It would probably be an understatement to say I’m not a gamer. Last console I got was a Game Boy, 22 years ago (IIRC). Never got a gaming PC.

•  iPod
•  iPad
• Games
•  iPhone

I’m not sure how useful this Docker “trick” is, since it happens in a very niche situation. At work, we have several instances running a suite of Docker containers, with some non-trivial amount of environment variables, port configurations, volumes and links among them. This is set up really easily using ansible: writing link/port/volume mappings in ansible (using the docker, container or docker-container modules, depending how long ago we set it up).

• Programming
• Docker
• Trick

A few weeks ago I needed to parse configuration files in Scala for a Spark project and decided to use PureConfig. It is incredibly lean to use, needing minimal boilerplate. I recommend you check it out (give also a look at CaseClassy, which I haven’t had time to test yet). Everything seemed straightforward enough, and I got it working pretty quickly (as in, it compiled properly). The surprise? spark-submit failed with a conflict with Shapeless (lacking a witness).

• Apache Spark
• scala

Some of the links are affiliate links to Amazon. I only recommend what I use. At last February. Finished my PhD dissertation, so can add Dr. in front of my name when ordering a Gatwick Express train ticket. Also makes for a cooler email signature. So far has been the only differences I’ve seen in the year Work February-December Started working as a consultant in London, almost the day after delivering the PhD presentation.

• Go
• Data
• Python
• Scala
• Maths

I have been looking for the perfect, really portable Bluetooth keyboard for several years. Typing on the go, or having a truly mobile office in your pockets is a really interesting concept for a consultant like me. You never know when opportunity or need may arise. A year and a half ago I ordered what it looked like the perfect keyboard for that setup, but (even though it was supposed to arrive 3-4 months later) I’m still waiting.

• Keyboard

This has been the first time I could attend the Apache Kafka meetup in London. Previous meetings had me in Barcelona or flying. First realisation: it is a surprisingly crowded meetup! Clearly, everyone is using Kafka, even if it is not clear from the outside. Oh, and the food was pretty good, too. Thanks to the sponsor (which I have sadly forgotten). I really enjoyed this one. The speaker was Jay Kreps, CEO and co-founder of Confluent (and author of I Heart Logs), so, basically, a Kafka top committer himself.

• London
• Scala
• Kafka