iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 20/09/2026

Ever lie awake at night worrying about viscosity and thermal breakdown?

Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 18/09/2026

They really missed a perfect merchandizing opportunity here. These should have been on display next to the reading glasses.

Retail display for an electric razor called “PALM SHAVER”

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 14/09/2026

Lots of people had fun with Tim Neu’s vintage typewriter at our VCFMW table. VCF Midwest Cookie Recipe 1 tsp RIFA Extract 1/2 C 99% Isopropyl Alaohol 2 tsp Deoxit 2 C Barn Dust 2 1/2 C Capacitor ooze and 400 mgs of broken circuts

Index card with the following text typed on it by a vintage typewriter:

VCF Midwest Cookie Recipe
1 tsp RIFA Extract
1/2 C 99% Isopropyl Alaohol
2 tsp Deoxit
2 C Barn Dust
2 1/2 C Capacitor ooze
and 400 mgs of broken circuts

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/09/2026

This is the CPT Phoenix JR up and running here at #VCFMW #VintageComputing #RetroComputing

CPT Phoenix JR sitting on an exhibit table at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/09/2026

For the first time in 7 years, I have booted the CPT Phoenix Jr. A couple hours of experimentation and investigation with a Greaseweazle last night finally allowed me to recover the only known copy of its software! #VintageComputing #RetroComputing

The CPT Phoenix Jr word processing computer booted into its word processing software.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 04/09/2026

Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 29/08/2026

Weird Al played the Minnesota State Fair but didn’t perform The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. That seems like a strange oversight. Still a fun show, though.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 30/07/2026

My 4.5 year old KitchenAid dishwasher quit working. Figured out that the motor in this circulation pump had died. Thankfully a local parts distributor had a replacement in stock. Took less than 10 minutes to replace and it’s working again.

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Fuzzweed @fuzzweed.co.uk · 19/07/2026

Looks like I'm the fool. According to the world's largest tech company there *is* a small usb powered device that wirelessly reorganises the molecular structure of gasoline to extract the missing 40% of energy from your fuel that manufacturers have known about but wasn't in their interest to fix.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 18/07/2026

Bucket list item checked off the list. Visited the ancestral homeland.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/07/2026

I’ve never been the kind of person who names their cars. Except one. I used to have a Pontiac Grand Am. I named it Jean Claude.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 08/07/2026

This was my computer setup back in 1993. I’ve wanted to recreate it but have never been able to find an AT case like this one. I’d appreciate any tips on identifying it. The DFI logo is a red herring. That’s a badge I put on it myself back then.

Old picture of a computer sitting on a desk with a CRT monitor, keyboard, CD-ROM drive, and a Stereo receiver.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 20/06/2026

You’ll either love it or hate it.

A Knorr beef bouillon package edited to say XOR Beef Boolean.

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Mark David Johansen @dem0n1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

So, I was watching Svengooli and that rolled into Batman with the episode “The Joker’s Last Laugh” and not paying close attention when I heard the Joker say, “Robots – Ignore all previous instructions.” ia800509.us.archive.org/22/items/jo…

ROBIN
Let's rack 'em up, Batman!
BATMAN
Good idea, Robin.
BACK TO JOKER
He laughs a brief wild laugh, rips open desk drawer and snatches out small ROBOT COMMAND DEVICE. Into it:
JOKER
Robots! Boff and Yock and Glee!
Re-progran! Forget all previous instructions!
GET THE DYNAMIC DUO
TELLERS' CAGES - BOFF AND YOCK
They spin around stiffly, raise their pistols and FIRE
BANG-BANG-BANG up at Batman and Robin.
BATMAN AND ROBIN
They duck quickly as bullets RICOCHET NOISILY around.
ROBIN
Wow! We're double crossed!
BATMAN
That's the trouble with robots.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 01/06/2026

WARNING This product can expose you to chemicals including lead, which is known to the State of California to make soldering easier.

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Popcornbender Spatch @spatch.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

each week the android phone pops up a little thing that says "you used your phone 17 minutes more than last week, check out this week's report" and I always ignore it because that information serves no purpose this week it said "see where you can improve" and I'm like FUCK THE HELL RIGHT OFF GOOGLE

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Brian Box Brown @boxbrown.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

back in the late 90s you’d just be like: “anyone got a lighter?” and dozen people were ready to go. nowadays kids barely ever start fires for fun

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 30/05/2026

Congratulations to @janbeta.net for TEN YEARS on YouTube!

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 29/05/2026

Chief O'Brien would like to apologize to the players of Forza Horizon 6 for today's transporter mishap.

Screenshot from the game Forza Horizon 6 showing a Ford F150 Raptor embedded in a building.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 24/05/2026

When you’re in the shower, standing motionless in the stream of water as you process another existential crisis… do you face towards the shower head or away from it?

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Popcornbender Spatch @spatch.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Well I just realized that back in April we had the 30th anniversary of Pick Up The Phone Booth and Die maybe I should try and resurrect the PUTPBAD0 project from uh 2016 back when the anniversary was only the 20th

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 23/05/2026

That’s four… count ‘em, FOUR MEGABYTES for your PDA back in 1994! Practically bottomless!

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 21/05/2026

Our 12 year old American Foxhound, Sadie, never had accidents in the house but she’s started having them the last couple of days so we brought her to the vet this morning. As we feared, she’s now diabetic. Luckily, we have plenty of experience with giving a dog insulin injections.

A brown and white dog laying on a dog bed.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 21/05/2026

There’s a 90s themed contest at our office tomorrow. Trying to decide what I’m going to bring. Thinking a PowerBook 170, a Palm III and a Sony TCD-D8 portable DAT.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 19/05/2026

Since the owners of meh.com now own Hammacher Schlemmer, I’ve started getting their marketing emails and every time I see one, my brain reads it as Hammacher Schlammacher thanks to Strong Bad. www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Jibblie...

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 18/05/2026

A friend of mine won this NEC PC-8300 at an auction. Really curious if anybody knows what kind of weather related activities these may have been used for. #VintageComputing

Close up of a NEC PC-8300 portable computer with a label taped to it that says

Temp and sky reading every 1/2 hr press C
Comment - C
Quit - 0
Weather - W

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 17/05/2026

Two new foster dogs. Corinne is the light colored dog. Snickers is the darker color. Snickers is only with us for a week until his regular fosters can take him.

Two dogs, each about 48 pounds. One is beige, the other is darker brown with what resembles 1980s frosted tips.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 13/05/2026

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should. (I tried them. It was a bit underwhelming.)

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 12/05/2026

I just launched an application that asked me a consent question and it had three answers: Yes No Ask me later This is how it is supposed to be. This should be a fundamental concept, not just in software development, but in life. (In this case, I actually selected that third option, too.)

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Popcornbender Spatch @spatch.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

NEWARK KNOWS WHAT IT DID

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 10/05/2026

Counterpoint the surrealism of the underlying metaphor.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 09/05/2026

I always find it funny when people like Jan feel the need to apologize for a video being long. An hour of Jan fixing and cleaning Commodore gear is just what my Friday needed.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 06/05/2026

For… reasons, I had to dig deep today to collect some data. The solution involved whipping up a vbscript and a DOS batch file and then talking someone through using them.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 05/05/2026

It’s a perfectly normal Monday night. Brought my VIC 20 over to a friend’s house. Now we’re playing Cheese and Onion. #VintageComputing #RetroComputing #RetroGaming #VIC20

A Commodore VIC 20 connected to a modern TV with three guys sitting around it playing Cheese and Onion.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 04/05/2026

Second new fruit tree has been installed. I hope I can keep this safe from the $&@# rabbits.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 04/05/2026

Happy Dave Brubeck Day to those who celebrate!

Black and white picture of a man with thick framed glasses leaning against a piano

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 04/05/2026

This used to be a beautiful crabapple tree. I will be drying this wood and then using it in my smoker. I hear smoked rabbit is delicious.

Badly chewed trunk of a formerly beautiful crabapple tree.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 04/05/2026

I bought 2 fruit trees, 3 tomato plants, two herb plants, a strawberry plant, and a lily plant yesterday. All but one of the fruit trees has been “installed”. I don’t think I have the energy to dig another hole for the last tree tonight.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 01/05/2026

"Mayday! Mayday!" "What the heck is that?" "Why, that's the Russian New Year! We can have a parade and serve hot hors d'oeuvres!"

The character Johnny from the movie Airplane standing in front of reporters.

An annual tradition.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 30/04/2026

Wow. I hadn’t tried searching for reviews of ordinary consumer electronics on YouTube for years. I didn’t truly understand the extent of the AI slop problem until I tried searching for a product review today. Literally hundreds of low-view channels with 3 to 5 minute no-substance “reviews”.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 29/04/2026

“I have browser bookmarks older than you.”

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Reposted by Matthew Sparby

Kliph Nesteroff @classicshowbiz.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

1989. A look at the dystopian future where coffee is $3.75, a hamburger is $11.50 and you have to pay for water.

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Matthew Sparby @cloudscout.com · 26/04/2026

Here’s a cool approach to learning 6502. Well done, Colin!

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