I booked a try-on appointment at my favorite Apple Store (the one in Sherway Gardens) and went for the experience on a Saturday afternoon. I haven’t worn a watch in more than 20 years but the “cool” factor just couldn’t be resisted. I really just wanted to get a better look at what wearing one would be like, better than what the Apple Watch app offered … there’s only so much holding your iPhone on your wrist can really accomplish.
I picked out three “favorites” that I wanted to try … all the 42mm face (the app really did help there) and prepared for … well, um, not a whole lot … what can you accomplish in 15 minutes?
It turns out quite a bit. “Alex”, the associate who helped us, made the experience quite enjoyable and definitely no rush. Did I mention this was my favorite Apple Store? We go out of our way to shop there when in-person product review / purchase is necessary.
I went to try on the Apple Watch. I selected the 42mm Stainless Steel Case with Milanese Loop; and, the 42mm Stainless Steel Case with Link Bracelet; then, for comparison the 42mm Space Grey Aluminium Case with Black Sport Band (from the Apple Watch Sport line).
Although I liked all three models I was most impressed with the Milanese Loop as the Link Bracelet (although not fitted well) tended to unclasp very easily (perhaps too easily?) and the Sport Band just didn’t have the “look” I wanted. I’m not sure a rubber-like band would ever have the look I wanted but it did feel good. I was actually really surprised the Apple Watch 38mm Stainless Steel Case with Milanese Loop was quite snug getting over my hand (as in almost not getting over my hand at all), but the face itself was just a bit too small and the thinner band also did not quite look as good either.
Terri was with me during all of this and Alex was very kind to offer her the experience of trying on some of the different models … all told, between the two of us, I think we tried on seven or eight different models.
We played with the demonstration models in the store as well and were easily impressed with the functionality being displayed there. Terri was very impressed with the ability to use touch gestures with the watch given how much trouble they present her on her iPhone 6+ and new iPad Touch … and the display was very easy to read, too.
My thoughts on the Apple Watch: waiting until June is going to be a challenge; but, I am definitely looking forward to wearing a watch again.
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I noticed this morning that Apple has gone ahead and put through the charges for my Apple Watch nearly a month prior to the shipping date … does this mean they will be a month earlier than their scheduled end of June / beginning of July shipment status?
I was reading a recent article on WPTavern and thought to myself, “Hey, this is a great little plugin but doesn’t Jetpack already handle this?”
More or less it does but there are a few “local” conditions that may have been over-looked and I thought I would offer a patch to pick up on some of those conditions.
Currently Jetpack looks to the site_url() for its conditional test on whether or not the TLD has a “.” (dot, period, point, etc.) which is all well and fine but what about “.dev” or “.local” or even certain IP address ranges that are considered “local”?
My initial patch was just expanding the existing conditional statement to include the “.dev” and “.local” extensions but after some discussions I also included a filterable case to also be available for the environment test conditions.
“Working with WordPress” and “Working on WordPress” may seem synonymous but the philosophy of each phrase will definitely affect the code you share and support going forward.
When you work with something, it becomes a partnership, a collaboration, a team effort and more often than not an ongoing relationship; while working on something is more like getting it done and moving on … like fixing a car.
All of the major functionalities of most any application, plugin, theme idea can be found in WordPress core code already, the key is in the creative implementation of that code.
Obviously you may need to add some custom code to accomplish building your idea or adjust some specific functionality to be applied differently but that is also the basis behind using the various API and hooks readily available in WordPress. You just need to extend where needed and fine tune the rest. It’s WordPress … anything is possible!
It’s all there for the … taking. Yes, you can take the code and use it as you see fit, just remember to give credit where credit is due and provide the proper attributions.
Not sure where to find something, or even if it exists? Try these developer references:
Maybe you just need a nudge in the right direction? Have you tried any of the numerous Slack channels where many WordPress community members share their time and thoughts (not to mention ongoing development conversations)?
Stay in touch with what is happening with WordPress development, too. Keeping up with new functionality and corrections to core will only benefit you in the long-run. It might even spark an idea using some new functionality being added to core.
As you continue to improve your own WordPress projects, especially with a community of thousands contributing back to it, you will most likely need to build less and less on WordPress while moving to building more and more with WordPress. You may even be one of those contributors that makes life easier for another WordPress developer.
Why work on something, some might even say re-inventing the wheel, when you can simply get behind the wheel and start driving with WordPress from the start … or work with WordPress and help others get the start they may need to bring their awesome ideas to life.
I will always advocate working with WordPress, what are your thoughts?
Much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder so perception is an individual’s viewpoint.
One’s actions and words define another’s perception whether it is the desired result or not. How things are perceived is up to the individuals or groups involved, it is not something that can be decided by one for the other.
Day 0: The Flight, Pre-Registration, and Long Walks
I was up at the usual time and ready and waiting for the Aeroport Limo service to arrive at 9:00 AM … the flight was at 11:45 and I wanted to ensure I would be at the airport in plenty of time. Aside from some minor turbulence, the flight itself was rather uneventful … and the California Roll Sushi for lunch in flight on Air Canada 755 was actually pretty good, too.
I rolled into the hotel right at check-in, the flight was early so this was a timely good fortune.
I got settled in, unpacked, and called my wife on FaceTime. We chatted for a little while then I headed off to the Automattic Head Quarters for pre-registrations and volunteer orientation. I was scheduled as a “Casual Runner”.
On my way into Automattic, I ran into Kim … a down-to-earth lady and very much the same person offline as on; something I noticed with almost every person I met that I had previously only known via social networking and/or various interactions on forums, mailing lists and IRC chats.
Once inside and registered I met with several more online people (Emil, Jose, James, Mike and Tyler to name a few).
Afterwards, I walked back to the hotel and then wandered up 8th Street to the Harvest Urban Market to pick up some fresh fruit (and, as it happens, my favorite beer Stella Artois).
Day 1:
Saturday, first thing came early … I needed to be at the Mission Bay Conference Center by 7:00 AM. I set my alarm for 5:30 AM. Got myself organized and headed out the hotel door just after 6:30 AM. Although still before dawn, it was a beautiful walk down 7th Street with a jog over to Owen and finishing up at “Mission Bay” right at 7:00 AM.
Once I got myself organized and sorted out Andy (the volunteer organizer) asked me to help Nick with getting the Swag Store set up. With the help of Nowell, Jenny, Courtney, Marko and a few others we managed to get everything taken care of and ready to role well before the 9:00 AM “opening” time. To finish up everything, I made the first purchase at the Swag Store to ensure the “connections” were all working correctly.
During the rest of my volunteer shift I met Aaron, Andrea R, and Andrea M as well as many more. The Lipinski brothers from CyberChimps, Guillermo Rauch (who presented Socket.IO) and I had an interesting discussion related to theme review guidelines as well.
To end my shift, I helped Michael with the vegan/vegetarian/gluton-free special dietary table prior to lunch being served.
This left me with the afternoon free which I more or less spent in the upstairs presentation room. Mark Jaquith‘s talk on using Backbone.js was quite notable and left me with some ideas to consider for future projects, too.
Day 2:
I started the day a bit earlier than strictly needed. I planned to have breakfast at Rocco’s Cafe but it did open until 8:00 AM. I walked back to the hotel and decided I would wait until they opened and while I waited I downloaded the Uber app … an adventure after breakfast to get to Sunday’s kickoff by 9:00 AM.
Rocco’s Ham, Cheese and Mushroom Omelette ordered, I enjoyed a very good cup of coffee.
The Uber ride was interesting with a small tour of the area around the Mission Bay Center before being dropped off at the doors.
I wandered for a bit then settled in with the Support team. The group consisted, for the most part, of James, Jan, Mika, Sarah (the Living Child-Theme), Marius and Keith. I was also promoted in the forums while I sat with them, and my forum title was adjusted to read: Theme Review Team Admin, The JellyBeen Man (possibly only a temporary thing).
The current Support team also gave me a crash course in some of the “administrator” duties and functionalities that followed with the promotion.
Some of the most fun at WordCamp San Francisco came form sitting and chatting and laughing out loud with the Support team and those that wandered in and about the area we were sitting in.
I sat in the Theme Reviewers’ quick talk at 2:00 PM done by Tammy, but returned to more fun and games with the Support Team, especially some of the ribbing we were giving Marius about WordPress testing the Slack service as an alternative to IRC.
Probably one of the most interesting and memorable quotes from the afternoon came from the quick-witted Mika, “on a scale of one to firemen, where is this folks?” as some anonymous person’s car was announced would be towed away momentarily. This is really more an inside joke but in reference to a first at WordCamp San Francisco … a full building evacuation due to (at least as far as I know) some unknown “emergency”.
As the afternoon wore on so did my energy levels, and I thought it best to choose to return to the hotel and prepare for the following days. Tomorrow is expected to be essentially a sequestered day long session known as the Community Summit; no ‘net, no phones … no kidding?! Something to consider on my walk back to the hotel.
I have met many people over the last few days and look forward to the next few days working closely with some and meeting even more … if we met and I did not happen to make note of you specifically, please feel free to remind me in the comments below.
PS: For anyone counting, I only collected seven T-shirts during this WordCamp. There were more available but I had to keep in mind the limited space I have for packing things to return home with.