Matthew Lang

• Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian - I'm continuing the series with the second book after thoroughly enjoying the first book, Master and Commander. Also I'm becoming well versed in 19th century naval terms. What more reason do you need to start reading these books!
• Heroku Hackers Guide by Randall Degges - First of two technical books this month. At only 60 pages, I've already digested this in a single sitting, but each week I'm going to review how I use Heroku for my web applications and learn how to make better use of the platform. This week it's logging.
• Sublime Productivity by Josh Earl - Second of the technical books this month. Again this book is light enough to be read in a single sitting, but I'm going to try and learn a new shortcut key every day to make it easier to work with Sublime Text 2.

It's easier than you think. Just read step one.

... give them a 2 week shelf life.

This is just an idea for a new blogging platform, but i love the idea for the simple fact that your posts are written using Markdown.

... with Caesura Letters.

Let us expose the conspiracy: success is an illusion. To be sure, the human experience is full of tantalizing tokens, symbols and rituals to represent this highly-sought status. But every diploma, certification, award, medal, pay-grade promotion and recognition is simply another construct of this brilliant mythology: ‘success’ is nothing but a humanly crafted religion that teaches us how to revere one another.

— The Myth of Success by Caesura Letters

Caesura Letters is the one bit of email I look forward to reading every day. Make it yours also.

Love the detail on the down tube and the chain stays.

via Pedal Consumption

... Raiders.

I loved this movie as a kid, but equally amazing is that my oldest son also loves this movie. It's a real testament to a movie when it can be appreciated across multiple generations.

While I would love to work with some programming languages full-time I know that it will unlikely be the case. However, being able to split my job into smaller jobs seems like a more feasible idea. My bread and butter is Dynamics NAV, but I also like working with Ruby, Go, Dart and Coffeescript.

This is where having a portfolio career would be nice.

Working a couple of days a week doing Dynamics NAV work, then a couple of days a week working with Ruby and then hopefully leaving myself the Friday to work on my own products would be a great way to balance the week out. It also means of course that I keep a broader range of skills updated rather than focusing on just the one.

What's not to like about this build? And you can't say the colour!

via FGGT

... idea books. Think of it as topical journals. I currently post everything into the one journal, but I do leave a few things out as I feel they should be elsewhere. Taking a note of this to try from next month.

Seriously, who can't write two sentences every day? That's all it takes to keep a journal for yourself going. Just two sentences. What's stopping you from keeping a journal?

Is $5 the magical number when it comes to pricing your product in the SaaS market?

Here's my current list of subscriptions:

• Github - $12
• Instapaper - $1
• The Magazine - $1.99

I have other subscriptions as well that are on an annual price that I haven't listed here, but it's safe to say that most subscriptions fall in and around the $5 mark. Don't just set a price though, do some background work on your product and market and get feedback on what your customers are prepared to pay. It might surprise you.

via Ahmet Alp Balkan

Fix it on, ride your bike, take it off again.

Today's essential reading comes from Patrick Rhone.

I have come to believe that the best and most cost effective technology upgrade that one can make is to themselves. I’m not talking cyborg implants here. I’m speaking about knowledge. That is, increasing your skill, aptitude, and understanding when it comes to any device, application, or tool.

— The Best Upgrade Is You by Patrick Rhone

The FBO V3. Allows you to make notes from your books without writing in the margins of said books.

Nothing like an Apple product launch to get a hacker debate going. Me, I can take it or leave it. I've grown increasingly immune to these product launches over the years. And I'm glad I have. I've come to realise that it's not the tools (computers, netbooks, tablets etc.) that are the most interesting thing here, but the end product that you have made with those tools. That's a much more interesting story.

Love the disc wheel at the back!

via FGGT

This frame from the the No.22 Bicycle Company in Toronto is just amazing.

via Pedal Consumption

Jeff Atwood uses his brain, Curtis McHale has thrown away some of his list and I've completely deleted mine. Is this the end of the todo list?

As I analyze, reflect, and write, I found myself scratching out my own list; my own criterion for what I want from this finicky thing I’ve been given, this life. Wandering around the world, writing, running, thinking, touching, laughing, dancing: what’s most important? What is not important? What should we be doing? Or rather, what are we doing? And if given the choice, how will I live? Are there any criteria that resonate across all that I do?

— How To Live by It Starts With

A deep and thoughtful analysis of life through writing.

Marco Arment, the man behind Instapaper, has a new venture called The Magazine. It's a fortnightly magazine for people who love the internet and technology.

After reading the articles from the first edition with the free trial, I immediately subscribed. It's that good.

Someone has some new wheels over at FGGT.

via FGGT.

I know the Kindle Paperwhite isn't out in the UK yet, but I'm reading the reviews to see what others think. After Scott Hanselman's review I thought it wasn't for me, but John's review is a bit more favourable of the new Kindle.

Freelancing has been on my mind recently. If I start going down this path, then I will be taking it a lot slower than I previously did.

• To wake up on a work day and look forward to it
• To engage with customers and provide answers to their problems
• To have one day a week to brush up on new skills and work on products
• To call the shots on the work that I want to do
• To have a flexible work day
• To progress further in my field of expertise faster
• To have a better career

This doesn’t mean new problems shouldn’t be tackled and new techonologies should not be invented. It applies mostly to reinventing wheels. That is, a project starts with level 1, not level 3 or 4. Apply a technology and improve it before you push the edge. In fact, you must push the limits of an extant technology before level 4 is the right answer. No skipping allowed.

— The Real Adam Invent The Right Thing by Adam Keys

A solution to a problem or level one according to Adam's post. That's how it all starts and that's how Journalong started. I needed a way to keep a journal in my Dropbox without needing a fancy app or special editor to write the journal entry.

I suppose you could say we're at level two at the moment based on Adam's levels. It integrates with Dropbox and uses it as a storage facility for your journal. As for level three, I don't think I'm at the stage where I can call Journalong a better journal than say Day One, but it's different. It's minimal. And that's what I wanted when I initially scratched the itch for a plain text journal.

Maybe one day, I'll take Journalong to level three, but for the moment it works and that's enough for now.