Tag: recommended

  • Mark Zuckerberg’s Op-Ed

    Go read it. It is actually shorter than his recent Facebook post on privacy. This part was… umm, interesting? Finally, regulation should guarantee the principle of data portability. If you share data with one service, you should be able to move it to another. This gives people choice and enables developers to innovate and compete.…

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  • 15 Lessons from ConvertKit’s Nathan Barry

    I could quote the entire piece, so I urge that you read it. Nathan Barry: Focus is where I thrive. Focus is where I get results. Focus is everything. On choosing a niche: Choosing a niche is the easiest advice to give and the hardest advice to take. When you don’t have traction, it feels…

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  • Zuckerberg’s note on privacy on social networks

    Mark Zuckerberg published a note on Facebook last night outlining his thoughts around privacy and social networking. I find it a fascinating read for several reasons. It reads like an internal memo – or even a draft of an internal memo – in that he repeats himself (sometimes verbatim) several times within the note. The…

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  • A new interview with Manton Reece of Micro.blog for 2019

    Last year, around this time, I published an interview with Manton Reece – founder of Micro.blog (M.b) – about how the platform was growing and what the goals for 2018 were. It was such a great interview and it helped me to understand the direction that M.b was going that I knew I had to…

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  • Is Instagram about to plummet?

    When Instagram first started to hit popularity – long after their failed attempt at being a check-in service – the app was all about photo filters. Anyone could snap a photo with their phone and quickly add a filter to make it look “better” or at least more interesting. It made everyone feel like a…

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  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

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  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

    Continue >

  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

    Continue >

  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

    Continue >

  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

    Continue >

  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

    Continue >

  • Observations on the Dell XPS 13\” laptop

    For the past 10 months my daily work computer has been the Dell XPS 13″ 9370 white & rose gold laptop. Overall the experience with this hardware has been positive and most of the issues I’ve encountered have been software related (rather than related to the laptop itself). Here are some observations I’ve made about…

    Continue >

  • Best of 2018

    This year I’m taking a slightly more comprehensive approach to my “best of” list. I’ve taken a look at previous year’s lists: 2008, 2009, 2017 and comprised a slightly more complete set. Again, this is only the things I came across this year and can remember. I don’t keep a list throughout the year but…

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  • YETI Presents

    YETI, the premium tumbler/cooler company, has one of my favorite YouTube channels at the moment. We celebrate stories from the wild. From the off-road tracks of Baja Peninsula to the BBQ pits of Giddings, TX, we capture stories that speak to the wild side of life. If adventure and grit is at the heart of…

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  • Google Pixel Night Sight on a Google Pixel 2 XL compared to iPhone Xs

    My wife has a brand-new iPhone Xs and I have a one-year-old Google Pixel 2 XL. We always compare photos in a variety of situations. When she had the iPhone X my Pixel 2 XL would win handily in a variety of situations. Her new iPhone Xs wins here and there (e.g. in Portrait mode…

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  • How to transfer photos from iPhone to Windows 10

    Occasionally I will have need to transfer photos from Eliza’s iPhone X to my Windows 10 laptop. I’ve found the process of transferring the photos to be excruciatingly slow, unreliable, and frustrating. That is, until I figured out a better way. Most tutorials, including Microsoft’s own, will recommend you plug the phone into your computer,…

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  • What I would write about Vero

    Colin Walker wrote his hot take on Vero and it is exactly what I would have written (only his post is far more eloquent than mine would have been). Go read the entire post but here are a few highlights. As soon as I saw what Vero was all about – the idea it “makes…

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  • Socialocca presents a Social Media Workshop at the February 2018 NEPA Tech meet up

    This month’s NEPA Tech meet up was yet another smashing success. If you live in northeastern Pennsylvania and are interested in the intersections of business, technology, the arts, etc. (and you want to see our area thrive in all of these things) please consider attending an upcoming event. Ryan K. Hertel of Socialocca, a small…

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  • Technology Dogmatism

    Are you dogmatic about the companies you will buy technology from? Are you an Apple fanboi? Or, perhaps you’ll only run Windows and Apple sucks at everything because reasons. I try not to be that guy. I try to look at the entire field of offerings in every category; hardware, software, cloud services, home entertainment…

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  • I interviewed New Zealand based artist Rebekah Codlin

    Over on my other site, The Watercolor Gallery, I interviewed Rebekah Codlin about her journey into art. Her realistic portraiture is amazing. If you’re into that sort of thing go ahead and check it out. This is the first interview after a 22-month hiatus from publishing interviews. Far too long. But the process of restoring…

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  • A review of the Google Pixel 2 XL and Android 8.1 by a longtime iPhone user

    After 10 years of using iOS as my primary mobile platform I’ve decided to give Android more than just a casual try. This post is my review both of the Google Pixel 2 XL and Android 8.1 as well as a few comparisons I’ve drawn between iOS and Android ecosystems. I’ve been an Apple fan…

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  • An interview with Manton Reece of Micro.blog

    I have fond memories of the very early days of WordPress (when it had just been forked from b2/cafelog), of Twitter, of Brightkite, of App.net, of Mastodon… just to name a few. The early days of any platform or so important to what they will become. They are the most fun to watch. The early…

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  • App icon design, one size does not fit all

    Yesterday I reposted Becky Hansmeyer’s vent about having to create multiple icon sizes for her app. I feel her pain. I recently completed an app for both iOS and Android and so I had to create just over 1,000,000 icon sizes. At least it felt like it. So, like her, I too would like Xcode…

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  • Best of 2017 as told by me

    To create this list I sat down and wrote from the top of my head the things I could remember being awesome in 2017. The list isn’t exhaustive. It is just what made an impression on me as being "the best" in each category. Best Blog: fuzzy notepad Evee consistently writes well-researched, readable, diatribes on…

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  • SPARK Talks at the NEPA Tech meet up in December 2017

    SPARK Talks are, by definition, Short, Provocative, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Knowledgeable talks that are loosely timed, on a specific topic (more or less), and allow many presentations to be given at an event. I had never heard of them prior to this month’s NEPA Tech meet up organized by John George. SPARK Talks remind me of Lightning Talks or Ignite.…

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  • Universal Apple apps

    Mark Gurman, for Bloomberg: Starting as early as next year, software developers will be able to design a single application that works with a touchscreen or mouse and trackpad depending on whether it’s running on the iPhone and iPad operating system or on Mac hardware, according to people familiar with the matter. Remember the many times…

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  • No, you cannot simply pay me for a link

    Hi. You emailed me. Likely more than once. So I’ve sent you this URL to let you know that no, you cannot pay me for placing a link in an existing article that you somehow found on my site. It would be totally different if you wanted me to review a product, collaborate on some…

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  • Please don’t try to explain Bitcoin at parties (unless you know what you’re talking about)

    Unless you’re drinking your flat whites under a rock, you’re likely seeing a lot of news about Bitcoin, it’s current exchange rate against the US Dollar, blockchain and it’s various applications, etc. You might even be getting sick of hearing about it (or, perhaps you’re sitting there earning hundreds or thousands of dollars per day…

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  • Attending Venture Idol 2017 at Ben Franklin TechVentures

    In 2007 I visited the area where Ben Franklin TechVentures is now. I was there for an interview with the then CEO of Viddler, Rob Sandie, to see about working there full time. At the time, Viddler was housed in Jordan Hall – a one-story building next to the now incredible Ben Franklin TechVentures complex.…

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  • Speaking at the 2017 tecBRIDGE Entreprenuerial Institute

    Photo credit: Mandy Pennington on Twitter. On Friday I had the privilege to host two sessions at the 2017 tecBRIDGE Entrepreneurial Institute Conference at Marywood University. The event was very well attended (I’d say nearly  200 people, but I don’t know for sure). The speakers and panels were engaging, interesting, and the number of people…

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  • A technology predication time capsule

    Readers of my blog will know that I occasionally attempt to predict when certain technologies that I write about will hit the mainstream. While I’m very passionate about a few technologies, I try to temper that excitement with the experiences I’ve had, the wisdom that comes with age, and other factors. Usually, things take a…

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  • Creating Summit: The current summit view

    This post is the first in a series of posts about my experience building and designing Summit. This post focuses on just one view within the application; the current summit view. The idea for Summit came nearly 4 years ago as far as I can tell. I’ve hunted around for scraps of paper, digital notes,…

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  • Attending October’s NEPA.js meet up

    On Tuesday, October 10 I attended October’s NEPA.js meet up. John George of NEPA Web Solutions was this month’s presenter and his topic was Bitcoin and the Blockchain: Democratizing How We Exchange Value. I believe all members of NEPA.js would agree, John’s presentation was arguably the best presentation the meet up group has had to-date.…

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  • Developers, Let me tell you about Microsoft (audio)

    I’ve been writing about Microsoft’s moves for the last three years. This week everything has come together and I’ve been writing my first multi-platform application using C# and Visual Studio. In this long rant I go on and on about how Microsoft needs to spread the word about what they are up to. Links for…

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  • Attending September’s NEPA.js meetup

    On September 12th, NEPA.js held its September meetup. Anthony Altieri presented on beacons – the typically small Bluetooth devices that “chirp” some very basic information multiple times per second allowing app developers to understand the proximity of a user. This allows for things like understanding where a shopper is in a retail space. His overview…

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  • A unique color for every address in the world

    A recent, yet-to-be-announced client project had me designing a mobile app interface that dealt a lot with showing locations and events that are happening at certain locations (how is that for vague? sorry). While I utilized the brand’s colors to represent certain sections of the app I wanted the app to have tons of colors…

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  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

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  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

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  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

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  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

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  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

    Continue >

  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

    Continue >

  • Colin Walker: \”Should replies be posts?\”

    Colin Walker, in a post on whether or not replies to other posts (or, comments) should be their own posts: There has to be a line, a point where a comment is just that and not a reply. It’s a question of semantics but not everyone’s answer to "what is a comment and where does…

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  • Presenting at the August 2017 Lehigh Valley Tech Meetup

    The Lehigh Valley Tech Meetup is an excellent community in the Lehigh Valley that meets monthly at the Ben Franklin Technology Partners incubator within the Lehigh University Mountaintop campus. The community around the meetup is excellent and the building is amazing*. While the tail-end of my presentation walked through my experience building my first iOS…

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  • Summit – The Adventurous Step Counter

    This evening, at a presentation at the Lehigh Valley Tech Meetup, I’m opening up public beta access to my new iOS app, Summit – The Adventurous Step Counter. I’ve stitched together a temporary web site for the app as well as a mailing list that will allow you to get access to the final few…

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  • My personal blogging tips

    I’ve been writing things down on my own blog for a few decades. I wish more people did too. If you’d like to have a personal blog but struggle finding things to write about, here are a few tips that may help. Don’t post about what you will do, post about what you’ve already done…

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  • Attending the August NEPA.js Meet up

    The NEPA.js Meet up is really hitting its stride. Each meet up is pretty well supported – even in the summer – and the camaraderie and general feeling around each event is pretty great. Also, the Slack channel is pretty active. If you’re within an hour or so of Scranton I’d recommend joining the meet…

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  • Following Twitter accounts via RSS

    I haven’t missed Twitter that much since deleting my account. The first week or two I missed Moments – but once that subsided I realized that Moments are generally a waste of time. Realtime reporting of most newsworthy events result in ill-informed, unsubstantiated tweets. I’m at a point now where I’d much prefer to get…

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  • Snapchat is a party, LinkedIn is a business lunch

    Colin Walker, like me, struggles with what should be syndicated to networks and what should be brought back into the blog context. He makes this specific point about replies: Social replies like on Twitter or Facebook don’t, in my opinion, need to be owned – they belong in the context of the social network and…

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  • Observations on using the iOS 11 Public Beta

    The iOS 11 Public Beta is the first beta OS I’ve installed from Apple. I did so in part because I want to help improve the OS by providing feedback and analytic data, but also because I wanted to test my aforementioned app that I’m building, and lastly I’ve wanted driving mode since very early…

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