Prem Nawaz Khan on Twitter: "Good websites for people with ADHD http://chadd.org , http://add.org , http://understood.org , http://Additudemag.com #a11y" https://twitter.com/mpnkhan/status/984342698780868610
http://email.chrisbowler.com/t/ViewEmail/j/CD31B9B3F5F0633D2540EF23F30FEDED/46F59E3FC23D24B0942A2DF08F503B7C
https://indieweb.org/principles
Golden rule #1 - When you get something working, stop poking at it...
Sorry if I've been spamming anyone with web mentions this morning, I forgot to disconnect my feed before working on it!
Really want to finish the Caledonian Gambit but reading on my iPad is too distracting and can't find my Kindle, I know it's in the house somewhere; pretty sure it will still be charged when I find it!
After a few months of testing (and tears) I'm loving everything the Indieweb offers; the learning curve might be steep but the benefit is huge. That said I'm thankful for for "one-click" solutions like a hosted micro.blog.
@manton Not sure if bug or feature: If I post a reply from my own blog and include in-reply-to and an @ name, then it creates two posts. The one with the in-reply-to joins the conversation the other is standalone.
Having MacOS Server root certificate authority fun ?
@eddiehinkle I'm loving Indigenous, it's quickly being my primary means to consume and more importantly engage with web content
I feel like this is an important father-son bonding moment, eating Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps and watching Rugby
Oh the anguish when you accidentally delete a device from Harmony and can't find the original remote. Worse still I remember holding it last week and smugly thinking "I'll never need you again"
Spaceship!!! ? #dropfleetcommander
I thought it'd be a great idea to continue watching Jessica Jones during my morning commute, then discovered that Netflix doesn't allow downloads of Marvel shows ?
@dgold Thanks for your Watchtower and Aperture guides. Don't suppose you came across any issues with Watchtower not updating. Both services are connected but the cron job seems to fail
*TLDR: Or at least a rough estimate of how long you've spent on a project.
It's very easy, even for the most disciplined of teams, to become so involved in a project that agile stories and time trackers go out the window; the only goal is to finish. We had this happen on a project last year and it made it very hard to see where the time went during our project retrospective. We knew we'd been working constantly, but on what? Knowing that we did diligently commit our code to Git made me wonder if there was a way to approximate time spent based on commit timestamps.
Turns out, several people had already been working on this and we settled on a ruby gem from Frank Rietta. You can read more about the assumptions used in calculations over at his site and GitHub, but it couldn't be easier to install:
Installing is easy from your computer with Ruby installed. From the command line, run: gem install git_time_extractor Then go one of your GIT project directories, and run: git_time_extractor > output_time.csv
The reason I picked this tool over others is that the spreadsheet generated can be manipulated in whatever way need for records, sort by employee, what took the longest, how much time did we spend in total etc.
We have three published apps in each App Store, iTunes, Amazon App Store and Google Play, they’re published by our account but use licenced third-party IP.
We’ve had two apps rejected on first pass by Apple only to be accepted at review when we proved we held the necessary licence, a third because of an issue with a demo account that we fixed and they re-reviewed the same day.
On Amazon an eBook reader app for a tabletop games company was rejected with no reason other than “Amazon deemed it unsuitable for Kindle” but was allowed on other Amazon devices; we eventually made it onto Kindle too after some tweaks. Just like Amazon removing IAP in Comixology and leaving it out of the Kindle App, we had to drop IAP in our ereader on Amazon.
On Google one app was actually pulled after being live for months, this is something not many people see or hear about. Pulled, no warning, black mark against our developer process and a very closed appeals process. Again we provided details of our licence and after 10 days it was restored. We all hear about Apple’s “draconian” review/rejection process and maybe it’s just because there are so many iOS developers it feels familiar, but it is miles better than both Google and Amazon currently offer and feels like there really are humans making the decision.
What I find interesting about both Apple and Google here is that we had to prove our rights to an IP but yet the stores (especially Google Play) are full of clones and skeevy fakes, some of which have been around for years. Just type “Frozen” into Google Play and you’ll see what I mean.
Like all the best posts this blog started life as a tweet in response to @imyke and episode 30 of Inquisitive.
That’s fine for novels where reflowable text and indicators to showing progression through the content, but for reference books like textbooks and manuals, that’s a little trickier.
All these questions go back to that artificial content component, the page. A page does not mean anything, but it contains the information that does.
Books produced for both Inkling and iBooks, although proprietary, have shown what’s possible when you go beyond the standard EPUB. By breaking those bounds and identifying the individual blocks of content (image, paragraph, questions) we can build a better eBook, with intelligently reflowable content but still have a well formatted document with a rich design.
What if users let go of their “pages” to see what they can create. Remember “legacy” eBooks aren’t just being pushed into schools, look around and you’ll see plenty of examples of “second-class” EPUBs being created to appease customers who don’t use iBooks.
Apparently 2013 is the year of the smart watch. Back in April one in particular caught my eye Pebble, by the aptly named Pebble Technologies took Kickstarter by storm raising $10 million (!!), well over their initial goal of $100K.
The Pebble uses Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR and 4.0 to pair with your phone an receive notifications, paired with an e-ink display the drain on both watch and phone is very low, unlike last year's Sony Xperia Smartwatch.
Out of the box (and on iOS especially) the Pebble doesn't do much more than show the time and weather, but on Android (and iOS 7) it can be set up to receive custom notifications, receive navigation directions from Google maps, control music and more.
Honestly, it takes more work than most people would be bothered with, but I don't mind. I even took to creating my own watch face, combining the popular split-screen look with Calendar events. That might not be for everyone, but being able to look at my watch and see when and where my next meeting is, is a small win in my book.
For anyone else wanting to download the "Fancee Watch" face, you can grab it here http://archive.andrewgribben.com/oldblog/oldblog/fTMz and install it on Android using Canvas for Pebble.
Tablet form factor is an interesting thing; an iPad user since day one, I sold my iPad 2 after using the Nexus 7 for a week last year, but once the iPad Mini was released I jumped at the chance to own an iOS device in the 7" form factor. I am a Mac user, my primary phone is an iPhone, and regardless of how good the Nexus 7 is , the iPad fitted with my workflow, seamlessly. Setting the availability of certain apps aside (OmniFocus, OmniGraffle are both Mac apps that are available on iPad too) I'm not saying I can't use anything else, but at the moment, I don't want to, but that doesn't mean I won't try.
Through my day-job at Purple Guerrilla I've had the opportunity lately to test on all of the major 10" tablets. Despite going in with some pre-formed opionions about what I would and wouldn't like, I found the results quite surprising.
First up, the "New" iPad, not the newer iPad, commonly referred to as the iPad 4. The differences are minor enough that for the purposes of this test, I'll consider them as one and the same.
The 10" iPad is a beast. I remember when the first iPad was released, it was like something from sci-fi, the iPad 2 form factor slimmed this down further, but compared to an iPad Mini, it's still huge. If you don't have an iPad Mini you have to understand just how slim a device it is. I was watching actual, near future, sci-fi a few weeks back and an iPad Mini used as a prop, looked so futuristic that I found it jarring.
There's something about the iPad's "premium" build quality and weight (slightly heavier than iPad 2) that make it feel very fragile; like handling your Granny's best china. Nexus devices get a bad rap for feeling cheap, but I have no qualms throwing one down on a coffee table; if I tried that with an iPad it would probably slide right off.
I really wanted this to be good, I genuinely mean that. I'm so divorced from the Windows way of doing things (since I installed that first free Red Hat CD from PCW Magazine) that I actually like Windows 8 and its Modern UI. The problem is that despite all the marketing and posturing, the Surface Pro is not a tablet. The Surface RT is a pretty lack-lustre device, but at lease it is a tablet, the Pro, despite the name is a completley different device. The closest comparison that I can make is that this is Microsoft's MacBook Air, it's a fully featured, Intel based, ultra portable notebook.
The problem's started when I was first handed the device. The Surface Pro is so heavy that you wonder what they've filled the device with. (This article is not about facts and figures, but about experiences and sensations; the things that actually matter when using these devices.) I know from The Verge's excellent review that the Pro is half a pound heavier, that makes this 10" "screen" it heavier than my 15" Macbook Pro.
Too heavy to use as a tablet and with an active battery life of no more than 4 hours, it seems that the Surface Pro is designed to be used at a desk. The inclusion of a Display Port for video out only reinforces this, as does the inability to charge via USB (like every other tablet), both Surface models require a reasonably large power brick. Whilst chained to my desk via power cord I noticed another problem, the Surface Pro comes with a stylus which clips limply into the side of the device, using the same magentic port that is used for the power adapter. So, that's going to get lost soon.
As metioned previously the Modern UI really appeals to me, so nothing is more frustrating that launching an app and being kicked straight into "Classic" or Desktop mode cough Office cough. I wish there was a more clear division, even a switch to disable the traditional Desktop and the apps that require it, however it seems most long-time users have more of an issue with Modern UI and want to kill it and reclaim their Start button.
Microsfoft like to compare their devices against those from Apple, recent ads have shown off the Surface's true HD (1080p) display and 64GB storage as standard, so it was a little surprising to find that roughly 40GB of that storage are taken up by Windows 8 itself. 40GB, just think about that for a moment. Imagine buying a 16GB iPad to find you have only 6GB of usable space, people are already outraged by the 1GB or so that they currently loose to iOS,
The Surface Pro could be a successful device, if I was working in a Windows environment, I'd certainly take it over a Lenovo Thinkpad, but as a tablet it would be easy to carry around one made of stone. It's also prohibitively expense, £719 without the essential keyboard/cover.
As some people will think that there was no chance I'd find any redeeming qualities in the Surface, I made this list of things that I do like.
I know it's been out a while, but the Nexus 10 (or any 10" Android) was never really on my radar. Thinner and lighter than the iPad and with the a 300dpi display, the Nexus 10, despite being made by Samsung (I generally find Samsung devices to be plasticky) is easily the best Android tablet I've used to date.
Android Jellybean 4.2.2 is not all that different from I last remember it, it's an incremental release, but one that makes the OS feel a little more coherent. For example calendar events from my Exchange account show in Google Now, previously Exchange email and calendars were left out in the cold; I guess Google thought no one in business would use a Google device. The "holo" interface, introduced in 4.0, brings coherency to what was a very fragmented UI (similar to what iOS 7 will hopefully do for Apple), Android looks futuristic, but is still very useable; not an easy feat to manage.
The device itself is strange, while the iPad is very uniform, the Surface solid (like the 2001 Monolith) the Nexus 10 is a bit "wobbly". With rounded corners and a asymmetric thickness, the Nexus 10 looks soft and friendly. It's also remarkably easy to hold in one hand, like a book. Something which I find painful with a large iPad and impossible with a Surface Pro. Sideloading of content to Google Books, extended Google Drive functionality, better Exchange support and a beautiful 300DPI display have made the Nexus 10 a real joy to use and I've found myself reaching for it over any other device
The one thing (literally the one thing) that lets the Nexus down is the fragmented Android development environment. When Apple released it's retina devices, with much fanfare, it provided the tools and incentive to developers to make their apps retina ready. Whilst almost all (citation needed) new iOS apps are built with retina support and pixel doubled graphics, most apps on Android that operate without the "Holo" UI have yet to be updated. The worst offender, Comixology, who already have HD comics on iPad but on the Nexus with an even higher dpi count, we're still looking at the low-res version. Digital comics may not interest you at all, but the principle is this, that the world leader in this vein of digital media, 5 months after launch, has not updated their app to support the Nexus 10's screen. My suspicion (based on limited Android development) is that the problem is not with Comixology, but with the Android SDK and the difficulty inherent with developing apps at multiple screen densities, for countless variations of device.
The best bit of yesterday's WWDC 2013 keynote had to be the change of tone within the address itself. This was a side of Apple that we rarely see; aware of its criticism and the ecosystem in which it exists. I don't see Steve Jobs doing that, but I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing either.
I've had around 24 hours to review and play with iOS 7, although my initial reaction was akin to a religious experience, the lustre quickly wore off when testing on a phone filled with third party apps. Much like the Microsoft Surface ads, the iOS 7 video had lots of shots of Apple's own apps (and Jony Ive in a white room), but back in the real world, what were once beautifully designed third party apps, now look heavy and out of place; an artifical barrier now wedged between the old and new design paradigms.
I love the new design language, unlike The Verge I don't mind the icons and I can accept that this is a beta, but I have to wonder how this will affect app development.These days the best Android apps use the "holo" design language, the same with Modern UI on Windows 8. iOS, on the other had, has a history of strong third party UIs, so it will be interesting to see how developers take to, or even adapt the new interface.
Parting thought: OS X Mavericks - Calendar and Maps seem to conform to the new design guidelines, should we expect a complete overhaul by the time it is released?
I've watched the coffee pod wars with a kind of bemused detachment. I don't need another way to brew coffee and the Nespresso and Senso brewed coffee I tasted was pretty bad.
The last thing anyone needs is an expensive way to make flavoured Nescafe
You'd think that'd be the end of it, but I really wanted to play around with one of these machines.
I love plans and meetings and email invites and cashflows and budgeting, but every once in a while I start to think too much.
I think about how my life is nothing more than a leaf on the wind and as I consider this spinning ball of rock we call home, hurtling around the sun at 70,000mph with nothing but invisible forces holding us together and I COMPLETELY FREAK OUT! Seriously, If I close my eyes I can almost feel the earth moving.
What I have to try and remember is that with or despite my plans the wind will blow and the world will spin and it's God who controls it all. God who created the very laws of Physics that hold reality together and whether I think I'm in control or not, He knows the destination, all I have to do is let go and let him take me there.
Watch how I soar.