Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
Reading the blog post about Signal costs, really got me thinking I need donate to them because it is simply incredible and completely respect their stance on so many things.
I was thinking I do pay for Proton, Beeper and other systems which support my privacy why not Signal?
So I donated! I may even setup a yearly subscription…
I think of this mix as the evil little child born in Amsterdam during the freaky time of Halloween.
Another travel with Pacemaker mix, this time flying to Amsterdam for a conference over Halloween. It coincides with me djing at a Halloween party just a few days earlier. I started with MK’s thriller and decided it was a great starter for the mix on the plane following.
Originally the mix was a bit longer but I did it again on the plane back and recorded it live using an external recorder. Its likely I could have done it with the Pacemaker device’s own built in recorder but as I was using a later firmware, decided to play it safe.
I have to say, I do love this mix. Its punchy, energy and full of highs. Its even got some songs to sing along to, which my partner would enjoy.
Listen on peertube or on my mixgarden
Here is the full playlist
I enjoyed this verge piece about eink/epaper but throughout the whole thing, I wondered about the large screens. As I have done for a long while.
I had no idea an old friend (I will call her that because she was such a warm and caring person to many) Molly Holzschlang died over a month ago. I only found out when an old friend Brendan tagged me and others into a Facebook post. Which linked to Eric Meyer’s blog.
It was a shock, because although I knew she has struggled with her mental health and last heard from her before the covid19 pandemic. I have such great memories of Molly. Being a declarative designer/developer, Molly’s work around the early web stood out. I still remember reading molly.com to understand early CSS and DHTML (remember that phase).
But it was when I ran London Geekdinners, I finally got to meet her for the very first time 24th November 2005 at the Hogs Head, Westminster, London. Then again on 20th October 2006 at the Bottlescrue, Holburn Viaduct, London and then 26th January 2007 at City Spice, Brick Lane, London. She also stopped in at the BBC for lunch on 31st January 2007.
On and off we kept bumping into each other and remember there was things a lot of friends did including thank you Molly. She was loved by many and will be sadly missed.
Rest in peace Molly x
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed hearing how a man was trapped in a EV, AI facial recognition not being taken seriously and the online safety bill now part of law in the UK.
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 the BBC setting guidelines for Gen AI, Mozilla saying hello to two privacy and adding fake reviews detector to help us all.
Ian thinks: The voice scamming is something most have heard about, but this podcast shows how vast the problem is in Asia. I suspect similar will be heading to the west soon enough.
Ian thinks: Cory’s new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, says it all but if you were not convinced this interview with Vice will clearly why the fight for the future is not over, why and how you should be involved.
Ian think: The Mozilla podcast is in full swing again with a focus on the humans behind and affected by large language models. Mozilla do a great job reflecting viewpoints from outside the western markets with important contributions from Kenya and India in episode 2.
Ian thinks: There has been a lot of discussion following the recent Isaacson book. I found this the very best series about Elon, not only critical of Elon but also a wider nod to many of the tech oligarchs and the culture surrounding them.
Ian thinks: Douglas Rushkoff is a character which some people enjoy and some less so. He was recently added to the Time person of the week, and this short podcast interview is a reminder of what the internet and technology could/should be and how it fits within human society, not consumes it.
Ian thinks: Taylor Lorenz’s book explores the tension between the owners and the women who drive the platform/service. Similar to Symons Browns’s Get rich or die trying, but focusing on usually stepped on female early adopters, this could shine a light on a sector never really covered.
Ian thinks: Its hardly a surprise people are finding their ways around the limitations of Gen AI systems but this really goes into details how people are social engineering sensitive information out.
Ian thinks: When Marc Andreessen published the techno-optimist manifesto. Most people just ignored it as silicon valley nonsense, but a few put together words to carefully deconstruct why. This blog is a perfect reply but also covers a lot of positive elements covered in this newsletter. Well worth the read.
Ian thinks: Repair is essential for sustainability, we all know this and recent changes within the tech/internet sector has helped this already growing trend. The question is when some of the big companies will fully throw their weight behind such movements?
Ian thinks: This post by the Verge sums up the struggle for many around social media right now. I highly recommend listening to the podcast, especially with interviews from Cory (pluralistic) and Manton (microblog), as they both give more definition to the problem. I would also recommend the deeper conversation with Manton, who discusses the Verge piece at a lot more depth.
Find the archive here
It brings me absolute joy to finally open source all the code of Adaptive/Perceptive podcasting.
This research project has run for a long time and at some time thought about pulling the plug. I always thought it had so much potential and needed to reach different people who will explore and use it for many more use cases than a research agenda.
If you are wondering what Adaptive podcasting is, check out the post from R&D and my own thoughts last year.
Now the code base is public under a Apache 2 license, it means anyone can make changes to the code base including I hope,
There is so many people who had a hand in Adaptive podcasting, which are all named in the credits. This project couldn’t have happened without them and it speaks volumes about a future where collaboration is the default.
I am personally humbled by everything and if I wasn’t in Amsterdam during the Society 5.0 conference would be sending out lots of emails letting everyone and anyone know. There is a long long list of people to contact to let them know its all public now. Its also one of the research projects which has always been in the forefront of my mind and consumed many of my cycles. Its a great project and in the history makes clear the trajectory of progression. However wouldn’t existed without the community of practice, which kept me on my toes. Even now, I’m keen to see the community grow and built the amazing experiences which we dreamed about.
This is a clear sign of the power of public service. Many will ask why would the BBC open source this? Its in the BBC’s royal charter, helping build the UK economy. This is also a natural end to the Perceptive Media workstream for me, looking at implicit interaction to drive experiences and narratives.
Ultimately I’m hoping to further the ambition on podcasts and adaptive audio full stop. I have always said and stood behind the notion media has so much more potential. I do expect some enterprising individual to take the source code and port it to the Apple app store. Although I’m already looking at fdroid for the latest player too.
If you have any questions about Adaptive/Perceptive podcasting please do get in touch via email or github. This project is leaking so much potential be it public, commercial, etc.
I really look forward to seeing what people do with it all…
Its been a busy time but I have the pleasure of going back to the Amsterdam once again for the conference/festival Society 5.0.
The tickets are all sold sorry to say but it looks great and its good to see a festival with core themes at the heart of it.
We are on the verge of a fifth societal revolution, driven by technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotisation and extended reality. How can the creative industry help to guide these innovations towards the well-being of the planet? And what role can creative professionals, like designers, (policy) makers, artists, technologists, hackers, and researchers play to ensure a society based on public values and positive impact?
I’m also hoping to drop into the Impakt festival too, there are still tickets!
I only noticed today that my mixgarden is currently down. I know exactly why which means its been like that for a while (a couple of weeks).
I recently upgraded to Apache 82 from Nginx and my redirect hasn’t been updated but not only that, my process really needs my Dell XPS laptop which has a currently a bit broken battery. My chromebook is good but its a struggle when messing with SSH and content on the Dell not Chromebook. Being ill and loosing someone doesn’t really allow me the time either.
Fear not you can still get to most of the latest mixes on peertube.
Update 24th Oct 2023
I have fixed the problem, it does mean a slight change which I did plan to do a while ago.
Now the link for the mixes is
https://mixes.cubicgarden.info
not the old
https://www.cubicgarden.info/mixes.
I’m attempting to setup a redirect but currently ill and taking it easy…
A little while ago I mentioned how I wanted to see if I could create a kinetic charged light up diabolo.
I have searched and searched and pretty much gave up till I saw a series of kinetic glowing skate wheels. The brightness is amazing, so I bought some as they were pretty cheap for what they are. I was also convinced there was a battery of some kind but absolutely wrong, no battery just two parts.
Getting them I understand how it works.
Light up wheels are powered by a dynamo that sits in the centre of the wheel. This needs to be firmly pressed by the bearings as when the wheel turns, it forms a temporary connection with each LED light, making it appear to flash. At faster speeds, the LED flashes so quickly, that it appears to be always on.
Great everything I needed and I knew it could work.
But the problem is its the opposite of what a Diabolo does. Without diagrams it became clearer that diabolos are one piece. If the axel moved it wouldn’t work. I thought about having the lights on the outside but there’s no guarantee the lights would actually turn?
There is a small light (ironically), with the triple axel/geared diabolos.but I need to really wrap my head around how to make the most of it, without making the diabolo super heavy or so clunky it doesn’t really spin at all. Luckily I have lots of diabolos which I can practice on and I guess retrofit if needed. Shame I don’t have a workshop and the time to do it.
Any thoughts are of course welcomed…
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing criminals creating their own ChatGPT clones, Fitbit becoming useless without data sharing and those Tiktok frenzies.
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 the EU naming the gatekeepers, the 1.26 million Kardashion crypto fine and Signal’s CEO calling out AI surveillance technology.
Ian thinks: Thanks to Mozilla’s privacy not included project, its clear almost every major car brand is sharing your personal data without any consideration of privacy. Everything from race, weight and health is free shared without the drivers consent.
Ian thinks: This piece from German broadcaster DW really makes clear the positive potential impact of Cannabis in the fight for a greener more sustainable economy. Its a real eye opener and for reasons you didn’t think.
Ian thinks: When I first read this, I had looked through the paper taking it a part to see if there was something which could be wrong. However it’s solid and surprised it didn’t get much attention.
Ian thinks: I started reading this excellent book, really digging into the 4 audit consultancy and Its ultimate affect on more than just businesses. I noticed DW’s mini documentary about most of the problems raised in the book is good start..
Ian thinks: In short no, it sounds like the UK government might have done a U-turn on the encryption in the new online safety bill. But it is still there waiting for the right moment.
Ian thinks: Sex workers and adult entertainers are usually demonised by the mainstream, turned to crypto made sense. But like most things in the crypto space, its never so simple and the wired piece outlines some horrible and disturbing problem. There has to be a better way for the sake of so many.
Ian thinks: In the last few weeks, Defcon, Tech Open Air and Techcrunch disrupt have uploaded their conference videos. I found Mikko, Cory and the Veilid talks the best so far. Although I will give a nudge for the Opera and Vivaldi founder from TOA.
Ian thinks: The word gets thrown around a lot and very few people know the history. In this podcast it becomes clear the luddites image of techbophic is very wrong. With thoughts for the future with generative AI and power, the Luddites image is due a rethink.
Ian thinks: The fediforum is the unconference for the fediverse. I took part in the September one and learned a lot including how activitypub can become the plumbing channel between the usual (microblogging) and unexpected applications like event management (gath.io)
Find the archive here