Send, a Firefox Test Pilot

I may have talked about this before, but it bears repeating, as I think it’s a marvelous solution! From the description:

Send lets you upload and encrypt large files (up to 1GB) to share online. When you upload a file, Send creates a link to pass along to whoever you want. Each link created by Send will expire after 1 download or 24 hours, and all sent files will be automatically deleted from the Send server.

You can find Send here: https://send.firefox.com

If you want to look at the code, contribute, fork your own or just need to know it’s actually open source, check out the repo here: https://github.com/mozilla/send

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Knowing that you don’t know…

I found an interesting article by Dan Abramov; “Things I don’t know as of 2018” – an honest round-up of what Dan “knows that he doesn’t know” as of today. That is actually Stage 2 of learning, or “conscious incompetence”.

Stage 1 is “Not knowing that you don’t know”, aka blissful ignorance or “insconscious incompetence”. More precisely; something you don’t have a clue about.

Stage 3 then, will be “Knowing that you know” or “conscious competence”, in other words; a skill that you can use, but you have to think consciously about it while using it. This is where I am today with some programming skills. I do still look up a lot of stuff, but I feel confident that I can use the programming language and tools to produce real results.

And finally stage 4 is “Not knowing that you know”, “inconscious competence”, like when you’re proficient at driving a car; you perform all the actions, manouvering through traffic without thinking about it. Or when you speak your native tounge, usually you just do it without thinking. Is it possible to get to that stage with software development? Become truly “fluent” at it?

Programming notes for professionals

So a friend of mine sent me a link today to Goalkicker.com which is a site dedicated to producing ebooks with different topics around programming. From A to Z, there are currently 42 books with a total of more than 10,000 (!!) pages worth of programming goodies, digested from the wealth of information available in the Stackoverflow archives. In PDF-format, the books are indexable and searchable and can provide you with comprehensive references on the topics you crave to learn. The Android-book alone has 1324 pages divided into no less than 226 chapters across as many Android development topics. I think this format and approach is good for learning about a specific topic, as it answers questions you didn’t know you had, adding value to your learning. And did I mention that everything on this site is FREE, with no strings attached? Gotta love that!

Cross-platform PowerShell!


I installed the latest beta of PowerShell 6 for the Mac. It feels right, and about time too! I miss PS whenever I lurk around non-Windows platforms, and that happens more and more lately. Now I have my old pal handy when I need to do stuff where Bash comes up lacking.. 🙂

No idea what PowerShell is? I wrote a primer on the subject some time ago.

No enjoy, on multiple platforms!

Admitted Google / Udacity Scolarship on the Android Developer track!

I recently received an email from Udacity informing me that I’ve been accepted into the Android Programmer track! This is great news for me, and I’m really excited to get this chance to delve deeper into Android development!

Congratulations!
Dear Thomas,
We are excited to offer you a Google Developer Challenge Scholarship to the Android Developer track.
We received applications from many talented and motivated candidates, and yours truly stood out.
Share your good news!

The program is three months, with the best candidates being awarded a further six months scholarship. I’m going for the full package! 🙂

 

Sending with Mozilla

I was listening to my favorite podcast, the TWiT show Security Now, episode 623, with Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson, while driving the other day. They showcased a brilliant little tool that the Mozilla foundation has launched at https://send.firefox.com which allows you to send files up to 1 GB in size, correctly encrypted (TNO – Trust NoOne!) that vanishes after 24 hours or a single download. The project is open source  and currently in “Test Pilot” according to the site. And, as you might expect, works in most (any) browsers, not only Firefox. Check it out at https://send.firefox.com !

reMarkable.. is it?

So, the device has (finally) arrived, I must say that the last few weeks have tested my patience thoroughly.. 🙂

I’ve just started testing it out, showing it off and getting to know the device, but so far it looks really nice; it’s very responsive as expected, has a nice look and feel and is well integrated with cloud storage, so my notes and documents are always available. I expect to be writing more about it as I gain experience with the device..

Microsoft consolidates documentation

I learned today that Microsoft, in an effort to centralize and consolidate all their product documentation, have launched a portal at docs.microsoft.com

I have just been perusing around a bit, but from the looks of it, the new portal will serve as a good starting point for delving deep into Microsoft technology, wether you’re in Dev, IT or an Office-worker..

reMarkable!

As we speak, I’m one of the many people eagerly awaiting the arrival of my pre-ordered reMarkable “paper tablet”.. I’ve read all the reviews and I’ve been following the development of this device for quite some time now. It promises to deliver a paper-like experience in a tablet, and should replace all my “notebooks, sketchbooks and printouts”…

Here is a photo from the reMarkable website:

remarkable-read.jpg

I’ll be sharing my experiences with it here on the blog, so come back for more..