Author: Tom (Page 196 of 428)

Why I Still Use Path

September 30, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

About two years ago, I wrote about My Day-To-Day: Path and why I was a fan of the social network. Two years ago – which is roughly a decade in Internet years, right? – and a lot has happened since then.

Path

In fact, I stopped using the social network for a while, opted to start using it again, and continue to do so now. Occasionally, I’ll share content from Path to Twitter.

I did so a couple of weeks ago and received the following tweet:

@tommcfarlin Wow you still use Path. I thought that app was dead!

— Patrick Quirke (@pquirke) September 9, 2015

A completely valid opinion and one I’m finding more and more people are asking me about when they find out that I (and a few family members and friends) still use.

So I thought I’d write an updated post about Path and why I’m still a fan of the app.

When Things Go South (With a Company, Clients, and More)

September 29, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

Occasionally, I’m asked how I handle the situation when things go south with company, clients, people with whom I’m working, and so on. This is one of those things that if you were to ask a handful of different people ranging from freelancers to C-level executives, you’d probably get different answers from each of them.

And rightly so.

After all, we’re all working for and/or with people at different places in the industry, so how we handle this situation is going to be unique to our particular position. So this isn’t one of those types of questions that has a universal answer.

I can only answer it with respect to the type of business I’ve done over the past few years. If you’re a single person or a small team, then maybe this will be helpful.

Programmatically List Google Maps Markers

September 28, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

I’ve written a few articles on working with the Google Maps API – some simply based on the API itself, others within the context of WordPress.

Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of the API. Sure, it’s powerful and yes you can do a lot with the information Google makes available, but I’ve also found the initial learning curve of the API is kind of steep. Once you orient yourself with the basics, it’s not as bad to introduce new functionality, but there is something to initially getting started.

Google Maps

But I digress. That’s not what this post is all about. Instead, this post is meant to share how to solve a specific problem: Programmatically listing Google Maps markers when the map isn’t visible (say in a responsive website).

My Suite of Apps: Stache

September 25, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the problems I seem to have (among many, some may say ;) is I can’t seem to find a consistent way to manage bookmarks.

I don’t mean I have a problem using the “Favorites” or the “Star” feature in my web browser. I mean I might as well toss the page into a black hole if I use those features. They are a pain to organize, search, and – for whatever reason – feel like an after thought in terms of features of a browser.

And I’ve tried a number of different ways to go about managing this – if you name it, I’ve probably tried it – and it’s not from lack of knowledge of available applications for things like this either.

But it wasn’t until I found Stache I felt like I finally found a utility that made it easy for me to save resources as I was browsing the web, categorize them as needed, and then be able to search them later using any of my devices.

The Latest and Greatest Technology in Programming

September 24, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, Basecamp (previously 37signals) wrote a great blog post part in which the topic of legacy applications as well as using latest and greatest technology were discussed.

In programming, there is often an obsession with using the latest and greatest technology. Programmers view the use of edge technology as its own badge of honor, and are quick to throw away legacy applications.

I’ve talked about this in previous posts before – it’s why I’m a fan of going deep rather than wide when it comes to working with certain languages and tools – but it doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with the desire to pick up something new every now and then.