Category: Life

Categories
Life Mac Uncategorized

Mac Apps I Use

If I had to choose one device to keep it would have to be my Mac. Not because I use it more than my trusty iPhone. I would pick it because it is how I make my living.

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.To that end we all have our very personal daily workflows. Some are way more complicated than others. Mine is fairly simple. 

There was a time in my life when I had to customize everything I possibly could on my desktop rig. These days I don’t bother.

Here is a list of software I use day to day.

Safari

Safari is a great browser that supports OS X extensions and browser plugins which gives me all the power I need to connect the web to my favorite desktop apps. I do not sync my opened sites between desktop and mobile.

Slack

Who doesn’t use Slack these days? We use it at work for most of our communication needs. Nuff said, it’s awesome. 

Evernote

I store quite a bit of information with Evernote. When I run across and interesting development article I clip the Simplified Article to Evernote as a reference. It is a great way to organize reference material. I do it through a combination of Notebooks and Tags. It’s a fantastic service and I love their native Mac and iOS Apps.

Wunderlist

I use Wunderlist to organize my personal project thoughts, so it mostly used on my home Mac and on my iPhone, but it’s a great app and service.

Reeder

I know RSS is dead, right? Not really. If you’re in the market for a beautiful, solid, easy to use RSS reader for the Mac or iOS, Reeder is a good choice.

Alfred

I only use Alfred for one thing, lunching apps. I keep my dock clean and find it easier to launch apps by smacking a shortcut and typing. I know I could do many more awesome things with it, but I don’t.

Dropbox

When I need access to a document or picture from many different places I use Dropbox.

Terminal

I use the built in terminal app. It’s used for git mostly.

SourceTree

I like using a nice application for git and SourceTree covers the bases for me. I split time between this app and the terminal. 

BBEdit

On occasion you have to edit something other than a file for the app you’re working on. BBEdit is more than capable. 

Xcode

This seems an obvious entry given the work I do. I develop iOS Apps. This is the best tool for the job.

I think that’s it, I’m composing this on my iPhone using the WordPress for iOS App, so I’m doing this from memory.

That brings me to this list.

Stuff I no longer use on my Mac

MarsEdit

At one point I used MarsEdit for all my blogging needs. The app is fine but I use iOS more and more for blogging. Like I said above, I’m using my iPhone to compose this post. Most of the time I use my iPad Mini on the weekends to catchup on all the stuff I pushed to Pocket. That usually results in a blog post right from the Mini. 

Fine software, great developer, no iOS App. For iOS I use the WordPress for iOS App.

Twitterrific

Unfortunately Twitter’s developer hostile token limits have all but killed off development of my favorite Twitter client. I have resorted to using the web site for my desktop browsing. If Twitterrific saw a renaissance on the Mac I would switch back in a heartbeat.  Thankfully Twitterrific for iOS is going strong. Here’s hoping Jack opens up Twitter to developers. 

Categories
Holiday Life Uncategorized

My Christmas Movie List

I know this is quite random, but we all have movies and other special programming we associate with Christmas.

Here’s my list. These are the things we must watch between now and Christmas. 

  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Cartoon)
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Ron Howard Movie)
  • A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart)
  • A Christmas Carol (Disney Animated Film)
  • It’s a Wonderful Life (Jimmy Stewart)
  • Scrooged
  • Jingle all the way
  • Christmas with the Kranks
  • A Christmas Story – my all time favorite
  • Jack Frost
  • Snow Day
  • Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer
  • Frosty the Snow Man
  • A Charlie Brown Christmas
  • A Year without a Santa Claus
  • The Santa Clause
  • The Santa Clause 2
  • Santa Claus is coming to town
  • Elf
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas

I see a lot of lists that mention Die Hard and Christmas Vacation. I have never seen Christmas Vacation.

Categories
Life

Exeter – Internet Stone Age

My wife and I recently purchased a home in Exeter, California. I spent most of my life here, she attended High School here, and we raised our daughters here. Exeter is a small farming community and a great place to raise a family.

We came back because we know it well and like it. The housing market in California has mellowed a bit since the crash of 2008 and now was a good time to purchase. We are thrilled to be back and we love our new home and neighborhood.

When we considered moving back to Exeter the thought of Internet connectivity never crossed my mind. We live here up until the end of 2010 and had a decent Verizon DSL connection. I figured we would get Verizon DSL or a cable provider when we moved back. Boy, was that a mistake.

After all was said and done we spent a few days painting inside our new home before moving in. One day during our painting fest our real estate agent dropped by with a housewarming gift and asked how things were going. We chatted for a while and as she was about to leave she asked “What are you doing for an Internet connection?” I was a bit taken aback. I said I’d call Verizon to see about getting DSL. That’s when she informed us she’s had new renters avoid Exeter because they couldn’t get a good high speed connection provider. Uh, what? Isn’t it 2015? I thought high speed connectivity was available in towns large and small? Again, I was mistaken.

It turns out Verizon has “filled all their DSL ports.” That’s right. The ONE well know provider of high speed connectivity couldn’t help us. I asked about expansion. They offered to put me on a waiting list. Yeah, good luck with that. I can imagine a few hundred names ahead of mine.

That was a real kick to the gut. I work from home a few days a week so I need something better than dial-up. Dial-up? Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Heck, we don’t even have a phone line any longer. My thoughts turned to using a cellular hotspot. Not a bad idea but it would prove expensive. I started looking for alternatives. They exist but they’re costly when you look at what you get for the price.

In the end we settled on Dish Internet. I signed up for a 50GB data plan that provides 15Mbps download speeds for $79/month, with a lovely two year commitment (oh yeah, they really stick it to ya.) Not ideal, but workable. By comparison we had a 30Mbps Comcast connection for $39/month in Visalia (the city we just left.)

But wait, it gets worse.

After our installation was ready to roll I gave the connection the old speed test. We only get 2.5Mbps down and 1.2Mbps up. Uh, that’s not right. Needless to say Dish Network and I will be having a conversation next week about improving our service or dropping the price dramatically. 

It’s really hard to believe in 2015 we can’t get a decent connection in our little town. The lack of connectivity will turn off a lot of buyers and I’d imagine most renters in today’s market. If you need connectivity at home or for your business and can’t get it you’re probably going to move your business or buy a home elsewhere.

I cannot recommend using Dish Internet if you need it for more than getting email or casual web surfing. Cellular is faster in most cases.

My hope is Exeter will realize the potential economic impact on the community and push for better solutions. Until that day arrives, we live with what we have.

Categories
Development Indie Life

For Love of Apps

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.
Brent Simmons: “This is the age of writing iOS apps for love.”

This is what I’ve decided to do; write iOS or Mac apps for the love of it. If the app succeeds, great! If it fails, that’s ok too.

Categories
Life

The Insanity of San Francisco Real Estate

Curbed – San Francisco: ” Eventually, someone saw the potential for change in the modest two-bedroom home and bought it for $850,000. Flippers have completely transformed the house into a four-bedroom luxury abode listed for $5.25 million, asking more than six times the previous price and ushering it right into the Sextuple Club, a thing we just invented.”

Now that’s a flip.

Compare that to what $140k gets you in Detroit. With some time and a bit of money this Detroit home could look just as nice, if not nicer, than the San Francisco home.

Categories
Indie Life

Yes, going Indie is difficult

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.Jared Sinclair: “You cannot become an indie developer. Ask for your day job back. Do not proceed to Step 5 or 6.”

I’ve been there. You can feel the frustration in every word. He wants so badly to be a full time Indie, but can’t quite stack the deck in his favor.

Last November I decided I had to bail on my dream of running an Indie shop in favor of a full time job. I had taken an approach I thought would work, I failed to execute it properly. My post mortem of my failure is bitter and filled with anger. I made every mistake a person could make. It’s a tough business, and many great developers (like Jared) will struggle to make it work. You have to be part marketing, part sales, and part developer to give it a chance of succeeding. Oh, and most importantly you need a big break.

Jared has what I would consider a very successful run as an Indie with his beautifully designed and developed Unread RSS reader (now at Supertop), but it wasn’t enough to sustain a living. There’s the rub. If you’re not connected in this market it’s really tough to make it work. The Indies that have succeeded have either been around a very long time, hit the app store early with something unique, or have influential friends that give them an instant leg up.

When I decided I had to get a full time job it became obvious I was going to have to do the development I really want to do on the side, as a hobby. That means I’ll get to dabble a little bit, but never really get the chance to build the piece of software I want to build. That’s ok. I’ll tinker, RxCalc looks long in the tooth and Arrgly could use some love. I have ideas for both, and a bunch of code I’ve been sitting on for quite a while that needs to see the light of day. It feels like the right way to be an Indie today.

Given that I’d tweak Jared’s list a little.

  1. Do you have a day job that pays you a full-time salary? If yes, proceed to Step 2. If not, skip to Step 3.
  2. Good. Keep it, you’ll need the income.
  3. Find a full time job you will enjoy.
  4. Find a passion project. Something you’d love to do on nights and weekends.
  5. Open Xcode
  6. You are now an Indie Developer

I know a lot of folks don’t have much time on nights and weekends. My first iOS App was built an hour here an hour there until it was good enough to put in the store. It’s worth the effort and feels great when you can finally push out your code, even if it is a silly little application.

Hang in there Jared. I understand your desire, I really do. It’s what I want too.

Categories
Indie Life

I’ve been doing it all wrong

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.I’ve given the Freelance thing a hearty try on a couple occasions. The first time was successful. I had a couple good clients that provided steady work, and eventually went to work for one of them full time. But, the itch to develop iOS Apps was so strong I made another attempt at Freelancing. That second round was an unmitigated disaster. I took on too much work for too little reward, there were other factors in the mix as well. 

Doing Freelance work, or studio work, is like being a hamster in cage on one of those wheels. You work your tail off and go nowhere. I know some folks are really good at it, but I failed at it because you need to hustle work all the time as well as work on your current obligations. It’s a tough balancing game. 

All that to say I’m doing it wrong. That became apparent when I read Brent Simmons weblog post about resigning from Q-Branch. In his post Brent says that he resigned because he is not working on the software he is passionate about.

I decided to leave because I wasn’t working on the software that I’ve been obsessed with for more than a decade.

That makes you think, doesn’t it? Why do something your heart isn’t really into? Paycheck aside. If you need to work on something at night and on the side it should be something you are deeply passionate about.

John Gruber followed up with these words, this really drives the point home.

Nights-and-weekends time is for your passions, not for obligations.

They’re right. I’m 47 years old, and closer to 48 as of this writing. Why should anyone spend time working on something they’re not absolutely passionate about?

I’ve been going about this all wrong. I’ve wanted to do a large project for years. My dear wife has been encouraging me to pursue it, for years. It’s time to reflect and make a choice; pursue that dream, or let it die, stop killing myself for others and just enjoy what I have.

Oh, and I need to read a book for fun once in a while. I started Stephen King’s 11/22/63 two and a half years ago and haven’t finished it. I have a stack of books beside my bed, just dying to be read. I should read them.

Categories
Life Weblogging

20 years of zeldman.com

Jeffrey Zeldman: “I launched this site twenty years ago (a year before the Wayback Machine, at least two years before Google) and it was one of the only places you could read and learn about web design. I launched at a tilde address (kids, ask your parents), and did not think to register zeldman.com until 1996, because nobody had ever done anything that crazy. “

Happy Birthday zeldman.com! Jeffrey, thanks for 20 years of web design standards. Yours was one of the first websites I discovered, before I knew it was a weblog. I discovered you, Dave Winer, and Evan Williams around the year 2000 and started my own weblog in 2001 as a result.

One thing I’ve always loved about your site is the use of orange! I know you had that greenish period, but I’m glad you came back to orange. I also appreciate the size of the type. Aging eyes and all.

Here’s to 20 more years of zeldman.com. Long live the independent weblog!

Categories
Life Movies

Rob’s 2015 Summer Blockbuster Must See List

Man, this kind of snuck up on me. Time to put together my Summer Movie Must See List.

Avengers: Age of Ultron May 1
Maggie May 8
Mad Max: Fury Road May 15
Tomorrowland May 22
Poltergeist May 22
San Andreas May 29
The Stranger June 12
Jurassic World June 12
Big Game June 26
Terminator Genisys July 1
Minions July 10
Ant-Man July 17
Dark Was the Night July 24
Southpaw July 31
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation July 31
Fantastic Four August 7
Pan August 27

Unlike last years list, this one is short. The mini list for me includes: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Maggie, Mad Max: Fury Road, Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys, Southpaw, Pan.

Prior years 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

UPDATED 05/15/2015: Added The Stranger.
UPDATED 05/18/2015: Added Dark Was the Night.

Categories
Life

That’s Life

Medium [“Broken Men And Their Broken System” by Chris Kluwe]: “But why, if the powers that be know that every player is going to transition out of the league at some point; if they know that the odds are against those players, and that almost all of them will end up a tragedy instead of a triumph; why, then, haven’t these multibillion-dollar leagues created and promoted universal support systems to help all players transition from their old lives to their new ones? Why is there no required series of steps upon exiting the game?”

While I was reading this article I caught myself shaking my head, thinking shame on the NFL. Then I caught myself. No doubt the NFL should do something more to teach these guys how to prepare for retirement, but the rest of us Everyday Joe’s have to deal with this too. Nobody takes us through a program designed to prepare us for our eventual retirement. I can’t imagine how tough it must be like to earn millions of dollars over the span of a few years. I wish I had that opportunity. Maybe it’s good to struggle your entire life, then you don’t end up having to deal with this problem.

As for my retirement plans? Easy, it will be a pine box.