2020

2020 posts on Thien Le

• iPhone 12 Pro — Make movies like the movies:

  One of the best iPhone commercials ever. It shows the WHY part very clear.

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• Common Reasons That Software Projects Fail

  Code Complete: Design in Construction:

  Projects fail most often because of poor requirements, poor planning, or poor management. But when projects do fail for reasons that are primarily technical, the reason is often uncontrolled complexity. The software is allowed to grow so complex that no one really knows what it does. When a project reaches the point at which no one completely understands the impact that code changes in one area will have on other areas, progress grinds to a halt.

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• The Pain Of Offshore Agilists

  Using an Agile Software Process with Offshore Development:

  Because agile development works best with close communication and an open culture, agilists working offshore feel the pain much more than those using plan-driven approaches. But it’s still less pain than the plan-driven methods themselves!

  I can feel the pain myself after just ~3 years in the field.

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• How To Go Fast

  Toyota Production System - Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Second Edition [Book]:

  If you eliminate enough waste, soon you go faster than the people who are just trying to go fast.

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• Virtual WWDC 12020 Beginning June 22

  Apple Newsroom:

  For the first time, Apple will host its Worldwide Developers Conference virtually, beginning June 22.

  Virtual as a feature, not a bug. Also, fantastic cover image for the event.

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• Who Needs Ethics?

  Bodhisattva mentioning ethics (the Magical Cassock) from Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng−en:

  Whoever wears this cassock of mine will not sink into the mire, will not fall into Hell, will not be ensnared by evil and will not meet disaster from tiger or wolf.

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• Zoom Lies Again

  Zoom admits it doesn’t have 300 million users, corrects misleading claims:

  Zoom originally stated it had “more than 300 million daily users” and that “more than 300 million people around the world are using Zoom during this challenging time.” Zoom later deleted these references from the original blog post, and now claims “300 million daily Zoom meeting participants.”

  Of course Zoom does that.

  See also: Zoom iOS App Sends Data to Facebook Even if You Don’t Have a Facebook Account

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• TED-Ed Made A Video About The Monkey King!

  How the Monkey King escaped the underworld - Shunan Teng:

  Wonderful animations and story telling (as usual) from TED-Ed. Journey to the West is my absolute favorite among Chinese’s classics.

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• FaceTime portraits of people self isolating — Tim Dunk:

  And people said over and over again that you have to own this kind of gears for that kind of photoshoot blah blah.

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• Pointer Support For iPadOS Impressions

  I tried pointer support for iPadOS last week on my 2018 iPad Pro and loved it, Apple really take its time and implemented it right. I also love SideCar on macOS Catalina. Now, what I want is to use my iPad Pro as it is, with iPadOS, but it will act as an extension for my Macbook Pro, which means they can share the same audio output, share the keyboard and trackpad, but when I drag my cursor from my Mac to iPad, it will become the pointer and vice versa. Let’s make it happen Apple!

  See also:

  • Pointers (iPadOS) - Apple Human Interface Guidelines
  • Designing Fluid Interfaces - WWDC 2018

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• Working From Home For The First Time

  Today is my first day ever working from home, one of the first things I noticed is that Windows 10 looks very crisp on my Macbook Pro (via remote). I have always know that my work monitor is crap but now it’s clearer than ever before.

  Another thing is that I thought working from home means that you connect to the company VPN and, you know, work from home. According to my company’s policy, we have to keep our work machine on over the weekend, then at home we will remote access to that machine and “work”. I know outsourcing software means security is the top priority but I would argue that if all the source code is on Gitlab, all tasks are on Jira/Confluence, all designs are on Figma, all resources are on AWS already… is there a better way to work?

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• What a Japanese House Party is Like:

  The way people in Japan live, interacting is just amazing, and also very refreshing to watch in times like this. Oh, and their food is absolutely terrific as well. Vietnamese should learn those from Japanese.

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• Zoom iOS App Sends Data to Facebook Even if You Don’t Have a Facebook Account:

  First Skype now Zoom, it looks like people running video conferencing apps can’t help shooting themselves in the feet.

  See also: Serious Zoom security flaw could let websites hijack Mac cameras

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• How ThoughtWorks Is Coping with Covid-19

  Coping with Covid-19, part 2:

  Most ThoughtWorkers are young and healthy, thus likely to only have a mild problem if infected with Covid-19. But everyone, healthy or not, who has the virus can pass it on to others. By reducing travel and contact we can do our part to slow the spread of the disease. Even if the total numbers aren’t reduced by a slower spread, it will reduce the strain on the health care infrastructure, giving those unlucky enough to suffer serious consequences a better chance of coping.

  This sums up perfectly why we must shut up and stay home.

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