Another fascinating video from CGP Grey on The Better Boarding Method Airlines Won’t Use. I’ve wondered about this every time I’m stuck in a boarding queue.
It’s always frustrating to know that to literally have done nothing would be faster than the something that is done.
It was discomforting to read Owen William’s account of his failed attempt to add his site to Google News. Not just because how aloof Google acted, but because of the patience Owen was showing towards their policies. I understand his desire to receive the crazy traffic Google might send to his site. But it is better to understand that Google’s interests and plans for the product just won’t match those of a smallish individual website.
These losing battles are always better to be avoided — it has been true since the early SEO days. Dave Winer words it really well in his response.
In Williams’ tale of woe, the Godfather is the open web, other news orgs, his readers, and the legal system is Google. We have to work together Owen. The web made all you do possible, you can’t go over its head to Google to get what you think you need.
Dear Internet, stop throwing more links to Eleventy at me now. It strains my resolve to not try another engine out there to build site with. I am satisfied with what I have got running — or so I have convinced myself. Don’t make it more difficult than it already is.
I tend to agree with John Gruber’s thoughts on “On Covering Webcams”
The problem isn’t your camera, it’s malware. Don’t install any software from unknown or sketchy sources, keep your OS up to date1, and you should be fine. And if you do have malware on your Mac, the webcam is likely the least of your problems.
Sure, you should be careful while you access the Internet. Or else some can indeed take control of your machine. But the words I highlighted matter — you should be careful while accessing any machine. Else, you will break the machine and it will eventually harm you.
I wonder how many people with iOS devices use any browser other than Safari. I can never convince myself to switch to any other browser — to be frank I never felt a need earlier when I was all in on Apple ecosystem. With recent switch to Windows, I have to reconsider.
A fascinating story of The First Lady of the Internet
A passing glance at this peculiar genealogy reveals how deeply these women’s faces and voices are integrated into technology, even as their names and thoughts and lives are so often ignored
In an article on how Instagram “travel influencers” are affecting homeownership around the world is hidden a very unfortunate truth.
Today everything exists to end in a photograph (…) the most influential factor in determining where to vacation is how “Instagrammable” the destination is.
This sad fact holds even for non-influencer, normal tourists. Every time I tour, I see loads and loads of people fighting for a spot, the same, crowded space that everyone around is taking pictures at. I have seen people put their backs to the most wonderful of the valleys and mountains and beaches just so that they would catch themselves and the serenity in the same picture. Doesn’t matter then if it looks equally serene just few feet away from the “instagrammable” spot.
Influencers who come into a community to get something, and who refuse to acknowledge or be curious about the people who make it up—or, worse, who consider those people obstacles—are refusing to participate in the best part of travel: Appreciating what, or who, makes a place different from any other.
I could not say it better. All tourists need to respect the location and the people that dwell there. That picture-worthy spot you are on look out for is a home for many.
Recently David documented the steps to expose a JSON feed on a @Blot site. I’ve been running a JSON feed for my blog for some time now, which also drives the On This Day page on my blog. I shared my approach so that others with a site running on Blot can create such a page.
Every now and then I am reminded of the fact that Opera browser still exists — why and how? There was a time when I enjoyed using Opera, especially on mobile — it looked the slickest in the flock. Ah, there was Flock too. These days, it’s a battle between just 3 players.
Foxcon’s entry to Wisconsin looks to have affected the town in tumultuous proportions as per a Bloomberg report. There was also a fascinating episode #132 of Reply All that covered this apparent disaster. It’s poignant to read how “progress” has marred the spirit of the town.
Recently David Merfield, the developer behind Blot, documented the steps to expose a JSON feed on a Blot site. I have been running a JSON feed for my blog for quite some time now, with some valuable help from David of course. It is this feed that drives the On This Day page on this blog. I thought I will share my approach so that others with a blog running on Blot can create such a page.
To begin with, follow the guide to get a working JSON feed for your blog. Validate you have a properly formed and accessible feed being served using the JSON feed validator.
Once the JSON feed is available, create a view in Blot for a javascript file. Copy the complete content of the javascript available as a gist* and add them to this new view. Modify the json_feed_url and tz variables appropriately to reflect the URL for the JSON feed and the timezone for your blog, you can refer to the formats in TZ database time zones. This script does the following.
.className definition, you can remove/modify that as per your liking in fuction renderPost.Next, create another view for a page to display these posts; a reference html page is available as a gist. Modify the src in <script src="/flashback.js"></script> to reflects the URL for the javascript created above. The script adds and renders the posts made on this day in earlier years in the div element with id on-this-day.
Do give this a try, it is fascinating to see your thoughts change, or at times stay exactly the same, over the year. Reach out to me if you face any issues or find any step missing.
/on-this-day. * This javascript is inspired by and based on the wonderful project Micro Memories by Jonathan LaCour for the micro.blog hosted blogs. I have customized and simplified it as per my needs.
“Cleaning your room takes effort. Blurring your background on Skype does not.” This is a nifty addition to Skype - bokeh for video calls. And a very valid argument to put the iPhone X like a dot projector and infrared camera modules in laptops.
When someone publicises the intended motive behind their service as “to democratize audio and unlock the potential of human creativity”, we can guess they are ready for getting acquired. But then they sell out to a company that isn’t even servicing worldwide 🙄🤦🏽♂️
I always believed Anchor was strategically working towards an acquisition. I never thought they would sell out so early. So glad that I did not sign up while they were drumming up how they aim to take podcasting mainstream.
Has the political realm across the world always been this messy? Or is it that I read more about it now and hence am more aware? I am left anguished every time I read anything around politics. No morals. No civility. Pure egocentrism on display.
It is to capture discussions like this that I had initially built Micro.threads. I eventually added many capabilities to it that I wanted to address. However, it is heartening to see it still come handy for it’s initial intended purpose - to save and share the recommendations.
What are the recommended, non-tech, non-news newsletters? Other than NextDraft, of course. I have realised the newsletters I subscribe to tend to get repetitive. I do not want to know of the thoughts on same tech/non-tech US news 🙂
Design is not how it looks. Design is how it works.
A nice reminder from Patrick Rhone (@patrickrhone) - every designer should hang this over their desks. Also this.
Every time you add a page you add work for the visitor.
Indian Government wants to put control on Tik Tok - this is a fall-out of the fake-news debacle with WhatsApp. It wants to make sure there are mechanisms in place to contain misinformation and also set accountability when that happens. Not too overreaching if done well.
Spending a quality time with close family amidst nature is the most effective way to get rejuvenated.
I managed to catch up on two great television series - Doc Martin and The Good Place, both highly recommended by the community here. Need to especially thank @macgenie for the recommendation for former - boy, I am love with the seaside village of Portwenn. Had some fun days.
So apparently we, humans, are struggling to prove ourselves as human now - The Verge reports.
Figuring out how to fix those blurry image quizzes quickly takes you into philosophical territory: what is the universal human quality that can be demonstrated to a machine, but that no machine can mimic? What is it to be human?
I am sorry, but we are taking the literal definition of CAPTCHA - Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart - too seriously. It is a good enough system to filter out attacks from majority of the bad actors not so strong both technically and financially. Sure, there would come a day when the AI systems to beat these complicated CAPTHAs would become extremely cheap — might be even sold pay-per-use.
But when that happens, we better be ready with something that can replace this old system of identifying humans online. Authenticating and authorizing an identity online should be made a priority project at all the technology leaders.
A great thread by Destin of Smarter Every Day on how crazy minds are fooling YouTube algorithms with AI.
I just figured something out I want to talk about it. Let’s talk about weaponized bots, algorithm exploitation, countermeasures, and counter-countermeasures.
I attempted to watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch today. Netflix managed to solve a lot many technical challenges — it is a well-done interactive film. I think first of its kind. But boy, did it suck as a film. The format just did not click for me — the film worked neither as a science fiction nor as a horror.
To be frank, I am a bit disappointed in this genre of films. There has been so much talk about these choose-your-own-adventure or multiple endings movies/shows. But I find the whole concept a bit distracting. Every time, I was made to choose any aspect playing on the screen, I was pulled out of the flow of the movie. I doubt this interactive form will work for many.
Call me old school. But I want to be driven, I want to view the story from the director’s perspective. I like to see what he or she wants to show me, keeping my mind completely open. I do not want to play a game while I am watching a movie. Because if I do want to, well, I will play a game in the first place.
Sure, this was a good experiment to explore this concept of letting viewers drive the narrative of the film. And although I question its feasibility, I also believe this is just a start. There’s soon going to be lot many such experiments with VR too. Whatever the makers believe, I am sure I would hate that form.
I wish makers spend their efforts on the story, on the screenplay, on all the other aspects that make a movie brilliant. I will any day choose a linear, single ending drama or a thriller that a director has complete control over than a broken, nonsensical story that I can control every aspect of.
I published my thoughts on the wonderful movie “Bhai: Vyakti Ki Valli”. It’s celebration of a life — the movie, the experience left me completely nostalgic. Just wish it was an equally good biopic though. It is a must watch nonetheless.