Audio on Creativity Hacker

Looting The Battlefield

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Fri, 16 May 2025 09:22:11 +0000

I’ve been experimenting for months on different ways to convert podcast content into a form I can use in Frankie. I’ve found several solutions, but along the way, I’ve left the resulting file tree in absolute chaos. I’ve got files in a dozen directories and an equal number of formats. There are fragments of scripts and clips and tools scattered throughout the hierarchy like bodies left to rot on a medieval battlefield, but there’s also no consistency, little documentation, and worse, still no definitive process.

Well it’s time to loot those bodies, gather the useful bits into a proper plan, and bury whatever is left.

Random Body Parts Singing Together At Last

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 15:36:05 +0000

FrankenTongues began with some very specific features in mind - features that I couldn’t find in other tools - and it’s taken a while to get here, but today was the day I finally got to play with two of the biggest.

Hearing is Believing

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 18:55:27 +0000

There are times when implementing a new feature seems daunting - when the perceived difficulty of the task at hand hangs so ominously over your future-view that you seriously question whether you’ve got the stamina to get through it. But today I heard the sweet sound of success, literally, and can finally breathe a little easier.

Hands-Free Practice

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 18:25:06 +0000

One of the things that inspired me to start FrankenTongues was the lack of tools I could find to use while exercising. Most systems require both your hands and your visual attention - holding a book or tapping a screen - so they’re out. Pimsleur kinda worked, but I want something at a higher language level, and I want to be able to create my own lesson content. So after taking a week off to just enjoy Frankie’s new ebook reading feature, I’m now ready to add another one. And this one’s going to be entirely hands-free.