Author: Colin Devroe
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Things about the iPhone 11 Pro that weren’t mentioned in the Keynote
…or, if they were mentioned, they were mentioned only briefly, but I found them to be intriguing. I’ll be pouring over these specs and comparing them to the Google Pixel 4 when it is released before making my final decision. But overall, I’d say this is a very solid update to iPhone.
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Wishes for today’s Apple Event
In my Pixel 4 wish list I may have overstated my current position on my choosing Android or iOS in my next phone. I wrote: As my time to upgrade my phone comes around of course I’m left with a choice to go back to iOS or stick with Android. I’m sticking with Android. I
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Audio: Everyone should have a podcast?
I think it is better said; Everyone should be able to have a podcast. Links:
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PowerToys for Windows 10
Windows PowerToys is back! And, it is open source. Brandon LeBlanc: PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. Inspired by the Windows 95 era PowerToys project, this reboot provides power users with utilities to squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and
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Rickett’s Glen Falls Trail – September 2019
Rickett’s Glen Falls Trail – September 2019
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Andy Sylvester on making blogging a priority
Andy Sylvester: The other important part of the habit was making it a priority (I tried writing at lunch before, but ran out of time after web surfing, so I changed the order and – voila – I was able to write!). Writing first works for Andy. It also works for others like Fred Wilson
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Supporting OS-level Dark Mode preference using only CSS
My blog’s theme is based on Davis by Anders Norén. I’ve been using it for a while, making small tweaks here and there for my images index and other things. It has a dark theme built-in that I can toggle on and off. But it is an either/or type of thing. I can either have
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Another bad reason not to blog \”I’m not a web developer\”
Jamie Tanna, in a post about why everyone should have a web site, and it isn’t that you have to be a web developer: Having a website and/or blog is not about being a web developer, nor about being a celebrity of sorts, but is about being a citizen of the Web. Read the entire
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American Herring Gull, Connecticut – August 2019
American Herring Gull, Connecticut – August 2019
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Repost: Adam Tinworth on blogging
👉 Adam Tinworth: In an age where the shortness and speed of content, of hot takes and clickbait, there’s still a role for slower, more considered writing. And that’s why I carry on blogging.
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Bad reasons not to blog
There are a lot of bad reasons not to blog. Here are a few of them and why they are bad. Update: See “I’m not a web developer”. If you have any desire at all to have a blog and have ever thought that any of the above bad reasons should stop you – please
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Jake Dahn returns to blogging
Jake Dahn, who co-authored a blog called Waking Ideas with Danny Nicolas over 10 years ago: I’ll write some thoughts in another post about why I’m getting back into blogging. But for now I wanted to say thanks to Danny and Colin who both inspired me to take the leap and to start hitting publish.
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My personal data sharing policy
I’ve been online since 1994. I’ve shared a lot of information here on my blog, through various social networks, and to different services like Google Maps, Untappd, and many others. That information has often included location, photos, audio and video. For decades I thought nothing of sharing my current location online. I used check-in services
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Finally watching Parts Unknown Season 9. Couldn’t to do so before today.
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Sickler’s Pond to Elk Hill – August 2019
Sickler’s Pond to Elk Hill – August 2019 I still have a lot to learn about manually creating HDR images using my drone. This was my first attempt. You’ll notice the sky and foreground are both properly exposed. A nice technique to have when needed.
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Today Eliza and I have been married for 20 years! ♥
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Brendan Dawes on Adobe
Brendan Dawes: After twenty three years of using Adobe products in a professional capacity, I’ve now moved away from them as a company as I find there subscription model not something I can partake in, especially when they can suddenly decide to switch off older versions of the CS suite, making those programs you might
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Me, 1994: The Internet seems interesting. I wish it were 100x faster. 2004: The Internet has everything! I wish it were 50x faster. 2014: The Internet is everywhere! I wish it were 10x faster. Me, 2024: The Internet ruined humanity. I wish it were just a little faster.
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What I saw this week #59: August 23, 2019
At this point, the WISTW posts are woefully inaccurately titled and inconsistent in their schedule. The following are a few things I’ve seen recently that you may enjoy – but were certainly not just from this week. Now, to think about what to rename this series of occasional links.
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Popeyes chicken sandwich
Want to hear something weird? Last Friday Eliza and I went to New Jersey and had to grab a bite to eat in the late-afternoon. We stopped at a Popeyes in Wayne, NJ – it was on the way, and neither of us had ever had it – and we both ordered the Spicy Chicken
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Audio: My armchair analysis of Automattic acquiring Tumblr
Date recorded: August 19, 2019 Yesterday while driving (sorry for the audio quality) I recorded a quick audio bit to distill my thoughts on why Automattic acquired Tumblr. Short-version: Automattic sees Tumblr as an entry point for new WordPress.com customers – especially youth. For someone to go from idea to full commerce or publishing success
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Animating Seljalandsfoss in Iceland
The above animation, created with Pixaloop on Android, is from a photo by Eliza while we were in Iceland. That’s me in the bottom right, shooting my own images of Seljalandsfoss.
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Connecticut weekend vibes – August 2019
Connecticut weekend vibes – August 2019 Eliza and I enjoyed a gorgeous weekend in Connecticut this weekend with my sister and her family.
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My answers to my askATP question
I’ve recently started listening to ATP. I’m enjoying the three hosts slightly different takes on things. Somehow they each have just enough of a different perspective to make their conversations – and particularly their angst – entertaining. I sent in a question and on their most recent episode they graciously spent a considerable amount of
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Aquaman 👎👎
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Matt Mullenweg on how Verizon handled the Tumblr sale
Matt Mullenweg, stressing the more important aspects of the Tumblr sale: First, they chose to find a new home for Tumblr instead of shutting it down. Second, they considered not just how much cash they would get on day one, but also — and especially — what would happen to the team afterward, and how
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Chris Stapleton, Bethel Woods, New York – July 2019
Chris Stapleton, Bethel Woods, New York – July 2019 Eliza and I had the opportunity to see Chris Stapleton at the infamous Woodstock grounds. Though not a fan of country, per se, he was amazing.
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Automattic acquires Tumblr
Matt Mullenweg, on this Tumblog: When the possibility to join forces became concrete, it felt like a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have two beloved platforms work alongside each other to build a better, more open, more inclusive – and, frankly, more fun web. I knew we had to do it. Let’s get a few things out
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NetNewsWire public beta
Brent Simmons: NetNewsWire has reached public beta! It only took like five years. 🙂 Pre-Twitter, NetNewsWire was the app I opened first in the morning to catch up on the day. In fact, I said so on a cool November morning on this very blog in 2005. If you’re on a Mac, and have any
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The Square in Scranton – June 2018
The Square in Scranton – June 2018 An alternate view of the courthouse in Scranton. The building on the far side of the square was my old office building from 2014-2017 or so.
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Chris Hannah on blogging
Chris Hannah: If you are trying to start a blog, then the best advice is to just start writing, and then press publish. Sure, it might not be the best content you’ll ever produce, but it’s something. Then with the experience of writing and publishing that post, the next one will be slightly better. I
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Mike Davidson on working remotely
Mike Davidson: First, let’s dispense with the easy part: despite what you may read on Twitter, remote work is neither the greatest thing in the world nor the worst. We are not moving to a world where offices go completely away, nor are we going through some sort of phase where remote work will eventually
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Google Pixel 4 wishlist
Yes, I know there have been leaks galore regarding the Google Pixel 4. While I’ve seen the leaks I haven’t paid much attention to them. I’ve tried to ignore them so that I could be at least a little surprised when it is announced. I currently have the Google Pixel 2 XL. I’ve had it
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Raymondskill Falls – July 2019
Raymondskill Falls – July 2019 These loud falls run into the Delaware between Pennsylvania and New Jersey just outside of Milford, PA.
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Repost: David Hobby on meeting new people
👉 David Hobby on Twitter: Takeaway: proceed on the assumption that every new person that you meet carries with them the ability to change your future in a significant way—or connect you the someone else who will.
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Cicada Killer – July 2019
Cicada Killer – July 2019 For the last three years I’ve hiked 3 miles to the nesting grounds of these giant wasps. Amazing insects. (Listen to audio from 2017)
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iOS creates a competition hostile environment
Below is a screenshot of the sheet you see on YouTube for iOS when tapping on a link in a video’s description. They invoke this custom sheet because, like Google, Apple has created iOS to be competition hostile to other browser vendors like Mozilla, Opera, Microsoft, etc. Tapping on a link should open your default
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Great ad for Hipcamp. The video is already 4 years old but I only just saw it this morning.
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Butterfly – July 2019
Butterfly – July 2019 Went for a hike last night to see the digger wasps again. The fields were full of butterflies.
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Just figured out that Libby, the app I use to get books/audiobooks free from our local library, syncs across devices. So I’ll be able to keep my current reading pace a bit easier now.
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Craig Mod on the speed of nvALT
Craig Mod, in an essay that has been linked by just about every blog I’m subscribed to: One of my most used, most speedy pieces of software is nvALT.1 It’s an oddly named, very bland application. Just a database of plain text files with a plain text editor bolted on. But it’s fast. The fastest
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Pruned my Twitter Lists this morning. I like to shake the box periodically. I want to be sure I do not create an echo chamber for myself. I do the same for RSS feed subscriptions.
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Jonnie Hallman on burn out
Jonnie Hallman, who created Cushion and a bunch of cool stuff you’ve probably seen, burned out building his start up: Then, on Cushion’s 5-year anniversary, I experienced my first panic attack. Read his post for the full story. But the entire post resonates so much with me because with Plain I (and Kyle, my co-founder)
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Finished my first ever Sherlock Holmes book — The Hound of Baskervilles. A fun read. The attention to detail is hilarious. I will likely read another in a few months. Recommendations welcome. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Microsoft invests $1B in OpenAI
Microsoft on the investment of a cool $1B in OpenAI: The companies will focus on building a computational platform in Azure of unprecedented scale, which will train and run increasingly advanced AI models, include hardware technologies that build on Microsoft’s supercomputing technology, and adhere to the two companies’ shared principles on ethics and trust. This
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Fisherman, Lackawanna State Park – July 2019
Fisherman, Lackawanna State Park – July 2019 “I once saw a pelican out here.”
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On a Microsoft Surface Phone
Zac Bowden: It’s fair to say that in 2019, Microsoft is “all-in” on the Android platform thanks to its efforts like the Microsoft Launcher, Edge, and Office, all first-class experiences on Android smartphones around the world. I’m glad Bowden wrote this post. I’ve been wanting to. Longtime readers of my blog will know that I
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Hudson Valley Balloon Festival, Rhinebeck, New York – July 2019
Hudson Valley Balloon Festival, Rhinebeck, New York – July 2019 A beautiful day in New York to watch these things float away.
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Eliza, sunset – September 2018
Eliza, sunset – September 2018 I remember this as a gorgeous early fall evening with Eliza and friends.
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I haven’t been blogging as much. Spending a lot of free time fishing. And that is totally OK.