Author: Colin Devroe
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Diversions #7: Additional progress
A summary of some travel, the addition, the new laptop, and ActivityPub trials.
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I’ll read it too
Manuel Moreale helps remove a new blogger’s fear of having no readers by committing to be the first. Count me in too.
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Re: Bluesky
We now live in a time where many smaller social networks exist, some of them will likely exist for decades to come, and most of them may never reach hundreds of millions of monthly active users and that is a very good thing for the web. It is a bit messy, somewhat confusing, and totally…
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TIL That in macOS Sequoia you can connect to your iPhone wirelessly to use as a camera for Zoom, etc. Perhaps this was always the case? But I have been plugging it into my Mac this whole time!
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Switcheroo, the small open source macOS app I use as my default browser to recreate a feature I miss from Little Arc, has reached 1.0.1 and has a new icon! Thanks to Zhenyi Tan for continuing to contribute updates. (See also)
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TIL The Apple News app has a setting to only show stories from channels I’m subscribed to. I wish I had known this sooner!
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This morning I strolled into the darkroom fully planning to mix a fresh batch of color film chemistry to develop some film tomorrow. I was certain I had at least one fresh pack. I’m all out! And, most places I purchase chemistry is out of stock. I guess I’ll use tomorrow to make more new…
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The pro move when updating to a new Mac (or, new iPhone, iPad or updating to a new OS version) is to leave the device plugged in for nearly an entire day while all of the indexes are being rebuilt. This may be especially true now with Apple Intelligence.
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I’ve spent just a few hours migrating to the M4 Pro MacBook Pro today. This included using Migration Assistant which was fast with a Thunderbolt cable, reinstalling some packages via Homebrew (because I switched from Intel), and logging into a bunch of things. Overall, switching computers is easier than ever. Wow, is this computer fast.…
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This morning YouTube suggested Austin Ha’s review of the new ultrawide display option in Apple Vision Pro. His video shows a dream of mine; to have any sized screen with me anywhere I want. I really hope the AVP continues to improve.
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Please publish more (on your website)
Jeff Triplett urges us to publish more from our own domains. I agree. But it isn’t easy.
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At 44 years old I now find myself needing to use reader glasses (1.25x) in the evenings. I have 3 pair of inexpensive readers that I picked up in various pharmacies and discount stores; but I’m wondering if there are any nicer brands out there? Affordable yet quality? Or, should I keep picking up inexpensive…
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I have a few images I need to create for an upcoming Hubbub presentation and I used it as an opportunity to trial Pixelmator, which was recently acquired by Apple, for the first time. It is very good. Very Apple-like. Even some of my Photoshop muscle memory translated.
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Using static websites as personal archives
Over coffee this morning, browsing my unreads in NetNewsWire, I stumbled on Simon Willison’s mention of Alex Chan’s “Using static websites as tiny archives” post. And then I saw Jeremy Keith also mention it. So I thought I’d mention it to! There’s no web server, no build system, no dependencies, and no JavaScript frameworks. I’m…
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As I predicted in February 2023, I’m upgrading to the M4. I went with a Space Black 14″ MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro (14 CPU cores 20 GPU cores, 16 Neural Engine cores), 48GB memory, 2TB hard drive. The cost of which was a fair bit less than my previous laptop. I’ll explain my…
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Arun Venkatesan on their blogging philosophy
Independence, Creativity, Connection.
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Three key takeaways from FinCon 2024
A few NerdPress team members sponsored/exhibited at FinCon 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia this past week and I thought I’d distill the numerous conversations I had with attendees, speakers, and sponsors into three key takeaways. Visiting Atlanta in fall is… very warm! It was nice to be downtown and see the FinCon audience be so enthusiastic…
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As I mentioned in Diversions #5, I bought a pair of Crocs. It wasn’t long after purchasing that first pair that I bought a second pair to wear more casually in the garden, on the beach, or in mud – keeping the first pair nice for special occasions. Now I’m shopping for a third pair…
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I have a large batch of film to develop from the last few months. Before I get to those, here are a few quick iPhone 12 Pro Max snaps from a recent trip to Sandbridge, Virginia.
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In September I was in Portland, Oregon for WordCamp (as I mentioned). Here are a few snaps taken with iPhone 12 Pro Max and Halide’s Process Zero. Film snaps to come when I develop my next batch of color rolls.
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Thoughts on Automattic vs. WP Engine
In this post, I’m sharing my personal thoughts on the Automattic vs. WP Engine trademark dispute. These views are my own and may not reflect those of my employer or anyone else on my team. Additionally, this should not be seen as a comprehensive retelling of the events from the past few weeks. Much has…
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I’m experimenting with the ActivityPub plugin a bit. I’ve always wanted separate fediverse accounts for my personal projects such as Stupid, Stripe Transfer, etc. but the thought of managing those didn’t seem fun. The plugin allows each author to have their own account; so I’ve added one for @stupid to play with and customized its…
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“You should go to conferences” – Sophie Koonin
Sophie Koonin recommends attending conferences for personal and professional growth. I agree.
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iOS 18.0 is very nice even on my limited iPhone 12 Pro Max. The Passwords app, Transcripts, Home Screen customizations, Hiking Routes, Safari highlights, Call recording, Notes updates, Math in Notes, Messages updates, Lock Screen customizations… People are saying that this is a lackluster update? Far from it. I think this update is fantastic.
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My coffee game has been on point recently; I’m grinding beans to just larger grain than espresso, brewing in a pre-warmed moka pot, keeping the brew warm in a pre-warmed 18oz Yeti water bottle, and pouring as-needed into a (you guessed it) pre-warmed ceramic mug. ☕
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I’m attending #FediForum! I’m looking forward to seeing the progress the community is making on expanding the fediverse. All of us at NerdPress / Hubbub are happy to be supporting the event.
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Diversions #6: The Grapes of September
In Diversions #6 I write about making grape jelly, canning projects, a trip to Virginia, and share some links.
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As I briefly shared on my personal Mastodon account last night (this fediverse thing is going to get confusing, isn’t it), here are a few photos of this year’s garlic. I planted in October 2023. I’ll likely plant about 200 cloves in October. And the process starts all over again.
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A fair number of suggestions to my computing setup post came pouring in. Thank you! The more rumors I read or watch seem to indicate there will not be a Mac Studio this year with an M4. So if I’m to make this purchase I may not have that as an option. I think I’ll…
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My next computing setup
The idea of trying to paint the full picture of my computing needs exhausts me for some unknown reason. Even this short post has been a chore. But I thought it important to get some of my thoughts down because it helps me to clarify my own thinking and will hopefully help me make some…
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I’m drafting a post about my next computing setup in hopes that it helps clarify my own thinking and true needs. In short, I’m having trouble deciding when to upgrade, what to purchase, and how much to spend. Hopefully it becomes more clear before the year ends.
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The mirrored tomb of architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen near Delaplane, Virginia. I exposed a few frames of film here as well but I likely won’t develop the rolls for a bit so I thought I’d share this one. Shot on iPhone 12 Pro Max using Halide’s Process Zero (which I’m loving).
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I have been really putting my computer through a lot over the last year or so. Multithreaded processes that I’ve handbuilt, encoding video, running LLMs locally. My Mac is starting to shut off fairly regularly right in the middle of a task. When is Apple going to announce the M4?!
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Tracy Durnell on weeknotes
Tracy Durnell, who is very good at weekenotes: I don’t track anything that could make me feel actually bad about myself. I might be a little embarrassed if I don’t write as much as I wanted to, but no one’s going to judge me as a person for it — creative folks get it. Read…
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WordPress 6.6 had broken dark mode here on my site. I’m probably “doing it wrong” and I should take the time to research what the preferred way is these days. But, for now, it is fixed. Sorry dark moders.
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My appearance on The Food Blogger Pro Podcast Episode 437
As I mentioned last week on Mastodon, I was invited, along with NerdPress CEO Andrew Wilder, on The Food Blogger Pro Podcast. Here is the episode: It is also, of course, available wherever you get your podcasts. Here are some useful links to the episode in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Overcast. The conversation was wide…
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Diversions #4: Tree branches and LLMs
Diversions is the central hub for news about the membership, behind-the-scenes details of my personal projects, as well as a wide variety of links to people, places, and things that inspire me. A bit of housekeeping: I’m turning Diversions public. While a fair number of people have signed up for both free and paid memberships…
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Craig Mod on shooting film
Craig Mod in Ridgeline Transmission 189 Tōkaidō on Film — People: One of my many todos post-walk has been to dig through the film I shot while walking the Tōkaidō in May. Finally getting to that. To keep things sane, I’ll be batching these photo posts. To start: Here some portraits I took along the…
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Hiding container elements based on the state of the Modified Date block in WordPress using CSS
On my single post template I like to show the date the post was most recently modified to make it clear that it had been edited since it was first published. I also do this on my portfolio entries – which you can see on my Where I series of photographs on the bottom left-hand…
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Going to be near Astoria, Oregon in late Summer? Keith Taylor, who I had a chat with back in April, will have a piece in this year’s Analog Forever exhibit at Lightbox Gallery. Looks like a lovely show.
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Manuel Moreale on “The Browser Company”
Manuel Moreale: It’s called The Browser Company but what they make is a wrapper around the Chromium web browser. So the browser company is making everything but the actual browser. Can you imagine starting a company called “the pizza company” and then outsourcing the pizza part to a 3rd party? So bizarre. These days, they…
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Diversions #3: Gardening, Remodeling a camper, Designing an addition
Diversions is the central hub for news about the membership, behind-the-scenes details of my personal projects, as well as a wide variety of links to people, places, and things that inspire me. Living this far north means that for a quarter of our year we seem to do much less outdoors. The warmer weather brings,…
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Yes, Safari on iPad should be the real Safari
M.G. Siegler, writing on his newish blog Spyglass: the Safari browser on iPad has always behaved more like the Safari browser on iOS versus the version built for Macs. Just yesterday I had to log into Eliza’s Gmail account via Safari on my iPad. The experience was akin to a 2007 web app with no…
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Molly White on building the web we want
Molly White: Nothing about the web has changed that prevents us from going back. If anything, it’s become a lot easier. We can return. Better, yet: we can restore the things we loved about the old web while incorporating the wonderful things that have emerged since, developing even better things as we go forward, and…
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Chicago snaps part 2: A few Tri-X photos from walking around downtown Chicago in mid-March. The worm-like aberrations seen on the images is because I didn’t pay close enough attention to temperature while I developed this roll. Live and learn. See also part 1.
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A conversation with Keith Taylor – Photographer and Printmaker
Keith Taylor is a photographer and printmaker with over 40 years of experience in the darkroom. His personal work includes multiple darkroom mediums including gelatin silver, platinum palladium, and his passion polymer photogravure. In mid-March we hopped on Zoom for a 1-hour conversation. This isn’t an interview. It does not have planned questions. It is…
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Diversions #2: From Chicago to Assateague
Diversions is the central hub for news about the membership, behind-the-scenes details of my personal projects, as well as a wide variety of links to people, places, and things that inspire me. Chitown! I spent a few unseasonably warm days in Chicago on a work trip with the NerdPress team. It was my first time meeting…