Matthew Lang avatar

Matthew Lang

Family guy and web developer

Can SAAS build a better vaccination system?

Deloitte's system to manage the management of vaccination has come under fire for being unusable and in some cases, even abandoned for paper-based solutions.
Clinic workers in Connecticut, Virginia, and other states say the system is notorious for randomly canceled appointments, unreliable registration, and problems that lock staff out of the dashboard they’re supposed to use to log records. The CDC acknowledges there are multiple flaws it’s working to fix, although it attributes some of the problems to user error.

— What went wrong with America’s $44 million vaccine data system?
This isn't great for any system that is rolled out for the public to use. But the staggering thing for me is that they were awarded the contract on a no-bid basis as they were the only responsible source to build the system. Also, $44 million should get you a website that doesn't get trumped by a paper-based solution.

Imagine for a second if GitHub had the resources to build this, or even Basecamp or Shopify. Not only do they have the experience of websites that are heavily used every day by millions of users, but they also have the knowledge of building for the public. Their websites are used by millions of people every day, and they have to ensure that design changes need to be clear to the people using it.

Could these companies build a better vaccination system?

The open web we let slip through our fingers

With the internet shifting into huge companies’ hands, we’re losing the fight against the open web. Heather Burns reminds us of those times and why it’s down to Generation X to fight for that free open internet once more.

Today’s young tech policy professionals are are, quite rightfully, responding to the only internet in the only world they have ever known. The awful one. The one where the internet was and is a handful of billion-pound companies. The one where the internet has only ever been petrol on a fire. The one where the internet has been essential infrastructure like water and heat, not a thing you had to request and master. The closed internet made for them. Not the open internet I got to make.

— Why Generation X will save the web

Tweetbot 6 is here

Tweetbot 6 is here with support for cards and polls, and a new subscription model of $0.99 per month or $5.99 per year. You don't need to take out the subscription model, but it does limit what you can do. 

The trade-off here is that you can take the subscription out for the app and get a chronological timeline with a few added features or use Twitter's own app, which brings with it its own benefits and drawbacks.

After spending more time than I care to admit on Twitter's own client, I've plumped for the annual subscription for Tweetbot 6. Over time I hope that we'll get to see more features added to Tweetbot. 

NFL Championship heartbreak once again for the Packers

Not the results I wanted last night in each of the Championship games.

Heartbreak for the Packers once again. Starting to wonder if there's ever been a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers with only a single championship title. Anyway, last night's game seems to be a recurring theme with the Packers when it comes to the big game. It was definitely a game of two halves with the Buccaneers being on top in the first half and the Packers rallying in the second half. However, the Packers offence in the second half couldn't capitalise on those turnovers, and the Buccaneer defence was first class.

In the other game, the Chiefs came out on top over my AFC favourites, the Bills. The Bills have been great to watch this season, and the Allen & Diggs combo is one that I hope provides plenty of playoff opportunities for the Bills over the next few years.
I managed my first walk/run of the year this morning. I ended up splitting the two roughly 50/50. Not bad for a first attempt at running. I'm aiming to run the full distance by the end of February.
It’s Divisional weekend on the NFL. I’m predicting wins for the Packers, Bills, Browns and Saints, but I really just want the Packers to win it all!
Spent a couple of hours tonight swapping in a TailwindUI component into a Rails app of mine. I can see me swapping more of the TailwindUI components to replace my own over the next few weeks.

The humble checklist

Adam Keys reminds us of the effectiveness of the humble checklist.
Checklists are great because they are an easy way to get my brain thinking about the details. They force me to think about all the things that need to happen. They force me to think in time and sequence: this needs to happen before that and this other thing will take a while so that’s probably another checklist. Checklists force me to think about dependencies and who is going to do what part of a project. For example: Bob has access to all the welding tools, so he needs to do all the metalwork which means Alice and Chris are stuck with all the woodwork and painting.

— The unreasonable effectiveness of checklists
I love a good checklist, especially when I'm going through a process that I'm not familiar with. You have the steps to go through, and if the checklist is well written, each step validates the previous step.  If something goes wrong, it has to be in the previous step or two.
I'm not sure what to make of this Couch Console on Kickstarter.

I like having a reason to get up and get some nibbles or a drink, but this makes it much easier to sit and enjoy my movie, the American football, the golf or the lastest PlayStation game.

One thing I do know is that my boys would love one each!

HT to Tools & Toys for sharing this.