Latest Posts (20 found)
Kev Quirk 2 days ago

Firefox AI Killswitch

Nice to see that the Firefox team have actually implemented their "AI killswitch" in the way that they said they would. Here's a screenshot from my copy of Firefox 148: Very happy to see this land, and it means I can end my hunt for a new browser for the time being. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 2 days ago

Quick Clarification on Pure Comments

A couple of people have reached out to me asking if I can offer a version of Pure Comments for their site, as they don't run Pure Blog . I obviously didn't make this clear in the announcement , or on the (now updated) Pure Comments site. Pure Comments can be used on ANY website. It's just an embed script, just like Disqus (only with no bloat or tracking). So you just have to upload the files to wherever you want to host Pure Comments, then add the following embed code wherever you want comments to display (replacing the example domain): You can use Pure Comments on WordPress, Bear Blog, Jekyll, 11ty, Hugo, Micro.blog, Kirby, Grav, and even Pure Blog! Anywhere you can inject the little snippet of code above, Pure Comments will work. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 4 days ago

Introducing Pure Comments (and Pure Commons)

A few weeks ago I introduced Pure Blog a simple PHP based blogging platform that I've since moved to and I'm very happy. Once Pure Blog was done, I shifted my focus to start improving my commenting system . I ended that post by saying: At this point it's battle tested and working great. However, there's still some rough edges in the code, and security could definitely be improved. So over the next few weeks I'll be doing that, at which point I'll probably release it to the public so you too can have comments on your blog, if you want them. I've now finished that work and I'm ready to release Pure Comments to the world. 🎉 I'm really happy with how Pure Comments has turned out; it slots in perfectly with Pure Blog, which got me thinking about creating a broader suite of apps under the Pure umbrella. I've had Simple.css since 2022, and now I've added Pure Blog and Pure Comments to the fold. So I decided I needed an umbrella to house these disparate projects. That's where Pure Commons comes in. My vision for Pure Commons is to build it into a suite of simple, privacy focussed tools that are easy to self-host, and have just what you need and no more. Well, concurrent to working on Pure Comments, I've also started building a fully managed version that people will be able to use for a small monthly fee. That's about 60% done at this point, so I should be releasing that over the next few weeks. In the future I plan to add a managed version of Pure Blog too, but that will be far more complex than a managed version of Pure Comments. So I think that will take some time. I'm also looking at creating Pure Guestbook , which will obviously be a simple, self-hosted guestbook along the same vein as the other Pure apps. This should be relatively simple to build, as a guestbook is basically a simplified commenting system, so most of the code is already exists in Pure Comments. Looking beyond Pure Guestbook I have some other ideas, but you will have to wait and see... In the meantime, please take a look as Pure Comments - download the source code , take it for a spin, and provide any feedback/bugs you find. If you have any ideas for apps I could add to the Pure Commons family, please get in touch. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 1 weeks ago

I Still Haven’t Found a New Browser, and That’s Ok

Back in December I wrote about whether Firefox is firefucked , and I ended that post by saying the following: Firefox won't be changing to a modern AI browser any time soon, so there's no rush for me to jump right now. So I'm planning to continue testing alternatives and just hope that the Mozilla leadership team have a course correction. But if the last few years have taught me anything, it's that a course correction is unlikely to happen. Since then I've continued to try other browsers, but nothing has stuck. I've tried Vivaldi, Brave, Waterfox, Gnome Web, Zen, and goodness knows what else. But all have been lacking in some way compared to Firefox. Of all the browsers I've tried, Vivaldi comes the closest, but there are some frustrations I'd prefer not to deal with: I do really like their business model though, and I do feel like they're the good guys in the browser wars. So I continue to have Vivaldi installed on all my devices, and I threw them a £50 donation too - as it's important to support these kind of projects, I think. Anyway, back to Firefox... A couple weeks ago they announced that their AI killswitch will be coming in version 148, which is great to hear as it means I no longer have to try and find an alternative browser. Credit: Mozilla If the killswitch is as straightforward as it's shown in the image above, I'll be a very happy camper indeed. For the record, I don't hate AI and LLMs. Far from it, in fact, I think they have a lot of utility. I just don't want them embedded into my browser. The Google cash cow still really concerns me - Firefox is effectively being propped up by one of their main competitors, but it's been that way for so long now, I'm not sure it will change. Especially since Google is no longer required to sell Chrome . If it was to happen, and the arse immediately fell out of Mozilla's funding model, then I'd probably just switch to Vivaldi and learn to live with the frustrations I have with it. For now though, I hope to remain a happy Firefox user for another 20 years. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment . The little "tabs" down-arrow next to the window controls isn't aligned. The top/bottom margin of tabs isn't aligned correctly. Won't switch to dark theme when I select "Dark Style" in Gnome. Two-finger swiping to go back/forward doesn't work. There's too many options, it's a little overwhelming. It tries to do too much - I don't need a mail and RSS client in my browser.

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Kev Quirk 1 weeks ago

Kids and Smartphones

My oldest son is 11. He'll be starting high school in September, and my wife and I want a way of keeping in touch with him as he'll be making his own way to school. The default here would be to get him a phone, but like most 11-year-old boys, he's an idiot and we don't trust him with one. So, as a test we've lent him an old phone of mine to see if he can be trusted with one under some limitations: And it turns out, dear reader, that rule #1 was the most important rule we could have set. He's the last of his friendship group to get a phone, so they all have WhatsApp groups with one another. The problem is those other kids are never off their phones, and my son having these kinds of rules in place makes him weird. But I don't care. He regularly has missed calls on his phone from midnight from his classmates. These aren't just calls to him either. They're group calls to the entire class. Like, what the fuck are these parents doing letting their kids have phones in their bedrooms and giving them free rein? It beggars belief and confirms every concern I had about giving him a phone. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we need a smartphone for young people . Lucky for us he's generally a good little sausage, and so far there's been no need for us to take his phone, reprimand him, or correct his behaviour, which I'm very proud of. I just hope it sticks. It's only been a week... The phone never leaves the kitchen. He only gets an hour of screen time a day between 09:00 and 19:00. Mum and I can vet everything he's been doing on it.

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Kev Quirk 2 weeks ago

Step Aside, Phone: Week 1

OK, so here we are at the end of the first week of Step Aside, Phone . Quick re-cap from last week - my average phone and tablet usage combined was approximately 4 hours per day (2.5hrs on phone, and 1.5hr on tablet). That's high! Hopefully this week was better? This one is easy - my screen time on my tablet has been zero, as I turned it off last week, and haven't turned it back on again. Instead I've been either reading RSS feeds quickly on my phone before bed, or reading a book on my Kindle. It took me a couple days to get back into reading a book; I haven't done it for a while and as a result my mind kept wandering. I'm back in the swing of things now though and I'm enjoying the book I'm currently reading. Honestly, I haven't missed my tablet at all. I'm not sure if that thing will get turned back on. So the phone...that's also reduced for the most part, but I have had a couple days with heavier usage. Here's how the breakdown went: Ok, so from 2.5hr average to 1:19hr average. I'll take that. My usage was up for a few days between Wed-Fri as I was shopping for stuff Amazon, as well as browsing for a new car for my wife. The only day where I really wasted time was on Thursday where I spent some time on YouTube during my son's swimming lesson (that's the only time I went on YT all week), and on Friday where I spent 16 mins playing on my silly game. Overall I think it's been a pretty good week, and I hope the next 3 weeks continue to improve. Although, not quite as good as Manu this week ! Mon - 48 mins Tue - 61 mins Wed - 55 mins Thur - 2hrs 13mins Fri - 1hr 42mins Sat - 2hrs 01min Sun - 30 mins Average - 1hr 19mins

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Kev Quirk 2 weeks ago

I Didn't Fail

A good friend of mine at work was recently promoted to the same level as I was before I stepped down . I'm happy for him, as he's a good friend and it's nice to see people achieve their goals. However, a day or so after he told me the news, I found myself feeling jealous. After taking some time to think through my feelings, I think it's all ego. You see, he will now be one of only 2 people in our department at that level. He will also get his own office (my old office, actually), and likely an assistant too. But he will also get the kudos of being the chief . Some days I miss being the chief . I was a global executive at one of the biggest banks on the planet before I was 40. I think that’s impressive, and I was proud of that. I felt validated, like I was winning. I felt like I'd proven something to myself, that the scruffy kid from the council estate with no degree could succeed. No, further. That kid had won . But what did being the chief give me? Well, it gave me long days, late nights, lots of travel, and huge amounts of stress. I knew that before I went into the role. These are very difficult roles to be successful in, and they're not for everyone. Shit, they're not for most people. It wasn't for me. So I stepped down, and there are times when I feel like I've walked away from something important. Like I've diminished myself. Like I've failed . Now it’s my friend’s turn to step up. To be the chief . If I’m honest with myself, he’ll probably be better at that level than I ever was. And that made me jealous. I wrote the following in my journal: Since finding out that [person's name] is taking the new exec position, I've honestly been a little jealous. Mainly because of my ego; that he's gonna be chief, and I'm not any more. But then today I had a really productive day. You know, the kinda day where you get a lot of shit done and you just feel good at end of it. Busy, but not overwhelmed. I'm happy . I don't need to be the chief . What I need is to be happy. I've worked through that pang of jealousy I had for my mate's new role; I'm genuinely happy for him and I'll do my best to support him in any way I can. As for me, I stepped down to have less stress. To spend more time with my wife and kids. To go back to doing a job I know I'm good at. To be happy . And even though I'm no longer the chief , I now have all those things. I didn't fail. I stepped down because I didn’t want what the role required. And occasionally, my ego forgets that.

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Kev Quirk 2 weeks ago

Updates to My Commenting System

I've been making some updates to my personal commenting system . Before they looked like this: It was just a simple table that contained every comment, both original and replies, in one table. As more people commented, it got a little unwieldy and confusing, so I've changed the layout to that it's all nested comment threads now: I've been using it for around 6 months and have received well over a hundred comments, plus moving it from Jekyll to Pure Blog was extremely simple - just some CSS changes, actually. At this point it's battle tested and working great. However, there's still some rough edges in the code, and security could definitely be improved. So over the next few weeks I'll be doing that, at which point I'll probably release it to the public so you too can have comments on your blog, if you want them.

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Kev Quirk 2 weeks ago

The Internet is a Hamster Wheel

I was listening to a recent episode of The Rest is Science (fantastic Podcast, by the way - go listen), and in this particular episode Michael and Hannah were discussing boredom. At one point in the episode, Michael mentions an experiment where Dutch scientists put a hamster wheel out in the wild. The theory goes that we humans put a wheel in the hamster cage to provide the little guy with some stimulation, as they can't go running around the woods any more. But the experiment had some interesting findings: Not only did the wild mice play with the wheel, but frogs, rats, shrews, and even slugs also interacted with it—suggesting that running on wheels might fulfill an innate desire to play rather than being just a captive behavior. -- ZME Science It seems that mammals have this innate desire to constantly stimulate their mind. Ipso facto, Michael states that "the internet is a hamster wheel" . With a smartphone in your pocket, and services like YouTube Shorts , it's almost impossible to be bored in this day and age. I wholeheartedly agree with Michael on this, and it's a term I intend to steal. I'm trying to be better with my smartphone usage at the moment, so will be able to step off the hamster wheel... hopefully . So far so good, but it's only been a couple of days. Do you see the Internet as a hamster wheel?

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Kev Quirk 2 weeks ago

A Random List of Silly Things I Hate

Apparently this is a thing now , so I'm gonna join in. 🙃 Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment . Rude people. Late people. People who don't like dogs. What's that all about?? The sight of blood. I'll faint. Immediately. Like Manu, blogs that don't have a simple way to contact the author. The hold that mobile phones have on our society. Over-population. Large cities.

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Kev Quirk 3 weeks ago

Step Aside, Phone!

I read this post on Manu's blog and it immediately resonated. I've been spending more time than I'd like to admit staring at my phone recently, and most of that consists of a stupid game, or YouTube shorts. If you also want to cut down on some of your phone usage, feel free to join in; I’ll be happy to include links to your posts. As a benchmark, my screen time this week averaged around 2.5 hours per day on my phone and 1.5 hours per day on my tablet. That's bloody embarrassing - 28 hours in one week sat staring at (mostly) pointless shite on a fucking screen. I think my phone usage is more harmful as it's stupid stuff, whereas my tablet is more reading posts in my RSS reader, and "proper" YouTube (whatever that is). I think reducing both and picking up my Kindle more - or just being bored - will be far more healthy though. So count me in, Manu. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 3 weeks ago

I've Moved to Pure Blog!

In my last post I introduced Pure Blog and ended the post by saying: I'm going to take a little break from coding for a few days, then come back and start migrating this site over to Pure Blog. Dogfoodin' yo! Yeah, I didn't take a break. Instead I've pretty much spent my entire weekend at the computer migrating this site from Jekyll to Pure Blog, and trying to make sure everything works ok. Along the way there were features that I wanted to add into Pure Blog to make my live easier, which I've now done, these include: As well as all this, I've also changed the way Pure Blog is formatted so that it's easier for people to update their Pure Blog version. While I was there, I also added a simple little update page in settings so people can see if they're running the latest version or not: Finally, I decided to give the site a new lick of paint. Which was by far the easiest part of this whole thing - just some custom CSS in the CMS and I ended up with this nice (albeit brutal) new design. The way I've architected Pure Blog should allow me to very easily change the design going forward, which is just fantastic for a perpetual fiddler, such as myself. OK, that's enough for one weekend. I hope publishing this post doesn't bring any other issues to the surface, but we shall see. Now I really am going to take a break from coding. This has been so much fun, and I continue to learn a lot. For now though, my brain needs a rest. Oh, if you're using Pure Blog, please do let me know - I'd love to hear your feedback. The reply button below should be working fine. 🙃 Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment . Hooks so I can automatically purge Bunny CDN cache when posts are published/updated. Implementing data files so I can generate things like my Blogroll and Projects pages from YML lists. Adding shortcodes so I can have a site wide email setting and things like my Reply by email button works at the bottom of every post. Post layout partial so I can add custom content below my posts without moving away from Pure Blog's upstream code.

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Kev Quirk 4 weeks ago

Will They Inherit Our Blogs?

I've been thinking about how this site may be able to live on after I'm gone. Maybe it could become a family heirloom? I’ve thought about this topic more generally before , but this one is specifically about blogging. This blog is by far the hobby I have sunk the most time into over the last 13-ish years, and I’d like to think I’ll continue as I head from middle age, to old age. Let’s say I live until I’m 80, I will have spent over 50 years of my time on this earth writing content here at . I don’t want all the hard work to disappear in a puff of smoke once I snuff it, so I’ve been thinking. Could this blog become a family heirloom? . Could I pass this site on to one (or both) of my sons and have them continue to write here? They wouldn’t even need to continue to use . They could write on their own domain(s), and just redirect this one. I like to think that many of the other long-time bloggers out there might want the same. Maybe one day it’ll be normal to leave our blogs to our kids? I do think it’s something we should consider. I’m part of the first generation that grew up online, and most of us are still very much alive. But as time marches on, more of us are going to leave behind these digital epitaphs. I’d love it if my sons took up blogging when they’re old enough to (that, and riding motorbikes!). But they’re their own people, and may not want to. If that’s the case, I just hope they’ll agree to keep my waffle online for a little while once I’m gone. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

When Was I Happiest?

My wife recently asked me at what point in my life was I the happiest. The answer surprised her. First, a little context. I’m currently in my early 40s. I’m married with 2 kids, many pets, and lots of other responsibilities. According to this site I am in the top 1% of earners in the UK (that’s not a flex - the relevance will become apparent later). So 2 lovely kids, lots of animals, a beautiful home in the countryside, nice cars on the drive, and 2 motorbikes in an incredible garage . I should be the happiest I’ve ever been, right? The happiest I’ve ever been was when I was in my mid 30’s, when it was just me, my wife, and 1 dog (who’s now getting very old and it breaks my heart). Back then I was earning around £100,000 less than I earn today. We lived in a much smaller house. We had older cars that needed regular repairs and maintenance. Generally speaking money was tighter, we had 1 pet, no kids. But life was simpler then. I worked in a role I enjoyed and was good at, with far less stress (I’ve recently taken steps to get some of that balance back). We would go for long walks with the dog at weekends, then cuddle up on the sofa in the evening to watch a film with a glass of wine. I had time to exercise, to visit friends, to just do what I wanted. This was when I was at my happiest, and it really shocked my wife. So you regret having the kids and you’re now unhappy? That was her response, and she was so wrong. The misunderstanding here is that happiness is binary. You’re either happy , or unhappy . But that’s simply not true. I’m happy now, but I was happier then. How could I be unhappy now? Sure I have a stressful job, far less free time, and a dog that I love dearly that only has a couple years left if we’re very lucky. But I also have 2 wonderful kids, a beautiful and supportive wife, and many other animals that I also love. We also have money in the bank, which lets us do nice things without worrying. We have security. The rare times when my wife and I do get to curl up on the sofa with the dogs and a glass of wine mean far more to us these days, as they’re so rare. But the simplicity of my life a decade ago made me so much happier. I don’t wish I’d stayed there, though. Life moves on. We mature, we progress, we change. And I’m happy those things have happened to me, and continue to happen to me. My hope now is that my kids will grow up and start their own lives. My wife and I will pay off the mortgage on our house and (hopefully) retire in our mid-late 50s. At which point life will become simpler again and we can enjoy each other’s company for many more years. And as we grow old together, we can look back on a life that was well-lived, and happy. That’s enough for me. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

Use the Bloody Shift Key!

I'm seeing a growing number of personal blogs that don't use upper case letters and for some reason it really irks me. One of my favourite ways to discover new and interesting personal blogs is on the Bear Blog discovery feed but there’s a trend I’ve noticed recently where a number of sites on Bear simply don’t use uppercase letters. Like, at all. Now, I’m no grammar gremlin - goodness knows that my own grammar is far from perfect, and I have absolutely no problem if there’s an errant comma here and there in one’s writing. I could even forgive you if you were one of those lunatics that does types uppercase letter . At least you’re using uppercase. But to remove all uppercase letters with reckless abandon? Nope. Absolutely not. The weird thing is, I don’t see this anywhere else. It’s literally just on the Bear Blog Discovery feed. I have a lifetime account on Bear Blog, so I know that Herman doesn’t require his members to hand in their key when they sign up. So what’s it all about? Does anyone know? The irony is that pretty much all of the posts I see do contain other punctuation. It’s just the humble uppercase letter that has had the chop. I’m not going to link to specific blogs/posts here, but if you go check out the Bear Blog discovery feed you will likely see a handful of posts with no uppercase letters; a pattern which often infects the entire post, unfortunately. As I write this, 6 of the 20 posts on the front page of Discover are lowercase. Personally, I can’t abide it. When I come across one of these posts, even if the title sounds genuinely interesting, I just can’t bring myself to read the content. Instead, I end up focusing on the obvious lack of uppercase letters. I know I’m missing out on interesting posts because of this, and that makes me sad. Please, for the love of all that’s UPPERCASE and holy, stop doing it. ❤ Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

Linux in the Air

Sal talks about how Linux is going through somewhat of a revival at the moment, as well as some of his own thoughts on the whole Mac vs Windows vs Linux debacle. Read Post → I think a lot of this Linux revival is thanks to a perfect storm going on in the OS space, namely: I’ve been back on Linux (specifically Ubuntu) since I bought my Framework 13 , and I’ve been very happy. The only issues I’ve really had are with some apps being blurry under Wayland, but I’ve been able to easily work around these issues. Sal has had some similar problems with Wayland, but has also managed to work around them. My son also runs Linux on his iMac , and I’m about to replace Windows 10 on my wife’s X1 Carbon with Ubuntu too. So we’re going to be a Linux household very soon. And you know what? It’s fine. My son doesn’t know (or care) that he’s running Linux. My wife will be in the same boat - as long as she can check her emails, browse the web, and manage our finances in a spreadsheet, she’s good. Linux based operating systems are great, and I’m thrilled they’re going through this revival. If you’re thinking about switching, I’d implore you to do so - remember you can always try before you “buy” with a live USB. So there’s no commitment required. If you do switch, please remember to donate to your distro of choice. ❤ Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment . Microsoft forcing many users to buy new hardware because of arbitrary hardware requirements, as well as forcing users to have an online accounts. Apple completely screwing up MacOS Tahoe with their Liquid Glass update.

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

The Case for Blogging in the Ruins

Joan makes the case that the modern web, dominated by platforms and algorithms, has stripped away depth, ownership, and genuine thought. Blogging, she argues, is a quiet act of resistance that lets us think clearly, write freely, and leave something real behind. Read Post → I’m not sure where I first heard about Joan and her superb writing, but I’ve been following her for around a year or so now, I think. Anyway, I was catching up on my RSS feeds and came across this post from a few days ago. It’s fantastic, as it most of what Joan puts out. Start a blog. Start one because the practice of writing at length, for an audience you respect, about things that matter to you, is itself valuable. Start one because owning your own platform is a form of independence that becomes more important as centralized platforms become less trustworthy. Start one because the format shapes the thought, and this format is good for thinking. I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

How You Read My Content (The Answers)

Two days ago I published a simple survey asking how you read the content I put out on this site. Here's the results of that survey. Originally I was going to leave the survey running for at least a week, but after less than 48 hours, I received an email from Zoho telling me I’d hit the monthly response limit of 500 responses. If I wanted more responses, I’d have to pay. Nah. 500 responses is enough to give me a good indication on how people consume my content, so I was good with that. Also, 500 responses in less than 48 hours is bloody brilliant. Assuming only a small proportion of readers actually responded (as that’s usually the case with these things) that means there’s a healthy number of you reading my waffle, so thank you! The survey simply asked “how do you read the content I put out on this site?” and there were a handful of options for responses: If someone selected the last option, a text field would appear asking for more info. There were a few people who used this option, but all were covered by the other options. People just wanted to add some nuance, or leave a nice message. ❤ So I updated all the something else responses to be one of the other 4 options, and here’s the results: A highly accurate pie chart Well, quite a lot, actually. It tells me that there’s loads of you fine people reading the content on this site, which is very heart-warming. It also tells me that RSS is by far the main way people consume my content. Which is also fantastic, as I think RSS is very important and should always be a first class citizen when it comes to delivering content to people. I was surprised at how small the number was for Mastodon, too. I have a fair number of followers over there (around 13,000 according to Fosstodon) so I was expecting that number to be a bigger slice of the pie. Clearly people follow me there more for the hot takes than my waffle. 🙃 This was a fun little experiment, even if it did end more quickly than I would have liked. Thanks to all ~500 of you who responded, really appreciate it. See, you don’t need analytics to get an idea of who’s reading your stuff and how. Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment . Mastodon / Fediverse Occasionally visit the site Something else

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

I've Pre-Ordered the Clicks Communicator

I've yearned for a Blackberry form-factor for years, and now Clicks have made that wish come true. I had to pre-order one! If you don’t know what the Clicks Communicator is, this 12 minute video should help: BlackBerry’s design will always have a special place in my heart. I much prefer a physical keyboard over a touchscreen, and I’ve said many times that smartphones are far too big these days. The Clicks Communicator is smaller and it has a proper QWERTY keyboard. It is all very BlackBerry, and I love that. The team have also teamed up with the Niagara Launcher developer to deliver a more focused UI. That was yet more good news for me, as I already use Niagara Launcher on my Pixel 9a. It felt like a match made in heaven, so I pre-ordered one immediately. In all honesty, I do not understand why Clicks are marketing the Communicator as a companion device. I assume they are positioning it as a slimmed down alternative for people who still want a flagship phone, but that framing feels odd. It will be running full fat Android 16, and their FAQ confirms (in the very first question, no less) that the Communicator can be used as a primary device. That is exactly how I intend to use it. The companion device messaging is confusing. At first, I assumed it was something closer to the Light Phone , but it is not that at all. It’s a normal phone. I am not a marketer, so perhaps there is a strategy here that I am missing, I just hope it does not hurt their sales. Either way, I am genuinely looking forward to receiving my Clicks Communicator later this year. I will, of course, write about it once it arrives. Has this cool new phone piqued anyone else’s interest? Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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Kev Quirk 1 months ago

How Do You Read My Content?

I'm trying to get an idea on how people consume the waffle I put out, it should only take 5 seconds to respond, and I'd be very grateful. It’s well publicised that I don’t run any kind of analytics on this site . For me, engagement is far more important. But I’m trying to better understand how you fine people consume the waffle I spit out into the world. The only reason I want to do this is that I think it will be interesting to know. I could temporarily add tracking to the site, but that feels icky to me; I’d rather have something that’s opt in. So I’ve created a really simple form that you can fill in. It only has 1 question, so should take no more than a few seconds to complete. If you’re a regular reader, I’d be very grateful if you could take a few seconds out of your day to cast a vote please. The form is embedded below, but it may not embed properly in some places (like on the RSS feed), so just in case here’s a direct link to the form too . Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is great, and you're great for using it. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email , or leave a comment .

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