IN THE BEGINNING WAS WORD
My kid is home from college. I'm watching them do their homework while struggling against the shortcomings of Microsoft Word. It's the Bourne shell of word processing: powerful, ubiquitous, chock full of time-sucking footguns, and probably the wrong tool for any job that won't fit on a single screen. After working with more civilized tools like a good text editor paired with a Markdown processor, I'd been happy to forget that some people still voluntarily use Word.
Read moreFIXING THE CASPER GLOW LIGHT CHARGER
Our Casper Glow Lights are nice. However, their charging bases are poorly made, and as seen in user reviews, they often break in a specific way. Inevitably, one or both of the little spring-loaded charging pins will permanently stick in the lowered position so that they don't contact the charging elements on the light. In this photo, the outer pin on the left sticks up a little above the charger's base.
Read moreBACK TO OMNIFOCUS. AGAIN.
I know I said I'm using Things to manage all the things I need to do, but I've switched back to the OmniFocus 4 beta. I like Things. It's pretty and ergonomic. That matters in something you'll spend so much time with. For the most part, I like using Things more than I do OmniFocus, which isn't exactly beautiful to look at. OmniFocus does everything right where it matters, though.
Read moreKITTY LIKES HER SUREFOOD MICROCHIP PET FEEDER
We have 2 cats. One of them1 requires a prescription food. Predictably, because he's a cat, he hates his food and wants to eat the other cat's. Any other time, the second cat wouldn't let the first anywhere near her food. Because she's a cat and enjoys tormenting us, now she's happy to share her forbidden kibble. I'd heard about pet feeders that use RFID tags to distinguish between animals and only open for the one (or ones) that you've programmed into them.
Read moreREVIEW JOB APPLICATIONS QUICKLY
I got an automated response to a job application that said: Over the next several weeks, one of our recruiters will spend some time reviewing what you've shared with us. There’s almost no situation where that would lead to a desirable outcome for either party. Either it weeds out good candidates you'd want to hire: "I’m unemployed and need work now." Someone who needs a job now is not going to wait several weeks if something else comes along.
Read moreAN AMAZON SELLER TRIED TO BRIBE ME
I bought a suitcase from Amazon, partly because of its good reviews. The suitcase is alright. It's not the best I've ever seen, but the price was decent and it seems like it should last a while. A couple of weeks later, I got a postcard from the seller offering a bribe. If I sent them proof that I posted a 5-star review, they'd pay me $15. I followed Amazon's instructions to report the bribe.
Read moreMACOS 14 SONOMA IS OUT, AND MOSTLY OK
Apple release macOS 14 Sonoma today. I always install the major OS beta versions on my work Mac when they're first released, to see if anything critical breaks before it affects my coworkers. That happens sometimes, like when macOS 11 Big Sur deprecated kernel extensions and affected some software we used. Sonoma and its 1st-party apps were in good shape from the start. I stumbled across a few glitches with 3rd-party software:
Read moreNEWSOM VETOED SELF-DRIVING TRUCK BILL
California governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required self-driving vehicles to have a human driver. "Considering the longstanding commitment of my administration to addressing the present and future challenges for work and workers in California, and the existing regulatory framework that presently and sufficiently governs this particular technology, this bill is not needed at this time," Newsom wrote. "For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.""
Read moreTRINET SHARES EMPLOYEE PII WITHOUT CONTROLS
My employer's HR department asked me to validate a coworker's identification documents and attest that they're legitimate, for government tax form purposes. I got an email from our payroll vendor, TriNet, with a link to attest to those documents' authenticity. Clicking it took me to a page with scans of my friend's driver's license and Social Security card without requiring me to log in first. My coworker hadn't entered their driver's license number into the form, so I used the scanned image to enter it for them.
Read moreVEILID IN THE WASHINGTON POST
I've been helping on a fun project with some incredibly brilliant friends. I found myself talking about it to a reporter at The Washington Post. The story just came out. My part was crucial, insightful, and far, far down the page: Once known for distributing hacking tools and shaming software companies into improving their security, a famed group of technology activists is now working to develop a system that will allow the creation of messaging and social networking apps that won’t keep hold of users’ personal data.
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