Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular link to posts of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Covered Podcast Blog
Covered is bi-weekly podcast about writers and their books.

In this post, creator and host Harry C. Marks reflects on what he has learned over the past year in producing what is easily one of my favourite podcasts.

There are six great points here, most relate to podcasting, however there is also one about reading and writing — Don’t Just Read What You Know. My attempts to get back into reading more over the past 12 months have been in no small way influenced by Covered, and for that reason, I am especially grateful.

A fantastic, tightly edited and superbly produced show — very much looking forward to Season 2:
One Year Later

 

TOW Centre For Digital Journalism
As I’m sure regular readers will know — the Lore podcast by Aaron Mahnke is another of my favourites. Following along on Twitter (and the iTunes charts) over the past 6 months or so, it has become clear that Lore’s popularity has trended upwards fairly sharply.

If you’ve listened to the show yourself, you’ll know there is nothing curious about Lore’s success, however in today’s podcast market, it is indeed rare:
The Curious Success of Lore: A Case Study

 

512 Pixels
Stephen Hackett with some good points to consider, if, like myself, you are moving from Evernote to the native Mac and iOS Notes apps (also check out the follow-up piece here).

Given the major overhaul of Notes which occurred with the introduction of iOS 9, I am hopeful of further improvements coming in the future. I can live with the UI, however it would indeed be great to have better sorting options and tagging.

Having never quite been 100% happy with Evernote, I am particularly enjoying the ability to efficiently send notes to the app from anywhere which has access to the share sheet, along with the ability to add what I am sending to a current note.

I am also hopeful (and somewhat optimistic) Apple will never repeatedly yell at me about features within the app which I had repeatedly declined (read the footnotes):
Notes on Notes.app

 

Chambers Daily
There is also this:

Evernote hasn’t added a feature in a long time that I cared about. It was a platform that was standing still for me. It was a platform that I was invested in with my time and my money, and I felt less and less confident about its future.

Not an insignificant move from someone who wrote Learning to Love Evernote a few short years ago:
Learning to Leave Evernote

 

Fountain Pen Economics
You know a post is going to be interesting when my name is mentioned in it. Ha!

In all seriousness, you know a post is going to be interesting when you think to yourself — wow, that hits the nail on the head about many of the reasons why I write this blog, but I had never really thought about in that way.

Another great post yet again from the pen community’s resident economist:
Blogging and Human Capital

 

Brewing Coffee Manually
Hat tip to Brian Renshaw for this one.

A list of terms worth scanning through if you are inclined to increase your coffee vocabulary. For example:

Cascara – Spanish for “husk,” cascara refers to a coffee tea that is made from the dried coffee fruit that is removed from the green coffee seed.

While you’re there, be sure to click on the Mugshots menu at the top of the page:
Manual Brewing Coffee Glossary

 

The Pen Habit
The publication of this great review by The Pen Habit coincides with my own post from a couple of days ago on the Pilot Prera. Whenever I read reviews on pens I have written about, I invariably tend to see all of the things I’ve left out of my own.

In considering that point though, experience and time in this game count for much, and I’m happy to tell you about what I like or don’t like — leaving some of the finer points for those more expert than myself, as is the case here.

By the way – I liked the Prera too:
Pen Review: Pilot Prera

 

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
More than simply another great review of a pretty attractive pen. With the reference to another review of the same pen (the link to which I highly recommend clicking), Ian highlights the variations in opinion which occur in something like pen reviews. I say this not as a negative — but something to be expected, and why there are always enough links to share around.

This one has a price tag which is a little more than I’d be prepared to pay:
Bespoke British Pens Conway-Stewart Winston Fountain Pen Review

 

Alt. Haven
This is a truly impressive looking pen. From the matte black finish, the 21K nib, right through to the name.

I mean, it even sounds impressive:
Review: Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black

 

Pax Coffea
Although seemingly obvious on its own:

The point of all this is that our perception of coffee and our description of coffee flavors is very dependent on the culture we learn about tasting in. Two tasters, tasting the very same thing, will use different language to describe it.

This is a fascinating read about why the blackcurrant and blackberry flavour descriptors exist in the UK and the US respectively, and what role White Pine trees have in all this:
Why Kenyan Coffee Tastes Different in the UK and the US – or How the Government Controls Your Flavor Descriptors

 

Matt Gemmell
I have written, rewritten and subsequently  scrapped links to, and short posts on what has been going on regarding this online “discussion” around app pricing and business models — well, that is what it should have been about, however quickly turned to people, not issues.

I strongly recommend reading this, and clicking the links contained therein for context. In the absence of linking to posts documenting the whole saga here, this is a considered piece which sums up much of my thinking as I looked on at developments over the past week or so.

Putting anything together even half as eloquent as the words in Matt’s piece being well and truly beyond me, you should definitely read the post. Me? I’m just enjoying Pocket Casts again:
Responsibility

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