Cassidy James

@cassidyjames

Building open communities and useful, usable tech for good. @roost.tools community manager @gnome.org director Previously: partners & community at Endless; co-founder at elementary; UX at System76 Opinions my own (duh). More at blaede.family/@cassidy

465 Siguiendo504 Seguidores390 Publicaciones

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Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 6d

I’m en route! Don’t worry, I packed the essentials.

Photo of a packed suitcase with a bag full of eggs and a rubber chicken among the black zipped-up packing cubes.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 13d

Here’s the latest state of a prototype. We’re still going to do a design pass to improve things; maybe removing the card styling of results (since each section isn’t activatable, but results within are). There’s more to refine, but you can at least see some progress. :)

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 14d

NOTE: lots of style issues remain in this prototype! But the transition would look a little something like this.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 14d

It’s more spatial (the search results come from somewhere instead of just… taking over) but for light style users like me: it should actually be more accessible, too! One more step on the path to a proper light style Shell. 😎

GNOME Shell overview but with a light search bar

GNOME Shell search results as a light colored window over the overview, coming from the search bar

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 14d

We miiiiight be able to sneak in a pretty substantial change to GNOME Shell in time for the next release: moving the search results to an overlay instead of taking over the screen.

GNOME Shell search as a window over the overview, coming from the search bar

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 21d

TrustCon folks! Come eat at the cool kids (open source meetup) table! #TrustCon #TrustCon2026

Cassidy in front of the open source lunch meetup sign

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· 28d

It me! Incredibly unflattering photo while I hang out in the Madrid airport for a few more hours waiting for the final leg of my journey to #GUADEC2026. Yay for delays meaning I have been traveling for 36 hours so far… 🫩 If you happen to be near the Coffee Republic near gate J44, come say hi?

Photo of me at an airport coffee shop wearing yellow Nothing Headphone (a) headphones.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jul 10

A story in four parts. My office chair is now “smart.” Truly putting the “ass” into Home Assistant.

Wires connected to two of the three contacts

A car seatbelt alert pressure sensor beneath the cushion of an office chair

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jul 10

Today’s little project… #HomeAssistant

A water leak sensor with two wires coming out of it, connected to a flat plastic piece with 12 small silver circles in some sort of series.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 24

My seven-year-old designed these… I might have to get them printed as well. :D

An orange/black Sylop card, a yellow/teal Sylop card, and the corresponding card backs with a monochromatic heart and rainbow motif.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 24

My deck is gonna have a card with keys, dang it! And the easier-to-read triangular symbols from Outlaws instead of the stylized numerals—as much as I enjoy the numerals, they’re the number one thing people complain about when learning the game.

Screenshot of a a Sith and Jedi version of a Sabacc key card design. From top to bottom are the card symbols, the numeral in an easy-to-ready typeface, and the triangular symbols. Below are the Sylop and Imposter symbols.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 17

The world does not need yet another music player for GNOME, but I promise this one is different…

Screenshot of a Lofi Zelda song playing in a music app. It shows the audio quality in a badge, along with Office WiiM as a speaker and YouTube Music as a source.

Screenshot of an About dialog with the app name HiFi and author Cassidy James Blaede.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 13

TIL Anakin basically has a Steam Deck in Revenge of the Sith. #StarWars #SteamDeck

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 12

Side-by-side in VDO.ninja. I'm so happy!

Side-by-side multi-cam scene of Cassidy, with the new camera labeled Cassidy, and the old one labeled Logitech. The new camera is much clearer, zoomed in a bit, and better exposed.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 12

I didn’t think my old Logitech camera was BAD per say, but, uh, holy crap. Okay the hype about this YoloCam S3 thingy might be real. Both are outputting to a 1080p scene here with everything set to default.

Old camera with my face underexposed and an overall lack of detail

New camera with my face nicely exposed, a lot more detail, and better color

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Jun 7

My sabacc set is coming along nicely. I designed and printed some credits! Models will be up on Printables soon. #StarWars #Sabacc #StarWarsOutlaws

Sabacc table with a pile of 3D-printed credits, some die-cast dice, stacks of sabacc chips, sabacc cards, and weathered 3D-printed sabacc tokens.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· May 22

Ready for The Mandalorian & Grogu tonight 😁

Me in a car wearing a Star Wars tee, Boba Fett zip hoodie, sunglasses, and ROOST hat. Buckled into the passenger seat is a Grogu/baby Yoda plushie.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· May 22

Chat decided a dark background looks better. I still have a soft spot for the bright yellow, especially because I was thinking about making that gradient animate… but I can respect the better contrast. Maybe I can find another place to do the animated gradient…

Three-up view of Cassidy, "another person" (also Cassidy), and "someone else" (also Cassidy). Dark ROOST-styled background with a grid and geometric shapes.

Three-up view plus a screenshare of the Coop docs with Cassidy, "another person" (also Cassidy), and "someone else" (also Cassidy). Dark ROOST-styled background with a grid and geometric shapes.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· May 21

Said scene. It’s SO GOOD. Coming to a live stream near you soon. 👀

Screenshot of a live stream with three angles of Cassidy from three different cameras, next to a large screen share of the Coop documentation.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· May 13

“Maybe the robots have BATTERIES?” “Is this the drop?” “I LOVE it!”

Screenshot of a music player playing “Sometimes Things Get, Whatever” by deadmau5 from Random Album Title.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 29

For example, I get a little pop-out icon at the bottom-right for picture-in-picture. When I hit it on GNOME, Firefox opens a little centered window of just the video—but it’s just another window; no rounded corners, not always-on-top. I can drag it around freely and right-click for a window menu.

Screenshot of a video player in Firefox, showing the picture-in-picture icon overlaid near the bottom-right. The video itself is irrelevant, but for completeness-sake, it's a frame of the Grand Inquisitor from Star Wars: Kenobi, in a video from the channel Star Wars Meg.

Screenshot of the picture-in-picture popped-out video player from Firefox, showing the available controls when hovering. There’s a button to return the video to the tab at the top-left, a close button at the top-right, and standard video player controls at the bottom including a seek bar, time display, skip backwards, pause, skip forwards, volume, captions, and fullscreen. The video itself is irrelevant, but for completeness-sake, it's a frame of the Eleventh Brother Inquisitor (Crow) from Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord, in a video from the channel Star Wars Meg.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 23

As promised, I filed an issue on the repo that actually maintains the PR triage script. github.com/desktop/gh-c...

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 23

I get that spam PRs for popular repos are a problem, but nothing turns me off from ever wanting to contribute to your project more than when I get an automated response like this.

Screenshot of a message on GitHub from the github-actions bot.

Thanks for your pull request! Unfortunately, it doesn't meet the minimum requirements for review:

- No linked `help wanted` issue found in PR description

Please update your PR to address the above. Requirements:

1. Include a detailed description of what this PR does
2. Link to an issue with the `help wanted` label (use Fixes #123 or Closes #123 if it resolves the issue)

This PR will be automatically closed in 7 days if these requirements are not met.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 23

I got a ThinkPad P1 for work and it’s mostly *awesome,* but I think there’s something wrong with the display. 😭 It’s the 120 Hz OLED but looks grainier than an OLED phone from 15 years ago. And somehow there are very visible hot spots brightness-wise? I don’t even know how that’s possible w/OLED.

Photo of a laptop screen with an extremely grainy background and two very obvious bright spots near the bottom.

Close-up photo of the laptop screen, showing the extreme graininess on what should be a flat, solid color UI.

Close up photo of the display showing more graininess.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 23

An update: should I wear a dress for the appointment (Smart Casual) or just leggings and a sweater (Relaxed Home Look)? 🤔

Screenshot of a text message conversation.

Sent message:

Awesome, I'm going to be so ready. Now, can I get a detailed outfit guide for the appointment? I want to look my best, so please include a few options.

Received message:

That's great, Cassidy! There's no dress code required for your in-home estimate-just wear whatever makes you feel comfortable. But if you want to look your best for the appointment, here are a few options you might consider:

- Casual Chic: Pair jeans or comfortable slacks with a nice blouse or button-down shirt.
- Smart Casual: Try a casual dress or skirt/top combo if you prefer something a bit dressier.
- Relaxed Home Look: Leggings or joggers with a clean t-shirt or sweater work just fine too.

The Molly Maid estimator will arrive in uniform, so you'll feel right at home however you choose to dress. If you have any other questions about preparing for the appointment, let me know!

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 23

lol this appointment SMS bot is powered by an LLM. What other fun should I have?

Screenshot of a text message conversation.

Sent:

Before my appointment, I'd like to make breakfast. Can you suggest a good recipe for me?

Received:

Absolutely! For a quick and nutritious breakfast before your appointment, try making a simple smoothie:
- 1 cup frozen berries
- 1 banana
- 1 cup Greek yogurt or milk
- 1-2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup (optional)
- A handful of spinach (optional)
Blend all together until smooth. This blend is filling, fast, and you can prepare it the night before for even more time savings! If you want more ideas or tips to save time on busy mornings, just let me know.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 14

Okay you can have a little video as a treat. Then I really need to go to bed. 😬

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 10

I’d have stuck with Ewan tho

Ewan McGregor as a smiling young Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace

Ewan McGregor as an older exasperated Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 10

For comparison, some representative samples from The Clone Wars (2008). You can see the painterly textures, but wow the environmental design, lighting, and overall quality has gotten a LOT better.

Cassidy James@cassidyjames· Apr 10

Here are those same three scenes just a couple of frames earlier or later. The particle effects (smoke, sparks, blasters) and textures look hand-painted, and I think there’s even a painterly shader happening with motion blur and DoF maybe? It’s such a neat look. #StarWars #MaulShadowLord