Matthew Lang avatar

Matthew Lang

Family guy and web developer

Jeb Bush has ended his 2016 presidential campaign.

Bush, the son and brother of US presidents, made the announcement in a somber speech before supporters in Columbia after earning just 8.3% of the vote with 67% reporting in the third primary contest of 2016.

— Jeb Bush ends presidential bid after Donald Trump wins in South Carolina The Guardian

What I find strange about US presidential campaigns is the amount of money that that candidates use in their campaigns despite being rank outsiders. Jeb Bush is reported to have accumulated $100m for his campaign. A vast amount of money but I have to wonder who even thought Jeb Bush would succeed in being a successful candidate for the Republican party?

Sounds like a gamble to me.

Be nice if @duckduckgo’s instant answers were wrapped in a native desktop wrapper. One app, hundreds of uses!

1Password for Families

AgileBits have announced their new plan for families.

It’s never been easier to share 1Password with your whole family. There’s no sync service to set up, vaults appear automatically, and there’s an Admin Console where you can invite people and manage sharing with your family.

Every family member gets their own copy of 1Password, and their own personal space to store private information. With this, you can give them the tools they need to stay safe without taking away their independence.

— Introducing 1Password for Families

1Password itself is an excellent tool, but this just makes it so much better.

I've been reading George Leonard's book, Mastery after seeing it recommended by fellow blogger Nicholas Bate. The book has been a real eye-opener in terms of the difference between what I perceived mastery to be and what mastery is.

I like this highlight from the book explains what mastery is:

The people we know as masters don't devote themselves to their skill just to get better at it. The truth is, they love to practice — and because of this they do get better at it.

Take my own career for example, the web developer. I've tried so many times in the past to pick up different languages and experiment with other frameworks, but each time I've rarely got passed the basic steps of a simple application. It's all well and good learning something new, but have I gained the level of knowledge and experience that I should have as a web developer before moving onto mastering other languages and frameworks?

I'll be honest, no. In no area of the stack of tools and technology that a typical web developer uses have I amassed a level of familiarity and knowledge that a master of web developer would have. Am I knowledgable and confident with these tools? Yes, but there's still places where I can improve.

So I'm changing focus. Gone are the plans to try out different languages and frameworks and in are the day to day practicing of the tools that I need to make a living. A relational database (PostgreSQL), a dynamic language (Ruby), a web framework (Ruby on Rails), and there's JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Not only that but there are also skills that I use daily like agile practices and writing that need work. I don't need to master all of these but I am going to focus on a handful over the rest of the year.

I love writing software, but rather than focusing on practicing other languages and frameworks as possibilities for future work, I should focus on practicing with the development tools I enjoy using now. Ruby on Rails has been around for ten years, who's to say it won't be around for another ten years.

And thanks for the book recommendation NB!

2/ The Twitter mob rule seems to be one wrong move and you’re out. Must be hard being perfect like those who are too quick to comment.

Social Media: The Best Of, The Worst Of

As I'm writing this in my editor in Ghost, the title reads "Social Media Sucks". Yeah, I know. Strong words in that title. I don't like them either, but having them at the top of my editor as I write this actually reminds me of all the great things that social media brings. Here's a few of the positive things I get from Twitter:

There's so much more as well and from the 300+ accounts I now follow there are so many more that I could list. It's a tailored timeline that I curate to my own needs.

If I don't like something that someone says, then I unfollow.

Disagreeing with someone though is a different thing, and while I might disagree on certain topics with people I follow, it doesn't mean they're wrong and I'm right or vice versa. It's a difference of opinion and that keeps my timeline interesting. I enjoy that.

The worst of Twitter is something that I haven't been personally experienced but I see time and time again. People with a large number of followers become easy targets for the Twitter mob and their flaming torches and pitchforks. The mob that prides itself on correcting every wrong done. The mob that stands for justice and equality. What they actually stand for is easy pickings. They find the easiest wrong to correct and pounce. This is the worst of Twitter and is going to drive people away from the platform.

Stephen Fry was the latest victim of the Twitter mob. I don't blame Stephen Fry for leaving Twitter. I also don't think he overreacted in leaving. He made his decision based on not one past experience but several. It's sad that people are driven to such measures. It makes Twitter a less entertaining place.

I've update the title of this post, to reflect the changing tide of Twitter. I just wish it was more like it was in the beginning.

1/ So Stephen fry becomes the latest casualty of the Twitter mob. I don’t blame him for leaving.

Shawn Blancs iPhone Apps and Workflows

I love reading posts like this. Discovering how different people tweak the home screens on their smartphones gives you a small indicator to how that person acts and thinks.

Another interesting point is Shawn's decision to use the iPhone 6+.

Another thing with the iPhone 6s Plus is that it somehow managed to take over the spot my iPad used to hold. It was such a sly move I never saw it coming. But somehow, over the course of a few months, I just stopped using my iPad for reading and note taking.

— Apps and Workflows: iPhone (6s Plus) Edition by Shawn Blanc

I'm toying with replacing my current iPhone 6 but the decision to go small with the new iPhone 5SE out in March or go big with an iPhone 6+ still eludes me.