ohryan.ca

A Web Developer in Winnipeg

  • Mailbox.app – First Impressions

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    I got access to mailbox.app last night around midnight, have been using it all day.

    My very brief review:

    • The ability to mark emails to “read later” seems clever and works fairly well. It’s smart enough to know if it’s 1am and you tell it to read an email tomorrow, you actually mean at the beginning of the next day. All “later” email get’s placed in a gmail label [mailbox]/later.
    • The short/long swipe interface is cute and works fairly well. But get’s tedious with multiple emails. The app needs a better way to preform actions on multiple emails at once.
    • Overall the UI is great, in general.
    • I noticed that the pending email badge count is actually the number of email threads in your inbox, instead of the number of unread messages. This is acts as a great little nudge to inbox zero.

    That’s all for now.

  • Cause and Effect and IKEA

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    With the fervor surrounding the grand opening of IKEA’s Winnipeg store (their first new market in Canada since 1982, btw), the media, Twitter, bloggers, internet-trolls, your mom are all giving IKEA way to much credit.  They are confusing cause and effect.

    IKEA this year and The Jets return last year are not revitalizing our fair city. They are proof that we are once again a thriving “world class” city. A city Winnipeggers can be proud of, a city that is once again One Great City.

    Obviously IKEA and The Jets are two huge milestones. But there is a lot of other developments underway. Almost 2 years ago I wrote a post on /r/Winnipeg about how great I thought 2013 would be. As examples of the city’s progress I listed:

    • IKEA
    • 5 Target stores
    • An NHL team (cross your fingers)
    • Canadian Human rights museum
    • At least, two more awesome buildings downtown (Avenue building and Royal Bank renovations)
    • New Airport
    • A bunch of completed infrastructure projects (Disraeli, Osborne St Bridge, West Perimeter upgrades)
    • Phase 1 of BRT
    • alcohol in grocery stores (hopefully)
    • New Bombers stadium at the U of M
    • Renovated Children’s Museum
    • New area code (431)

    I’m sure there are tonnes and tonnes of smaller projects that could be added to the list.

    The classic Winnipeg apathy and self-loathing that has been such a part of the Winnipeg zeitgeist for as long as I can remember is no longer relevant.  The proof is in the lingonberry pudding.

  • My 2012 Podcast Recommendations

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    This morning I wrote an email to a good friend who’s finally taking a real interest in podcasts, after years me trying to convince him to start listening to something, anything. The email ended up being fairly comprehensive, so I’m going to repost it here.

    He already listens to No Agenda, Industrial Strength Nightmares and Planet Money based on my recommendation, I won’t be covering those here.

    The 404 Show – They kind of cover tech news. The show reminds me a lot of Diggnation. If you’re going to listen to back episodes, I wouldn’t suggest anything old than about 3 years. If I recall, that’s when the show really started to get good.
    Sound Opinions – They talk about music, interview artists and review new albums. Often they cover music I’m not terribly interested in, but I (almost) always find the show entertaining regardless.
    Tech News Today – Daily Tech News. I’ve been listening to the main host of the show (Tom Merritt) for on his various tech news shows for around 6 years. Sarah Lane from TechTV is a co-host. I have mixed feelings about recommending this show, I’m not really a fan of the other regular hosts and am kind of looking for a replacement. I don’t recommend listening to back episodes, I think that’d be a little like watching re-runs of the evening news.
    There are various shows from FrogPants Studios that I’ve listened to over the years. The network was started by Scott Johnson a web cartoonist all the shows are “humour-based.” The shows are sort of hit and miss and the overall production quality of their shows has really improved over the past year or so. I’d recommend listening to the latest episode of a show before deciding whether you listen to back episodes. A couple of shows I’d recommend from that network specifically are:
    The Instance – I don’t understand how you play World of Warcraft without listening to this podcast. I haven’t listened since I quit WoW, but I assume it’s still good.
    The Movielicious– A french guy, an Englishman and an American woman review (American) movies. It’s funny.
    Hypothetical Help – The hosts help listeners with their personal problems, using wit and humour.
    Film Sack – Typically the four hosts review terrible movies. I don’t actually enjoy their weekly episodes as much as their “Bonus Sack” commentary tracks. They record commentary tracks for movies (you play the movie on your TV and listen to their audio on your device).  Their ST:TNG episode commentary is especially good.