David Barley About, Resume, and Blog

Ghost has been really great. I recently decided to set up a little website for myself, and I thought I'd start with a pre-built something or other. I settled on Ghost. It's pretty interesting. I've had a positive experience, but I'm not sure I want to stay with it. I …

I recently read an article about a new company working to make the prefect phone and it got me thinking. What would my perfect phone be? And I have a few thoughts. Start with the Nexus 5. Make the screen about .3" smaller on the diagonal. Then shrink the bezel …

Why make ethical decisions? Good people are not guaranteed an easy life. Dictators, drug dealers, mob bosses, corrupt politicians, embezzling CEOs, human traffickers and countless other groups of people live unethical lives; they enjoy riches, power and fame. I believe that those benefits do not bring true happiness. Additionally, riches …

I just finished the book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, a good read for anyone curious about social networks.

I thought it was pretty long though; the author could have ended at the halfway mark and still had a good book. I think that social media …

I recently switched my laptop from Windows 8.1 to Ubuntu. I’ve played with Ubuntu in the past and this is another, probably temporary, switch away from Windows. I switched because I was getting the occasional BSOD. I’ve noticed that, in general, Ubuntu is more stable than Windows …

The patent system in the United States is broken. Patents are granted for “inventions” that aren’t innovative. For example, Apple was granted a patent on “slide to unlock,” which has been in fence gates for many years. The validity of a patent is not contingent on progress of the …

Humans have become increasingly dependent on technology over the past 20 years. Nearly every career requires the ability to interface with a computer to some degree. Not having a cell phone by the time you turn 17 is considered strange. As technology becomes more ingrained in our society we are …

Google is forging onward with Chrome OS and announced the new HP Chromebook 11. I love the idea of a Chromebook: a portable, thin client with great battery life. I have a powerful desktop that I use for my CPU heavy tasks so I have no need for a powerful …

So as an extra credit assignment for my CS 404 class I followed #ldsconf on twitter during the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. Not something I'll likely ever do again. Because I was having this private interaction with my laptop I felt disconnected from Jessica. Honestly it was tough …

I’ve never been interested in family history. The only family history work I’ve ever done was when I was called as a Record Indexer for a few months. My mom and grandparents have tried several times to get me interested in family history, but I always evade them …