Plans for the blog
I've been writing notes for an aggregator of sorts that would subscribe to content streams. These content streams can then be shown on my blog. RSS would be the initial type of stream that I would offer as these are open and simple to integrate into the blog. Other types of content streams may follow if I decided to incorporate them into my blog. This aggregator will then be displayed on its own page or on my blog's sidebar if I choose to put it there.
One of the great blogging platforms that I miss the most is Posterous. The idea of this blogging platform was simple yet highly effective. Instead of writing your posts in a password-protected section of your blog, you write your posts with email and mail them to your blog. Starting small by being able to email posts without titles would be a good start. Posts with titles and attachments would then follow.
Cross-posting to Twitter is definitely something that I want to include in the blog. It's more the shorter posts that I would post on Twitter, but not all of them. I think for this a simple checkbox would be sufficient.
Building my blog using Rails has been a great way of making something that I can experiment with more. It's also something that I can create at my own pace. The blog is still using the CDN version of TailwindCSS, WebPacker hasn't been set up, and no there aren't any tests.
This isn't a business system or a product, though, so I can afford to do these things in my own time. It just feels good to be writing code in Rails that I don't need to worry about too much and can do in my own time.
A word for 2021
A theme is a baseline ideal, one that you use to guide your actions and decisions. It isn’t worried about tomorrow, nor does it care what happened yesterday. With a theme, all that matters is what you do today. It turns happiness into an attainable, daily standard that’s based on your behavior, not your accomplishments.
— How To Set a One-Word Theme for 2021
I think I have a word in mind for this year, but I'll just keep it to myself if you don't mind.
Jen discovered another notebook retailer for me over the holidays, Notebook Therapy. I can definitely see me ordering from here in the near future.
A new blog, of sorts
I started blogging on Micro.blog while it was in the Kickstarter phase. I liked the idea of not only having a new blogging platform, but one that focused back on RSS feeds. Now though, I feel like I have outgrown Micro.blog. It's has a nice collection of features and themes, but I'm looking for more from my blog. I want it to do more than just display posts and pages. I'd like it to handle long-form articles that fall outside of the chronological order of the blog, handle bookmarks, and track other places where I am active on the web.
To get started, I decided to start moving some content over from my Micro.blog so that it's now hosted here on my main domain. I've been putting everything together using my own blogging engine, which does just enough to display posts in chronological order, supports an RSS feed, and has an admin section to manage posts.
I've still got a lot to do in terms of development, but the main thing I'm taking from this is that I am working with Ruby on Rails again. It's been a long time since I worked with Rails in a full-time capacity, and I do miss it. Rolling my own blog engine gives me the chance to get myself familiar with Ruby on Rails and try out a few different ideas.
New year, new Techo planner.
Enjoyed a walk with the family yesterday. So lucky to have this at the bottom of our street.
Wow, it’s been 30 years now since EMF’s Unbelievable was released.
I’ve been trying to get some traction going on a few web applications over the last couple of months. It’s just not been happening. Countless distractions and lack of motivation has been difficult to get past. Going to give it another go though over the next six weeks.
I love this “Do or Do Not” notepad.
David Sparks shares the aftermath of the California wildfires.
The last double shot from Mike
Sad to see that Mike Gunderloy is bowing out from software development and the Internet. He was one of the first Ruby developers that I followed on Twitter and through there I subscribed to his blog, A Fresh Cup, where he posted his Double Shot posts.
Looking back, I’m also not super-happy with how the industry has evolved. There was a time when I could believe and hope that software was making the world a better place. Looking around, I’m not so sure any more. Money and power have seized pretty much everything related to software, and the rising tide of surveillance, manipulation, and generally rapacious behavior appears to be getting worse all the time. It’s become harder and harder to find any industry niche that I feel comfortable in working any longer. My sincere blessings to those of you who are still fighting the good fight, but as I said, I’m tired.
I can understand his reasons for bowing out from the world of software development. I’ve been feeling the itch to leave as well, but I still think I have a few years left before I completely think about trying something else for a career.
Ordered the Shape Up book from Basecamp. Sure I could read the book for free on the website, but having my own copy means I can put my own notes on it as I read.
What did I miss from last night’s Apple event?
As far as I can tell, a new iPhone, a new mini HomePod and a new feature in iOS called Intercom. I’m quite happy to just catch up the morning after now with these events now.
My patience for software development over the last couple of years has grown to the point where I would love to throw in the towel with it. A defeatist attitude perhaps, but it’s a feeling that I’ve been unable to shake off in the last few months.
Friday night dinner at the golf club with a cracking view. Great start to the weekend.
Another Sunday. Another nine holes with Drew. Cracking day for it and he managed to play most of the holes from the junior red tees. He even managed a double bogey on one hole, which for his age, is great going.
The Coalition for App Fairness launches
In an effort to address issues with Apple and their App Store, several companies have founded a non-profit organisation that hopes to address these issues.
As a developer I hope they put enough pressure on Apple to change their App Store policies for the better, but as The Verge puts it, I don’t see Apple backing down on this.
The Coalition for App Fairness is hoping to gain influence over Apple through a united developer front. But even if other developers flock to join, Apple still holds all the cards; while Spotify, Match, Basecamp, and the rest are protesting Apple’s rules, at the end of the day, they’re still putting their apps in the App Store and paying Apple’s fees. As long as that’s the case, short of legal intervention, it’s hard to see Apple acquiescing to any of these demands — no matter how many developers complain.
— Spotify, Epic, Tile, Match, and more are rallying developers against Apple’s App Store policies
I just setup a Windows laptop for the first time in over 15 years. Saying no to ads and declining to take up third party offers like Dropbox isn’t how I remeber my last setup. If this is the way that Microsoft is going, you can count me out.
Project options
Over the last few days I’ve been assessing a number of projects that I have in the works.
The problem with each of these projects is that their largely untested product ideas that have stagnated for too long and will require more time to get back on track than I can afford. Most of these projects are getting killed. I can’t afford the time to explore them further. The remaining couple of projects will be re-written and released as open source so that others can run them on their own.
Reading Twitter lists in Feedbin has been largely a painful process. With some lists containing 50+ accounts, it becomes more of a chore than anything else to get through them. Might be time to extract just the key accounts to follow individually or scale the lists back a bit.
A welcome change to the usual Sunday. My Dad took Drew out for a few holes at his golf club today. Great to see him playing on a different course and the best part, he had a great time!
Widgets and App Library oh my!
With Apple’s iOS 14 update, there are two features that I am using now to tidy up my home screen. Widgets and the App Library.
Widgets are tiles of different size that can show you a snapshot of an app. This give’s you the benefit of being able to preview information from that app and also tap on the widget to open the app which is much better than having to open the app and then find that information that you need. The only downside to this is that apps with widgets are minimal at the moment, but I’m sure over the next few weeks, there will be plenty of App Store updates for these apps to include more widgets.
The App Library is a feature that I actually read about a few weeks ago and then forgot about when I finished uploading my iPhone. The App Library contains all the apps that you install and puts them in folders based on usage, installation date and also by their category. You can access it by scrolling to the right of the home screen. The benefit of this is that you can now remove an app from your home screen without deleting the app itself. Nice!
In time I think I will see more widgets on my home screen to replace their app icons. These apps I’ll also delete and let them live on in the App Library. I’ll only use widgets for the apps that I use daily with a few other widgets for things like weather and photos.
Between the two of these features, I think I will also have more pages on my home screen to separate how I use my phone. At the moment I’m thinking about screens for daily, photos, work and then downtime.
It will mean less clutter on my home screen and will hopefully mean that I don’t check my phone as often, which is a bad habit of mine at the moment.
Catching the Spitfire
I managed to catch the NHS Spitfire as it flew over two hopsitals in my hometown of Paisley this afternoon.
That’s three times now that I’ve been fortunate enough to see this magnificent airplane flying. It was my favourite as a kid, and now that I’ve seen it again in the sky, it’s still my favourite.