Robin Monks 🏳️‍🌈

Robin Monks 🏳️‍🌈

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A sign reads "These woods open to all" at the entrance to a forest trail.

The data landscape: ELT, Event Streaming, and ESB

Every company will deal with data, and if you're a SaaS company, the data is coming in from all sides like a strong storm front blowing in snow. You'll be buried in data, more data than you'll ever use. How you do use that data can vary. You're going to

A cracked and discolored cement 4-level highway overpass under a blue sky.

Using Cloudflare to Customize Your Mastodon Username Domain

You can use Cloudflare to customize your Mastodon username domain without needing to host your own Mastodon.

An empty Starbucks

Movie Theater Sound: How does Dolby Digital work?

I know many of us haven't been in a theater for a while, so I wanted to write this short missive about the underappreciated world of theater sound before my next product design post drops. If this sort of technical nerdery isn't your thing, I get it. Expect the next

A yellow line on a roadway.

HotSpot Parking

Lessons Learned From My First Commercial Product: User Flow

It was 2013. We were watching videos of the Harlem Shake, Daft Punk's Random Access Memories just came out (and signalled when I was okay admitting EDM was my preferred style of music), and I was in a startup incubator in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I was part of the founding

Revisiting Fonus 6 Months In

Revisiting Fonus 6 Months In

Earlier last year I wrote an in-depth review of Fonus Mobile, after having been given early access to the new mobile service reseller. I figured it was time to check back in on how the experience has been, and what's changed since I first reviewed it last year. A New

The Vanishing Line of Cold War-era History

The Vanishing Line of Cold War-era History

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been researching and collecting information on Cold War technology (a topic of personal interest for me). I've been gathering information on how technology advanced and infrastructure was built in the shadow of a fear of nuclear war. As I've been doing this research,

Fonus Mobile Review

Consumer Goods and Services

Fonus Mobile Review

My experiences with Fonus began at the end of last year, on November 21st when I heard about a disruptive mobile provider that wanted to provide global, unlimited service for a low fixed fee (presently listed at $30 / month). I need to disclose that I was part of an initial

Comparing USB Speakerphones

Comparing USB Speakerphones

A guest post collaboration by my friend, Daniel Haworth. Business communications have changed drastically over the years, going from old school analogue landlines to digital PBXs and now on to VoIP phones (and not even using a “phone”, per se). The organization I work for mostly uses Yealink IP phones,

Can you believe power banks mAh ratings?

Can you believe power banks mAh ratings?

A guest post collaboration by my friend, Daniel Haworth. Terms Milliamp hours (mAh) and Amp hours (Ah) You'll see many battery packs (like this Blitzwolf one) listed at 10,000 milliamp hours. What does this number mean? It means that this battery is capable of providing one amp for ten

Speed Up Your Mac with an External SSD

Speed Up Your Mac with an External SSD

If you have an iMac with Thunderbolt or USB 3 but without an SSD, you can boot from a full-speed external SSD without opening the case. It's possible for that Mac to boot in under 30 seconds and to jump generations ahead for under $200. I have a mid-2011 iMac

Can You Get Good Earbuds for Under Five Dollars?

Consumer Goods and Services

Can You Get Good Earbuds for Under Five Dollars?

Me and my good friend, danrulz98 on YouTube, wanted to find out if any of the sub-$5 in-ear headphones (earbuds) sold on Deal Extreme were actually usable. Think no set of earbuds selling for such low prices are any good? You might be surprised by our results! We’re

New Browser-Based MMORPG, Glitch, Finishes Largest Alpha Test Yet

Game Development

New Browser-Based MMORPG, Glitch, Finishes Largest Alpha Test Yet

Update: With much sadness, Glitch was shut down. Most of the resources from the game are now available under an open source license. You may not have heard of it yet, but Glitch is beginning to turn into an interesting platform-based MMORPG with enough content to pull people away from

Why do I use WordPress for my personal blog?

Why do I use WordPress for my personal blog?

It’s something I’m asked every now and then. “If I’m just making a blog site, should I just use WordPress, or should I still use Drupal?” To be fair, it all comes down in the end to a matter of personal taste. But, there are still some

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