Posted on by Jon

Herding Code 149 – What I Did With My Summer Vacation

The guys check in after a summer hiatus with a discussion covering travel, books, e-book readers, two factor authentication, Windows 8, OSX Mountain Lion, and hover cranes.

Download / Listen:

Herding Code 149 – What I Did With My Summer Vacation [audio://herdingcode.com/wp-content/uploads/HerdingCode-0149-What-I-did-with-my-summer-vacation.mp3]

Show Notes:

  • Travel
    • Jon asks starts by asking where everyone’s been travelling to over the summer.
    • K. Scott’s basically a European at this point.
    • Jon went to Oslo, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Redmond, and rural New Jersey, and Kevin survived a road trip with kids thanks to iPads. Jon really liked Buenos Aires. He talks about his Web Camps presentations in South America, including a Windows Azure Web Sites talk where he builds and deploys a classic ASP app via FTP, ASP.NET / SignalR app via Visual Studio Web Deploy, a Node.js app via git publish, and a WordPress site via WebMatrix deploy in one hour. He’s amazed by how translators can listen to obscure technical jargon and speak in another language at the same time, including prompts about when the audience should politely laugh at a failed joke.
    • Kevin survived a road trip with kids thanks to iPads.
  • e-book reading devices
    • Scott K has been running the CyanogenMod Android ROM on his Nook Color.
    • There’s some discussion on the benefit of a 7" form factor device and rumors about a 7-ish iDevice on the way.
    • Jon and Kevin love their Kindles, and Scott K talks about what he likes about the Nook Color.
    • Scott K mentions O’Reilly’s Bookworm site, which was sadly closed down as of March 31.
    • Jon has stayed with the Kindle eInk devices for the read aloud support, which is sadly missing on all the other top ebook devices. Kevin like the long battery life.
  • Book Reports
  • Geek Travel Tips
    • Jon and K. Scott use a checklist to make sure they don’t forget important things like chargers and adapters.
    • K. Scott doesn’t assume anything and keeps a small bit of foreign cash handy.
    • Jon and K. Scott both really like TripIt.
    • Jon talks about how he handled a cancelled flight to Buenos Aires by calling in (rather than waiting in line) and being nice.
    • Jon and K. Scott both avoid checking bags when possible.
  • Two factor authentication.
    • Jon tells the story about how Mat Honan’s account was hacked.
    • The guys talk about how Google Two Factor Auth works for them.
    • Jon saw an interesting tip: use a separate e-mail account for password recovery.
    • Everyone complains about two factor auth’s usability and hopes it gets easier.
  • K. Scott talks about how Internet Explorer 10 will have Do Not Track on by default. The guys talk about their thoughts on targeted ads and tracking: a little is good, too much gets creepy.
  • Jon’s using Windows 8 RTM.
    • The guys discuss the user interface and discoverability. Scott K worries that nobody will be able to shut their computers off.
    • Jon likes the fast install and lock screen. Scott K talks about problems with face recognition login, but it looks like that was removed before RTM.
  • OSX Mountain Lion
    • Jon asks what the guys think about the change OSX so that Save As also saves over the original file. Kevin talks about some of the things he like in Mountain Lion.
    • Jon and Kevin discuss the different ways the Windows and Mac communities react to changes.
    • Jon asks about AirPlay and complains that it’s difficult to stream audio from one device to another.
    • Kevin talks about the notification system.
    • Jon asks about updates to connectors.
  • Gold Medal or Martian Hover Crane?

Show Links:

CategoriesUncategorized