Nostr notes by Jon Hicks

If you’re using my custom theme for Qobuz Beta, then please ...

2026-05-09T11:29:10Z

If you’re using my custom theme for Qobuz Beta, then please update to v1.3, which has a couple of important fixes for two toolbars that are accidentally hidden in v1.2:

https://hicks.design/journal/qobuz-theme-v1-3-for-qobuz-beta

Trying out the beta of Qobuz desktop, lots of nice improvements ...

2026-04-15T18:07:39Z

Trying out the beta of Qobuz desktop, lots of nice improvements in there ("order albums by release date” yes!!) but a lot of new UI. Toggle switches everywhere, and I'm basically going to have to start again from scratch with my CSS theme

Which is a bit like the feeling of ‘I know! I’ll redesign my site!”.

I wonder how practical this is for artists? Would it not require ...

2026-03-24T23:17:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…t90l
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I wonder how practical this is for artists? Would it not require a certain level of technical ability? Presumably you’d need a centralised hub to browse/search?

There are two music apps that I'm loving at the moment. Both ...

2026-02-26T09:43:20Z

There are two music apps that I'm loving at the moment. Both have nice large album artwork views:

Albums - (Albums - Music Library Player (npub1k9p…62lu)) for playing my Apple Music Library. The new MacOS app ticks most of my criteria!
https://www.albumstheapp.com

Spite - for playing my own digital collection. Lovely minimal streamlined interface!
https://www.jamesreeves.co/spite/

My ideal is basically a combination of these two

Nice Oxfordshire rarity to show up, even better when its on my ...

2026-02-24T22:17:25Z

Nice Oxfordshire rarity to show up, even better when its on my local patch! Long-Tailed Duck (oddly missing its long tail). Should be at the coast, if indeed found anywhere in the UK, not in the most land locked county.

(iPhone 17 Pro through spotting scope)

#plumescrolling

“In April 2024, Spotify implemented a new scheme: songs with ...

2026-01-16T13:10:48Z

“In April 2024, Spotify implemented a new scheme: songs with less than 1k streams per year would no longer receive royalties.

The data for 2025 was just released via Luminate, and 88% of songs have been demonetized.

Read it again: 88% of songs on Spotify have been demonetized.”

https://musically.com/2026/01/15/5-1tn-annual-music-streams-but-120-5m-tracks-had-10-or-fewer/

“If everyone who streamed All Hell on Spotify had done so using ...

2025-12-04T17:26:14Z

“If everyone who streamed All Hell on Spotify had done so using Tidal instead, we would have received an extra £31,847.38, which would double the amount we made from streaming of the album in this time period. Or if everyone used Apple Music it would have been £12,331 more.”

Los Campesinos! break down streaming royalties. In other news, Fuck Spotify.

https://loscampesinos.com/heres-how-much-money-los-camp-make-from-streaming/

Wordpress folks: I have a client that is steadfastly WP, and ...

2025-12-03T13:47:27Z

Wordpress folks: I have a client that is steadfastly WP, and currently uses Elementor, which for someone who loves the cascade, minimal scripting and clean code is absolute torture.

Is there a better process that I can get them to use? In the past I've experienced Gutenberg being painfully slow with very long text pages. Maybe it’s better now?

Not looking for a 'no code' solution, but control over code with good page preview. No shit-tonne of injected scripts, divs and styles to override.

If you miss the band Curve, and wish they had decided to reform ...

2025-11-05T09:45:00Z

If you miss the band Curve, and wish they had decided to reform like all the other 90s bands, then you might be interested in the new Daniel Avery album: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/tremor/1823019433

I've got some availability coming up from October onwards due ...

2025-09-29T15:36:08Z

I've got some availability coming up from October onwards due to a project being postponed. I'm normally at full capacity but if you're looking for help with any of the following, do get in touch!

- Logos/ brand identities
- Icon systems (large or small)
- Front-end web design and development.

While these are my specialties, I do enjoy anything under the umbrella of ‘Graphic Design’, including Print.

https://hicks.design

I like to set the washing machine going, and then 5 mins before ...

2025-09-15T09:29:22Z

I like to set the washing machine going, and then 5 mins before it finishes, leave the house. Then the little prick can beep loudly all it wants. It feels like winning.

Finally made it to the V&A East Storehouse this weekend, to ...

2025-07-21T13:00:47Z

Finally made it to the V&A East Storehouse this weekend, to see my icons in use. When the actual V&A East Museum opens next year there'll be even more on show, but such a thrill to see these in real life.

If that’s just ‘please’ and ‘thankyou’, imagine what ...

2025-04-21T07:08:39Z

If that’s just ‘please’ and ‘thankyou’, imagine what the whole prompt costs.

“Breakfast Triple” (Egg, Sausage and Bacon). The sausage ...

2025-02-27T08:13:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…q4gf
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“Breakfast Triple” (Egg, Sausage and Bacon). The sausage tasted chemically so didn’t eat more than few mouthfuls. It was also a really horrible sandwich made of soggy despair

It’s been a fun week of food poisoning. Never had it before, ...

2025-02-27T08:04:18Z

It’s been a fun week of food poisoning. Never had it before, and always thought it was just having the shits for a couple of days.

In other unrelated news, I won’t ever buy a Tesco Sandwich again.

Nice, I'm here for this content!

2024-09-20T12:32:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…le3z
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Nice, I'm here for this content!

I've lacked inspiration for an art project for years, and ...

2024-09-19T15:05:53Z

I've lacked inspiration for an art project for years, and finally got it 3 months ago. Combining 2 Usborne books that shaped my formative years; The Detectives Handbook + Guide to the Supernatural World (both from 1979).

I've drawn the first few, and mocked them up in page layouts. No real plan what to do with them at this stage.

For various reasons (time, lack of confidence), I've kind of stalled for the past month and half, but because Mastodon feels like a safe place to put up early ideas…

My latest obsession is finding the best music streaming app for ...

2024-09-12T12:49:28Z

My latest obsession is finding the best music streaming app for my needs, and I'm trialling Tidal and Qobuz against Spotify and Apple Music.

In particular, finding the best ‘immersive view’. When I'm on my Mac, I want to see that album cover as large as possible!

The best so far is Cider (a third party app for Apple Music), with Apple Music on iPad second. Qobuz and Tidal are neck and neck. Plexamp (not pictured) has much smaller artwork. Any others I should know about?

Found the last remnant of this years Cadbury's Creme Egg ...

2024-08-09T12:59:28Z

Found the last remnant of this years Cadbury's Creme Egg harvest in a drawer, only 9 days out of date. I reckon I can go for it.