"I am debugging, so my conscious mind is not even here."

JANUARY 2021

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Hi *|FNAME|*,

It's a whole new year! Earlier this month I shared the Habit Stick with you and got some lovely feedback — thank you!

Now we're back with some keyboard news, starting with a feature power-users have been asking about for years: Tap dance. Scroll down to read all about it!

As always, thank you for reading, and you can write me anytime at ez@zsa.io.

All the best,
Erez

Introducing Tap Dance

One key — four functions

Now you can decide what any key does when you tap it, when you hold it, when you tap-tap it, or when you tap-hold it. Great for media control, shortcuts, and more. I tap for WhatsApp Desktop, tap-tap for Telegram.

Featured User Interview

Enzo Lombardi

Seasoned Software Engineer

Working at Google, Enzo gets to hack on one of the products that make up GSuite. He's also into photography, close-up magic, and chess.

"I have a few USB hubs hidden around, a Canon multi-function printer, and a semaphore LED light to signal my status on the doorless entrance: red for busy, green for interruptible, blue for “I am debugging, so my conscious mind is not even here.” "

Layout of the month: QWERTY with 1-6 on left, Enter on R2

My primary inspirations for this layout were: 1) Microsoft Ergonomic split keyboards, my daily driver prior to ErgoDox. 2) ISO keyboards, particularly with regard to have an Enter key placed above the home row. 3) Apple Standard Keyboards from the late 80s and early 90s.

Things we liked

BeepBox →

An online tool for sketching and sharing instrumental melodies.

I recently wanted some simple, low-key notification sounds for my phone. Was searching desperately for something like BeepBox, and only found it after purchasing some ready-made sounds. This is a great way to make simple tunes and alerts.

espanso →

Cross-platform text expander written in Rust

If Keyboard Maestro feels like too much, espanso is an interesting option. Expand snippets and make them dynamic using custom scripts, shell commands, emoji, smart dates, and more. It's free and open-source.

Thread Reader →

Helps you read and share Twitter threads easily

Does what it says on the tin. Compare this with the original. So much better.

Text-only NPR →

A clean way to get the news

No banners or ads; no images at all, in fact. A lean and fast way to get the news, with not much to lure you in.

Bird's-eye view of UNESCO World Heritage sites →

Eye candy

From Marrakesh to the Grand Canyon to Bern. Pour yourself a hot beverage and take a moment to scroll. So beautiful.

Tip: We have a subscriber-only link archive with all of the links we shared over the years. Just for you. ❤️

Wallpaper of the month

This month we're trying something new: A wallpaper you can edit. We've left space for your 2021 goals; open up an image editor and fill in the blanks.

Thank you for reading!