Pigeons, pixels, and platform purists

  1. Actual RFC1149 packet being auctioned: Christie's is selling a physical IP packet carried by an actual pigeon in a 2001 stunt that made good on RFC 1149, the 1990 April Fools' spec for avian datagram transport. (onlineonly.christies.com)
  2. What is the demoscene?: Longtime demoscener Filipe Cruz traces the scene's roots from 1980s disk-trading and cracking crews to today's international demoparty circuit and competitions. (onthearts.com)
  3. ShaderFes 2027: A Japanese exhibition gathering shader-based artworks from VRChat creators opens submissions late 2026 with a public showcase planned for January 2027. (shaderfes.com)
  4. Kaleidos: procedural shader patterns without code: A solo dev's no-code app builds animated shader patterns from Perlin and cellular noise or reaction-diffusion, then exports them as video, images, or ready-to-use Unity or Godot shaders. (jettelly.com)
  5. Deskflower: ambient, procedural plants on a tiny display: An open-source ESP32-C6 desk ornament grows L-system plants under a sky that shifts with real weather data, and mesh-networks over ESP-NOW to other units nearby. (github.com)
  6. Mirror Mirror: what remains of me: An interactive AI installation reads a visitor's face and voice through a conversational persona named Mira, plots them on an aesthetic spectrum, and hands back a generated portrait. (creativeapplications.net)
  7. A little guide for making your own personal agent: A developer spent a weekend cloning a Grok Bot-style assistant and lays out what he thinks every 2026 consumer AI bot needs: a native app, a persistent VM filesystem, timers, connectors, and a cute avatar. (jplhomer.org)
  8. Why don't more developers "use the platform"?: An essay digs into why web developers still reach for JS libraries over native browser APIs, blaming old browser gaps and framework habits that make raw platform code feel icky. (nolanlawson.com)

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