Matthew Lang

September 10, 2015

I like the new AppleTV. Don’t think much of the iPad Pro but only because I can’t use it to replace my MacBook as my dev machine.

September 9, 2015

iA Writer 3

I love how iA have opened up with their iA Writer 3 release:

If you came here to read about ground-breaking new features, we have to apologize: iA Writer has not become bigger. It has become lighter, smarter, more refined.

— iA Writer 3
by iA

That's how you sell software.

September 9, 2015

I regularly go through the feeling of drowning in digital. I like being online and everything that comes with it, but when you’re working with software and development tools all day, the last thing I want to see at the end of my work day is a tablet, my phone or even my television.

This week I’ve spent a fair bit of time looking at my various digital outlets and wondering if they are in fact worth the effort to maintain. Here’s my list so far:

My blog
Twitter
App.net

App.net is definitely going. I’ve no interest in keeping an account alive for the sake of having the name of the handle I would prefer. If someone else grabs it, fine. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

I have a love/hate thing going with Twitter. I love being able to have one presence on the social network scene. I’m not on Google+ or Facebook, so having an account on Twitter isn’t a bad thing. I hate what Twitter is though. It’s a distracting and destructive time consumer if it isn’t managed properly and lately it seems to be hoarding all my time. The worst part is I’m not tweeting that often to warrant spending the amount of time I do on it. There’s also the problem of activity. The people that I follow just aren’t as active as they used to be. Maybe that’s a good thing, but sometimes it feels like there’s nothing going on in the timeline. Am I missing the point of Twitter?

Finally, the blog. I had my finger over my mouse for a few seconds ready to trash the whole thing. Years of posts and stuff gone a in a few seconds. I didn’t though as you can see as it’s still here. I like my blog, I like the outlet it gives but lately it’s become a burden and it shouldn’t be. I’m faced with two choices for this. The first choice is I keep going with this blog and change my posting routine to be less intensive. One blog post a week is enough with a weekly link post to round up things. The second choice is to start a new blog elsewhere. I’ve got a couple of other domains at hand that I could start from. This site would stay up and running for the foreseeable future, but at some point it would be put out to pasture.

Decisions, decisions.

September 6, 2015

I've been struggling to find the motivation to write here. I've had my finger on the digital implode button for a couple of times. I don't think that's the answer though.

September 6, 2015

Dustin Curtis weighs in with some areas where Twitter needs to do better. I completely agree.

And that leads to me to the final thing I want to talk about, which is also the most important: Twitter has fucked up its platform. Twitter has turned into a place where famous people and news organizations broadcast text. That’s it. Nothing great is Built On Twitter, even though it should be the most powerful realtime communications platform on Earth. There are simply no developer integration features for building stuff on top of Twitter as a platform, and that is absurd and disappointing.

— Fixing Twitter by Dustin Curtis

To be honest if Twitter was to disappear overnight then I wouldn't miss it. There was a time when I would but those days have long gone.

September 6, 2015