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Charmera: 20feb26

Published February 20, 2026 by Warren Ellis

I saw one of these on Valeluminal‘s IG account last night, and went straight to Amazon to look it up. I remember the Kodak Fling disposable camera from the 80s, and it turns out this is an intentionally low-res digital camera styled in a similar way. Charges off USB and runs off a TF card. There are six or seven different styles, and you don’t know which one you’ve got until the box arrives. Mine showed up eight hours after I ordered it.

Not my favourite of the designs, sadly, but it’ll do.

It’s about as long as my little finger and it comes with a keychain. The battery, according to reviews, gives out about three hours of steady use.

I have always loved digital cameras, but, if I’m honest, the better the iPhone camera got, the less interested I got. I loved the old digital cameras, that were a bit fuzzy and weird. I even did a photography book with an EyeModule, which was a black and white digital camera that plugged into a Handspring Visor PDA.

The Charmera comes, of course, with absolutely no instructions.

This was taken by accident while figuring out the pre-loaded image filters. I’m not mad at it at all. In fact, that was very much what I was hoping for. It’s going to get clipped to my day bag and I’m going to have some fun with it.

TODAY:

New Christina Vantzou, sadly vinyl or digital only:

Previously: Christina Vantzou

OPERATIONS: Many Things suddenly started Happening last night, right in the middle of me trying to dig my way out of all the things I’m behind on. Every time I walked away from my phone for five or ten minutes yesterday, I’d come back to another half-dozen notifications. And I still have to do Sunday’s newsletter.
STATUS: I have had to put the Apple Watch back on, which displeases me but lots of Things have suddenly started Happening. Also had to fight a cat for access to my office today. Inbox 141 and climbing.
READING: THE BIG THREE: SOCRATES, PLATO, ARISTOTLE, Neel Burton (UK) (US+)

Empedocles himself claimed to have already been a bush, a bird, and ‘a mute fish in the sea’. But now, as a doctor, poet, seer, and leader of men, he had reached the highest rung in the cycle of incarnations—and could, just about, count himself among the immortal gods. In a story that is almost certainly false but too good not to tell, he killed himself by leaping into the flames of Mount Etna, either to prove that he was immortal or make people believe that he was.

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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morning computer passenger rocket

Published November 19, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Eric Wesley. I love this.

Earlier this month, China was forced to delay the November 5 return of three astronauts from its Tiangong space station after concerns that their ride home — a Shenzhou-20 spacecraft parked at the orbital outpost since April — had sustained damage from an impact.

And as it turns out, their suspicions were correct. In a statement to state-run news outlet Xinhua, the China Manned Space Agency revealed that crews had found “tiny cracks” in the “return capsule’s viewport window, which are most probably caused by external impact from space debris.”

As a result, the “Shenzhou-20 spacecraft does not meet the requirements for the astronauts’ safe return and will remain in orbit to continue relevant experiments.”

Two sculptural metal speakers made from a disused rocket fuel tank to reference the debris “floating in outer space” have been unveiled at this year’s Designart Tokyo.

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The large cylindrical speakers were made by spatial design company Nomura‘s research and development arm, Noon by material record, and &Space Project, which reuses discarded materials from space development.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

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morning computer by rail

Published November 3, 2025 by Warren Ellis

new chapter in Britain’s railway story has been marked with the unveiling of Rail Clock, which is the country’s first national clock design in more than half a century.

Revealed today (16 October) at London Bridge station, the striking new timepiece by Design Bridge and Partners is set to become a landmark of British design and a powerful symbol of connection across the UK’s rail network.

Commissioned by Network Rail to coincide with the railway’s 200th anniversary in 2025, the project aimed to create a standardised clock that could unify the passenger experience across the country while celebrating the rich heritage of British rail design. The result is a 1.8-metre physical and digital timepiece that fuses timeless symbolism with modern functionality, and reimagines one of the nation’s most recognisable icons in the process.

Swathes of glass and steel make up the sinuous exterior of the new Gare de Mons station in Belgium, which has been designed by Swiss-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

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Located along the international Paris to Brussels train line in Mons, the station‘s sculptural structure is organised around a raised gallery volume that stretches 165 metres across the site.

Conceptualised by Calatrava as a “monumental bridge”, its volume traverses a series of 350-metre-long platforms and bus stops that extend outwards from the gallery’s underside.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer imagined gardens

Published September 5, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Rafael Silviera.

Journey of the Senses by Zhuoer Zhong

“This project reimagines the river Clyde moored Renfrew Ferry venue as a high-tech, floating biomaterials education centre.

The Pompeii Archaeological Park has recreated an ancient perfume garden—right down to its antique roses.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer portals

Published May 12, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Eli McMullen.

New York-based Studio Bucky has designed a furniture collection informed by Ireland’s ancient megalithic tombs from reclaimed maple wood.

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Named the Portals Collection, the pieces draw on Irish portal tombs. A type of megalithic tomb, these often consist of large upright rocks, known as portal stones, supporting a large capstone.

The article I found the watch below in sadly does not make it clear which specific make of the Jaeger-LeCoultre it is, but it’s a good portal too.

…the motif of the magic circle serves as a boundary between the natural and supernatural, and the possible mediations between them that are made possible by the circle itself. Hence the magic circle is not only a boundary, but also a passage, a gateway, a portal.

In the Dust of This Planet: Horror of Philosophy by Eugene Thacker (UK) (US+)

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer clock time

Published April 25, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Maybe Next Time.

While the exhibition is physically immersive, its conceptual focus is time (or rather, how time is experienced in prison). As Caputo explains, “Time in prison is never neutral; it is structured, regimented, and often experienced as an oppressive force.” The exhibition’s title, Prison Times, nods to this fragmented, fictional timescale, where the outside world runs on one clock and the incarcerated on another.

A jacket with built-in electric fans designed by Japanese fashion brand Anrealage keeps staff cool at the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation pavilion at the Osaka Expo.

The pavilion aims to depict the future of communication, and Morinaga applied the same idea when designing the uniforms.

“These clothes transcend division and disparity, connect the dots and expand human potential by sharing senses,” the designer explained.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer of rainy days

Published April 21, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Tom Leighton.

Xiao Jiang. I don’t know if there is actually any rain outside that window, but the whole image reminds me of melancholy, disappointed rainy days from childhood.

Alex Robbins’ design process for this cover:

Imagine a Slushee composed of ammonia and water encased in a hard shell of water ice. Now picture these ice-encrusted slushballs, dubbed “mushballs,” raining down like hailstones during a thunderstorm, illuminated by intense flashes of lightning.

Planetary scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, now say that hailstorms of mushballs accompanied by fierce lightning actually exist on Jupiter. In fact, mushball hailstorms may occur on all gaseous planets in the galaxy, including our solar system’s other giant planets, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer brutalists

Published April 15, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Here’s some THE BRUTALIST vibes: Arkpro Studio designs concrete church in Albania as “new village centre.”

As I noted here, the soundtrack for THE BRUTALIST was excellent. The soundtrack by Daniel Blumberg is being released on CD next month (UK) (US+). The cover, of course, is the still that’s going to become one of the defining filmic images of the first half of the 21st Century.

It’s even floating around as a phone wallpaper now.

Personally, I’ve gone with something else this season:

Blumberg has his own bandcamp page that I want to dig through soon.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer dem bones

Published April 14, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Cindy Ji Hye Kim.

More than 100 years after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, new interpretations of the burial are still emerging. A recent article published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology proposes that a set of seemingly plain, functional objects are in fact a key part of the complex rituals which would ensure the transformation and regeneration of the young king in the afterlife.

Philippe Starck designs a funeral urn:

I’ve been invited to a private dining experience in Kennington where I’ll be served several dishes made exclusively from roadkill. Petr Davydtchenko, a Russian performance artist, and Michelin star chef Masayoshi Haraguch are hosting the dinner. 
I arrive an hour before the other guests to chat with Petr. Me and Petr speak about the reasoning behind his practice. Starting in 2016, he decided to move to the south of France, detach from society, and learn how to be completely self-sufficient. He mentions evading capitalism and embracing brutality. Every morning he would wake with the sun and cycle for thirty kilometers looking for roadkill. Donkeys. Badgers. Deer. Pheasants. Rats. Then there’s the animals we’re all a bit more fond of. Cats and dogs. Sad to think about, but still a natural part of life.

Probably not useful, actually:

The best way to prepare a fox is to leave its body in a running stream for 24 hours, this will tenderize the meat, making it softer and easier to eat. For some reason, this feels like incredibly useful information and something I’ll probably tell my kids. 

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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