Remapping and Remixes
New Favorite Mechanical Keyboard, Remapping Keys with Vial and BetterTouchTool, Voice For Free on Chat GPT, Eleven Labs Speech to Speech, The Album Leaf Remixes, and Kristoffer Borgli
Hey guys, here’s some things from my previous week worth sharing:
On Mechanical Keyboards
The last time I searched for an external keyboard was about two years ago when I started using my MacBook Air M1 in clamshell mode. Back then, I was considering Keychron keyboards, but I couldn’t find the right layout, and I didn’t know about all the customization that seems to be possible with these. Fast forward to now, a few weeks ago while in China, I was given a NocFree keyboard. It’s a compact mechanical keyboard that isn’t available in the market yet. At first, I was excited to have it, but I soon faced two challenges:
First: it is a split keyboard. I had no idea split keyboards existed. This past week, I did a lot of research about them and their setup. I enjoyed watching a YouTube video on the topic. It took me a few days to adjust my muscle memory, and even though I’m not a developer, I’m now loving the experience of typing and having that empty space in the center. I also enjoy the position in which I can now type, extending my arms in a more natural way. It’s crazy that I’m just finding out about this now.
Second: the layout was different from what I was used to. I’m not only talking about some keys that I’m used to with my Spanish keyboard… most of all, I really missed my Fn key. It seems like the Fn key of Mac keyboards is something unique or proprietary to Apple keyboards, something other keyboards can’t have. This was especially frustrating as I have a lot of keyboard shortcuts set up with that key. That’s when I discovered Vial, an app that let me fully customize and remap every key on my keyboard to something closer to what I needed. I remapped the Fn key to the right OPT + Shift keys, something that I was pretty much not using for anything at all. With Vial, along with BetterTouchTool—which allows you set keyboard shortcuts differentiating from left and right keys—I set up my most used shortcuts again, and this keyboard is now so much better. It truly is a joy to use.
On AI
The official Chat GPT app has introduced voice for everyone! I am not a plus subscriber, and until now, I used Whisper AI + Eleven Labs through their API whenever I needed a similar function. However, the official Chat GPT app is much better. It’s smooth, fast, great with multiple languages, and it’s free. Currently, voice is the only feature that I am using in the official Chat GPT App. Also, there’s a Shortcut action for quickly starting a voice chat, making this feature even more convenient.
Eleven Labs has added a speech-to-speech feature for all of their tiers, including the free one. Currently, only English seems to be supported, but this feature allows you to submit an audio recording with whatever tone or emotional characteristics, and Eleven Labs AI voices will replicate that back. This may have very specific use cases (audiobooks, animation, or instructional videos, maybe?). I’ve tested it and it’s quite impressive.
On Music
A few decades ago, I used to listen to The Album Leaf a lot. I think it was around the time when Spotify and streaming music became popular that I stopped keeping up with many of my favorite artists from back then. Instead, I started listening to more playlists and recommendations based on specific music genres. Although I still follow a few artists on social media, I’m not very active on social media myself. However, I was thrilled to see Dustin O’Halloran share this short album/playlist of three remixes with The Album Leaf:
On Kristoffer Borgli
Last week, I discovered the work of Kristoffer Borgli. I watched one of his films (mentioned below) and while researching more about him I found this interview. Aside from the really cool and original interview format, I learned a bit more about this director’s background and ideas. I then watched this short (Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time) and I loved it too, just as pretty much everything I’ve seen of his after that. Here’s his YouTube channel if you want to take a peek. I find it all super interesting and humorous in a very strange way.
On Cinema
Sick of Myself (2022). The film which led me to Kristoffer Borgli. The perfect mix of humor, drama, and tension, with great use of the cinema language. It really is a great film. Synopsis: Increasingly overshadowed by her boyfriend’s recent rise to fame as a contemporary artist creating sculptures from stolen furniture, Signe hatches a vicious plan to reclaim her rightfully deserved attention within the milieu of Oslo’s cultural elite.
The Eternal Memory (2023). I was so looking forward to this documentary by Maite Alberdi. A portrait of a man with Alzheimer’s and his relationship with his wife. Synopsis: Augusto and Paulina have been together for 25 years. Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Both fear the day he no longer recognizes her.
Your Lucky Day (2023). A thriller with a somewhat fresh twist. I really enjoyed it. Synopsis: After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.
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