Author: Colin Devroe

  • 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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  • Microsoft open sources Windows Calculator

    Microsoft: Today, we’re excited to announce that we are open sourcing Windows Calculator on GitHub under the MIT License. This includes the source code, build system, unit tests, and product roadmap. Our goal is to build an even better user experience in partnership with the community. We are encouraging your fresh perspectives and increased participation…

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  • Testing inconsistent Web Share Target API data with a Progressive Web App

    One of the latest things I’ve been working on for Unmark is turning the app into a Progressive Web App (PWA). Among other benefits, this affords Unmark the capability of being a “Web Share Target” on Android. (Sadly, only Android for now) A Web Share Target is very similar to a feature you likely use…

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  • I’m contemplating a move back to Mac within the next year or so (solely dependent on what Apple hardware and software happens in 2019). But I’d feel like I’m abandoning Windows right when things are improving so much. Inner turmoil.

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  • What I saw this week #57 – February 29, 2019

    Don’t have time to get to all of these links today? No problem. Try Unmark (I’ll send you an invite if you’d like.) Also, there are tons more.

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  • I’ll have more to say soon, but we’re accepting requests for invites to Unmark – an open source to-do app for bookmarks. We’re slowly sending out invitations and are looking for people that collect/share a lot of links and willing to provide feedback.

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  • Joshua Blankenship celebrates 15 years of having a blog

    Joshua Blakenship (dude has a name like a superhero doesn’t he?) on 15 years of blogging and on bringing his personal blog back online: I don’t know much, but I know I miss 2004 web, personal websites, and curation that has nothing to do with algorithms. And maybe you do, too. So here we are,…

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  • The Sony of the PC industry

    Jessica Williams (presumably no relation to whom this post is about) writing for Times News regarding Jeff Williams, COO of Apple, speaking to students and faculty at Elon University , regarding Steve Jobs’ new plan for Apple in the late-90s: Apple would become “the Sony of the PC industry.” It would make computers fashionable, and…

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  • An interview with Ryan Hertel of Socialocca

    I’ve devoted a lot of my time and effort in trying to help local entrepreneurs through advising, attending meetups, and being an active part of the local tech and business communities. I haven’t, however, taken those insights and shared them here on my blog. Nor have I done much to help promote local businesses through…

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  • The Mac is turning less Pro

    skywhopper, on Hacker News, commenting on a thread relating to Mark Gurman’s scoop on Apple’s (supposed) plan to have apps running on iOS and macOS using the same (or, similar) code bases by 2020: And then the Mac is losing what should be its primary audience through unwanted innovations and otherwise stagnant hardware, and a…

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  • Repost: Pete Brown on Medium

    👉 Pete Brown: It is always so disappointing when I discover a site that seem interesting and I want to follow it, and then I find out it is on Medium.

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  • Don’t get clever with login forms

    Brad Frost: As time goes on I find myself increasingly annoyed with login forms. Excellent suggestions for designing simple, usable login forms. I’ve made a note to double-check anything I make with this list.

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  • Shopping for fishing gear. 🎣

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  • Large companies aren’t good homes for beloved services

    (I had no idea what to title this post.) Peter Kafka, reporting for Recode earlier this year, re: Verizon shuttering relatively large services they’ve purchased over the years rather than “bothering” to sell them off (like they did with Flickr): So if Verizon thinks a property with 100 million users is better off dead than…

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  • I’ve been giving Brave a try. I converted some Bitcoin into BAT (Brave’s Attention Token) so that I can “tip” various sites. Interesting model though I can see why the ad replacement technique is controversial (if not downright criminal?). Looking forward to seeing where this evolves.

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  • What I saw this week #55 – February 8, 2018

    I want to be regular with this series. I do. I’ve just been busy. Sorry. Here are some links that you might find interesting. I did.

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  • Sweden’s leave policy

    Maddy Savage, BBC Capital, re: Sweden’s leave policy: For the last two decades, full-time workers with permanent jobs have had the right to take a six-month leave of absence to launch a company (or alternatively, to study or to look after a relative). Bosses can only say no if there are crucial operational reasons they…

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  • There are several single posts in my blog’s archive that get well over 1,000 hits per month. I wish all of these people became subscribers or said just hello.

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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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  • Untitled post 888

    In 2017 I was grateful to receive a guided tour of Scranton Craftsmen – an interesting steel and concrete fabrication business. I learned a lot.

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  • Sunset out the passenger window – January 2019

    Sunset out the passenger window – January 2019

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  • Teams are sleeping on the Sixers.

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  • If I were to make a thing would you like to sign up for a thing? I need beta testers. If you’d like to help send an email to colin [at] cdevroe.com

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  • Licensing my images

    (If I sent you to this page, it is likely because you’re in violation of my license. Please read.) For the last few years my photos have been licensed as attribution only by a simple statement on the bottom of my web page in my footer. My images get stolen, without credit, a lot. Since…

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  • Baremetrics left Medium last year

    Josh Pigford, last year, on leaving Baremetrics leaving Medium: I realized Medium is really great about surfacing content, but it removes the face of it. It neutralizes all content to basically be author-agnostic. It’s like Walmart or Amazon in that you can buy from thousands of different brands, but you rarely actually know what brand…

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  • Noah Read on China

    Noah Read recently visited China. His post has some lovely photos and great first-hand insights. I like this bit: The trade war, debate over the gravity of China’s economic slowdown, currency manipulation, Chinese vs Western interpretations of economic theory, and debt backed development were all in the air in our lectures, company visits, and discussions.…

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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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  • Twitter isn’t going anywhere

    Stephen Hackett, at 512 Pixels: Regardless of all of that, I think it’s clear the leadership at Twitter has no idea what they are doing, and I think the network’s time is ticking away faster than ever. Not to be contrarian but I disagree. Update January 24, 2019: I must have misread Hackett’s post. I…

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  • I remember when software didn’t require an internet connection.

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  • I think I’m starting to miss Mac.

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  • Lately it seems I start my workday with intentions to make progress on a task that I may not actually get to work on at all. I hope to buck this trend next week.

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  • Responses to RSS isn’t dead. Subscribing is alive.

    There were a number of responses to RSS isn’t dead. Subscribing is alive. Partly due to being on Micro.blog Discover and perhaps also due to Brent Simmons linking to it (thanks Brent!). Chris Aldrich: I’ve been enamored of the way that SubToMe has abstracted things to create a one click button typically with a “Follow…

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  • RSS is not dead. Subscribing is alive.

    Sinclair Target, writing for Motherboard: Today, RSS is not dead. But neither is it anywhere near as popular as it once was. This isn’t the first nor the last article to cover the creation of the RSS standard, its rise to relative popularity with Google Reader, and its subsequent fall from popularity. But the big…

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  • Signal v Noise exits Medium

    DHH: These days Medium is focused on their membership offering, though. Trying to aggregate writing from many sources and sell a broad subscription on top of that. And it’s a neat model, and it’s wonderful to see Medium try something different. But it’s not for us, and it’s not for Signal v Noise. SvN was…

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  • Super impressed with Notion so far. I’ve imported my Simplenotes, Trello Boards, spreadsheets, and Pinterest. One tool for all of this. Consider using this link to sign up as I’ll get credit.

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  • Dialog out of beta

    Mike Haynes: We appreciate everyone’s patience as we worked through the development process and look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback. Mike may see the development and launch of Dialog as taking longer than he would have liked, but from where I sit the app has come a long way in a relatively short…

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  • TIL Mark Hamill signs his tweets Mar🐪

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  • What I saw this week #54: January 11, 2019

    Here are a few things that came across my desk this week See more links in this series.

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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 >

  • I’m pretty amazed that the Apple Watch business is already larger than the iPod ever was. However, I do think Series 4 or 5 will need to be another leapfrog product to stay ahead of other watches.

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  • Repost: Anton Peck on blogging in 2019

    👉 Anton Peck on Twitter: Prediction: 2019 will be a noticable shift back to blogging. Social networks may see a slight hit. People have things to say, ideas to write about, stories to share.

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  • The Berthe Morisot exhibit, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia – January 2019

    The Berthe Morisot exhibit, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia – January 2019 Seeing this post from Kottke spurred me to invite my Dad and a friend to quickly drive to Philadelphia to see this exhibit before it closed. I’m very happy that I did. I urge you to look into Berthe Morisot.

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