December 2025 – Cubicgarden.com…

My new years resolutions for 2026

Me and Alison sat at a bar looking at the camers

Following my review of last year… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2026 which follows on from 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 ones.

Work smarter with the business
With the new business, I’m getting to grips with the general running of it. However there is a load of things to learn including some of the possibilities had not considered before like the benefits of being a digital nomad.
Finish my dating book
Another throw back to 2025, As described in my review; Hannah is having one last review before it heads out to the list of agents and publishers I have found. I’ll give a bit of time but afterwards I’ll be self publishing it myself by the end of 2025. Alongside this, myself and Jess have started a currently unreleased but very related podcast. I would be foolish to not mention the online datingmanifesto.cc.
Do more with the scooter
I recently MOT’ed my currently scooter but considering I should keep it or sell it? I have been looking around at buying another scooter. I recently spotted a Yamaha TMAX 650 in Barcelona which looks so great and a better choice than the Honda Forza 750, which has poor storage. The dreams of a electric maxi-scooter have all but gone however.
Listen to 28 Audiobooks in a year
Its surprising how many books I’m going through but this year I’m going to push a bit more. Next year is 30 which will be a leap but a good stretch goal, encouraging me to listen when I tend to just play some of my mixes.
Create a DJ hackday
It’s time for a DJ hackday, I just got a early alpha of the Drift DJ one and I just can’t help but think its time for change.in the DJ market. Especially reading this post about the Pacemaker device, which spurred me to look back through my old presentations about how ground breaking it is/was.
Spend more time with family
My parents are getting older and I am quite far away from them. My dad has a degenerative disease and its weighed heavy on my actions and mind. Spending more time with them and the rest of my extended family is something I can do better in 2026. I still have a lot of time for friends and want to get a bit more serious about them, rather than leaving it to the last minute. Of course Alison is someone I think about a lot; now being engaged, I’m thinking a lot more about our future together and how to make this the best it can be together.
Personal knowledge management and task re-managed
I’m a little torn. Vikunja is good, so is Anytype.but the hard part is the initial capture. Something I started doing is using the notes to yourself in Signal to do the start of something I guess I should be using Anytype but I feel like I need to do the categorisation at the same time. I also wonder if I actually trust anytype? With Joplin, its all local and I can understand the model, anytype I find more tricky.
Vikunja’s dependence on the UI does bug me, as one of the big selling points was the CALDav integration. Then I find the login a pain every single time, i reboot I’m going to try self hosting it again and find a way to do a 3 way sync if possible?
Go to a new Rollercoaster park or ride a new ride
A regular resolution but a good one with a twist. I recently went back to Helsinki and seriously enjoyed Taiga at Linnanmäki. Certainly in my top 10. I still haven’t been on Hyperia either, although waiting in the queue for a long time. 2026 has to be the year!

Copyright by Justin Garvanovic – https://rcdb.com/7722.htm
Learn when to self-host and when to not
Related to the one above, I am getting the message about self-hosting. I think its great but there are times when I need to be more thoughtful. With this, its likely a good idea to either considering owning a VPS (which I have done in the past) or shell out money for hosted solutions. To be fair my Vikunja is exactly that and so is my Wallabag and even this blog. Both I could self-host but have decided to just pay the money and use the export to satisfy ownership needs.
Get more experimental with my Sourdough bread
I have quite enjoyed baking bread thanks to my friend Paul sharing his starter. I’m not planning to get super serious about it but listening to the chapter titled Air in Cooked, I feel I experiment a bit more. Its ben fun and playing with Spelt and other flours is just the start.
Go to a new country
As always this a good one and I’m looking at you Switzerland, Czechia and Austria again. Although I am also thinking South Korea after needing to cancel in the pandemic and part of me wants to head to Taiwan but maybe I’m going to be too late?
Learn to drive a car
I’m keeping this one alive, especially since seeing some of my god/page children driving now. I know its been in my new resolutions for ages but maybe 2026 is the year finally?

A review of my 2025 resolutions

Me and Alison sat at a bar looking at the camera — Me and Alison earlier this year

Well I did say in 2024…

This year has been full of ups and downs, its a year I’m not going to forget.

2025 likely took on the challenge and hit it out the park. Talking of highs and peaks something big happened in 2025.

2025 was a struggle emotionally and practically while I faced for the first time my position being made redundancy, Last time at this time of the year, I was told the week before it was happening for sure. I then needed to pull myself together and plan for my uncertain future. Regardless I went ahead with my almost 3 months of paid holiday, had 5 different redundancy parties (why not?) and planned for what next.

Next included a heck load of travel! I visited Bristol, Lancaster, Amsterdam, Henden Bridge, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bath, Buxton, Harderwjik, Berlin, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sheffield, Barcelona, Helsinki, Espoo, Portishead, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Zwolle, Weston Super Mare, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Saint-Emillion, Berlin, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Gzira, Silema, Brussels, Breman, Soltau, Hoofddorp, Huddlesfield, Newport and London; this year.

Sadly I spent a lot of it on planes, my carbon foot print wasn’t good (a total of 14 trips on planes, mainly on KLM via Amsterdam). HS2 to Manchester, therefore to Europe is a but a distant dream, for now?

Sleep has taken a bit of dip again, likely due to the stress of redundancy and setting up a limited business. From average of 6.8 hours to 6.5 hours.

My Trakt time says, I watched way too much drama, and watched 161 movies, and 454 shows.

So what about my 2025 resolutions?

Find a new position of employment
Last week was the week last year when I received the official letter that my position in BBC R&D was being made redundant. The word was out and I looked at my options, picked up a few of the projects I had in mind forlosi personal and work.
I’m working part time for New_Public on their open source plans for the Public Service Incubator, its great working with them and the 6 other public service broadcasters (most I knew already)
In between I am doing bits of work here and there including lectures & talks. The other projects I’m working on is digital legacy via the machine readable wishes and the online dating manifesto.
The most stressful part is running a limited company, I feel like I jumped into deep end of freelancing as it took forever to get setup and feel like I wasn’t prepared for the huge change but hope next year will be more settled.
Finish my dating book
While all the massive amount of changes, I also spent quite a bit of time working on the dating book. I even gave a sneak peak of the cover during the publicspaces conference in June (if you were there during lunch). The struggles of the book name, subtitle, cover, etc has been covered. The stake to publicly release before Hannah finishes her PhD is pretty much been won, as the final cut is Hannah now.
I have made one last decision on the self publishing side. I’m going to spend part of the festive period and January going through the writers and publishers book to give it one more try before going the self publishing route for sure.
Head even further a field with the scooter
This didn’t happen, I had the opportunity to head to the Netherlands via the scooter but the costs of getting across channel to Europe was too high at the time (I was being careful with money having no solid income at the time). Another one for next year?
Learn to drive a car
As my partner keeps reminding me, driving a car would be really useful. However although I had more time as such (although job searching is super stressful and requires a lot of time) I had far less funds and wasn’t high on my list. Who knows maybe it might happen next year but unlikely.
Listen to 25 Audiobooks in the year
Currently I am on a train listening to audiobook number 27 (Cooked a natural history of transformation by Michael Pollan). So I have pretty much blazed through the 25 and thats with my old spa closing down and the lack of regular audiobook time.
Go to a new country
Yes I went to Malta surprisingly, with my partner. Not really a place I planned to visit but who knows maybe I’ll pop back one day in the future? This year my carbon footprint has not been good, with a 14 trips mainly via Amsterdam. I wish HS2 was happening up to Manchester because I would have happily got trains.
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
Yes marked off, I ended up going to Heide park near Hamburg, which is owned by Merlin (same as Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in the UK). Two rides of note are Flug der Dämonen and Colossos – Kampf der Giganten (I only got 2 rides before a film crew took it over for the rest of the afternoon.
See more of my friends further a field
This started to happen, there are quite a few I haven’t seen in ages but a lesson for me is to be better at planning a head
Personal knowledge management and task rethink
I started using Vikunji for tasks and Anytype for longer notes. Its working but I’m having issues with Vikunja flatpak as a client currently (think its a flatpak issue), the CALDav support does work but I find it iffy when using another CALDav client on Android and Linux. I’m going to try self-hosting it again.
Anytype is good but I find some of the ways things work a bit strange. For example trying to invoke a type on the Android app is more painful than it should be. Even creating bullets is more pain than it should be. I was also lead to believe the collaboration options didn’t need the full app to work, like it would create a web version if shared. This isn’t true from what I can see and from my tests.
Be more active about my personal health
Some good news on this front. I had a coach for a short while and he suggested I was doing everything right but I should do some weights to move things around my body. So I gave it a try and its happening. Then my spa shutdown but after a lot of hassle I found an alternative (Nuttfield heath) which works.
Generally I’m about the same weight but my clothes are dropping in size, meaning things are moving to the right parts of my body.
I’m also leaning more about what it means to be older and using my quantified self approach to full understand certainly aspects of what is happening. Of course I’m seeking professional advice from NHS doctors too.
Create a new social event
I thought a lot about this one but I just didn’t have the energy and time. Had a lot of thoughts and maybe I should look through the notes soon .
Do my bit for others in the community
This didn’t happen but something weird happened. A couple of friends who are mothers, got in touch over the year because their sons have gone through university and struggling to find their way into the tech industry. Long story short, I have been doing my bit by working together loosely Its not what I was originally thinking but life takes you to different places if you let it..

Smart rings turns your thoughts into text?

I had to share how different the approaches of both Sandbar Stream ($249) and the RePebble’s Index 01 ($75) are.

Sandbar’s stream ring is closed, propriety, beautiful, add day battery and uses AI.

RePebble’s index 01 ring is open source, funky/fuggy looking, battery which lasts years? and avoids AI

For me the Index 01 calls me (although I do worry about the battery as smart rings don’t have a good rep in this space) , because it has a vision of openness. I expect Index 02, 03 and others who build on top of it will do things which will be super interesting and useful. This is what made the Pebble super interesting and why I find Eric Migicovsky, such a fantastic designer/developer/creator. His values are infused through each project he’s started.

Some news about me and my wonderful partner, Alison

I have some news to share and have been sharing it slowly when meeting people since Summer. After 3.5 years of being together, you can guess me and Alison are now engaged! It was Alison who proposed to me, which is a thing as it runs in the family, with her mum and grandma proposing to their partners too.

We recently changed our relationship status on Facebook, but I don’t think Facebook should have a monopoly on this, so here is a short blog post.

This is a solid commitment to each other. Especially as a lot has happened recently with my family, my position being made redundant and starting my own business.

We plan to have a long engagement as we would like to live together before officially getting married. Ultimately we are committed to each other and would like people to know how we feel.

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Dec 2025)

Traffic jam of cabs in New York shot from the back with red lights from the cabs — Cars everywhere: (cc-by-nd) https://www.flickr.com/photos/strolicfurlan/24747443097/

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing the questionable AI courtcase in the UK, Zuck running an illegal school and big tech refusing to talk about election influencing in the Netherlands.

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 Android supporting airdrop, The Eurosky sovereign bluesky project now has open code and Dr Ruha Benjamin’s unlearn speech from Mozfest 2025.

The future of addiction

Ian thinks: I found this conversation spot on, as it touches on many things I find really interesting right now and links them up. From the problems of mass social media to weaponized addiction being generated on mass. Addiction is always a contentious point but regardless, it all points to a future where our revealed preferences are indulged without friction for profit and control..

Why we need a war on cars

Ian thinks: I don’t drive a car, and this episode is full of interesting points including the one about superman, electric cars effect on space and the city and the social impact on loneliness.

The characteristics of a AI bubble

Ian thinks: If you are in the tech field or even looking in, its clear everybody is talking about the AI bubble but this podcast from Wired again, really breaks down the characteristic of a bubble.

Keep Android open

Ian thinks: Great site, seems Google might have listened to the pressure in recent days. What they mean by an alternative is a big question however.

Reasons for divorce: AI relationship

Ian thinks: We all new this was coming. You message first thing in the morning, last thing at night, you message on the toilet! That relationship seems so innocent but engaging. Now there is legal challenges a foot, which could make that relationship grounds for a divorce.

Digital legacy and death tech overview

Ian thinks: This video from Wired magazine, starts off with the usual cryogenic nonsense but then grief bots and AI avatars suddenly become a lot more real. I especially like the shout out to get a will and manage your digital legacy. This is something I am working on with a project called Machine readable wishes.

NSA’s mobile phone guide

Ian thinks: The NSA’s mobile guide is interesting reading, there are nuggets of information such as restart your phone weekly and have a case which block room audio. Paranoid or just good advice?

Ian thinks: I recently gave a talk about AI to a health insurances. I talked a lot about loneliness and bots. Although I didn’t include it, this detailed video forecasts the logical end of social being the dead internet theory but far far worst.

What does 47,000 conversations with ChatGPT tell us?

Ian thinks: Remember when OpenAPI was sharing chatGPT conversations? Well analysis of the conversations by the Gerrit De Vynck tells us exactly how puppy like and integrated it is with peoples lives. Counter to what the AI companies have been saying, this is worry-some to hear and read.

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