Happy Retirement, random United pilot.

Happy Retirement, random United pilot.

Posted on Instagram 12:30 pm, February 15, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727 = { positions : { 878 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘29.984444444444’, ‘-95.341388888889’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.positions ) { gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.bounds.extend( gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.positions ) { gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.map, position : gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.map.setCenter( gmap_m99bb98e9d3d014968e84be962a63a727.positions[878] ); });

Inside Instagram’s reinvention

http://www.recode.net/2017/1/23/14205686/instagram-product-launch-feature-kevin-systrom-weil

Inside Instagram’s reinvention

Toward the tail end of 2015, Kevin Systrom, the CEO of Instagram, came to a realization: The photo-sharing app he had founded five years earlier was straying too far from its roots.

Instagram was growing, yes, and finally generating some serious ad dollars — which Facebook had been waiting for since it bought the company for $1 billion back in 2012.

But its user base was also growing, and it wasn’t all good growth: Instagram feeds that were once dominated by photos from friends and family members were becoming more impersonal.

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INSIDE MEDIUM’S MELTDOWN: How an idealistic Silicon Valley founder raised $134 million to change journalism, then crashed into reality

https://www.businessinsider.nl/inside-the-meltdown-of-evan-williams-startup-medium-2017-2/

INSIDE MEDIUM’S MELTDOWN: How an idealistic Silicon Valley founder raised $134 million to change journalism, then crashed into reality

Four days into 2017, Medium’s employees came to work and were told that one-third of them, 50 people, were fired.

They were shocked. Their adored boss, billionaire CEO Ev Williams, best known as the cofounder of Twitter, seemed to care so deeply for each of them.

But he told the world about the layoff in a blog post even before all the people who lost their jobs were informed, a former employee tells Business Insider.

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Bikes for days.

Bikes for days.

Posted on Instagram 12:40 am, February 15, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc = { positions : { 710 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘52.37667637011’, ‘4.8978638807509’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.positions ) { gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.bounds.extend( gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.positions ) { gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.map, position : gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.map.setCenter( gmap_mdf40c26edfda0b1c6545dd63a82640cc.positions[710] ); });

Canals.

Canals.

Posted on Instagram 5:19 pm, February 12, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7 = { positions : { 142 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘52.3731’, ‘4.8922’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.positions ) { gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.bounds.extend( gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.positions ) { gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.map, position : gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.map.setCenter( gmap_m4b468848a0cc94c959bcdaa1140edba7.positions[142] ); });

Accidentally stumbled into Brooklyn. In Amsterdam.

Accidentally stumbled into Brooklyn. In Amsterdam.

Posted on Instagram 1:03 pm, February 12, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de = { positions : { 359 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘52.383659560403’, ‘4.9300687139857’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.positions ) { gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.bounds.extend( gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.positions ) { gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.map, position : gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.map.setCenter( gmap_m80fdc90348ed1844d6539823028e20de.positions[359] ); });

Ceiling

Ceiling

Posted on Instagram 7:54 am, February 11, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd = { positions : { 259 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘52.35995’, ‘4.8853799’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.positions ) { gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.bounds.extend( gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.positions ) { gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.map, position : gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.map.setCenter( gmap_m42f1c52b06425079a52fca2e3f86debd.positions[259] ); });

Mobile 2.0

http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2017/1/30/mobile-20

Mobile 2.0

In 2004, ten years after Netscape launched, Tim O’Reilly launched the ‘Web 2.0’ conference, proposing (or branding) a generational shift in how the web worked. There were lots of trends, and none of them really started in 2004, but to me, looking back, the key thing was that people said ‘if we forget about dial-up and forget about supporting old and buggy web browsers, and presume that lots of people are online and have got used to this stuff now, what can we build now that we couldn’t build before?’

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Case study: How complexity creeps in – Signal v. Noise

https://m.signalvnoise.com/case-study-how-complexity-creeps-in-cba48023e6a1#.vptdtioy6

Case study: How complexity creeps in – Signal v. Noise

Seemingly inconsequential decisions can open the door to significant organizational and operational complexity

Lately we’ve been on a bit of a tear internally working to eliminate operational complexity from our business.

Complexity is like addiction… It comes on slowly, forming weak bonds that you can barely feel. But as it continues, the bonds strengthen quietly until they calcify and become hard to break.

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Why do programmers need long periods of silence in order to do their job?

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-programmers-need-long-periods-of-silence-in-order-to-do-their-job

Why do programmers need long periods of silence in order to do their job?

Written 38w ago · Upvoted by

Ido Moshe

, Full stack web development for over 18 years

Well let me see if i can come up with an example that would be understandable to a non programmer.

Hopefully, you all know how to do long division (if you don’t, then look it up). So lets say you have this long division problem in front of you:

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Breakfast at the United Club, on a layover in my own home airport.

Breakfast at the United Club, on a layover in my own home airport.

Posted on Instagram 9:46 am, February 10, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9 = { positions : { 44 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘39.859107020826’, ‘-104.67350164725’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.positions ) { gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.bounds.extend( gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.positions ) { gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.map, position : gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.map.setCenter( gmap_m237d47208ba4fd11862df73d49c57ec9.positions[44] ); });

My dad predicted Trump in 1985 – it’s not Orwell, he warned, it’s Brave New World

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death-neil-postman-trump-orwell-huxley

My dad predicted Trump in 1985 – it’s not Orwell, he warned, it’s Brave New World

We were keeping our eye on 1984. But it’s Brave New World we should have feared instead.

Photograph: Flickr/Urban Integration

Over the last year, as the presidential campaign grew increasingly bizarre and Donald Trump took us places we had never been before, I saw a spike in media references to Amusing Ourselves to Death, a book written by my late father, Neil Postman, which anticipated back in 1985 so much about what has become of our current public discourse.

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The Bad Product Fallacy: Don’t confuse “I don’t like it” with “That’s a bad product and it’ll fail”

http://andrewchen.co/bad-product-fallacy/

The Bad Product Fallacy: Don’t confuse “I don’t like it” with “That’s a bad product and it’ll fail”

Benedict Evans at a16z recently tweeted the following:

There’s so much truth in this tweet. And it resonates so much, I think it deserves a name:

The Bad Product Fallacy

Your personal use cases and opinion are a shitty predictor of a product’s future success.

I’ve been in the Bay Area for 10 years now, and nothing stings more than whiffing on the prediction of whether a product will be success. Getting this wrong can hurt the ego and sometimes the checkbook too – just ask the dozens of investors who’ve passed on Facebook, Google, Uber, and so on! Personally, I missed completely on Facebook’s potential, and that’s just one of many bad predictions over the years.

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One of these things is not like the others. #vegemite #notmedicine

One of these things is not like the others. #vegemite #notmedicine

Posted on Instagram 2:51 pm, February 6, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c = { positions : { 553 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘37.784161540494’, ‘-122.39733877818’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.positions ) { gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.bounds.extend( gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.positions ) { gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.map, position : gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.map.setCenter( gmap_mcb89be7979aaf70eb954b5190d0aa66c.positions[553] ); });

True Love.

True Love.

Posted on Instagram 12:59 pm, February 6, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c = { positions : { 340 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘37.760428907277’, ‘-122.41928487582’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.positions ) { gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.bounds.extend( gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.positions ) { gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.map, position : gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.map.setCenter( gmap_m9c5296f4ac1151564c55d7889f59c66c.positions[340] ); });

Land in SF, immediately spot guy wearing fur-trimmed cloak, with light-up crazy shoes.

Land in SF, immediately spot guy wearing fur-trimmed cloak, with light-up crazy shoes.

Posted on Instagram 12:36 pm, February 6, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8 = { positions : { 232 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘37.615608’, ‘-122.389544’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.positions ) { gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.bounds.extend( gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.positions ) { gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.map, position : gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.map.setCenter( gmap_m9b9e0bd386b2a9affe78a3e1f1b489c8.positions[232] ); });

Time-less. Is technology shaping a 6th sense or have we opened the door to the 4th dimension?

http://www.chrisdancy.com/news-1/2016/10/3/time-less-is-technology-shaping-a-6th-sense-or-have-we-opened-the-door-to-the-4th-dimension

Time-less. Is technology shaping a 6th sense or have we opened the door to the 4th dimension?

Do you ever feel like your entire life is on a schedule

Can you sense people in a hurry or feel them standing behind you in lines at the store?

How often can you sense someone in a hurry from just an emoji or the lack of a response in a text message?

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The Future of Food With David Friedberg – NewCo Shift

https://shift.newco.co/the-future-of-food-with-david-friedberg-1a0fcfce7cdc

The Future of Food With David Friedberg – NewCo Shift

NewCo Speaker Spotlight

David Friedberg is a serial entrepreneur and investor in Silicon Valley, having started a number of notable companies including The Climate Corporation, a climate-prediction startup, Eatsa, an automated quinoa-based fast food chain with no cashiers, and Metromile, a pay-per-mile auto insurance company.

An ex-Googler with a degree in astrophysics, Friedberg was involved in launching products like AdWords and Gmail. In 2006, he quit Google to co-found The Climate Corporation, which builds weather prediction tools for farmers. He sold the company to Monsanto for $1.1 billion in 2013.

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Team of Teams & Complexity: An Approach for breaking down Silos

http://cuddletech.com/?p=1013

Team of Teams & Complexity: An Approach for breaking down Silos

Once upon a time we categorized companies into two broad categories with regards to decision making: Centralized & De-centralized. This model is easy to comprehend when we think of a central headquarters housing centralized functions and executives, and then a large number of branches which service local regions. A bank or retail operation is a common example. Thinking on the subject seems non-applicable to companies that lack this distributed branch structure.

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Peak Design Everyday Backpack 20L Review

https://beau.blog/2017/01/peak-design-everyday-backpack-20l-review/

Towards the end of last year, I jumped on the Kickstarter bandwagon for a new backpack. They blew their goal away, and it turned out to be a really professional release that went smoothly, and delivered on time. Major kudos to the folks at Peak Design.

I had previously been using a free backpack that was one of the swag items we gave away to some of our VIP clients, but wanted something a bit bigger, and more comfortable. The 20L version of the Everyday Backpack has thus far proven to be exactly that, and much more.

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Thoughts on Bots – Cody Simms – Medium

https://medium.com/@cody/thoughts-on-bots-f04b66117825

Thoughts on Bots – Cody Simms – Medium

What should we expect from a bot ecosystem?

Image via Giphy: http://giphy.com/gifs/someone-robot-typing-RPZu7v6zA2WOI

Thoughts on bots.
Hot hot hot.
Bots have thoughts on lots and lots.
No dots. Just bots.
Hot / not? Great Scott!

If you talk like Dr Seuss to a bot, can it learn to respond in rhyme? We shall see. Yippee!

The internet is abuzz this week on the bot ecosystem that Facebook is seeking to create around Messenger, and of course Slack has been investing here for some time as well. Personally I found the bot announcements at Facebook’s F8 way less profound than Zuckerberg’s approach to a 10-year roadmap, his images of airplanes that can fly at 60K feet for months at a time and beam internet around the world, and his vision that in an AR-enabled future everything that projects an image today (such as a television) will be just a $1 app in an AR app store. (If you have not watched his F8 keynote, take the 30 minutes to do so. I’m convinced that he’s the living embodiment of Steve Jobs, as no one else comes close to having his scale of impact on culture from a technology-led perspective.)

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The Science of the One-Inch Punch

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/nueroscience/the-science-of-bruce-lees-one-inch-punch-16814527

The Science of the One-Inch Punch

Physiology and neuroscience combine to explain Bruce Lee’s master move.

Getty Images

Forget all those broken boards and crumbled concrete slabs. No feat of martial arts is more impressive than Bruce Lee’s famous strike, the one-inch punch. From a single inch away, Lee was able to muster an explosive blow that could knock opponents clean off the ground. Lee mastered it, fans worldwide adored it, and Kill Bill “borrowed” it. But if you’re like us, you want to know how it works.

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The most important thing Dropbox did to scale Product Management

https://medium.com/startup-grind/the-most-important-thing-dropbox-did-to-scale-product-management-fed90e30697e

The most important thing Dropbox did to scale Product Management

The most important thing Dropbox did to scale Product Management

These opinions are entirely my own, distilled from my experience at Dropbox in 2012–2015 as well as working with other startups. Since it’s been a few years, I’m sure Dropbox and their process look quite a bit different now.

I spent a lot of time in 2016 doing mentoring, advising, and consulting. Many conversations revolved around building product management teams, and through those conversations, I’ve got to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned from past PM roles. Some of those lessons are common sense and shared across most tech companies I’ve talked with. Others aren’t as obvious.

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Work at different management levels | Lara Hogan

http://larahogan.me/blog/manager-levels/

Work at different management levels | Lara Hogan

I remember working as a developer at a company and complaining that I had no idea what the bosses did all day. It felt like while we engineers were working hard and shipping stuff, managers just talked to a lot of people all the time, or sat in their offices behind closed doors, and I had no idea what their work looked like.

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How We Structure Our Days as a Remote Team for Optimal Collaboration, Productivity and Creativity

https://open.buffer.com/structure-days-remote-team-optimal-collaboration-productivity-creativity/

How We Structure Our Days as a Remote Team for Optimal Collaboration, Productivity and Creativity

How do you work best throughout the day?

For some of us on the Buffer team, it’s about the right morning routine to set the day right. For others, the right evening routine is what it takes to get ahead for the next day.

We’ve found there’s no one way to organize your work day — and that the best fit looks different for every person.

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Adam Gopnik on Darwin’s Brilliant Strategy for Preempting Criticism and the True Mark of Genius

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/11/11/adam-gopnik-angels-and-ages-darwin/

Adam Gopnik on Darwin’s Brilliant Strategy for Preempting Criticism and the True Mark of Genius

“People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others,” the great seventeenth-century French physicist, philosopher, and inventor Blaise Pascal wrote as he contemplated the art of changing minds. Two centuries later, Charles Darwin (February 12, 1809–April 19, 1882) provided supreme practical proof of Pascal’s insight as he forever changed the way we think about the origin of life on Earth. And he did so with immense rhetorical ingenuity, instructive in the intricate art of crippling potential criticism of one’s ideas by taking charge of all conceivable counterarguments.

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Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth) – Wait But Why

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/06/taming-mammoth-let-peoples-opinions-run-life.html

Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth) – Wait But Why

We made a fancy PDF of this post for printing and offline viewing. Buy it here. (Or see a preview.)

Part 1: Meet Your Mammoth

The first day I was in second grade, I came to school and noticed that there was a new, very pretty girl in the class—someone who hadn’t been there the previous two years. Her name was Alana and within an hour, she was everything to me.

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Zeromalist – Zero is more | Jonathan Verrecchia

http://verekia.com/zeromalist/

Zeromalist – Zero is more | Jonathan Verrecchia

Zeromalist – Zero is more

This manifesto documents my minimalism and simple living guidelines.

Embracing minimalism on different aspects of your life has plenty of benefits, like peace of mind, knowing where things are, and being low-maintenance in general. By pushing for minimalism all the way to actually reaching zero, you unlock features. These can be significant (like letting you rent your apartment on Airbnb) or minor (like not having to check-in any luggage at the airport).

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How to use 1 on 1 meetings to drive performance & prevent turnover

https://getlighthouse.com/blog/1-on-1-meetings-drive-performance-prevent-turnover/

How to use 1 on 1 meetings to drive performance & prevent turnover

“I need to give my notice. I’ve found another job.”

Susan’s greatest fear had become a reality. Allen, one of her best people, was leaving.

With an overwhelming sinking feeling, she thought to herself, “What do I do now?”

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

There’s no easy answers when you lose a good person. The best thing you can do is prevent it from ever happening.

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3 Things I Learned Working for a Micromanager – NewCo Shift

https://shift.newco.co/3-things-i-learned-working-for-a-micromanager-9f91f9da2e4e

3 Things I Learned Working for a Micromanager – NewCo Shift

Get Shift Done: Management

First off, I hate using the term micromanager***,*** it is so negative. Before deciding to write this post, I read a few articles just to make sure my experience matched the general consensus regarding micromanagement. I certainly do not want to throw this term out without consideration of what it represents. My conclusion is still that unfortunately I did find myself working for a micromanager, and just like the term, it was a negative experience. Given all of that, here are few lessons I was able to gleam from the whole thing…

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Denver Downtown is lit #womensmarch

Denver Downtown is lit #womensmarch

Posted on Instagram 11:33 am, January 21, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad = { positions : { 560 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘39.7392’, ‘-104.984’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.positions ) { gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.bounds.extend( gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.positions ) { gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.map, position : gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.map.setCenter( gmap_me07140c36931067d28f13b98100cebad.positions[560] ); });

Amazon Echo (Alexa) vs Google Home (Assistant)

https://beau.blog/2017/01/amazon-echo-alexa-vs-google-home-assistant/

I have both of these devices at home, and have had them each for a few months (at least now). I got the Amazon Echo first, so have had it for a lot longer. I grabbed a Google Home because they were on sale and I wanted to compare the 2 systems. Here’s an outline of my experience thus far.

Amazon Echo/Alexa

  • Far superior audio quality. The speaker blows the Google Home away.
  • Microphones/initial detection seem to be better, so you can yell from another room, from around a corner, etc, and Alexa will respond.
  • Earlier to the game with a developer program, so there are a lot of “skills” available, although a lot (most?) of them are pretty useless trivia type games.
  • Smart Home integration is much better so far. Includes an “internal” concept of devices, so you can create groups of devices natively within the Alexa app, and use them in commands, even if they’re different device types. For example I can group a LIFX light bulb, and a light that’s controlled through Wink, and have it all controlled as a single group via Alexa.
  • Wink hub integration is nice, and I centralize as much as possible through there.
  • Developing for Alexa is kind of cool. I built a few test skills using Lambda hosting, and was able to interact with Car2Go and WordPress.com pretty easily.
  • Radio integration (via TuneIn) is pretty nice, and being able to just “play triple j radio” (Australian station) is awesome.
  • I use Spotify for all my music, and it gets a little tedious having to say “on Spotify” for everything (because Alexa will default to Amazon Prime music otherwise).
  • It feels like total magic to walk into my house with music streaming from Spotify to headphones (via my phone), and then say “Alexa, play from Spotify” and it’ll just take over mid-track and keep playing.

Google Home/Assistant

  • Linking it up with a Chromecast allows for some really nice integrations.
  • No Wink integration yet leaves me pretty sad. It means that basically none of the home automation stuff that I have is accessible directly through the Home. I have to set things up as a shortcut in Wink, then as an IFTTT trigger against that shortcut. Pretty annoying.
  • I turned to IFTTT pretty quickly to do any of the interesting home automation stuff I wanted to play with, because of the lack of Wink integration. It works reasonably well, but is a little slower than I’d like since it has to get to Google, IFTTT, then (in my case), Wink, and finally control something in my house.
  • Integrations are only available for Nest (thermostat only), Philips Hue and SmartThings on the home automation front.
  • I like the lights/interaction with the Google Home a bit more. The colored dots/animations feel “friendlier”.
  • The touch-sensitive top of the Home is a nice addition. I have mine on my desk and find myself just tapping it quickly to pause, and sometimes using the spiral/swipe to adjust volume (although that’s a kind of awkward interaction).
  • I haven’t built anything on it yet, but Google’s API.ai looks really interesting, and provides a pretty nice interface (and learning system) compared to having to write/generate a ton of utterances with Alexa.
  • I don’t find the microphones/initial detection particularly good. I prefer to say “Hey Google” than “OK Google”, but either way I often find myself repeating it a few times to “get its attention”, and I also seem to see more “false-triggers” on the Google Home than I do on the Echo.
  • The app prompts me to download separate apps, which I guess provide some level of integration? I tried downloading the TuneIn one, but couldn’t play JJJ radio because it “could not be found”.
  • Setting Spotify as my default music source is nice, so now if I just ask for a track/artist, it always uses Spotify. I do find that often the first attempt to play music from Spotify doesn’t work though. Assistant will say “ok, playing from Spotify…” then just go quiet. If I repeat myself, it’ll work the next time. I have a feeling it’s related to the way Spotify handles multiple devices on the same account though, which seems to be a little bit funky with the Google Home in particular.
  • Google seems generally better at answering “random” questions, and seems to come up with something for a lot more queries than Alexa.
  • The set up process for the Home + Chromecast was a bit nicer than for the Echo.

h/t to Luca’s post that inspired me to write up my own experiences.

Yesterday’s project. #garage #shelving #woodwork #storage

Yesterday’s project. #garage #shelving #woodwork #storage

Posted on Instagram 1:04 pm, January 15, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44 = { positions : { 87 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘39.7572’, ‘-104.967’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.positions ) { gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.bounds.extend( gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.positions ) { gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.map, position : gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.map.setCenter( gmap_m2b9f0ce5b804e6d91de06e2180842c44.positions[87] ); });

Snowshoeing. Blazing trails. #snow #trees #winter #colorado

Snowshoeing. Blazing trails. #snow #trees #winter #colorado

Posted on Instagram 12:48 pm, January 15, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb = { positions : { 279 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘39.5815’, ‘-105.868’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.positions ) { gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.bounds.extend( gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.positions ) { gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.map, position : gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.map.setCenter( gmap_m20952802e6711907d186d8d79948f4eb.positions[279] ); });

J.M. Fortier and the Rise of the High-Profit Micro Farm – Modern Farmer

http://modernfarmer.com/2016/10/jm-fortier/

J.M. Fortier and the Rise of the High-Profit Micro Farm – Modern Farmer

It’s a warmer-than-average December day in Selmer, Tennessee. A diverse group of farmers, from teen-aged to late fifties, are all waiting around patiently, mingling and sipping coffee. Everyone has a name tag with his or her home state on it, and the range is wide: Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky.

Ray Tyler, owner of Selmer’s Rosecreek Farms and coordinator of the event later says that as many as eighty farmers from more than a dozen states attended this sold-out demo—came there, an hour from anything, to hear Jean-Martin Fortier talk about what he calls “six-figure farming.”

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Social Importer Upgrade

https://beau.blog/2017/01/social-importer-upgrade/

Today I pushed some updates to:

  1. People & Places
  2. Keyring Social Importers

These updates make it so that the Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram importers are now dynamically identifying and indexing People and Places, and marking them with a taxonomy within WordPress. I’ve also added a new system for “reprocessing” old posts which Keyring imported, so that you can go back and perform some function on those posts without having to import them again. You’ll find reprocessing tools under Tools > Import > Reprocess Keyring Data.

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The Art of the Awkward 1:1

https://medium.com/@mrabkin/the-art-of-the-awkward-1-1-f4e1dcbd1c5c

The Art of the Awkward 1:1

The Art of the Awkward 1:1

You probably do a lot of one-on-one meetings at work: with your manager, teammates, folks from other teams. Unfortunately, most people totally waste their 1:1 time. The problem: the 1:1s aren’t awkward enough*. Here’s how to make them better.*

The 1:1 is a sacred space. It’s intimate. It’s dedicated to just you and the other person. It’s super high bandwidth for complex and uncertain content, especially emotions, hopes, and fears. It’s also the most inefficient way you can devise to disseminate non-controversial info.

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Brunchin with @akires

Brunchin with @akires

Posted on Instagram 12:01 pm, January 7, 2017 jQuery(document).ready(function(){ var gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400 = { positions : { 805 : new google.maps.LatLng( ‘39.75949’, ‘-104.98465’ ) }, bounds : new google.maps.LatLngBounds(), // empty for now, we’ll dynamically extend it later map : new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( ‘gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400’ ), { mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, center: new google.maps.LatLng( 0, 0 ), zoom: 16 // Seems to be a good zoom for a single point } ), markers : {}, }; // end of gmap // Extend the bounds of interest based on our positions for ( var m in gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.positions ) { gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.bounds.extend( gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.positions[m] ); } // Render markers for ( var m in gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.positions ) { gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.markers[m] = new google.maps.Marker( { clickable: true, map : gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.map, position : gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.positions[m] } ); } // Redraw map to fit our new marker-based bounds gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.map.setCenter( gmap_mde3d160889ac85f0fbbb3f8aff431400.positions[805] ); });

About predictability and clearly defining team goals

http://ourbit.github.io//2016/11/01/about-predictability-and-team-goals/

About predictability and clearly defining team goals

It’s an Engineering Manager responsibility to guarantee the team health measured in terms of qualities such as performance, commitment, accountability and predictability (among lot of others). However this can’t be forced by the Manager. It’s actually the team effort and its proper channelling the decisive factors for achieving these goals. Because these are goals, aren’t these?

Well, that’s an interesting first discussion. What is the real value of having these qualities accomplished? Can the company sell “predictability” to its customers? Is predictability a new application feature?

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The Sanctity of Your Calendar – The Year of the Looking Glass

https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/the-sanctity-of-your-calendar-f96415b6f3ea

The Sanctity of Your Calendar – The Year of the Looking Glass

Photo by Leticia Chamorro

The Sanctity of Your Calendar

I am currently on parental leave, so these days I wake up to the freedom of an empty calendar that’s ready to be filled with toddler train rides, visits to the pumpkin patch, and round after round of couch-snuggling. As this stretch of time at home with my family is so very limited, I am determined to cherish, to the very best of my abilities, the simple pleasure of every little moment.

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On Digital Minimalism – Study Hacks – Cal Newport

http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/12/18/on-digital-minimalism/

On Digital Minimalism – Study Hacks – Cal Newport

On Digital Minimalism

December 18th, 2016 · 47 comments

The Curmudgeonly Optimist

People are sometimes confused about my personal relationship with digital communication technologies.

On the one hand, I’m a computer scientist who studies and improves these tools. As you might therefore expect, I’m incredibly optimistic about the role of computing and networks in our future.

On the other hand, as a writer I’m often pointing out my dissatisfaction with certain developments of the Internet Era. I’m critical, for example, of our culture’s increasingly Orwellian allegiance to social media and am indifferent to my smartphone.

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I’m Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, and This Is How I Work

http://lifehacker.com/im-jason-fried-ceo-of-basecamp-and-this-is-how-i-work-1790556608

I’m Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, and This Is How I Work

Basecamp is a web-based project management tool, and like so many other software tools and startups before it, the creators of Basecamp made it for themselves. They just needed a decent way to manage projects and collaborations. It just happens that other people want to use it to.

The company now known as Basecamp was founded 17 years ago by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura, and Ernest Kim. Originally called 37signals and involved with various types of web design and development—including products like Campfire as well as what became Ruby on Rails—they eventually shifted their focus to their namesake product, Basecamp.

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People & Places

https://beau.blog/2017/01/people-places/

Over the years, I’ve been working on a system to aggregate data that I publish to other social networks/sites back into my control, on my own WordPress install. Thus far, that has resulted in the creation of Keyring (plugin) to provide an abstracted interface to all of the web services I’m interested in, Keyring Social Importers (plugin) to do the basics of importing the data from different places, and Homeroom (theme) to display it all. Today, I’ve been working on a system that will detect people who are mentioned in an interaction, and link them across posts using a custom taxonomy. It does the same for physical locations, so I’ve called it People & Places.

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