My online New Year’s resolutions

I won’t bore you with my (already failed) New Year’s resolutions such as going to bed earlier, not checking Twitter when attempting to go to bed, taking more time to cook, exercise more and the other usual suspects, but instead, I will share some of my online resolutions.

1. Blog more often
   This one is going pretty well so far. For me, personally, it is about not setting the bar so high. A blog post doesn’t necessarily has to deal with my research, or has to be pondered upon for days. Small and quick blog posts are also fine. If I’m considering writing about something and don’t do it within one or two days it will eventually pass. Act immediately and write. My blog is the most beautiful archive I have.
2. Learn how to go offline and focus
   This one seems to be quite popular as for example described by Nick Denton from the New York Times who wants to learn how to “To Enjoy the View Without Help From an iPhone” in 2012. I just purchased the Freedom and Anti-Social bundle to limit the distractions on my MacBook while writing. While Anti-Social will turn off social parts of the web, such as Twitter and Facebook, Freedom will totally disconnect you. It’s reminiscent of “going offline,” remember those days?
3. Learn how to code
   I’ve been wanting to learn how to code for quite a while now and in 2008 I dedicated a blog post titled “Dear MTV, I Wanna Be MADE into a Killer PHP Programmer” to it. Now Codecademy has made this resolution easier than ever with their Code Year initiative: “Sign up on Code Year to get a new interactive programming lesson sent to you each week and you’ll be building apps and web sites before you know it.” I will let you know about the progress.
4. Clean app permissions
   This handy site was shared on Twitter: “Start 2012 by Taking 2 Minutes to Clean Your Apps Permissions.” I just revoked access to tons of applications I don’t even remember ever activating.
   
5. Backup backup backup
   Backup your WordPress database and your files. Put them anywhere. I backup my writing files on Dropbox and an external HD using TimeMachine and I use CrashPlan to backup my photos to the cloud (and an external HD using TimeMachine).
6. Update update update
   This one always follows after backup :) I just updated my iPad to iOS5 and my blog to the most recent version of WordPress for security reasons.