Twenty years ago, months before the scorching (and deadly) summer of 2003, I bought the transparent Harman Kardon SoundSticks that I still have above (and below) my desk today.

I have often learned technical subjects online or in person with oversized exercises. By that, I mean sample code or applications that are needlessly complex and contrived, to the point that their complexity hides the main subject of the class. Such examples are hard to install, run, and understand, and teachers need to spend more time helping their students to run the code than actually explaining the subject.

Here’s an infuriating short story. One of my books has a one-star review on Amazon, and it literally starts with the phrase “I have not read the book”.

I gave an update on this lifetime activity of mine in 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2013, and here we go for 2023.

There is a somewhat unspoken standard in the functionality exposed by function keys in Windows and Linux, only partially shared with macOS, particularly since the introduction of that abomination called the Touch Bar. Here is a very simple recap of those functions.

I am, I have been, and forever will be a big advocate of server-side rendering. I think it is an essential way to build dynamic web content. I believe in this adamantly, feverishly, strongly, and relentlessly.

Around 1998, Macromedia Dreamweaver allowed developers to create animated web pages using 100% generated JavaScript code. This was before we were told about the good parts of JavaScript, before script.aculo.us, and without the need for Flash players or Java applets of any kind.

The other day I had friends in Bolivia asking me if they could install Windows on a laptop they got through an NGO that initially came bundled with Linux.

Last week I talked about Firefox extensions, last year I talked about VSCode extensions, now it’s time to talk about GNOME extensions.