The last rewrite of the code which runs this site was in 2009, when I changed from a static site generator I’d written in ruby to an AppEngine site I wrote when I was first learning python. In the main I was very happy with AppEngine: I’d not paid them a cent but they’d happily hosted my site for five years.

Lately, however, I’d begun to want a better understanding of the technologies the site runs on. AppEngine’s abstractions were becoming to much. I’ve wanted a server of my own for a while; I chose Linode (referral URL) because my friends using it haven’t had many bad words to say about it. I chose Cloudant because I work there and wanted to have an app I – sort of! – depend on running there.

Top top off the weekend’s app update bonanza, I just submitted an new version of Divided to the App Store. 1.7 has a bunch of iOS 7 interface tweaks. I’ve been sitting on these since September 2013. I’d intended to neaten them up, but clearly never got around to it, so thought it best to release them while I’m in the mood to take screenshots and jump through hoops.

This is an abridged version of the Clifton Coffee Company’s brewing guide. The method is the same, I’ve just put it into a form I find easier to refer to.

Quantities

• 60g of ground coffee per 1L of water.
• 2 cups is about 600ml

Process

Grind, weigh and add the coffee grounds to the cafetiere while the kettle boils.

00:00   Kettle boils; let it sit to allow the water to cool slightly.
01:30   Pour the water from the kettle into the cafetiere. Allow coffee to bloom.
02:30   Use a dessert spoon to push the coffee down into the water; a single stir. At this point I usually use leftover water in the kettle to warm the cups.
05:30   Add the lid to the cafetiere, plunge the plunger, serve.

I submitted updates for Drinktrack and One to Watch to the App Store today.

In One to Watch, I made a small tweak to how you swap between the lists of watched and unwatched films. I think switching to a segmented control both makes the process simpler and exposes the feature more prominently.

The changes to Drinktrack are more worthwhile:

• You can now elect to use 0.5% increments of AbV.
• U.S. measures are included. For U.S. users, they are put at the beginning of the list of measures. For the rest of the world, they’re appended.
• A few extra measures. 75ml glasses of wine, ⅔ and ⅓ of a pint for fancy-pants craft beer bars.
• Quicker way to move drinks between days: little buttons to go forward and back.
• General design tweaks to fit in with iOS 7, which I thought I released ages ago, but it turned out I didn’t. Ooops.

Expect them to be on the App Store within the week.

This statement, in The Economist Explains… How India pale ale conquered the world , catches the gist of the current flood of beers highlighting hops above all else:

The passion for hops in American craft beers has taken on the characteristics of an arms race, as brewers try to outdo each other in hoppiness.

I’m enjoying this, but we are risking the creators of beers putting showing off above enjoyment.