i still have to clean up the silkscreen due to some changes but otherwise i'm pretty ok with the layout. compromises: hdmi traces are not coplanar all the way to the end, but i never ever had issues with hdmi SI. focus is on usb3 and pcie, and power. and ethernet is still on an inner layer, but it worked fine before and with correct stackup it should be fine still.
now available: a green LED version of the MNT x Kolibri HALO-90 Electronic Earrings (open hardware, sound reactive). also after the link: a new video demo by [@holo_memory](
i can finally show you the supporter t-shirt design for MNT Reform Next! this is a test print in size M (too big for me, i mostly wear S). it's a 4-color screenprint and i did the design this time, based on many small MNT/Reform related design elements made over the years by [@holo_memory](
), featuring pixel Tina by @npub12gl2...frt9 and some little stuff by myself (including the Y2K MNT logo riff). the MNT Reform Next industrial design itself is of course by Ana Dantas (who isn't on fedi).
did i get this right? today i really realized that there is really no VAT (value added tax) in the US (because there is a sales tax system?) and so if you imported products from EU countries (example) you don't have to pay any import VAT. this only leaves the special excise tax (gasoline, cigarettes, alcohol?) and tariffs. as a german citizen i always have to pay 19% import VAT to my govt when i import something from the US, so it's mind boggling that this was not an issue for USians so far
for a thought experiment/obsession i was trying to come up with unconventional ways of how to legally get public information out of instagram (for example to relay to fedi) and realized that meta also have an AI assistant (which can be used without a login!), and i thought maybe it can access instagram posts via some backchannel. but no, and it gets a lot more funny because it makes a list of tools that i'm quite certain violate meta's EULA lmao
i've been a bit more quiet here over the last weeks, but there has been tons of activity at MNT. most importantly: @npub12gl2...frt9 has been working tirelessly on building and packaging MNT Reforms and MNT Pocket Reforms (incl. DIY kits), supported in the studio by @Liaizon Wakest and @npub1dxrm...xc28, and the backlog is shrinking.
