Incredibly Cursed Software

You know those Bad UX challenges, where devs compete to build the worst experiences? We’ve encountered plenty of those.

First up is a couple of bad video players. Mux recently ran a contest to see who could make the worst video player possible. As an example of what they were looking for, Dave Kiss made a video player modeled after an old arcade game. It’s so painful to use that you’ll find yourself rage-quitting in under a minute.

Silly Software Club founder Christina sent in a submission, which ended up winning first place! Her worst video player is inspired by those terrible group projects you had in school, where it felt like the rest of your group was intentionally sabotaging your final grade.

The guys at the Syntax podcast also had fun making some bad captchas. To prove your humanness, you have to do tasks such as grill meat to perfection or sing a note.

The final item in this category comes from the legendary Sam Rose. Learn about how clear, simple, and reasonable JavaScript dates are using this interactive quiz.

Free Relationship Help (You’ll Thank Us Later)

At the time of writing, it’s August, so we’re well past Valentine’s Day. But some of you need serious help. Here are a few tools that can help you when you’re unsure of how to relate to women.

Alli from Vercel built an app to help you make a decision: should I say this to a woman?

This vibe coded Girlfriend Guide provides tips for how to care for your partner. We love the beautiful skeumorphic design and the sincerely helpful tidbits of advice.

• Girlfriend Guide: https://girlfriend-guide.netlify.app/

Do you feel like you’re always saying the wrong thing? MewTru has the solution for you. Enter what your girlfriend just said and it’ll output a more appropriate response that is sure to help your relationship.

Finally, sometimes you’ve really messed up and the only solution is flowers, chocolate, and a heartfelt apology. We already provided resources to help with the apology. Now for flowers. The legendary Pauline made an app where you can arrange and send a digital bouquet to a friend or partner. You’ve gotta source your own chocolate, though.

Viral Moment

Hank Green co-launched Focus Friend, a productivity app to help you focus instead of mindlessly scrolling. Basically, it’s a cozy pomodoro timer. You have a bean creature that loves to knit. If you interrupt them by using your phone, they drop all their stitches, and it makes them sad. Let them knit by staying away from your phone and they produce knitwear that you can exchange for cute decor for their room.

Bonus: Silly Hardware

David Bowen gave a philodendron plant a robot arm and a machete. Time for the plants to get revenge on you for forgetting to water that one houseplant 3 years ago.