(Here's what I'm up to around the web…)
Published by my web software company Whitefusion, INTERSECT features articles about supporting the open web, security & privacy, UI/UX, and Ruby programming.
A blog & resource site + YouTube vlog for independent workers. Here I teach people how to embrace the free agent lifestyle and flourish as creators.
My alter ego as a producer of synthwave, chillout, and thematic electronica. Yarred combines cutting-edge DJ-style live groove production with classic keyboard playing on analog and digital synthesizers.
(The latest from The Jared White Show…)
A man of rituals (but not the kind that involve funny hats and long robes), Jared in this episode talks about identifying and honoring daily routines that make us happy, how to create digital experiences that are ethical and respect users, minimalism, freedom from slavery, and the opposite of that—aka Jeff Sessions' un-Christian separation of children from their familes. Just another day on The Jared White Show!
Wells Fargo Center in #portland — also known as the global headquarters of EvilCorporateOverlords, Inc.
I’m afraid I’ve neglected posting much here in the past few days, but it was all for a good cause. After over a year of false starts and tinkering, I have finally launched a brand new website for my company Whitefusion. My “day job” is designing websites and building software for startups, non-profits, and forward-thinking organizations, and for quite a while I had been suffering from the “shoemaker’s children have no shoes” syndrome. Everyone else was getting shiny new work, and my own business was suffering. Well no longer! I’m extremely proud of how the site turned out, and I’m excited about what’s in store for this new chapter of Whitefusion. #website
Tears ‘R’ Us: The World’s Biggest Toy Store Didn’t Have to Die
Private equity firms Bain Capital LP and KKR & Co., along with Vornado Realty Trust, took over the company in a $7.5 billion leveraged buyout in 2005. For the next 13 years the owners would watch a succession of executives try to halt the steady slide of Toys “R” Us amid a recession and retail upheaval. As the last big toy store chain, Toys “R” Us had a captive audience. Kids could reasonably be counted on to badger, drag, or otherwise persuade adults to bring them to toy stores, especially if they were fun and hands-on. Those adults would more readily acquiesce if the stores were well organized and the toys competitively priced. There could have been an alternate ending for Toys “R” Us.
It's helpful to recognize my brain's just a little bit broken.
Sublime beauty at Lan Su Chinese Garden. An oasis in the midst of the city. #portland
Today’s the day! #Apple is kicking off their world-wide developer conference (WWDC), and along with everyone else I’ll be watching the keynote and digging into all the latest goodies that will set the tone for the next 12 months of Apple’s technology vision and software strategy. I plan to record an episode of The Jared White Show tonight to cover these announcements and more, and it will drop either tonight or first thing Tuesday morning. Exciting! 😃🙌
Merged! Microsoft's $7.5 Billion Pull Request for GitHub
The acquisition provides a way forward for San Francisco-based GitHub, which has been trying for nine months to find a new chief executive officer and has yet to make a profit from its popular service that allows coders to share and collaborate on their work. It also helps Microsoft, which is increasingly relying on open-source software, to add programming tools and tie up with a company that has become a key part of the way Microsoft writes its own software.
So many conflicting emotions! A lot of developers are shell shocked at this news, although there’s nothing really shocking about the announcement. Microsoft has gone through a huge cultural shift over the past decade, from a company with a famously antagonistic attitude towards open source software to a company that’s a leading contributor and supporter of open source. It makes a heck of a lot of sense for Microsoft to aquire the platform that powers modern code collaboration. And financially, it’s certainly a big win for GitHub. The problem here is that is been bad enough that so many open source repositories and development workflows have been built around a proprietary, commerical entity. Now that entity will be Microsoft. It’s not hard to speculate that a lot of open source software teams and proponents of free (aka libre) software principles will be seriously reconsidering the tools they’re using in light of this acquisition.
Random positive message of the day: you are the product of the 5^5 people surrounding you. So make sure you carefully choose 3,125 people you aspire to be like who want to be your closest friends. Their success becomes your success! #comedy
I managed to take a selfie with the big portrait lens on the back of my iPhone 7 Plus, and I think it actually turned out pretty well. 🤓
Moving twice in just a few years has given me a great deal of perspective on what kind of relationship I want to have with stuff. As Millburn & Nicodemus so rightly put it: “the true cost of a thing goes well beyond the price on the pricetag.” I applaud my wife for starting us on this journey towards getting rid of anything that doesn’t “spark joy” and add value to our lives—and the more we are intentional about keeping or buying only that which is truly essential, useful, and aesthetically pleasing, the more I feel an overwhelming sense of contented satisfaction. #minimalism
Facebook wants to become your internet service provider
Facebook and Qualcomm are working together to provide high-speed connectivity to urban areas. The goal is to provide multi-gigabytes per second speed at a lower cost. Terragraph will use Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to replace cable or fiber connections. Subscribers will have a home access point that then broadcasts Wi-Fi to a Mac, iPad, etc. “With Terragraph, our goal is to enable people living in urban areas to access high-quality connectivity that can help create new opportunities and strengthen communities,” Yael Maguire, vice president of connectivity, Facebook.
Facebook’s working on several significant internet connectivity solutions right now. Terragraph is their newest experiment. My simple take on these initiatives is this: as long as #Facebook ensures their ISP division only provides a “dumb pipe” that allows all internet traffic through without modification or prioritization, then I think their efforts are a good thing. But somehow I suspect what we’ll really get is internet that’s free because it’s subsidized by Facebook ad tech and prioritizes fast access to Facebook.
Eating lunch at the new food court at Pioneer Place (downtown mall in #portland) and so far the ambient music playing has featured Invisible Touch by Genesis, Stepping Out by Joe Jackson, and Under African Skies by Paul Simon. Ah, the sounds of my childhood…
What a cool walking bridge. Favorite new place for a jog in #Hillsboro (in the Orenco Woods Nature Park).
Excellent news! The Jared White Show, a new weekly podcast I’ve had in the works, is officially launching next week! If all goes well, the first episode will be out Monday, May 21st. I have a second related announcement to make, but you’ll have to wait until the episode drops to find out all about it. 😎🎙
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As a kid growing up in the 80s and early 90s, a family expedition to Toys “R” Us was like going to Disneyland. The store felt impossibly huge, the selection endless. Magic lurked around every corner. My dad had gotten us hooked on HO model trains, so every time we went on a trip there we returned with a new train car, or additional track, or a landscaping bundle. I have a whole collection of Matchbox & Hot Wheels cars, most of which I got from Toys “R” Us.
Fast forward to my now life as an adult and a father: taking my own kids to Toys “R” Us within the past few years, I was rather stunned by how shabby and unmagical everything seemed. At first I simply shrugged it off, figureing my favorable recollections were simply due to my childish enthusiasm for toys. But then when I caught wind of the news about Toys “R” Us being on the brink of bankruptcy, I realized that the stores really had gone down the tubes since my childhood.
It’s a shame. I’m sorry my kids won’t get to have the same epic experiences I once did. And it sucks that the only big box toy retailer in America has gone extinct. Having only Target and Walmart there to fill in the gaps is not an appetizing thought.