Ben Szymanski

Software Engineer • Umbraco Certified Master • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ & 🐊

Blog Archive

Nah, the Umbraco Community Hasn't Lost Its Spark—We Have

Contrarian. Politically incorrect. Littered with curse words. But as objective and as truthful as I'm capable of comprehending.

11/6/2025 7:35:21 PM

Apple Vision Pro

Some thoughts on what we should be building instead.

2/13/2024 12:29:00 PM

Podcast Wars

How does everyone keep up with all of this long-form content?

2/12/2024 3:45:00 PM

The State of Mac Automation

Why can't Apple's own system automation tools be that productive?

11/16/2023 11:57:00 AM

The iPad in 2023

The iPad is in decline, and hardly anyone cares.

10/9/2023 1:24:00 AM

PowerMac G3 (Blue and White)

Drive 8 hours to pick up an old computer? Sure, why the hell not!

9/24/2023 12:00:00 PM

The Strategy of the Mac Studio Display/Monitor

The Mac Studio display has been chided since its release as unnecessary, in both price and components. Could it be that we have been looking at is what the flat-panel Apple TV was supposed to be? A reused design?

7/3/2023 11:34:00 AM

The Storage Closet at The Murray Public Library

Find out what happened to Janet.

4/6/2023 12:20:00 AM

Louis Rossmann Flees NYC

The message is strong - gtfo of states that can't manage themselves

3/28/2023 12:00:00 PM

Enthusiasts of the PowerMac 6100

Found a website dedicated to one of my favorites

3/7/2023 12:06:00 PM

Return of XServe

Maybe the Mac Pro should be discontinued

2/22/2023 2:09:00 PM

Window Focus

One of the worst annoyances of MacOS today is window focus.

11/29/2022 12:19:00 PM

Blue Box

Slowly realizing why the blue box was needed.

11/26/2022 12:59:00 AM

Optimal Operating Systems

Documenting which operating systems work best on which machinery

11/19/2022 12:07:00 PM

Aluminum Macs

As boring as these aluminum Macs are, they're going to age so much better.

10/25/2022 1:50:00 AM

My Least Favorite Mac

I love Macs, but not every Mac.

9/29/2022 12:00:00 PM

Switching Back to Safari in 2022

Chrome or Safari? Pick one. (I pick Safari)

9/15/2022 12:00:00 PM

FaceID Should Be Disabled

Reclaim your life by disabling FaceID

8/29/2022 12:00:00 PM

Site Redesign (Late 2022)

Time for another major site refresh.

8/29/2022 12:00:00 PM

FreeBSD Pilled

Everyone needs to get FreeBSD-pilled that FreeBSD is better than Linux.

3/22/2022 12:00:00 PM

Daylight Savings Time

No one would complain about the daylights savings changeover/spring forward if it happened during the workday.

3/15/2022 12:00:00 PM

Server Obsession

I am obsessed with server utility applications, and I have no idea why.

2/16/2022 1:36:00 AM

Two MacBook Pros

First generation Intel MacBook Pro, meet first generation M1 MacBook Pro.

2/16/2022 1:36:00 AM

Worldwide Software Engineer Appreciation

Worldwide software engineer appreciation week kicks off next week, 1/31.

1/29/2022 10:09:00 PM

Saving 100+ Clamshell iBooks

Dedication to the cause of saving beautiful iBook G3s

4/1/2021 12:00:00 PM

Setting Up a Chat Server

Adventure in setting up your own XMPP server

1/27/2021 8:17:00 PM

An Interview

Who is the man behind this blog?

11/15/2020 5:26:09 PM

Your Computer Isn't Yours: A Response

Some thoughts on hardware lockdown.

11/14/2020 8:06:00 PM

Elementary OS

Installing Elementary OS to determine if it's "good"

10/12/2020 12:00:00 PM

Becoming Umbraco Certified

Celebrating completing a professional certification.

6/14/2020 12:00:00 PM

Video Games

I don't play videos games much these days, but these are the ones I used to like.

4/29/2020 8:28:00 PM

Backups

Using rsync to roll your own backup solution.

4/4/2020 12:00:00 PM

Macintosh Aesthetic

A new photo blog for my Mac collection

3/20/2020 4:10:00 PM

Read-Write vs Read-Only on Twitter

Twitter is toxic AF tbh

3/16/2020 8:03:00 PM

You Are So Boring

The world is not boring, YOU are boring for paying attention to nothing!

2/26/2020 12:09:00 PM

Computing Should Be Fun! (Part 3)

What happened to computing? Picking some new hardware.

2/23/2020 12:00:00 PM

That Time I Went Indie...

The truth about the time I tried to forge my own path.

2/8/2020 12:00:00 PM

Computing Should Be Fun! (Part 2): Feedback

What happened to computing? Someone actually read this!

1/25/2020 4:46:00 PM

Computing Should Be Fun! (Part 2)

What happened to computing? The Master Plan.

1/15/2020 12:00:00 PM

Computing Should Be Fun! (Part 1)

What happened to computing?

12/28/2019 12:00:00 PM

How I Got Into Web Development

Everyone has to start somewhere, and this is my story.

11/22/2019 12:00:00 PM

Moltz's Pickup Lines for Geeks

Jokes that only nerds could get into

11/4/2019 4:11:00 PM

Life Hack: How to Deal With Spare Change

The best way to get rid of spare change is to wait until night falls, when the streets are empty, then go get groceries and dump it by the fistful into the self-check machines.

10/8/2019 12:00:00 PM

Administering Servers Used to be Fun

Administering Servers Used to be Fun

10/7/2019 8:04:42 PM

On Downloading App Store Software

Downloading software from the App Store is as dignified as sitting in the massage chairs in the middle of the hallways of your local indoor mall.

10/3/2019 12:00:00 PM

Email Chains

Actually, everyone loves memes

10/3/2019 12:00:00 PM

Music Surfing

The best way to find new tracks on Apple Music is to find a song you already know, search and let it play through the entire list of poorly matched songs it returns.

9/30/2019 2:08:00 PM

16:9 is an injustice forced on computer users by cinema loving nerds.

16:9 is an injustice forced on computer users by cinema loving nerds.

7/25/2019 2:44:00 PM

Thread 500

You bootlicking fanboys know who you are, and you need to stop comparing everything to the iPod.

4/14/2019 8:26:00 PM

Generations: The History of America''s Future, 1584 to 2069

Where does that generational theory/idea originate from?

3/30/2019 12:00:00 PM

Photoshop Icons

Which version was the best?

3/24/2019 12:00:00 PM

What a Computer is

In the days of multi-million (or more) dollar marketing budgets telling us that tablets are computers, I respond with this.

3/18/2019 8:30:00 PM

A Parking Lot Story

A Parking Lot Story

3/12/2019 2:30:00 PM

NGINX Sold

Well, I’m pretty glad I never turned into an NGINX kind of guy

3/11/2019 7:41:00 PM

2018 Mac mini

2018 Mac mini

11/19/2018 6:07:00 PM

Two Mean Things (iPad)

Two mean things you can do to someone.

11/8/2018 12:00:00 PM

Is it a bug, or is it just incomplete?

This is your reminder to stop calling incomplete software "buggy."

2/5/2018 12:10:00 PM

Classic Finder

Shift timelines and run a clone of the classic Finder on your modern Mac!

12/21/2017 4:39:00 PM

Blended Tech

What if we blended tech more invisibly into everyday things?

12/21/2017 12:00:00 PM

Server Admin, Running in an iPad on a Mac

Memories of the time someone at Apple pasted in a screenshot of an iPad on top of MacOS

12/9/2017 8:16:00 PM

The 2015 MacBook Pro

Critique of the critique of the MacBook Pro.

11/15/2017 8:19:00 PM

WebForms vs MVC

ASP.NET MVC vs WebForms

11/10/2017 8:30:00 PM

Switching to Grav

Trying out a new type of CMS for this site.

3/25/2017 4:11:00 PM

Multi-Index Search in Umbraco Using Examine

Guide on using Examine multi-indexers and searchers in Umbraco.

10/14/2016 7:40:00 PM

Chrome and Web Animations

Careful with those javascript function names

2/3/2016 12:00:00 PM

Shorthand in SVG, Core Graphics

Converting SVG paths to CoreGraphics paths.

12/21/2015 8:20:00 PM

Setting up ASP.NET/Mono on macOS

A guide on how to install and configure ASP.NET / Mono on macOS.

11/30/2015 8:17:00 PM

Setting up ASP.NET/Mono on macOS Server

A guide on how to install and configure ASP.NET / Mono on macOS Server.

11/9/2015 8:19:00 PM

Write Applications

I write #applications, not #tragedies.

10/22/2015 12:00:00 PM

Novell

Novell poking fun at Microsoft

8/26/2015 7:42:00 PM

Reminiscing About Old UI's

Comparing the interface of Panther and Yosemite

4/30/2015 8:05:00 PM

The Best Terminal Startup

Using Terminal.app profiles to get up and going a bit quicker.

3/1/2015 8:25:00 PM

Parallax Effects and Animation

What's missing from iOS's new parallax animations

11/30/2014 7:56:00 PM

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