Erin and I decided to cancel Netflix the other week after subscribing for about eight years. I’d been infrequently toying with the idea for a few years, but while recording a recent episode of Comical Start Grant asked me something that solidified my reasoning.
Continue reading “Netflix and Value”Playdate by Panic
Sixteen months after placing my order, I was delighted to see my Playdate arrive this past week. While I haven’t spent much time with it, everyone I’ve shown it to has been absolutely charmed by it’s fun design. Who doesn’t like spinning a crank as part of a game?
It’s a novelty that likely won’t see be used as often as I wish I had the time for, but I am happy to have a small diversion available with a growing set of games. The design is fun and fresh, with a whimsy that perfectly fits my aesthetic. It makes you smile when you see it, and I can see having fun with it on trips when I want to do something other than read. It’s not for everyone—it’s expensive for what it is on paper—but I recommend checking it out if you have the means.
Spreadsheets and Queries
When I first learned about the QUERY function in Google Sheets, I was brought back to the surprisingly large amount of discourse I’ve read regarding spreadsheets and databases, the best of which is contained in Matt Parker’s book Humble Pi. In short, the backbone of spreadsheet software is not designed to let it perform like a database. But because spreadsheets are more explicable, visual, and interactive, businesses and researchers and all other sorts of folk force them into that bucket.
Meta-research has since come out that shows the profound number of accounting and data-reporting errors that proliferate due to the use of spreadsheets as databases. Some of this comes from data type interpretation—what if your gene name is interpreted as a date or currency?—and others come from inherent limitations to how data can be stored and related to each other.
All this well-meaning discussion has tried to guide certain disciplines to take greater care in how they process, store, and access their data. It’s a noble cause, but the humble QUERY function even gets me—someone who perhaps knows better—to forego robust solutions in favor of convenience. So it goes with technology.
Going Back to iA Writer
I’ve finally decided to go back to using iA Writer on my iPad. This has several knock-on effects, with the most notable being that my drafts will all be synced via iCloud.
I say “drafts” because my plan is still to use Dropbox as long-term storage. I now have a monthly reminder to copy completed blog posts over to the proper spot in Dropbox1I’m sure there’s some automation to do this, but I don’t really care enough for the scale at which I work. and will only use iCloud for in-progress work.
I’ll continue checking iA Writer’s stability with Dropbox. However, I’m content to use an app I thoroughly enjoy for a small bugaboo of a process change. Plus, the WordPress integration is a true integration, rather than a Javascript-based set of actions that amounts to a copy-paste.
- 1I’m sure there’s some automation to do this, but I don’t really care enough for the scale at which I work.
You Should Try iA Presenter
iA Writer has previously been established as my writing app of choice. There is something about both the visual design and snappy interface the team at iA created that is just right for me. When I learned they were making a presentation editor the same week I needed to create some slides, I had to give it a try.
Continue reading “You Should Try iA Presenter”Apple Vision Pro First Thoughts
I’ve had a strong interest in consumer technology for years at this point, though it mostly falls into a category of entertainment via YouTube videos and podcasts. I’m not critic, and tend not to spend much time writing about the latest and greatest in the spaces I follow. But Apple’s new Vision Pro headset is difficult to ignore.
Continue reading “Apple Vision Pro First Thoughts”MuseScore and the Democratization of Document Creation
I find music scores to be absolutely beautiful documents. In middle school I was engrossed by creating my own music and, more importantly, writing it down. There’s video evidence of me being jazzed about receiving a “Lyricist’s Notebook” for Christmas around that time. I also recall purchasing a journal of staff paper for ambitious ideas I had. Yet turning musical ideas into something that can be shared, let alone something that would look good, felt out of reach. When the itch to create music struck me again last week I remembered a new-to-me program, MuseScore, that changed everything.
Continue reading “MuseScore and the Democratization of Document Creation”A Thesaurus for More Than Words
I’ve slowly formed my thoughts on the language model tools that have stormed into the foreground of technology over the last few months. My initial utter skepticism, largely founded on people’s misunderstanding of how these tools are designed, has morphed into an appreciation of their specific utility as a thesaurus for any kind of text available on the internet.
Continue reading “A Thesaurus for More Than Words”