HUMANLY ∞
Notes on software, hardware and calm technology. Concepts, build logs and the occasional opinion. RSS
# SEP 2026
- 15 Firmware you can flash: why open hardware mattersWhy owner-controlled firmware matters: bootloaders, verified boot with your own keys, bricking and recovery modes, documentation, longevity after the maker moves on and the security trade-offs. HARDWARE
- 08 Concept: Humanly Watch, the thinnest smartwatch we can imagineA concept for a very thin smartwatch: a 5 mm titanium case, an AMOLED screen that stays black until you raise your wrist, three glances, no apps and about a week of battery. CONCEPT
- 01 The repairable device: screws, not glueWhat makes a phone or small device repairable: screws versus adhesive, pull-tab batteries, modular screens and ports, EU rules, repair scores and the honest trade-offs with thinness. HARDWARE
# AUG 2026
- 24 What building our first apps taught usLessons from making our first five apps, serve, Exif AI, dskcopy, idNX and Grabbr: small scope, one-liners as specs, cross-platform costs, code signing, support and saying no. STUDIO
- 17 Supply-chain safety for small teamsA practical guide to software supply-chain safety for small teams: lockfiles, pinning, fewer dependencies, install scripts, typosquatting, CI secrets, SBOMs and signed releases. SECURITY
- 10 A week on one charge: power budgets for calm devicesHow to estimate battery life before you build anything: mAh versus Wh, average current, duty cycles, radios and displays, with worked budgets for a phone, an e-ink reader and a watch. HARDWARE
- 03 Concept: Humanly Slate, an e-ink reader with open firmwareA sketch of a paperback-size e-ink reader with physical page buttons, weeks of battery and open firmware you can build, sign with your own key and flash over USB. CONCEPT
# JUL 2026
- 31 Designing for one handDesigning mobile apps for one-handed use: thumb zones, reachability, bottom navigation, 44 pt and 48 dp tap targets, gestures versus buttons, left-handed users and small phones. DESIGN
- 24 Offline-first on mobileHow to design offline-first mobile apps: a local database as the source of truth, sync queues, conflict handling, optimistic UI, iOS and Android background limits, and testing on bad networks. DEVELOPMENT
- 17 What makes messaging private: a look at ZyphrThe ideas behind secure messaging, from end-to-end encryption, Signal Protocol and MLS to metadata, P2P delivery, relays and push notifications, explained through the Zyphr messenger. SECURITY
- 10 Asking for less: minimal app permissionsLeast privilege for desktop and mobile apps: macOS sandbox entitlements and privacy prompts, iOS and Android runtime permissions, approximate location, photo pickers and honest explanations. SECURITY
- 03 Shipping a static site on Cloudflare WorkersHow we run this static site on Cloudflare Workers: static assets, run_worker_first for a www redirect, clean URLs, a 404 page, _headers for CSP and caching, and a tiny Worker for forms. DEVELOPMENT
# JUN 2026
- 22 Desktop, mobile or SaaS: where should your app live?A plain decision guide for founders choosing between a desktop app, a mobile app or SaaS: offline needs, hardware, app stores, updates, pricing, data residency and team skills. STUDIO
- 15 Passkeys and the slow end of the passwordHow passkeys work under the hood (WebAuthn, public keys and origin binding), why they resist phishing, synced versus device-bound keys, the recovery problem and what developers should build. SECURITY
- 08 On-device AI in 2026: what fits on a laptopRunning AI models locally on a laptop in 2026: how quantisation works, why memory bandwidth matters more than compute, unified memory, NPUs, rough model sizes for 16 and 32 GB, and when cloud still wins. DEVELOPMENT
- 01 Download without the clutter: building GrabbrWhy we are building Grabbr, a clean video and audio downloader for macOS, Windows and Linux: the problem with ad-heavy download sites, our design rules, the engineering and using it responsibly. APPS
# MAY 2026
- 25 How we scope a custom software projectHow we scope custom software for clients: the discovery questions we ask, must, should and could lists, a thin first version, estimates given as ranges, pricing models and handover. STUDIO
- 18 The quiet desk: hardware we like working withHow we set up a calm, durable desk for software work: fanless laptops, quiet mechanical keyboards, one good monitor, 3-2-1 backups, tidy cables and a separate place for the phone. HARDWARE
- 11 Code signing and notarisation on macOS, in practiceA practical guide to macOS code signing and notarisation: Developer ID certificates, codesign with the hardened runtime, entitlements, notarytool, stapling, Gatekeeper and common failures. DEVELOPMENT
- 04 Disk copies you can trust: imaging and verifying drivesHow to image a disk and verify the copy: raw vs sparse images, block vs file copies, reading failing drives, SHA-256 checks, APFS and NTFS quirks, and never writing to the wrong disk. APPS
# APR 2026
- 27 E-ink vs AMOLED: choosing a screen for focusHow e-ink and AMOLED screens work, what that means for power, refresh, ghosting, colour and eye comfort, and which one we would pick for a device built around focus. HARDWARE
- 20 Threat modelling for small appsA lightweight way for small teams to threat model an app in an afternoon: assets, entry points, trust boundaries, a quick pass with STRIDE and a one-page template you can reuse. SECURITY
- 13 Indexing a million files on a laptopHow a fast local file index works: walking the disk once, listening for changes with FSEvents, the USN journal or inotify, storing paths compactly and answering searches in SQLite. DEVELOPMENT
- 06 Concept: Humanly Phone II, the hardware sheetThe hardware sheet for our minimal phone concept: why AMOLED won over e-ink, typing without a keyboard, titanium and ceramic, antennas in a metal frame, and the software question. CONCEPT
# MAR 2026
- 30 Counting days: how Travllr keeps track of where you have beenHow the Schengen 90/180 rule really works, why residency and tax day counts are easy to get wrong, and how Travllr tracks days per country so you stop guessing. APPS
- 23 Designing in monospace: why this site uses Kode MonoWhy we set an entire website in a monospace font, what it costs in readability, how we compensate with size, spacing and line length, and why the font is self-hosted. DESIGN
- 16 Strip location data before you shareHow to strip location data from photos before you share them: iPhone share options, macOS Preview and Photos, Android, Windows, and exiftool commands for single files and whole folders. SECURITY
- 09 Picking a stack for small desktop apps: Rust, Swift, Tauri, ElectronAn honest comparison of Rust GUI toolkits, Swift, Tauri and Electron for small desktop apps: app size, memory, native feel, development speed, platforms, accessibility and updates. DEVELOPMENT
- 02 Thin is a hardware problem: batteries, boards and the 5 mm limitWhy making a thin phone is hard: battery energy density, stacked and side by side boards, camera z-height, heat, antennas, stiffness and the repair cost of gluing it all shut. HARDWARE
# FEB 2026
- 27 Why Rust works for small toolsWhy almost everything Humanly ships is written in Rust: one native binary per platform, memory safety for parsers, one shared core, and the costs we pay for it. DEVELOPMENT
- 23 Notifications are a design choiceEvery notification design decision is a product decision about whose time matters. How we think about batching, allow-lists, badges and quiet hours, and the rules we follow in our apps. DESIGN
- 16 What your photos say about you: EXIF explainedEXIF, XMP and IPTC metadata travel inside most photos: camera, time, GPS, serial numbers and edit history. What each one holds, what platforms keep, and how to check. SECURITY
- 09 One codebase, three desktops: shipping to macOS, Windows and LinuxPractical notes on cross-platform desktop app development: file paths, line endings, installers, code signing, auto-update, a testing matrix and making one codebase feel native on macOS, Windows and Linux. DEVELOPMENT
- 02 AMOLED, true black and calm devicesHow AMOLED pixels work, why a true black interface saves power on OLED screens, when it does not (bright content, PWM flicker, burn-in) and how dark UI design can make a device calmer. HARDWARE
# JAN 2026
- 26 Building serve: a local server in one commandWhy a simple local web server is still useful, and the decisions behind serve: one binary, HTTPS without OpenSSL, a LAN-reachable default with a QR code, and why it is not for production. APPS
- 19 The case for local-first toolsLocal-first software keeps your data on your own machine, works offline and treats sync as optional. Why we build desktop tools this way, and the real costs: backup, multiple devices and collaboration. DEVELOPMENT
- 12 Concept: Humanly Phone, 5.4 mm and does lessA sketch of a very thin, calm phone with a true-black AMOLED screen, a short list of tools and no app store. What it does, what it leaves out, and how the numbers might work. CONCEPT
# DEC 2025
- 29 Software for the next ten years: formats, lock-in and longevityHow we try to build software that still works in ten years: open file formats, plain text and SQLite, real exports, no account required, single binaries and fewer dependencies. STUDIO
- 22 USB-C is not one thing: cables, power and dataWhy two USB-C cables that look the same can charge at 240 W or 15 W, copy at 480 Mbit/s or 40 Gbit/s, and drive a monitor or not. Connector versus protocol, explained. HARDWARE
- 15 curl | sh, done carefully: writing install scripts people can trustPiping curl into sh is controversial for good reasons. How we write shell install scripts that are safe to pipe: main(), set -eu, checksums, no sudo and no surprises. DEVELOPMENT
- 08 Checksums, explained: why every download should come with a SHA-256What a SHA-256 checksum is, what it protects you from and what it does not, and how to check one on macOS, Linux and Windows in a few seconds. SECURITY
- 01 Why Humanly: software that knows when to stopWhy a small studio makes small, focused software. What we mean by humane software that does one job, respects attention and keeps your data local, and what this journal will cover. STUDIO