Diversions #1: I have no business owning this camera
This is the first edition of an all-new series of posts and future email newsletter that will be part of a new membership on my personal website. Diversions is the central hub…
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An aerial comparison of Carbondale, PA in 1948 and 2023
Sometime near 1948 Fiore Cerra took an aerial photograph of Carbondale, Pennsylvania that captured how very different a place it was just 75 years ago or so. I live near Carbondale and…
The first rebuilding blocks
Korczak Ziolkowski wakes up early on a bitter cold winter's morning – the same way he has for several decades – after breakfasting and a few mugs of the hottest coffee his…
Introducing the Favorite Toots WordPress Plugin
One of the primary ways I find new accounts to follow on social media is by eavesdropping on other people's favorites. Many social networks make each account's favorites public but Mastodon does…
My appearance on This Week in WordPress #285
My thanks to Nathan Wrigley for having me as a guest on This Week in WordPress #285. (YouTube/Apple Podcasts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsHdIJzWeiA Show notes There are a few links on the WP Builds website…
ActivityPub will cross the chasm in 2024
In 1991, Geoffrey A. Moore described the challenges of introducing new technology products as Crossing the Chasm. The chasm is this very real gap between the earliest adopters and the early majority…
The greatest productivity hack of all time
The greatest productivity hack of all time is working less. Slack recently published new research into desk worker productivity. It is a worthy read – however, it sheds light on something that…
Hello Hubbub – I’m joining NerdPress
After a few extremely busy weeks full of rewarding and fast paced work, I’m happy to announce that I’m joining NerdPress as Senior Product Manager. We’ve acquired Grow Social from Mediavine, renamed…
On ad blocking
I do not intentionally block ads. I do, however, intentionally block ad tracking. And I think this distinction is important. This morning I read Manuel Moreale's recent post On Ad Blockers wherein…
Photos from Chisholm Vineyards in Feburary 2020
For many years now Eliza and I have preferred to slow down and take our time on road trips rather than feeling rushed to get to our destination. We like to visit…
Colin Walker on what he gets from blogging
Colin Walker, on his personal blog (which is looking sharp as ever) about what he gets from blogging in public: "I feel compelled to write, to share, and there is an intense…
My less than typical day
In January 2021 I posted my typical day which resulted in some fun people following suit on their own blogs. Lately, my typical day is less than typical. I've been on a…
Talkers and writers
Mandy Brown, on two modes of thinking and how we should all try to practice both to be useful to our colleagues: "Talkers need to recognize that not everyone loves to think…
How to fix the web
Robin Rendle published Why are websites embarrasing? wherein he laments the state of design and accessibility on the web. But, he's hopeful. "I do truly believe that a website can be as…
Dear Arc
As an avid Safari fanatic, I’m reluctant to dive into a new browser backed by any company with a business model I find… elusive. I’ve been giving Arc a spin every few…
Reducing my personal hosting complexity
Have you ever put off a task because you felt like it would take you far too long so you just procrastinate and simply never get it done? I do this all…
Static first
In the early days of the modern web – say, the mid-1990s through the mid-00s – my personal website was served statically. It was built with plain HTML (CSS didn’t exist at…
Apple Vision Pro is exactly what I hoped for
I am very happy. For many years I've wanted a computing experience that resembles precisely what Apple announced at WWDC just a few short weeks ago. In 2019 I wrote "I want…
Will Apple’s headset enhance productivity?
I’ve written several times about mixed reality experiences over the last 6 or 7 years here on my blog. I recently went back and looked at some of those posts and so…
Making Tuff improvements
My approach to building Tuff, my static site generator that I began working on last November, was to jump in as quickly as possible by publishing my personal website publicly very early…
Humane Leap of faith
John Gruber on Humane's recent demo at TED: "So far, it feels like Humane’s entire premise is founded on that same mistake: building a new device intended to replace our phones, without…
How I’m using ChatGPT as an accelerator
Over the last few weeks I’ve begun using the recent crop of AI-powered services in my daily work and I’ve found them to be an enormous boost to my productivity and fun…
Using Wavelength to chat with darkroom printers
Update July 1, 2024: Wavelength is shutting down July 31, 2024. For the past few days I've been testing out Wavelength – a group messaging app that is currently only available on…
What I saw somewhat recently #100: March 23, 2023
Wind, stirs the dust This is it. The final WIS link list post. This series of posts has spanned 10 years. I'm happy that I published 99 lists of links and that…
Doubling down on Mastodon
The ease of Ivory on Mastodon has me sharing a lot more than I had been over the last few years. Ivory is on my phone, tablet, and my laptop. It is…
Will my next Mac be my last Mac?
Perhaps you’ve had this experience… you walk into a place of business and see the computer and software they use to do their scheduling, billing, and ordering and you notice they are…
Simon Reynolds on blogging
Simon Reynolds, in December, marking the 20th anniversary of Blissblog: I honestly can't see that anyone has invented a better format than the blog, at least for what I want to do….
How to help Mastodon
There have been several waves of activity on Mastodon since I signed up in 2017. Those waves have increased in frequency and intensity. Admittedly, while I did put in some effort early…
What I saw somewhat recently #99: January 19, 2023
This antique store was… different This is the penultimate WIS link list. The final list, number 100, shall reprise all previous link lists and come sometime in February. I'm looking forward to…
Revisiting Simon Collison’s Farewell to Twitter
A very dead bird, October 2010, Plymouth, Mass. iPhone 4 Last night I revisited Simon Collison's post from early December 2022 Farewell, Twitter. I had read it shortly after he published it…