Vale.Rocks Posts
Declan Chidlow — Web developer and writer
Long form writings about assorted topics.
vale.rocks/postsDeclan Chidlow writes about whatever he's thinking about — accessibility advocacy, AI criticism, Neovim configuration, unicycling, nootropics, game reviews — with the conviction that a personal blog should actually be personal. Posts range from carefully argued essays on why you can't opt out of accessibility to strongly worded rants about open-source licensing, all written with a directness that makes the range feel cohesive rather than scattered.
Written by Declan Chidlow.
Regular
Publishes weekly or bi-weekly
3
Independent Blog
English
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Overview of Digital Accessibility Technologies
There are a great number of tools and devices out there designed to improve computer use for people with disabilities or even make computer use possible at all. We can consider them in two broad categories, input and output. Input methods send data provided by a user to a device, while output methods send information provided by a device to a user. This is a non-exhaustive list of these technologies for reference. Though I have attempted to be relatively comprehensive in covering usage, accessib...
The Internet Is Going To Change Everything
The internet is on the horizon. It is happening. This internet is a technology that is going to change the world, alongside the World Wide Web. It is going to be huge. Knowledge beyond measure. The world will be not as we know. A superpowered information superhighway is being established. Soon we will all be surfing the ‘net and finding our footing in a grand new interconnected world. We will look back years from now at a time before the internet and wonder how we survived. How, as a speci...
There Isn't A Microchip Under Your Skin Tracking You
I’ve written previously about subdermal implants. As a result, I receive the occasional concerning message from people thinking they’re being tracked or the likes. Small, discreet, implantable chips that actively track you as you move around do not exist. Important I fear writing this is futile. For somebody with a mental disorder, this will likely not sway your already defined conclusions. It may even convince you I am somehow 'in on it'. I will not be addressing completely...
Lessons From Tech Support
I’ve done a lot of tech support, previously operating a tech support business which had me helping all varieties of people, both at their homes and remotely. Here is an attempt to catalogue some of the tips and tricks I picked up. Worth noting is that the primary demographic I found myself helping was the elderly. They usually have all-in-ones, though sometimes laptops, and are more often than not running Windows. Naturally, my notes therefore have a skew in the direction of the older coho...
The $25 MacBook Pro
Seeing a listing for a MacBook at the price of $25 AUD triggers a certain thought in the demented mind of a creature such as myself. Sure, the listing title might open with ‘FOR PARTS’ and the description might have the cursed words ‘crashes randomly and other odd behaviors’, but what has one got to lose from giving it a go? $25? Full send it, I say. I went and picked it up locally, and the seller even threw in a pristine hardshell case. Lovely. The Patient The laptop is...
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