Fargo: Minimalist Browser-Based Outliner

I've just started using Fargo, a new browser-based outliner from Small Picture. This little tool is platform-independent and works within any modern browser (i.e. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, IE10). It's an HTML5 app written with JavaScript. Files are stored in Dropbox in an open format (OPML).

Why use this instead of one of the myriad of other outliner tools on the market? It's simple to use. You don't need to install proprietary software. It's available anywhere you happen to need it. You don't need to worry about 'lock-in.' There's no need to export your files, ever. It's free. It works well. I like it.

Hyperlapse: Creating Assets

Have you seen Google Street View Hyperlapse? It's the latest project from the minds at Teehan+Lax. To be more precise, it's from the Teehan+Lax Labs, an offshoot within this top-tier creative/design agency where people explore new ways to use technology to communicate.

If you want to see how Hyperlapse works, the source code is available on GitHub. Teehan+Lax is a company that really likes to share. They share source code, tools,  ideas, design strategies, business philosophy. They follow this principle: 'create more value than you capture.'  That's a powerful idea championed by open source crusader and tech book publisher Tim O'Reilly. It's an idea that you'll find embodied on many of the best sites on the web.  

When I was playing with Hyperspace yesterday, I was reminded of a 2010 post (that I happened to read only a few weeks ago) by Robert Niles, former editor of USC Annenberg's Online Journalism Review. It's an article about the need for journalists to think in terms of creating assets instead of stories. Here's the crux of it:

To me, that’s the word ["assets"] that should replace “stories” in your vocabulary as a journalist. Too many of the journalists I’ve seen try to make the transition to running their own blogs and websites remain mired in the “story” mindset, endlessly creating newspaper-style “stories” or even brief-length snippets for their blogs. But they fail to create assets of enduring value that ultimately provide the income that they need to remain viable businesses online.

This is as true for online publishing as it is for any other online content. Assets that have enduring value keep people coming back. But I'd add that creating a good story, or narrative, to support your assets is just as important. Teehan+Lax is a great example of how this is done. Read their 'behind-the-scene' story about how they designed Medium to see what I mean. 

Odds and Ends

Here's a (very) random list of a few posts and pages from around the web that have recently piqued my interest. 

• Reeder is now free (for the Mac and iPad). For now. A good idea from the developer to build up a larger user base in preparation for the post-Google Reader era. Although I've recently switched to Feedly, I'm a long-time user of Reeder on iPad and iPhone. Just downloaded it for the desktop and it is, as expected, excellent. My vote is still out on which news reader I'll end up using in the long run, but I'm digging Feedly for now.  
• Demystifying the Lumber Yard. Shopping a lumber yard can be a daunting experience. Here's an excellent video from the Renaissance Woodworker to get you started, which also includes a list of further resources. By the way, did you know it's National Woodworking Month? Not to be confused with 'Get Woodworking Week,' which was Feb. 3-9. 
• Famo.us. I just read that this smooth and zippy HTML5/JavaScript platform is going to be made free for developers. The demo is impressive. So fast.
• Have you ever seen an atom? Worth watching this short video.
• Quantum Entanglement Experiment. How fast is 'spooky action at a distance?' At least four orders of magnitude faster than light, according to new research. Fun read, if you like this kind of stuff.
• Coffitivity. Recorded sounds of a noisy coffee house ('coffitivity'), which you can mix in with your preferred music in the name of boosting productivity. Really? That's the last thing I want to hear when I'm working in my home office. I'm odd, I guess, in that I prefer complete silence.
• Tenkara. I've only recently learned about the traditional Japanese method of fly fishing, called Tenkara. Very minimalist, as one might expect. It really does look like a great way to fish a small stream.

The Hieroglyph Project

Here's a new project from Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination, inspired by a 2011 call to action from Neil Stephenson. What's the Center for Science and Imagination, you ask? Bruce Sterling explains it well in a 2012 Wired article.

The goal of the Hieroglyph Project is to rekindle the spirit of mid-20th century "Big Idea" science fiction: the kind of writing that described (and inspired) a future society in which communications satellites, robots, and rocket ships were common technologies. The idea of Hieroglyph, then, is to provide a forum for 21st-century writers and researchers to dream up new big ideas to inspire new generations of engineers and scientists. To give you an idea of the scope and vision we're talking about here, two initial projects are an insanely tall tower and a plot to send a 3D printer to the moon. Here's an excerpt from the project's 'about' page:

What science fiction stories—and the symbols that they engender—can do better than almost anything else is to provide not just an idea for some specific technical innovation, but also to supply a coherent picture of that innovation being integrated into a society, into an economy, and into people’s lives. Often, this is the missing element that scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and entrepreneurs need in order to actually take the first real steps towards realizing some novel idea.

This should be interesting.

LibraryThing Responds to Amazon's GoodReads Purchase

LibraryThing is poised to gain many new users in the wake of Amazon's purchase of GoodReads. In the interest of enticing new members, they're offering free one-year LibraryThing accounts through Sunday. To be clear, LibraryThing has always been free to join. However, there is a 'pay-what-you-want' annual fee if you want to add more than 200 books (suggested amounts: $10 a year or $25 for lifetime membership). This weekend's special offer means that, for a year, you may add as many books as you want. If you don't pay anything after the year is up, your books won't be deleted, but you won't be able to add more. What's the money for? From the LibraryThing blog:

The money helps pay for the site, and keeps us advertisement-free for members. Also, we believe customers should be customers, with the loyalty and rights of customers, not the thing we sell to our real customers.

You can join the discussion on what the Amazon purchase of GoodReads means for LibraryThing (and ponder broader questions about Amazon's increasing dominance in the publishing/bookselling world) here. 

Forecast

I'm inclined to yawn at the prospect of yet another weather service/app, but Forecast is making me giddy. It's a new offering from The Dark Sky Company, makers of the eponymous app that I rely upon to get 'hyperlocal' weather (i.e. to-the-minute notifications that it's about to rain over my house).

Like the Dark Sky app, Forecast is smooth, attractive, and a pleasure to use. It differs in that it builds and expands upon Dark Sky in profound ways: it promises seven-day global forecasts; offers historical weather conditions; delivers even slicker fluid animations; and adds multiple layers of weather information. There's also an API for developers. You have to check it out for yourself.

Forecast demonstrates just how polished and pleasant a web app can be. Add it to your home screen on your iOS device, and you'll swear it's a native app that you downloaded from the App Store.

I currently use Dark Sky and Garmin's My-Cast to get my weather on my iOS devices. On the Mac, I often geek out with WeatherSpark (which offers an amazing depth of information, but is lamentably Flash-based). Forecast may displace all of these services.

Building a Dry Stone Wall

Last December, my wife came across an ad on Craigslist for free fieldstone. On a whim, I decided to haul it home to build a wall. As is so often the case with DIY, it was easier to concieve than to execute. I finished my small wall only a few days ago. It took me nearly four months.

The steps for building a dry wall are fairly straightforward. The essence of it: stake out the wall line; dig a trench about eight inches deep and a bit wider than the planned wall; fill the trench with crushed gravel to form a base that will minimize shifting from frost heaves and settling; then stack rocks. The basic rule of rock stacking is to place one stone over sections where two stones come together, and two stones over sections where there is one stone. Cap the top with heavy, nice-looking stone. The overall pattern should be stable, level, and visually appealing.

That last part is the kicker. In my case, I had to contend with a three foot downhill slope in the front of the house and a one foot incline on the part that curves around the odd looking conifer at the corner, which is called a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar. A flat wall would have been challenging enough, but the sloping ground added much complexity.

My goal was to place the stones in a cascading fashion so that they conformed to the slope of the land. That entailed placing some rocks, stepping back for a wider view from various angles, deciding it wasn't quite right, tearing down parts that looked unnatural, choosing different rocks, then rebuilding the offending section. Then I'd build another small section and repeat the process. Over and over and over.  

I think the resulting wall looks nice, although I'm sure it would look nicer if a professional installed it. It might also be more structurally sound. Time will tell how well my amateur job holds up. I suspect I'll know in about a year. That length of time will test the wall against the stress of changing temperatures, weather, and frost. The great part about a dry stone wall, though, is that there is no mortar. I can always adjust it. I like to think of it as a rock garden in the shape of a wall. 

A Scourge of Starlings ...

... or a 'murmuration,' 'constellation,' 'filth,' 'vulgarity,' 'chattering,' 'cloud,' 'congregation,' 'constellation,' or 'clutter' (I'm not making these up). Whatever you choose to call a flock of starlings, these birds are impressive flockers.

The above video was the scene across the street from our house a few days ago. By starling standards, this was a very modest 'filth.' Probably only a thousand or so birds were perched on the trees above our neighbor's house. The impressive part of it was the deafening noise they made on an otherwise quiet morning.

While starlings may be a scourge to many a birder, they are certainly interesting. Not only are they peculiarly loud, they often swarm together in vast numbers, demonstrating principles of emergent behavior on a grand scale. If you haven't seen the following videos, you have to watch:

Starlings in North America have an interesting backstory. Here's the story, sourced from iBird Pro: one hundred of these non-native birds were released in Central Park in 1890 by an industrialist intent on establishing a U.S. home for all birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. Now there are 200 million starlings roaming the countryside.

Speaking of. If you enjoy birding and use an iDevice, you owe it to yourself to get iBird Pro. Or Peterson Birds of North America. Or Audubon Birds. I have all three, acquired at different points when they were on sale. They're all good, each with different strengths. iBird Pro is the most popular and offers a lot of depth, but the UI tends toward the cluttered and confusing; in contrast, Peterson Birds offers a fantastic UI for quickly identifying birds and has outstanding illustrations; Audubon Birds is somewhere in between in terms of UI, but stands out from the pack with a really cool service called eBird, which is an easy way to 'log' bird sightings and to see what species have been spotted by citizen birders near your present location. I hesitate to name one of these apps as the 'best.' If you enjoy birding, my advice is to wait for app sales and get all of them (I picked up two of these apps for .99 cents).

Alan Watts, South Park style

A couple of days ago, Open Culture highlighted some Alan Watts talks that were animated by the creators of South Park back in 2007. That was news to me. What an unexpected pairing. If you enjoy these videos, be sure to see the 'related content' links at the end of the Open Culture post.

My exploration of the quirky, entertaining, informative, and often enlightening talks of Alan Watts began about 12 years ago when I started studying Zen Buddhism with his introductory book, 'The Way of Zen.' That fairly dry book led me to a raft of Watts audio recordings. Listening to a Watts lecture is a completely different experience. You may not agree with everything that he has to say, but it may lead you to think about the world quite differently. I think the bulk of his talks stand the test of time (although you may notice beat generation lingo and the occasional anecdote that would be considered quite politically incorrect by today's standards).

If you're unfamiliar with Watts, YouTube is a good place to start for some free content. Despite what some of the online fan comments convey, it helps to know that Watts didn't see himself as any kind of a guru. He said he was a mere 'spiritual entertainer' with 'nothing to sell.' Alas, decades after his death, the Alan Watts collection of audio recordings are now for sale (and they aren't particularly cheap). Years ago, I subscribed to a free Watts podcast that presented highlights from many of his talks. I checked to see if it still existed today. Apparently it does, but it appears that it has only recently been relaunched or refreshed. There is only one available episode which was published just a few days ago.

I was surprised to see that the people behind the podcast and the audio collections (the primary being Mark Watts, son of Alan Watts) also offer an iOS app which, while also pricey, does include 21 hours of lectures. I admit that I've added this app to my 'maybe someday' list. I also own a lengthy audiobook that I think is worth the price of admission, given that I've listened to parts of it many times. Final note: looks like the nonprofit behind all of this Watts merch, curiously called the 'Electronic University,' has big plans for the future. At least we know they aren't spending it on pizza and beer.

I Won't Miss Google Reader

I've used Google Reader for years, but I won't miss the service when it shuts down later this year. There are plenty of alternatives (and more on the way). A few of the more intriguing choices are Feedly, Feedbin, Fever, and NewsBlur.

Like many users, I never actually visit my Google Reader page. I rely on third-party services that suck in my Google Reader subscriptions. For the desktop, I use Feedly. For iOS, I use Reeder. Will it matter that I'm no longer using Google Reader on the back-end? Not really. I take solace knowing that I'll be using fewer Google services. My main concern is that this may be part of a broader trend with Google: trying to funnel us all into Google+ and clamping down on how (and if) third parties can use Google services. I wouldn't be all that surprised if Google were to lock down Gmail someday soon so that it could only be accessed via Google's mobile apps or their web-based service. It is an ad-based company, after all.

In any case, of the many alternative news aggregator services, my bet is that Feedly will rise to the top of the pack in terms of popularity. They're poised to seamlessly transition existing Google Readers (without any required user action). That's very handy, but it would only go so far if the service was so-so. On that front, I think the Feedly experience is one of the best out there. It looks great, it's easy to customize to fit different workflows and visual preferences, and they're aggressively honing the service to make it better.

As an example of this, I've just rediscovered Feedly's mobile apps. I've used Feedly on the desktop for quite a while and like how easy it is to view and manage feeds in various ways. While I tried the Feedly iOS apps early on in their history, I wasn't drawn in. Reeder was still a better experience on iOS. However, I tried the apps again last night. I'm glad I did. These apps have come a long way and I'm fairly convinced that they'll work for me quite well.

As an aside, I also enjoy news aggregation services like Zite and Prismatic, but I tend to put these sort of services in a different category as they focus on presenting stories based on reader interests. They are fantastic for discovery and casual browsing and are certainly worth a look. Lastly, you may note that I haven't mentioned Flipboard anywhere in this article. I must be one of the few people out there who just don't care for it. Nothing personal, Flipboard. I note it here, though, because it's an alternative highly-regarded reader that is also certainly worth a test drive.

The Greatest Challenge Humans Have Ever Faced

Sound like hyperbole? Read Bill McKibben's article on global warming in Rolling Stone, slowly. Follow up with a Q&A from BillMoyers.com. Decide for yourself. 

Future of Podcasts

Mike Elgan wrote an interesting piece on Cult of Mac recently that lays out a possible path forward for Apple with regards to the humble podcast. If you haven't heard, it appears that Apple will break podcasts out into a separate app with the release of iOS 6. This will help to lighten up the iTunes app, which is arguably a bit crowded and unwieldy. That's a good thing, but what will become of the podcast?  It could go the way of iTunesU, which was stripped out of the iTunes app not too long ago and is now offered as an optional download. That's what we could call the 'demotion to obscurity' path. As Elgan points out, this made sense for iTunesU because the user base for lectures is narrow. For podcasts, however, such a move might signal that Apple doesn't really care about the podcast medium, choosing instead to focus only on content that makes them money. It might, in short, spell the beginning of the end for the podcast. In less dire terms, it certainly wouldn't help podcast listenership to grow beyond a relatively small but enthusiastic group of people.

An alternative path might feature a new iOS 6 podcast app that is installed by default with iOS 6, forming the centerpiece of a new content strategy for Apple that combines free podcasts with paid audio. This is Elgan's speculation, and I think he's on to something. He essentially says that such a strategy could herald a new dawn for podcasts, in which Apple sets the stage to compete with Audible (by wrapping in Apple audiobooks with the podcast app and cutting ties with Amazon's competing Audible service); integrate podcasts and other audio content with car stereos employing Siri control (because that's where a lot of people listen to audio); and adopt the name 'iPodcasts' or 'iPodcast' to brand the new app (which, Elgan surmises, might give Apple more footing to go after companies profiting by using the word 'pod' in their products and services). 

As it now stands, podcast enthusiasts (like me) mostly feel that Apple thinks little of podcasts. In iTunes terms, the podcast is one step up from the 'Radio' category. When was the last time you used that feature? It's a shame, because podcasts serve up consistently great and varied content. I currently subscribe to 41 podcasts. For years, I relied on iTunes for podcast content. And, for years, I've cursed at how poorly iTunes manages podcasts and fails at helping people discover great shows.

Recently, I switched from iTunes to so-called 'podcatcher' apps. I purchased iCatcher! and Downcast and tried each out for several weeks. I would recommend them both, really. They are solid apps. Having said that, I'm currently using Downcast as my podcatcher of choice because it's a bit more polished and syncs faster across devices via iCloud. What do podcatcher apps offer over iTunes? Well, syncing across devices for starters. I can stop listening to a podcast on my iPhone and pick up where I left off on my iPad. I can download podcasts (of any size) over 3G. I can manage my podcasts by playlist. I enjoy automatic, untethered podcast updating over WiFi. I could go on. Suffice it to say that Apple's podcast offerings pale in comparison.

If Apple does stake a claim on 'iPodcast' and rolls out a new app this Fall that consolidates both free podcast and paid spoken word content, it would surely be a good thing for the future of the podcast. Of course, it could also mean that apps like Downcast and iCatcher will soon be Sherlocked. And it could also mean that fewer and fewer podcasts would be free in the future, as this might give podcast producers an easy way to charge for episodes without creating stand-alone apps. Who knows. What I do sense is that, as a consumer and producer of podcasts and big fan of spoken word content, this medium is undervalued and underappreciated. 

On Apple

A few loosely-formed notes related to Apple's latest announcements:

• The Retina Macbook Pro is lovely. I'm not planning on purchasing it, though. If I were going to get it, I'd spring for expensive upgrades (16 GB of RAM, largest hard drive), as I've read that there is apparently no way to upgrade this machine. I also have a more existential concern: if were to buy a Retina laptop, would I still be able to tolerate my crappy external monitor? 
• The $20 upgrade fee to install Mountain Lion on all your Macs is a good deal. 
• I'm lamenting the unmistakable signs that the desktop hierarchical file system is going the way of the floppy drive. App libraries are in, in which each app houses its own files and data, iOS style.  I suspect that, within the next iteration or two of OS X, the file system will join Console, Terminal, and Activity Monitor in the utility bin. And as with most Mac utilities, it probably won't be used by many. Still, as long as access to the file system remains, I'll be OK. 
• Here's one thing that worries me about app libraries. A lot of people organize files on the Mac by topic, not by app. For example, I have documents (created with many different apps) that are related to my house that I've tagged and filed away in one place. How will a walled-in app library solution allow me to organize documents across apps? Maybe a tagging solution will be offered. And what of plain text files, which may be opened and manipulated by scores of iOS and desktop apps? That's the beauty of the flexibility of Dropbox text file storage. It's so very flexible.
• Speaking of files, I love my PathFinder. And EagleFiler. And Launchbar. With every OS X release, my insecurity grows about the future of these and many other desktop apps. Imagine how the developers feel.
• Every time I see more iOS features come to the desktop, I can't help but think, 'Winter is coming!'
• Apple demos of new OS features are consistently drool-worthy and slick, but they need to help us users more in terms of follow-through. My point is that Apple could do a much better job in documenting how to use their apps and operating systems. Updates come fast and furious, but new features and usage scenarios are poorly documented.
• I'm surprised that Apple has yet to offer a better password solution for logging in to web-based accounts across devices. Stated another way, I'm surprised that Apple hasn't yet Sherlocked 1Password. Couldn't you see Apple offering a password solution that syncs across your Mac(s) and devices via iCloud, but only works with Safari to encourage browser lock-in. Speaking of, does anyone know of a site that lists all third party apps that have been Sherlocked over the years?
• Passbook looks promising. I hope it expands to include supermarkets, chain stores, and gas station membership bar codes. It's the 21st century. Why do I still need a Petco plastic dongle on my car keychain?
• What of Dragon Dictate? Curious that I received a newsletter from Nuance for the first time in a long while on the day of the WWDC keynote offering a special discount to buy Dictate for Father's Day. And I received another similar email today. So I'm wondering if the new OS X dictation feature will obviate the need for Dragon Dictate ... or if this product will differentiate itself by offering a more robust voice-recognition package for Mac. I should note that I'm a happy Dragon Dictate user.
• Facebook integration thoughts: blah. I'm not a fan.
• Siri's new ability to open an app by name isn't enough. What if I don't remember the name of the app? This is a good step forward, but we need more and better ways to navigate our hundreds of iOS apps. By keyword, for example. Wouldn't it be nice to ask Siri to serve up all weather-related or board game apps?
• The Mac Pro update was weak. Did you see that the Mac Pro had a little 'new' tag on it in the Apple Store on the day of the keynote? The next day, that notation disappeared ... no doubt because of the deluge of feedback from outraged power users who were expecting a real update. That won't come, apparently, until next year.
• iTunes remains a bloated mess. 
• When on Earth is the iWorks desktop suite going to be refreshed?
• iOS, iTunes, iLife, iEverything. Am I the only one who is sick of the 'i' thing?  

Memory Locations are Just Wires Turned Sideways in Time

Wow. I haven't posted in quite a while. Been busy with other projects. Here's a little item that I drafted a long while back but never posted:

Edge.org published an interview  recently with science historian George Dyson about self-replicating code. The theme is that that we tend to talk about the digital universe abstractly, metaphorically, and by discussing how it affects us. Dyson says we're asking the wrong questions. What we need to do is study our digital universe objectively, like scientists do, because:

...the same way life found a way to use the self-replicating qualities of these polynucleotide molecules to the great benefit of life as a whole, there's no reason life won't use the self-replicating abilities of digital code, and that's what's happening.

Dyson's discussion about what's now driving the growth and evolution of the digital universe was, for me, unexpected. He said that the first great leap in our digital universe originated with Alan Turing (who would have been 100 this year), who is often cited as the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. The next leap came from John Von Neumann, an unbelievably prolific mathematician who fathered, among other things, game theory. He also mathematically described the structure of self-replication before the structure of DNA was even discovered. So who will take the next big leap forward? Dyson says to expect someone working in advertising. Yes, advertising.

What's the driver today? You want one word? It's advertising. And, you may think advertising is very trivial, and of no real importance, but I think it's the driver. If you look at what most of these codes are doing, they're trying to get the audience, trying to deliver the audience. The money is flowing as advertising. And it is interesting that Samuel Butler imagined all this in 1863, and then in his book Erewhon. And then 1901, before he died, he wrote a draft for "Erewhon Revisited." In there, he called out advertising, saying that advertising would be the driving force of these machines evolving and taking over the world. Even then at the close of 19th century England, he saw advertising as the way we would grant power to the machines.

Now that's something I did not expect. Now consider this section, which took me some time to wrap my head around: 

Very few people are looking at this digital universe in an objective way. Danny Hillis is one of the few people who is. His comment, made exactly 30 years ago in 1982, was that "memory locations are just wires turned sideways in time". That's just so profound. That should be engraved on the wall. Because we don't realize that there is this very different universe that does not have the same physics as our universe. It's completely different physics. Yet, from the perspective of that universe, there is physics, and we have almost no physicists looking at it, as to what it's like. And if we want to understand the sort of organisms that would evolve in that totally different universe, you have to understand the physics of the world in which they are in.  It's like looking for life on another planet. Danny has that perspective. Most people say just, "well, a wire is a wire. It's not a memory location turned sideways in time." You have to have that sort of relativistic view of things.

At some point while pondering this paragraph, a Proust quote popped into my head: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes." This comes from 'In Search of Lost Time,' which helped to popularize the the idea of involuntary memory, often revealed in this Proustian tome through dreams. And that made me think, as a science fiction fan, of Phillip K. Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,' which somehow seemed apropros here. At any rate, here's a link to a good companion piece to this article, a TED presentation by Kevin Slavin: 'How algorithms shape our world.'

Viewing Big History with ChronoZoom

Every now and then, it helps to put life, the universe, and everything in proper perspective. The problem, of course, is that it's hard to grasp our relative place in time and space. That's one reason why time and scale visualizations are so powerful and popular. Some of my favorites are the Cell Size and Scale visualization from the University of Utah, the Scale of the Universe visualization from Cary and Michael Huang, and the Universcale from Nikon.

A new entrant in the field called ChronoZoom ups the ante. You have to see it for yourself. It's a really impressive visualization (HTML5) tool that explores Big History. The people behind the project have lofty ambitions for the future and they're looking for users:

ChronoZoom Beta is ready for mass consumption and feedback, structured to scale up to petabytes of content, and architected for the future of personal computing.

Codecademy

I’m a hybrid content author and web designer with no formal training in computer science. Over the years, I've honed my HTML and CSS skills through trial and error, repetition, books, online courses, and by tapping the expertise of colleagues. 

But JavaScript? I'm not so good with that. Sure, I can deploy a jQuery plugin and fiddle with parameters. And I know a bit of PHP (enough to get me in trouble, as they say). In most cases, I can decipher code, copy what I need, and modify it to meet my needs … as long as I don’t have to change too much. But my depth of understanding is shallow, which is something I’ve long wanted to remedy. Now I feel like I'm really making some progress with Codecademy, a free online ‘academy’ aimed at teaching basic programming skills.

Codecademy gets it right. For starters, you aren’t required to sign up for an account prior to beginning lessons. Instead, you can dive right in by typing your name in the site’s integrated editor. Entering your name is your first lesson. Only later, after completing a few exercises, are you prompted to sign up for a free account (which you only need to do if you want to keep tabs on your progress). At this point, you’ll have a good idea if this is for you. While this is a relatively minor detail, it’s a thoughtful touch that underscores how this is a different kind of training tool.

Lessons are divided into topical sections that grow in complexity as you progress. At each step of the way, accompanying text explains what’s going on and why. Within a few days, you’re writing simple programs that tie together all that you’ve learned up to that point.

While there are badges for completing sections, progress meters, and a point scoring system to help keep motivation up, the real driver – and the heart of Codecademy – is the integrated editor that accompanies each lesson. Rather, the integrated editor really is the lesson. You read a short bit of natural language text explaining a concept or new syntax, and then you’re asked to write some code to demonstrate comprehension. Everything you learn, in other words, you learn by doing yourself. You can’t move on to the next lesson unless you get the code right. This real-time feedback works.

There’s a lot of course material available, which is growing exponentially thanks to the addition of crowdsourced exercises submitted by other developers. User forums are active, so you can get help when you get stuck or need something clarified. Right now, only JavaScript lessons are available, with Python and Ruby courses to come later. I reckon these lessons will keep me occupied and learning for a long time to come. The best part is that the people behind Codecademy say they’re committed to keeping this learning resource free.

More than other online courses, videos and books that I’ve tried over the years, Codecademy fosters a clearer understanding of what it is that I’m doing and why I'm doing it because it is, quite literally, engaging. It’s not that other courses I’ve taken are not good, it’s that the Codecademy model is particularly good.

Reminder: Delete Your Google History by March 1

Don't forget that Google's new privacy policy goes into effect on March 1. Policy changes will affect you if you use Google search while logged into a Google user account.

Here are the instructions from the Electronic Frontier Foundation on how to clear you browsing history. If you use multiple Google accounts, you'll want to delete browsing history for all of them. If you don't take these steps, all of your browsing history will be combined with and shared across all the other Google services you use. If you're not sure why this might be a concern, see this EFF post and this Slate article ... or search on it!

You might also consider trying out an alternative default search engine. Many people (me included) are now using DuckDuckGo. This search engine does not collect user data and emphasizes privacy. It's quite capable, although I do notice differences in terms of rankings and results compared to Google. That's not a bad thing, it's just different. 

If you're using Chrome, it's easy to change your default engine.  Look under 'Preferences' > 'Manage Search Engines.' It's relatively easy with Firefox, too. You'll find the option to manage search engines by choosing the dropdown arrow located in the browser's built-in search box. With Safari, it's a bit more complicated because the browser only offers Google, Bing, and Yahoo as default search engines. You can make DuckDuckGo your default, though, if you install the free Glims add-on. 

iPhone Doesn't Have a Mute Switch

It has a 'Ring/Silent' switch. If you're not familiar with last week's mute switch controversy, start with this post from John Gruber. Then read Andy Ihnatko's post. Finally, read Dan Benjamin's take.

I agree that you can't design around every edge case, and it's logical to assume that most people want alarms to make noise so important events are not missed (e.g., waking up in the morning). I am such a user. I typically leave silent mode engaged, but I rely on my phone to wake me up for work. That said, I'm sure that many users will naturally assume that the 'mute' button on the iPhone mutes. Everything. That's a logical assumption.

How can we satisfy the need to make our iPhones emit noise in some situations and to remain silent in others? Some have suggested introducing software controls so users can choose on a per-event basis. Others have envisioned an intelligent rules-based system based on GPS location (e.g. remain silent when at the coordinates of the Lincoln Center Plaza). I think both solutions are overly complicated.

Here's a simpler idea that would catch most user edge cases: leave the 'silent mode' functionality as is. When the phone is set to mute, the phone is silent except for events (alarms) that the user has explicitly set. Add, by default, one minute of vibration prior to sounding manually-set alarms when silent mode is engaged.

In most cases, users in concert halls and staff meetings will be physically alerted by their vibrating phone. They'll have time to pull the phone out and cancel the event before an audible alarm sounds. Sure, some users won't hear or feel the vibrating phone because it's buried in a jacket pocket hung behind a seat or stuffed in a purse. But most people will. They'll have time to react.

A Better iPad Stylus

A few weeks ago, I decided to make a stylus for my iPad for use when drawing or doodling. It turns out there are several dozen blogs and YouTube videos showcasing the many ways to accomplish this. It's quite easy to do.

While the homemade styli designs I reviewed were surely functional, I thought most were lacking a bit in the aesthetic department. Then something occured to me.

Remember the Handspring Visor Edge? I had the metallic silver model (and still do). It sports a blazing fast 33 MHz CPU and 8MB of RAM. I've kept it over the years because it still works ... and because I think it's a great design.  I especially loved the weight, shape, and feel of the little stylus.  That stylus happens to be metallic.

You see where I'm going here. Since the stylus is metal, all that I needed was some sort of conductive tip.

Here's what I came up with. It works great as long as any part of my hand is touching the metal pen (which is hard not to do). It looks nice (I wouldn't say it's beautiful, but I think it looks better than most homemade styli). It's compact and easy to tote around. And here's the best part: the tip offers far more accuracy and draws a thinner line than commercial or homemade conductive styli that I've tried or seen demonstrated.

Here's how I made it:

I started by removing the little plastic tip from the Handspring Visor Stylus. Here, it's already removed. You may need pliers to pry it out.

Here are the primary ingredients. Heavy-duty aluminum foil, tape (I used electrical tape, but you could use duct tape), and a rubber foot that I found in my shop.

About the rubber foot. This may be the hardest bit to find, but it's something you should be able to pick up at a hardware store (or, at least, you can find something similar). I cut off part of the foot as seen in the photo above, then drilled a hole into the rubber that would tightly fit the metal stylus. Other materials will also work. I made an earlier model with a cheap wood plug using the same method. It worked well, but isn't as flexible (meaning that you may have trouble with the wood cracking when you drill into it). Rubber works best. 

Wrap the aluminum foil around the rubber and fold it into the hole you drilled. Roll the aluminum foil-wrapped rubber around on a flat surface to make it nice and smooth. Then stick the stylus into that hole, ensuring the foil makes good contact with the metal stylus. Test it out at this point to ensure it works well.

Now wrap the foil-wrapped rubber foot and stylus with a short piece of strong tape. Once you've done that, you're done. The blue shrink tubing you see here isn't really necessary. It's just for looks. I took a short segment of blue shrink tube, stretched it out with pliers so it would fit over the stylus, cover the tape, and partially cover the foil-wrapped foot. Then I applied heat to seal it all up. Here's the (almost) finished stylus. The last thing I did was smooth out the blue tubing with my fingers until there were no bumps or weird shapes caused by the underlying tape.And here is the completed stylus, ready for action.

So that's all there is to it. It's a bit more involved than most of the DIY capacitive stylus tutorials you'll find on the web, but I think it's worth the effort. It works great. It looks nice. It's a great way to recycle a peice of old tech. I've been using it for a while and the aluminum is showing no signs of splitting. If it does split, it's a relatively simple matter to rip off the tip and make a new one. If you don't have an old Handspring Visor Edge in your closet and want to try this, would you believe that you can still buy a metal stylus? 

New Life for a Broken Lamp

We have a set of 'natural light' lamps which, while ugly, are useful. They contain special bulbs that cast a full-spectrum, very bright glow (1,800 lumens) that approximates daylight.  

These sort of lamps claim to support a feeling of well-being by boosting seratonin, melatonin, and Vitamin D production. I can't vouch for that, but I can report that the lamps are great for reading and computing. When I'm staring at my monitor at night, I like to place a lamp nearby and point the bulb toward the wall. It's almost as if a window is open.

Last week, a cheap plastic component on one of the lamps broke. I didn't want to throw it away. There was nothing wrong with the wiring, switch, or bulb, after all. Instead, I took it as an opportunity to create something new. This is the result.

I started out by (carefully) destroying the lamp with a screwdriver and small pry bar. I threw out the plastic junk and kept all the internal parts.

I then assembled a container for the new lamp with some scrap wood I had lying around. For the main face, I joined two 1"x4" pine boards. The top and sides are made from strips of 1/4"x4" oak. It's held upright by two small pine 'feet' joined to the back of the lamp (see the image below to see what these look like). I drilled a hole in the front-facing pine to house the on/off switch.

This is the wall-facing side of the lamp, showing how I reassembled the 'guts' of the old plastic lamp in the new wood structure. Only the on/off switch required soldering; I had to completely unsolder the switch to fit it through the hole in the wood. I used heat-shrinking plastic tubes to cover up the solder work. For the other wires, I used plastic connector caps to join them back up. I attached the components to the wood with screws and staples. It's hard to tell here, but I mounted the metal reflective shield from the old lamp to the wood surface behind the bulb. Last note: I had to cut all the wires when extracting them from the old lamp's plastic housing. The key thing to point out here is this: if you try something like this, be sure to mark the wires very carefully so you can remember how to reattach them.

Here's what the assembled lamp looks like in place.

And here's a wider view so you can see the effect of the light reflecting off the wall behind my main monitor.So that's it. The entire project took about five hours on a Sunday. I'm waiting for the glue to completely dry before applying a coat of polyurethane to the front. 

The most challenging part was figuring out the design: I wanted to create a very simple and functional lamp using only scrap wood left behind from other projects. Aside from my time, the project didn't cost a dime.

The tools I used to assemble the lamp included a miter saw (to cut all lengths and angles), a biscuit joiner (to join the two pine pieces and the feet to the base of the lamp), a drill (to create a hole for the on/off switch), a table saw (to cut a strip of oak for the top edge of the lamp), wood glue, and a sheet sander.  For the electrical work, I used a soldering gun and some heat-shrink tubing, wire connectors, a wire cutter/stripper, and a few screws and staples.

I think it looks better than the original. It certainly fits in better with my wooden desk than did the plastic lamp. I may have to go and break the other lamp now.