Articles

It’s well known that I am a proponent of Apple products. However, I am typing this post on a Kindle Fire tablet. The non-HD, 7" model, no less. Why, you ask? One reason is to test the WordPress and Ghost editors on a small screen tablet, but another reason is that it is growing on me and has been quite a pleasure to use, screen pixel density aside. Even though I prefer Apple products, I am heavily invested in the Kindle ecosystem with Amazon. Because of that, this Fire tablet has been amazing for reading. I still have my e-Ink Kindle Paperwhite, but I have been tearing through books on this device. I’ve tried reading on the iPad, but it seems a bit too large and even at the lowest brightness, far too bright for a dark room. ...

I have been moving sites around and changing back-end services for hosting and testing out new CMS systems along with flat file servicing of web sites, so for the next little while, this site may be in flux and may look odd at times. Enjoy the variety and thank you for your understanding.

Crisp air and the scent of decaying leaves mark the season colloquially known as fall. I revel in the thought of piling leaves high and jumping into them with my son. The season harkens the upcoming winter, but despite wishes for snow and sled riding, I am in no rush for this to pass. Time moves swiftly enough. When autumn leaves, so ends another harvest of delicious fruits, fun experiences, and fond memories in a year of laughter, love, and growth. ...

Steve Jobs said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Write down this quote and place it on your mirror, in your wallet, and at your desk. Every day until you die, follow the advice. ...

Two weeks ago, I wrote about deactivating my Facebook account, as well as Instagram, to reclaim some time and cut distraction from “social” networks that were not adding any enhancement to my life. I kept a Twitter account active and also kept the LinkedIn app installed on my iPhone. Then I installed the Tumblr app so I could use it as a link blog and catch-all since I did not want to relegate my web site to that task. ...

I want to buy the new Wolfenstein game. That’s want, not need. However, I don’t want to spend the money on it right now, because there are better things to spend my money on, and I know what would happen if I purchased it. It would not run well at maximum graphics settings on my current computer, so I would feel the need to upgrade components and thereby spend more money. In addition, I would be hard pressed to find time to play it, and I would end up not finishing the game and feel even worse about wasting money. ...

Over on Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow posted about the Adobe Creative Cloud outage: “As Adobe Creative Suite struggles with its license-server outage, stranding creative professionals around the world without a way of earning their living, a timely reminder: a cloud computer is a computer you’re only allowed to use if the phone company and a DRM-peddling giant like Adobe gives you permission, and they can withdraw that permission at any time.” I typically find Cory to be very insightful. I think he has a point here, but misses another point. True, renting cloud servers and applications, particularly ones that rely on DRM and license servers, is putting yourself and your money at the mercy of another person or corporation where you have little to no control short of taking your money somewhere else. I understand that he is speaking narrowly of renting cloud software versus purchasing licensed software to install directly on a computer that you own (although with Adobe’s phone-home licensing, this would still be an issue if you lose Internet connectivity enough when attempting to use their products). ...

I deactivated my Facebook account at the beginning of April with the intent of taking only the month off as a sort of social media break. I also deactivated my Instagram account (it may as well be Facebook Photos). The only account that I kept active was Twitter, but I did my best to ignore it as often as possible. It’s ironic that I feel so loathe to delete the Twitter account altogether, but I also do not want to keep it active. I dislike the feeling of having a random open account just sitting out there on the Internet. It also makes it much easier to fall back into the habit of using it when it is there. So that is what addiction feels like. ;) ...

When the arctic air sets in for a week at a stretch, the body decides that staying indoors and curling up in the warmth of a blanket is the best course of action to survive the onslaught of the disagreeable elements. However, as a normal human being, the mind begins to wander as being trapped within the confines of brick and mortar, there is precious little to slow the onset of the the dreaded “cabin fever”. ...

One of the more notable Apple, Inc. marketing slogans is “It just works.” While the slogan was used to market Mac OS X, many users have found that it is apropos to most Apple products and services. A contributing factor for the “just works” trait of Apple’s technology is the focus on user experience first. I previously wrote about user experience and removing user annoyances, and this really gets to the heart of the matter for me. I am a Linux expert and systems administrator by day. However, when my work day is complete, I am a user of technology at home, and as an end user of technology, the last thing I want to do when my work is complete is come home and do more work, so I have a requirement that any technology I use as a consumer and creator in my home must “just work”. Not only must the technology work with minimal interruption, but it must also fit into my workflow that I have developed over the years. In my case, that workflow is heavily Mac-centric. The reason for this is that my first Mac jump started my creativity, and I’ve become accustomed to the tools and processes that came about as a result of my working on a tool that got out of the way and allowed me to create things. ...