In 2018, Amazon brought me in as the lead UX Sound Designer for Astro, its first consumer home robot. Astro used cameras and other sensors to map and navigate your home and workplace, and could proactively patrol, check up on loved ones, and transport small items using its built-in cargo bin. While there was a well-defined feature set and form factor, initially there was no character…
I built a new website, Yarrow. It pulls a three-card tarot spread every time you visit. A fun side-project built with Astro, Svelte, and Tailwind. I’ve got a bunch of ideas for it, but wanted to get a basic version out first.
How I integrated my Astro static blog with the Standard.site lexicon to publish records to ATProto with Bluesky replies as comments and Bluesky post auto-discovery
I started working on an Astro utility to generate a JSON Feed for blogs, changelogs, or any chronological content. It’s called astro-jsonfeed (super original, I know).
There’s still loads of money to be made in acting. Cha Eunwoo didn’t make his money with Astro. He made it through acting and not paying taxes.
Acting has a lot of perks, you can sustain a career for a lot longer and have more freedom to date and marry. I…
Setel has introduced a new Bill Payment feature on its app, allowing users to “setel” utility and other household bills directly within the platform. According to Setel, the new feature supports 25 billers at launch, including Astro, CelcomDigi, TM, Time, U Mobile, Unifi, Yes, RedOne, Air Selangor and Indah Water. Users can pay for utilities, […]
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) is the practice of rendering a page's HTML on the server in response to a request, then sending the fully formed markup to the browser, optionally followed by JavaScript that hydrates the page for interactivity. SSR contrasts with Client-Side Rendering (CSR), where the server returns a near-empty HTML shell and the browser builds the UI from JavaScript.
Why SSR…
When I started this blog in 2011, I built it using Jekyll. Jekyll served me well for fifteen years. It was fast enough, and though it would take me an hour or two to get the system reinstalled when I switched laptops, it mostly just worked. But late last year, I was in the midst of updating all of my local installations to the latest versions of their runtimes, and when I tried to update Jekyll…
today iain learned: How to build better and more accessible code blocks with the Astro Expressive Code integration
Out in the former mining basin of Aveyron in southern France, the Decazeville Communauté Street Art / “MurMurs” Festival has been rewriting the script on what a mural program can be. Not a quick-hit weekend of lifts and ladders, it has been a slow-build, six-year accumulation of images, ideas, and relationships spread across a cluster of towns that still carry the weight of coal, labor, and…
The holy city of Amritsar has given the world many things — a timeless spiritual landmark in the Golden Temple, the warmth of its langar halls, the resilience of its people. It has, for centuries, been a city where seekers come in search of something larger than themselves. That culture of seeking, it seems, leaves […]
Astro has unveiled its 2026 Syawal programming suite, shifting its content strategy toward traditional Malaysian heritage and multi-platform integration. The campaign, themed “Bila Bersama, Lagi Jadi,” marks a move to consolidate viewership across television, radio, and digital platforms through a mix of legacy revivals and cultural preservation. Heritage-Driven Visuals and Storytelling A central…
First off, I call my OpenClaw assistant "Punk Ass," short for "Punk Assistant." It's been great so far having a punk ass for various projects. I hadn't been using my gaming machine much; now it's a work horse.
But, when you're running an AI assistant that handles Discord messages, cron jobs, and various projects; costs add up. But where exactly?
I directed a simple dashboard to find out.
Astro will discontinue HBO channels from 1st March 2026 and introduce four new channels under its Movies and Astro One Epic Pack, marking the end of a partnership that dates back to 1996. HBO was part of Astro’s original pay TV channel lineup when the satellite broadcaster launched in 1996. After nearly 30 years on […]
Astro is rolling out a limited-time promotion for its Astro One packs, offering discounted pricing on selected bundles that combine live TV, sports, kids’ content and streaming apps on a single platform. The promotion runs from now until 30 April 2026, and is open to both new customers and existing customers upgrading their current plans. […]
How I built and deployed the blog, with a minimal description of Astro static site generator, AWS CDK, Cloudfront, and S3