The redesigned player in CAD, and the beta goes app-first.

Today the beta was re-scoped: app first, hardware after. A handful of families will get the app and its stories in May, and the device follows when there’s one worth handing over. The month explains why.

The device. On April 11th the redesigned player went into Fusion 360, and what came out is a render: a bone white body with rounded ends, a red arch of a handle, two round grilles and the red knob between them. It’s the March direction with real geometry behind it, and it’s what the next print comes from. Moving to Fusion is deliberate. Until now I wrote the case in OpenSCAD, which builds the shape from formulas. Robi needs exact measurements now, and in Fusion I can draw them. Later, the circuit board can live in the same tool as the case. The hardware is already moving faster.

Render from the redesigned player’s CAD, April 11, 2026.

The print from the night of April 8, 2026.

The app is where most of the month went, and it’s why the app can go first. It now works with no player at all, which is what makes an app-only beta possible. Two parents can share one library, so a story recorded on one phone shows up on the other. And it’s down to three things: Home, Library, and a Create button for recording or writing a story.

I also set up a few AI agents on Mac minis this month, to take work off my plate. They need far more hand-holding than I expected.

The cost: a cleanup of the app’s insides, budgeted at a few days, took weeks and landed at roughly the same experience. Better insides, same app, and most of a month gone.

Next: two weeks in China in May, a family trip with a toddler and a baby. Then the beta invites.