Josh McConnell

Saw an animatronic bird named Molly today in Brooklyn. Inflation jacked the price up though.

Why do we persist in making games despite weeks like this one? This:

Not my normal kind of post, but our furry son Milhouse has been in and out of vet ER the last few days. Seeing progress, but still sorting out what's wrong and hoping he doesn't take another turn. Exhausting and expensive (but thank goodness for pet insurance). Give your doggo an extra cuddle today!

Remember a few years back when we were all talking about how discoverability was such a big challenge? The future was laughing at us. Cackling, even.

What if we didn't pre-order the iPhone Duo?

I love a good productivity tool. I can also spend far too long tweaking one that's supposed to save me time. Lately I've been thinking about useful friction, meaningful work, and whether being busy means we're spending time well. My latest piece: joshmcconnell.substack.com/p/weve-gotte...

We have way too many good Nintendo Switch 2 games out right now, and I recently got an AYN Thor, so I'm drowning in options and paralyzed by indecision. But I picked up Astral Chain on Switch, and I'm super addicted right now.

A four-inch screen, a physical keyboard and a mediocre camera shouldn’t feel like progress in 2026. But the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite is some of the most fun I’ve had with a phone in a while. My review and thoughts on the return of keyboard phones: joshmcconnell.substack.com/p/review-the...

Talked with Lin-Manuel and got 7 Hamilton vinyl records in one day. Not bad.

Pompeii is a UNESCO world heritage site not because it was remarkable in its prime, but because it survived to our era untouched: one moment, preserved for all time. But future generations won't know what OUR world was like unless we do the same. This is why we MUST bury Toronto with a volcano

You say a foldable iPhone is being announced today? Enjoy. I'll be over here on my physical keyboard.

A few days into using my Unihertz Titan 2 Elite and getting into a groove now after some tinkering. May the keyboard phone renaissance continue.

This is funny timing: Ubisoft announced that Steam Deck support for For Honor will end Sept 10 and tells users to continue playing using Xbox Cloud Gaming

I accidentally typed Uber instead of car into Microsoft Teams and for some reason an eggplant shows up.

This looked very cool.

I've never been more tempted by a brick set.

When we worked through different team names, mascots were always part of it. Before Tempo was locked in, we talked about how the name could come to life through two mascots—our own Tortoise and the Hare, but with some sass and attitude—each embodying a different tempo. 2 years later and they're here

walking very very slowly and quietly today so the humidity can't find me

I wrote about how polished writing no longer tells us as much about the thinking behind it, and then I ran the finished piece through an AI detector. Pangram said it was 66% AI-written and yet I wrote the entire piece myself. Read the piece here: joshmcconnell.substack.com/p/when-ai-wr...

"The official accessory of Curtis Sliwa"

Jokes on T-Mobile. I didn't want to talk to anyone anyway.

I went to the DMV this morning and it was super fast (15 minutes) and the folks were super friendly. AMA.

I mean, good rule is to always listen to Alanah. "Well, you could shut down your disc manufacturing plant, which was making about 600,000 discs per day, and turn it into an optical microlens fabricating facility. You know what? They use optical microlenses for AI data centers."

Callout: Are you in Canada and a regular player of "friendslop" games like Peak or RV There Yet? Looking to talk to people for a story to learn about the appeal of the genre.

For decades, I've pretty much exclusively seen films in IMAX when offered in the format because I may as well go big when not watching at home. Very pleased to see the world is catching up to why it's great.

I can't wait until we're past the phase of the internet where people film TikTok videos in their cars and make silly-faced YouTube thumbnails.

The Canadian Press is looking for an experienced reporter to join the Ontario team. Join us! apply.workable.com/the-canadian...

Maybe all the Swifties that furiously run to her defense on social are just paid bots like the ones that meddle with elections.

BREAKING: Obsidian Entertainment is making a big pivot as part of the Xbox restructuring. It has laid off a quarter of its staff, canceled a planned sequel to Avowed, and is now beginning work on a new Fallout game, according to people familiar with the plans www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Sega is at it again with the AI, this time it's Dreamcast keyrings with slop text :(

Watching the Kyle Lowry presser, you remember how hard it is to clip/quote him sometimes because he's always joking mid-sentence. Miss having him around regularly.

Xbox spent years buying studios to grow. Today, it continued the path to unwind that. Days earlier, PlayStation killed disc production. I wrote about what happens to devs and players after a platform changes the strategy they built their lives around: joshmcconnell.substack.com/p/what-xboxs...

"Wide, powerful stance"

PlayStation: Shoots themselves in the foot Xbox: Shoots themselves in the face Nintendo:

Mamdani's speech at the Knicks parade was easily the best I've ever heard at an event of that sort. I posted the whole thing on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Highly recommended.

OG Anunoby Sends Parade Crowd Into Frenzy With Celebratory Nod

Just announced: New ESPN series 'Setting the Tempo' chronicles the launch in real time of the Toronto Tempo, Canada's first WNBA franchise. abcnews.com/video/133883...

Once a Raptor, always a Raptor. Repping OG in Times Square today on my way to an afternoon Broadway show before the game tonight. Knicks in 5.

Not only is Facebook down with a major outage, but downdetector's Facebook page has a 404 error.

Lockheed Martin is looking for someone with "3+ years of professional experience" to "shape how Lockheed Martin understands, talks about, and adopts AI". Cool cool cool.

Happy Wednesday from Walgreens

Damn, it looks better than I expected.

Was the crowd saying boo or poo, because both could be true.

Is macOS Golden Gate sponsored by the Warriors?

I wonder if the post-Cook era of Apple keynotes will finally stop the company from having reporters come to Cupertino just to watch a screen and bring back the live on-stage unveils again. It's turned into the definition of "this could have been an email" energy.