Matthew Lang

I love how iA have opened up with their iA Writer 3 release:

If you came here to read about ground-breaking new features, we have to apologize: iA Writer has not become bigger. It has become lighter, smarter, more refined.

— iA Writer 3
by iA

That's how you sell software.

I regularly go through the feeling of drowning in digital. I like being online and everything that comes with it, but when you’re working with software and development tools all day, the last thing I want to see at the end of my work day is a tablet, my phone or even my television.

This week I’ve spent a fair bit of time looking at my various digital outlets and wondering if they are in fact worth the effort to maintain. Here’s my list so far:

• My blog
• Twitter
• App.net

App.net is definitely going. I’ve no interest in keeping an account alive for the sake of having the name of the handle I would prefer. If someone else grabs it, fine. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

I have a love/hate thing going with Twitter. I love being able to have one presence on the social network scene. I’m not on Google+ or Facebook, so having an account on Twitter isn’t a bad thing. I hate what Twitter is though. It’s a distracting and destructive time consumer if it isn’t managed properly and lately it seems to be hoarding all my time. The worst part is I’m not tweeting that often to warrant spending the amount of time I do on it. There’s also the problem of activity. The people that I follow just aren’t as active as they used to be. Maybe that’s a good thing, but sometimes it feels like there’s nothing going on in the timeline. Am I missing the point of Twitter?

Finally, the blog. I had my finger over my mouse for a few seconds ready to trash the whole thing. Years of posts and stuff gone a in a few seconds. I didn’t though as you can see as it’s still here. I like my blog, I like the outlet it gives but lately it’s become a burden and it shouldn’t be. I’m faced with two choices for this. The first choice is I keep going with this blog and change my posting routine to be less intensive. One blog post a week is enough with a weekly link post to round up things. The second choice is to start a new blog elsewhere. I’ve got a couple of other domains at hand that I could start from. This site would stay up and running for the foreseeable future, but at some point it would be put out to pasture.

Decisions, decisions.

I've been struggling to find the motivation to write here. I've had my finger on the digital implode button for a couple of times. I don't think that's the answer though.

Dustin Curtis weighs in with some areas where Twitter needs to do better. I completely agree.

And that leads to me to the final thing I want to talk about, which is also the most important: Twitter has fucked up its platform. Twitter has turned into a place where famous people and news organizations broadcast text. That’s it. Nothing great is Built On Twitter, even though it should be the most powerful realtime communications platform on Earth. There are simply no developer integration features for building stuff on top of Twitter as a platform, and that is absurd and disappointing.

— Fixing Twitter by Dustin Curtis

To be honest if Twitter was to disappear overnight then I wouldn't miss it. There was a time when I would but those days have long gone.

Just a question for you all. What's your criteria for deciding whether to buy a book in dead-tree format or digital format?

I love getting stuff in the mail from Nicholas Bate.

Some truly amazing work by Tom Joyce.

8 years and still going strong. Well done Kurt!

There I was doing my morning pages on the subject of selecting tools to work fast when we want to be working slower with a clearer purpose. Next thing I know I'm reading Curtis' post on the same topic. Enjoy the wise words of Curtis.

Why default to fast when slow and involved has so much richness?

— Why Do We Default To Fast?
by Curtis McHale

from our man in Arizona, Michael Wade. Read on for the minimal plan to project success.

Write enough ideas and plans and you'll eventually scribble something that is remarkable.

— The List
by Execupundit

Patrick Rhone is playing the long game on goals. Maybe you should too?

The smart players, at best, see such low dips as a buying opportunity — like a retail Labor Day sale. Most just ignore it because 3% off is hardly a bargain to tell your friends about. Nay, the truly market savvy are looking far out into the future. The trends they look for are not measured in days or weeks, but years. "Let’s look at where this stock was at 5, 10, and 20 years ago" they’ll say. Because that’s how true wealth is built and measured. They play the long game.

— Almost Always Bull
by Patrick Rhone

The morning pages habit trundles on with my Moleskine Volant notebook filling up by the day. Some days it's easy to get started while other days it seems like a struggle. It shouldn't be like this.

Every year we visit Jennifer's family just outside of Toronto. The holiday usually revolves around shopping for the girls and golf for the boys, but on those days where we want to spend the time together as a group we sometimes head down to the lake. It's a great spot for a picnic and a walk, it lets the kids explore and of course there's that love of skimming stones. You spend a couple of seconds looking for a good stone and you throw. There's no concern about the quality of the throw, a few throws is all that's needed to get better. Also you know that once it's thrown that stone is gone forever. Well at least until it's washed back up back onto the shore again.

Your morning pages should be like this. Just writing, seeing where it takes you and never worrying about that writing coming back. It's an exercise to clear your mind and nothing more. Also it doesn't matter about the content of your morning pages. It's all for you. No-one else. Once it's written it can disappear from the eye of the public forever. Just like your little stone skimming across the water and disappearing, your morning pages can hide forever.

This morning I was stuck for something to write about, so I just started writing. Half a page in and it started to get easier. The next time I start my morning pages it won't be so hard to get started. I just need to remember it's just like skimming stones.

Curtis McHale dispenses seven tactics that help getting the balance right between work and life.

New technology doesn't always qualify as modern.