iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 09/10/2026

Did you know you can run a Hotline server on your local network? No need to register with a Hotline Tracker. Let Bonjour find it for you. ;)

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 08/10/2026

Pretty bold of Apple to place this left aligned shining with HDR highlights right above the email copy I'm writing. At least it's not blinking.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 07/10/2026

how i arrived in Bluesky

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 06/10/2026

I took some care with the about box in Hotline. I wanted to shine a light on the contributors. This pulls the contributor list directly from GitHub, so it is always up to date. More open source projects should do this imho. Feel free to submit pull requests to the project! :)

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 06/10/2026

I spent some time rethinking the Hotline connection screen that is now a single field which displays suggestions as you type from trackers you've bookmarked. This allows you to bypass browsing tracker listings entirely if you know the name of the server you want to connect to.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 06/10/2026

Hotline banners can also be animated gifs. This was supported in Hotline 1.8 in the 90s I believe but was rarely used. I kind of like it.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 06/10/2026

Some Hotline server banner images in the wild.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 06/10/2026

The way Hotline lets you preview a bunch of old archive and disk image formats without downloading the entire file (which can be >500MB) is by fetching just the right parts of the file to get the directory structure within. You can also view any file Quick Look supports, and now old PICT files! 😄

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 05/10/2026

Also feeling pretty good about the default toolbar when you're not connected or the server does not have a banner. Had a bit of fun with this. Still using full-color icons which is a bit un-macOS these days, but I'm holding on for some reason. I kinda like my Transfers icon (the bendy arrows).

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 05/10/2026

Hotline b29 is out! - Server themes. - Connect UI w/ tracker suggestions. - Archive/disk image previews. - PICT image previews! - Chat with icons, image previews, handling hotline URLs, markdown code blocks (with syntax highlighting). - Tab complete usernames. & more! github.com/mierau/hotli...

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 25/09/2026

Finally justified that 3D printer purchase.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 23/09/2026

Ooooo, on my list now, thanks! There’s also Sid Meier’s memoir I’ve been meaning to check out. Not sure if it’s any good and perhaps less exciting, but still. :)

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 17/09/2026

I love how they promote Endgame like it’s some great piece of art. I mean, it’s fun, but like how going to a carnival is fun. 🤷‍♂️

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 13/09/2026

It’s like real life Extra Yarn. 😊

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 12/09/2026

At the Weezer the Gathering show at the Moda Center. First time I’ve been to a show for the openers (Silversun Pickups, The Shins) vs the headliner. Actually teared up during The Shins thinking about my youth. Ho boy. I’ve aged since 2004 where this music is filed away in my brain.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 27/08/2026

Hmm, kind of a complainnosaurus rex this morning, but this Liquid Glass stuff in macOS needs so much work still. I saw people cheering(??) online for the glass window buttons in Golden Gate, but I'm like, does this actually look nice? They don't even read as circles to me in many cases. Harrumph! 😅

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 14/08/2026

Spotted a little red devil.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 01/08/2026

Something going on Brazil! Yay! I don’t know why because I don’t have tracking software installed and I’m 102% fine with that. Just happy to see people visiting and actually leaving an emoji. 😊

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 31/07/2026

I’ve had the Gravity Bomb in for a while but I changed how asteroid collisions work and it’s so much more satisfying now. I feel like a god. 😄

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 30/07/2026

Spent a bit of time this past weekend on my silly space battle game, Super Space Fighter. Added a nicer effect when you hit the arena boundary with your weapons. Also some tuning of weapons. Also started on a little web based arena editor. 😅 Try it: superspacefighter.com

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 28/07/2026

I hadn't uninstalled Adobe's software from my MacBook Pro since unsubscribing from Creative Cloud. Look at all this trash they've installed! Software they run in the background just so I can use their 40 year old bitmap editor. 😓 (but the devs working on Adobe's uninstallers are doing god's work.)

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 27/07/2026

Experimenting with the new parental controls in macOS 27. A nice way to allow my son a bit more freedom on the computer but… he can just spam the “Request for more time” button? Good lord. 😂

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 27/07/2026

I don't know why but I added some shortcuts to make it easier to add stamps to my website. Hold ⇧ when drawing to create straight lines. ⌘Z works. Right-click to fill the area with the current color. ⌘ will mix your selected color with the color on the canvas and find the closest palette color. :)

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 22/07/2026

For just a moment (okay longer than a moment) I thought they made a board game of the old B&W Dark Castle video game.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 20/07/2026

I mean, I don’t really have a choice. Without saying your age, what is your favorite movie released the year you turned 18?

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 17/07/2026

The visitor globe on my website this morning. So fun. Thanks for stopping by! Though perhaps silly, it’s nice to see a view of Earth that feels positive. 😊

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 11/07/2026

Just stumbled across some old Inktober drawings of mine. It’s been so long since I participated. Hope I can remember this year. So fun. Gosh this was back when we were all using Twitter! Made in Linea Sketch if I recall. 😊

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 11/07/2026

Of course there'll be a few ways you can view photos I've posted to my new personal site. Some better than others. I mean. 😅

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 06/07/2026

Another version of Map, now Globe, that’s a bit more colorful and fun to explore and play with. Still maps the sparkles of recent visitor’s cities onto the sphere. I think I prefer this. Still just some test data though.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 05/07/2026

My photo log years back (pre-Instagram) had this film strip look to it which I've really missed. Just rolls of photos you can browse. No captions. Thought it would be fun to have that back in some form. Also, I've always thought it'd be fun for a photo viewer to have a loupe, so...

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 04/07/2026

Got the most recent photo from my soon-to-be blog (thoughts and photos) showing up as the Puzzle program's image now. 😂

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 03/07/2026

Also made it so I can link to archives of apps and such I have available. Visitors can double-click to download. It's nice to finally have a personal website I actually enjoy working on (and one I hope people enjoy exploring). Yay!

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 03/07/2026

Moved my libraries to separate tabs. Books have different shapes/sizes and can be hardcover (w/ spine). Starting to feel nice I think. Items I add are also included in my RSS feed (with my thoughts). Each item has its own URL, as does the Library program which opens when you simply visit: /library

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 03/07/2026

I think we can all agree the most exciting part of 2007 Steve Jobs' iPhone keynote was when the CEO of Cingular Wireless (AT&T) got up on stage and read notes from a piece of paper.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 02/07/2026

I also wanted a way to link to friends and people whose work I admire. Didn't want to just have a flat list of links or an Apple-like Contacts app, so with a general goal of encouraging exploration, I thought a Rolodex could be a fun interaction. I just need to fill it up now.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 02/07/2026

Now I'm just creating my own personal TV channels with my ideal TV programming that anyone can watch when they visit my website. You can link to channels too like "/tv/apple" links to the Apple channel (of course) which opens the TV program to the Apple channel which is a simulated live broadcast. 😅

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 02/07/2026

haha can't believe this is working really. I love and hate how much you can do on the web now.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 01/07/2026

You can also browse the entire "system" through the Terminal. Even view photos 😂! (I wrote this image to ascii tool for another version of this years back, thought it'd be fun to finally use it in some form).

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 01/07/2026

A fun take on the visitor counter of old. Also visitors can drop an emoji on their city which stays until another visitor from that city drops an emoji or they are no longer considered recent. It's like lightweight analytics but all visitors get to see and take part.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 01/07/2026

Been working on a personal website. I've always wanted too make a simulated simple desktop environment that feels like you're browsing my computer, but one that also plays nice with the web. So folders and files have URLs. As do programs and their content. An RSS feed too. Soon! :)

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 28/06/2026

Playing a bit with a new start/select crank interaction in Gamekid for Playdate. Not quite there, but I think it shows promise.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 26/06/2026

A Cybertruck rolled up literally duct taped together. Yikes!

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 24/06/2026

Wild “World Champion Clydesdale Team” Budweiser booth light at Alpine Inn near Stanford. 😄

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 23/06/2026

I’ve wanted a spit-take emoji forever. Hoped Genmoji could pull it off, but the left image is the best I could get in iOS 26 (zombie spit-take in space?). However! iOS 27 result on the right is so much better, though the water could be more emoji-like. Yay.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 17/06/2026

I like some of the changes to Liquid Glass in iOS 27 but this darkened edge being wider at the left and right edges throws me off especially over light content. Glass objects now feel to me like they’re stressed and about to snap horizontally.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 14/06/2026

Gas prices in Yreka looking super duper. This roadtrip we’ve seen 4 separate individuals walking roadside I-5 with jerrycans in 100°F heat. Best guess is people are really stretching the fuel in their tank out and not quite making it back to the pump? Or they’re trying to get to better prices. 😞

Valero gas prices in Yreka: $5.99/gal, $6.31/gal, diesel $7.29/gal. Lovely.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 14/06/2026

Always a joy to see ads in the App Store.

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Dustin Mierau @mierau.me · 10/06/2026

ying/yang (yes I'll have MacPaint out this Summer for macOS!)

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