---
title: Reading Asterix from Brussels to Dubai via Singapore
date: 2026-10-29T15:35:52+01:00
categories:
- llms
cover:
  image: https://files.s-anand.net/images/2026-10-29-reading-asterix-from-brussels-to-dubai-via-singapore.avif
  hiddenInSingle: true
description: From a Brussels-Dubai flight, I used voice typing, Tailscale, and ChatGPT to reach my Singapore laptop, OCR my Asterix comics, and read annotated pages mid-air. It showed me how AI agents can connect technologies I could not configure myself.
tags: [ai-agents, ocr, comics, chatgpt]
---

I think it's a miracle to see the sheer number of technologies that can come together with AI agents orchestrating them.

I'm right now on a flight from [Brussels to Dubai](https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/UAE184), and the Wi-Fi works. So, I'm dictating this blog post via [PixelBoard](https://github.com/Akshayykadam/PixelBoard), an AI-coded port of Gboard that lets me use Gemini for voice typing on Android (which is quite good!).

I'm also browsing my Asterix comic book collection. These are on my Windows laptop in Singapore, which I've connected via [Tailscale](https://tailscale.com/). I have no idea how to configure Tailscale, and ChatGPT did that for me. BTW, Tailscale is one of those services that I didn't see a use for until I used it, and now will never turn it off. It creates a VPN between my phone, traveling laptop and home laptop, so I can browse files, SSH into each other, run HTTP servers, etc. All securely.

I told ChatGPT to create a comic book reader I could use on my mobile; to use OCR to detect the panels bounding boxes; to annotate the jokes (like Crismusbonus is Christmas Bonus) and facts (like Vercingetorix's Arverniactually defeated Caeser at Gergovia in 52 BC, etc.); and run it on a server.

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  <source src="https://files.s-anand.net/images/2026-10-29-reading-asterix-from-brussels-to-dubai-via-singapore.webm" type="video/webm">
  <a href="https://files.s-anand.net/images/2026-10-29-reading-asterix-from-brussels-to-dubai-via-singapore.webm">Video</a>
</video>

It's phenomenal that, sitting on a flight, I can connect through my voice to my laptop in Singapore and run an OCR engine and have it serve comics purely for my amusement mid-air. All with technology that I couldn't have manipulated by myself. And all I need is the imagination to ask for it.