Tech in the Trenches

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MacBook Perspectives

On March 17, 2015

I enjoy reading different views on the same thing. I like hearing diverse viewpoints from intelligent people. As much as I’ve avoided the Apple chatter, I like hearing what people I follow online think about it. Those who aren’t tech journalists. They’re not getting paid to churn out 500 words on The Next Apple Thing™.

Recently Conor wrote about his dislike in the direction Apple is going. He wants more power in a portable. He wants a Pro Portable.

conormcclure.net: Thoughts on the new MacBook(s)

I myself am a college student, but am also an “adult computer” user—I want power, speed, and possibilities. Last week’s updates to the MacBook Pro line were indeed “modest”, if not “half-assed.” I’m not eager to upgrade my computer given Apple’s latest advancements. They’re focus on portability and other silly features (Force Touch?) have neglected the other spectrum of MacBook power users who want massive speed and battery. (I’m not even talking about the Thunderbolt vs. USB-C fiasco. Make up your minds, for our sake.)

And Rob wants just the opposite. He’s enamored by the new, gold iPad Plus. He wants an iPad with the full power of the Mac OS behind it.

The new MacBook — RM

The iPad is what I need in a mobile computer. The new MacBook is the first computer that made me even consider changing that. It’s super thin and light — two things I love about the iPad. It has the high resolution screen that would be easy on my eyes. And it has the full power of OS X behind it.

Like Conor, I have a 2010 MacBook Pro. It’s served me well and I don’t know what my next machine will be. When I think about what I want, it’s a powerful portable with an integrated graphics card. But when I think about what I actually use my machine for, it’s a writing tablet. It’s a place to browse the web and like Rob, I need more power than an iPad, or at least a full operating system. I don’t think I need a Mac Pro Portable.

I don’t work with video. I take a pile of photos (and struggle to do anything with them). There’s a lot of lust over new hardware, but I am also very wary of the first rendition of anything Apple makes. As a current owner of the first iPad and former original MacBook buyer I’ve seen the slew of issues with the new devices. Or the major gains in the second version of the device. And I don’t have the money to throw at Apple. I’m content to sit and wait. I’m happy to pickup someone’s used machine once they’re ready to move on to something new.

Be Personable

By Carl

On March 16, 2015

In Observations

When you work in tech support, you often don’t know who you are talking to. You don’t know if they’re high-powered or the new intern. You don’t know their level of technical ability or their patience.

But one thing you do know is they are human. So talk to them like it.

So many times, I get an email back from a tech and all it says is “This account has been deactivated.”

That’s nice, computer. I am happy you processed my request in an efficient and timely manner. But it would have been even nice if I knew you were a person too.

Now let’s compare that to:

Good Morning Monica,

I’ve deactivated the account for John Morris effective immediately.

Is there anything else I can do for you today?
Thank you,
Carl T. Holscher

I address Monica by her name.
She is a person. I am a person. There’s no reason I can’t address her by her name. It’s add a little humanity to our interaction.
I told her exactly what I had done.
That way, she knows immediately what this request is about. It doesn’t rely on her to remember what she had asked me for. She’s busy. She doesn’t have time to sit around and wait for me to get the work done. She is doing other things, so don’t make her guess.
It also verifies to me that I have made the correct change. It’s easy to make a mistake, especially when dealing with a large number of requests. Repeating back the action I took helps me to double-check myself.
I used my name.
I am not a team. I am not a group. I am an individual and I did this work for her.

Whenever I am about to send an email to someone, I ask myself if this is the email I would like to receive.

If it is, I hit send. If not, I take a moment to improve upon it. Spending those extra seconds can make a big difference in how you come across to your customers.

It’s hard to be as warm and friendly over text. But it is easy to impart some humanity in your words. Use them.

Sweet Themes are Made of These

By Carl

On March 16, 2015

In Links and Quotes

Even if you’ve been using Slack for a while, you might not know about the Sidebar Theme feature in Preferences, which is a good way to keep your different Teams visually separate.

Sweet Themes are Made of These is an unofficial resource for Slack sidebar themes. I actively participate in two different Slack rooms and I use the sidebar themes to keep them straight at a glance.

There’s a brief how-to if you don’t know how to change your Slack sidebar theme.

I’m using the light and dark Solarized themes and think they look great!

DailyMuse – Inspiration in your Inbox

By Carl

On March 13, 2015

In Links and Quotes

DailyMuse – Inspiration in your Inbox

Getting started on the right foot can be a challenge, but what if you already had something that inspired you though? A phrase, a quote or even a list?

Using DailyMuse you can collect quotes, phrases, lists and links in your own collection of snippets. DailyMuse then sends you one of these snippets at random, once a day.

I love origin stories so I was very happy to see that Matthew Lang wrote up a little backstory behind his new creation.

Say Hi to DailyMuse | Matthew Lang

Using DailyMuse you can collect quotes, phrases, lists and links in your own collection of snippets. DailyMuse then sends you one of these snippets at random, once a day.

I’m going to play with it. Maybe you’ll find it interesting too.

I can’t hear you Tweeting

By Carl

On March 9, 2015

In Observations

I have Twitter filters. I love my Twitter filters. It makes the service bearable to me. I thought about it this morning when I was reading TweetBot as I waited for the train this morning. TweetBot is where I have most of the filters setup because it’s easy to do.

It’s also where I interact with Twitter most. When I got to work, I booted up my computer and opened TweetDeck, and the noise went to 11. I’ve written about Mute for a happier Twitter before. But on the verge of the Apple Watch event, I’ve added some new filters.

With all the Apple Car (???) talk, someone posted this wonderful filter: (?i)(Apple.*Car)

I added that immediately and all the car talk stopped (for me.) From there, I added Apple Watch because I can’t care about the watch. I don’t want something on my wrist that does anything but tell the time. My watch is e-ink. It tells time. It does nothing else. It’s perfect.

Since I last wrote about this in December, I’ve added a few new filters that makes my life more sane.

LRT
I don’t care about your Last ReTweet (which is what LRT means. It’s ok, I had to ask too.) I turn off Retweets for most people so I don’t need to hear the commentary on the Retweet I didn’t see.
Game of Thrones
First, I muted it because I didn’t care about the show and was tired of hearing people talk about it. Then I watched the entire series in a couple of weeks. So I keep it muted because I still don’t want to hear people talking about it non-stop. I don’t even care about spoilers. I’m just not that interested.
Apple Watch
The same thing goes for the Apple Car. I don’t care about these things. I especially don’t care about them before they’re even released. It’s not a product I care about and the religious fervor around it isn’t interesting to me. So I mute it because I just don’t care.
Apple
Yes, in a fit of frustration and exhaustion I muted the word Apple. So I’m sorry if you’re raving about some delicious honey crisps, or your distaste for Granny Smith. I’m not going to see it. I’ve hit Peak Apple News. And I’m over it. I don’t care about Apple. I don’t care about the company. I don’t care about the products. I don’t care about the executives.

The rest of the things I’ve muted lately are short-term things. Usually it will be something from a TV Show, a conference or something else I either don’t understand or don’t want to see in my stream. I mute them for a week, figuring the conference will be over by then and the TV show meme will have run its course.

If I am going to use Twitter, I am going to use it on my terms. I used to feel guilty about muting people’s Retweets or unfollowing people I wasn’t interested in following anymore. But now no longer worry. I create the Twitter I want to use. And I’m not going to worry about it.