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In the years following the book’s release, a bro-y group of hobbyists have been tinkering with their wires and monitors to make homemade kits, often. to break their goals or pass-coding. In the past, desks have resembled a bulky laptop, with a screen and a small keyboard, usually sleek, practical, and stowed away in a Pelican bag to survive the supposed, apocalyptic. One niche ham radio YouTuber, over a year ago, named it his own educational video “DIY Doomsday Cyberdeck EMAIL/TEXT WITHOUT INTERNET” and, of course, including the “prepper” hashtag.
What sets Tan’s cyberdeck apart is its beauty. Inside its redesigned clamshell case, hardware-wise, is a Raspberry Pi single board computer with a small keyboard and screen. All the standard stuff – the female cyberdeck shell and technical details are the ones that defy expectations. “I’ve never seen anyone act hyper-femme,” she says. Tan admired the technical aesthetics already established by the cyberdeck team, but wanted to create a model that seemed more accurate in its style. “I’ve always been anti-minority,” he said. “In my life, I want a race, and I want everything I own to show who I am.”
In order to make his mermaid cyberdeck less dependent on the Internet, he has transferred heaps of files from his PC, uploading music, books, maps, Wikipedia articles, and even pictures of his cats directly to the device. When the mouse is connected, it can run Destruction over it.
Tan says three-quarters of her TikToks’ most viewed audience are women. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you could make a computer like this, I thought it had to be a gray box, like any other Mac or Dell,'” says Ling Lu, a 28-year-old designer and photographer who lives in New York City. He was inspired by Tan’s videos to try to create his own fun instrument, “cyberduck” audio magazine, a bird-shaped recording device for personal use.
