Matthew Lang

Belt drive fixie. That's a first for here (I think!).

via Bellitanner Bikes

A few weeks ago I wrote about how I was still using Feedbin as my goto RSS Reader. Well it seems that's not the only product I'm still using after three years.

Gauges is my choice of analytics tool since moving away from Google. It might not be as feature rich as Google Analytics has but it definitely suits my needs and is probably a better fit for most people that want to measure traffic on their sites.

Why the move to Gauges?

When I wanted to go Google-free I tried to find feasible alternatives to all the Google products I was using. At the time I needed an analytics tool to replace Google Analytics. To be honest I only used it for the pageview count for my blog. I had no interest in using the search, e-commerce or other advanced features. I just wanted to track page views and visitors. One service that caught my eye was Github's Gauges service.

What has changed since moving?

I've been using Gauges ever since that day. Gauges itself has changed hands and is now owned by Expected Behaviour, but the service itself still remains fault-less and reliable. I don't think Gauges received any updates during its time owned by Github but since changing hands, the service has received a steady stream of improvements. The latest being the mobile and tablet support. The is a stand out feature for me. I like having apps on my phone but for things that I check on a less than frequent basis when I'm away from my desk I'd rather use the browser.

Another plus for me is the Gauges API. When I used Jekyll for blogging, I used a script and Gauges API to pull the top content for the month and add it to my blog during the generation process. The API is easy to use and well documented. Even though Gauges has a limited set of data for views and visitors across different time periods in their web client, you can quickly get the API to return the data you need.

I'm also using a Slack bot that can fetch the stats for my websites. I had been using the Gauges daily summary email for this but I've been trying to curb the amount of email I get on a daily basis and instead I'm funnelling content like this through a private Slack channel. I just put the Gauges bot command in and the bot returns the views and visitors for each of my sites for today or yesterday. Handy for when I want a basic overview of the past day's activity.

Recommended?

Would I recommend Gauges? Definitely.

Not only do I get all the essentials like page views, visitors and referring links but there's also development tools that allow you to analyse what percentage of browsers using your site support different features.

Sure Gauges doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Google Analytics has, but for me Gauges has just the right amount of feature for tracking visitors to my websites without making it too difficult. Right now I'm running four websites with Gauges, two blogs and two products, and it more than covers all my needs.

Remember the off switch?

Thankfully, I have another option available to me that other might not even consider. One that might be helpful to others as well. One that may help the battery last throughout the day or, at least, longer than it otherwise has been without the battery case… Use the iPhone less. Less "checking in" on Twitter. Less taking photos. Less using it to write. If the battery does die, prematurely, before I’m able to connect it to a power source, learning to be comfortable with that. Let it die.

— When the Battery Dies by Patrick Rhone

Having used the iPhone 6 for almost a year I do crave a smaller phone. It's simply too big and with the big screen comes a bigger screen for distractions. I'm also considering Apple new smaller iPhone when it's released.

Last week was the funeral service for my uncle who suddenly passed away a couple of weeks earlier. The sudden shock of his passing is still there, but there's something else there. Something I'll always remember him for. Not only was he the nicest guy and a loving husband, dad and grandpa and of course uncle, he had a great taste in music.

My family are huge music fans. My mum, dad, aunts and uncles all appreciate a wide variety of music. Hardly surprising given that they all grew up in a time where The Beatles and The Rolling Stones ruled the music industry and the world. My uncle's taste in music was no exception.

I remember many Saturday nights spent at his house playing with my cousins and running round the house causing chaos while the parents all sat in the living room with a few drinks and the music echoing through the house. I often wonder now if the music was played loudly to block out the rampaging kids! That music echoing through the house definitely rubbed off on me though. I can say without a doubt that I do like lots of music from the same era.

My uncle's funeral service included a couple of his favourite songs and have prompted me to dig back through the archives for those albums and the albums that I also grew up listening too. I might not have grown up in the golden age of music, but I do have an appreciation for the my uncle's taste in music. And without a doubt, it was impeccable.

Paul Jarvis writes about the uncomfortable silence that is doing nothing but thinking.

The biggest fear that most of us have now is that our internet will fail or our tiny pocket devices will run out of power and strand us on a desolate island of not being connected to everyone else for upwards of 5–10 minutes at a time.

— It's safer to be busy by Paul Jarvis

I for one welcome the chance to be stranded and let the world run on for a bit. Just for a bit mind you.

It seems Twitter is turning off ads for it's highest engaging users. Matt Gemmell has doubts about the move.

I’d pay for Twitter if I could. It has real value for me, both socially and as a promotional tool. This latest move only increases my uncertainty about its future.

— Tiered social media by Matt Gemmell

I agree with Matt.

What Twitter seem to be forgetting is that it's the masses of users that make up the following numbers for all these highest engaging users. What's their reward?

Thought I would publish my reading list to the world. Definitely helpful to have a Trello board for this. It's not even February and I've already read three books. Bookmark for new additions as the year progresses.

Belle Beth Cooper's in-depth write up about how she manages tasks and projects is recommended for those looking to get more from Todoist.

Love the matt finish on this bike.

via FGGT

It's been 4 days since our Amazon Fire 7 tablet arrived in the post. The idea behind buying the tablet was as a short term replacement for Ethan's iPad which has really become temperamental. It's three years old now and despite the good condition in which it is kept, we are looking to replace it soon. I also wanted to try out the Fire as a writing tool so that I could take my writing on the road and get away from the desk for a couple of hours a day.

The suggestion of the Amazon Fire tablet was by a friend of mine who bought one for his son. I looked at reviews of the tablet online and it appeared to be able to do everything that I wanted it to do. After a few days with it though, there are a few observations I've made that would make me question buying one of these again.

First the benefits. You can't argue with a £50 tablet. Really you can't. Looking at the price and who sells it, you would immediately think this is the right tablet for me. Well the tablet itself is sturdy enough. Obviously not as thin as a new iPad, but the added thickness was a slight reassurance the kids will be able to get a good grip of it and be less likely to drop it.

It has a non-HD display but the kids won't really know the difference between that and the HD display and to be honest I'm not that fussed not the difference either. The display was good enough especially for such a cheap tablet. Lastly the Fire is able to expand it's storage capacity with the the use of a micro SD card. So we're covered for storage.

The tablet is fast and responsive enough that I couldn't call it sluggish. There are a number of apps included in the tablet but none of these are on my requirements list with the exception of the Amazon Prime app and a few other apps I can download from the app store.

Now the drawbacks. If you're hoping to do some work on the Amazon Fire tablet then I suggest you make sure that the apps you need to use are available on Amazon's app store. Not having had an Amazon tablet before I wasn't too sure what apps would be available to use. I did see the Trello app listed but that was all. There are no apps for Todoist, 1Password or Instapaper. Not that this is a reflection on the company that make these apps. The Amazon store is not as prolific as the Apple Store or Google Play, and so it means that the apps available on Amazon are limited. I had hoped that the tablet would serve as a writing tool. With a browser, Trello, Todoist, and a nice markdown editor, I thought I would have a portable writing tool that would allow me to move away from my desk. Not so. There just isn't enough applications that would allow me to do this effectively using the Amazon Fire. The inclusion of a web browser on the device means that I can access things like Todoist, Trello and Draft but for such a device I would prefer to use a native app.

For me the Amazon Fire is more in the consumer target group than the creative target group. With Netflix, Spotify and of course Amazon Prime video available on the device, I see it now as nothing more than a portable entertainment center, which is a shame really as the tablet itself is quite neat and could really do well with those on a tighter budget or looking for something smaller than an iPad to carry about.

So a few days with the Amazon Fire and I'm less than impressed with it. The tablet itself is nice and compact but the availability of apps on the Amazon app store means that if you're looking to do anything more than entertainment with this then I would suggest you keep you're money for an iPad Mini 2 or an equally sized Android tablet. Both of these will have a greater range of apps to use on them, thereby increasing their usage over the Fire's restricted consumer use.

Chris Gonzales has a review of the Kids version of the Amazon Fire 7 tablet at Tools & Toys.

... over at Tools & Toys.

Dave Winer on the drawbacks to hosting your writing in the newest walled garden, Medium.

Medium is on its way to becoming the consensus platform for writing on the web. if you're not sure you're going to be blogging regularly, the default place to put your writing is Medium, rather than starting a blog on Tumblr or WordPress.com, for example. I guess the thought is that it's wasteful to start a blog if you're not sure you're going to post that often. It's something of a paradox, because blogs are not large things on the storage devices of the hosting companies. If they're doing it right, a blog is smaller than the PNG image in the right margin of this post. They're tiny little things in a world filled with videos and podcasts and even humble images. Text is very very very small in comparison.

— Anywhere But Medium by Dave Winer

Medium's walls are actually not that high at the moment. Access to the network is easy but I can't help but wonder if in the future they'll get it wrong and piss off a good chunk of their user base. I'd rather not take that chance.

Given the option between Medium and a hosted blog at Ghost, Tumblr, Wordpress or Blogger, I would definitely go with a hosted blog.