Thoughts, stories and ideas. Mostly.
You bet your ass I do. (Spoiler: I also use Microsoft software on my Mac)
Most people don’t know that one of the world’s largest software companies is actually really great at building hardware too. And this is not a new thing in the last few years. The first Microsoft mouse, the Intellimouse, was released in the late 90’s and since then they have set quite a standard for both keyboards and mice.
I started listening to Podcasts back in 2003. At that time it was cutting edge to have Podcasts on iTunes and Apple was smart enough to ride that wave for quite a while. While Podcasts have now moved beyond the Apple ecosystem they are a part of every mobile platform and have become and industry in its own right. Podcasts were a hobby when they started. Not many people thought it could be turned into a business. But now 10+ years down the line networks such as TWiT, Relay FM, and 5by5 have proven the viability of “internet radio shows”.
In September of 2013 my routine changed quite a bit as I began to commute to downtown Chicago. Sitting on the train for an hour each day, plus a 10 minute walk each direction, was new to me and while music was great to listen to I felt like I could use the time in a more meaningful way. I tried reading and playing video games but the motion on the train was just too much. Then I remembered a few of the Podcasts that I listened to many years ago and though it was time to start listening again.
Over the last month I have been part of a beta testing session for a new mobile application that just hit the market a little over a week ago. Tacit is billed as an online to real world presence application to let your contacts know the best way to get in contact with you.
There have been many times that I get a phone call just at the wrong time. Mostly when I am in a work meeting or at personal outing that I just don’t want to be disturbed. Tacit is aimed to fix that solution by letting your contacts know what’s the best possible way to get a hold of you at that moment in time.
Disclaimer: I’m going to be talking about the future of a platform/applications that I have used for 7+ years but only have developed for the past month and a half. That being said I may have a few details wrong. Feel free to tweet me if you find issues.
I have spent the last week with a new iPhone 6 and overall it’s been great, minus one issue. Scaled up apps. They look horrible and the keyboard scales up which makes it feel even worse. This prompted me to make sure that my demo apps support the new screen sizes and so I dug into what it takes for developers to add this support. Long story short, if you have kept up with Apple’s design guides it’s easy, if not it’s going to be hard.
Not long after that I stumbled upon this tweet which got me thinking.
I haven’t felt any need to use my ỉPad since Friday. Just a note to ỉPad only apps.
— macdrifter (@macdrifter) September 24, 2014
Disclaimer: I did work for Nokia/Microsoft while I was reviewing this unit. That being said this was bought as a personal product that I intend to keep, not through internal employee sources.
I like to always have background noise. It drives my wife nuts but oh well it’s how I work best. I tend to have either music/podcasts playing or the TV on whenever I am working or just getting stuff done around the house. Naturally the source of a lot of this media is my plethora of devices but most of the time the built in speaker just doesn’t cut it. For the past few months I have been on the search for a good bluetooth speaker and I think I finally have landed on it.
The Nokia MD-12 is their new portable wireless speaker. It’s quite small, comes in the bright colors the market has begun to realize are fun, and has an interesting new feature when it comes to audio quality.
