts.

    By this point the clock in the Tron steeple had acquired something genuinely new: gas light. The lighting was set up in October 1821, and consisted of an argand burner mounted above the dial and enclosed in a parabolic reflector. James Cleland boasted that “this is the only steeple in the kingdom where the hour can be seen after dark, at a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile”; being Cleland, it is almost certain that he had measured this.

    Cleland made a point of naming the designers of the Tron’s lighting scheme: John and Robert Hart, a pair of pastry bakers from Bo’ness who had moved to Glasgow, taken classes at Anderson’s Institution, become pals with James Watt, and set themselves up as inventors. To Cleland and others, their career paths epitomised the rising industrial city, finally shaking off its provincial past and emerging as a centre of innovation.

    After perhaps three centuries of chasing the technological curve, Glasgow had at last caught up. The brilliantly lit Tron clock, like all its predecessors, was more than a timepiece: it was quite consciously a sign of the times.

    Main sources

    Many of the details come from the Extracts from the Burgh Records of Glasgow published by the Scottish Burgh Records Society. (If anyone ever finds a copy of the 1760-1809 volume(s), please let me know.) Other key sources:

    • James Cleland, Annals of Glasgow (1816) and Statistical Tables (1823)
    • James Coutts, A history of the University of Glasgow, from its foundation in 1451 to 1909 (James Maclehose & Sons, 1909)
    • William H. Hill, History of the Hospital and School Founded in Glasgow, A.D. 1639-41, by George and Thomas Hutcheson of Lambhill (Hutchesons, 1881)
    • Harry Lumsden & P. Henderson Aitken, History of the Hammermen of Glasgow (Alexander Gardner, 1912)
    • James D. Marwick, Early Glasgow (James Maclehose & Sons, 1911)
    • John Muendel, “Friction and Lubrication in Medieval Europe: The Emergence of Olive Oil as a Superior Agent”, Isis, Vol. 86, No. 3 (Sep., 1995), pp. 373-393.
    • David Murray, “The Preservation of the Tolbooth Steeple of Glasgow”, The Scottish Historical Review, Jul., 1915, Vol. 12, No. 48 (Jul., 1915), pp. 354-368.
    • Gabriel Neil, “A few brief notices of the old Tolbooth at the Cross of Glasgow, removed in 1814, &c.”. Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1859), pp. 8-28.
    • “Senex” and others, Glasgow Past and Present (David Robertson & Co., 1854)
    • John Smith, Old Scottish Clockmakers from 1453 to 1850 (Oliver & Boyd, 1921)

    I’m also grateful to Rebekah Higgitt and Thony Christie for responding to the hist-tech bat-signal when I had questions about astronomical clocks. Full details of everything available on request; corrections welcome, and all mistakes my own.

    https://newcleckitdominie.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/blue-in-the-face/

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron

    #tron #tolbooth #steeples #knoks #clocks #briggait
  24. New-cleckit dominie @[email protected] ·

    Scattered across the streets lying south and west of Glasgow Cross, there are five steeples bearing distinctive blue-faced clocks: the Tolbooth, the Tron, the Briggait, St Andrew’s in the Square, and Hutchesons’ Hall. Occasionally a tour guide will point at one of them and explain that it’s painted blue because of an edict of Henry VIII. This is not, as far as I know, true. Nevertheless, the city’s blue clocks have a story to tell. It’s a story about Glasgow’s growth from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, from a market town in the shadow of the Church to a confident manufacturing giant.

    The steeples of the Tolbooth (lower right) and St Andrew’s in the Square (left).

    In the late sixteenth century, Glasgow had just two public clocks. One occupied the old Tolbooth at the Cross, a building that probably dated to the early fifteenth century; the other was in one of the now-demolished west towers of the Cathedral.

    The Tolbooth clock first enters the records in September 1573, when one Dauid Lioun was paid three shillings “for ane pece of trie to þe knok”. Three years later, the Council employed David Kaye, of Craill,

    to ſett wp and repair or mend þe two knokks, þe ane maid be himſelf, and þe wþer auld knok mendit be him, how oft he beis requyrit þairto, be þame or ony in thayr name, and þat wpone þe tounes raonable expenſs fo be payit and done be him thairfor.

    Kaye, who had already built a clock for St Mary’s Church in Dundee, was probably as close as Scotland had to a professional clockmaker. The Tolbooth clock was an elaborate piece of work, with not only an “orlage” (face) but a “moyne”, i.e. a display showing the phases of the moon. Unfortunately, like most clocks of the period it could not be trusted to keep good time if left to its own devices, and by 1578 the position of “rewler of the knok” had been established. The first incumbent was a chaplain, Archibald Dickie, who was paid a small salary

    for rowlling and gyding of the knok and for lying nychtlie in the tolbuth to rewll and keip the samyne.

    Dickie, lying every night alone in the Tolbooth with a watchful eye on the rickety machinery, must have felt the cold, and his remuneration included a separate allowance “for helping and support of him to his bed clais”.

    It’s possible that the first clock in the High Kirk was in fact the old Tolbooth clock replaced by Kaye. It first appears in 1587, when a smith from Blantyre was called in to repair it. The records of the Kirk Session from 1591 suggest that this clock was under the supervision of the beadles, who were charged

    to allow none to enter the Steeple to trouble the Knock and Bell there, but to keep the Knock going at all times.

    By 1610, responsibility for the two clocks had been combined, and

    George Smyth, rewler of the Tolbuith knok, hes bund him to the town to rewll the said knok for all the dayis of his lyfetyme for the sowme of tuentie pundis money yeirlie… and siklike, oblissis him to rewll the Hie Kirk knok and keip the same in gangand grath, and visie hir twa seuerall dayis in the wik, the sessioun payand him ten merkis yeirlie.

    Although Smyth’s salary of twenty pounds a year was not colossal, this solemn contract suggests that the clocks were important to the town, and it’s worth asking why.

    One reason was undoubtedly prestige. For a couple of centuries, increasingly complex astronomical clocks, such as the Pražský orloj of 1410, had been used to signal status and sophistication. Typically such clocks carried gilded numerals and astronomical symbols on a blue background. In 1540, Henry VIII of England had a particularly splendid example installed at Hampton Court, and it seems likely that this set the fashion across the British Isles. Though we have no information about the decoration of the Tolbooth or High Kirk clocks, it’s reasonable to guess they were in the same tradition.

    The astronomical clock (1540) at Hampton Court. [Wikimedia Commons]

    A second reason the clocks mattered was more practical: a town clock set a definitive standard of time. This was important to a mercantile centre because trade, including trading hours, was strongly regulated. Glasgow’s Letter of Guildry in 1605 specified that

    It shall not be leasome to any unfreeman to hold stands upon the Highstreet, to sell anything pertaining to the crafts or handy work, but betwixt eight of the morning and two of the clock in the afternoon, under the penalty of forty shilling; providing that tappers of linen and woollen cloth be suffered from morning to evening, at their pleasure, to sell. All kind of vivers to be sold from morning to evening; but unfreemen, who shall sell white bread, to keep the hours appointed.

    This system which defended the rights of the established merchants and other burgesses against “unfreemen” could be enforced only if the “hours appointed” could be defined. (The legal importance of the town clock is echoed in a tale a century later, when the burghers of Banff put their clock forward a quarter of an hour to hang the outlaw James MacPherson before his pardon could arrive.)

    In 1626 the increasingly prosperous burgh demolished the old Tolbooth and erected a new one on splendid lines. A combination of city hall, prison, and bell-tower topped with vanes and a gilded weathercock, it required a clock to match. One John Neill was paid six hundred merks “to mak ane new knok and haill furnitour of irne work, als sufficient, fyne, and worthie as the great knok in the laich stipill of the Metrapolitane Kirk”. It came with “horolog brodie, mones, bunkis and roweris”, i.e. a clock face, a moon, rollers, and mysterious accessories that appear nowhere else in Early Modern Scots.

    The project ran somewhat over budget. Neill had to be paid a further three hundred merks in 1628, while a subcontractor received another fifty “becaus it was lang in working, and sindrie pairtis thairof wrocht over agane”. Finally “Vallentyn Ginking, paintour” was called in to make the whole ensemble glorious by “gilting of the horologe brodis, palmes, mones, the Kingis armes and all paintrie and cullouring thairof”. It was pure bling, and a powerful statement that Glasgow had arrived.

    Glasgow showing off its gilded cock.

    Neill’s struggles with the mechanism reflected the fact that clockmaking locally was in its early days. It was in 1630 that the first clockmaker was recommended to the Incorporation of Hammermen, and only in 1649 that he was formally admitted, although the Hammermen had been asserting their right to regulate clockmaking since 1622.

    The Tolbooth clock would not rule alone for long over the lower part of Glasgow. The next to join it was the clock in the steeple of Hutchesons’ Hospital, on the north side of the Trongate, which was installed in 1649 at a cost of £408 14s Scots. This clock must have had a rough time of it, as the lead that protected the steeple was stripped off in 1651 to save it from Cromwell’s troops; stashed under the floor of the Hospital, it was not restored until 1654.

    Artist’s impression of the old Hutchesons’ Hospital on Trongate. [The Glasgow Story]

    In the late 1650s the University under Principal Patrick Gillespie also embarked on a building project, and a tower duly rose between the courts, containing a clock apparently made by a local blacksmith.

    The University in the 1660s, from Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiae (1693), showing the bell/clock tower. [The Glasgow Story]

    Not to be left behind, in 1663 the Merchants’ House erected their new steeple in Briggait, with its own clock and peal of bells. This triggered one of the periodic rows between Council and contractors.

    Artist’s impression of the Merchants’ Hall in Briggait, with its steeple. [The Glasgow Story]

    Andrew Purdoune had succeded John Neill in 1657 as “rewler of the knocks”, a task which increased in complexity with every new clock that had to be synchronised with the others. Meanwhile James Colquhoune, a general factotum to the Council, picked up a deal of work colouring and gilding the horologes. The job of making and rewling the new Briggait clock went to John Brodbridge, who briefly ousted Purdoune, but by 1665 the Council were accusing him of “not performing his ingadgment in relatioune to the perfecting the knock in Briggait”. Brodbridge was held to his contract to produce chimes for this clock, but they were instead to be installed in the Tolbooth. This took a couple more years to achieve, and finally in 1668,

    The provest having relaited in counsell that there was ane generall complent throw the whoill toune anent the misgoverning of the knockis, in consideratioune quherof it was concludit, be pluraltie of votis, that the keyes should be takin from Johne Brodbridge and delyvered againe to Andrew Purdoune; and the said Johne, being sent for, come and did lay doune the said keyes wpon the counsell table.

    Despite this discord the Tolbooth now had a musical clock, or at least a clock equipped to make loud noises at specified intervals. Musicality took longer. In 1673, fifty pounds sterling were “deburst to Mr. Kervie for tuning the bellis”, and in 1677, a further five pounds sterling were paid to “Walter Corbett, lait prenteis to Androw Purdoume, for chynging the note of the chyme of bellis in the tolbuith quhen his maister was at Holland”. By 1693, at least, John Slezer could remark on “the Tolbooth, magnificently built of hewn stone, with a very high tower, and bells which sound melodiously at every hour’s end”.

    Competition continued for the role of clock-keeper, which suggests that it was either profitable in itself or a good opportunity to pick up lucrative jobs. In a small community with close links between the Trades and the Council, work was often awarded on the basis of estimates which were understood to be elastic. In 1720, the keeper William Telfer did find his “extravagant” bill of £136/11/6 sterling for work on the Tolbooth and Briggait clocks firmly reduced to 2000 Scots merks (roughly £100 sterling), but this didn’t stop him keeping the role until 1736, when he was cut out by John Dunlop, who’d been petitioning for it since 1729. The Telfer dynasty, in the person of John Telfer, recovered the contract in 1739 and retained it at least until 1758; from 1752 onward it was held by John’s widow (whose first name is sadly not recorded). Another widow, Katherine Hannington, would be keeper of the clocks from 1812 to 1813 in succession to her husband William.

    By modern standards, the maintenance the keepers carried out was probably fairly crude. We know the mechanisms were lubricated, as one of Walter Corbet’s duties in 1688 was “to furnishe the haill clocks with oyll”. This oil was, in all probability, derived from tallow produced by the local fleshers, which would explain the occasional references to violent cleansing procedures: “putting [the Tolbooth clock] throw the fyre” in 1702 and “boyling” the clocks in 1738 and 1744. In turn, this handling probably explains why Glasgow’s clocks needed regular replacement or repair.

    The eighteenth century brought a new technology: the pendulum. A mechanical clock needs two main elements: a drive to supply the force to keep the parts moving, and an escapement which measures out that motion in regular amounts. Glasgow’s early clocks were driven, like most steeple clocks, by slowly descending weights. We don’t have direct evidence about their escapements, but we can assume that they used the standard system of the day: a verge and foliot. This consisted of a toothed wheel which engaged a vertical rod, the verge, turning it alternately in one direction and the other; the verge in turn rotated a weighted horizontal rod, the foliot, and it was the foliot’s moment of inertia that controlled the rate of the rotation.

    Early verge and foliot escapement [Wikimedia Commons].

    Verge and foliot escapements seem to have been about as fiddly as this description suggests: modern estimates suggest that if carefully tended — and presumably not boiled too often — they might be accurate to within fifteen minutes per day. Pendulum escapements, invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1756 and gradually improved, were a huge advance, reducing daily errors to as little as tens of seconds. Pendulums had reached eastern Scotland by the 1690s, and took a further decade to spread west. The Tolbooth clock was converted in 1702, with a minute hand added at the same time; an idea of the scale of the operation is given by the charge for “twelve stone and twelve pound of iron… for wheels to the said clock”. The Hutchesons clock was similarly upgraded in 1703, and the High Kirk in 1707.

    The High Kirk clock was replaced entirely in 1724, and that decade saw various bling-enhancement works on the others: when the Briggait steeple was redded up in 1728, it used 119 books of gold leaf, exhausting the local book-binder’s supplies so that more had to be ordered from Edinburgh.

    The next major upgrade came in 1736, when the Council revived their interest in music. A Stirling watchmaker, Andrew Dickie, was contracted to make a completely new chime of bells, along with “a new sett of wheels and pinions, a wooden barrell, a new sett of keys and comb barr, a sett of clappers with hammers and hammer springs and other tackling”. These chimes weren’t just a gigantic music box: they could also be played by hand. A local music teacher, Rodger Rodburn, was sent through to Edinburgh to learn the art, and equipped with a small set of practice bells at the town’s expense. He was then paid an annual salary of £15 sterling “for playing on the bells from half one to half two in the afternoon each day, Sabbath days excepted, and for extraordinary playing on Hallow days. These live performances were in addition to the mechanical sounding of the “curious set of chymes and tuneable bells, which plays every two hours”.

    “Curious” was probably the right word. The original set of eighteen bells ordered to be cast in London turned out to be one short, and a B-flat bell was hurriedly added to the order — which came to £311 1s. 9d. sterling. Whether from deficiencies in casting or in installation, the chime was not in tune, and after two excruciating years the Council employed John Fife, “player on the musick bells at Edinburgh” to sort it out. The process took four months of chiselling and the casting of fourteen new bells, while one of the old bells sent to Edinburgh proved irredeemable and was melted down for scrap. (It weighed 620 pounds; transporting it in pre-canal days must have been a major operation.)

    Even with approximately tuneful bells, the performances can’t have been subtle. “Senex” recalled watching the musician in action around 1790, and recorded that the keys were “sturdily beaten with the whole force of the clenched fists, and these fists carefully guarded from danger by being enclosed in well-stuffed coverings of stout leather”. Nevertheless, the performances became a treasured part of Glasgow life.

    As the city expanded, new churches were required, and these naturally came with clocks. The first was the North-West Kirk (also known as the Ramshorn) in 1722. St Andrew’s followed in 1756, St Enoch’s in 1780, and St George’s in 1809. In 1757, the Tolbooth clock was replaced again, with “a new four-day clock, carricing eight hands, with a quarter piece”; this may also have been when this clock acquired “day o’ the month brodds” in addition to its other paraphernalia. After some repair work, the old Tolbooth clock was put up in the steeple of the Laigh Kirk on Trongate; the Tron steeple remains today after the rest of the kirk was lost to accidental arson by the City Guard.

    The Trongate in 1770, from a drawing by Robert Paul. The old Tolbooth clock can be seen in the Tron Steeple to the left, and the new Tolbooth clock in the Tolbooth steeple to the right. [The Glasgow Story]

    We get occasional glimpses of the University clock and its tower. By 1730, one Henry Drew, hammerman, was being given an allowance for keeping this clock in order. (Drew also worked for Robert Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, becoming the first recorded lab assistant in the University’s history.) This clock was replaced in about 1750. In 1771 Dick’s successor John Anderson entertained a kite-flying crony from America, one Benjamin Franklin, on a visit to Scotland; the following year saw Glasgow’s first lightning conductor fitted to that tower.

    The University clock tower, in a George Washington Wilson photo from the mid-C19th. [Aberdeen University]

    In 1802-5, as part of the city’s redevelopment and expansion westward, the old Hutchesons’ Hospital was demolished and Hutcheson Street opened through the site. A new building, Hutchesons’ Hall, was erected where Hutcheson Street met Ingram Street. The original plan may have been to recycle the old clock, now a century or more old, but in the end a replacement was supplied by William Hannington for £168 11s. Hannington, in fact, was only a middleman, and the clock itself was made by John Thwaites & Co, the leading clockmakers of London. Rising on manufacture and the Atlantic trade, Glasgow could finally afford the best that dubiously gained wealth could buy.

    The arrival of the new Hutchesons clock, and the other Thwaites clock that graced the steeple of St George’s, set the Council fretting. By now there were nine public clocks: some were effectively worn out, and there was not much consensus on the time. A Committee on Clocks was formed, and as well as recommending a change of contractor it set out an expensive programme of repairs and replacements.

    Public clocks marked on Fleming’s 1808 plan of Glasgow: from north to south, the High Kirk, the University, the North-West Kirk, St George’s, Hutchesons, the Tolbooth, the Tron Steeple, St Andrew’s, St Enoch’s and the Briggait. [National Library of Scotland]

    This work took place in fits and starts over the next twelve years. The Tron clock was the first to be replaced, with another Thwaites piece; the old Tron clock made its way to the High Kirk. The Tolbooth clock was recommended for replacement in 1809, but the Council baulked first at the price tag and then at the countersuggestion that “it should not in future be burdened with the additional machinery for playing tunes every two hours”. A solemn warning was recorded that “[t]he public would be sensible of the want and might complain”, and the Council bravely resolved to take no action.

    Instead, the Tolbooth clock limped on with successive repairs until 1815, when the new contractors Mitchell & Russell reported that “on taking it to pieces we find it so completely worn out that to repair it… would be throwing away the sum voted for that purpose”. Mitchell & Russell provided a detailed proposal, which was accepted, and which constitutes the most detailed description of any of the Glasgow civic clocks:

    … the machine to be what is termed an eight day clock, with the exception of the musical part which is to go 24 hours as at present, the quarters are to strike on two bells instead of one as is the case at present, copper hands gilt are to be placed on each of the four dials so as to show the hours and minutes, the great wheels are to be as follows, vizt., striking 16 inches, watch 15 inches, quarter 16 inches, and chime 24 inches diameter, all of which are to be fixed in strong iron frames; the barrel for the music is to be new, and fitted for the tunes at present in use, vizt., for Sunday—the Easter hymn, Monday—Gilderoy, Tuesday—Nancy’s to the greenwood gane, Wednesday—Tweedside, Thursday—Lass o’ Patie’s mill, Friday—The last time I came o’er the moor, and Saturday—Roslin Castle. Conformable to the above description we hereby offer to make and put up the whole machinery, &c., and to find the weights, pulleys, ropes, and carpenter work, and do every other necessary thing in a sufficient manner to your satisfaction, the work to be fitted into its place and clock going by the 1st of January next, for the sum of £325, at 6 months’ credit or 5 per cent. for cash.

    (Apart from the Easter Hymn — probably Jesus Christ is Risen Today from Lyra Davidica — these tunes were traditional Scots airs, dating to early in the previous century. The chimes were still going forty years later, when the antiquarian Gilbert Neil noted that “Though said even yet not to be sufficiently perfect in the musical scale, the chime must be allowed as of a respectable order, and possessing such variety of tones as to render the harmony always cheering and agreeable.”)

    The five remaining blue-faced clocks: Hutchesons’ Hall (centre); St Andrew’s in the Square (top left); the Tolbooth (top right); the Tron steeple (bottom right); the Briggait (bottom left). Note the close family resemblance, which may be the result of the rapid burst of replacement in the early nineteenth century.

    The High Kirk clock, which had started out a century earlier in the Tolbooth, was finally scrapped and replaced in 1817, as was the North-West Kirk clock. (It may be one of these that had recently nearly killed “a valuable and respectable clergyman” when one of its weights fell and ricocheted off the floor.) Haggling over the clock in the Briggait steeple ended only in 1821 with a deal to split the costs between the Council and the Merchants’ House. This seems to have been the last clock to be set up in the old blue-faced style: when the North-West Kirk was replaced entirely in 1825-6, it carried, like St George’s before it, a more modern design.

    The clock on the Ramshorn Kirk (possibly a modern replica, but consistent with contemporary images).

    Maintenance costs were still a worry to the Council, with a perpetually lingering suspicion that clock-keepers were making work for themselves. The proposal to roll the costs of repairs into the keeper’s salary was first made in 1823, and finally agreed in 1829: after a round of maintenance the keeper, Mr Halbert, was contracted to wind and maintain the clocks, posting a £100 bond as surety that no extra expense would be laid on the town for fifteen years. After several centuries, the Council had finally learned to manage risk when awarding public contracts.

    By this point the clock in the Tron steeple had acquired something genuinely new: gas light. The lighting was set up in October 1821, and consisted of an argand burner mounted above the dial and enclosed in a parabolic reflector. James Cleland boasted that “this is the only steeple in the kingdom where the hour can be seen after dark, at a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile”; being Cleland, it is almost certain that he had measured this.

    Cleland made a point of naming the designers of the Tron’s lighting scheme: John and Robert Hart, a pair of pastry bakers from Bo’ness who had moved to Glasgow, taken classes at Anderson’s Institution, become pals with James Watt, and set themselves up as inventors. To Cleland and others, their career paths epitomised the rising industrial city, finally shaking off its provincial past and emerging as a centre of innovation.

    After perhaps three centuries of chasing the technological curve, Glasgow had at last caught up. The brilliantly lit Tron clock, like all its predecessors, was more than a timepiece: it was quite consciously a sign of the times.

    Main sources

    Many of the details come from the Extracts from the Burgh Records of Glasgow published by the Scottish Burgh Records Society. (If anyone ever finds a copy of the 1760-1809 volume(s), please let me know.) Other key sources:

    • James Cleland, Annals of Glasgow (1816) and Statistical Tables (1823)
    • James Coutts, A history of the University of Glasgow, from its foundation in 1451 to 1909 (James Maclehose & Sons, 1909)
    • William H. Hill, History of the Hospital and School Founded in Glasgow, A.D. 1639-41, by George and Thomas Hutcheson of Lambhill (Hutchesons, 1881)
    • Harry Lumsden & P. Henderson Aitken, History of the Hammermen of Glasgow (Alexander Gardner, 1912)
    • James D. Marwick, Early Glasgow (James Maclehose & Sons, 1911)
    • John Muendel, “Friction and Lubrication in Medieval Europe: The Emergence of Olive Oil as a Superior Agent”, Isis, Vol. 86, No. 3 (Sep., 1995), pp. 373-393.
    • David Murray, “The Preservation of the Tolbooth Steeple of Glasgow”, The Scottish Historical Review, Jul., 1915, Vol. 12, No. 48 (Jul., 1915), pp. 354-368.
    • Gabriel Neil, “A few brief notices of the old Tolbooth at the Cross of Glasgow, removed in 1814, &c.”. Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1859), pp. 8-28.
    • “Senex” and others, Glasgow Past and Present (David Robertson & Co., 1854)
    • John Smith, Old Scottish Clockmakers from 1453 to 1850 (Oliver & Boyd, 1921)

    I’m also grateful to Rebekah Higgitt and Thony Christie for responding to the hist-tech bat-signal when I had questions about astronomical clocks. Full details of everything available on request; corrections welcome, and all mistakes my own.

    https://newcleckitdominie.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/blue-in-the-face/

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron

    #briggait #clocks #knoks #steeples #tolbooth #tron
  25. Matthew Brown @[email protected] ·

    Everything I have learned about good typsetting on websites and blogs

    This post is an example of “blog your homework”, the idea that when you research something, you should write about it. I’ve been looking at making blogs and indie personal websites nice and readable.

    Why am I writing this?

    This all started a few days ago when I realised how hard this blog was to read. I updated my CSS for larger font sizing. According to one source, 20px font sits nicely in the overlap for good readability on desktop and mobile. Thus, I went with size 20px.

    Am I qualified to write this?

    No, not remotely. That’s why I am writing this as a homework notebook. Expect lots of links and cited sources. After all, you should not take what I say on faith. You should trust but verify. Or distrust and verify. Whichever works for you.

    Legibility vs Readability

    Alyssa Clarke has 12 Typography Guidelines For Good Website Usability for Usability Geek. One of her points is that there is a distinct difference between legible and readable. My old website design was legible – you could perceive all the words, but, with its long word-to-line ratio, it was not so readable.

    With websites, we should aim for readable, not just legible.

    Be aware of ideal line lengths

    There is an optimal line length. I tend to think of it as “roughly 12 words”, but there is some far more accurate guidance out there.

    The ideal line length for readable text is 50–75 characters per line (CPL), with 66 CPL being the sweet spot. This range helps reduce eye strain, improves comprehension, and ensures a smooth reading experience. Lines that are too long or too short disrupt reading flow, making content harder to follow.

    Optimal Line Length for Readability, Andrew Martin, uxpin.com

    Filippos Protogeridis cites research from the Baymard Institute, The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web, as well as the book Typographie by E. Ruder. for giving 50-75 characters per line on desktops, and 30-50 CPL on mobile. There is a single goodish-for-both value of 50 CPL. Although one might want to do mobile-first responsive design and optimise hard for each screen size.

    Yet when text is difficult to read due to the length of the lines, users are much less willing to engage with the text, or struggle to read efficiently.

    Readability: The Optimal Line Length, Edward Scott (Research Lead), Baymard Institiute

    Do better writing

    Marieke van de Rakt, writing for Yoast in “5 tips for writing readable blog posts“, suggests short sentences, clear paragraphs, and more transition words.

    I can testify that some blogs and indie sites are easier to read because they were written by someone who has a lot of practice writing. I have a few hacky tips that can make your writing seem easier to read.

    • After three sentences strongly consider a new paragraph
    • Use a few one-sentence paragraphs.
    • Throw in the odd one-word sentence.
    • Any time you write “and” or place a comma, ask yourself if you could replace it with a full stop.
    • Read it out loud before you publish.

    Anyone who feels they know what they are doing should ignore these rules. They are nothing more than training wheels.

    Use headings based on hierarchy, says Yale University

    Yale says, not only should you use headings you should also avoid using bold and mark up as actual headings. This makes it easier for idiots like me to keep place in the post, scan for the bit that interests me, refer back to that one nice bit I want to cite but have to reread the whole thing for because now I can’t find it.

    More than that, actual header tags are good SEO and most importantly, good for visitors that need special tools to help them read and enjoy your content.

    Better writing tips from Yale include:

    • Write at a high school grade level,
    • Limit paragraphs to around ~80 words if possible
    • Avoid jargon and difficult language where possible

    My own advice for engaging idiots like me

    Pictures!

    No, seriously, images relevant to the article (like diagrams and infographics) help people like me to stay engaged. Sometimes a funny meme that reinforces a point or a decorative image that looks nice with the content can help my easily distracted brain stay on task for reading your lovely and informative words.

    Use all the tricks to keep those eyeballs where you want them.

    Font choice matters

    On the A11y Collective blog, Andrée Lange addresses the problems with poor font choice in “How to Pick the Perfect Font Size: A Guide to WCAG Accessibility”.

    Choosing a font size that’s too small or too large can decrease readability, especially for users who may be experiencing conditions such as myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism. This could make it harder for them to absorb your web content and navigate your site, leading to many unwanted consequences, such as poor user experience, increased bounce rates, bad Search Engine Optimization (SEO) performance, and reduced conversions.

    How to Pick the Perfect Font Size: A Guide to WCAG Accessibility, Andrée Lange, A11y Collective

    The A11y Collective article has a lot of best practice technical and design details. For those wanting further reading and insights, this might be the one for you.

    Jordan DeVos explains in “Designing for Readability: A Guide to Web Typography (With Infographic)” the importance of typography (font selection) on the web. Here’s the infographic (might not work on federated copies).

    Infographic by Toptal

    Do some testing – find your goldilocks zone

    If you have the know-how or are willing to learn it, some testing may be of great value. Edward Scott’s article talks about testing (in an e-commerce setting) and verifying that there is a goldilocks zone for line length, not too long and not too short.

    It turns out that the subconscious mind is energized when jumping to the next line (as long as it doesn’t happen too frequently; see above bullet point). At the beginning of every new line the reader is focused, but this focus gradually wears off over the duration of the line (“Typographie”, E. Ruder).

    During our e-commerce testing, we’ve verified these basic readability precepts for users who are navigating e-commerce sites.

    Readability: The Optimal Line Length, Edward Scott, Baymard Institute

    Accessibility of writing

    Nick Awad talks about website readability as an accessibility factor. He says that good formatting (which we have talked about a lot) is important but so too is accessible language.

    A key component of readability is the language chosen for written content. Opt for simple language that resonates with a wide array of readers. Clear communication often outweighs complex vocabulary. For example, use simpler words like “use” instead of “utilize.”

    Website Readability, Nick Awad, accessibility.com, 2024

    Nick Awad also lists some tools that can be used to check accessibility in terms of reading ease, contrast, and simplicity.

    • Web FX Readability Test- This tool evaluates readability based on a provided URL.
    • Readability Formulas Scoring System– This tool uses various formulas to measure the readability of input text. These formulas account for sentence length and word complexity to estimate the text’s readability. 
    • Hemingway Editor– Beyond traditional readability scores, the Hemingway Editor identifies complex sentences, passive voice, and other potential content issues. It suggests ways to make the text more straightforward. 
    • WebAIM Color Contrast Checker– Readability extends beyond text complexity to presentation. This tool ensures the text has appropriate contrast against its background, essential for users with visual impairments and overall readability. 

    Website Readability, Nick Awad, accessibility.com, 2024

    I’d maybe add The Gunning Fog Index (or FOG) Readability Formula.

    Harvard University stresses the importance of white space and resizing options

    Harvard University’s website has a presentation on accessibility titled “Design for readability“. The unnamed writer talks about the use of visual and semantic space.

    In arty terms, you need to give the text room to breathe. In terms of me, please keep distractions away from my focus so I can give my attention to the text I am reading.

    For good accessibility support, you should support resizing, says Harvard.

    Support text resizing. Check how your content responds to enlarged text. Avoid using narrow columns of content because they will not respond well to scaling.

    Design for readability, https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/design-readability

    Digital Accessibility, Willamette University

    I’ve included this link mostly to provide a plurality of authoritative sources. Williamette covers a lot of ground mentioned already. They do provide a good summary of all the points, along with best practices for content organisation and visual display.

    Like any good expert, they cite their courses. I’ve included those citations as further reading for anyone interested.

    Digital Accessibility, Willamette University

    Responsive design and font choices

    Erik D. Kennedy writes in “The Responsive Website Font Size Guidelines“, going into depth about ideal sizes for different screen types. To get his point across (very well IMHO), Erik uses all the tricks of good writing – bullet points, headings, graphics, tables…

    Talking of tables, here’s the one Erik opens with.

    ElementMobileDesktopPage title28-40px35-50pxDefault/body text16-20px for text-heavy pages*,
    16-18px for interaction-heavy pages*18-24px for text-heavy pages*,
    14-20px for interaction-heavy pages*Secondary text, captions2px smaller than default2px smaller than default

    Read The Responsive Website Font Size Guidelines for the full deep dive.

    Conclusion(s)

    I felt that I learned a lot during this research session. I’m pretty sure that I have yet to implement all the recommendations I have found here. Feel free to criticise me for that. It is a fair comment after all.

    There are a lot of factors, from accessibility to optimal reading ease, to consider. Some parts are design aspects, others are a skill issue. That is okay, I think. If on each revision of our sites and blogs we factor in one more accessibility or good design aspect, our content will be better and easier to engage with.

    Good font choice, layout, design, colour, and language use all contribute to an accessible and engaging web page. The more of these factors you get at least somewhat right, the better your content will be and the easier to engage with the content therein. In other words, if we want more readers, we (especially I) must work to improve accessibility and design within many factors.

    Any improvement is, I think, a good thing. If each of us walks away from these articles with one nugget of truth and uses it, the web will be that much better for it.

    Please comment, reply, or mention anything I have missed, misunderstood, or got wrong. Are there any design and content issues that you would add? How well do you think your blog or website meets this advice and best practice? (Mine could use work, I can see that.)

    #accessibility #blogYourHomework #blogging #cited #design #fonts #layout #readability #typsetting #writing

    #accessibility #blogyourhomework #blogging #cited #design #fonts
  26. WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·

    12 Best Standing Desks of 2026, Tested and Reviewed

    fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wire

    #gear #gearbuyingguides #gearproductshomeoffice #shopping #homeoffice #remotework
  27. WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·

    12 Best Standing Desks of 2026, Tested and Reviewed

    fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wire

    #gear #gearbuyingguides #gearproductshomeoffice #shopping #homeoffice #remotework
  28. WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·

    12 Best Standing Desks of 2026, Tested and Reviewed

    fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wire

    #tablestakes #desks #desktops #buyingguides #remotework #homeoffice
  29. WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·

    12 Best Standing Desks of 2026, Tested and Reviewed

    fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wire

    #gear #gearbuyingguides #gearproductshomeoffice #shopping #homeoffice #remotework
  30. WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·

    This Home Robot Clears Tables and Loads the Dishwasher All by Itself

    web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wire

    #business #businessartificialintelligence #businessstartups #robots #robotics #artificialintelligence
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