How to take screenshots in VR, more AI courses, and worms with superpowers
Plus, my new EP launches Tuesday, a new AI scam, Agatha Christie's secret formula, and a wonderful dictionary from 1832.
I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.
My articles
Let’s kick it off with a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
Apple Vision Pro tricks: How to take perfect screenshots and recordings (and avoid weirdness): Explore the unique quirks of taking screenshots on Apple's headset. From clarity adjustments based on eye tracking to unexpected image tilts, we look at it all.
How to take even better Meta Quest 3 screenshots and recordings: Discover how your Quest headset can capture mesmerizing screenshots and screen recordings, with quality surpassing the $3,500 Vision Pro, to bring virtual worlds to life.
How LinkedIn's free AI course made me a better Python developer: No credit card? No problem. LinkedIn's offering of 250 AI courses for free is a rare opportunity for developers, recruiters, support professionals, accountants, and more. Here's my firsthand experience.
Choices Are Voices EP launches Tuesday
My next EP, Choices Are Voices, will launch on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and all the other streaming services on Tuesday. So get ready to stream!
Stay tuned. You’ll be able to listen to Choices Are Voices in just a few days. In the meantime, give House of the Head another listen.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
Did you know Agatha Christie had a formula for how she crafted her murder mysteries? According to PBS, “Agatha Christie is the most successful novelist of all time, outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible.” Here’s her secret formula.
There’s a guy who is so into the Thunderbirds that he figured out the model kits used to build their sets. Here’s his story. Not for nothing, I just pre-ordered a new Gerry Anderson casting of Thunderbird 2. I’ll post it here when it arrives sometime in April. This is called Advanced GEEKery, after all.
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth reading.
The scammers are at it again. Here’s a story about the terrifying AI scam that uses your loved one’s voice. My advice: agree on a “safe word” that you and your family would use, in the case of an actual kidnapping, so if a scammer were to pull this crap you would know it’s fake.
I discovered this when researching an article you’ll read on ZDNET during the week: A glossary and etymological dictionary of obsolete and uncommon words. It’s from 1832 and it’s wonderful.
Do we really need worms with superpowers? No, but … Chernobyl.
Reader projects
I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.
If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.
More clicky
I’ve got a lot happening all over the web. Here are links to my various stuff:
House of the Head: home for my published music
ZATZ Labs: where I host my published software projects
Feel free to dig around, visit, and say hey!
Leave some comments
Substack supports comments, so feel free to leave some. I promise to read them. Just, please, let’s keep our personal politics out of any discussion.
That should do it for this week. This newsletter is really starting to pick up subscribers. Please help it out by sharing links on all your socials.
Have a great week!