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Google's latest Android operating system update, Android 9 Pie, was officially released to customers today following a beta testing period that started earlier this year.

Android Pie introduces a new gesture-based system interface that's similar to the interface of the iPhone X, with iPhone-like swipes for navigating through the operating system. We went hands-on with Android Pie earlier this year when it was in a beta testing phase.

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The new update also introduces the Android Dashboard, designed to tell you how much time you're spending on your device, which is similar to Apple's own Screen Time feature. A new Do Not Disturb option called "Shush" silences Android devices when placed facedown, and a Wind Down option lets Android users select a specific bedtime to turn the interface gray to discourage smartphone usage at night.

Android Pie also includes an Adaptive Battery feature that maximizes battery power by prioritizing the apps you're most likely to use next, App Actions for predicting what you'll want to do next (much like Siri Suggestions), and Slices, a feature that brings up information from your favorite apps right in search, is coming in the future.


Like all new versions of Android, Android Pie is available for a limited number of smartphones at its launch because Android-based smartphones use customized versions of the Android operating system, and each smartphone manufacturer needs to make the new software available to its customers.

Android Pie is available to Pixel phones today, with the update set to roll out to recent devices from manufacturers that include Sony Mobile, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and Essential later this year.

The majority of Android devices are not likely to ever see the Android Pie upgrade given Android smartphone fragmentation. The previous release, Android 8 Oreo, is installed on just 12 percent of Android devices as of July 23, 2018, despite the fact that it was released in August 2017.


Most Android smartphones continue to use Android Nougat, Marshmallow, and Lollipop, updates that came out in 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.

Comparatively, Apple's most recent operating system, iOS 11, was installed on 81 percent of devices as of May 31, 2018. 14 percent of devices use iOS 10, released in 2016, and just five percent of devices use an earlier version of iOS.


Apple is able to control the operating system on all of its devices which allows the company to distribute bug fixes, new features, and more to customers much more quickly.

When iOS 11 was launched, 25 percent of customers had downloaded it after just one week, and iOS 12, with the wealth of features that it brings like Screen Time and Siri Shortcuts, could see even faster adoption when it's released alongside new iPhones this September.


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Apple advertises that the latest MacBook Pro models provide up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge for web browsing and iTunes movie playback, but a user's mileage may vary based upon factors such as display brightness, which apps are running, and external devices connected.

For this reason, Apple lists apps using a significant amount of energy under the battery menu in the macOS menu bar. The feature enables users to monitor which apps are drawing a lot of power and impacting battery life, whether it be the built-in Spotlight tool or a power-hungry web browser with several tabs open.


Now, Apple has gone one step further and expanded the feature to include display brightness. On the latest macOS Sierra beta, when a Mac's display is set above 75% brightness—or at least 13 out of 16 notches—a new item called "Display Brightness" is listed under the battery menu.

Clicking on "Display Brightness" lowers the Mac's brightness to 75%. Likewise, when we updated a new MacBook Pro to the fourth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.3, the display's brightness was automatically lowered to 75%. This is the same brightness level as Apple used during its latest MacBook Pro battery tests.

New: "Display Brightness" is now listed and "Apps" has been dropped from the title
Battery life on the latest MacBook Pro models has been a controversial topic since the notebooks launched in October. A subset of users have reported getting as little as three to six hours of battery life on a single charge, sometimes even with only basic web browsing and other non-intensive tasks.

Apple has consistently stood by its advertised battery life for the latest MacBook Pro. It did, however, remove the "time remaining" battery life indicator on macOS Sierra 10.12.2, noting the estimates "couldn't accurately keep up with what users were doing" because of the "dynamic ways" people use their Macs.

Consumer Reports initially failed to recommend the latest MacBook Pro because of battery life inconsistencies, but it later worked with Apple and learned that a Safari bug triggered by its own testing configuration was to blame for the mixed results. Apple fixed that bug in macOS 10.12.3, and Consumer Reports has since reversed course and now recommends the latest MacBook Pro after retesting.

The new feature is currently limited to beta testers. It will be widely available when macOS 10.12.3 is officially released over the coming days.


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Five hours of simmering Sith. (BenjaminApple, thanks Jordan Kurland!)

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Leonid Bershidsky, writing for Bloomberg:

Swiss watchmakers haven’t really slept through the wearable-tech revolution. They’ve been watching as others did their market research for them. They can afford to wait: Export sales of high-end watches last year totaled 13.8 billion Swiss francs compared with just 3.1 billion francs in 2000. The industry has time to ponder strategies, play with designs and selectively choose from the new functions the Silicon Valley giants develop.

In other words, Swiss horologists are well positioned to out-Apple Apple. They are beginning to introduce new products after their competitors jumped in first. Swiss attention to detail can only be good for the emerging wearable industry, which, even with Apple on board, is still flying by the seat of its pants.

I don’t get this at all. Swiss watch companies may well be positioned to succeed with smartwatches, but it won’t be by “out-Appling Apple”. They have nothing that Apple brings to the table. They have no operating system. They have no developer platform. They have no expertise in semiconductors. If “Apple” is a verb, it means to own the whole widget, to “own the key technologies”, as Tim Cook said just this week. TAG Heuer partnering with Google for an OS and Intel for semiconductor design could not be less Apple-y.

The truth is that no other single company can do what Apple is doing with Apple Watch. (Maybe Microsoft, now that they own Nokia’s handset business? But even that seems like a real stretch.)

[Here's the second episode of Not Playing, hosted by Lex Friedman and Dan Moren . In each episode, Lex and Dan watch movies they've never seen -- but that everyone else has. There are two versions of each episode available — the capsules and the commentary track versions. Listen to their thoughts before and after they watch the movie, or listen to the longer, full commentary-track episodes and watch the classics again for the first time, with Lex and Dan! -- Mark]

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with Bruce Willis’s star-making turn as an everycop? Dan introduces Lex to the best Christmas movie ever, 1988′s Die Hard. Hot topics include Alan Rickman’s death scene, expletives in movies, and the many lives of Alexander Godunov.

Subscribe to Not Playing

RSS | iTunes | Download capsule episode | Download full commentary episode

Goodbye turkey and all the trimmings… hello cookies, candy and homemade food gifts. Although the stores seem to usher in the Christmas holiday season earlier and earlier every year, for me it officially begins the weekend after Thanksgiving. Suddenly, houses sparkle with lights, wreaths adorn doorways, Christmas music is on repeat, and I begin to think about all of the goodies I want to bake in the coming weeks. My list is growing, and while I work on which recipes make the short list for this holiday season, I want to share with you a collection of my holiday favorites that are already here on the site. There are cookies, candy, quick breads, and much more. Enjoy browsing, and keep an eye out for all the new recipes that will be coming your way this month!

Breakfast/Brunch:

1. Baked French Toast Casserole with Praline Topping
2. Best Buttermilk Pancakes
3. Breakfast Sausage, Egg & Cheese Casserole
4. Brown Sugar-Bacon Buttermilk Waffles
5. Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
6. Cheesy Sausage Spinach Breakfast Casserole
7. Cinnamon-Almond French Toast
8. Cinnamon Roll Biscuits
9. Cinnamon-Sugar Scones
10. Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls
11. Danish Braid
12. French Toast
13. Herbed-Baked Eggs
14. Honey Fig Scones
15. How To Make Oven-Fried Bacon
16. Monkey Bread
17. The Perfect Omelet
18. Perfect Scrambled Eggs
19. Sticky Buns
20. Triple Chocolate Scones

Drinks:

21. Bourbon Slush
22. Homemade Baileys Irish Cream
23. Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
24. Homemade Limoncello
25. White Chocolate Steamers
26. White Russian Winter Milkshake

Holiday Snacks & Nibbles:

27. Artichoke Spinach Dip
28. Bacon-Jalapeno Cheese Ball
29. Caramelized Onion, Mushroom & Gruyere Puff Pastry Tartlets
30. Chicken Spread
31. Chocolate & Peanut Butter Popcorn (Poppy Chow)
32. Cinnamon-Sugar Candied Pecans
33. Crab Dip
34. Fontina-Stuffed, Bacon-Wrapped Dates
35. Homemade Cracker Jack
36. Lavash Crackers
37. Muddy Buddies (Puppy Chow)
38. Parmesan & Thyme Crackers
39. Pigu
40. Reindeer Chow
41. Sweet Onion and Parmesan Dip
42. Sweet and Spicy Mixed Nuts
43. Veggie Pizza Appetizer
44. World’s Best Pimento Cheese Ball

Candy:

45. Avalanche Bark
46. Bourbon Pecan Pralines
47. Buckeyes
48. Cake Batter & Sprinkles Chocolate Bark
49. Cheesecake Truffles
50. Chocolate Bourbon Balls
51. Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
52. Chocolate Walnut Fudge
53. Chubby Hubby Truffles
54. Dark Chocolate Truffles
55. Eggnog Fudge
56. Homemade Marshmallows
57. Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
58. Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows
59. Homemade Torrone
60. Oreo Cheesecake Truffles
61. Peanut Brittle
62. Peanut Butter Fudge
63. Peppermint Bark
64. Pistachio Brittle
65. Pistachio & Cranberry White Chocolate Bark
66. Salted Caramel Cashew Bark
67. Sea Salt Caramels with Vanilla Bean
68. Toffee Pretzel Bark

Cookies & Bars:

69. Alfajores
70. Almond Lace Cookies
71. Anise-Almond Biscotti
72. Anise Cookies
73. Anisette Biscotti
74. Baklava
75. Biscotti
76. Buckeye Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
77. Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
78. Chocolate Biscotti
79. Chocolate Chip Tea Cookies
80. Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
81. Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Cookies
82. Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
83. Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
84. Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti
85. Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (Homemade Oreos)
86. Chocolate Sugar Cookies
87. Chocolate Sprinkle Thumbprint Cookies
88. Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
89. Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies
90. Cranberry-White Chocolate Almond Biscotti
91. Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
92. Cucidati (Italian Fig Cookies)
93. Dark Chocolate Chunk Eggnog Cookies
94. Date Bars
95. Eggnog Cheesecake Bars
96. Empire Cookies
97. Fig Cookie Bars
98. Fig and Walnut Biscotti
99. Filled Raisin Cookies
100. Gingerbread Men Cookies
101. Gobs (a.k.a. Classic Whoopie Pies)
102. Goody Goody Bars
103. Honey-Peanut Butter Cookies
104. Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies)
105. Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
106. Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar Cookies
107. No-Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies
108. Nut Crescents
109. Nutella-Hazelnut Cookies
110. Nutter Butter Snowmen
111. Oatmeal Carmelita Bars
112. Oatmeal Fudge Bars
113. Orange Cookies with Sweet Orange Glaze
114. Oreo Cheesecake Cookies
115. Parmesan Black Pepper Biscotti
116. Peanut Butter Blossoms
117. Peanut Butter Cookies
118. Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
119. Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars
120. Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
121. Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
122. Pecan Sandies
123. Pecan Tassies
124. Peppermint Whoopie Pies
125. Pizzelle
126. Rugelach
127. Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
128. Salted Caramel Popcorn, Pretzel & Peanut Bars
129. Salted Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
130. Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
131. Snickerdoodle Biscotti
132. Snickerdoodles
133. Snowball Cookies
134. Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
135. Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies (Related: How to Decorate Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing)
136. Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
137. Ultimate Ginger Cookies
138. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
139. Zia Lena’s Date Bar Cookies

Breads, Cakes, Pastries & Other Desserts:

140. Apricot Cream Cheese Babka
141. Banana Nut Bread
142. Better Than “Anything” Cake
143. Cannoli
144. Cheese, Olive & Ham Bread
145. Cinnamon Babka
146. Chocolate Babka
147. Date Nut Spice Bread
148. Double-Chocolate Loaf with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Spread
149. Gingerbread Cake
150. Grandma’s Ambrosia Salad
151. Ho Ho (Ho) Cake
152. Homemade Rum Cake
153. Nut Rolls
154. Peanut Butter-Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
155. Pepperoni Bread
156. Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
157. Sticky Toffee Pudding

What are some of your “must-make” holiday treats??

 

A blondie cookie bar with chunks of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries, topped with sweet cream cheese icing, tart dried cranberries and white chocolate drizzle  – perfect for the holidays!

I got a request this year to lighten Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bars – this make-over turned out excellent! I was able to cut the fat and calories by more than HALF, yet they still taste indulgent. The original bar is 340 calories with 19 grams of fat; this lighter version is just 149 calories with 5 grams of fat (4 points plus).


Last year I attempted to make these light but didn't have much success. I had used whole wheat flour and I believe that was my demise – it gave the bars an unpleasant texture and scent that I really didn't enjoy. 

This time I used Gold Metal all purpose flour and the results were excellent. This is dessert after all, and although I try to use whole grains in all my meals, it doesn't always work when baking. If you need a dessert for a holiday party, these are great. Leave them refrigerated until ready to serve.



Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Wil Wheaton has performed and recorded an audio edition of his wonderful memoir Just a Geek. Listen for free, or pay $12 for a DRM-free download. Wil's story is an interesting and inspiring one, and he's really a wonderful reader (I loved his reading of Ready Player One).

Just A Geek: Teh Audio Book

Ultralight backpackers are difficult to shop for because they hate carrying things that they don’t need. So the trick to buying them holiday gifts is to buy them something that is lighter than the apparel or gear that they already own.

Here is a selection of awesome ultralight backpacking gifts that any ultralight backpacker (male or female) would lust for!

 MontBell Plasma 1000 Down Jacket – 4.8 ounces – Unisex

Weighing just 4.8 ounces, the Montbell Ultralight Plasma 1000 Down Jacket is the ultimate in ultralight insulation. Filled with incredible 1000 fill power goose down and sporting a 7 denier DWR shell, this jacket is the state of the art in thermal insulation.

Fenix LD01 Headlamp & Flashlight – 1.0 ounce

Say goodbye to heavyweight headlamps!  Weighing just 1 oz, the Fenix LD01 headlamp and flashlight clips to a ball cap or visor and is small enough to attach to your keychain EDC. Fully waterproof to the IPX-8 standard, it has an LED light rated for 50,000 hours of use. With 3 lighting modes: high, medium, and low, it blasts a maximum of 72 lumens of light (burn time 1.5 hours) or 3 lumens (27 hours runtime) with a simple twist of the light’s head. Requires a single easy-to-find AAA battery.  Hat clip included.

Hyperlight Mountain Gear Cuben Fiber Stuff Sacks – 0.6 ounces or less

Cuben fiber stuff sacks are the perfect, slightly expensive, stocking stuffer. Available in multiple sizes with insanely ultralight weights:

• Nano – 4″ x 6″. perfect for cell phones or wallets. weight – 2 grams.
• Small – 8″ x 10″. sized for organizing toiletries or first aid, weight – 6 grams.
• Medium – 9″ x 12″. good for an insulation layer, socks and hat. weight – 8 grams.
• Large – 1o” x 14″. a good size for holding misc clothing and base layers. weight – 10 grams.
• Extra Large – 12″ x 17″. large enough to hold a summer sleeping bag or quilt. weight – 12 grams.
• Jumbo – 14″ x 19″. big enough to store a winter sleeping bag. weight 16 grams (0.6 ounces)

Plastic Travel Bottles in a Multitude of Sizes

Ultralight backpackers like to repackage liquid supplies into smaller lighter weight plastic bottles rather than bring a lifetime supply. It doesn’t matter if it’s olive oil, whiskey, shampoo, hand cleanser, or DEET, they want to bring as little of it as possible to save weight, and at a buck or two each, you can buy an assortment. They are super useful.

• Nalgene Drop-dispenser bottle – 2 fluid oz
• Round bottle with flip-top-dispenser – 1 fluid oz
• Round bottle with flip-top-dispenser – 3 fluid oz
• Round bottle with flip-top-dispenser – 4 fluid oz
• Flat oval bottle with screw on lid- 2 fluid oz
• Flat oval bottle with screw on lid- 4 fluid oz
• Flat oval bottle with screw on lid – 8 fluid oz
• Polyethylene pill or cream container with hinged lid- 0.25 fluid oz
• Polyethylene pill or cream container with hinged lid – 1 fluid oz
• Nalgene Multipurpose Vial Kit

Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine

Ray Jardine’s Beyond Backpacking is the classic book that started the Ultralight Backpacking movement.

No UL hiker’s library is complete without it! It’s been hard to find the past few years, but copies are available once again.

Sawyer MINI Water Filter – 2 ounces

Sawyer’s new MINI water filter is even smaller and lighter weight than the Squeeze water filter that was such a hit in the thru-hiking and ultralight backpacking community last year. Simply screw it onto one of the plastic water bags provided, onto a plastic soda bottle, or platypus hydration reservoir and start drinking. Weighing just 2 ounces, the MINI has an absolute filter pore size of 0.1 microns and removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli and removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium.

Goal Zero Luna LED Stick Lamp – 1 ounce

Sitting around in camp can burn up a lot of headlamp juice and doesn’t provide area lighting for multiple people. Save battery power and light up the night with the Goal Zero Luna LED Reading Lamp. With 10 super-efficient LED bulbs, it’s rated for 50,000 hours of burn time and can be powered with any USB-compatible battery pack. You can light up camp with this little light or use it in your tent to read at night. Also compatible with laptops and any USB capable power source.

MontBell Versalite Rain Pants – 3.6 ounces – Unisex

Heavy rain pants got you down? Shave a few more ounces by upgrading to MontBell’s Versalite Rain Pants. These 3 season, 2.5 layer Super Hydro Breeze (Water resistance: 20,000 mm Breathability: 20,000 g/m²/ 24 hrs) rain pants are fully seam-taped and made with  ultralight 15 denier Ballistic Airlight nylon. Featuring an elasticized waist draw cord they only weigh 3.6 ounces in a size M.

I don’t own a Unimat yet, but have had the pleasure of borrowing a ’70s model for small projects from time to time. I’ve used it on metal, wood, and plastic.

It’s a miniature wonder tool, made in Austria. It transforms from a lathe, to a drill press, to a mill, and back again. The older model looks a bit like a home sewing machine and has similar dimensions. You can whip this thing out on a desk and start machining stuff.

It’s relatively inexpensive, especially compared to the larger individual machines that it imitates. I’ve created many smaller parts on a Bridgeport that could have been completed on a Unimat. Of course there are limitations on speed, power, and precision, but for certain projects it’s the perfect fit.

I’ve never used the newer black & red model that looks like it’s made from 80/20 beam, so I can’t speak to them. But the older ones are well crafted. They have the feel of a fine watch crossed with a classic kitchen appliance. The parts are solid and hefty. The motor is beefy. The design is simple and precise. A real joy to touch and work with.

For me the ultimate combo is a Unimat coupled with a 3D printer. Subtractive and additive making without leaving the office chair means maximum iterations on protoypes while still having the computer nearby for research or CAD’ing.

Unimat demonstration from Dustin Firebaugh on Vimeo.

-- Aaron Nipper

[Here's a video of Aaron's Unimat in action - Mark Frauenfelder]

Unimat Mini Lathe
Out of production since 1977
Check eBay for models and prices

“The complicated kissing cousins of the bluegrass state’s bourbon industry.”

It's 85 minutes long, and it gets right into the meat of things. There are interviews with Notch, the Mojang crew, and game design luminaries, but the documentarians also capture the game's vibe in a way that few others do: that strange, expansive sense of place. You can download a DRM-free HD copy at the official website. [Video Link]

10 Figures of Speech - As illustrated by Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Paradiastole, Epanorthosis, Syncatabasis, Grandiloquence, Pleonasm, Synonymia, Auxesis & Meiosis, Paralipsis, Paraprosdokian, and Apheresis/Apocope/Syncope.

by @badphysics

I’ve been thinking about estimation these days. After the healthcare.gov site fiasco, and all the schedule games–many of which are estimation problems, I thought about why we estimate.

The larger the effort, the more we need to estimate. And, the more your estimate will be wrong. The more we estimate, the more we have schedule games. The smaller your effort, the easier it is to estimate.

That’s why I suggested you use agile approaches in this estimation series. You can break things down, and iterate. You get more information, and estimate smaller chunks. You are more likely to have accurate estimates.

Software is Not Construction; Software is Learning

Here’s one problem I have with estimation. Software is not construction. We can’t build software the same way we construct or manufacture anything. Software is all about learning as a team. We can timebox our learning. We can choose to stop doing something. We can put acceptance or release criteria around it and say, “We have done enough for now.”

But, we cannot say, “We can build this software for $xx per square foot.” We don’t know how to do that. Because we have not built exactly this software before. If we had built software like this before, we can estimate pretty darn close, because we either have historical data with good estimation quality, or we have small chunks of work we know about, or both.

When we estimate, other people think of our estimates the way they think of estimates in other fields, especially construction. Especially if you provide a single-point estimate. Even if you provide assumptions, which no one hears.

We estimate for these reasons:

1. To provide an order-of-magnitude size/cost/date about the project, so we have a rough idea of the size/cost/date for planning purposes. An order-of-magnitude size means we want to invest just enough time in the estimate that we believe in the accuracy of it for planning purposes.
2. We want to know when we will be done, because we are close.
3. We need to allocate money or teams of people for some amount of time.
4. Someone wants to know who to blame.

There is an alternative to estimating

Remember I said software is about learning? And, remember I said we never (okay, almost never) do the same software project twice?

Here’s something you can do. Make your features really small. Swarm (or as Woody Zuill says, mob) over every story every day. Always finish one or more stories every day.

If you always have deliverable software—this includes all tests, documentation, everything you need—you don’t need to estimate anything. You also gain the benefit of learning, so if someone asks, “How hard is thing to do?” the entire team can huddle together for a few minutes and say, “It’s this story and that story and this story, too.”

They then say, “We know it’s at least these three stories, and that’s off the top of our heads. Are those stories more important the ones at the top of our queue?”

What Do You Do? (Or, Prove It, JR!)

I don’t estimate my work. I work in chunks of work that take anywhere from 5 minutes to one hour. I rarely work in one-hour chunks. Most of my work takes less time than that.  I doubled my output this year by moving to smaller chunks of work.

I finished one book this year, and have another in beta. I have more books in progress. All while maintaining the same number of speaking and training engagements. I wrote roughly the same number of blog posts. I edited more agileconnection.com articles. Why can I do more?

Because my tasks are small. Because they are small I don’t have to estimate. I don’t have estimation time built into my work. I work in flow. That changes everything. I rank what’s most valuable at any time, and work on that.

Why Do You Estimate?

Why do you estimate? If you’ve estimated because you always have, think about it. If you estimate because your money people want to do once-a-year money allocation, well, you know that’s fiction. You can do it without detailed project estimation.

For money allocation, decide how valuable the project is to you. When does the project have to deliver the value? Now, tell the project team when the value has to be delivered. That’s all.

Remember, you hired these people because they were smart, responsible human beings. Stop with the phases and all that nonsense. Tell them what you want. Remember, the phases exist because management wanted to be able to cancel the project before it got too far along. You were supposed to show a deliverable and re-estimate at each phase. If don’t cancel, deliver, and re-estimate at each phase, your phases are not working for you.

Buy them a copy of Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management, which explains how to manage projects in any lifecycle. Give them a ranked backlog. Let them deliver. If they can’t deliver in the money or date frame, they will tell you. They are responsible humans.

If you need an order-of-magnitude estimation, fine. That doesn’t take days to determine. That takes hours. It will be precise-wrong and order-of-magnitude-right. Timebox it. It’s an order of magnitude. Don’t hold anyone to that estimate. (Quick, what’s the definition of estimate? “Guess.” That’s the definition. I kid you not.)

If you want to know when you’ll be done because you think you’re close to the end of the project, ask yourself this question: Is it worth the time to estimate vs. the time to finish? It might be. But know you are taking time away from finishing.

And, if you want to play the blame game remember that management is the one who needs to shoulder the most blame. Why? Because management set the constraints. Don’t believe me? Read the estimation series now.

I can sympathize with management’s need for estimates. I like order-of-magnitude estimates for many things. I even like specific estimates as we get closer. But creating software is not like driving someplace or like constructing a building. When I drive somewhere, I do want step-by-step instructions. When constructing a building, I do want an estimate. And even then, I am pretty sure the estimate is optimistic.

When creating software, I want to see working software as we create it, because with software, we learn. The learning is what’s most important. Because once we’ve learned enough, we can stop. That’s what’s most valuable. Not the estimate.

It’s easy to forget that we have access to a virtually limitless resource of information, i.e. the Internet. For a lot of us, this is even true at our fingertips, thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and an ever-increasing push for online greatness by tech engineers all over the world.

As a result, there are countless websites out there that are geared to make you smarter and more brilliant for either a low or no cost. Here are just 25 such sites that may just make you more clever than ever before.

1. Duolingo

This isn’t the first time I’ve recommended this language-teaching website (and app), and it certainly won’t be the last. Duolingo is a free version of Rosetta-Stone that delivers the same results: teaching you another language. Regular use of the site can have you speaking and writing Spanish, English, German, French, Portuguese and Italian in a matter of months depending on the diligence you put into it. Hopefully, even more languages will become available soon.

2. Khan Academy

Have you ever wanted to pick up a subject you’re not well-versed in, but you didn’t have the money to invest in a college course? Khan Academy aims to provide education at the collegiate level for anyone who wants it. They provide resources for learning pretty much every subject out there, including math, science, history and more. As you learn, the platform will even assess your progress and help you gauge what you’ve learned.

3. Justin Guitar

Guitar is one of the few instruments out there that’s actually pretty easy to learn if you’re a little older, making it one of the most accessible instruments. Still, learning how to play still takes some direction, at least for most people, so a guy named Justin decided he was going to help out. His website provides hundreds of free guitar lessons that range in different styles, depending on how you want to play. His schedule for learning is pretty easy to follow, and the site is a great stepping stone for people wanting to pick the instrument up.

4. Cooking for Engineers

Founded by Michael Chu, Cooking for Engineers goes further than just providing recipes. The site is a blog that is geared toward making your food taste good. Additionally, his analytical take on ingredients and cooking recipes is interesting and will likely change the way you approach cuisine.

5. The Dating Specialist

Or Nick the Dating Specialist is a website that wants to help guys be better dates. The site is full of advice on how to approach social situations and flirt successfully with different types of people. Nick even offers personal coaching at your request, so he can help your specific situation or hurdle to successful dating.

6. Nerd Fitness

When we think of exercising and gym techniques, we typically think of bodybuilders and jocks from high school. Nerd Fitness aims to provide resources for getting in shape from a nerd’s point of view. All of the guides, blogs and fitness tips on this site have a geek flavor that is intended to make anyone who feels uncomfortable at the gym feel right at home here.

7. MIT Open Courseware

As much as I would love an education at MIT, that isn’t really in the cards. Thankfully, the educators at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology decided to give out information for tons of courses online through Open Courseware. Hundreds of millions of people have benefitted from the information that they can learn from these courses, starting a trend for other sites to offer free courses as well.

8. Investopedia

I don’t like to admit it, but my lack of a business degree tends to make me feel easily intimidated when a conversation starts taking a turn for the financial. To solve this, Investopedia was born to provide a news blog that makes it easy to digest and really understand the financial markets. There are tons of resources like tutorials and videos that will help you keep up with the ever-changing world of money, and the news stories will keep you coming back for more.

9. Quora

Have you ever wanted to ask someone famous a question, but you suffer from never having the chance? Thanks to Quora, you can read the opinions and answers of fascinating (and varied) questions from the leading experts in pretty much everything. You can answer questions too and get feedback from numerous others who share your love for a given topic.

10. Information is Beautiful

I love reading, but sometimes a visual demonstration just makes information come alive. Hence, Information is Beautiful is a platform that uses gorgeous visuals to impart data. For example, if you want to find out how much money individual organizations have lost from data breaches, you can view an action visual that shows bubbles that are labeled and sized accordingly, giving you an in-depth, but easy to digest overview of the data.

11. Spreeder

According to Spreeder, a lot of us have trouble reading quickly because we can only read as fast as our “inner voice” can. Spreeder’s solution is to teach you to read without an inner voice, boosting reading speed and comprehension immensely. The best part? It’s totally free.

12. Project Gutenberg

Imagine a library with tons of free books that you can keep for the rest of your life. Actually, you don’t have to imagine that because Project Gutenberg gives you the ability to download thousands of free e-books, and it’s completely legal.

13. Codeacademy

If you haven’t noticed by now, the Internet has pretty much taken over everything, which means the skill of coding and developing websites is in higher demand than ever, and that’s not likely to change. With Codeacademy, you can use free tutorials that teach you the basics of coding with interactive and handy tools for helping you become an expert.

14. GeographyIQ

Imagine if Google Earth and Wikipedia decided to make it official and have a child. That would be GeographyIQ. Using the world map, you can select any country and access virtually every facet of useful information there is about that country, including history, currency, population and more.

15. Anki

It’s no secret that the key to memorizing information is mastering recall. With flashcards, you can recall things faster, making Anki an ideal resource for using flashcards online. Unlike other sites that use flashcards, Anki allows you embed more than just text. You can use video, audio and images to help you start studying faster and smarter.

16. Lumosity

Using games to learn is something I’ve treasured since Kindergarten, making Lumosity a trusted resource for me and countless others. Using a daily schedule of games, Lumosity is literally designed to make you more clever. As you progress, the software figures out what your strengths and weaknesses (such as memory or math skills) and assigns you games accordingly. The best part is that the games are actually addicting and fun to look forward to!

17. CliffsNotes

Ideal for high school and college students, Cliffsnotes provides valuable resources like study guides and test prep for standard books and subjects you’ll have to read anyway. The site also provides resources for math and science, giving you the chance to finally master the dark arts of homework.

18. TED

For years, people have been benefitting from TED talks that provide free insights from the world’s smartest people. TED provides the value and learning growth of a seminar, but without the exorbitant costs and travel expenses, by providing visitors with tons of free video lectures. The app is also great for catching up on the latest talks, and you can even download some on iTunes.

19. Pinfruit

Need to memorize a lengthy number? Pinfruit analyzes the number and provides all of the options you could want as a mnemonic device. That’s all there is to it, since (unfortunately) they only provide this for numbers and not words.

20. Mindtools

There are countless blogs that you can enjoy for being interesting and mildly useful, but how many of them actually help you with your career? Mindtools is a blog that teaches you what they call “practical career skills” that you can apply at your job. This is a great daily read for entry-level workers who want to make a great impression, and the variety of topics and advice provided make this is a fantastic bookmark for anyone wanting to excel.

21. Learn Street

Want to take your coding skills to the next level? Learn Street helps teach you how to use advanced coding scripts such as JavaScript, Python and Ruby without making your head explode. It even provides a service for helping you teach advanced code to others.

22. HowStuffWorks

There are things we want to know about, and then there are things we didn’t know we wanted to know about. HowStuffWorks addresses the latter by providing information on a variety of topics and eye-opening facts that will broaden your horizons.

23. OneLook

Finding a great dictionary is not a difficult task in a world full of search engines, but it can be tricky to define more complicated words and phrases that most dictionaries (besides UrbanDictionary) don’t attempt to define. With OneLook, you can find multiple definitions from numerous dictionaries in one place, even if you’re looking up a phrase that is obscure or too specific for normal dictionaries to help you out with.

24. The World Factbook

Did you know that the CIA has information on pretty much everything in the world? Okay, but did you know that they make a ton of this information open to the public? The World Factbook is your godsend for research, allowing you to cite facts and details that pertain to a seemingly endless amount of information from reputable sources.

25. Couchsurfing

Don’t let the name fool you, as Couchsurfing is far from a website that will make you lazy. Couchsurfing lets you connect with travelers all over the world and is the ultimate resource for experiencing other cultures. Put simply, you can use the social network to meet locals in a new community you are visiting. You can also open up your home to fellow couchsurfers, giving you the chance to make new experiences and memories with fascinating people from all over the globe.

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