Neuromantic

Google engineer Addy Osmani coined the term comprehension debt to describe the growing gap between how much code exists in a system and how much of it any human being genuinely understands. Unlike traditional technical debt, which announces itself through friction, slow builds, and tangled dependencies, comprehension debt breeds false confidence. The codebase looks clean. The tests pass. The velocity metrics look excellent. And then, one day, the team discovers they can no longer safely modify their own system.

This all-in-one screen, mic, touch sensor and speaker is enough for a custom home assistant or ai chat companion. It's part of the family of ESP32, a low cost, low power system on a chip microcontroller with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth.

Espressif Systems, the Shanghai-based company behind the ESP32, open sources virtually their entire software stack.

Developers are using this to build voice AI firmware for the ESP32-S3. Two projects from the same developer show the two approaches:

ElatoAI — Cloud-based voice AI on ESP32. Routes audio through Deno edge functions to cloud LLM APIs (OpenAI, Gemini, ElevenLabs, etc.). Lower hardware requirements, but dependent on internet and API services.

OpenToys — Fully local voice AI on ESP32. Runs the LLM on your own Mac (Apple Silicon) using MLX models (Qwen3, Llama, Mistral). No cloud, no subscriptions, no data leaves your home. Includes voice cloning from short audio samples.

The device is is about £40 on ali express, even less if you buy the modules as assemble yourself.

There will be many Teddy Ruxpin plush toys coming for you children in the near future. (via (79) Introducing ESP-VoCat: Espressif's Smart AI Development Kit - YouTube)

ESP32

English forum for ESP32 Dev

> Petit Qoobo is a tailed cushion that heals your heart

By default, Claude Code shows action verbs while it works — Thinking…, Reading…, Writing… — in both the terminal and VSCode. If you find them distracting, you can replace them with something minimal (or nothing at all).

Terminal / CLI

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json

VSCode

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json

Decades of bourbon and cigarettes, plus experimentation with substances in his younger years, have somehow not limited his longevity.

Trialling Due app because Apple Reminders are awful. If you swipe them away, they go "Oh ok" and never come back. Due will linger, like a proper reminder.

- A comment on X wrongly names shooter as local Minnesota news exec

- Over 6000 times across 7 platforms the erroneous name is repeated

pay for your news, please

Prediction markets are so interesting, I'm dipping a toe in. It's trading for our whole world, politics, culture, tech, whereever enough people have an opinion, you can bet on it.

Will Trump acquire Greenland before 2027?

Will X be banned in U.K. by March 31?

What will be the top global Netflix show this week?

Why listen to earnings calls, when you could be watching the news, or researching a topic you actually care about. Additionally unlike something like sports betting, you can buy in (to the opinion) and sell early, based on odds that change as news and perception fluctuate.