Jae's Ramblings

Beige Always Wins

We start out chasing vibes we've seen on the internet and end up (eventually) typing on beige keycaps.I've seen it happen. Not right away, sure. First you discover customs, fall down the rabbit hol...

Keyboards & Coffee - Sat 2nd May 2026

Coffee Morning. With a side of biscuits and keyboards Last year’s Keyboards & Coffee Mornings at PTHQ were an unexpected highlight. Familiar faces, a few new ones, and plenty of good chats (fue...

The Hype Ate My Cash Flow

The Hype Ate My Cash Flow: My Cautionary Tale About Volume and Being an Idiot...   There's a moment in every group buy where you look at the numbers and feel like a genius. The interest form has fo...

The Vacuum of Trust...

The Vacuum of Trust. OR: When Your Smart Home Gets Too Curious. Do you remember when vacuum cleaners were just... vacuum cleaners? Loud, indiscriminate suction machines that ate your socks and occa...

Boards and Burnout: Surviving 2025 and Building a Better 2026 for Keyboards

This piece unpacks the comedown after the keyboard boom: brutal lessons from group buys, dead stock, shipping chaos and the race to the bottom. It then lays out Prototypist’s 2026 plan: tighter sto...

Jae’s Boxing Day Boxers Conundrum

On Boxing Day, faced with a drawer of dying pants, Jae dives into the weird world of “performance” men’s underwear. Through real‑life testing of Step One, Randies and Crossfly, this funny, honest p...

I'd take the heat death of the universe over Black Friday sometimes...

This piece tears into Black Friday from the perspective of a niche mechanical keyboard business, exposing thin margins, discount pressure and burnout. It argues for stepping off the hamster wheel i...

Cars: The Last Bastion of Selfish Commutes

This piece defends the solo car commute as the last honest refuge from shared everything – from grim public transport and Lycra-clad guilt trips to office emails and eco-performative pressure. It’s...

Obsolescence is the New Black: Why Mechanical Keyboards Are Still Kicking Arse

This rant dives into how mechanical keyboards have sidestepped planned obsolescence by embracing repairability, customisation and decades-old engineering that still slaps. From Hall Effect switches...