Excursions

The emojis, they are tired now of being so important for all, but always captive to the smartphones. No longer they say 😑

PS: Also my sister needs a place on the Internet for her sketches now. Hmm.

I am currently on a break - I do not have any official work time as such. So this is an opportunity for rethinking things, declutter the stuff around the day-to-day life. I plan to identify what matters to me the most, what I enjoy doing the most. And then only sign-up for that. I have realized there is no point over-complicating too many things with whys and hows, and especially why-nots. It’s better to just do the thing that my mind wants to do without fussing over the right moment or the perfect way. Neither ever arrive.

So I will do anything that I want to do. But to that everything that I am not into, but my brain says I should do - nah. Not happening. This has already ruled some of the projects from my list, mostly dev ones, which I had signed up for just because everyone I come across was doing them. Or so I thought.

Then there are those projects which I want to do, but just don’t have an idea yet about how and when. One such project is my microcast Third-Person Voice. I am pulling it down. I enjoyed the experience, but I need to rethink whether it fits in my life currently.

This signing up and sprinting in all directions had affected what I’ve genuinely enjoyed for the longest time - reading and writing. The hope behind all this decluttering, this tidying up of mind space, is that I can focus again on just the stuff I want to do the most.

It’s been almost a month that I didn’t read or write anything significant, I intend to change that today. I was caught up with too many activities, both at and off-work. I’ll soon go through a transition phase, change of job after 12 years. Too many thoughts crowding my mind.

I realized today that it was on this day a year back that I had opened Micro.threads to all. It was the first project built ground up that I had made available for every one to use. The earlier projects were either customized or personal. It has been a wonderful learning experience.

It was also an opportunity for myself to gain confidence. It kick-started my journey to more hobby projects, inspired me to even write more. Funny how few small beginnings can turn into significant projects.

The homepage design of almost all news publications look very similar these days — rows and columns of jumbled text. I am yet to come across a design that manages to clearly serve the important articles without too much of clutter around. Quantity ranks higher than quality.

I agree with Brad Frost’s suggestion to stay boring while desiging login forms. I have indeed dislike every example of don’ts he puts out — wish sense prevails soon.

TL;DR; create login forms that are simple, linkable, predictable, and play nicely with password managers.

How Focus Music Hacks Your Brain →

Different types of music affects your brain in different ways. If you’re trying to focus, there’s scientifically a specific rhythm you should listen to.

I have been quite busy recently both at my day job and at home. Too many things to look after, planning for many eminent changes in life. Thankfully, the reading hasn’t been affected — actually it is the reading that’s kept me sane. Unfortunately, writing and responding is.

Dave Pell on Amazon buying Eero

So now Amazon can run your router, your home security camera (Blink), your doorbell (Ring), your TV (Fire), and listen to your every word via Alexa as you enjoy a nice dinner from Whole Foods. We recently learned that Jeff Bezos is good at protecting his own private parts. Who’s going to protect ours from him?

Amazon acquiring Eero is a nice reminder of the risk of the technology players getting too big. It becomes extremely difficult for any small players to survive — the limited set of 5 companies compete in every space. It’s bad for innovation, everyone works towards acquisition.

Also, we should look out for the repeating sponsors on podcasts — that looks to be the sure shot way to acquisition now. Many of the recent acquisitions have been a sponsors of some technology podcasts. I think advertising is no longer for the end customers.