Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
I voted in Coasterbot‘s Votecoasters. You can too. As I did in 2021
The list goes beyond the 50 as I did spend time in Wallbi and some old rollercoasters no longer exist (goodbye Jetline).
Worth noting how a bunch of the 4D freespinners are group together and how a lot of the special one time riders are near the bottom (looking at you Th13teen, which needs replacing with something new!)
I bought the Palma 1st edition and then the 2nd edition.
As most of you know I have a sweet spot for eink/epaper, buying my first ereader in the form of a Sony ereader, moved to the kindle and then the Android based Likebook. During that time I also have a long history with the Pebble smartwatch.
I bought the Palma 1 because it fitted with a need to have a second Android device as a backup and to replace my old Likebook. Just as I bought it, they announced a Android 13 upgrade and I searched for the firmware which seemed to be only available in Asia? Then soon after the Palma 2 was announced with a few tweaks I would use including fingerprint support, better processor and higher microSD levels. Seeing I could pre-order it but also return the Palma 1 for no extra cost; I jumped.
It shipped a month later and I got it last week. Its great just like the last one with a few extras, which I understand most don’t care about.
A few things are strange, including access to authy and a few apps which don’t run as expected. The strange part, is that authy on the Palma 1 worked correctly? I assume it’s a API problem but annoying and reminds me of my plan to move away from authy. Another thing I noticed is keepassx won’t allow the fingerprint access to be saved. I got a feeling this might be the problem?
I’m sure these will be solved over time… fingers crossed.
If it wasn’t for me being able to send the old one back, I wouldn’t upgrade but I got lucky…
I recently saw this note from the Guardian.
The Guardian has announced it will no longer post content on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, from its official accounts.
In an announcement to readers, the news organisation said it considered the benefits of being on the platform formerly called Twitter were now outweighed by the negatives, citing the “often disturbing content” found on it.
My instant thought is the medium is the message and organisations and people are starting to understand this. The hate on Xtwitter is almost impossible to avoid but the medium Elon’s X changes and shapes not just the conversation but the way people think.
Worth noting the Guardian already have a mastodon bot on the Fediverse.
Some of you know I record a podcast with a few friends once a month called #Techgrumps. Due to the awful things which have/are happening with the Internet Archive, we made the decision to mirror it to RSS.com.
You can now subscribe/resubscribe to the feed here. or listen online here. I’m slowly adding the new feed to the long list of podcast sites/services.
If you are interested in being part of the podcast, just add #techgrumps to a social media network and someone will find it.
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed while reading the politics of the io domain, seeing the real people who’s voice is used for AI misinformation and Tiktok misinformation advertising under the microscope.
To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“
You are seeing aspects of this with wider Fediverse interest, more research why companies should be owned by employees and Rushkoff’s program or programmed rewritten for the AI future.
Ian thinks: Another look at the uncomfortable side of AI, but this video outlines the problem and also offers some solutions beyond running your own LLM; including Venice.ai and Brave’s Leo LLM.
Ian thinks: The internet archive and wayback machine has been a solid part of the internet for so long, the shock of many when it was taken offline recently has visceral. There are other web archives but this has shone a light on the absolute importance of archives and maybe more cooperation between archives to boost resilience.
Ian thinks: Nostalgia gives a lot of people a fuzzy warm feeling even when you never actually experienced it as GenZ have demonstrated. It is very hard to explain how problematic nostalgia can be when thinking and writing policies for the future. The very notion of commercial nostalgia jacking, being used to weaponize nostalgia against ourselves is even more dangerous. The video shows talks through all this and how it was a commercial tactic for decades.
Ian thinks: This interview is full of interesting points about privacy and the problems we all face when attempting to protect our privacy. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to explain why I don’t use Whatsapp for example.
Ian thinks: The rise of right to repair is exciting. However could paying people to repair their old goods be a mixture for something more sustainable? Or could make things more complex as other studies have shown in the past.
Ian thinks: I think Schmidt’s statement is very irresponsible to say the least, But he’s not the only one, following their Silicon values (Which was coined and written by Julian York) and the absolute push for revenue with complete dominance over human life; is shocking. However worst still is the belief the problem will be solved by emerging tech, is short term thinking and gambling with all our lives. In this case Gen AI, is clearly part of the problem and won’t save us.
Ian thinks: Schmidt and all of the AI industry really need to take a serious look at the environmental impact. However those figures can be quite dry and difficult visualise. The Washington post have made the environmental damage more tangible using resources we use everyday.
Ian thinks: This mini-series by Paris Marx is a powerful reminder of how little to zero care or attention is paid to democracy, the environment and humanity in the Silicon corps. I kept thinking about those Silicon values across the episodes, and its very clear across this 4 part series [2] [3] [4].
Ian thinks: There is a number of journalists and news publishers who have switched their business models to one focused on supporting journalism by going direct to the reader. The podcast post outlines how the fediverse can support direct community relationships and sets out why it could signal the future of news.
Find the archive here