Hiro

Building tiny occult gadgets in the lab is just the right kind of weird zen I need right now… I wired an ESP32 to a tiny e-ink display to build an offline pocket oracle. A little button press pulls a randomized tarot card, plus it wakes itself up at 7am every morning to deal a card for the day.

Feels great to see more people complimenting @hiro.report's great work. Right as the newsletter completed its third (!) anniversary, it gets a shoutout in one of my favorite publications: @advisorator.com! advisorator.com/members/2026...

Thank you so much @hiro.report for this nice mention of What's My Set in this week's Hiro Report! www.hiro.report/05jul2026-bi...

iOS 27 Beta 3 finally unlocked the new Siri voice customization features for me. The changes are pretty subtle, but still noticeable. I'm digging it. Hopefully they provide even more range for these dials closer to launch.

Mildly obsessed with the built in lighting on my new record cabinet from local Austin artisan, Glue and Lagom

I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the Siri AI beta… I just today realized that if you invoke with saying "Siri" or "Hey Siri" that it automatically goes into conversation mode where you can interrupt and ask follow-up/clarifying questions.

Starting to experiment with AI driven development for hardware. First up, an e-ink Tarot Card of the day with a button to draw a random card. Still finalizing the software and then will work on a fun 3D printed case for my pocket-size digital oracle.

Ran the iOS 27 beta on my only phone all week. Genuinely a bad idea. 💯 Would do it again. The new Siri OCR'd a cursive grocery list and dumped it straight into Reminders. Then failed at something embarrassingly simple. Beta. More in tonight's Hiro Report →

Unless I'm mistaken, this seems new to iOS 27: We can finally adjust playback speed for voice notes in messages! We also can play them in the background while doing other stuff, which is pretty great.

Hey Capture app user friends, do any of you have a large-ish Obsidian library (2000+ entries) and want to help me beta test a new experimental feature for the app? Hit me up! (OR if you're not a user yet, visit capture.surf and let me know if you want to help test!)

Joe's workshops are amazing, highly recommend if you want to level up your AI skills, or want to learn how to use AI to start building things.

New shirt came in, let's go Texas!

It's 10pm, the kids are safely in bed, I've had my sleepy magnesium drink and I'm pushing point release updates to my little Mac app. Is it bad that I'd take this over going out for drinks any day of the week?

Recovering from an injury has taught me two things— 1. Patience 2. The impressive number of health apps I can download at 2am when I can't sleep. This week's ⚡️ Hiro Report is basically my full rebuilding stack. The wearable(s), the coaching and analytics apps, the gear; everything I've been test

The new Oura Ring 5 looks awesome. I've been super happy with my earlier gen Oura for what I've found to generally be way more accurate sleep/recovery data than Apple Watch with the added benefit of letting me wear my analog watches and still get all the analytics I like to nerd out on.

3D printed a new case for the Xteink X4 this weekend, I'm digging it! makerworld.com/en/models/2657...

This week I've been drooling over a brushed steel lamp I can't afford, learning I've been journaling like a Spanish fighter pilot for years, and reading a website powered by a solar panel. Also in tonight's Hiro Report ⚡ - a Raspberry Pi camera built by hand with custom firmware - an AI voice comp

The Texas Military Forces Museum put on a really fantastic Vietnam battle reenactment this Memorial Day weekend. Got a few shots between my iPhone and the Q3, all edited in the new theLab emulations.

Recently started using Claude voice chat again after writing it off last year… It's gotten LOTS better! OpenAI still has the advantage for sure, but Anthropic has made big quiet strides here. Hope they keep iterating on this.

I've got a fair amount of travel coming up this summer, anyone have any favorite travel tech I should look at?

Sipping some flavorful AF decaf today courtesy of my homie at Wimp Decaf

Just added the most commonly requested feature to Capture— The ability to append to a section of an existing note. Now you can keep your personal and work Daily Notes sorted 🙌 capture.surf

Apart from being stressed out, I'm enjoying playing with the Grow app for Apple Watch this week. It's a free companion that's basically a customizable, cheerful little gremlin tracking your health metrics for you. Grow watches steps, sleep, HRV, workouts, hydration, and sunlight, and awards a Gol

A-tier reference spotted at the brewery this morning

What are the odds that all the current weirdness going on in the world is somehow attributable to the fact that most American youth of today start every sentence by invoking the Norse deity of mischief and chaos?

🥹 You all are amazing. Thanks so much to everyone's generous support with the launch of Capture yesterday! Special thanks to everyone who boosted/shared, and to @hulry and @macosxguru.bsky.social for the kind write-ups bicycleforyourmind.com/captur... assets.hulry.com/newsletter/2...

Useful app. Was an insta-buy. Capture with a keypress. Add content. Hit return. Get back to what you were doing.

Totally nerve wracking, and completely drenched in coffee but HERE IT IS... Capture is LIVE! 🎉 ⌥C anywhere on your Mac → into Obsidian in under 2 seconds. Mac-native. Tiny. No complicated UI nav. capture.surf

Victoria is the reigning monarch of wearables, and this super useful

I'm geeking out on the generous feedback from early beta testers on Capture 🥹 My first Mac app launches tomorrow, I'm so excited to get it out there! capture.surf #buildinpublic

Finally broke down and grabbed one of these Godox mini flashes for the Q3. Stoked to put it through its paces: * Native TTL support * HSS sync * Magnetic / Modular trigger system * USB-C recharge

Fewer things make me more irrationally angry on my computer than when I accidentally open Chrome, then try to quit it but it makes me hold down Command + Q. (Yes, I know I can turn it off, and I always do... but at least once a year I run into this for random reasons)

This last week I've been digging macAppLibrary by @tommertron — it looks at your Applications folder and tells you what every app actually does. Community-sourced descriptions, or hook in Claude to write them. Cleanest fix for "what is this and why did I install it" I've seen. Free + open source!

Wishing everyone an extremely happy cuatro de Star Wars!!

What's the average wait time for approval for a LemonSqueezy account these days? I'm 4 days in and waiting… Someone recommended I checkout Polar instead— anyone have any experience with it? #buildinpublic

I made a little demo video for Capture⚡-- It's launching next week! #obsidianmd #buildinpublic

New⚡ Hiro Report drops tonight: • the perfect ipad mini keyboard • a service that turns your favorite newsletters into a physical newspaper • a carry-on bag that really sucks • finally giving up on Fantastical • ...and more Hitting inboxes at 7pm Austin time subscribe.hiro.report

Really loving this little 3D printed case for the Xteink X4. Adds just a little bit of screen protection, connects via MagSafe, and built in stand. Printed on the Bambu Lab X1C.

Nothing like stumbling in to a fantastic stationary shop on a cold day…

One of my favorite toys, the Teenage Engineer KOII - EP133 has gotten a hardware update that fixes one of my biggest frustrations-- They're now selling them with 128mb of memory! Great to see them continuing to iterate on this fun little demonic calculator.

Trying out a new fitness tracking app this week from @productnook.com Love seeing what indie dev's cook up. 🔥 Read more about it in tonight's Hiro Report newsletter! App: getfitera.com Newsletter: subscribe.hiro.report

My latest nerdy project-- I'm running a Dirtywave M8 tracker in headless mode on my retro gaming handheld of choice, the TrimUI Brick. It's practically begging for one to make banging chip tune music on it like this.

Starting the day with an Ube latte. Can confirm getting the syrup/paste is sooo much better than the powder.

All of my first watches were Casio's, so they already get nostalgia bonus points, but when they come out with an analog moon phase? Oh boy. I'll be chatting about this and more fun tech, gear and apps in tonight's newsletter-- Don't miss it! subscribe.hiro.report

Annoying the crap out of my wife and kids every time I leave the house by assuring them that I will be returning... in Avenger's Doomsday.

Annoying the crap out of my wife and kids every time I leave the house by assuring them that I will be returning... in Avenger's Doomsday.

This is one of the cooler pocket flashlights I’ve seen in awhile. Do you need a RGB Pixel display that plays games and generates scene effects? Absolutely not. Is it a blast to fidget with all the same? 💯 Read about the LOOPDOT EDC and other cool #tech in this week's report: www.hiro.report/0/

Another favorite piece of travel tech— gongfu cha on the go! Shared some white tea with the family during a picnic today, because it’s 72°F and sunny in Austin!

A super indulgent tech travel hack of mine: In addition to my Air Pods Pro for my iPhone & iPad, I also bring a set of cheap Nothing CMF 2A Buds for my Nintendo Switch. Saves me from having to do the pairing and unpairing dance in a cramped space ¯\_(ツ)_/¯