Essays
Posted a new Timetable with a few updates on Sunlit, the updated help.micro.blog
Posted a new Timetable with a few updates on Sunlit, the updated help.micro.blog home page, and when to upgrade servers.
Haven’t actively used EC2 in a while, but wanted to check out the pricing after this week’s…
Haven’t actively used EC2 in a while, but wanted to check out the pricing after this week’s announcement that Amazon is making their own CPUs. On first glance, the “a1” instances don’t look cheaper. Maybe it’s not right to compare them directly to comparable “t3” instances?
Hi Austin!
Hi Austin! NSDrinking is tonight, 8pm at Radio. Join us for a chat about Apple development over a coffee or beer. ☕🍻
Sent the latest Sunlit 2.3.1 build to beta testers. Anyone can now join the beta with this link.
Sent the latest Sunlit 2.3.1 build to beta testers. Anyone can now join the beta with this link.
There’s a really good follow-up about the App Store monopoly in today’s Stratechery daily update.
There’s a really good follow-up about the App Store monopoly in today’s Stratechery daily update. Focusing on in-app purchase (digital goods) paints a very clear picture of why Apple’s rules need to change.
Good news for Sunlit users: @cheesemaker tracked down that crash that had been eluding us and we…
Good news for Sunlit users: @cheesemaker tracked down that crash that had been eluding us and we have a fix ready to go this week. Waiting for Apple to approve it.
Beto has a new blog
I wish it wasn’t hosted on Medium, where you can’t even use your own domain name, but I’m glad to see some long-form posts from Beto O’Rourke after the election. It shouldn’t surprise anyone who has heard Beto speak that he is also a great blogger:
I walked over to the north wall and read Lincoln’s second inaugural address. My body warm, blood flowing through me, moving my legs as I read, the words so present in a way that I can’t describe or explain except that I’m so much more alive in the middle of a run, and so are the words I was reading.
In last week’s Pod Save America, the hosts talked about how there’s a window of time for some candidates to run for president. It might not come again. America deserves a president who can speak and write honestly, leading us past the Trump years.
Portland Trip
2018-06-25
Walking through the park.
2018-06-26
Morning keynote at IndieWeb Summit and then meetup after the first day.
2018-06-28
My Airbnb was perfect. One block away was a great coffee shop. Also a shot here over the bridge.
Preview of Sunlit 2.2
As I get ready to fly to Portland this morning for IndieWeb Summit, I wanted to give a quick preview video of the upcoming Sunlit 2.2 release. We are very excited about the new Timeline tab, which brings an Instagram-like experience to the app for the first time.
There is so much potential for photo blogging. As you watch the video, remember that all these posts are coming from someone’s blog, usually at their own domain name. There are no ads or gimmicks. Sunlit works with your Micro.blog account and the people you are already following on Micro.blog.
We’re not adding anyone else to the beta, but I’ll share more as we get closer to the release next month. Thanks for supporting Micro.blog!
From the loop around Lake Charles, Louisiana on the drive home.
From the loop around Lake Charles, Louisiana on the drive home.
Road trip today. Crossing over some train tracks out in the country.
Road trip today. Crossing over some train tracks out in the country.
IndieWeb Summit next week
I’ll be in Portland next week for IndieWeb Summit. Marty McGuire has a nice overview and invitation for anyone to attend:
IWS kicks off with a pre-party on Monday evening at the Pine Street Market where you can enjoy some great handmade food and drinks. More importantly, you can meet and befriend some of the most earnest and clever folks I know when it comes to having fun being yourself on the web. You’re likely to share stories about how awful silos like Facebook and Twitter have become, get inspired to build things you didn’t even know you wanted to put on your website, and hatch schemes for what you’d love to learn, discuss, and build over the next two days.
Looking forward to seeing folks there. There’s a lot of interesting work being done in the IndieWeb community, and of course we want Micro.blog to be a great IndieWeb-friendly platform that can make independent blogging even easier. Jean MacDonald and I will be giving an update at IndieWeb Summit about the Micro.blog community and what we’ve learned trying to reach new users.
On campus this morning. Texas Memorial Museum poking up through the trees.
On campus this morning. Texas Memorial Museum poking up through the trees.
WWDC 2018 wrap-up
I realized after flying back home that this was likely my 20th trip out to San Jose and San Francisco for WWDC. I certainly loved the early years, as well as the height of WWDC in San Francisco as the community was growing, but I’ve found the no-stress compromise of the last few years without a conference ticket to be some of the most enjoyable and productive.
This year I arrived Saturday before lunch. Jean MacDonald and I used this extra day for Micro.blog planning, and to walk around the conference area looking for a good spot for the meetup. In the evening, a bunch of us met up at Santa Clara Valley Brewing.
Sunday morning I was up early, got some coffee and breakfast while working at Voltaire Coffee House, then drove up to San Francisco. I had rented a car for what has become a pre-WWDC tradition for me the last several years: having lunch out at the Presidio in San Francisco and catching the latest exhibit at the Walt Disney Family Museum. I picked up Jon Hays at SFO along the way, and we also stopped for the view from Twin Peaks on the way back.
It was great to catch up with people at sjMacIndie on Sunday night. Jon and I left a little early to watch the second half of game 2 of the NBA finals from a bar around the corner. I wore my Tim Duncan t-shirt.
Monday morning was keynote watching at AltConf. While I was initially underwhelmed by the keynote, the announcements have been growing on me throughout the week. Apple’s strategy with Siri still isn’t what I’d like to see, but it’s significant progress. We go into this more on the latest Core Intuition. Overall a pretty good conference. I’ll be watching the Mac App Store improvements too.
Hopefully by next year I’ll remember that finding a place downtown for dinner late at night requires a little planning. Nevertheless, had a great time talking with friends and meeting new folks over dinner or drinks for the nights I was in San Jose. This year even featured a random trip to In-N-Out for burgers.
I really enjoyed both the live recordings I went to: Accidental Tech Podcast and The Talk Show. Unfortunately I had to leave Wednesday so missed the Relay show. I have a bunch of podcasts to catch up on.
The highlight of my week was the 2nd annual Micro.blog WWDC meetup. It means a lot to see the support from the community. Micro.blog continues to get better every day, and I’m looking forward to meeting even more users next year. Thanks again to everyone joined us at the meetup, and to Jeff Watkins for the group photo!
Back online after taking some time off to camp at Colorado Bend State Park last night.
Back online after taking some time off to camp at Colorado Bend State Park last night. Great hike down to the waterfall this morning.
There are a few more Micro.blog
There are a few more Micro.blog apps currently in development that I’m really excited about. Here’s the latest dev build video from Kiwi for macOS. Looks great.
I usually queue up Micro Monday when it goes live, but today has been a blur, and I just finished…
I usually queue up Micro Monday when it goes live, but today has been a blur, and I just finished listening to the latest episode in the car while running an errand. This week, Jean talks to Jim Withington about early blogging, XOXO, and more. Enjoy!
Finally tracked down and fixed a couple issues with photo upload in Micro.blog
Finally tracked down and fixed a couple issues with photo upload in Micro.blog after recent server improvements. Everything should be working much better now.
Server upgrade went pretty smoothly.
Server upgrade went pretty smoothly. Photo uploads were disabled for about 10 minutes, but everything else stayed up. Improved profile photos to be a little more resilient as well.
Going to take photo upload offline for a quick update tonight, midnight CST.
Going to take photo upload offline for a quick update tonight, midnight CST. The rest of Micro.blog will stay up including all hosted blogs.