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February 22, 2021

Andy's discoveries and musings - Issue #4

Having family and friends in Texas, I’ve spent some time reading about that over the past week. On the “day job” side I’ve also been doing a lot of thinking about authentication, APIs and code documentation and samples.

Longer-form content from me, this week

Episode 309 — Cardboard Doom to Khazad-dûm
Episode 309 — Cardboard Doom to Khazad-dûm
In this week’s podcast we geek out about rovers and drones on Mars, Andy Baio’s new virtual meetings space called Skittish, and the usual assortment of AR, LEGO, and sci-fi/fantasy TV stuff. Also, the power situation in Texas, of which, more in the additional links,
gamesatwork.biz

Links I found interesting

I had to use a VPN to access the Dallas News site (thanks to publishers not wanting to make changes for GDPR in Europe). Pretty shocking results from the deregulation of the energy market in Texas, failure of the grid, and folks choosing the seemingly “cheapest option”.

Griddy customers face $5,000 electric bills for 5 freezing days in Texas
Griddy customers face $5,000 electric bills for 5 freezing days in Texas
Update Saturday morning; The state public utilities commission and Gov. Greg Abbott both said Saturday that they will take steps to protect residents…
www.dallasnews.com
‎What Next TBD: Why Texas Went Dark on Apple Podcasts
‎What Next TBD: Why Texas Went Dark on Apple Podcasts
‎Over the last week, millions of Texans have been forced to live without power or heat. At least 16 have died since Monday. In a state that’s no stranger to extreme weather and high power demand, how did it all go so wrong?
podcasts.apple.com

Interesting speculation here on the possible implications for the gig economy as a result of a Supreme Court ruling that re-categorises some Uber drivers as workers in the UK.

Uber has lost in the Supreme Court. Here’s what happens next | WIRED UK
Uber has lost in the Supreme Court. Here’s what happens next | WIRED UK
Uber drivers in the UK are workers, not contractors. What comes next will affect the entire gig economy
www.wired.co.uk

My friend Simon Phipps clarifies the use of “open” when it comes to “open standards” and “open source”.

Chalk and Cheese | Meshed Insights Ltd
Chalk and Cheese | Meshed Insights Ltd
How similar are open source development and standards development? Not at all, and even the words they have in common mean different things in each.
meshedinsights.com

Scary poor security for cameras and nurseries / childcare in the UK.

» A warning to users of NurseryCam
» A warning to users of NurseryCam
This blog post is intended for a less technical audience – specifically parents and nurseries using the NurseryCam system. NurseryCam is a camera system that is installed in nurseries, allowi…
cybergibbons.com

This was a great read, it’s mind-blowing that they have built this drone, and I’m going to be watching for news of the missions.

How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
spectrum.ieee.org

A smattering of tech “quick hits” that caught my eye.

The Raspberry Pi Pico Can’t Run Linux. But It Can Run Fuzix. | Hackaday
The Raspberry Pi Pico Can’t Run Linux. But It Can Run Fuzix. | Hackaday
hackaday.com
Unix-style Windows Development Environment Adventures — Kenneth Reitz
kennethreitz.org
FE webdev on an iPad (2020).  by Craig Morey | Dec, 2020 | Medium
FE webdev on an iPad (2020). by Craig Morey | Dec, 2020 | Medium
At this time of the year I normally go deep on what’s changed if you’re a front-end web developer with an iPad.
pixelthing.medium.com
Gathering My Thoughts on API Discovery | API Evangelist
Gathering My Thoughts on API Discovery | API Evangelist
apievangelist.com
Work Week | Trello Goes Overboard | by Stowe Boyd | GigaOm | Feb, 2021 | Medium
Work Week | Trello Goes Overboard | by Stowe Boyd | GigaOm | Feb, 2021 | Medium
Trello has announced the availability of a variety of new views, so users are no longer limited to the now-familiar kanban board.
medium.com

Two musical links this week, first a classic I rediscovered when Apple Music threw it at me during a brief daily walk for some exercise on a rare sunny day here in London. Highly recommend “October Swimmer” and “Snow”, but it’s a good set of tunes overall.

JJ72
JJ72
Listen to JJ72 by JJ72 on Apple Music. Stream songs including “October Swimmer”, “Undercover Angel” and more.
open.spotify.com

My friend Cindy Alexander has a new album dropping soon, and the first single just came out - lots of energy here!

Try, Try, Try - song by Cindy Alexander | Spotify
Try, Try, Try - song by Cindy Alexander | Spotify
Listen to Try, Try, Try on Spotify. Cindy Alexander · Song · 2021.
open.spotify.com

(ICYMI) a little further back...

Wherefore Art Thou, Twitter? - Steady
Wherefore Art Thou, Twitter? - Steady
 I have noticed that you can throw the word Tweet into almost any phrase, even Shakespeare, and come up with something that might seem significant, but also ridiculous. And in doing so, perhaps we have a picture of Twitter itself.
steady.substack.com

That’s it for my first month of weekly newsletters! Let me know what you think! You can Tweet me @andypiper.

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