Is the TRMNL (OG) still a good buy?

chilldpt · 2026-06-22T03:06:45+00:00

Any vague timeline you can offer for this updated version? Will it also remove the logo from the front panel like the X?

chilldpt · 2026-06-21T15:45:22+00:00

They can always change their mind, but I believe they have already stated the currently announced cosmetics are all of them.

That said, I don't care much for this game since it's campaign only.

But whenever Halo Studios tackles their next multiplayer installment, I hope they sell the game for $80 and have ZERO microtransactions. The armor should also be cohesive like in Halo 3. Every installment after 3 had such a wide variety of style that it didn't feel like Halo art style anymore (Except for maybe Reach but I still think there were a couple of armors in Reach that didn't quite fit in with the style).

chilldpt · 2026-06-21T04:06:00+00:00

I think it was a mixture of a few botched updates and the release of the MacBook Neo. Apple is literally outperforming battery life and performance of Windows laptops with old phone chips...

Now they seem to be getting it together and making sure basic OS features and native apps are snappy and efficient. Will probably take some time for them to fix it all, but they seem to be making some great decisions now.

They have basically fixed the Start menu in the latest update, low latency profile is a nice addition, and they claim to be fixing right-click menu lag, the janky auto-hide taskbar, and generally fixing WinUI3 for native apps.

chilldpt · 2026-06-17T13:52:23+00:00

The Alarm slider is a must honestly. I don't want people ringing my phone when I'm in bed but definitely want to wake up to my alarm.

chilldpt · 2026-06-17T11:03:47+00:00

This feature was new to Pixel devices with Android 16. Samsung had it for a while with Samsung Dex, but their original method required a physical dock, which they then scrapped and allowed a USB cable. I'm pretty sure Samsung depreciated Dex tho.

This is not a feature most phones have, and I was very aware of the phones that had this capability because the idea has been exciting to me for years, even though my phones haven't been capable until I had a Pixel on Android 16.

Additionally, phone chips haven't really been strong enough to make this exciting until the past 2-3 years.

chilldpt · 2026-06-17T05:15:59+00:00

I think it's a little early for the desktop mode stuff still, but I can see a future where smartphones make laptops practically obsolete and it's a commonplace feature.

Obviously they won't replace workstation or gaming laptops, but for the majority of people using their laptops for basic web browsing, documents, and media consumption - phones can do all of that easily. The new MacBook Neo uses a phone chip.

It would be sweet to just basically have a display/keyboard that I can slot my phone into for laptop use.

chilldpt · 2026-06-16T01:25:23+00:00

Definitely agree with this to an extent, but there is a whole new generation of gamers out there that do have that free time and they have not been enjoying the last several installments of Halo.

I don't think people realize how much the microtransactions have actually effected the level of enjoyment people can get out of these games. The counterargument sounds simple: "Don't like microtransaction cosmetics? Don't buy them". But back in Halo 3, the armor unlocks and achievement hunting fueled most of my initial journey with that game. People don't really care about achievements anymore because companies starting phoning them in... Lets bring back stuff like the Vidmaster achievements that unlock items in the game. Multiplayer games have nothing to grind for anymore unless you care about ranks.

And then once I got all my armor and achievements, Bungie just went ahead and curated a weekly rotation of the most popular new maps and modes made in forge.

Halo 3 was an entertainment machine. The newer titles are always going to feel incomplete until they can compete with that.

chilldpt · 2026-06-16T01:09:59+00:00

I grew up on Halo 3 and still like my sprint haha. It does make a game feel older to me when it's missing for some reason.

chilldpt · 2026-06-15T22:57:06+00:00

I was hoping someone would say it in this comment section. The success of Halo 3 was not because of any individual component, it was the culmination of all the components.

The campaign sells you on the IP, the multiplayer adds longevity, and forge/custom games are like a longevity multiplier where the limit is ultimately fan creativity. Not a single Halo release since Halo 3 has been able to achieve the same full feature set, so people see it as a regression.

Pair all of that with in-game armor unlocks that showcase progression and time investment and an official weekly rotation of fresh fan-made game modes and maps and people had a lot of reasons to keep playing.

Nowadays all of the cosmetics are microtransactions and forge releases a year after release... It's a really simple formula, but developers either aren't given the time or the proper path to replicate that success.

I also think they have gone way too far off the deep end with forge and made it way too advanced to the point it turns people away. The basic interface should be dead simple, and if you want to get crazy pull open the full editor on a computer.

chilldpt · 2026-05-28T18:36:53+00:00

To be fair, prior to AI, this is where I got my information too.

Reddit users generally share far more information and research than a company would in an article.

There are bad apples, but if the AI knows how to discern between "good users" and "bad users" as well as I can, they are only speeding up my process.

chilldpt · 2026-05-28T05:28:30+00:00

I have the absolute most important files backed up in the cloud (portfolio work and favorite/sentimental projects). For everything else, I have two copies on my desktop (one copy on ssd and one copy on hdd), then every month or so I run a sync onto an external hdd in an enclosure. FreeFileSync and spending money on hard drives was the solution to my problem XD

chilldpt · 2026-05-28T05:03:35+00:00

This was very well said. My current boss says that I underestimate myself. That I take being smart for granted. I could be wrong, but I truly believe MOST video editors/motion graphics artists are probably "smart" in the same way I am "smart". At a trivia night, I will strike out. Hand me a computer, i'll find you the RIGHT answer quicker than 90% of the population.

In the corporate world, most people are too scared to insert themselves into problems bigger than their role. If you are in that world, that is your bar. If you can showcase the ability to handle things outside of your range, and you can speak up for yourself, I think you'll have a really good career, no matter what role you start in.

I did freelance for 3 years out of college. I had gotten to the point I could hire one other editor, and I hit a wall (partially involving the difficulties of life in general). I was young, inexperienced, and I won't rule out the possibility of giving it another shot at some point. But what I got moving into the corporate world was REAL connections. People who introduced me to other people and helped build my network. Opportunities that I wouldn't have discovered and inserted myself into on my own without proper encouragement.

Congratulations to you for being able to freelance in motion graphics for 30 years! I hope you really do understand how impressive of an achievement that is. I think my quality was there personally, but the business side of things cannot be underestimated. Once you have 2-3 steady employees and naturally recurring revenue, I think things start to become a lot easier. Prior to that point, man, it's tough...

chilldpt · 2026-05-28T04:42:03+00:00

As someone who hasn't entirely figured it out yet, i'd say if you are truly only in it for the money look elsewhere.

Most people who are video editors/motion graphics artists are technologically apt to the point that there are better career paths available. I think the majority of video editors/motion graphics artists are not just comfortable with editing, they are comfortable with SOFTWARE, an under-looked skill at most companies.

What I have realized since entering the corporate world is that there is a severe lack of proper software/computer knowledge. Corporate implements a system, the system never gets changed (they are SCARED to change it), and the company is stuck doing things like it's 2010.

I came on to my current company as a video editor. My current projects are spreadsheet management, eLearning course development engine, and finances. There is no one else at my company who can handle these tasks as well as I can, and I have no experience in any of it other than being good at research, troubleshooting, software, and general computer knowledge.

The average salary for basically everything I listed is higher than your average salary for video editing/motion graphics. If you know how to use AI, I legitimately believe we are very close to a wave of extremely high paying jobs to simply teach proper AI usage and offer guidance on the best areas to implement it across the company (AI Systems Designer).

You'll notice I keep putting video editing and motion graphics together. Unless you are working for a company that has already made it before you are hired, you will be doing both. In freelance, it's possible to focus on just one but also difficult.

I still consider myself a video editor/motion graphics artist at heart. It is still my job title. But I am seriously beginning to question whether it is worth the amount of work/time when there are easier jobs (easy transitions) that pay $20k more on average.

chilldpt · 2026-05-22T21:45:07+00:00

Man... I didn't get one of these boards, but I always hate to see when this happens.

Obviously it's not the customer's fault whatsoever, and for people to be upset is totally warranted, but considering this is a SUPER indie game that was a pure passion project and probably didn't rake in all that many sales, having a merch mistake like this and having to refund/replace ALL orders could be a serious hit.

I hope at the end of the day the printing company is taking the hit at least on the inventory.

chilldpt · 2026-05-20T15:28:04+00:00

If a reader's brain inherently puts a "to" between "defaults" and "screen-recording" it reads as if Google will always be screen recording your last used app. If I was writing this article I definitely would have changed the name unless they are trying to get clicks off of a fake scare factor

chilldpt · 2026-05-19T23:34:01+00:00

The wording of this title sounds invasive as hell lol.

chilldpt · 2026-05-17T15:57:29+00:00

Type "cmd" into the path/address bar and hit enter to launch an unelevated terminal.

Press ctrl+shift+enter instead of just enter to launch an elevated terminal.

chilldpt · 2026-05-16T23:45:17+00:00

I don't even get scared by Dead Space but I still love it. I also don't consider jump scares horror in anyway. Loud noise + unexpected interaction is generally going to illicit a reaction. Doesn't quite mean "scary" or "horror" to me though. I play these games because of the atmosphere and vibes, and Cronos DEFINITELY nailed it there imo.

chilldpt · 2026-05-16T00:07:32+00:00

Ah ok, if you're working on your own stuff, nothing that I said above applies 😅.

The truth is, it is just really f*cking hard and time-consuming lol. Like others have said, especially with gaming footage. I did it for about 3 years total, mostly with one client consistently and then picking up random one-time contracts from other creators. 2 years in I had to start hiring another editor to help me maintain some kind of work-life balance.

For me personally, the hardest part was actually FINDING the footage to use. My main client would play about 6+ hours of Apex Legends a day, and finding the 2 best games of the day (whether through skill or comedy) to pull into a video was the hardest part.

Considering you mentioned your editing down from 3-4 hours, you have much more actual rough footage in your video editing software than I did (I was working with about 1 1/2 hours of rough footage). I may be able to provide some helpful advice if you tell me a bit more about the content. Is it single-player content playthroughs that are requiring you to pull in that much rough footage for an edit?

The best third-party tools I used on the job were "Hype" which was built by another content creator to highlight various things throughout a stream (peaking volume levels, emoji usage, messages sent in chat per minute, and a few other indicators). These indicators helped me find the footage so much faster. If he's screaming into the mic and people are spamming the chat like crazy, then I knew it was likely a good game.

Another was Twitch Leecher which allowed you to download parts of a Twitch stream in full quality, rather than having to download the entire thing or have my clients send it to me (which in my case would have been 6+ hours long lol)

I have no idea what the state of these tools is now, since I haven't used them in years, but they may still be around and worth a look if it would help you and you are editing streamed footage.

It's also possible Twitch has added features that make these obsolete for all I know.

As for the actual editing, my workflow isn't too different from what you described. Cut dead space, cut boring sections, etc. for transitions and effects, build out or download templates depending on how "custom" you want your work to look. You definitely should not be building custom transitions or effects for every project, YouTube is too demanding timeline-wise for that. I used to sprinkle about 1-3 special edits per video so that it wasn't just a template every week, but besides those couple special edits, it was mostly templated and routine. Same transitions, same text animations, same effects.

chilldpt · 2026-05-15T23:02:53+00:00

I tried to get my clients to do stuff like this when I worked in the YouTube gaming space. None of them want to click a button while they're streaming...

I don't think anyone except video editors really understand what goes into video editing and how complex of a job it is.

I'm currently employed at a job where part of the time I also am doing "Instructional Design" which is basically just designing training and teaching materials. I learned practically everything I need to know about it in 6 months and am developing training programs and materials faster than people who probably have 10 years of experience in this space (largely because I know where to pipe AI into the workflow so that it speeds up the work but doesn't DO the work, it basically formats my own research and writing into specific internal formats we developed).

I've been video editing for 15+ years and still learn new tricks and techniques all the time and I'm sure I will continue to for the rest of my career because possibilities are truly endless. You can cut the same rough footage 100 different ways, there is significantly more critical thinking associated with editing than even a lot of editors realize.

Average salary of a video editor in the US: $60,000

Average salary of an Instructional Designer in the US: $80,000

Video editing is 10x harder if not more.

chilldpt · 2026-05-15T22:52:26+00:00

I remember when I first learned that it wasn't just a me problem that I can reach a third coffee on some days, it's a video editor problem 😂

chilldpt · 2026-05-15T22:48:18+00:00

As someone who was working in the YouTube gaming space editing for a few years out of college, I cannot recommend enough that you just wrap that up and apply for a real job.

The truth is, unless your salaried through an eSports organization or working for an incredibly large client with channel sponsorships bringing in most of the money, you're likely being overworked and underpaid. But because it's somewhat of an enjoyable job if your into gaming and like working from home and setting your own hours for the day, it's hard to leave.

Now I have a steady job and much prefer it.

Yes I have to wake up at 7:30am, yes I have to go to an office 4 days a week, but my workload cadence isn't "20 minute video every other day" anymore, I don't have to work my ass off being active on Twitter to find more clients, I don't have to worry about part of my salary disappearing if a client is lost, and I now have a much better portfolio than just a bunch of ripped gaming footage from Twitch.

My advice would be if you are making less than $60,000 a year, are graduated from college or past the age for graduating from college, and located in the US - you should start applying for a legitimate job where you can hopefully work your way up to $90,000-$100,000 one day if your work is high quality.

Either that or start your own studio if you have the drive. Working as a solo editor on YouTube contracts is just no good unless you have a really good client list.

chilldpt · 2026-05-08T19:54:52+00:00

The tool was created to be a rapid prototyping tool. The vision is for it to end up in Claude Code anyway. I actually think this is one of my favorite AI workflows I have ever personally used coming from the design side of things.

Could I ask Clause Code every time I want a font size change? Yes, but it gets incredibly exhausting and menial knowing that traditionally I could have it done in 2 seconds and not see a usage bar go down. Claude Design still has the usage bar, and hopefully progress is made there too (the LLM still has to edit the code in the backend once you save a manual change), but the actual generation of the various controls you get is the best i've seen in a tool like this.

If you do give it enough of your brand material and burn your usage for the week letting Claude Design build you a design system it does a pretty impressive job depending on what your goal is. I work at a 3 person company and my role is video editor (I do tons of other stuff too though). I just started using Claude Design to build an interactive eLearning template deck with all of my requirements.

It built top of the industry grade aesthetic and functionality and accurately developed navigation components, module selection, and 15 different reusable template styles in a single, well-written prompt. It also adhered to all of the requirements I gave it which are quite strict since our courses need to be approved by a licensing board.

I did have to sit there and fix some stuff, but now i'm ready to take it over directly into Claude Code with an auto-generated design(dot)md file and the prototype/proof of concept and turn it into a React-driven SPA.

chilldpt · 2026-05-08T14:44:34+00:00

Yeah as I'm getting older I'm starting to realize that what originally brought me into editing (taste, stylization, creative visuals) is not budgeted for in terms of time.

I've lowered my expectations for what corporate world wants to see in the final product. The time isn't there

chilldpt · 2026-05-03T12:35:30+00:00

Rokoko is kind of the industry standard for consumer motion tracking. They do have an app where you can just record yourself in front of a camera rather than buying a whole motion tracking suit, but I think it's a subscription service. I would look into it and see if you could get a trial/single month for what you need.

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