I like the Sandwich Alignment Game
Plus, the app Corner's Instagram “magazine.”
Today’s issue of PHONE TIME includes: a browser game I love, typing Icelandic horses, Archive of Our Own fanfiction, and the “Google Maps but with friends” app Corner has an answer to the question, “Where the fuck do we go?”
I’ve enjoyed playing this Sandwich Alignment Game made by Andrew Boylan. You can place 57 sandwiches (from rotatingsandwiches.com) on an axis of good, chaotic, evil, and lawful. I first got to try it back in September at the “NewGame+: Imagined Worlds from the School for Poetic Computation” exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image.
Some of the sandwiches are simple: a grilled cheese, eggplant parm, meatball sub. Others stretch the boundaries a bit: Neapolitan ice cream sandwich, Isapahan macaron.
Elsewhere online
Creators will come to realize the value of journalistic principles, argues Josh Hersh in today’s episode of the Columbia Journalism Review podcast “The Kicker.”
From an early PHONE TIME issue:
“Still, there is nothing necessarily preventing creators from doing their own reporting and rigorous research and analysis. More will likely start doing so. The access influencers have to certain spaces (like Fashion Week or brand events) can also facilitate this. Having large audiences can often encourage people to send tips or pass along the inside scoop.”
“wired: LLMs for sexytime” — Reece Rogers reports for WIRED on the rise of the erotic chatbot. “Historically, porn and other adult content has influenced the trajectory of technology, leading to the proliferation of VHS, digital photographs, and streaming video. Generative AI is no different,” Rogers writes.
Mike Wing made an Arcteryx beanie detector that makes you name five mountains.
“No, we don’t want your robot manicures” — Ellen Atlanta, Dazed
Atlanta writes on the rituals of care, self-expression, and community we stand to lose with 10Beauty’s robot manicure.
It’s World Typing Day.
I learned how to type from Type to Learn 4 and Dance Mat Typing.
One of the most magical films about the internet I’ve seen is “Seeking Mavis Beacon” Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross. The film begins as an DIY investigation to find the real Mavis Beacon from the touch typing program “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing,” but is also a weaving exploration of identity, privacy, artificial intelligence, autonomy, and how the tech industry treats Black women.
Good video:
Someone wrote an Archive of Our Own fanfic of The New Yorker writer Isaac Chotiner interviewing the guy running the lottery in Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.”
The same user has also recently written “Heated Rivalry” Hollanov fanfic.
Do we really need an AI bartender? Or an AI microwave? Or an AI…everything?— Dominic Preston, The Verge
I checked on the state of the Etsy spell small business industry. MysticManConjure is selling a red “Fuck Around & Find Out” three-candle ritual set for $90 (it’s 50% off for the next five days). “We accept no responsibility for any paranormal activity that may occur due to the use of our products or services,” they warn. According to one reviewer, “I have made multiple orders from this shop and everything has absolutely worked.” Another candle is meant to drive away your toxic and annoying neighbor.
@wherethefuckdowego is the Corner app’s “magazine,” on Instagram. Corner describes itself as “Google Maps but with friends.” This account, which first started posting in October and now has over 30,000 followers, is positioned as a solution to influencers being paid for recommendations and publications that cover only a certain slice of shops and restaurants. The posts consist of simple carousels with recommendations, using photos from Corner users.
Multiple carousels about where to meet people IRL once you’ve deleted Hinge. Today, SXSW and Corner also posted a guide to “Keeping Austin Weird” via Instagram carousel. I think Instagram’s carousel feature is instrumental in this kind of editorial. See also: Partiful’s Instagram.
Strange.website is beautiful and indeed, strange.
What I’ve been listening to lately when I work.
People are taking it upon themselves to replace ChatGPT.
Community knowledge!
