Microsoft Teams “Big” Update Coming

Tom Warren, on theverge.com:

Known as Microsoft Teams 2.0 or 2.1 internally, Microsoft has been working on this new Teams client for years. The app should use 50 percent less memory, tax the CPU less, and result in better battery life on laptops.

Praise the lords of kobol. I suffer through Teams at work. I tried, really tried to like it and use its features… but it’s soooo slooooooow.

Hope this is a significant upgrade, and I it includes the Mac version.

Look Back and Laugh

Today feels like the start of a new era in my work life. As with all geological eras, the exact date they change is debatable. While I’m jotting down today as the end of the previous era — the one I’ve lived in for the past 5 years — it was almost an average day.

A short announcement in a call with just a few people is the inflection point. Far from the moment the meteor crashes, but for me, when we discover it’s heading towards earth.

Change brings opportunity, nothing is permanent except change, we were happy and didn’t know it. All these cliches are applicable and there’s no need for drama. Nothing is happening yet. And nothing will suddenly happen. Small change upon small change will occur and, since we live through it, it’ll appear normal at the other end. I’ll look back and laugh at it all.

But if my future and today self exchange glances for a moment — without all the intermediaries — both will pause, and sigh.

Appreciation of a Craft

The intersection of interests and abilities is a strange place. My natural inclination would be that it takes a certain level of personal craft, to better appreciate others. But looking at sport fans, I sense a fallacy. Many, with extreme appreciation to the craft of the sport, have limited practice on the sport itself.

A closer personal example would be handwriting. For some reason, I can appreciate beautiful calligraphy, however my own handwriting has been accurately described as hieroglyphs.

What does it mean when you recognize a craft? Does it say anything about your own level of expertise? As I consider areas in which I (think) recognize a craft, the difference between my competence and the one I admire varies:

• Well-designed app.
• Good writing.
• Swimming style.

There’s something here tied to consumption and creation, but I’m not ready to unpack it. I’ll chew on it for a few more days.

Wildebeest: A Cloudflare ActivityPub Server

From blog.cloudflare.com:

Today we’re introducing Wildebeest, an open-source, easy-to-deploy ActivityPub and Mastodon-compatible server built entirely on top of Cloudflare’s Supercloud. If you want to run your own spot in the Fediverse you can now do it entirely on Cloudflare.

I trust Cloudflare — at least more than other actors nowadays. It’s compatible with the fediverse and open-source, best of all worlds. So this is a great announcement for me. Unlike last year, I’m in no hurry to host my own Mastodon instance. But if I needed to, this would be a strong contender¹.

Day One on the Web Public Beta Available

dayoneapp.com:

Start journaling in Day One from any device with a web browser, including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

Happy to have the option, but not rushing-in to test it. Browsers are are a weak link (extensions, etc). Will give some time while others kick the tires, or I find an use-case.

Llueve Sobre Mojado

The Spanish expression llueve sobre mojado — also a great song — means something along the lines of raining over already wet. And while this works as a title for many productivity topics, my alternative title for this post: My Damp Damn Life, should indicate this a real #FirstWorldProblem rant about… humidity.

Costa Rica is humid. It’s famous for its rainforest, so that’s no surprise. Still, the daily rains for over three quarters of the year are sometimes challenging. But we manage. Swimming pools, tennis courts, and small football fields usually have a roof. The marketing machine that brought you eco-tourism, calls these 8 months the… wait for it… green season. Because, yes it rains, but everything also turns green. Brilliant.

Anyways, we manage. You do outside stuff in the morning, never leave car windows open, and you get some sort of roof leak every year. It’s fine. But, my biggest complaint is: damp towels.

Our first house bathroom didn’t have a window. I always attributed most of the dampness to that design detail. And after four years, when we moved to a slightly bigger place, my big priority was a bathroom window.

Well, here we are. Middle of dry season. Bathroom with a window and a damp towel. Here’s where I’d make up some anecdata and try to compare drying with cellphone or sleeping mattress. Did you know you spend more time drying yourself than brushing your teeth? Probably not. But people still spend more on toothpaste and toothbrushes than on towels, that’s for sure.

It has come down to this. As modern person, I’m going to buy myself out of a problem. I literally still have 30 more years to pay for this house, so we need a more targeted and cost-effective solution.

According to a few British websites, they know a few things about dampness over there, my options are either a heated towel rack or a dehumidifier. And as soon as I’m able to dry off, I’m getting both.

Google Bard AI in Search

Sundar Pichai, on blog.google:

Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner. These new AI features will begin rolling out on Google Search soon.

I’m sure that Google has something that will blow our minds, but this announcement is corporate lorem ipsum placeholder. Something is far from ready and there’s nothing to show yet.

My bet? Google’s problem is how not to cannibalize its Ad business. And they haven’t figured it out yet.

5 Products I’m Looking Forward To

I usually leave items in the cart — or in my Things wishlist — for some time before pulling the trigger, but these I’m planning to buy as soon as they’re available.

• Ivory for Mac Mastodon client.
  Been using the iOS version, and it made Mastodon my happy place to visit. Testers are loving it, and hopefully a public version will come out by March.

• NanoFoamer Pro milk foam maker.
  I backed the original handheld NanoFoamer and upgraded to the NanoFoamer Lithium when it came out. Have used one of them every day for the past two years. Will likely buy this new version as soon as it comes out.

• Shift Happens book about keyboards.
  Looks like an amazing book, with beautiful photos and a great editor. Of course, the topic is something I love learning about. Will instaback soon.

• Wyze Cam OG Wireless Security Cameras.
  I have a love/disappointment relationship with Wyze Cams, but these OG cameras seem to go back-to-basics in just the right ways. Already purchase two, but need to pick them up when I visit the US.

• Fellow Opus Coffee Grinder.
  Been on the fence with their Ode Grinder for a long time, but I could never justify the pricing/size. The Opus hits the right combination for me, will also order it as soon I figure out how to bring it to Costa Rica.

Back-Journaling or How Cheating Helps Maintain Streaks

I have a 1696 day streak on Day One. It’s clearly a habit because I find it uncomfortable when I don’t do it daily. Still, I fall off the wagon a lot. And then, I cheat. I go back to those empty days and write its journal entry.

Adding photos helps me remember the details. I also take screenshots throughout the day on the Mac, which are great way to remember work details. Sometimes I take notes with the Apple Pencil and add that as a reminder prompt, which I then go back to fill in with text.

Matt Gemmell and Writing Less

mattgemmell.scot:

Write less, and be at peace with it. It’s your site, and your rules. Blogs were originally a kind of diary, and they were mostly repositories of short pieces, not huge articles. It’s an absolute fallacy that longer works are better, or more valuable; indeed, shorter pieces are more likely to be read and digested, which intrinsically increases their value.

Fewer words are fine. Social-length posts are fine. Link blogs are fine. You get to keep your own output, where you want it, and the form it takes is entirely up to you.

Other day of the spectrum. Useful to hear since after two days into my February write everyday challenge, I already missed almost two days.

Github Adds Mastodon Social Link and Verification

Derek Prior, on Mastodon:

You can now add up to four social account links to your GitHub profile which render with a sprinkling of formatting support for our most popular platforms. Yes, the resulting links links will satisfy Mastodon verification requirements when rendered.

Just did it, no issues. Great way to verify accounts for geeks.

Loud Enough so Everyone can Read Me

I can never make dictation work for writing. Since iOS 15 the technology is good enough that blaming errors is a cheap excuse. it’s great for sending messages and such. I even manage to write a couple of Day One entries a week with it. But as a way to create a good first shitty draft… I constantly fail.

For whatever reason, the speed of narration doesn’t work for me. It’s too fast. I need the friction of the keyword.

During the pandemic, I wrote many morning pages on 3x5 blank index cards, which then I would dictate them into Day One. Reading works fine. But coming up with the ideas on-the-fly is were I struggle.

I’ll experiment yet again with dictation this month. At some point I’ll have difficulty finding time for writing, and talking to my phone will seem like the magical solutions. A few different things to test:

• Sending a voice note to myself with the ideas.
• Dictate in Spanish and then translating.
• Writing the outline of the post and then dictating from there.
• The inverse, writing out free flow of thoughts¹, and narrating what I pick of that.

Max Böck on 7 Reasons Why He Doesn’t Write

Max Böck on mxb.dev:

Like many others, “write more” is high up on my imaginary list of life improvements and although I don’t usually do new year’s resolutions, now feels like a good time to re-evaluate what’s stopping me there.

I came up with seven reasons that I use to justify why I’m not writing. In a confusing twist of perspective, I’m also going to try and talk myself out of them by explaining to you, dear Reader, why they are bullshit.

Well, I’m glad last night’s impulse post happened. Reading this now feels like a slap on the back, rather than a smack on the forehead.

Not only does he make excellent points, but also links to other great posts. The icing on the cake for me:

A better plan is to write about what you know and experience in your day-to-day life instead. Authentic posts are always helpful, and you will solidify your own knowledge in the process too.

Sounds like a plan.

Getting Back in the Saddle

Going to do another post every day attempt in February. While I cringe at the quality of some post in November, as I look back at them, I enjoy their tone of voice. It’s my real voice, unlike many of the other longer posts.

Given what happened with Twitter, I’m arriving at the conclusion that this is a weblog. (Please hold your duh’s) This website is a public journal, nothing more. But it has been much less than that, mainly because my weird fixation with other blogs I admire. Nothing wrong with that. But even hobbyist writers must write. Not worry about an audience. Specially if an audience doesn’t exist.

I’m going to assume the reader cares about my rumination’s. If not so much, they’ll skim. If not at all, they’ll just skip.

By the end of this round, I expect to change domains. 5typos.net had a good run. 15 years is not nothing. But I think it’s time to put everything under roberto.mateu.me and just write.

Bye Twitter, Let’s Keep in Touch

I joined Twitter in December 2006, ID number 35403. After a couple of months of looking around, I drank the kool-aid.

Slowly at first, and then quickly, my feed filled with a geeky crowd. It was a similar experience to when I picked up my first Wired magazine a decade earlier: a realization there were others.

While the Facebook feed was an exhausting exercise of faked extroversion, Twitter was real to me. Hitchhiker Guide to the Universe quotes, Apple fans, weird jokes, and Apps… so many Apps.

Just a year ago, being unable to visit Twitter from Tweetbot — or any other client — would have been painful. Even when I took a short Twitter break in 2018 — ironically, in protest of the lack of support of 3rd party APIs — I wrote:

Yet I can’t deny not to miss the water fountain discussion. Reading why my favorite app developers are reading, what people I find interesting find interesting. In a perfect world, we all have a blog and it’s easy to see the streams post and micropost and interact.

At the time, I had hoped Mastodon would be enough of an alternative for a part of the crowd to hang around in. I’m happy to say, less than 5 years later, it has happened.

A series of unfortunate events, all of them caused by Twitter itself, has pushed enough people to the Mastodon/ActivityPub ecosystems to reach critical mass. At least for my use.

Best part was that I didn’t need to struggle with “leaving” Twitter. By cutting off 3rd party access and forcing Tapbots to release Ivory, the table was set. The app ready, the people were there, and Twitter closed the door behind us.

It’s an amicable separation. I’m not really leaving Twitter, just scaling back it use. Just like Instagram, it’s a feed I’ll watch but not engage with.

Until Reeder access is cut, that’ll likely be my main source of checking the feed. Afterward the website on the desktop, with a UI cleanup plugin installed, is the most likely candidate. My beloved App List will be hard to not often visit, but as Apps/Services/Developers establish a presence on the Fediverse, it will lose relevance slowly. Still think Twitter will be an useful contact form to brands for some time, but so is email, we’ll see.

Everything is Mac-Wonderful Now

Last week’s Apple’s newish style of press-release and pomodoro keynote combo introduced updated MacBook Pro 16in, 14in and Mac mini. All three available with new generation M2 chips.

A late 2022 release — video URL path seem to indicate so — pushed to 2023. On paper, just a yearly release.

But for someone who watched in horror as every release after the 2015 MacBook Pro’s one, make the Pro laptop’s aspiration vanish, and just hold tight to my current model. This, just an update, is the most wonderful news.

As a Mac buyer, the current, previous, and used lineup is all good news:

• The M2 Macs, including the MacBook Air are amazing.
• The previous generation M1 versions of the same devices¹, available with discounts, are also plenty fast. Even the current M1 versions of iMacs are really good².
• Any of the above, in a good used configuration, will likely have good savings and be a useful device for a long time.

After the darkest timeline detour of 2016-2020, the last 3 years bring a smile to my face.

Tidbits for 2023 Week 2

• Omnivore: free, open source, read-it-later app. I’m sticking with Reader, but excellent option to have around.

• HabitKit: iOS/Android habit tracking with github commit-like tile-based grid charts. Giving

• Followgraph for Mastodon: find new people to follow, by looking up your “follows’ follows”. Very useful.

• El Pintador: StableDiffusion app for iOS to generate images from text. Build by Miguel de Icaza, using server processing. $2.99 a week.

• Amazing AI: Generate images from text using Stable Diffusion 1.5 on macOS. Optimized for M1/M2.

Tweet This🖕

Juvenile, I know. But feels as an appropriate response to Twitter blocking access to Twitterrific (inventor of the tweet), Tweetbot and many other 3rd party clients.

From Tweetie to Tweetbot, I’ve spent hundreds of hours wasting time and interacting with my tribe. Learning and linking. Hanging virtually around cool people. I know that’s not everyone’s experience on Twitter, but it was mine.

If Twitter was the pulse of the planet, then these apps were the custom headphones to listen to it. Sure, most people just used the free ones. But for some of us, the way to consume the feed was as important as the feed itself.

This may sound like hyperbole, but the next few days are going to be a natural experiment — at least in my geeky bubble.

For weeks my Twitter use has slowly declined, and now it will reach almost zero. Why? The default Twitter app experience is terrible. So terrible in fact, that when in the past I’ve taken a Twitter break, it’s the only app I leave installed. Also, Mastodon will soon have it’s own Tapbots app: Ivory. Which is now the first app I reach for when I wake up.

Twitter will still be there for Shakira gossip, just like Facebook was there for keeping up with others. But the geeky place to engage with is mastodon, through whichever of the dozen apps you choose to use.

Nicholas Bate On Writing

blog.strategicedge.co.uk:

But most of all you need ritual. Write every day. Rain or shine. Good mood or bad. It’ll appear, that novel of yours.

I apologize in advance. Not necessarily a novel, but a lot more writing.

New Year’s Street Corner

After an improvised countdown on the porch, the fireworks start. I run to the street corner with 7-year-old Robie to get a better view. Not an improvement at all. Downtown Austin’s skyline blocks most of the display. My heart drops as I expect a justified rant from Robie, but he seems content to be in a city with fireworks show.

A group leaves the corner bar. Loud, excited, decided. They’re headed for more of the night. I’m closing out ours. At the back of the group, a girl.

She looks tired, or disappointed, or even resigned. Her steps are a bit unstable on her high-heels. Could be drinks or that she’s being hurried along by her group.

Our eyes meet. We both press a smile. Two decades of difference, crystallized by each’s circumstances: she’s heading out, I’m heading in. She has all the excitement of the unknown, I have the comfortable certainty of those expecting me.

Two directions and magnitudes, sharing a street corner on the first few minutes of the new year.

Books of 2022

My reading picked up a bit by the end of the year, but overall it felt like a below-average reading year. At the same time, my reviewing was pathetic. In fact, as I went through the list of books, it became clear that most of the 2021 books still have no review.

Still, wanted to do a rapid check of books. If anything, to remind myself of which books need more detailed notes.

Fiction

• Pachinko
  by Min Jin Lee: Great book. There was so much of the Japan/Korean culture which I just had a simplified caricature. Everyday historical fiction at its best.
• Salvation
  by Peter F. Hamilton: First of a series. Not my favorite book from the author, but will return to the next one. Sci-fi without the pew-pew sounds.
• Termination Shock
  by Neal Stephenson: I hadn’t clicked with his books in a while, and this reminded me of staying late reading Cryptonomicon, instead of studying in college. Recommended.
• Locklands
  by Robert Jackson Bennett: Good close to the series. It took the universe in a different direction, but it still was entertaining.
• The Dragon Waiting
  by John M. Ford: Had never heard of it, and it’s about as old as myself. Very recommended. A cross of genres I don’t think anyone would attempt nowadays. Amazing writing.

Non-fiction

• The Wright Brothers
  by David McCullough: Mostly skimmed after their famous flight. But eye-opening account of how innovation is lots of iterations — and not a perfect toolset or infinite resources.
• Building a Second Brain
  by Tiago Forte: Lots of skimming on this one, but mostly because I’ve consumed this content in every medium other than book — because it didn’t exist yet. Good book if you need to put order in your digital chaos. But I wouldn’t push it on anyone.
• Several Short Sentences About Writing
  by Verlyn Klinkenborg: While the book has great content, it’s about writing. A master of it, showing you how it’s done.
• Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
  by Tony Fadell: This is the best business book I’ve read. Mostly because it puts together many concise examples of how to run and grow an organization. Recommended.
• Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
  by Alfie Kohn: Painful book if you find yourself on the wrong side of many examples. Important book for me this year.
• The Warrior Diet
  by Ori Hofmekler: 15 years before interment fasting was a “new” concept of which I went all-in, this book discussed and explained many concepts that took me 5 more years to get to.
• How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion
  by Derek Sivers: An uncomfortable little book which makes you think it’s on your side before turning on you, just to make the point that there’s no answer, but you should still work on one. I’ve bought multiple copies of this book and have given it to younger family members.

Myke Hurley Daily Singular Word Prompts

Myke Hurley, on Cortex #136

The thing system journal there’s a section where you can write a bunch of prompts down and mark off each day if you succeed in them. […] they are singular words, I’d like to interpret it however I like, and decide if I made effort in them. They are:

• Create
• Advanced
• Revenue
• Teamwork
• Marriage
• Friends
• Health
• Freetime
• Structure
• Homes

[…] I look at each of these every day and think did I make some movement in each of these categories

Really like these. Revisiting some of my comcom habits (which didn’t work as well as expected), and converting them to something like this. At first pass, these are the ones I started with:

Decide, Friends, Body, Maintenance, Marriage, Present, Quiet, Read, Start, Walk, Write.

Lets give it a few days.

Seth Godin Thoughts on Mastodon

Seth Godin, on seths.blog:

It’s a network in the real internet sense of the word. It’s not just a network of users, it’s a network of servers as well_. No one owns it. _Like email, it’s a set of principles and rules, not a place. A federation is different than a corporation. It might not be as shiny, but it’s far more resilient.

Forgot to post this last month, but getting more relevant each day. The Twitter circus has made many of the Mastodon inconveniences bareable because it provides boring stability.

Belkin iPhone Mount for Mac Desktops

apple.com:

The Belkin iPhone Mount (Magsafe Compatible) for Mac Desktops utilizes the new Continuity Camera features in the latest version of macOS Ventura. You can easily mount your MagSafe-compatible iPhone securely to your Mac desktop or display with this durable mount for FaceTime, capturing content, video conferencing and more. 

This took a while longer announce, and seems will be out sometime in January. I’ll be getting either this or the equivalent Amazon knockoff version for my work monitor. Even the disappointing Apple Studio Display camera at home, makes my cheap Logi webcam too bad to stand at the office.

Nebo 4.0 Released

From nebo.app:

Handwriting can now be converted to typeset text instantly and in place — simply select it with the lasso and tap Convert. Text sizes and positions are preserved in order to maintain the structure and layout of your content.

Basically what makes Nebo great in note-taking mode is now available in their freeform (Notes) mode.

By far my favorite handwriting app for iPadOS. Only missing Shortcuts support to completely take over all handwriting workflows.

City of Thieves
by David Benioff

A fun odd-couple adventure set in the nightmarish reality of World War II. As strange as it sounds, this great book is all this and more.

When José recommended the book, he said something along the lines of great writing and amazing character’s relationship. It sounded a bit vague, but his enthusiasm made me add it to the queue. I now understand how it’s a difficult book to describe if you don’t want to spoil it. Coming into the story without know much, made it even more enjoyable.

Be ready to hold-on for a bit — it’s not all laughs, not all darkness. But highly recommended.

Keychron New S1 QMK Custom Mechanical Keyboard

From keychron.com

Keychron S1 is the first 75% layout all-metal low profile custom mechanical keyboard. With its all-metal ultra-slim CNC machined body, QMK/VIA support, and low profile double-shot PBT keycaps, the S1 gives you a high-end typing experience, a unique design setup, and endless possibilities. One of a kind.

On the heels of the new Keychron K3 Pro, comes a similar yet different premium low-profile keyboard from Keychron. If you’re confused, here’s some details on the differences between K series, K Pro series, and S series.

Short version: versus the K3 Pro, the S1 is wired only and the aluminum body has a steel plate — heavier and less likely to flex.

Not many reviews, but overall the few seem positive:

Jon Porter, on theverge.com:

That means the Keychron S1 is more focused on being high-quality than feature-rich. It’s not wireless, and it’s not hot-swappable as standard, meaning you can’t change the switches on its entry-level model without a soldering iron. But what you _do _get is an aluminum construction, double-shot PBT keycaps, a 1,000Hz polling rate, and full remapping support with the excellent VIA keyboard software.

ReversedEvolution, on reddit.com:

The new PBT Keychron keycaps are a great upgrade. The won’t get as oily and they feel a decent amount better. Their concavity I enjoy more than the K3v2, those felt like they had no “top and bottom”, it was easy for me to not know how vertical I was on the board.
[…]
The K3v2 is exactly the same height as the S1. I had heard otherwise, they’re the same. Mech Mini is definitely taller, I find it only mildly noticable.
[…]
I really like how the S1 feels. It’s solid. I’m keeping it.

A few weeks back, I was sure the K3 Pro was going to be my next keyboard. Now I’m heavily leaning towards the S1.

Apple New Data Protections

apple.com:

Apple today introduced three advanced security features focused on protecting against threats to user data in the cloud, representing the next step in its ongoing effort to provide users with even stronger ways to protect their data.
[…]
For users who enable Advanced Data Protection, the total number of data categories protected using end-to-end encryption rises to 23, including iCloud Backup, Notes, and Photos.

Amazing news for iCloud Backup. That was a big omission on Apple’s security narrative. I will be waiting some time before enabling though — encryption is serious business and with upcoming holiday travels, I don’t want to mess with it until back on my regular routine.

Tesla Test Week

Had a work trip which justified flying direct to LAX, and then driving down/up to San Diego — where our HQ’s are located. When looking at rental options, I was surprised that Hertz offered Tesla’s for about the same price of a premium sedan.

Here are a few notes after using a white 2022 Model Y for about 4 days:

• Initially, the accelerator pedal was messing with my head. It doesn’t flow like a gas engine when you lift your foot — it actually breaks the car. There’s a mode to simulate how a regular gear box works, but after a few miles I got the hang of it.

• The fact you don’t turn off the car was also weird for most of the trip. On my 2008 Nissan Xtrail, I have a ritual to allow the diesel turbo to cool off a bit, and turn off the AC, lights, etc., to minimize any funny business. On the Tesla, you just push the Park button and get off.

• I left the car unlocked the first day, assuming it would lock itself after I walked away. This wasn’t the case, but I think this has more to do with the simplified access “key card” you get with the rental.

• Same with the dashboard screen. I missed CarPlay a bit, but I guess it’s because I didn’t have any mobile app to send addresses or integrate Spotify. That said, the navigation app was still better than Waze or Apple Maps for me.

• It felt extremely stable on the highway. My racing days are behind me, but even when going at the highway limit, the Model Y felt maneuverable and predictable.

• I did hit the back tires on the curb a few times. Not sure if it’s because the car is wider than it appears.

• There’s a billion videos of this, but it needs to be said: the acceleration is life-changing.

• I had the long-range option, which translated into me leaving LAX with 80% and arriving at San Diego with around 30% after ~125 miles.

• Charging was far from the drama I had imagined. It helped a lot that Christian told me the following a few days earlier:

  Forget about the gasoline car paradigm — in which you always top up.

• I spent ~$60 on two Tesla supercharging stops. Hertz charges this to your credit card as it would for tolls. Easy.

• On the drive down, the autopilot disabled itself because I let go of the wheel, which I consider fair. The drive up was made a lot less bothersome thanks to the autopilot. It did brake very hard once when it though a car was going to change lanes in front of me, but other than that, it was a great driver. I wasn’t brave enough to allow the autopilot to change lanes and exit the highway. But for LA traffic and highway driving, it was amazing.

In the end, I loved driving the Tesla. In my mind, this was like using a SSD laptop in 2009. It’s still expensive, but not crazy. It’s not as convenient as “regular” cars/laptops. But you don’t have to imagine it’s the future, it’s already a better present.

Tidbits for 2022 Week 47

• Playground AI: Free Stable Diffusion image generation. Paid options for Dall-E. Simplest tool I’ve foud if you want to play with AI images.

• Tweek Calendar: web-based minimal weekly planner & to-do list app. Nice printable PDF also. Keeping around.

• Grila: macOS keyboard-driven calendar. Trying it out, not sure it will stick, but interesting.

• Split CSV: Filter and split a CSV file into multiple files. Don’t need it nowadays, but I would have gladly paid $40 for this a few years back.

• Haikei: Wave and others image generators. Useful for slide backgrounds.

• Maparoni: macOS/iOS organise, explore and share map data using tables on a map. Not sure how, but will try it soon.

• Add to Obsidian Note: Configurable Draft action adds the content of the current draft to a selectable note in your Obsidian vault.

• Plain Text Editor: Simple free macOS text editor with “Brain Dump Mode” (no backspace). Good to have around.

• Flowist: Focus Mode for Todoist. Display one task at a time. Could be useful.

Vimcal for iOS

Ivan Mehta, on techcrunch.com:

Vimcal for iOS is a free app, but if you want to use the product on the desktop you will have to pay $15 per month or $150 per year. For teams with more than five members, the product costs $120 per year. The company is already working on making Vimcal adaptable to enterprise usage with customizable features.

Been testing iOS and macOS with Microsoft 365 for work, and it’s really good. $150 a year good? Not sure. Unlike email, where perceived speed of the UX is important to me — and worth twice as much — on calendar I don’t suffer was much.

But if calendaring is your beat, Vimcal is worth a serious try.

Dave Winer on Mastodon and RSS

From scripting.com:

The more I learn about Mastodon, the more impressed I am. It’s a very nicely done piece of software. And unlike Twitter, they have RSS feeds for every user. Just add a .rss to the end of the URL and you get a nice feed, like this. When I look at the feed I see something someone put some love into. Or if it was a team, they worked well as a team.

I subscribe to Marco Arment’s theorem:

On a long enough timescale, Dave Winer is usually proven right.

So, when I read that Dave Winer is excited about Mastodon it makes me feel a bit more optimist about its future.

Kicking Projects Kickoffs

Large companies love project kickoffs. They seem to represent an efficient way to jumpstart a project and achieve quicker results.

Yet, many kickoffs are (at best) none of these things. Most are a waste of time. And, I’d argue, they actually delay results because they force superficial planning at the start. Not to say project kickoffs are a doomed practice.

They can be very useful. But it requires stepping far away of most companies daily-norm. Why? Because successful kickoffs, in essence, need to be a waste of productive time. A large part of the team needs to go be thrown together and dragged through many of the topics at hand. Without much time to dig into any specific area.

Here’s the thing, kickoffs are not about kick-starting a project, they’re about resetting previous beliefs and notions of those involved. To allow them to come up with a new type of solution. 

The kickoff itself needs to strike a balance between discussing issues, without starting to work on them, and still have the group interact with each other enough that a team bond comes out of it. All of this usually without significant budget and/or with business as usual sending a message/email to derail attention.

Obviously, I just finished one of these. It feels like it was successful, but won’t be clear until we start working on it.