Oh hey, you found my old blog
Though it’s changed looks over the years, this blog has been in online in one shape or another since 2011. Infrequently updated, it’s held my random, generally tech-based thoughts for anybody to come and read. Will it get updated again? Maybe! I don’t feel obligated to write anything new, but I do feel the need to say a little something about myself.
Bluesky has a Masto
Mastodon and Bluesky feel like two different solutions to a similar problem. I didn’t post much on Twitter, but it was still my primary social network until I left in November 2022. While I prefer what Mastodon is doing, Bluesky’s discovery system does make it a bit easier to find people. I think their big announcement this week means a clear winner is inevitable.
Chase that happy
Ze Frank: Okay so what are you gonna do? What are your options? You can wait until something else you watch on your computer makes you feel that way or you can go out and chase it.
Don’t ever guess, just learn
Tom Chi: Don’t ever guess, just learn. It’s just a waste of time to guess. Most of our meetings are big sort of guess-a-thons.
Falcon Pro now priced at $132 to dissuade new down
The Verge: [That] figure will be high enough to dissuade most sensible human beings from hitting the “buy” button while allowing Vergès to keep serving his current users with new features and bug fixes. “I’ll keep updating the app, simply because I want to use it as my main client, and I refuse to use an outdated client,” he wrote on Twitter.
Finally Tinker
I was fortunate enough to attend Google I/O 2012 back in June of 2012. One of the perks beyond the great sessions was receiving the Nexus Q, a device who’s actual release has been cancelled. It was, at the time, kind of neat, though spartan in terms of features: Android users can play music and YouTube videos to it over WiFi.
The Relat
I’ve started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation from the beginning again. Instead of just enjoying it as a nostalgic trip through my childhood, I’ve been trying to actively watch what’s happening in the show. I’ve noticed a number of personality and behaviour patterns that totally clash with how I remember each character as a child. Bear with me as I review what the first half of STNG’s first season was like a second time around.
Creating With Future Use Cases In Mind
We design and create interfaces with the user in mind. How does the user complete the task of composing an email? How does the user save a webpage to her bookmarks? In particularly complex systems, sometimes the solution involves examining more than just how a user can complete a single task, but how the system as a whole supports (or doesn't support) certain actions.
Why MG Siegler Hates Android
parislemon: Why do I hate Android? It’s definitely one of the questions I get asked most often these days. And most of those that don’t ask probably assume it’s because I’m an iPhone guy. People see negative take after negative take about the operating system and label me as “unreasonable” or “biased” or worse. I should probably explain.
Phoning it in: Why Google Wants Out of the Phone OS Race
If you haven't had a chance to glance at the title of this, please take a moment to do so. Notice that the post isn't that they do in fact want out of the race, but that they seem to provide a list of reasons as to why that conclusion may not be entirely fantasy. I'd like to list these as a pseudo-editorial, as both an argument and therapeutic exercise.
Making the Best Use of Your Tools
I'm a huge fan of video games. The other day, I finally got a chance to sit down with the demo for The Gunstringer. I've been looking forward to this title since it was first announced, and downloaded it when it was released but never tried it.
Attitude and Tone Are King
With the explosion of applications and brands, I, like all humans in commercial society, have gravitated towards preferring some over others. In other news, the sky is blue and water is wet. I've found myself really enjoying using and discussing these applications with my peers, trading information about how to better use a product, or which one to switch to, even defending one over another.
Selecting the Right Input Method for Mobile Users
As applications move to mobile, the context and intended usage change. You can't expect a swiss-army knife of a desktop app to provide the same functionality on an iPhone or Android device. This is already well known, and there are many blog posts and books and courses on this topic. It's great for users, because well made mobile apps are tailored well to the mobile lifecycle they need to survive in.