The new iPhone 13 became available yesterday and, for the first time, I was in the queue to get one. I’m on the iPhone Upgrade Programme, which means I get a sparkly new one each year (technically, every 11 months). This year’s iPhone launched early so I was due for a new phone on… Thursday. Great timing.
(more…)Category: Automattic
My life at Automattic
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Why is changing your email address so tricky for some websites?
It usually doesn’t happen very often but sometimes we need to change our email address. Whether it’s a change of name, circumstance or, for varied reason, have lost access to our original email, it can happen. It could be for personal safety reasons.
I’ve just done this and switching email was painless. However, letting every website that you’ve registered with know about it, isn’t. Technically, it should be – you can change your email, right? In most cases, yes. In some cases no, but there’s a solution. But for a few sites – including large UK retailers – it’s a big “no”. It’s a security risk (I’ll explain why in a bit) and they won’t given an explanation as to why they do it either.
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The Amazon Alexa outage that hardly any-one noticed
Or rather “only I seemed to notice”.
I use my various Alexa’s for various purposes but they’re primarily used for playing the radio. Whether it’s Absolute 70s in the kitchen (yes, I am that old) or LBC in my office, they’re great. But on Wednesday that stopped working and, with nobody else reporting the same thing, was it an unusual issues only related to me?
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Turn it off and back on again? What nature can teach us
It’s the biggest stereotype of the IT industry, but we all do it: turning something off and on to resolve a problem. And if it’s not that, we’re clearing caches and other things that may cure an immediate issue, but by doing it and therefore not resolving the root cause, we’re potentially creating bigger problems for ourselves.
Looking at how nature deals in similar situations and with the use of pertinent real-life stories, this post is a reminder of how spending a little more time can reap greater rewards.
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It’s David, not Dave. Why using a name correctly is more important than you may think
As you know, I’m David Artiss. And David is the name I prefer to be called – not Dave. Growing up, my best friend was also a David. And everyone called him Dave, so it was a way of differentiating us. It didn’t help that we looked similar too.
I don’t mind if people do call me Dave, although I may silently judge them for doing so! I think it’s only polite to check with someone before making any assumptions about their name – I always say and write my name as David, so why would you think I’d prefer to be called Dave, unless you knew otherwise?
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