/blog

Just as I was about to go to sleep last night my brain decided it was going to come up with an idea:

• namespace is shortened to 'ns' as in xmlns
• the now namespace could therefore be written nowns
• which sounds like nouns
• so updates shared using the now namespace could be called nowns
• and I should check the availability of domains

So, I've been looking and am wondering about the following:

• nowns.today: fits with the idea of now
• nowns.live: 'live' updates, fits the theme again
• nowns.info: information about the namespace
• nowns.work: as in "nowns work to share updates"

I could get a good deal on .work for the first year but think it goes up significantly after that.

.ns doesn't appear to exist as a TLD so now.ns is not an option. Even if it did it would likely be a country specific domain and I'm always dubious about tying things to them. It would also likely be too expensive.

🤔

Commenting on the discussion that "stream as a paradigm" is dead or dying, Bix says he's not quite sure what I mean by 'consumption by default'. Let me explain myself a bit better.

It's a bit like doomscrolling but without the doom, more generalised.

Consumption by default is when we read, watch, or listen to things simply because they are placed in front of us. A social stream is a perfect example. We wouldn't read most of it if left to our own devices, we would spend more time seeking things out for ourselves or, maybe, creating things.

Consumption by default is passive consumption, a state of submission, an acceptance of time's passing or willingness for it to pass quicker such that we don't need to come up with ways to fill it.

Consider this from Jackie Luo:

we try in vain to pay out fractional amounts of our attention and find that the whole is, somehow, less than the sum of its parts. in wanting to pay attention to everything, we often fail to pay attention to anything at all.

Consumption by default spreads our attention too thinly.

With regards to the base topic, Bix is right when he says:

It's also true that “chronological” isn't actually the only way most typical blogs are organized, because most blogs also have tags, or categories, or “more like this” features, in addition to a search function–so it's not like readers somehow are stuck within the chronology.

These other taxonomies, however, are secondary to the chronology and often treated as an afterthought, if remembered at all. The desire, therefore, is to place these alternatives more front and centre rather than defaulting to the timeline.

I've had access to Arc from The Browser Company for a few weeks now but only really started using it properly for the past four or five days.

I like it!

There have been a good number of gushingly positive reviews floating around the web, and an almost equal number of responses saying to shut up about it already. It's just a browser, and a Chromium based one at that, what's the big deal?

Agreed, it's not going to be different in the way it loads pages but Arc is designed to be a different experience not engine.

I like being able to split tabs into different 'Spaces' (think tab groups but better) and then easily swipe between them. I also appreciate the 'command bar' which feels like Spotlight or Alfred on the Mac.

My favourite feature is Easels: scrapbook type containers into which you can drag local files, grab sections of pages and make them 'live' (all page captures automatically point back to their source) then mark it all up and even share them. It's great for research and gathering multiple things all in one place.

I've made Arc my default browser as I don't believe you can get a proper feel for an app without diving in and using it every day.

Is it just a case of 'new shiny syndrome' and will the novelty wear off? I don't know but, for now, I'm enjoying the experience.