I use gadgetbridge with my pinetime and it's solid. The fitness tracking is fairly basic, just heart rate monitoring, but I have hopes for more software being released along the sleep tracking side of things.
Yep, I'm always open to new opportunities, but to manage my own sanity and time, I keep my client list short and have a robust set of referrals if I'm already working on an incident. Almost all of the work I take is after hours and weekends as that's where my flexibility is.
I like the idea of working for a consulting firm as needed but it feels like most of those companies only want full-time commitments and I'm rather attached to my current position.
Cloud security reviews and audits, either by account/resource numbers which has a minimum of $500 for a single account with a reasonable number of resources or by the hour ($500) for which I have a 4 hour minimum. The small biz stuff is a breeze to audit and create reports on so I keep the lower rate available.
I also do insider threat specific IR work which is typically done on retainer and starts at $10k but averages the $15-20k mark per incident. That work is rare but time sensitive. Hours spent can be as little as 5-6 for initial triage but I usually spend about 12 in a single stretch on average with a few hours of debrief for the client. That work is exhaustive and exhausting but is rarely boring.
A few years ago I realized that my dyslexia in the form of dyscalculia wasn't isolated. I have some minor auditory dyslexia which wasn't a surprise as much as OH that's what's happening. I rely on lip reading for context clues to fill in the gaps where I didn't understand what was said, and subtitles on pretty much everything. I have also have excellent hearing but for whatever reason my brain likes to hear gibberish instead of words at the beginning of most people's sentences.
I was never diagnosed as a kid because my reading skills were above average and being forced to write each step out in math was a good thing for me. (I just can't hold numbers in my head and they will twist if I try to concentrate on them.) In the long run, it hasn't been an issue for for my career, I let the computers do math and have rigorous double check habits. It has proven an issue with interactions as it can be difficult to know when to respond to someone as I can't tell who they speaking to if I don't have line of sight. I know that can make me feel cold and like I'm ignoring them intentionally when I just don't want to be the person who just constantly goes 'what?' all the time and explaining it is a rather tedious thing when it's someone who is just a work colleague.
I'm one of those and have difficulties with most bitter drinks as well so the problem compounds as I have to have more sugar than most to drink coffee or nonherbal teas. I found that the sugar free off brand winco red bull doesn't trigger the same sour/bitter for me which is great. I still stick with water, milk, barley tea, and hot cocoa (I make my own mix) for the most part.
I'm making the switch to tidal and I'm really enjoying the high quality audio (I have the hardware to match). And it has Neil Young on there. There are some very, very obscure punk rock albums that aren't on there but I was honestly surprised that Spotify even had them so it's not a deal breaker. Their price tiers match Spotify's so for me it was a 'why didn't I do this ages ago' moment. The move wasn't for one specific reason but more a gathering of many small things that finally made me push through the inertia.
Edit to add that the phone app needs some polish. I've got a few really unusual errors and it's not as slick as the Spotify app. It works but I could easily see less technical users just dropping it because of them. But the web player and desktop apps have been great.
I was in gifted programs and honestly it was more to have a space where I was allowed to read and learn what I wanted. I actually learned from being in 'normal' classes and having parents who encouraged me to explain the lessons to my friends when they struggled. I learned how to teach in a way that was friendly and kind to my peers, and I understood the materials after at a deeper level too. I did tutoring and standardized test coaching in middle and high school which gave me both some extra cash and confidence in my knowledge.
Those skills I learned at a young age are in constant use. Absolutely invaluable.
This is what I have. It has zero 'smart' features and you can buy smaller sizes like 32". The TV has average audio but with the price, it is cheap enough to afford a decent sound bar if that is a sticking point. I haven't bothered with that myself and it's been just fine.
I work for an education focused nonprofit (medium sized 1000~) and while I still get frustrated at times, it's the 'this can be even better' VS the 'this is hell on earth' that I've dealt with at big corporations. Everyone is so dang nice which coupled with a savvy ceo and flexible work life has been ridiculously soothing to my previously burnt-out self. The unpleasant people that exist at all businesses are rare and are definite noted outliers. Even if people get upset or frustrated, it's always clear that it's about the situation or problem rather than lashing out at others. It is sweet relief to work with people that care about what they do and having the mission being a genuinely good thing.
There is a practical and people first culture exemplified by remote only if you choose, transparent pay ranges, great benefits, and a sense of we can be better than we were in most aspects of the biz.
We are in dire need of architect roles and have a variety of other dev, tech, and biz reqs posted.
Like any org, there is room for improvement but those improvements don't feel insurmountable. :)
That story reminds me of working in business support and getting a call from the on-site tech who was ordering a new modem for the customer. The equipment closet was on the outside of the building and the very sweet business owner was concerned about the modem getting too cold with the winter weather and had wrapped it in a blanket. The technician explained to her that the modem needed to be cold and she was very apologetic for overheating it. If my memory serves me right, the manager that day was so amused by the situation that he comped the visit and equipment replacement since the biz owner was educated on the issue. It was a good thing all around as the story was used as a way to explain to techs that a bit of kindness and education goes a long way to keep customers happy and their service healthy.
I use a method along the same lines. I have two 'triage' folders, one for internal emails and one for external. Everything else gets a folder and a matching rule once I get more than a few emails from the sender or it is evident that I want the emails to be identified and sorted. I use nested folders to group people and topics then a rule that pops a notice if an email is sent to me directly. It varies per org and per role but I end up with a structure that is excellent at me seeing and responding to my emails in a timely way. I make sure to have conversation view on and that provides cross visibility in the folders. I agree with you on the tasks and archive recommendations as there is even more integration with To Do and Planner in the MS ecosystem. It is important to try out different methods and figure out what works best for you. Personally, I like making the computer do the work and that's been effective even in the upper thousands of emails.
One of the only good memories from a particularly terrible job was them sending me a really nice flowering potted plant when my grandmother passed. It was extra thoughtful because it was low maintenance and hardy.
I'd say it's true for any nonstandard pdf form resume; I don't use latex to make mine but I've yet to find an application tool that actually pulled my information correctly. I keep a plain text version which I use for the upload portion then when I get to the attachments portion (typically trying to get a cover letter out of me) I remove the plain one and add my nice pdf version. Saves tons of headaches dealing with the various application software. If I think they'll be doing the processing after app submission, I'll send both versions. I've even had hiring managers flat out ask for plain text resumes too.
I have the Flagship ANC headset from Status Audio and it's absolutely amazing for the <$200 range. Great sound for listening to music and comfortable enough to listen for the full length of the battery life (35 hours). I have fallen asleep with them on many a time.
https://www.status.co/products/flagshipanc
For a wired cheap alternate, the closed back studio monitors are fantastic.
https://www.status.co/products/cb1
I've had most of their headphones/headsets over the years and while it's not Bose/Sennheiser in terms of super high end, they are well worth their price points and can hold up to long term use and abuse.
Just keep in mind since they aren't a name brand, some software needs convincing to have them sync properly. I have had no issues with a variety of OS but sometimes stuff like web-browser Zoom has a meltdown over it both being a headset and headphones. I don't have any issues with the full apps with sound/mic recognition, and there's a good chance those issues are due to the aggressive privacy settings I have on my browsers.
After reading something so well written, I am hesitant to comment. Confronting your personal shame is incredibly difficult to do let alone write eloquently about and post it publicly. This is the kind of story that makes me want to reach out even just to be friends; charisma through shared vulnerability is powerful.
I did some back end work and intense moderation for a large scale commenting/discussion site. I would like to chat with you about the spam /moderation 'con' you have listed in the documentation. I have a hefty set of semipolished ideas in that space that I would be happy to give to someone who can actually use them. I couldn't find a way to send you an email or message. If you are interested, feel free to reach out security at myusername .net.
I bought the ink plate from https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 to do the same type of project but have not got around to it yet. This is a good walk through for the display portion of the project. It would be a local status app slideshow instead of the web page. I am planning on getting a wall mount that allows me to easily charge and have it in a central location while still being able to take it off of the wall to do admin on the setup. I was originally leaning towards making it a quasi-dedicated ereader but between the boox note air and the remarkable tablets, the extra money to get writing functions is well worth it to me.
I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who does this. I also enable the find the cursor feature because with multiple monitors I tend to squint to hunt for it otherwise.
I attribute most of my inset practicality to reading and rereading the unabridged version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. From those stories I learned so much about humanity, even though they are 'lighter' versions of the tales the very real consequences in the endings had an outsized impact on how I treated the world around me. Also, the Hans stories are a great example of showing kids that sometimes it's just pure dumb luck that people succeed and that has no bearing on the inherent worth of the person. I still have the copy I read as a kid plus a beautiful hardcover edition. They are books I treasure and go back to in a similar way that I peruse my philosophy books.
Status Audio, I have about one of everything they've made so far.
https://www.status.co/pages/between-lp2
The page does have a subscribe option on the desktop page (I rarely check my email via computer these days).
But yes, there are a ton of artists that need to gauge interest and track notices out to their fans. They make a good amount of their money via merch versus ads. Webtoons handles their signed artists but there are a ton of the unsigned ones that rely on patron and etsy for income.
Is there a way to link through articles about the artist/product to the sign up or have an embedded option on a third party's page?
This would be great for prepping a fan base for a Kickstarter (or the like). I recently have had frustration with wanting a reminder for a product release on Kickstarter but all the company is doing is a single static page. Get your stuff together status audio. It won't stop me from checking for the drop regularly but I am an enthusiast about their products.
I'd think that this could be helpful for web comic artists for new merch drops and similar crowd fund campaigns. I know that it would be great from the fan's perspective at least.
For a tech company, I agree with you, but for the non-profit organization I currently work at, this is perfect. I'm not trying to get people to not click on mediocre to quality phishing right now. I need the baby mode of blaringly obvious so that I can pivot to HR and managers to address the underlying problem with the user(s).
This is highly useful for adhoc internal phishing campaigns! I know who is going to click on spear phishing links, anyone not paying 100% attention, but this helps in building internal phishing campaigns that mimick the mass produced ones. I can train my users to watch for this type of suspicious url.
I really appreciate this advice, and I plan to try this out tomorrow. I know that I have a tendency to speak quickly, and I have been including verbiage to indicate when I'm done talking to prevent people from interrupting. Just a simple "that's it" or asking a question at the end has been helpful for me.