Blog

Yes, work continues on PhantomNet. I've made a LOT of progress on PhantomStar, with a dedicated builder and distributor app that builds PhantomStar for Android, Windows, Linux, and now ARM64 and ARMHF.

Yes, I did do an iOS version, but it was such a nightmare just getting it onto Nikki's phone. Then add in Apple's gatekeeping and developer fees... so yeah, Apple can kiss my ass!

IF there is a call for iOS support, I'll enlist a dedicated iOS developer. Let THEM deal with Apple's BS!

It's been a long week, mostly coding and rebuilding my PhantomNet server and architecture.

Still deciding what I really want to do with it.

Nikki has been busy!

https://www.aurora-systems.tech/

She's been rebuilding her website for her Aurora Systems project.

She made her first website like most of us did many years ago in the 90's using things like GeoCites, Yahoo and later Wix. You know, those pretty generic, WYSIWG, builders back in the day.
She began this one using a free trial of NicePage, but when I pointed out its limitations and just how sloppy the actual site structure was ( I though MS Frontpage was bad!) and how it tied her to THEIR ecosystem, builder and subscription model, she's been using ChatGPT to help her convert and rebuild it using standard php and html formats.

She's got a working gallery too! Complete with an admin panel and photo uploader. Yeah, she borrowed some code I created for my site redesign to get her started but what she ended up with is quite beautifully laid out and has a few features I didn't have on mine.

Quite proud of her.

BTW, the site redesign doesn't even scratch the surface of what she's built and coded on DigiWorldz and OpenSim!!!!

It's day two, or is it day three of the DC Site Rewrite.

NOT the easiest thing to do and has NOT been without issues. YES I use AI to help do the code, and I can fucking tell you right now with all the issues and mistakes it makes NO DEVELOPER OR ARTIST is in danger of being replaced!

AI can be a great tool, but it is NOT a human brain, it is a COMPUTER and the age old "garbage in, garbage out" mandate applies. AI is built on large datasets culled from multiple sources usually from the internet and we all know just how PERFECT and CORRECT the internet always is. You poison the dataset with enough bullshit and the model the AI relies on then believes it is fact/truth and delivers bullshit and garbage based on that false truth.

You tell it enough times that the sky is purple and the seas are orange it will eventually regurgitate that as fact despite what can be proven with your own eyes!

Design Creations has always been a little hard to define.

Over the years it has been a mix of physical projects, computers, software, 3D printing, painting, writing, radio, servers, and whatever else happened to catch our attention. That hasn’t really changed. If anything, the site is starting to reflect that more honestly now.

The new Gallery gives me a place to collect project photos without relying on a separate heavyweight gallery system, the Writing section has grown into its own thing, Nikki has Aurora Systems, and now this Blog gives us somewhere for everything that doesn’t quite fit neatly into one of those sections.

That may be project updates, things I’m building, something I learned the hard way, a bit of technical rambling, progress on the site, writing updates, or just something worth talking about.

There probably won’t be a rigid posting schedule, and I’m not interested in turning this into another social-media feed that has to be constantly fed. The idea is simpler than that.

This is just a place to write things down, share what we’re working on, and keep a little more of it here on our own site instead of scattered across half the internet.

So, this is the first post.

We’ll see where it goes.