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I spent some Claude Code tokens improving teamdesign.team a bit over the weekend. I now have a script that auto-fills missing recent post thumbnails with the article's OpenGraph image. While I still wish they'd just add an RSS feed, I also found a way to fetch new posts from design.google.

Create your own Nest Photo Gallery - Jasongraphix A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I used Claude Code to convert a deprecated Nest thermostat into a photo gallery. That post finished with a happily-ever-after ending and a video demo of the working ...

I finally released the Nest photo gallery project with a working installer. Now, anyone (with an ARM-based Mac) can convert a discarded Gen2 Nest thermostat into an interactive photo frame.
jasongraphix.com/journal/crea...

Converting a Deprecated Nest Thermostat into a Photo Gallery - Jasongraphix Before we dive in, I should let you know that I'm a designer. I have no business hacking firmware to make devices perform jobs they were never intended for, but I do love tinkering with physical hardware. A few years ago, I wrote about building an Arduino LED strip game and followed that post up with another about a Simon clone built with arcade buttons and a 3D printed case. I've also taken on some Raspberry Pi projects, a few simpler Arduino builds, and some home automation. All of those were based on existing code and project plans—no compiled binaries or firmware modifications. So, yes, I was way outside my skill set and comfort zone on this project, but that's how we learn new things, right?

Do you happen to have a Gen2 Nest Thermostat lying around that you want to convert to a photo gallery like this?
jasongraphix.com/journal/nest...

I have an installer built (for Intel Macs) that I’d love to get a few folks to test.

Jenny Wen: The design process is dead. Why Designers can no longer trust it. YouTube video by Hatch Conference

I've always said that design is about learning rules to know when to break them and that applies to design process too. I love this whole talk from @jennywen.ca.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u94...

eBay purchase screenshot showing $31.95 paid for a lot of two gen2 Nest thermostats.

I can quit anytime I want…

Claude Code changes the question from “should designers code?” to “should designers modify firmware?” Here’s the story about how I upcycled a deprecated Nest thermostat into a photo gallery.
jasongraphix.com/journal/nest...

We stopped forcing the subscription model on our users. Here is what happened. How and why Lovable introduced ‘top-up’-style monetization.

This is a fascinating window into how AI SaaS pricing models are evolving. "We could tell we were creating a not-lovable experience."
www.elenaverna.com/p/we-stopped...

That could be cool! One of the hurdles I ran into is that there's no way to render jpg/gif/png on the device, so each photo has to be resized to 320x320 and converted to bgra .raw file. 🙃

That's the plan! To make it easier to update the gallery, the Nest will be pulling the images from a web folder, so you probably won't be able to scrub too quickly. Not sure yet how many I'll be able to cache at a time.

A Gen2 Nest Thermostat in my hand with a family photo on the display and a couple terminal windows on the MacBook in the background.

I’m converting my deprecated Gen2 Nest into a mini digital photo frame and just got a test image loading. I would have abandoned this project already if it weren’t for Claude Code, which is making the trial and error of it fun.

The museum with an unexpected star - by Rachel Karten I talked to the team at the National Gallery of Art, including 77-year-old curator Alison Luchs, about “rizzing up the internet with art history.”

Having shared the viral video with my teens, it was fun to read about how a 77-year-old curator at the National Gallery of Art started making videos in Gen Z slang.
www.milkkarten.net/i/186801044/...

A deprecated gen2 Nest displaying the NLE (No Longer Evil) logo, indicating that it has been successfully flashed with custom firmware.

Completed the first step of my side quest to do something fun with this little hunk of e-waste.

Using User Journey Mapping to Turn Raw Inputs into Insight

I love our local UX community. Cesar led us through a great, practical workshop on Journey Mapping at last night’s Downtown Orlando UX Meetup.
youtu.be/MhztaBCwt6U

Thanks Lauts! Felt good to dive into (and make time to share) a big DIY project again. Been a while! Hope all is good in ATL.

Library Ladder Wall - Jasongraphix In August, Ames and I did something we never thought we'd do - we finally bought a move-in-ready home. Since our first house renovation project in 2005,

We did it! Our DIY Library Ladder Wall project is complete. It was quite a holiday break marathon to get this built, but we're so happy with how it came together. Check it out:
jasongraphix.com/journal/libr...

Large stack of IKEA cabinet and bookshelf boxes.

The bulk of our winter break DIY project just arrived. Not pictured: vintage 10ft library ladder and butcher block countertops. 📚

Speed test history chart showing symmetrical ~400mb speeds in June & July, a date in September with 610mb download and almost 0 upload, then a new test this week with ~550mb up and down.

Symmetrical internet is much better than fast download speeds alone. At our old house, a 300mb fiber plan worked great. We moved in September and the upload on our “gig” cable internet capped out at about 50mb. Just got fiber run with only a 500mb plan, and this chart makes me smile.

What would 2025 have been without the people you work with? Celebrating... Jason Beaird Most Likely to Remind You That We Actually Have to Build This Thing Eventually

One of my product design colleagues shared this from their granola.ai 2025 "crunched" report, and I've never felt more seen.

Selfie with a full, graying, November beard.

Photo of my daughter shaving off part of my beard.

A six shaved into the left side of my beard.

Selfie with the beard completely shaved off.

Time to let the kids shave off my November beard again. Unsurprisingly, they attempted a 6️⃣7️⃣ this year.

We've been chatting with ProductTank Orlando about doing a collab event for a long time. So excited that it's happening, and that we're meeting in Full Sail's Treehouse, which is such a rad venue!

Adelyn and I in our 5k shirts with our race medals.

Strava post export with a photo of the starting line and our 35:03 finish time.

The weather was perfect for this year’s Falcon 5k. Adelyn didn’t train at all, so we took it slow and had fun.

nice again?

Creative Mornings Orlando is always inspiring, but it was especially refreshing to hear stories from students and recent grads at today’s “Rising Creatives” event.  
creativemornings.com/cities/orl/b...

A 4x9 grid with labels overlayed showing the color of the dot inside each cell.

Tonight’s random vibe coding project success, presented without context.

Screenshot of Atlas recognizing that it chose the wrong date from a date picker component.

Experimenting with agent mode in ChatGPT Atlas is a good reminder that designing web experiences that are intuitive and accessible for all humans makes them more usable for everyone, including the robots. Watching Atlas work is like facilitating a user research session.

Old set of 4 caster wheels. One is is missing tread and the looking pretty worn and gross too.

New set of 4 locking caster wheels that are similar to the old set but blueish and with shorter stems.

Photo of desk with new caster wheels installed.

Just put a fresh set of caster wheels on my old standing desk. After about 5y, the tread wore off one from my original set. Still love being able to roll my desk around.

An aluminum storefront style glass door with a top jamb mounted door closer installed.

I Installed a closer on the door of our new home office today. I was a bit nervous as it was my first time having to drill and tap machine screw holes, but it turned out great!

Selfie with my youngest daughter. She's wearing an Alex Warren shirt at the concert last night.

Photo of my oldest daughter wearing a red Benson Boone hoodie at a concert in September.

I took my youngest daughter to see Alex Warren perform at UCF last night. A few weeks ago, my oldest and I went to Benson Boone at Kia Center. Middle school girl dad life is out of the ordinary, but mystical and magical.

Ugh! Home of some of the all-time best lunch breaks.

Delight vs. Delightful Issue № 01 in which I unpack the differences between Utility, Delight, and Delightful. Featured font: Rather Risqué by SilverStag.

"Delightful is fleeting. Delight is enduring." - @cameronmoll.bsky.social
chieflydesign.substack.com/p/delight-vs...