Twelve months ago - in January 2021 - I started my attempt at the #100DaysToOffload challenge. I had set myself a new yearâs resolution to try to write more and, around the same time, I noticed the ha... (7 minute read)
đ This is post 100 in my attempt at the #100DaysToOffload challenge! For a couple of years I have been writing mobile apps using the Flutter framework, having previously been a React Native advocate. ... (6 minute read)
For as long as Iâve been using Matrix Iâve hosted my own homeserver on my own VPS and at my own domain. Why I chose to move I previously wrote about how I self-host my homeserver with the ... (4 minute read)
Some people may remember my quest a few months back to find a good alternative to Google Photos for image storage and backup. At the time, I talked about Piwigo, Mega and pCloud as potential candidate... (7 minute read)
Dean Burnettâs The Idiot Brain is an interesting insight into why people think the way they do, personality, emotion, and the biology of the brain. The author (who happens to live in the same ci... (1 minute read)
Most applications include some sort of outbound transactional email as part of their normal function. These email messages could be to support account-level features (such as password-resets) or to no... (6 minute read)
I maintain a small number of projects in my spare time. The amount of time I get to work on and maintain these varies depending on my other workloads. The projects were never designed to be a means of... (1 minute read)
A while ago I posted about how I back-up my personal servers to Backblaze B2. That approach involved adding all of the files and directories into a single compressed archive and sending this up to an ... (5 minute read)
From the hills of Duskâs End to the small alleys of Main Street, you feel drawn to the lights of this vibrant metropolis in an uncharted internet territory. The sign reads âNightfall&rdquo... (2 minute read)
Iâve really enjoyed my recent discovery of a couple of traditional-style webzines. Webzines (sometimes referred to as online magazines, or - in this instance - simply âzinesâ) are a ... (1 minute read)
I feel that this book really resonated with my own thoughts around the importance of diversity in groups and teams. Matthew Syedâs Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking is a book that exami... (2 minute read)
Iâve recently been reminiscing about the âoldâ days of the web. They felt much more like expressions of personality and creativity. These days, most people have social media accounts... (2 minute read)
Iâve recently posted about our home, in which weâve completed a few DIY projects, such as renovating the garden and building a small loft conversion (amongst other things!). Today Iâ... (5 minute read)
If you run a service that accepts file uploads from users, and then subsequent re-download by other users (such as images), then your service is potentially at risk of becoming a system for distributi... (5 minute read)
On Sunday I slipped and fell in the pouring rain. I landed hard on my side and ended up dislocating my shoulder. I didnât really want to try risking it and putting it back in myself (sensibly, a... (1 minute read)
Itâs been a weird 18 months. Before pandemic-initiated changes, our daily lives might have involved getting up and travelling on some form of commute (either by walking, public transport, car, o... (5 minute read)
Background Iâve recently noticed (and read) more and more posts discussing *BSD systems. Creations like the new (and excellent) OpenBSD Webzine and blogs (such as Rubenerdâs and Solene&rsq... (5 minute read)
Following on from my previous post about renovating our garden, I wanted to write an entry about another project weâve recently completed. Our home is a Victorian townhouse over three storeys, b... (3 minute read)
I often enjoy books that try to take a different view on known events. I donât mean consipiracy theory - more around thinking laterally or âout of the boxâ. Such ways of thinking oft... (2 minute read)
Another podcast I frequently listen to likely needs no introduction of its own. The This Week in Tech (or just âTWiTâ) networkâs flagship podcast - also called TWiT - must be one of ... (1 minute read)
Last week I gave a talk at the Bitcoin Association BSV Meet-up for Wales, hosted by Tramshed Tech in Cardiff. Before learning about this meetup, I had not heard of BSV - either from a technology or cu... (1 minute read)
A few years ago I was in the position of needing a solution to backup and sync dotfiles (configuration files for various pieces of software) across my machines. Specifically, I had Mac computers and L... (2 minute read)
Having recently read The Secret Barrister, which I loved, I was recommended to also check out This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. The book is similar to the Secret Barrister in that itâs a collec... (2 minute read)
Itâs been a few weeks since my last post about the Pinephone. Since then I have been playing further with a different graphical shell and have been trying out new applications. In that previous ... (3 minute read)
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How Itâs Broken is an oustanding book. In my opinion it is easily the best book I have read in the past year - certainly the most interesting. The bo... (2 minute read)
English speakersâ privilege Iâve always been crap at learning languages. From an early age my parents would encourage me to learn French, and I picked up Spanish and German at around the G... (4 minute read)
For many developers, the notion of adding accessibility features - such as image alt text attributes to web page images and integrations with host usability enhancements, such as screen-zoom and text-... (3 minute read)
I was performing a standard system upgrade on an Arch server this morning and received the following messages (maintainer details redacted): $ sudo pacman -Syyu ... # Download of packages (159/159) ch... (1 minute read)
I recently wrote about reviewing my Twitter usage, with the aim of discovering any constructive takeways I get from the platform that warrants me keeping it installed as an app on my phone. The up-sho... (2 minute read)
Having recently read Project Hail Mary - and rated it highly - Goodreads suggested I try Columbus Day by Craig Alanson. This is the first book in the Expeditionary Force series - one that I hadn&rsquo... (2 minute read)
The need for notifications I self-host several services on various servers - for both some professional and personal uses. I use automated backup scripts to periodically sync data to Backblaze (which ... (4 minute read)
TL,DR; Iâm starting a Twitter diary to log interesting findings, and to measure its value to me. Twitter is pretty much the last bastion of mainstream centralised social media that I use (aside ... (4 minute read)
Another project I try to maintain (when I can!) is SSO Tools. This is a simple web service that aims to help developers test their own servicesâ single sign-on (SSO) functionality. The motivatio... (1 minute read)
Another of my favourite podcasts is Darknet Diaries. Created and presented by the excellent Jack Rhysider, Darknet Diaries releases new episodes fornightly. Each episode contains a true story from the... (1 minute read)
The problem with image uploads Many services - including web and mobile apps - allow for their users to upload imagery. This could be to enable users to upload an avatar image or perhaps create a gall... (6 minute read)
Adding theming and the choice between âlightâ and âdarkâ modes to your website can enhance your siteâs accessibility and make it feel more consistent with the host operat... (8 minute read)
For several years Iâve been a user of Goodreads. Itâs a very popular platform, and I primarily use it for keeping track of the books Iâve read, for receiving suggestions about new bo... (2 minute read)
About 18 months ago we bought a new home. The house is an 1880s (ish) Victorian building, and many of its original features - such as tile floors, cornice, and fireplaces - had been retained, which is... (3 minute read)
I donât tend to talk much about the projects Iâm working on, but thought this would be a good opportunity to write a post about one such project - Treadl. Treadl is a web app (and more rec... (2 minute read)
Back in April, I bought a Pinephone. I used the phone quite consistently for the first few weeks and I meant to write an update here a couple of months back, but work (and other things) got in the way... (4 minute read)
Some people have complex development processes and flows - making use of tools such as heavy editors and IDEs, Docker for running and building locally in development, or even develop entirely remotely... (2 minute read)
About nine months ago - at the end of November last year - we adopted a dog. Although Iâve always grown up with and around dogs owned by parents and siblings, Iâve never been a huge &ldquo... (2 minute read)
Providing code snippets on your website or blog can be a great way to convey meaning for technical concepts. Using the HTML pre tag can help provide structure to your listings, in terms of spacing and... (2 minute read)
The Gemini protocol has gathered even more momentum in the few months since I last posted about it. Its popularity is largely driven by its privacy-focused and content-oriented design. It doesnâ... (2 minute read)
I listen to a number of podcasts each week. One of these is ATP (Accidental Tech Podcast). This is one of my favourite weekly podcasts. Itâs humurous and full of cutting-edge discussion from the... (1 minute read)
Many web apps have support for uploading video files. Whether itâs a media-focused platform (such as a video sharing service) or just offering users a chance to add vlogs to their profile - vide... (2 minute read)
Every now and again itâs nice to dive back into a young adult book. I recently read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The book is a sort of dark romantic/fantasy mashup. Itâs about a t... (2 minute read)
I enjoy reading my RSS feeds across my devices - whether itâs on my phone when out and about, my Mac in between bouts of work, or my iPad when in downtime. Being able to sync feeds across these ... (2 minute read)
Recently my colleague was talking to me about the concept of the â5AM Clubâ, as defined in the book by Robin Sharma. The âClubâ is focused around starting your day early, with ... (2 minute read)
The problem Image processing and resizing is a common task in many types of applications. This is made even more important by modern phones that take photos several megabytes in size. For example, if ... (4 minute read)
Andy Weir has become renowned over the past decade for his science fiction novels. The Martian (and its movie) was hugely enjoyable and successful. I wasnât so keen on Artemis, but still did enj... (2 minute read)
Loading indicators In user-facing software, loading indicators are extremely important to let your users know that something is happening. This is the same no matter whether your software is a CLI pro... (6 minute read)
Google and DuckDuckGo Itâs common knowledge that part of Googleâs business model is to use the data it knows about you, your searches, and browsing patterns in order to more effectively se... (3 minute read)
Wales Tech Week is an annual event held by Technology Connected. The 2021 event is running this week, aiming to bring technologists together from a wide range of businesses and organisations across Wa... (1 minute read)
Anxious People is a book about an attempted bank robbery in a Swedish town (not Stockholm!). It is written by Fredrik Backman. The story involves a would-be bank robber arriving unexpectedly at an ope... (2 minute read)
Living without workspaces IDEs and richly-featured text editors - such as VS Code and Sublime Text - support many great features. One of these is the notion of projects or workspaces. Such workspaces ... (5 minute read)
Recently Iâve noticed that some of the RSS feeds I subscribe to have become more and more restrictive. A post might contain just a title, or perhaps a short snippet or introductory paragraph, wi... (5 minute read)
Getting and âinstallingâ the nuc For his birthday a few years back, I bought my (now-)husband a beehive and a honeybee nucleus. Some might see this as a strange gift, especially given that... (14 minute read)
Just a quick post to say that I recently got married! By coincidence the event was three years to the day after our engagement. It was a lovely day - great weather and really nice to see those that co... (1 minute read)
Growing up and the âWarcraft yearsâ In my earlier years I was fairly into gaming. I was definitely only ever a âcasual gamerâ in the scheme of things today, but I would play at... (4 minute read)
The Classic Collection of H.G. Wells novels contains five well-known stories: The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau. De... (3 minute read)
Someone non-technical recently asked me the question, âwhat actually is a server?â. They knew it was just a type of computer that runs somewhere that can be accessible over the internet, b... (5 minute read)
For a couple of years now I have been using a self-hosted Nextcloud as a replacement for iCloud and Google Drive. I wonât go into the details as to why (especially given the additional upkeep an... (5 minute read)
The effects of working from home The UK went into its first proper COVID-induced lockdown back around March time last year. At this time, our company locked its office doors and we all began working f... (6 minute read)
In this post I will talk a little about how I handle my digital notes and to-do lists. In the spirit of my last post on data sovereignty, the focus will be on self-hosted approaches. To-do list manage... (5 minute read)
The term âdata sovereigntyâ is something we hear much more about these days. Increasingly Iâve also heard it being mentioned in different contexts. Weâve seen it more in the wo... (2 minute read)
I listen to a number of podcasts each week. One of these is Go Time. The Go Time podcast releases episodes every Thursday. Its format is mostly comprised of panel discussions and interviews with found... (2 minute read)
As you may know, I recently purchased the beta edition of the Pinephone. It arrived last week in the Pinephone Beta Edition box shown below. As mentioned in my previous post on the subject, I bought t... (3 minute read)
This is a bit of a vanity post, but back in December I was lucky enough to be included in the 2020 WalesOnline â35 Under 35â. This list aims to present the âbest young businessmen in... (1 minute read)
I was recently asked whether Steve Jobs was someone that inspired me. Itâs a difficult question, I find; heâs definitely an inspiring person in the sense of his work ethic, the products he... (2 minute read)
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes tells the story of a young English woman - Alice - who marries an American man and moves to a small town in Kentucky in the late 1930s. Not long after arriving in Kent... (2 minute read)
As is the case with many countries, all businesses in the UK must report the state of their financial accounts to the relevant inland revenue service at their year-end (in the UK, this is HMRC). This ... (4 minute read)
Back in November I started an Invisalign course to help straighten my teeth. Invisalign works like traditional braces, but is instead formed from transparent teeth âtraysâ that others can ... (4 minute read)
I donât use Facebook often. In fact, I only have an account currently because our company uses the âLogin with Facebookâ functionality in order to offer an additional single sign-on ... (2 minute read)
Like many people, I own and manage multiple email accounts - for example, some are for work, for home, or for specific projects. I used to be a strong user of solely web-based email clients (such as G... (7 minute read)
Simple and RESTful HTTP APIs The HTTP standard is an expressive system for network-based computer-computer interaction. Itâs a relatively old standard - it started life as HTTP/1.0 in 1996 and t... (6 minute read)
Pre-ordering the PinePhone Beta Earlier this week I ordered a PinePhone, which recently became available as a Beta Edition. Iâve been excitedly following the progress of the PinePhone for some t... (2 minute read)
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is a book set out in the Alaskan wild. It tells the story of a young family that move in order to live off-the-grid after the father returns from being a prisoner of ... (2 minute read)
Why use decentralised communication services Centralised communication services, such as Telegram, Signal, and Whatsapp, offer convenient means to chat to friends and family using your personal device... (7 minute read)
This post contains some of my thoughts on the book Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier. This book contains a number of stories about how some of the most well-known (and other less well-known) ... (2 minute read)
The last twenty years of internet evolution Although I was still somewhere between being of single-digit age and a young teen back in the â90s and early â00s, I still fondly remember disco... (5 minute read)
I recently finished reading The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. This genre of novel (sort of military thriller fiction) is not usual for me and this is the first Clancy book I have read. That bein... (2 minute read)
Minimising possessions Like many people I these days try and live a minimal life when it comes to possessions. Having more stuff means there is a greater level of responsibility required to look after... (6 minute read)
RSS has had a bit of a resurgence for personal websites and blogs in recent years, especially with the growing adoption of Small Web and IndieWeb ideologies. Many static site generators - including Hu... (7 minute read)
Pythonâs Flask framework is an easy and excellent tool for writing web applications. Its in-built features and ecosystem of supporting packages let you create extensible web APIs, handle data an... (8 minute read)
By now Iâm sure everyone has heard the horror stories about people (seemingly-) randomly losing access to their Google accounts. Often the account closures are reported to have been accompanied ... (8 minute read)
A few months ago I stumbled across this article: Beyond Cyberpunk: Towards a Solarpunk Future. It was posted on the excellent blog Tales from the Dork Web, by Steve Lord, which I can certainly recomme... (5 minute read)
This month marks a year from when I decided to (mostly - see below) stop answering my phone. This was not because I wanted to be antisocial (quite the opposite), but because itâs become the wron... (3 minute read)
Last week I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The book won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. âSetâ in Bedford, England, the story starts by introducing the main character ... (3 minute read)
For many small or personal services running on a VPS in the cloud, administration is often done by connecting directly to the server via SSH. Such servers should be hardened with firewalls, employ an ... (4 minute read)
Many people no longer feel comfortable using Facebook. Whether you were never a member to begin with or youâve had an account but chosen to remove yourself from the service, or youâve simp... (5 minute read)
Shapes and patterns can be leveraged in user interfaces to guide your users, draw attention to content, lend weight or emphasis, or just for aesthetics and decoration. Layout and styling on the web is... (2 minute read)
React state React state management is what gives the library its reactiveness. Itâs what makes it so easy to build performant data-driven applications that dynamically update based on the underl... (5 minute read)
Many people would consider RSS - Really Simple Syndication - to be a relic of the past. However I think it has been making a comeback. RSS is a mechanism by which people can automatically receive upda... (9 minute read)
A few months ago I discovered Blogging for Devs - I think through Product Hunt when it made it to #1 Product of the Day back in August last year. At the time blogging was something I had been thinking... (4 minute read)
If you need a database for your next project, why not first consider if SQLite might be a good option? And I donât mean just for getting an MVP off the ground or for small personal systems; I me... (3 minute read)
Recently I finished reading Dirty Little Secrets. This is the first book I have read by Jo Spain and the first time I have known of the author. The book first appears as though itâs a typical mu... (2 minute read)
If youâve visited my geminispace (gemini://g.wilw.dev) youâll have noticed that Iâve recently been on a mission to decentralise the every-day tools and services I use, and will under... (4 minute read)
I know that Iâve been a bit crap at updating my blog properly and consistently over the past few years. One of my new yearâs resolutions this year is to get into the habit of writing more,... (1 minute read)
Over the past few months I have been trying to use centralised âbig techâ social media platforms less and instead immerse myself into the more community-driven âfediverseâ of d... (3 minute read)
Building apps on serverless architecture has been a game-changer for me and for developers everywhere, enabling small dev teams to cheaply build and scale services from MVP through to enterprise deplo... (6 minute read)