The Other Stuff Podcast

Ahmed Saleh (@saleh_digital), Steven Yuen (@steven_yuen), and Gabriel O’Flaherty-Chan (@_GABRIELOC) of Falcon (@falcon_ide). Falcon is a new design tool for curious designers. Their team is based in the West End of Toronto. In this episode, we explored the games, tools, and software that shaped each of us growing up, from Doom and Zelda to Macromedia Flash and KidPix, and how those early experiences rewired our understanding of what computers could be. We discussed Falcon’s approach to building creative tools: the idea that anything can be anything if you expose the right primitives, the concept of mutation as a design principle, and why the beginning of the creative process deserves far more attention than the optimization at the end. Along the way, Gabe walked us through ray tracing from first principles, demonstrated geometry nodes in Blender, and showed how Falcon can turn math into fire, visuals into audio, and signals into whatever you want them to be. We talked about why most design tools today are built around optimization rather than expression, the false thesis of simplicity, and how the dimensions of the tools we inherit quietly become the boundaries of what we think is possible. This is a conversation about software, self-expression, and how the tools we use shape the world we live in. The Other Stuff is hosted by @internetvin — filmmaker, entrepreneur, and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New. The Other Stuff #32 — Falcon: A Romance of Many Dimensions — Timestamps 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:42 Doom and id Software 00:16:14 Open World Games 00:36:05 Ray Tracing 00:45:14 Blender Demo 00:50:07 Early Web 00:56:20 Macromedia Flash Era 01:00:34 2Advanced 01:10:52 KidPix and Expressive Tools 01:21:03 Mutation in Design Tooling 01:30:41 Node Editors and Falcon 01:44:45 AI and Creative Tools 01:49:59 Craftsmanship and Intent 02:00:50 Worldview Over Technology 02:09:03 Making Fire with Math 02:17:28 Information Density 02:28:40 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Steph Ango (@kepano) is a designer, entrepreneur, and the CEO of Obsidian. In this episode, we discussed his journey from creating Winamp skins to leading Obsidian, and the fundamental patterns and inclinations that drive everything he explores and makes. We discussed Obsidian on multiple different dimensions, his deluxe chocolate chip cookie recipe, his exploration through furniture design, and his default inclination to push “too far” into anything he is exploring. Steph Ango demo'd the design process of several furniture projects he’s been working on at home as well as a custom piano learning app he created to teach himself music theory. This is a conversation about craftsmanship, pursuing a deep understanding, and what that reveals about who we are. The Other Stuff is hosted by @internetvin — filmmaker, entrepreneur, and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New. The Other Stuff #28 — Kepano: The Interconnectedness of Everything — Timestamps 00:03:55 Origin of Kepano 00:10:34 Relationship with Computers 00:15:25 Online Communities & Video Games 00:30:47 Winamp Skins 00:40:04 Uniformity in Design 00:51:05 Obsidian 00:59:20 Bidirectional Linking, And The Relationship Between Everything 01:23:18 Obsidian Sync, Publish, and Bases 01:32:06 Why File Over App 01:43:15 The Deluxe Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste Test 01:49:48 Living Fully 02:09:50 Early Project Walkthrough 02:19:03 Furniture Design Walkthrough 02:49:00 Constraint and Patterns 02:58:47 Kepiano 03:13:00 The Future of AI and Startups 03:31:10 Closing

Steph Ango (@kepano) is a designer, entrepreneur, and the CEO of Obsidian. In this episode, we discussed his journey from creating Winamp skins to leading Obsidian, and the fundamental patterns and inclinations that drive everything he explores and makes. We discussed Obsidian on multiple different dimensions, his deluxe chocolate chip cookie recipe, his exploration through furniture design, and his default inclination to push “too far” into anything he is exploring. Steph Ango demo'd the design process of several furniture projects he’s been working on at home as well as a custom piano learning app he created to teach himself music theory. This is a conversation about craftsmanship, pursuing a deep understanding, and what that reveals about who we are. The Other Stuff is hosted by @internetvin — filmmaker, entrepreneur, and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New. The Other Stuff #28 — Kepano: The Interconnectedness of Everything — Timestamps 00:03:55 Origin of Kepano 00:10:34 Relationship with Computers 00:15:25 Online Communities & Video Games 00:30:47 Winamp Skins 00:40:04 Uniformity in Design 00:51:05 Obsidian 00:59:20 Bidirectional Linking, And The Relationship Between Everything 01:23:18 Obsidian Sync, Publish, and Bases 01:32:06 Why File Over App 01:43:15 The Deluxe Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste Test 01:49:48 Living Fully 02:09:50 Early Project Walkthrough 02:19:03 Furniture Design Walkthrough 02:49:00 Constraint and Patterns 02:58:47 Kepiano 03:13:00 The Future of AI and Startups 03:31:10 Closing

Tommy Trinh (@tommytrinh) is a co-founder of New. In this episode, we explored Stewart Brand’s pace layering diagram and the slow-moving forces underneath everything — culture, myths, values, and the narrative structures that have been recurring throughout the history of humankind. We kept finding the Epic of Gilgamesh in places we didn’t expect: anime, wrestling, video games. From there we traced the evolution of games as a medium, from early first-person shooters to souls-like difficulty to simulators to AI-generated worlds, and what each genre reveals about why people play. The last stretch of the conversation was about something harder to name. We shared how things have started to feel uninspiring, how it feels like we’re in a state of limbo between how the world used to work and whatever comes next. The meta is too visible, media feels formulaic, and the thresholds that used to structure our sense of what’s possible have quietly dissolved. What is even unknown anymore when an LLM can explain anything? Does the value of direct experience go up as the baseline of what’s virtually accessible rises? What are the new thresholds? How do you posture yourself within a shift you can feel but can’t fully articulate? This is a conversation about the stories we keep telling, the games we keep playing, and what becomes worth pursuing when the map has been filled in. The Other Stuff is hosted by @internetvin — filmmaker, entrepreneur, and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New. The Other Stuff #31 — Tommy Trinh: Unveiling The Now — Timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:23 Pace Layering & Myths 00:15:13 The Epic of Gilgamesh 00:25:46 GoldenEye & id Software 00:41:48 The Neo Geo 00:57:38 NBA Jam & Def Jam 01:02:13 Wrestling is Anime 01:19:53 Souls-like 01:30:38 Simulators & Realism 01:47:28 AI in Games 02:05:48 Death Stranding & Kojima 02:15:40 Yellowknife 02:32:03 Searching for New Frames 02:52:00 Baselines & Thresholds 03:01:15 Frequency, Intensity, & Speed 03:06:38 Nostalgia & Primitive Technology

Tommy Trinh (@tommytrinh) is a co-founder of New. In this episode, we explored Stewart Brand’s pace layering diagram and the slow-moving forces underneath everything — culture, myths, values, and the narrative structures that have been recurring throughout the history of humankind. We kept finding the Epic of Gilgamesh in places we didn’t expect: anime, wrestling, video games. From there we traced the evolution of games as a medium, from early first-person shooters to souls-like difficulty to simulators to AI-generated worlds, and what each genre reveals about why people play. The last stretch of the conversation was about something harder to name. We shared how things have started to feel uninspiring, how it feels like we’re in a state of limbo between how the world used to work and whatever comes next. The meta is too visible, media feels formulaic, and the thresholds that used to structure our sense of what’s possible have quietly dissolved. What is even unknown anymore when an LLM can explain anything? Does the value of direct experience go up as the baseline of what’s virtually accessible rises? What are the new thresholds? How do you posture yourself within a shift you can feel but can’t fully articulate? This is a conversation about the stories we keep telling, the games we keep playing, and what becomes worth pursuing when the map has been filled in. The Other Stuff is hosted by @internetvin — filmmaker, entrepreneur, and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New. The Other Stuff #31 — Tommy Trinh: Unveiling The Now — Timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:23 Pace Layering & Myths 00:15:13 The Epic of Gilgamesh 00:25:46 GoldenEye & id Software 00:41:48 The Neo Geo 00:57:38 NBA Jam & Def Jam 01:02:13 Wrestling is Anime 01:19:53 Souls-like 01:30:38 Simulators & Realism 01:47:28 AI in Games 02:05:48 Death Stranding & Kojima 02:15:40 Yellowknife 02:32:03 Searching for New Frames 02:52:00 Baselines & Thresholds 03:01:15 Frequency, Intensity, & Speed 03:06:38 Nostalgia & Primitive Technology