Derek Peden

Playing the Micro.Blog follow-game: Follow 1st person in Discover, then follow 1st their list of people I’m not following, then follow 1st their list of people I’m not following… and so on…

The blame-game of the last decade micro.derekpeden.com

Finished for 2018. Finally.

Those who voted in Brexit believed they were getting Unicorn, a mythical state which doesn’t exist. They’re now screaming about the necessary compromises but unwilling to believe that it is in fact lunacy, despite the months of mounting evidence.

As follow-up to a recent post, it would given recent conversations with Mrs P (CFO) there’re an Apple branded box somewhere under the tree.

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

— Sir Isaac Newton.

So true.

Dear World: Your iPhone XS Max display may generate up to 625Cd/m2 but that really doesn’t mean you have to use it like that, particularly in a dark concert venue when you feel the need to be live streaming the band on Facebook to those “friends” who didn’t buy tickets.

Not quite 500 miles away…

My quandary over the adorable iPad. micro.derekpeden.com

A poor negotiator might not be able to “fight their way out of a paper bag”, well what about opening a car door?

Microsoft, I didn’t willing return to your god forsaken software. It crashed. Again.

To quote Dr King,

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

And yet, American teachers carrying guns in the classroom.

Clearing out the drinks cupboard. The best kind of pre-Christmas clear-out.

Purchased 9 sausages, the correct number of sausages: 4 each plus 1 spare for the white wonder. However that will mean waking her.

Awww Look at that face! Chow chow puppy returned to owners after being seized

Since I’ve been using my iPad Air2 a lot this week I’m back to thinking again about the 11” iPad Pro. But other the larger screen I really I’ve yet to see what I’d get for my money. I’d have no use for the pencil, and can’t imagine I’d be pushing that fast CPU anytime soon.

Target display mode is the naughty little girl which lives in your iMac:

When she was good,

She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad she was horrid.

It’s been rock solid reliable for the last 3 hours, then failed and now won’t reconnect.

Filling out a Word document template from a government agency. Technically there’s no subcontractors in this project but I’m tempted to bring in my niece to teach the agency staff how to use Word. She’s 9.

Histerical to watch BBC News still pursuing a Vox Populi when it’s actually Expert Opinon which is needed and not that of an self-admittedly confused electorate.

Not very presidential, but this is what we’ve come to expect.

Spot the Westie

Still in love with Apple Watch Series 4. 10x the utility of my previous Series 0.

I’m happier with my re-worked Wordpress site, and their place relative to my Micro.blog activity.

My challenge was that I had multiple conflicting requirements.

1. Micro blogging to both Micro.blog and my hosted blog.
2. Micro blogging to only Micro.blog, using the platform as a social network.
3. Longer form titled posts to Micro.blog.
4. Longer form titled posts to Micro.blog, with a link posted on my hosted blog.
5. Longer form titled posts to my hosted blog.
6. Longer form titled posts to my hosted blog, and shared on Micro.blog.
7. Media content posted to my hosted blog.
8. Media content posted to my hosted blog, and shared on Micro.blog.
9. And so on…

This was leading to friction in my workflow, leading me to postpone posting until I could parse how and where I wanted the content to go. My brain was directed to the structure, rather than the content.

My re-work has focussed on revised my mental model of where content is published. I’d had the intention of switching off my Micro.blog hosted blog, directing Micro.blog traffic to my Wordpress. But of course I should be thinking of Micro.blog site as another of my blogs, not as a competitor or distraction to my Wordpress blog. When I think about it in that way, and remove the complexity of sometimes wanting traffic to flow in either direction then this makes a huge difference.

I’m so much more content, thinking of it in this way.

Looking out the Christmas decorations from the attic and found my old Sony PCG-FX701 from circa 2000. It’s really rocking that 20Gb hard disk and a whole 256Mb of RAM. I really don’t remember the removal floppy drive or that the network port was behind a flap on the back. And yes, for a sense of scale that’s my iPad on top of the closed lid.

My bank still asks me to talk to a human to setup Apple Pay. So I phone them, enter my account number, sort code, security code and then wait on hold…. then I give them my name, my card number, date of birth. They confirm it’s setup, but proceed to send me a physical letter to confirm. Every subsequent transaction will be backed up by an SMS and email, in addition to the notification on the device and transaction tracking in the Apple Pay app.

I appreciate the need for the security, but lets face this remains a niche payment method which is both tied to a device with PIN and biometric security which I can track and remotely disable, and is capped at £30.

The cost to me and to the bank of this added security doesn’t warrant this elongated and cumbersome process. I really hope they can catch-up to this century, and soon.