China is changing the future of shopping

A coworker referred me to this recent TED talk about how China is changing how commerce happens. Not only does it involve the ecommerce sales experience but all the way through the supply chain to how products are designed. This definitely has opened my mind to how mobile devices can be involved in a consumer's shopping experience. https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_wang_how_china_is_changing_the_future_of_shopping

January 15, 2018 · 1 min · Aaron

Flash Talk: Working Remote Saved my Life

Every year at Automattic's Grand Meetup we're required to give a flash talk of up to four minutes on any topic. This past year I gave mine on a subject related to my post "How Working Remote (Probably) Saved My Life". I'm actually developing a much longer talk to dive deeper into what's been involved with my successes and failures. Until then, here's my flash talk for your enjoyment. [wpvideo M5HpGRy1]

April 27, 2017 · 1 min · Aaron

RayWenderlich.com Christmas Video

I'm an awful singer but decided to help out the RayWenderlich.com team with the annual Christmas video. Check out our excellent work. Original Post at RayWenderlich.com

December 26, 2016 · 1 min · Aaron

This is what 400 Automatticians in one place looks like from a drone

Watch the drone video below taken at our annual Grand Meetup in Park City, Utah October 2015: https://videopress.com/v/MYKeey35 https://automattic.com/work-with-us/

March 2, 2016 · 1 min · Aaron

The Snowman - Walking in the Air

This is a clip from the animated short, The Snowman, from 1982. This was adapted from a book written by Raymond Briggs in 1978. I remember that winter because it had brought the heaviest snow I had ever seen. Snow had fallen steadily all night long and in the morning I woke in a room filled with light and silence, the whole world seemed to be held in a dream-like stillness. It was a magical day... and it was on that day I made the Snowman.This is my favorite scene from the animated short. ...

December 24, 2015 · 1 min · Aaron

Tater Tots Through Time

Every year at the Automattic Grand Meetup the entire company gets together in one place for a little over a week to work and have fun. Part of that meetup requires everyone to give a four minute flash talk on any subject. This year my coworker Carolyn Sonnek and I decided to team up on our flash talk. Carolyn and I are Tater Tot experts. EXPERTS. We dug deep and found some interesting facts on Tater Tots and even a conspiracy! ...

December 23, 2015 · 1 min · Aaron

iPhone 6 Plus Screen Backlight Issue

I've noticed an issue I've been having with my iPhone 6 Plus a couple weeks ago. After the phone has been in my pocket for an indeterminate amount of time, I would randomly be unable to light the screen back up. The phone would come out of sleep, I could swipe to unlock (or use Voice Over) and I could see the backlight come on. The problem was the screen itself was just black - nothing to show. Rebooting sometimes fixed this. It was especially annoying when trying to board a plane and then being unable to bring up the boarding pass. ...

August 27, 2015 · 1 min · Aaron

Demoing a fix or feature is better with music

I am implementing a new feature for WordPress for iOS in the site stats and needed to demo the implementation for my coworkers. By accident I recorded my computer audio and gave the demo accompanying music. I liked this so when I recorded the next change I did it again. [wpvideo ri5olTYQ] I think I'll continue with this :).

May 20, 2015 · 1 min · Aaron

Recording Your iOS Device with QuickTime Player

The TaskYou need to record your iPhone or iPad's screen to show someone a bug or demo a feature to your customers. In the past the only method available was to use a program like Reflector to emulate an AirPlay/Apple TV and then record on your machine. This works fairly decently although the quality over WiFi isn't very good leaving you with a less-than-crisp recording. Reflector also isn't free which makes it difficult for users in the wild to record bugs. ...

April 2, 2015 · 3 min · Aaron

Things With Wheels Flash Talk

Every year at Automattic we get together at what we call the Grand Meetup. Everyone is expected to give a four minute flash talk on any subject - literally any subject. Last year I described a funny story about a boss stealing my iPhone. This year I combined another funny story with some personal philosophies. Last summer I posted about how Things With Wheels Are Meant To Move and that paired well with my tweets about my philosophy on systems. This flash talk is an amalgamation of those two posts. ...

February 2, 2015 · 1 min · Aaron