Let me first start by saying that this post is not about the quality or accuracy of Siri. For everything I have used Siri for, it has been more than accurate and I have no issues with Siri as a service.
My problem is the interface itself.
What’s the easiest way to look up a sports score? Siri. What’s the fastest way to set a timer? Siri.
How do I typically look up sports scores? Safari. How do I typically set timers? Control Center.
Years ago I helped my older sister move from Washington to Arizona. I was young at the time, and still in that phase of life where even if you kept everything you had ever owned — it wouldn’t have amounted to much. So I really didn’t get what someone with an established life would have to move — and it was a ton of stuff as it turned out.
At one point while helping her, I saw a tiny box of clothes they were getting rid of, and I made some bad joke about how it must have been hard to decide to get rid of such a large amount of clothes. That’s when my sister told me about the system she uses to keep their clothes thinned out all the time.
You walk onto your flight, and the first thing you instinctually do is to scan the seats around you for kids. Little bastards can and will prolong the hell that is flying and you really don’t think it is fair if they are next to you. Yeah, we all do it — even parents.
This past summer I found myself on two separate trips, non-stop, from Seattle to Florida. Both times with my wife and kids. My kids are 3 years old, and 21 months old. I was terrified each time of what the flight may hold for us. Our youngest was a lap infant too, so she didn’t even get her own seat. (Because that makes sense for safety, FAA.)
One thing I have always thought to be an important part of a good office and desk setup is the lighting. It need not be bright, but it needs to set the right mood and feel for your work.
To that end, I’ve always loved backlighting my computer. Not only does it look cool, I think it helps me focus better on my work. Because of this preference most desk lamps simply won’t work for me. They typically don’t backlight well, and the space they take up on the desk drives me insane.
I looked through the archives yesterday and realized I never did a full review in the Daylight Backpack from Tom Bihn. All I wrote was a few poorly worded sentences on it, as part of a larger review. Which is a shame, and a mistake I want to correct now — because the Daylight Backpack is worthy of its own review.
The Daylight Backpack is an extremely simple bag, void of all padding, rigidity, and fanciness. It is a floppy mess of a bag when it is empty — which is perfect because it means you can easily stow it away when it is empty.
We moved into our house back in 2012, and one of my first tasks was getting the WiFi network established. I did it with a single Time Capsule, roughly centered in the house. But there was a bit of a dead spot in our bedroom, so I added in an Airport Express as a wireless repeater. I didn’t need much speed, just coverage at the time.
Then I started working from home, and speed became a thing I needed to worry about. I upgraded to an Airport Extreme with 802.11ac wireless. This upgrade helped, but I still was having a hell of a time getting video chats and Skype to work reliably — crucial for my job — so I needed a solution.
The solution I devised, was to route Ethernet from the AirPort Extreme to our bedroom (where my office was) and have the AirPort Express extend the network from a gigabit connection to the AirPort Extreme. That was a hassle but worked fine. I lost a lot of network speed in the process though. When connected to the AirPort Express I topped out at 28 Mbps on any device, but on the Extreme I would be at 60 Mbps, which was the max speed of my Internet connection.
Like most people, when I ordered my Apple Watch, I had no clue what to expect from it. Because of this, I really didn’t want to spend a ton of money on it and accessories. So I ordered the 42mm Sport with the white band and left it at that. I chose white because I thought it looked pretty sharp, and I stayed with the white band for quite some time, but before WWDC I ordered the Brown Leather Loop to try out.
And then, with the launch of some new colors recently, I picked up the Red and Midnight Blue sport bands. While the Leather Loop never really worked for me, the sport bands do. Having more options for Sport Bands at my disposal, I have really started enjoying changing around the looks of the Apple Watch.
If you own an Apple Watch, then I really think you should own a few extra bands for it.
Note: Tom Bihn sent me the Yeoman Duffel bag for review purposes. No agreements were made as to what that review may or may not look like, as is my standard practice I retain full editorial control.
I’ve always liked the idea of big duffel bags, or duffel bags in general, as there is something about the look of them that draws me in. Something about the idea of just throwing everything in that huge expanse, zipping it shut and heading off. Perhaps it is because I travel minimally and pack tightly and neatly in very small bags, that the idea of having copious amounts of space in which to pack seems like freedom.
I’m not sure.
I do have a small, classic looking, duffel bag which I have been using for years on weekend getaways. I transitioned it to be the bag for Sloane’s travel stuff when she was born, but with two kids it has become way too small.
Often I start reading an article which I saved to read later, and I think “yeah this is good stuff, I know it all, but it’s good stuff” and then I stop.
Why am I still reading this?
Who am I reading this for?
A few nights ago I sat down on my couch — the chaise lounge section of course — and got ready to start watching some TV. But the far lamp in our living room was turned on and from the spot I was sitting in that lamp casts a glare on the TV.
So it must be turned off.
Since we finally have a new keyboard out from Apple, it is high time we look at what keyboard options there are. Since Keyboards map well to cars I think it is best to look at the in this vein. People tend to care a lot about their car, or not at all, and for the small group that resides somewhere in the middle: they tend to only know what cars they do not like. It is in that sense that I think keyboards fall into the same relationship with people, as do cars.
Most people probably don’t care about their keyboard.
And those that do care, typically care deeply.
There is the same small group as with cars, who just know what they do not like in their keyboard.
I’ve known about NaNoWriMo for years, but the thing is: 50,000. That’s a big number, like almost an insurmountable number. I’ve never felt like I wanted to participate, but I always was impressed with those who did manage to at least try.
So this year I am going to do it.
But I’m not writing a novel.
Note: This item was provided to me from Incase for the purpose of this review.
There’s really two extremes to bag design, the first is a big vast pit in which to throw things — like a duffle bag. The other end of the spectrum is bags that have a pocket for each specific thing, perfectly tailored to those items: pens, business cards, laptop, charger, Kindle, tablet, and the list can go on and on.
Most the the bags which I have tested to date, fall on the side of being a large open bag. They typically are not well structured bags, and they typically are not solely designed to carry electronics.
The events of the past few days have brought to light, and to my personal attention, many new facts and stories I did not previously know about the person going by the name “Samantha Bielefeld” and because of this new evidence I have a much different take on the situation. I still believe many valid points were made by this person, and that gendered and personal attacks are never warranted — I stand by that.
However, given what I now know I cannot in good conscience continue to defend this person. I apologize for my misplaced trust and hope to elaborate on this more at a later time. I have a long standing policy of not deleting posts once they are published, and that policy still stands. Again, my apologies. You all trust me, and in this circumstance I have failed you.
Often, as writers, we end up with a mix of: good, mediocre, and sometimes bad stuff out there in the world for others to see. I know I have my fair share of it on this site. What usually follows the mediocre and bad, is a sense of regret.
I cannot stand to have something wrong on this site. Even if at the time I thought I was dead right, it bugs me knowing it is there, and regret sets in. That doesn’t mean I regret having ever written something, but that I regret being wrong. It’s certainly an egotistical view, but I think it is true for most who publish online, whether in tweets or on a blog.
Over the years of writing here, I have tried just about every analytics package I could get my hands on. WordPress analytics, Google analytics, Reinvigorate, Clicky, Gaug.es, Mint, Piwik — the list goes on. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what the list is — I think most people assume that if you run a website, you need analytics on it. You need analytics to negotiate with advertisers, or because everyone else does it. I’ve never seen any other concrete reasons why.
A common refrain when people try to encourage others to buy mobile apps is to say things like: look your Starbucks “latte” cost you $4 and you will finish it inside of 30 minutes (one hopes), but this app is $1.99 and you will use it for months — if not years. Clearly the better value is the app, not the Starbucks.
That’s the common argument.
I’ve already shown you how I have used a Nock to carry cables, and another small snippet about the GORUCK Wire Dopp. The truth is that I have been really struggling to find a good way to hold my cables since I started carrying a computer regularly — that’s about 2000 or so.
Everything option out there is just odd. It’s like a clear glass desk — as I have written before — they look fabulous, but they suck in practice. Likewise, every case is too big, too small, or too poorly designed, but most look cool.
I also use a small bag most of the time, but need to scale up to larger sized bags when I travel. I am a mess. I am all over the place. And because of this I have amassed a large collection of cable carrying things.
I figured why not take a look at all of them.
One new feature in El Capitan is the ability to auto-hide the menubar. Like with the Dock auto-hiding, the menubar only appears when you move your mouse to where the menubar should be. When I found the option during the beta period, I immediately turned it on and have not looked back. It’s one of the best new features of OS X.
Why would you want this?
Well for starters: on a small screen it gives you some extra height to the display. It also makes your desktop look really clean — for example when I don’t have an app window open, all I see is the wallpaper.
I signed up to BespokePost a while back to get the Dispatch box, which contains a shoulder bag from Line of Trade. From what I gather this bag can only be had in this box, but the box is $45 so it makes the entire thing seem like quite the bargain. And that’s free shipping too, it was begging me to buy it.
(If you aren’t a Bespoke member, use this link to sign up and I get a kickback.)
I’ve become one of those 6s Plus elitist who chastises their pals for using a non-plus model of an iPhone. There’s a lot of arguments to be made for the 6s Plus, but the biggest argument must be seen to be understood.