Tag: update

I used to dread Mondays back when I was working a regular job but now I kind of look forward to them. There’s always something I look forward to working on even if it’s a mundane tech product or topic.

Here’s what is preliminarily on the docket for this week. If you are receiving this as part of my digest email hit the reply button and tell me what you’d most like to see first. If you’re not the list sign up via the link or on the left hand side of the screen!

1. This week’s Weekly Wrapup will be about my HAM radio license exam and some of the things that make amateur radio very different from the Internet when it comes to what you can say and do.
   
2. A review of the HoverBar Duo iPad stand. They call it the duo because it can either clamp to something or sit on its base. But it’s a nightmare to work with. This video is already done and just waiting for a slot on the YouTube channel. You can watch it on Amazon right now.
   
3. A look at DJI’s new wireless microphone kit. I like easy-to-use production gear so I’m eager to play with it. Although I don’t think anything can top my amazing Sennheiser AVX mics.
   
4. Unihertz has a new phone on Kickstarter called the Titan Slim that merges a full size screen with a Blackberry style keyboard. I don’t usually cover Kickstarters but Unihertz has a great track record of making modern phones for people that can’t give up their physical keyboards. They also make some really cool super tiny phones.
   
5. HP has a Thunderbolt dock that appears to be a bit different from other Thunderbolt docks we’ve looked at. Supposedly it has some security features that other docks don’t. I need to dig into this a little bit so it might not pop up until next week.
   
6. It’s also time for a MiSTer update! Lots of cool new cores worth talking about like the 32x and Playstation cores.

Of course my week is subject to change based on what comes in. Sometimes a shiny object might appear and that’ll take me off course :).

I love RSS. It is an important underpinning of the web that a lot of folks don’t even know is there. I’ve recently updated my RSS workflow and it has made content consumption both for work and entertainment immensely more efficient. 

I use the Bazqux reader to do that consolidation. It requires an annual fee but it most certainly pays for itself in the efficiency it brings me every day. There are a number of open source options that provide similar functionality. One of the cool things Bazqux does is that it will bring in Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram content the same way it brings in RSS – and then it’ll allow you to create RSS feeds from those sources! 

I just added a static page to the blog where you can subscribe to my RSS feeds individually or a master one that incorporates all sources. You learn more about how I’m using RSS here. 

Well I gave Hugo the old college try but ultimately I was finding it was more cumbersome for a blog than I would like. The biggest impediment was the lack of image management and the rather clunky process of uploading new posts.

I had to create a new markdown file, manually enter (or copy over) the basic metadata, manually re-size images, move those images to the right folder, type in the right markdown code for the image, save the post, run Hugo in terminal to render the site, and finally sync with my FTP server. If I had to make change I had to re-run Hugo and resync. Just too much for what I wanted to be a quick thing.

So back to WordPress. I am self hosting for now on my web server. The only issue I encountered this evening was getting the full feed to dump out to my RSS feed. The RSS feed is how I generate my digest emails.

I had to hand code the RSS generator PHP to correct what looks like a bug. h/t to this 2009 post which solved my problem.  I also found a clever way to pull down the “medium” sized images too. Both of these fixes required editing the RSS template in the WordPress installation.

One of the things I like about WordPress is that it’s so ubiquitous and everything works with it. So I can easily post from my phone. I also use a great app on the Mac called Mars Edit that I used 10 years ago when I was doing more with WordPress. To my surprise I was able to upgrade to the newest one for a nominal fee a decade later! Thanks Red Sweater Software!

We hit 320,000 subscribers today! Slow and steady is preferable IMHO to becoming a viral one hit wonder. Thank you for your continued support! Here’s a video I made about my channel’s strategy from last year when I hit the 300k mark.