Blair @blair@scholar.social

This should have been posted from here on my blog: end of an era for me at Mozilla, will post a longer reflection in a bit https://twitter.com/blairmacintyre/status/1293300917308198914?s=21

How had I not known that I could use Audio MIDI Setup utility on MacOS to configure collections of speakers to send to at the same time?  Key need for streaming from Mac via my streaming PC! https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/output-mac-audio-two-pairs-headphones/

New information about climate change and the link to CO2 emissions means it's more important than ever to act NOW! https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-31/why-alarm-over-climate-change-is-not-alarmism

Clear and concise summary of the many and varied failures of the US handling of the COVID pandemic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-failure/614191/

American Universities and COVID: Its All about Money

Why are colleges re-opening despite the risks? It's not surprising ...
https://blairmacintyre.me/2020/08/03/american-universities-and-covid/

I've "made strong arguments" in favor on getting an Intel mac this fall and not risking "gen1" arm macs ... but now I find myself not needing to upgrade, and see a gen1 arm mac as a possibility ... hmmm

What a Difference a Trackpad Makes

Apple’s new Magic Keyboard finally makes the iPad almost-useful as a general purpose computing device.
https://blairmacintyre.me/2020/07/24/what-a-difference-a-trackpad-makes/

More Access for Some, Less for Others

When speaking at an event requires less time, the famous can take more speaking opportunities, giving less access to the stage to others.
https://blairmacintyre.me/2020/07/21/more-access-for-some-less-for-others/

Looking at my lack of writing over the past months, I admit that the state of the nation and world are most on my mind when I'm away from work, and so its been hard to get excited at the idea of writing about tech or games ... need to get back to it

I realized this morning that I haven't even thought about personal blogging in quite a while; my last post was 3 months ago (ignoring these microposts).  On wednesday, that will be "Q2 done, no blogging."

Today would have been high school graduation for my daughter, followed by a @BTS_twt concert at @georgiatech stadium. Instead we did a graduation in the front yard and are watching #BTS concerts online … not what we expected, but we’re safe and healthy, so thankful. #staysafe

While I am generally unenthusiastic about HUDs like Google Glass, right now I'd love a HUD that mirrored my iPhone that I could interact with hands-free. For when I'm out and about in a #COVID world.

Chilling before the start of the #CHI2020 #SocialVR workshop (see socialvr-ws.com) … excited to be giving the opening talk to such a great group of folks!

Transformer blew nearby …. power went out … but not here!

Trying out the VR exercise app @GetSuperNatural on the Quest. Nice first round. 20 mins, got the heart rate up and feeling a nice burn in the arms/shoulders and quads. (Shame the Quest loses track of controllers sometimes)

My 100 pound dog does not come back when she escapes. Invariably this is the end game, and it happened twice today. TWICE.

Interesting article, but feels misguided in all kinds of ways. https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/04/17/fortnite-metaverse-new-internet/

Fortnite and the Metaverse: Why Epic Games may build the next version of the Internet - The Washington Post

Forget Video Conferencing—Host Your Next Meeting in VR: "Recent advances have made VR the superior technology for conferences and meetings, some experts claim" (IEEE Spectrum) https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/forget-video-conferencinghost-your-next-meeting-in-vr