Category: Technology

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Technology

WWDC’s Big Reveal

No, it was not iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, or even the Mac Pro.

I’m definitely excited about all three of those and Apple will undoubtedly be revealing more hardware and software to come. That much is certain. Apple seems to be set on a once-a-year update cycle for most of their project line and the fall of this year is going to be exciting to see.

However, the biggest, most important reveal during WWDC is that Apple is here to stay and that the current leadership team is ready to go with the future of the company … whatever that might be.

leadershipIt was late October 2012 that Apple posted this press release to their PR site which announced a rather large organizational shift for the company. The title for the press release is typical euphemism, but it boiled down to Scott Forstall and John Browett leaving and the duties being split between a number of other members. Most importantly it removed the barriers, at the leadership level, between OS X and iOS by putting Craig Federighi in charge of the software for both and putting Jony Ive in charge of design for all of Apple.

That was less than eight months ago.

I can’t imagine that trying to ship a major version of both iOS and OS X while also ushering through a Mac Pro redesign and who knows what else that is coming down the pipeline got any easier after that.

But they announced all of that at WWDC 2013 and the rest of the year is going to be a lot of fun as well. Their keynote was fun and loose (probably the loosest one they’ve had since Steve died) and it was the first time that Apple, as a company, came out swinging in a long time.

It was refreshing, and it was the big reveal of WWDC. Everything else is secondary (and subject to change).

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Technology

Google Reader Replacements

As has been known for a few months, Google is shutting down Google Reader on July 1. Sadly, no clear alternative has come out for me … or at least, not a complete solution to replace my reliance on Google Reader + Reeder.

Google Reader Death

As such, I am just going to outline, briefly, what I have tried and what I am holding out for at the moment. Luckily, I have moved off of Google Reader (and have for the past month or so), but now I am starting to think about how I might mitigate this issue from happening again in the future.

This is my story.

Feedly

I give them credit, they have a very pretty-looking site and pretty apps as well. No app on the Mac is a bit of a problem, but it works pretty well. They just switched everyone over to their own backend, so it is definitely an alternative.

One issue I have had is that it is just so DESIGNED. I’m not quite sure what doesn’t sit well with me, but their entire experience is so full of whiz-bang effects that it doesn’t quite work as just a simple, easy, feed reader … which is what I am looking for. Reader + Reeder was able to cut out most or all of the cruft that Google kept bolting on, so it worked really well.

So it might work for you but it really didn’t work for me. It also invited me to get into categorizing my feeds more, which is a time-sink and the cost-to-benefit ration quickly dissipated over time. I don’t need additional stuff.

Oh, it is also free, which is not going to turn into a theme for the rest of this.

Feed Wrangler

From David Smith comes a pay-to-play RSS reader. For a subscription fee of $19/year you get access to the Feed Wrangler backend, the online reader, and (currently) the two iOS apps made specifically for Feed Wrangler.

While the feed scraping isn’t as fast as Google Reader, being able to pay for the backend myself (or help to do it) makes me feel better about the service as a while.  While currently there is not a Mac app available, Silvio Rizzi, the developer of Reeder, has announced that he is currently working on adding Feed Wrangler support for future versions of Reeder on both Mac and iOS.

That’s awesome.

The current iOS apps work well, and I’m sure David will continue to update them, but I’m hoping those mythical Reeder updates come out soon so that I can hook up my Feed Wrangler subscription and be a happy person.

It is a simple service and that allows it not to annoy me as much as Feedly did/does. Right now this is where I house my RSS feeds until such a time as something better shows up.

NetNewsWire

The grandfather of RSS applications on the Mac.

Black Pixel just released the first public beta of NetNewsWire 4 for OS X and it is fast. It is pretty. It is an OS X app through-and-through.

Those are all things in its favor currently. Sadly, it is also incomplete and lacks one of the basic things missing from any solution replacing Google Reader: syncing.

They have announced that they are working on a sync solution and also have stated that their iOS apps are currently in-flux due to the imminent release (this fall) of iOS 7. Those are not exactly good things …

… but the current beta is so good that I am trying it out as a secondary feed reader on just OS X. My hope is that their sync solution will maybe allow me to host it myself on my own server, but I will just need to wait and see.

Just go and try out the beta and see if you like it. So far I’m extremely happy, but I need to see how they are going to handle sync and also when they are going to get their iOS apps out before I can choose this as a complete solution.

Conclusion

Right now, there is no complete solution for me. Reeder doesn’t support Feed Wrangler yet, Feed Wrangler doesn’t have an OS X app yet, and NetNewsWire is the least-ready of them all … with an OS X application.

So, I keep my stuff in Feed Wrangler for now and hope that I will have a better picture by the time my subscription is due next year.

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Technology

Various Thoughts on iOS 7

I really don’t have any of my own, but here is some reading from others if you are interested in which way I am thinking right now:

I think those four articles, mashed together, would just about sum up my thoughts right now. Of course,  Apple has a ton of work to do to get it ready for launch, but I’m having fun taking a peek at what is to come.

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Technology

WWDC 2013 Keynote in Brief

The Wirecutter has a good overview of all of the news from the WWDC 2013 Keynote. If you are interested in the news … head over there and read it. There was a lot covered.

I’m, obviously, excited. However, I don’t have experience with anything announced so I won’t really put down my opinions on this blog until I get to play with something.

However, from what I have been reading and seeing from WWDC, there is a lot more that is to come and a lot of really fun things. OS X Server looks to be getting a pretty decent update, especially for development teams.

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Life Technology

Trimming the Fat

Mr. Scatterbrain

Looking at my account at DNSimple, I have something like 5 domain names that are just sitting idly by, not dong anything in particular, and a number of sites that are currently up-and-running but that I haven’t done anything new with in a while and probably won’t do anything with for a long time.

For some reason, this has been and is weighing heavily on my mind and my psyche. Having things perpetually “on the back burner” tends to bash around inside my head, popping up at inopportune times and causing all sorts of issues. I’ve had some issues sleeping, my mood has deteriorated, I’ve had problems focusing on projects … and the list goes on. I’m not going to blame the number of “balls in the air” solely for this, but it is something to be aware of.

So it is time to do a number of things to try to help myself out of this extended rut:

  1. Trim the number of extra projects I am a part of. This could be something as simple as disabling the auto-renewal of domain names I’m never going to use or as drastic as actually taking-offline sites which I know I will not have the time nor energy to really be a part of.
  2. Trim the number of social networks I am actively a part of an engaged in. As far back as a week ago that included Twitter, App.net, Facebook, and Google+. Yeah, not a good idea. I’ve already removed Google+ from my iOS devices so I’m done with that one, but I think I need to trim even more. I will also remove any native applications from my laptop/desktop computers (for Twitter and App.net) so that I can try to curb my usage when I am at my desk(s).
  3. Curb my news consumption. This might include unfollowing or unfriending (what a terrible term) people so that I am not as tempted to read news articles. I want to be informed, but currently “staying informed” usually results in “feeling like crud”.
  4. Do away with ebooks as primary reading material. As a “technology person” I’ve been trying to force myself to use ebooks as my primary reading medium … but as ME, it just doesn’t fit. I’ve found my comprehension is worse and my stamina tanks when I am reading an ebook. I’m not sure if I’m just crazy (quite possible) or if there is just something about dead-tree books that calls out and helps me. Either way, I’m back to using dead trees for information consumption for long periods of time.
  5. Get back into keeping track of what I have to do … somehow. Use a notebook, use Things, use blood on the wall.
  6. FINISH SOMETHING. This part happens after I trim things down … but actually get into the habit of finishing things. I have books half-read, apps half-started, ideas half-throught-through and I need to sit down and finish something.

Personally, as I sit here, I think that #6 is going to be the one hardest for me to accomplish and the one that will do the most good in the end. Everything above will have some sort of effect on me, but the last fine, actually finishing something, will get some momentum going again.