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< Archive / 2014

January, 2014

We can still bring back net neutrality. And we should - for the sake of the Internet.

Net neutrality is the principle that "Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication." In other words, all of my Internet data is treated the same, ...
January 29, 2014

RIP Pete Seeger. He will be missed.

I grew up on American folk music. My fondest memories are gathering with my extended family in Massachusetts to sing informally. I knew the lyrics to This Land is Your Land or Charlie and the MTA long before I knew the words to anything they would play on the radio. I ...
January 28, 2014

Trading games in the playground, trading games on the web

Like a lot of people, the thing that first got me into programming was games. I'd learned rudimentary BASIC as a kid, but it was as a teenager that I started to get a taste for the thrill of making something and sharing it with other people. Adventure games had always ...
January 25, 2014

We're looking for some people to help us. #ios #php

My employer, Latakoo, is an enterprise media management company. We help people send files - mostly video, but we're expanding - really fast using any Internet connection. A lot of our customers are involved in news and journalism. Here's a sample: Used @latakoo on Air Force One to ship video of POTUS ...
January 24, 2014

How idno handles #POSSE syndication to third-party sites #indieweb

Last week at Homebrew Website Club, I was asked how Idno syndicates to third-party sites like Twitter when I post content. Here's how it works. First of all, Idno has a plugin system, that allows new functionality to be added system-wide. As well as new kinds of content like slide presentations, plugins ...
January 21, 2014

The NSA is counter to everything America stands for.

Bruce Schneier had to brief a branch of government on a government agency today: This morning I spent an hour in a closed room with six Members of Congress: Rep. Logfren, Rep. Sensenbrenner, Rep. Scott, Rep. Goodlate, Rep Thompson, and Rep. Amash. No staffers, no public: just them. Lofgren asked me ...
January 16, 2014

I'm making 50 pieces of art. Do you want one? #indieweb

The following is doing the rounds on social media. It sounds like fun, so I thought I'd adapt it: I, Ben Werdmuller, promise to send a small work of art for the first fifty people who comment on this post by replying from their own website. Twitter or Facebook is not ...
January 16, 2014

Trust but verify (or why Firefox is my primary browser, & why we should be wary of h.264)

This weekend, Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich called on the world to examine Firefox's source code to protect it from NSA intrusion: Through international collaboration of independent entities we can give users the confidence that Firefox cannot be subverted without the world noticing, and offer a browser that verifiably meets users’ privacy ...
January 15, 2014

Workwashing & "do what you love"

I found this piece about the "do what you love" mantra challenging: By keeping us focused on ourselves and our individual happiness, [Do What You Love] distracts us from the working conditions of others while validating our own choices and relieving us from obligations to all who labor, whether or not ...
January 15, 2014

Objectives and Key Results look like an interesting way to grade company performance

I like the sound of the Objectives and Key Results system that Google uses: First, you set up an Objective. Then you set up a number of "Key Results" that are quantifiable that will help you hit your objective. Your objectives should be definitive and measurable. Don't say, for instance, I ...
January 7, 2014

What I love about Silicon Valley

I enjoyed, but didn't fully agree with, TechCrunch's piece Silicon Valley Lost, And Found: However, in other ways, what drew my mother and my grandfather here is very much alive. A desire for non-conformity and a grandness of aspiration still exists in certain entrepreneurs here. The 150-year-old Gold Rush mentality lingers ...
January 5, 2014

Designing exercise into my daily routine.

I hate gyms. At their best, I'll stick a podcast on, hook myself up to a machine, and do a circuit of resistance training to follow. If it's a good podcast, I will have learned something, but I don't think they're interesting, and I don't think they're real exercise. I ...
January 4, 2014

I will not be a dopamine monster: saying "no" to social media addiction.

The moments when I do my best thinking are always the quiet ones. All my devices are off, there's no sound around me except for (when I'm lucky) the gentle breeze through the trees, or the swish of far-off cars. My mind is at peace; uncluttered and uninterrupted, while at ...
January 4, 2014