It's finally here. No more iPhone LCP in 2x. It's on sale for $5. It would be a bargain at $10. Buy it.

This website runs on the excellent Pelican static site generator. The site is generated from a directory of markdown / plain text files. It's very lightweight - it does not require a database at all. It doesn't require PHP. In fact, the VPS that I host this site on doesn't even have MySQL or PHP installed. It's a very simple, very affordable server.

The benefits of static sites outweigh the drawbacks, at least for a site such as this one. One of the biggest drawbacks of a static site is the difficulty in making updates. Fortunately, this is a solvable problem. I store the folder of markdown files in a Dropbox folder. Using the Dropbox CLI tool, I installed Dropbox on my VPS. After a bit of configuration, Pelican will look in the Dropbox folder for the content files. One line in the crontab, and my site rebuilds and updates automatically, every five minutes.¹

With this setup, any properly formatted markdown file in my Pelican folder automatically generates a new article on this site. I don't have to fuss around with FTP clients or any such nonsense. I write, then move the text file into the proper folder, and the syncing / update magic happens by itself.

What about iOS?

As long as static site generators and iOS devices have been around, people have been trying to figure out ways to post on the go. Normally these methods involve keeping a Mac powered on at all times. That didn't fly for me, so I put together something much better.

Using the method I will explain below, you can post an article to your Pelican site using only your iPhone / iPad. You don't even need to own a Mac, much less keep it running 24/7.

Step 1

Install Notesy. It's $5, and well worth it. It's important that you only use Notesy for this purpose. Set Notesy to sync to your Pelican folder - the folder filled with your Markdown files.

Step 2

Install this Drafts action that sends the article to Pythonista for processing:

pythonista://Pelican?action=run&argv=[[title]]&argv=[[body]]

Or, if you prefer, click here to install the Drafts action automatically.

Step 3

Install this Pythonista script:

import console import sys import webbrowser import datetime import urllib

#The Drafts action passes two variables to Pythonista - [[title]] and [[body]]
#Use sys.argv[x] to call these variables. Remember, the script *name* takes sys.argv[0].

print "Formatting the article.\n"

articleTitle = sys.argv[1]
articleBody = sys.argv[2]

#Current date and time :
now = datetime.datetime.now()
now = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
#URL Encode the date & time
UAnow = urllib.quote(now, safe='')

#Convert the title to lowercase and replaces any spaces with dashes. Use that as the slug.
articleSlug = articleTitle.lower().replace(" ","-")

#URL encode the title and body
UEArticleTitle = urllib.quote(articleTitle, safe='')
UEArticleBody = urllib.quote(articleBody, safe='')

#The crazy looking URL below will format the Pelican metadata like so:

#Title: UEArticleTitle
#Date: now
#Tags: 
#Category: 
#Slug: articleSlug
#Author: Rob
#Summary: 
#Status: draft

#UEArticleBody

#This creates a Notesy note with the name specified (it will append to an existing note if applicable) and sets the text.
#toNotesy = notesy://x-callback-url/append?name=whatever&text=[[draft]]

toNotesy = 'notesy://x-callback-url/append?name=' + UEArticleTitle + '&text=Title%3A%20' + UEArticleTitle + '%0ADate%3A%20' + UAnow + '%0ATags%3A%20%0ACategory%3A%20%0ASlug%3A%20' + articleSlug + '%0AAuthor%3A%20Rob%0ASummary%3A%20%0AStatus%3A%20draft%0A%0A' + UEArticleBody

#print toNotesy

webbrowser.open(toNotesy)

Or, if you prefer, get it from Github.

Now you can post to Pelican from Drafts

Write your article in Drafts. Your first line is the title of your article, and everything else is the article. When you're finished, tap the "Post to Pelican" link. Pythonista will automatically set up the metadata, add the date, and generate a URL slug for you. It will send the result, metadata and all, to Notesy.

Once you're in Notesy, add categories and / or tags as you see fit. When you are ready to post, simply remove the "Status: Draft" line from the metadata. The file will automatically be saved, synced to your VPS via Dropbox, and posted the next time cron runs.

Notes

I am terrible at Python. I have been using this method for a few weeks now. I haven't noticed any problems / data loss / etc. For all I know, if you use it, the sun could go supernova and destroy us all. So, backup, and all that. Otherwise, enjoy. If you notice something that doesn't work right, please let me know so I can fix it. You can reach me on Twitter or by email.

iA's newest app, Writer Pro, has hardly gone unnoticed. Folks seem to either love the design and functionality, or they hate the developer's attitude and high price.

I don't care about the patent issue / non-issue. I don't care about patents, period¹. I also don't care if the developer is a wonderful person or a huge jerk. I care only about the app, and whether it is a good value or not.

$20 for an iOS text editor is ballsy.

In a world where Byword is $5 and even the brilliant Editorial is $5, asking $20 for an iOS text editor takes balls. Big ones. I have purchased iOS apps as high as $40² — price alone does not scare me away. I am looking for value.

Writer Pro doesn't even hold a candle to the feature set of Editorial. Nor does it try. Simplicity and a novel new editing workflow are the focus. Simplicity is where Writer Pro fails in a major way. Simplicity is a great thing, as long as your product functions well. Simplicity for simplicity's sake is misguided.

The Price of Entry, and Writer Pro's failure

I'm talking about Dropbox sync, of course. iA was so focused on making Writer Pro simple that it didn't include a critical feature - Dropbox sync. A "pro" text editor released in 2013 must include Dropbox sync. That is the price of entry in this market.

Excluding Markdown autocomplete is a choice. It is a choice I don't like, but I respect and understand it. Excluding Dropbox sync? Lazy. Inexcusable. Alex from Zero Distraction managed to put together a hack that lets you sync via Dropbox. This should not be necessary.

Imagine a car manufacturer releasing a brand new compact car with a 3 speed automatic transmission, in 2013. Any less than 5 gears and you're not even in the game³.

How did Writer Pro even ship?

Dropbox sync is coming to Writer Pro. This doesn't matter. That an established developer – not a startup – would ship a luxury priced, flagship product without a mission-critical feature is absurd. It's embarrassing. There is simply no excuse for it.

From SBNation:

Blake has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Nash, Farmar, Blake. It has not been a good two years for Lakers point guards. In related news, do you know any point guards looking for a job?

The Lakers did not announce financial terms, but a source told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne that the deal is worth $48.5 million.

That's $23.5 million next year, and $25 million next year. The huge extension clogs up LA's salary cap next year, but the huge amount of cap space was a myth anyway. Kobe was never going anywhere - and that is just how it should be.

Good on the Lakers for handling this now to avoid the circus.

According to Yahoo Sports, Rose is out indefinitely.

The Bulls announced Rose will be out indefinitely after he had an MRI Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles that revealed a tear to his right medial meniscus.

If you don't feel for Rose, regardless of your team of choice, you are not a basketball fan. The only sliver of "good" news is that the injury is a medial tear instead of the more serious lateral tear.

I don't think we'll ever see the old Derrick Rose back, though. Two serious knee injuries in two years? Even if he can physically recover, he will be afraid to push. Whenever Rose returns, he will be a very different player.

Gabe Weatherhead on the Saddleback Briefcase:

Maybe it's the smell of cowboy ass or the jangling steel but this bag feels important. It feels like you are the accessory and the bag is the one entering the room.

There is nothing I could ever add to that.

Brad McCarty on his smooth update to Windows 8.1:

Windows 8.1 - Open the marketplace, click the button, download, prepare for installation, reboot, begin installation, verify installation, hang, blue screen, reboot, hang, blue screen, reboot, revert to previous installation, reboot.

That sounds just lovely.

When I have a problem that needs to be solved, I open a text editor. Plain text¹ is great for almost everything. It's great for writing down basic ideas, notes, random thoughts. It's great for organizing all sorts of information. It's easy to find the information later with a simple search. There's no worry about future compatibility - if a future computer can't read my plain text files, then we're all screwed anyway.

When a text editor can't solve my problem, I open Excel. Excel is my workhorse. Need to do any math? Excel. Create an invoice? Excel. Figure out how much this loan will really cost me? Excel. Calculate projected cost / profit on a project? Excel. Create a form? Excel. You get the picture. If plain text can't handle it, I use Excel.

Excel isn't the right tool for a lot of things that I do, but it's comfortable. I'm really good with Excel, at least compared to a normal person. I suck compared to Excel Wizards, but I'm pretty sure they aren't actually human.

I never use Pages. I never use Word. They have no place. Most of the time, plain text is a better choice. If I must have fancy formatting, guess what? I use Excel.

Use what you know.

Were you counting on Lavabit to keep your emails secure? All may not be lost. Sure, you still have to find a new email provider, and that's no fun. At least you will be able to download your mail now, if you hurry.

Before Lavabit data becomes publicly available again, users will have 72 hours to change their passwords at the rebelliously named https://liberty.lavabit.com. Lavabit says it is offering a brief password reset window to ease concerns that user login data may have been compromised.

Also, if you are the type of person who likes freedom, consider contributing to Lavabit's legal fund¹.