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
In February of this year I completely cleared out the accounts I follow on Twitter, moved those I wanted to continue following into a bunch of lists, and started over. Why? Because I wanted new perspectives. Today, I'm doing it again. So if you see me follow you or unfollow you it is more than likely because I'm…
A must-read from Alex Payne, Bitcoin, Magical Thinking, and Political Ideology. Here is what he says is the general view of Bitcoin among many (including me): Most charitably, Bitcoin is regarded as a flawed but nonetheless worthwhile experiment, one that has unfortunately attracted outsized attention and investment before correcting any number of glaring security issues. There is an awful lot…
Why is it so quiet when it snows? Duncan Geere writes about exactly that in The silence of snowfall. I recall one of my high school teachers saying "I've never heard something so loud as the silence that happens during a snowstorm." Silence can be deafening. When I was younger I'd spend countless hours outdoors, in the woods,…
Flowhub is "peer-to-peer full-stack visual programming for your fingers". In other words, you can build applications and services by tapping and dragging and pinching rather than by typing and typing and typing. Pretty cool stuff. The idea of building applications using a workflow-based graph isn't new. From Bret Victor's "The Future of Programming" at this years DBX came…
If you could have anything (whether or not it actually exists does not matter) what would it be? Dustin Curtis wrote up some of the things he'd like and a few of them are great. Such as, a device that would detect cancer, a pill that would limit caloric intake daily, and an always on, use anywhere Internet…
The Public Domain Review is "a not-for-profit project dedicated to showcasing the most interesting and unusual out-of-copyright works available online." You'll have to excuse me while I catch up on the last hundred years or so.
The war for our attention rages on. Allow me to propose a timeline for how Instagram Direct, a feature inside of Instagram 5.0 that allows users to share photos with one or many people rather than with all of Instagram, more than likely came to be: Snapchat becomes a leading photo-sharing service. Snapchat turns down a ~$3B+ acquisition…
There is a bunch of news outlets saying that Spotify has now made streaming music free on mobile devices but that isn't exactly accurate. Until this most recent announcement non-premium Spotify users could use Spotify Radio for free on their mobile devices. Spotify Radio worked like this; a user chooses a song or artist and then starts a pseudo-radio-station…
Just when you thought there wasn't any room for improvement on the umbrella comes UnBRELLA from designer Hiroshi Kajimoto who spent a decade on the redesign. Spoon & Tamago: Why exactly would you want to invert an umbrella? When you jump on a crowded train after escaping a downpour your dripping wet umbrella usually brushes up against your bag,…
Shawn Blanc's The Sweet Setup continues to prove its worth. This time Steven Owens sticks his neck out to say that Paprika is simply the best recipe manager for iPhone, iPad and Mac. To put it simply, Paprika provides all the features you need to be an organized and effective home cook. Paprika also works great for casual…
This Tumblog is making the rounds; After iOS 7 icons. Essentially it is a gallery of app icons showing what they looked like before and after their iOS 7 updates. I know many have said that the aesthetic of iOS 7 is stripping the personality of apps and they may be right. But I think what we'll end up…
Shawn Blanc has had both the iPad Air and iPad Mini for three weeks. He goes through and tries to answer all of the questions anyone could possibly have if they are considering a new iPad and simply can't choose between the two. One of two things will have to happen before I get a new iPad; my…
Jessica Lessin, ex-WSJ reporter, has launched The Information after collaboratively reporting via her own WordPress-powered personal blog for several months. Why? She writes. Technology news needs a reboot. There are more stories and outlets than ever, but a troubling cycle is playing out: The race for pageviews and ad dollars is causing publications to focus on quantity over quality. Coverage is…
Ryan Tate, for Wired's piece on Foursquare: Whether the new Foursquare is as useful to the general public as it has been for its initial testers remains to be seen. But in the wake of last week’s launch, Crowley is still aiming for his magic number: 100 million users. Kyle Ruane and I were talking about this while…
So there is a planet that is so far away from its host Star that it has astronomers rethinking the very way that solar systems are formed. It has been dubbed HD 106906 b. Wikipedia: On December 4, 2013, University of Arizona graduate student Vanessa Bailey, leader of an international team of astronomers, detailed the discovery of the…
Madhur Dutta declares Riposte the best App.net client for iPhone on The Sweet Setup: At first glance, both Felix and Riposte pack quite a punch. But after testing both the apps thoroughly, I believe Riposte definitely has more to offer. It is significanly easier to use (the learning curve for Felix is quite high), it offers some unique…
It seems a few restaurant chains have begun using tablets instead of waiters for ordering your drinks and food and for accepting your payment. Ben Brooks: I am all for this, in fact I would pay more to not have to interact with servers — instead getting a tablet. In our team chat some of us were for…
Instant classic. If you've ever read the Richard Stallman rider then you'll know that Stallman is a man that may not have much of a sense of humor. I doubt he'll like this. /via The Loop.
On App.net I asked if anyone had a podcast that I could be a guest on. And, wouldn't you know it Noah Read had one and graciously invited me to be a guest on The Way Station. We had a nice, relaxed, geeky chat about my career, about Plain and Barley, and a bit about Star Wars of…
Chris Gonzales answers Shawn Blanc's question about working remotely on Twitter in longform on his blog. I'm glad he did. The funny thing I've noticed is that it seems like each pro is also its own con. I worked at home, both remotely and for myself, for about 10 years of my career. Gonzales hits it right on….
Jim Wang, blogger and investor in my company Plain, recently published a great blog post asking 78 bloggers, yes 78 bloggers, what they would tell someone who is just starting out. Before I give my answer (Jim didn't ask me but I love blogging so I will answer it anyway) I'd like to highlight two answers I liked…
Chris Lema is writing about generosity every day on his blog for all of December. He's half way through the first week. Here is a quick recap of what he's covered so far. The Opposite of Generosity: We just don’t always feel rich. And I get that. Bills come in. We have to choose which one we’ll pay….
Jason Schuller has started an email newsletter for creative people called Creatively. It is full of great links from inspiring sites, applications, articles, and videos. I was really proud to have my post Why you should applaud when people make things featured in Issue No. 5. Thanks Jason. I suggest subscribing.
The Barley team had the opportunity to sponsor the beer and pizza for a WordPress Meet up in Sydney, Australia earlier in the week. It was about 36 hours before we officially debuted Barley for WordPress to the public. Photo by Will Brown. The above photo is those attending the WordPress Meetup watching a special video we sent…