Matthew Lang

I use Markdown everyday, so it's great to see TextDown, an Markdown editor extension for Chrome, that I can now use across different platforms.

Like most people I've spent my fair share of money on apps for the iPad, but recently I've found that I'm just not using them that often. The problem is that while I like the apps themselves and chose them for their functionality and their ease of use, the freqeuncy with which I use them just isn't right. When was the last time I wrote anything with iA Writer? I can't remember.With web apps though, I'm finding that they are more accessible to me during the day at work and at night when I am at home.

I looked at a number of apps for keeping a journal before I ended up writing Journalong, and the same goes for writing. I managed to write a whole book with 750words.com. The only reason I didn't use it every day after NaNoWriMo was the fact that the pressure to write 750 words became a bit too much. My journal is for every day thoughts, but typerighter is for taking those thoughts and fleshing out something more fuller and richer.

Web apps like Typerighter and Journalong also work well on my mobile devices. I don't want separate apps for each device I have.Don't get me wrong, native apps have their places where they don't require a web interface. However if a service has a web interface with no need for a native app then I will use that service as it's web interface is easily accessible from the number of different of platforms and devices I use on a daily basis.UPDATE: Since publishing this, I've deleted my Typerighter account in favour of writing using Sublime Text 2. Typerighter is a great product if you need a minimal writing interface, but I've started using ST2 for writing as it's easier to pick up my drafts which are kept in Dropbox.​ Maybe I'll go back to Typerighter when they let you connect to your Dropbox.

Building habits and routines is a great way make sure you're staying on top of life but for all the structure that you have built, sometimes you just need to let it all slide. And that's exactly what I did last week. Took a holiday from the humdrum habit cycle.The last couple of weeks have seen some major upheaval (the good kind) in the Lang household.

Little baby Drew is a great little boy, but like all babies he needs constant feeding, changing and sleeping. Rather than fight a losing battle trying to work on Journalong, do some blogging and get stuff around the house. I let it all slide.It was just time to take a holiday from all my usual day to day habits. RSS reading, spot of writing, journaling and everything else. The great thing is my habits have become so ingrained in my daily task lists that I immediately returned to my usual schedule today. There was no procrastination in getting started or reminder needed to get back on track. I simply decided to start my habits again.If your habits are ground in to what you do then it's okay to take a break from them every now and again.​

Jason was my reason for taking up mountain biking and remains an inspiration for hundreds of mountain bikers in the UK. A talented rider taken too early from us.

Ride free Jason.

Awesome use for some old mail bags. I know it's not the usual Fixie Friday bike, but pickings were slim this week.

via Instructables

Yip, Toronto is home from home. Wish I had more opportunities to visit.

via Daily Dose of Imagery

Because everything you use and do on the web doesn't need to be freaking instantaneous. The slow web is definitely the way forward.

Top geek in the entrepreneur and web development world says that formality is a virus. Thank goodness there are people in the world with their heads screwed on like Curtis to remind that a little formality and humdrum is okay.

... worth building.

I've asked my brother-in-law why these towers are called the Marilyn Monroe Twins, but he didn't know. Still, they're great to see on the Mississauga skyline.

via Daily Dose of Imagery

... the Aubrey-Maturin series as recommended by
Michael Wade. I loved the movie, so reading the series of books is really a no-brainer.

For a few months now I have been thinking about reducing my time spent on Twitter. When I first started using Twitter, I used it solely for the purpose of finding useful tips and links for Ruby on Rails and conversing with the rest of the Ruby community. Now though it seems that there's less and less interesting stuff being posted on Twitter and most people use it for day to day stuff. That's all well and good if that's what you use Twitter for, but I'm starting to find that it's not for me.

The flip side of this is that I need another avenue to post my thoughts and other nonsense, which is why I going to be publishing more and more things on my blog.

After reading Scott Hanselman's post on the subject, it's pretty much cemented my feelings on the matter and I'm going to limit my time on Twitter for the foreseeable future. I'm still going to auto-post links from my blog to my Twitter account and the odd post from Path but other than that there won't be much activity on my timeline.

So where can you contact me then? Email always works. You can get me at matthew [at] matthewlang.co.uk, and I'm also on Path as well if you're interested.

Some influential posts that have got me thinking that Twitter isn't really for me anymore.

The current problem with Twitter is not that they’re now trying to make money, it’s that they didn’t have a viable business plan from day one. They’ve turned those kings into serfs that are for sale.

— Twitter: Turning Kings in to Serfs by Curtis McHale

I’m not quite sure if Twitter changed. But it seems to have, for me. And it is far more likely that I have or that I am. It is not currently a place I wish to be. I wish I could tell you why but I’m not sure I have examined it deeply enough.

— On Twitter

Every developer should have a blog - Put yourself out there and make it findable. And still you tweet giving all your life's precious remaining keystrokes to a company and a service that doesn't love or care about you - to a service that can't even find a tweet you wrote a month ago.

— Your Words are Wasted

You are not blogging enough. You are pouring your words into increasingly closed and often walled gardens. You are giving control - and sometimes ownership - of your content to social media companies that will SURELY fail.

— Your Words are Wasted by Scott Hanselman

The near opening paragraph to Scott Hanselman's latest post has been resonating in my head for a day now. In it, he champions the blog over the increasing walled gardens that social networks have become.

I've been thinking long and hard about leaving the world of social networks like Twitter, and just pouring out all my thoughts here. Writing has been something I've neglected in the last few months yet I really enjoy doing it. Rather than checking my Twitter timeline countless times per day, perhaps I should spend the time writing through the day.

I'll keep you posted on this one next week, however it's increasingly looking like I will take some time out from Twitter.

The world is buggered. We need to go elsewhere, but can we all go? Excellent physics questions and answers over at xkcd.

black.

via Nicholas Bate & Swiss Miss

On-One are doing great stuff with carbon fibre these days.

What's your view from your desk?

via Pedal Consumption

More much needed career advice recommended by Nicholas Bate.

via KA-CHING!

You won't regret it.

Forgive the cute picture of my 2nd son who was born today, but today's wish is to get this little guy and his mum back home where they belong. Little Drew was born this morning at 11:12am. Welcome to the world little man!

Buster Benson outlines what habit decisions are and provides some tips integrating these habits into your life. Here's an excerpt from the practice tracking tip:

If you’re not someone who naturally tracks everything you do in life, think about breaking off a separate habit decision statement for the habit of tracking. Practice tracking something other than a behavior that’s important to you. Experiment with tracking in a journal, and on a calendar in your kitchen, and with an app on your phone, and see which ones feel natural and enjoyable to you.

— Habit Manifesto by Buster Benson

Not everything on your wishlist needs to be things you want to own. How about attending events?Well this one should be on every mountain bikers list. An exhibition in San Francisco International Airport on the history and evolution of the mountain bike.

I've read about the Repack story so many times now but it never gets old.