DPL Reading List – February 1, 2019
Here are some of the new and interesting articles we found this week.
The Mac turns 35 today, and here’s a nifty 1985 recap of year one – “But for all the initial hoopla, it’s worth remembering that the Mac was not an instant blockbuster. During its first year, according to Steven Levy’s seminal Mac history Insanely Great, it sold as few as 5,000 units some months, which was one tenth of Steve Jobs’ rosy expectation. And then it all started coming together.”
Why You Should Embrace Your Impostor Syndrome – “Some of the most prominent people I’ve interviewed or talked to about impostor syndrome — business owners, research scientists, TV writers — said that it only gets worse with success. The more you achieve, the more you feel like a fraud. But as awful as that may seem, impostor syndrome isn’t all bad. The key is to use this so-called syndrome to your advantage.”
How to Actually, Truly Focus on What You’re Doing – “Here’s what my browser generally looks like: work email in the left-most tab, always open. TweetDeck in the next one, always open. A few Google Docs tabs with projects I’m working on, followed by my calendar, Facebook, YouTube, this publication’s website and about 10 stories I want to read — along with whatever random shiny thing comes across my desktop. (Not to mention my iPhone constantly nagging me, though I’ve mostly fixed that problem.) This is no way to work!”
These tactile blocks teach blind kids to code – “Called Code Jumper, the kit uses differently shaped blocks or “pods” that can be attached in patterns; each pod is a line of code. (Each is also brightly colored, for students who are visually impaired but not fully blind.) When the pods are attached together, and buttons on the pods are adjusted, the series creates an audible output, like a song or joke.”
Google planning changes to Chrome that could break ad blockers – “Google is proposing a number of changes to the way extensions work. The broad intent is to improve extension security, give users greater control over what extensions do and which sites they interact with, and make extension performance more robust. For example, extensions will no longer be able to load code from remote servers, so the extension that’s submitted to the Chrome Web store contains exactly the code that will be run in the browser. This prevents malicious actors from submitting an extension to the store that loads benign code during the submission and approval process but then switches to something malicious once the extension is published.”
To Improve Your Team, First Work on Yourself – “Teams are complex systems of individuals with different preferences, skills, experiences, perspectives, and habits. The odds of improving that complex system in a meaningful and sustainable way are higher if every team member — including the leader — learns to master these three foundational capabilities: internal self-awareness, external self-awareness, and personal accountability.”
Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame: The Gadgets You Loved Most – “As we highlighted last month, IEEE Spectrum has launched a Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame to celebrate some of the greatest gadgets of the last 50 years. IEEE members could also win prizes, such as drones or smart watches, by sharing their memories of their favorite gadget.”
