Living in the Future

Category: Editorial

  • Skype is Good Again

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    Rob Attrell

    This post is all about how I came to start using Skype early in 2020 after more than 10 years away. We’re going to get to the reasons why, but first, I think it’s important to go back and figure out how we got here. If you don’t need convincing, you can catch up with…

  • Proposition 1: First-time home buyers (FTHBs)

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    Rob Attrell

    As somebody who just bought a house in June, I know surprisingly little about what help the government offers to FTHBs. We didn’t qualify for the benefits that exist for FTHBs, since for my wife this is her second home purchase, and that meant that I didn’t even look at what would have been available,…

  • Making the CBC Vote Compass even better

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    Rob Attrell

    Preamble The CBC Vote Compass project has been around for as long as I can remember, and long before I was as politically aware as I am now. When I first started taking the Vote Compass ‘quiz’, it was the only real way of knowing where parties lay on a given set of issues, as…

  • Staying warm through the fall on a bike

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    Rob Attrell

    Earlier this year, I moved in to a new house, which meant my commute went from being about 20 minutes by bike (~7 km) to a little over 40 minutes (~17 km). Fortunately, the area we ended up buying in has a nice, relatively calm ride in, most of the way on 60 km/h roads…

  • The Fable of the Caterpillar

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    Rob Attrell

    Imagine this scenario for a moment: You’re out driving your car, on a residential street, well under the speed limit, when all of a sudden you smush a caterpillar under your wheel. Picture something like this little guy, hairy and about an inch long ⬇️. I’m willing to bet that you didn’t see the caterpillar,…

  • What’s Missing from Gmail (Compared to Inbox)

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    Rob Attrell

    It’s been a long time that we’ve known that Inbox by Gmail is going away, and to be honest, I understand the decision to deduplicate the development time required to keep two apps and sites updated (Gmail/Inbox). However, I’ve never actually taken the time to describe in detail the missing features that never made it…

  • The Case for Owning Your Digital Life

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    Rob Attrell

    I’ve spent most of my life on computers, and I would definitely consider myself a digital native (I’m typing this sentence on the iPad software keyboard, in case that helps you put me on a scale). My history with technology I love technology, and I first discovered its immense power for connecting people when I…

  • FaceTime Isn’t Broken

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    Rob Attrell

    On Monday night (January 28), talk of a serious Group FaceTime bug hit the internet in a big way.

  • Climate change is not just real, it’s obvious

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    Rob Attrell

    Vox has posted this before, but it was updated recently with new clips to bring it to the present. It highlights the partisan shift regarding climate change in American politics, from acknowledging that climate change is real, to Republicans realizing the best (only?) way to actually fight climate change effectively from an economic perspective is…

  • Stuck in the Past: Projection Woes

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    Rob Attrell

    Next week, I will be heading to Montreal, where I’ll be giving three different presentations to three different audiences in three different rooms.