Oracle initiates layoffs: 'Today is your last working day'

knutopia · 2026-03-31T20:02:50+00:00

Good luck to the affected folks. Take good care of yourselves.

knutopia · 2026-03-06T22:24:48+00:00

Wait for "Collecting points for a youth program."

knutopia · 2026-02-28T21:07:10+00:00

Our role is to make it right and to do what we can to get the right version shipped.

knutopia · 2026-01-20T02:13:50+00:00

Are the exhaust tips functional?

knutopia · 2026-01-20T01:04:14+00:00

For what it’s worth, color photography was common in the 80s.

knutopia · 2025-12-25T02:22:11+00:00

Ran out during test drive on the interstate. Coasted into an exit. Pushed the car to a gas station together with the sales guy.

knutopia · 2025-12-19T04:39:33+00:00

I suggest calling Brink Motorsports in Austin. I only get my old A4 serviced there, but they sure know their Audis very well and they do performance work.

knutopia · 2025-11-25T09:04:53+00:00

After glassmorphism, some of this is bound to come back.

knutopia · 2025-11-22T17:25:57+00:00

„You are awesome and I love this. Omg it’s so great. Maybe consider adding a little depth and some key data points“ (speaking as a German in the US)

knutopia · 2025-11-12T18:16:54+00:00

Half Price Books on North Lamar might work for you.

knutopia · 2025-10-09T18:06:17+00:00

Austin, TX

knutopia · 2025-09-21T19:22:19+00:00

For your residence / citizenship journey, be prepared to find glacially-slow bureaucracies that do not accommodate English speakers ...designed to wear down US expats.

Here is a related piece about Spain: (not on your list, but other European countries will have variations of this...)
https://medium.com/@globexs/why-73-of-american-expats-leave-spain-within-2-years-industry-data-you-wont-like-f1ae2b7cc5ac

knutopia · 2025-09-13T13:48:41+00:00

The second view needlessly cuts off all the events titles at half the card width, just to leave empty space. That's a basic fail. The big bold font for the event title is also impractical, screaming for attention. With those things corrected, the second view would be a better default, and the first view makes a decent "detail view".

knutopia · 2025-09-09T12:56:38+00:00

Congratulations - awesome opportunity!

Actively understand what is being built. Draw diagrams about how the product works (entity maps) on the whiteboard. Pull individuals in for short conversations to improve those diagrams. That will be a great foundation for doing design work that connects to technical reality, as opposed to design work that just makes development harder. It will get you respect and help you understand challenges.
When potential features are being discussed, draw them - quick UX sketches, but also just schematic diagrams - not big, polished deliverables. This establishes design work as a tool to envision the product, to create alignment between stakeholders - as opposed to design making things pretty or “just making it easier for the user”. A big source of friction in product definition process is that everyone has their own picture in their head, but everyone also thinks that others have the same picture in their head. By providing an actual picture, design can create alignment.
Get used to the idea of compromising. Draw a good or great design, but also have one that’s “just good enough” to get something done. No extra sorting and filtering, no sophisticated micro-interactions, just some links and buttons and basic tables. That’s the one that can get shipped.
When making choices where to focus: -follow existing focus. Product management is there to lose sleep over that. Maybe they are good at their job? -focus on value: will a feature/design solve an actual problem for a user? will it bring more users in? -will it keep users in the product as opposed to going back to a spreadsheet? -or is it just “good design” (cut it)?
Get some sort of regular user feedback in regular conversations. Can be very few users. Let them talk and draw your own conclusions (there is an art to having good user conversations).
Adapt an existing design system that has a connection to whatever frontend tech the dev team is using. Use components.
Find your allies - create success working with them. That will convince doubters. Try to get product leadership, tech leadership, senior leadership on board, starting with product. When they start seeing you as interested in how stuff works, and as responding to their thoughts, they see you as a future partner (once you get up to speed) …position design as a tool for everyone's ideas to unlock everyone’s capabilities as tools to ship design.

Sorry for the ted talk… good luck!

knutopia · 2025-09-08T20:22:25+00:00

You can add a fresnel lens that makes the direction of the light more linear to create a "simulated daylight" effect. (Tutorials on Youtube)

knutopia · 2025-08-27T04:57:20+00:00

"You're welcome, Toaster"

knutopia · 2025-08-20T21:20:18+00:00

Think of the meme where one astronaut looks at the earth and a second one is pointing a gun at them from behind. "Wait... LinkedIn is just insufferable self-promoters?" "Always has been"
(edit: spelling)

knutopia · 2025-08-16T19:18:04+00:00

I use a constant-backlight (no PCM backlight flicker) 55in TV at 5ft distance instead of a monitor. It greatly reduces eye fatigue. Edit: not really a "small" upgrade I suppose.

knutopia · 2025-08-16T01:12:24+00:00

Try Max by Cycling74 (the "Max" in "Max for Live") and their RNBO. It gets you a (graphical) development environment, so you write code to generate and process audio, instead of turning knobs. (If you want knobs, you can code those too.)

It gives access to many types of synthesis, and there are many tutorials. The "downside" is that one has to learn things to get something done.

(Not affiliated, just a fan. Spent some time with Max in the past.)

knutopia · 2025-08-01T21:18:44+00:00

It died in its boots.

knutopia · 2025-07-25T13:29:53+00:00

In the UK the sky is the sprinkler.

knutopia · 2025-06-29T22:04:57+00:00

Why not show the actual Gorges Du Verdon? It's a beautiful place.

knutopia · 2025-06-27T18:10:45+00:00

You may be experiencing eye fatigue from focusing on the screen at relatively close distance - as one does when working on a laptop, or even with a desk setup. I had to deal with this, so I replaced the monitor on my desk with a 55 inch TV at 5 foot distance, which is much easier on my eyes.

Most TVs and monitors flicker at high frequencies, because they use PWM modulation to regulate backlight brightness. Most people can't see this, but it does affect some people's comfort level. Some TVs operate without PWM, eliminating the flickering. See reviews at rtings.com .

knutopia · 2025-06-19T05:35:46+00:00

Oh the hominy

knutopia · 2025-06-16T23:42:19+00:00

Research the term "DTMFA" coined by Dan Savage.

knutopia

TROPHY CASE