Create new routine to go through life tunneling
Makzan’s Dispatch 2020 week 23
Hi there,
I wish you staying safe.
2 years ago, my second son was born then. I paused my newsletter to go through the life tunneling. Here was my description of tunneling.
When such life event happens, we go through the tunnel. Inside the tunnel, we are forced to go forward without any distractions. We need to focus on the solo thing until the end of the tunnel.
This is the laser focus mode where all the focus sessions method won’t work. Our productivity is based on attention, energy, and time spent. All the attentions are on this life event so there is no extra energy to work on any other things. For example, I took 6 months to take care of the infant and then gradually get back working after the infant grows up.
The end of tunnel usually means things get automated again. For example, the infant grows up. By that time, we can expose to extra opportunities again.
The end of the tunnel happens gradually. My two sons went to school and baby care. My wife and I established new routines based on their active and rest habits. At that point, we can explore different opportunities again.
This February, we all self-quarantine at home in Macao and we went through another life tunneling to focus on getting our family healthy and home clean. Now we are back to work and local schools start resuming. We created a new routine and gradually ending this life tunneling, hopefully. Now different families all over the world are facing their own’ tunnels during this pandemic and working-from-home new life. I wish everyone safe and create a new routine to go through the life tunnel.
Links worth sharing
→ A journey into software development with Lea Verou
→ Hybrid positioning with CSS variables and max()
https://lea.verou.me/2020/06/hybrid-positioning-with-css-variables-and-max/
→ Ebay is port scanning visitors to their website - and they aren't the only ones
https://blog.nem.ec/2020/05/24/ebay-port-scanning/
To summarize what we’ve found so far:
Ebay collects data on whether certain ports are open on your local PC
This data is shipped to an Ebay domain, but does not seem to be used otherwise
Additional data like User Agent and IP are also sent
Checking the DNS records for src.ebay-us.com, sure enough it’s a CNAME to h-ebay.online-metrix.net, a domain owned by ThreatMetrix Inc. The earliest record at crt.sh for this domain dates back all the way to 2013, so it’s possible that Ebay has been scanning customers’ computers for almost seven years without too many people noticing. online-metrix.net uses wildcard certificates, so unfortunately it’s not so easy to enumerate their clients, but there is room for further investigation.
News reports say that LexisNexis acquired ThreatMetrix in 2018, and their new homepage talks in general terms about how their data will be used to fight fraud. They claim that they “analyze more than 150 million daily transactions from more than 30,000 websites worldwide”, so it seems fair to believe that all of this data they’re collecting goes straight into one massive database shared with all of their customers.
→ Rails will have a minimal mode
https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/39282
→ Modern Touch-Friendly Design
https://addyosmani.com/blog/touch-friendly-design/
Design for the different ways people use their devices, not just one way
People look at the center of the screen - keep key content in the center
People touch the center of the screen - center key actions if possible
People only tap what they see - keep room around touch targets so users can tap and see state changes.
People use different devices in different ways - gather data on how users use your UIs
→ macOS apps that make me smile
https://tinyapps.org/blog/202006030700_fast_macos_apps.html
4 useful macOS apps.
→ ISS Docking Simulator by SpaceX
https://iss-sim.spacex.com/
Until next week,
Thomas Mak
