Mike Shuey

Former UX specialist. Now I just write.

Personal AI Avatars and my YouTube Experiment

Creating your own personal avatar and voice clone is easier than ever. Does it mean they should be used on YouTube? I'll tell you about my experimental channel using my personal AI avatar (and if it was successful). I also want to point out that when I uploaded a video to YouTube I clearly identified it as "altered or synthetic content." In other words, at the beginning of each video YouTube shows this message to the viewer. I also shared the fact that I was using my personal AI avatar in my channel description area. I was fully transparent about...

May 14th, 2026 YouTube

What happened to car design?

I happened to check out Wired Magazine and noticed an article "The 19 Most Exciting Cars at the Beijing Auto Show 2026." I love car design, particularly cars from the 40, 50 and 60's. So I thought OK, I'll check this article out. Let's see what is classified as an "exciting car." It was exactly what I thought it would be. Boxy, look-alike cars. Boring. Maybe they were packed with technology, but there wasn't one thing about 99% of them that would make me excited to drive one. They all looked like they were designed with Legos. When cars used...

May 12th, 2026 Design

I killed my (profitable) YouTube channel

This is the story of a YouTube channel I made about three years ago. It sort of started as an experiment. Could I reach 1000 subscribers and get monetized? Could I make some money with affiliate links? I saw other YouTubers doing it, so I thought why not me? But this YouTube journey started long before I ever shot a video... The start of my "make money on-line" journeyI've always dabbled with "making money online." Early in the life of the web - you know, back in the days of AOL discs and Compuserve I created sites with html, using...

May 11th, 2026 YouTube

Which minimalist blogging platform in 2026?

It's been a bit of a confusing journey trying to decide on a blogging platform. I knew I didn't want to be back on Wordpress. Been there. Done that. The security issues, the slow load times, and don't get me started on plug-ins. My next thought was to use Ghost. I've used Ghost Pro in the past and was pleased with the overall experience, but I wasn't interested in starting a paid newsletter. Plus, Ghost Pro has doubled in price since I used it last and I've been trying to rid myself of needless subscription fees, not add to them....

May 9th, 2026 Blogging

This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.