Author: Colin Devroe
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Riva-Melissa Tez on making things
Riva-Melissa Tez, who recently joined Intel, on making things: Lastly, one of my concerns of our generation is that we’re talking too much and not building enough, partially spurred on by the immediate reward mechanisms of social media. We seem to think we can all invest in or inspire hypothetical others into building the futures…
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Those who share, receive (or, how to get noticed or get work)
I touched on this topic in 2017 in How do you get work?. But let me just pull one sentence from that post: The clear way to get work is to share work. The same thing goes for getting “noticed” if that is something you want or need. You have to put things out into…
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Windows 10 May 2019 update brings better Windows Update
Zac Bowden, writing for Windows Central: Windows Update received some pretty significant upgrades with the May 2019 Update, and it’s good news for users. Microsoft is backing off its heavy-handedness when it comes to forcing updates onto users. Starting this month, users will no longer be forced to install new feature updates unless they explicitly…
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Yesterday’s catch. Went for a hike with my nephews and I needed to keep my cool Uncle status intact so I caught this snapping turtle. Photo credit: Ethan.
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Gjáin, Stangarvegur, Iceland – September 2018
Gjáin, Stangarvegur, Iceland – September, 2018 Earth’s history is written within it.
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You can now follow any blog on Micro.blog
Neat feature from Micro.blog. Here is Manton Reece, from his personal blog, on the new feature: You can now follow blogs in the Micro.blog timeline, even if the blogger hasn’t yet registered on Micro.blog. Manton describes this feature as another type of “username”. I understand why he’s framing it that way but I’m unsure if…
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Taughannock Falls, Trumansburg, New York – May 2019
Taughannock Falls, Trumansburg, New York – May 2019 Had a nice weekend up north in an Airbnb with friends along the western shoreline of Cayuga Lake. The falls were running well with the spring rains.
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Repost: Simon Woods on silos
👉 Simon Woods: The line between “I hate these silos and everything they represent” and “I like being part of the conversation with big groups and value the space where everybody can be found” continues to be a line upon which I stare. Ugh. This is at the core of my neuroticism.
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South Branch Tunkhannock Creek – April 2019
South Branch Tunkhannock Creek – April 2019 Had a lovely time fishing here recently while the sun set at my back.
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My favorite video on YouTube so far this year
The Creek, by Rolf Nylinder is my favorite video on YouTube so far this year. The techniques and tools are all invisible lending way to only the story. I try to explain this to those whose videos I respect but that could be improved. So typically on YouTube it is about the gear. The drone…
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Bokeh: Private, independent, and user-funded photo sharing
Timothy Smith, on trying to promote his Kickstarter for Bokeh: I hate doing this type of stuff, but I feel like this idea is so important it’d be foolish of me not to try. Even if this Kickstarter ends up being unsuccessful, I won’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t do everything…
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Microsoft releases WSL 2
Lots of Microsoft developer related announcements over the last few days. Since I use WSL every single day I am really looking forward to this WSL 2 release. Initial tests that we’ve run have WSL 2 running up to 20x faster compared to WSL 1 when unpacking a zipped tarball, and around 2-5x faster when…
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I’m giving Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Edge Insider browser a week of being my default. Immediately miss Firefox’s Containers feature. It may be a feature I simply can’t live without.
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Hubble’s Legacy Field
I don’t cover space nearly enough here on my blog. I miss the days of writing Space Bits with my friend Yaron Schoen. Sometimes announcements of new images of our vast Universe just seem to float by with the deluge of information we’re bombarded with every single day. However, I figured this new image from…
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My questions for WWDC 2019
I am looking forward to this year’s WWDC more than I have in the last 4 or 5 years. There is so much riding on this conference for my personal productivity but also for the Mac and iPad platforms as a whole. Here are a few reasons why and I’ll follow with a few questions…
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Apple needs to replace the keyboard on all MacBooks this year
John Gruber: Even if they ship a truly new, reliable keyboard this summer (which I think they will, because if they don’t, it means they’re in deep denial of a huge problem), how long will it take for that new keyboard to roll out across the entire MacBook line? Even if Apple is on the…
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Overcast adds clip sharing
Marco Arment: With today’s 2019.4 update, you can now share audio or video clips, up to a minute each, from any public podcast. Simply tap the share button in the upper-right corner. This is an excellent feature. Though I’m currently on Android and using Pocket Casts (which is very good as well) I figured I’d…
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For the record, I would buy a foldable device.
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I’m calling it, Satya Nadella is Microsoft’s best CEO ever
Me, in September 2017: I have the feeling we’re going to look back at Nadella as one of the best CEOs in the history of tech. We’ll see how this bold prediction pans out but I’m ready to call Satya Nadella the best CEO in Microsoft’s history. Microsoft reported a record-setting Q1. They are killing…
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Paddle boarders on Shark River, Belmar, New Jersey – July 2017
Paddle boarders on Shark River, Belmar, New Jersey – July 2017
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Tesla’s self-driving fleet of Robotaxis
Fred Lambert, writing for Electrek: As part of Tesla’s presentations about their progress toward full self-driving, the automaker unveiled its ‘Robotaxi’ plan for a self-driving ride-sharing network with its electric cars to be activated as soon as next year with an over-the-air software update. I called this in my prediction time capsule back in 2017.…
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Xamarin videos, now on YouTube
Me, 17-minutes into an audio bit in 2017 (paraphrasing): If you go onto YouTube search for a problem you’re having for Xcode and Swift you’ll find 15 well-produced videos to solve your problem. […] But you won’t find 15 well-produced videos with Visual Studio + C# (or Xamarin). For the last few years I’ve thought…
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My interpretations of announcements by Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter
Apple pre-announcing something: “We’re excited to get this in customer’s hands late next year”. My interpretation: “We never pre-announce things. Why are we doing this? We’re terrible at it. In fact, we make fun of other companies for doing it! Steve Jobs would never allow this! (mostly) We must be doing this because some group…
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Repost: Brent Simmons on RSS readers
👉 Brent Simmons: Any time someone writes that they “still use an RSS reader,” I think to myself: I still use a web browser. I still use email and still send text messages. I still make sentences out of words. I still wear shoes. No need for the “still” word. See other reposts.
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On blog search engines
Brent Simmons has been reminiscing about blog search engines and writing down some ideas for how one could be made today. Something he wrote sparked a memory. Instead of having it crawl blogs, I’d have it download and index RSS feeds. This should be cheaper than crawling pages, and it ensures that it skips indexing…
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Chris Coleman breaks down The Rise of Skywalker teaser trailer
Chris Coleman, on precedent for Darth Sidious making an appearance in Episode IX: That doesn’t mean that Dark Side users are completely out of luck. The Dark Side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. There are at least two recent examples where followers of the Dark Side were able to…
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My happy place lately. Learning to fish is more nuanced than first glance but I’ve been enjoying every frustrating lesson.
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Darice de Cuba, Real talk about inclusiveness
Darice de Cuba, who recently wrote about inclusiveness in design, has now been interviewed by my former workmate at 9rules Matthew Oliphant about inclusiveness in the real world. She writes on her blog: The interview is very casual, we talk about real life examples and how to get people and companies to be more inclusive.…
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Chris Coleman brings Boba Fett’s Liar back
Chris Coleman, writing about a site he built in the 90s on GeoCities: I still have two more or less complete versions of the site, along with lots of spare parts from earlier iterations. Today I’m sharing the 1998 and 1999 designs of the site. The content isn’t significantly different between the two, but each…
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Happy Tools
Happy Tools: Distributed teams, changing business needs, and complex dynamics are redefining the workday. Happy Tools makes it possible for your office to run smoothly, no matter what it looks like or who makes it go. A suite of tools specifically built for the remote team by Automattic, a completely distributed company. I’d be very…
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Indie web question: Any recommendations for a better WordPress plugin for sending webmentions? I’m using the Webmention plugin but it doesn’t seem to send a comprehensive webmention. See this. Or, am I doing something incorrectly?
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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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I love watching YouTube videos to learn from people that have thousands of hours more experience than I do. I often find it isn’t what they are saying or explaining that I learn from the most – it is from watching what they are doing.
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Early observations from the first times fishing in 2019
I wish I had kept a fishing diary. I didn’t. But I might start. Either way, here are some quick observations before they leave my memory:
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Thoughts on Apple’s March 2019 Media Event
I’m writing this for posterity’s sake. For my own recollection. So please feel free to skip the reading of this post. I can’t imagine the amount of money or resources Apple has invested to get to the point where they were able to announce all of those services in a single day.
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Boring is good in software development
I use the term “boring” here to describe that which isn’t brand new. Sometimes we’re only excited about the new. The new car! The new house! Rather than being content with what we have, because it works or is paid off or we’re familiar with every nook and cranny, we sometimes can get wrapped up…
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Chris Coleman returns
Chris Coleman, on his 17-year-old and recently unearthed personal blog: I want my platform back. I don’t want algorithms or the cacophony to drown it out. If nobody’s going to see what I write, it’s going to be on my terms. Chris was vital part of my career though he likely doesn’t know it. The…
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The money problem with open source
Jerod Santo: I do believe there’s a money problem in open source. If you listen to our shows you know I believe that. It’s just that in open source that problem doesn’t manifest until much later in the process. It waits until the software has matured, the value has been proven, the community has been…
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What I saw this week #58: March 22, 2019
Here are some things I’ve seen recently:
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Black Dirt Region, New York – April 2017
Black Dirt Region, New York – April 2017 The bottom of an ancient glacial lake, this region’s soil is jet black. Gorgeous area.
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Firefox 66
There is a lot to love about Firefox lately (especially the last 20 or so releases) and 66 is no different. Dan Thorp-Lancaster for Windows Central: Firefox version 66 includes support for Windows Hello for web authentication, allowing you to log in to websites that support the latest FIDO2 standards for passwordless logins. Very cool…
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Apple’s position in this Spotify spat doesn’t seem very secure. They immediately attack Spotify’s character rather than the specific accusations? I was hoping this would move the needle. I don’t think it is going to unless Apple is forced.
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Carbondale, Pennsylvania – April 2017
Carbondale, Pennsylvania – April 2017
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What developers sound like to non-developers
No matter your profession, industry jargon can quickly become laden with acronyms, buzz-words, and other gibberish. I was reminded of this today when I read the abstract from this scientific paper re: mammoth cells showing some signs of activity in mouse cells. The 28,000-year-old remains of a woolly mammoth, named ‘Yuka’, were found in Siberian…
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Spotify takes Apple to court in the EU
Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify: It’s why, after careful consideration, Spotify has filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission (EC), the regulatory body responsible for keeping competition fair and nondiscriminatory. Good. After reading through his post and their website – especially if it all is true – they have quite a good case.…
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My photo in the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau Spring Visitors Guide
I’m always pleased when my photos can be put to good use. It is why I license my photos the way that I do. A few months ago the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau reached out and asked if they could use one of my photos (with credit) in their Spring Visitors Guide. Complete with credit…
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Teams that build products for multiple platforms (web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux) should consider switching their browsers/platform choice each year if possible. It can be eye opening.
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How to use DuckDuckGo
Brett Terpstra: The search syntax is very similar to Google’s, so if you’re familiar with that you won’t need to learn much. Obviously you can just search a bunch of words, but there are a few additional syntaxes you can use to refine results. Duck.com (as I like to call it now) is my search…