Blog
Writing helps me think more clearly. This archive is longer posts; quick updates now live in notes.
Topics: AI, blogging, photography, programming, projects, Signboard
Recorded September 10, 2017 Starting with this audio bit I'm making a few changes. I'm ditching the episode numbers. My audio bits are not a podcast, they aren't really episodes, and keeping track of the numbers is just more work. I will, however, denote in the title that this is an audio post. I'm also switching to the…
Jack Baty on his rather handsome looking new blog: Would you all please just start a blog? I don’t care which platform you choose. Pick one and publish. Cross-post or don’t. Implement Webmentions or don’t. Allow comments or don’t. Tweak the design to within an inch of its life or don’t. Publish long posts or short, it doesn’t…
👉 Emily Lakdawalla on The Planetary Society blog: The fact that both Voyager spacecraft are still functioning and doing science, 40 years after their launches, is reason for optimism. We can build robust, adaptable machines capable of surviving unpredicted storms and responding to new discoveries. We can build them, launch them, and stably operate them for four decades, and…
David Nield on Gizmodo: Whether you’ve never heard of it before or you’ve abandoned it for pastures new, here’s why you should be using RSS for your news instead of social media. I've used RSS since it was released and feed readers began to appear and I don't see a future of the web without RSS. So if…
Chris Lovie-Tyler, from the other side of our planet: After reading a handful of Colin Devroe’s posts (links at the bottom), I’ve made a few decisions. I'm glad my posts, in which I was just thinking out loud and forming my own opinions on these matters, helped him to form his. I believe everyone should do whatever is…
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 in order to…
Rian Johnson in The New York Times: It’s in the opening crawl of “The Force Awakens.” Luke Skywalker, right now, is the last Jedi. There’s always wiggle room in these movies — everything is from a certain point of view — but coming into our story, he is the actual last of the Jedi. And he’s removed himself…
👉 Noah Read: Heard the news about SW IX director. After seeing how Disney handled Rogue One’s director and the results I’m optimistic. They seem to be good stewards, with the humility to make changes when necessary. See also.
Center for NEO Studies PR on Astronomy Now: Radar images of asteroid 3122 Florence obtained at the 70-metre antenna at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex between August 29 and September 1 have revealed that the asteroid has two small moons, and also confirmed that main asteroid Florence is about 4.5 km (2.8 miles) in size. Florence is…
Tom Warren for The Verge: Microsoft’s Surface chief will hold a keynote speech in London at the end of October. The software giant is holding its annual Future Decoded event in London from October 31st to November 1st, and Microsoft revealed to The Verge today that Panos Panay will be speaking. Microsoft typically launches new Surface devices in…
Earlier this week I rewatched Star Wars Episode VII. It is really great. Most of the criticisms of the film do not hold up well. It is fun, engaging the entire time, and the actors are perfect. And the film fits in perfectly with the other 3 originals. One thing I'm surprised about, and was reminded of while…
Recorded on August 23 2017. A quickly captured audio bit while walking to get a coffee the day after launching Summit's public beta. Download MP3.
Bryan Bishop reporting for The Verge: Lucasfilm’s creative process has been a bit of a mess lately. Rogue One had to undergo extensive reshoots before release, and earlier this year producer Kathleen Kennedy took the extraordinary step of firing directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller of the standalone Han Solo film just two weeks before the end of…
Just off Old Mining Road 3, Archbald, PA – June 2017 I haven't been on a proper hike since July 29 and I'm starting to get the itch.
Hooray! Colin Walker: Colin Devroe's post was the tipping point (I told you his points were compelling) and I decided it was time to get over myself and look at opening things up again. This is the post Walker is referring to. You can read his follow-up as well. Like me, Walker has opened up comments on his…
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 it belong?" will…
East coasters keep your lunchtime open on Tuesday as NASA is celebrating Voyager's 40th Anniversary. Check out this description from APOD: Launched in 1977 on a tour of the outer planets of the Solar System, Voyager 1 and 2 have become the longest operating and most distant spacecraft from Earth. Nearly 16 light-hours from the Sun, Voyager 2…
In this video Tom Warren of The Verge uses some mixed reality headsets for Windows. Watching them I'm reminded just how far this industry has to go. I'd call much of what I see in this video very much beta-level hardware and software. It has only been 5 months since I wrote the aforelinked piece and we've seen…
Morning on Penn Avenue, Scranton, PA – August 2017
Jack Baty: Almost lost me in the first 15 minutes. Way too silly for its own good. Felt to me like they took what they thought made the first film successful and just cranked up those bits. I enjoyed the middle portion, so stuck with it. If I had written a review, this would be it.
👉 Saron Yitbarek on Twitter: A lot of amazing people don't speak at conferences because they think speaking requires being an expert. It doesn't. At all.
_DavidSmith: I’ve been steadily working on Pedometer++ now for nearly four years. Over that time the core conceit of the app has remained the same, to motivate you to be more active. It has done this with colors, confetti, complications and streaks. Now I’ve added another tool to hopefully motivate, achievements! Pedometer++ continues to be my favorite step…
I miss my iPhone SE. Everything I ever wrote about it here on my blog was awash with my overwhelming love of the device. I still believe it is the best phone Apple has made to date. The only reason I use an iPhone 7 Plus is the camera. I said I wouldn’t switch from the iPhone SE…
Bank Towers, Scranton, PA – August 2017