Application Performance Monitoring (APM) means many things to many people. At its core, it enables developers to diagnose why their applications are slow and helps them provide a better experience to their users. Traditionally, this is accomplished by collecting a lot of data and displaying it in the form of dashboards and request traces. The problems you’re trying to solve are generally known up…
Uneven sunlight illuminates colorful fibers of woven yarn. You may already use some form of AI in your day-to-day workflow. You might use ChatGPT to ask questions and research new technologies or GitHub’s Copilot assistant to generate code. You may even use an editor like Cursor or Windsurf to orchestrate whole projects from scaffolding to self-debugging (Cursor recently announced Yolo Mode ).…
A frozen pond I photographed in early January 2024. I’ve been struggling creatively recently. Maybe it’s the winter doldrums, or the annual existential crisis that usurps my winter holidays. Either way, it’s a new year, and I crave change. For as long as I can remember, I’ve oscillated between routine and chaos. I’d love to find a middle ground—some stable plane to exist on—but I’m not sure there…
I was recording a podcast with my friend John today, and he had some great writing advice: when inspiration strikes, stop and write the first draft immediately. The idea is that your energy comes through in the words you write. When you care about something, people can tell. On the flip side, when writing feels like a chore, your writing suffers. I was thinking about this after the podcast today,…
Have you heard of webmentions ? They’re similar to pingbacks —but modern—and allow websites to notify each other about different types of activity (like replies on social media). As of 2017, the protocol is a W3C recommendation . Here’s an example: When I post a link to this article on Mastodon , Mastodon sends a request back to my website every time someone likes, reposts, or replies to it. I can…
The best tools in the world won’t help if you lack focus. Attention and practice are all that matter. Make them count.
This is the 2023 annual update for the journalism-focused Mastodon server that I started on a whim last year. It was originally published at open collective . It’s been a wild year for social media, with Twitter in turmoil and myriad upstarts competing to be the alternative. I launched federated.press in November 2022 as a refuge for journalists and supporting folks during the largest-ever Twitter…
I recently used the phrase “aggressively part-time” to describe the culture and work ethic at Honeybadger. We typically work on Honeybadger for 20-30 hours a week. To get things done, we have to be focused and efficient. This approach allows us to maximize the time we spend on life outside of work. I’ve been thinking about applying this concept to the rest of my life. Work is just one area where I…
“Are you gonna die?” “Yes Billy, I am going to die.” “Are you afraid?” “Billy, have you ever heard about Jesus?” The thought haunted me at night. Like Billy was about to do, I’d said the sinner’s prayer as a young child—probably three or four years old—and I’d meant it, too. I didn’t want to go to hell. A few years later, it turned out that going to hell was kid’s stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I…
Feeling overwhelmed? Try an opinion detox. Opinions are like junk food. They feel good going down but leave you with indigestion and high blood pressure. Here’s how an opinion detox works: For 30 days, don’t consume opinions. Opinions are judgments formed from sources other than facts or knowledge. Common sources of opinion: Social media posts Comments and replies News opinion pages Podcasts…