I don’t normally look back on the year, and 2014 is a year I’d like to forget, but instead of focusing on the bad I thought I’d share some of the great things of the year. Here they are, in no particular order.
Even though big tech companies could allow folks to work remotely, they don’t, or won’t. If you live in the San Joaquin Valley of California you’re in a definite no mans land of tech, or as I described it once before, a Technology Black Hole. That said a few wonderful folks, leaders all, decided they would do something about it and formed Bitwise Industries as an umbrella company to provide those of us that live in The Great Valley a place to gather, learn, and work. There are so many people to thank for making this happen, but Irma, Jake, Anna, and Rick are amazing. Thank you for giving Technologists in the Valley a hub.
Castro is my podcast app of choice. It has a unique user interface and works the way I’d like my podcast application to work. It’s simple, does a great job, and is beautiful. Not much more to say.
I’ve used Slack on a couple client projects and we use it at Agrian. It’s a great way to communicate and keep an eye on other parts of your business. E.G. You can integrate it into your build environment or be notified when a server or database is having issues. I know I’m only scratching the surface of its capability. It’s a great tool.
When I started Freelancing earlier in the year I worked with a couple companies using Basecamp to manage projects. If you need something simple to manage projects Basecamp is a great choice. It’s easy to use and reliable.
If you’d like a way to manage your Twitter Favorites, look no further. Tweetfave will deliver your favorites to your inbox. Pretty simple.
If you’re writing iOS or Mac client applications, that needs to communicate to a network service, you’ve probably heard of AFNetworking. This code makes communicating with REST/JSON based services a snap. You can, of course, use it for more than REST/JSON.
Simply Design is another Fresno based company. Tessa Williamson runs this great design shop. When I went back out on my own I wanted to transition Apple Core Labs to Hayseed. Tessa gave me a beautiful design and is so easy to work with. She’s the real deal. (No, Hayseed never came to be.)
Back in May we moved Haileigh, our oldest daughter, back to California. We turned it into a vacation. We hit New Orleans the evening of Tuesday, May 6, and I was instantly in love with the French Quarter. I’m sure this happens to most people that visit. It’s a magical place, and no, I’m not talking about Bourbon Street, New Orleans is so much more than that. We were able to spend one day in this beautiful city. I’d love to live there.
