¶ Knowing When To Stay Put

Don't poke the bear.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Leave it be.

Let it go.

Restraint is the art of knowing when to stay put. Don't push forward. Just be still and let things play out. Patience often wins out, despite being frustrating.

My plans for today didn't come to pass. Factors out of my control pushed my plans entirely out the window. So the plan changed. The plan became staying put and waiting out the uncontrollable circumstances.

New plans formed. Plans that were more enjoyable and memorable. Better plans. Because instead of being stubborn and risky I stayed put and played it safe.

Today’s original plans will wait for tomorrow, when they will be better plans. Never underestimate the power of patiently waiting for the best.

Black Friday is Better Without the Rampant Consumerism

I’m sure you know the Friday after Thanksgiving (in the US) is Black Friday in the retail world. How could you not? You’ve surely been inundated by email, tv, and website ads for weeks about it. Retail’s last desperate gasp to turn a profit before the end of the year.

I rarely venture into a store on Black Friday. If I do it’s typically for a needed grocery item than deal-seeking. In fact, my Black Friday shopping is online.

But this year I didn’t participate. There is nothing I want or need. I’m satiated. And it is a freeing feeling to be satisfied. I am richer for it both via my checking account and my disposition.

I can’t help but think we’d all be better off if we excised consumerism from our holidays. Perhaps we’d experience less anxiety, anger, and greed. And then perhaps we’d instead be filled with gratitude, kindness, and generosity.

¶ The Gift of Geek, 2019 Edition

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about the role we geeks play in the larger family unit, and there’s no better time for a refresher course than today, the day before Thanksgiving.

You see, I am the Family Geek. It is my solemn duty when surrounded by family to check on how everyone is doing with their computers and gadgets. Are there any problems I can solve? Any questions I can answer? Of course there are. And I shall.

So, to quote 2011 me, here is how to give the Gift of Geek.

Some things to be prepared for:

1. Be available. Set aside some time for one-on-one walkthroughs, or time to talk on the phone if your relative isn’t with you this holiday. That doesn’t mean you have to give up your entire holiday, but set aside a few hours for lending a helping hand.
2. Be patient. Your relatives aren’t as nerdy as you are. Keep that in mind, and don’t treat them like an idiot. It’s new to them, and it takes time to learn new things. Also, don’t rush through so much to point of making it impossible to retain. Start with the basics. There can always be more phone calls.
3. Run updates on their devices. One of the things I like to do is make sure everything is up to date on my relatives’ devices. There’s a few of them who never run updates, and there’s a lot that piles up over 6 months.
4. Backups. On the same note, make sure to set up your relatives for data backup in one way or another. This will save you a headache later.

All four of those tips are as evergreen today as they were years ago. Out of all of those, number 4 is the most important. Do whatever you can to make sure your loved ones have some sort of automatic backup in place.

On iPhones and iPads, that is iCloud backup. You may have to convince your relative to spend a few bucks per month to increase their iCloud storage. 50 GB can be had for 99¢ per month, and 200 GB for $2.99 per month. That is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

On a Mac, Time Machine is the easiest option, and it is built into the Mac. But it does require plugging in a hard drive regularly. Also, a decent portable hard drive can be found for under $80, usually. Might be a good idea for a gift. For a more automatic solution, you can’t go wrong with Backblaze, which costs $5 per computer per month for unlimited storage.

Remember to enjoy yourself this holiday, too. Don’t spend the entire time solving problems, but try to do a checkup on your loved ones to make sure the basics are being met.

And if you are a loved one who is on the receiving end of the Gift of Geek, be sure to show your appreciation to your Family Geek. A genuine thank you goes a long way, and the willingness to heed advice does as well.

And in those days Caesar Augustus decreed that all must return to the town of their birth, that they might sort out their parents' computers

— Phil Rodgers (@PhilRodgers) December 24, 2012

¶ My Dream MacBook Air

The MacBook Air has a decade long history of being the forerunner of design in Apple’s portable line. The original MacBook Air set the stage for unibody construction, and the 2010 refresh made the MacBook Air the de facto portable computer for the rest of the industry by perfecting the unibody design, lowering costs, and expanding the utility of the device in its power and ports.

As a longtime MacBook Air user, I was so excited when that computer was refreshed in 2018 and brought up to modern standards — chiefly a Retina display. But my excitement was dashed by the inclusion of the butterfly keyboard. I just didn’t trust the keyboard’s longevity after 3 years of maligned reports regarding its reliability. Thus, I continue to use my 2012 MacBook Air, hoping the Magic Keyboard released with last week’s MacBook Pro 16-inch comes to the rest of Apple’s portables soon.

All it would take to get me on board with a new MacBook Air is the new Magic Keyboard. However, I can’t help but consider how the MacBook Air could be the forerunner of Apple’s portable strategy for the next decade.

My dream MacBook Air would largely take cues from the iPad Pro. Touch ID, while lovely, would be replaced by Face ID and a better FaceTime camera. Face ID has proven itself on the iPhone and iPad Pro, and should begin making its way to the Mac. (If not Apple’s portables, then surely the iMac should receive Face ID, as it doesn’t even have Touch ID!)

The next-gen MacBook Air should also adopt Apple’s in-house ARM-based chip designs. I’m not convinced it should be the same A-series chips found in iOS devices, so maybe a different alphanumeric combination, since Apple could probably pack a lot more punch in something the size of a MacBook. Apple used to tout an M-series coprocessor with its A-series chips, but hasn’t done so in years. M would be the perfect moniker for a chip destined for the Mac.

Finally, four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports should be the standard, since we’ll all reside in Dongletown for the foreseeable future. The argument could then be made that the Pro line should have 6 ports, which I don’t think anyone would complain about.

The laptop form factor has generally reached perfection, and did so a long time ago. We already have gorgeous screens and superb industrial design. The next decade of Mac portables should embrace the Magic Keyboard across the entire product line, adopt Face ID as the authentication standard, unleash the power and battery life that Apple’s ARM-based chips have become renowned for, and increase the amount of ports to connect to.

These advancements would position MacBooks — Air and Pro — as the must-have computers for the next decade.

Hyperaware

“Are you crazy?! Why don’t you have a case on that?!”

I’ve heard it many times. The wide-eyed disbelief that I typically do not have a case on my phone. It’s not that I haven’t tried the status quo before. I just don’t like it. I prefer the look and feel of my phone with no case.

I do own an inexpensive case — that I picked up on sale, no less — that I will put on if I am doing something like helping someone move, just because it gives me the peace of mind that I won’t bash it through my pocket while working with my hands.

I think what surprises people the most is that I’ve never shattered or cracked a phone over all these years. I better knock on some glass. Seriously though, I just enjoy my phone more without a bulky case. I appreciate the material feel of the thing.

My friend Ryan has said for years that the reason I get away it is that I am hyperaware of my gadgets. There is definitely truth to that. I am very conscious of where things are at. I’ve got a knack for spatial awareness, likely a byproduct of my detail-oriented nature.

Is there anything you do that others look at you in disbelief over?

¶ Instagram’s New Colors

About 6 months after iOS 7’s release, I started to roll my eyes when an app would be updated and its icon still looked like it belonged on iOS 6. With Instagram, my eyes did a lot of rolling. For years.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday Instagram updated its iconic (har har) icon. And the reaction from the Internet was, as one would expect with such a drastic change, visceral. Some loved it, and most really did not.

My initial reaction was actually quite pleasant. It’s a daring departure for Instagram, but I like the approach. It’s fresh. Nonetheless, I thought I’d let my thoughts marinate overnight to have more than a 30-second knee-jerk reaction. And you know what?

I still like the icon. It looks at home on iOS. It’s not blue like so many other icons. It stands out on my home screen. I like it.

As a quick aside, Buzzfeed applied Instagram’s new gradient color to other company logos. Most of them look pretty good. I especially like it with Starbucks and Coca-Cola.

The icon isn’t the only change, though. The app itself has effectively been rid of color aside from the photos. While I wonder if the pendulum swung a bit too far on this, I don’t mind the change. The focus is really on the photos, and they really pop now. I imagine some hints of color in the interface will make their way back with time.

Overall, I am really digging the visual refresh in Instagram. The only way this update could have been better in my eyes is if Instagram added an iPad version.

Constraints Matter

I recently wrote about the value of brevity in regards to being respectful of a reader's or listener's attention, and also how brevity can help me write a bit more frequently as I often overthink things and go on for far too long.

So let's get to the point, shall we? Yesterday, my friend Aaron Mahnke tweeted a few things pointed at those of us using a ceiling word count for some writing. Thankfully, he elaborated a bit more in a blog post.

Writers love to count their words, and that’s a good thing. Let’s just get that onto the table right away.

Fair enough.

Writers count words to measure how far they’ve walked into a story. But here’s the catch: word count isn’t the end goal.

I agree with the first sentence, and somewhat agree with the second, depending on how it is viewed. It's not so cut and dry for me.

Some people, though, think it’s more important to prioritize brevity over clarity and art. […] They believe that the shorter the piece the better it is, that somehow using less words makes the work more admirable and praiseworthy. And they’re wrong.

I can see his side, but I think Aaron is being a bit one-sided here. Brevity can serve a purpose toward fostering clarity and art. I am wanting to embrace brevity more because I know embracing constraints can foster growth and maturity.

Let's look at it another way. I own two cameras. A Canon EOS 40D with a few lenses, and my iPhone 6. I used to take the 40D everywhere and try to take neat shots with it. But I fiddled too much with its various options and, more importantly, I didn't understand how light worked. I jumped in with the higher end of the photography spectrum (at least on a consumer level) and didn't have an understanding of the basics.

As the iPhone's camera kept getting better, I started leaving the 40D at home more. With the iPhone 5 I was leaving the 40D at home a lot. And by the iPhone 6 it even stopped coming along for trips. Why? Because as the iPhone's camera got better, I started using it more, despite the fact it has a ton of constraints.

Having those limitations forced me to think a bit more creatively, a bit more out of the box. I had to really start thinking about how light worked because I couldn't just adjust the aperture or shutter speed or ISO. I take better pictures because constraints left me no choice but to become observant and learn.

And let me tell you, I have had it said to me by plenty of photographers who really know their craft that "a phone camera is just a toy camera" and "that phone camera can't be used to take a good picture." But we all know that's a bunch of bulldonkey.

I mean, look at the beautiful things an iPhone can photograph.

When you write under the pretense that shorter is better, you trade art and care for economy and mathematics.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. Shorter can be better, if you use it to hone the skill of art and care. Brevity does not inherently strive for economy and mathematics.

A writer should write the words necessary to tell their story — no more and no less — and then edit and craft them to fully represent the material.

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. When I set out to write something with the intentional constraint of brevity, I keep an eye on the word count. I have a target I want to hit. I want to keep that particular writing in the ballpark of something brief. But if the topic requires more, I'm prepared to eschew brevity to complete the thought (as I've clearly done here).

Counting words has nothing to do with that whatsoever.

Word count isn’t a quality of good writing.

Again, this is not cut and dry, black and white, or mutually exclusive. Word count can and does influence writing, both poor writing and excellent writing. Working within constraints forces and fosters creativity.

Constraints matter.

¶ Brevity

Clear! Concise! Cogent!

Those were the words that graced most of my research papers from a particular professor in college. Like most professors, he had a minimum page requirement for papers, but unlike most professors he also had a ceiling limit. The idea was if you couldn't make your point in that many pages, you simply couldn't make your point.

Brevity is an important lesson to learn, but is also easily forgotten when typing away in a limitless text editor. Dancing endlessly around the point of a topic has become an epidemic on the internet today. I don't know about you, but my time is valuable. I imagine yours is, as well.

I've come to appreciate writers and podcasters who work within constraints which value the time of their audience. It's about respecting your readers' attention.

Ben Brooks proposes product reviews should have a ceiling of 1500 words:

…I don’t have time to read about a new app for 30 minutes when I could try it for myself in 5 minutes. It makes no sense to read these beastly posts when I could do the work the reviewer was supposed to do — but in less time than I would spend reading the review.

I'm a huge fan of that idea.

Other things I've come to value are podcasts that I can start and finish during a short walk. Two of my favorites are Lore and Under the Radar. Lore is typically under 30 minutes and Under the Radar is always under that.

M.G. Siegler's 500ish Words hits a sweet spot for easy reading for me. Similarly, a new favorite is Matt Gemmell's new "Briefly" format. I love the direction he is taking with it:

My guidelines for Briefly pieces are that they should be 100-200 words, and should take most people less than a minute to read.

And:

It’s my hope that the new format will allow me to write here more frequently.

I've been struggling to write. I get hung up on length versus getting to the point. I asked Matt if I could steal the Briefly idea he concisely said, "Do it."

I've already gone doubly the length of a Briefly's goals, but am firmly within 500(ish) words. Even at that, this should have taken most of you less than two minutes to read. Thanks for your moments, and I hope you enjoy reading more frequent thoughts from me.

The Need for Encryption

Tim Cook wrote a letter to Apple’s customers (and in my opinion, the entire world) regarding the United States government ordering Apple to weaken the encryption of iOS devices by adding a backdoor. And Apple is fighting it.

Some would argue that building a backdoor for just one iPhone is a simple, clean-cut solution. But it ignores both the basics of digital security and the significance of what the government is demanding in this case.

In today’s digital world, the “key” to an encrypted system is a piece of information that unlocks the data, and it is only as secure as the protections around it. Once the information is known, or a way to bypass the code is revealed, the encryption can be defeated by anyone with that knowledge.

The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.

The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.

We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.

Please go read Tim Cook’s entire letter.

Make no mistake, this is a pivotal moment in our security and privacy in the digital age. It’s my opinion that Apple is fighting for citizens’ rights here, protecting us from the United States government. And if such a backdoor to encryption is forced upon us, criminals will find and use it to exploit each and every one of us.

And this is certainly about more than this single iPhone. Marco Arment has said it best in what I’ve read today:

As we’ve learned from national hero Edward Snowden and, well, almost every other high-profile action taken by law enforcement recently, this most likely has very little to do with the specific crime or iPhone that the FBI is citing in this case.

It’s their excuse to establish precedent and permanent backdoors for themselves so they can illegally spy on anyone’s data whenever they please. They’re shamelessly using a horrible tragedy to get themselves more power.

I believe in encryption. In this day and age, encryption is what gives us privacy in the digital world. In a previous age, privacy was as simple as closing your door and locking it. Yes, law enforcement can always obtain a warrant and circumvent your locks by breaking your door. But nowhere is it written that your locks must be weak enough to be broken. If your door is 12 inches of steel, well, that’s your privilege.

And for those of you who think Apple should stand aside and help the FBI by weakening encryption because you think you have nothing to hide, go and read Tim Cook’s letter again, but substitute Chinese government and Russian goverment wherever Tim writes U.S. government.

Do you still think encryption is worth weakening? If Apple is forced to capitulate to the FBI, other governments will come knocking on the encryption door, too.

¶ Twenty-Sixteen: Intention and Action

Intentions make far more sense to me than resolutions. Declaring your intent sounds and feels more tangible than resolving to do something. That said, either one of those without action is simply ephemeral.

Action is the catalyst that drives us forward with our intentions.

Last year I made the distinction between intention and resolution and focused on intent. I sure intended to do quite a number of things. But I lacked action. I sat there, stalled, on far too many of my goals.

One thing did stick for me. I decided to move more. Since about March last year, I've gone for a walk every day. I've lost weight, increased my stamina, and I haven't been egregiously sick, either. I think reducing how often I am sedentary has been a big part of that. My goal for this year is to get that push in to get my weight under 300 pounds. I have less than 4 pounds to go. I think I can do it.

My long-term goals for 2016 are to reduce things that mean little to me. While I love tracking my fitness activity, I've been catering to too many apps for logging it. I used to wear a Fitbit until I lost it about a year ago. I had switched the Fitbit app to use the motion sensor in my iPhone. I also started using the excellent Pedometer++. And Apple's Health app. And the Apple Watch with its Activity rings. It's too much. Something needs to go.

So last night, after the clock rolled over to midnight and I gave my wife a kiss, I launched the Fitbit app, synced it one last time, and promptly deleted it. I still love Pedometer++ for its simplicity. It only tracks steps. And the Apple Watch's Activity rings have tangible value to my daily fitness, too. They keep me honest and motivated. But Fitbit's chapter in my fitness is over. One less thing to check every day.

An upcoming intention I plan to act on this weekend is to trim down some of the people I follow on Twitter and Facebook. I've carelessly allowed some folks who ended up being toxic to have a foothold in my attention span. Part of me has been feeling guilty about the idea of doing this, but toxicity has no place in my life, and I'd rather surround myself with people who inspire me to be a better person.

There are so many other areas where reduction is needed and I'm working to identify those and figure out the plan of action to deal with them.

Where 2015 was the year of good intentions that remained still, 2016 is a year of intentional action.