Nov 222013
 

Like lots of people I am interested in technology and love finding out about new ways to hack my current technology stack. This stack is tweaked constantly, I was just thinking I’d find it interesting to look at last week and see how my stack got updated.

Orange Squeeze

I have some Squeezebox kit as part of my music playing setup. It’s frustrating that the hardware was discontinued by Logitech in 2012, though I am buoyed by the ongoing power of it’s community. Checking the Squeezebox forums for any latest news, I came across Orange Squeeze, an app to control Squeezeboxes and it sounded really interesting. I immediately paid the €2.49 and playing with it that night, I was completely stunned with what it gives me out of the box.

It picked up my 2 Squeezebox devices and allowed me to turn either on/off just like that. Once I set one as the default I am then able to scroll my entire music collection, including seeing the albums I have favourited on Deezer. I have currently have about 80 albums in my Deezer library, selecting one to play via the Squeezebox is a bit frustrating. Selecting via the app is a joy, immediately I new this was not an essential party of my stack and would influence my listening habits.

Pocket

I use Pocket to keep track of web articles I want to read, I use it daily and find it indispensable. It provides a nicer environment to read an article that a web page, so If I I started reading something on the web I immediately send it to Pocket. I installed Pocket on my new work phone and when scr9lling an article I noticed my gesture said I had toggled page flip, Playing with this I found my gesturing right or left the page flipped like if reading a book. This is great, for me much better than scrolling with my finger. Going back to my personal phone and Pocket option I found that Page Flip is an option in setting I had not turned on. Instantly I knew that my technology stack usage had just had another tweak.