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 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
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…
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
Many people know I’m not a fan of dogs, I have been chased and bitten a few times. In pandemic times, a lot of people bought them to manage their wellbeing. However now we are endemic times, a lot of those dog owners went back to work and the dogs became an after thought?
I say the above, having experiencing some irresponsible owners over the last few years. In the Channel4 piece which contained a deeply distressing video of a dog attacking people, something I really didn’t want to see.
They question someone who would like to see a breed of dog banned in the UK. As the dog charity says, banning American Bully XL dogs won’t do much. Its the owners, the irresponsible owners.
The owners who don’t control their dogs, the owners who assume their dog can do no harm, the owners who take their young puppies to restaurants and happily let it climb on other eaters, the owners who don’t clean up after their dog, the owners who are transfixed on their phone rather than their dog tripping people up on the street, the owners who allow their dog on the cafe furniture and even the table in coffee shops, the owners who don’t use a lead in public spaces, owners who can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t love to see their dog, the owners who don’t take owning a dog seriously at all.
I can tell you as someone who has been bitten on a public road a long time, that owner was completely distraught and cursing themself for leaving the gate open, when the police took their dog away. Even a few years ago when my ex was bitten in a hotel, the owner didn’t give a toss, its completely unfair on the customers and even the dog.
In recent times quite a few people have come to me and share their absolute contempt for the dog owners who bring their dogs everywhere (even some dog lovers and owners). They say how great they can share their thoughts. Because they are so worried about what others would say. Dogs are every where online, but as someone said to me…
“its not about the Instagram picture, its about the love, care, support – parenting of the dog. That huge responsibility is not for everyone – unfortunately too many are not cut out for it… and that can turn a good dog into something else”
I’m sure I’ll get some grief for this post but honestly, I don’t want to see dogs hurt by irresponsible owners
I was talking with a colleague in London the other week. One of the great thing about working in the same space face to face is being able to noodle together. (I won’t talk about any endless whiteboarding right now).
Anyway one of the things which was mentioned was the design process being messy before it becomes clearer. (Without going into the number of different design methodologies). While they were drawing the multiple iterations, I started to think about how I work.
This is when I started to draw something like the bottom graph and started thinking to what degrees the existing methodologies are incompatible with a collaborative future. I don’t mean just co-designing together but actually building things which people can take forward in a slightly different direction or space.
When I drew it I thought about how I like to starting and proving the worth through research/experiments but also attracting more people into the project to share ideas and thoughts. Ideally there would be other lines which intersect with lines joining and leaving I guess? My old manager use to describe me as a different type of researcher but I can never remember what he called it.
I got a few examples I was describing when drawing. they mainly come from the Perceptive Media space including the Living room of the future and hopefully Adaptive podcasting soon. But even looking at the BBC Backstage era of creating a platform for others to explore above and beyond.
I have been meaning to write about context collapse with beeper for a long while. I have written about Beeper previously.. In short Beeper is a messaging client which takes advantage of Matrix’s bridge system to connect/bridge to many different networks.
This means I use Matrix every single day on my laptops and smartphones. Its great, as its connects to so many different networks including Discord and Slack, all without installing Slack or Discord on my phone and even laptop if I wanted to.
However there is a effect which is best described as (like) context collapse.
The amount of times I have received a message from someone on Linkedin, Facebook msg, Twitter direct message (which I don’t think works anymore – as you can imagine)., etc, etc. They all end up in my inbox and its super useful but sometimes I need to look at the little icon to then figure out what I should do next.
Should I treat it as serious, should I reply straight away or not worry too much. This is very apt when you are getting linkedin or twitter DMs. This is similar for Facebook messages.
It also affects the way you reply too, should I reply in my usual laidback style, should I add emojis, should I write a lot back, voice reply, etc etc.
It sounds stressful but actually I’m ok with it because the alternative of having lot of apps on my phone or laptop running would be far worst in my head. If there was a way to make the notifications per network that might be useful, but generally I’m ok with the context collapse, as the icons make it clear enough and force me to think.
This changes a bit when using my Android wear watch, which strips out such detail. So I generally don’t reply unless I know its from a friend or family. Although even that can be interesting as my mother is on sms & signal or a friend who is on sms, discord and facebook msg.
I kinda want to see a matrix bridge for activitypub (fediverse) but honestly with the amount of context collapse, I don’t think it would personally be a good idea for me.
Interested what others think about this all and would you like one client to do all your messages and potentially your social networking too?
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed thinking about the eyeball scanning worldcoin, Tesla’s secret range suppression team and dare I even mention @x.
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 joining the fediverse, all those Firefox tips in one video. and EU plans to force replaceable batteries in smartphones.
Ian thinks: Its clear the UK government like most governments around the world have a difficult problem with end to end encryption. In my own experience anything which weakens encryption means there is no encryption. Anything which weaken encryption is an open door with a door mat and bright lights saying try here and welcome.
Ian thinks: This is a disturbing piece about shop owners using facial recognition to protect their stock in the UK. Face-watch is a worrying trend especially knowing how much AI systems are desperate for more training data.
Ian thinks: All the Publicspaces videos are now on peertube and linked on this page. If you only watch one video, I highly recommend the keynotes from Ruha Benjamin, Levien Nordeman and Eli Parser
Ian thinks: I didn’t see this live in Mozilla House Amsterdam but had a really good talk with Symeon who convinced me to finally read his amazing book.
Ian thinks: I hate to say it but this piece has some really good points and its hard to argue against them. The vision of a global internet has been torn apart by many companies, governments and pure greed.
Ian thinks: With all the talk about AI, you can’t help but stumble into the chatbot space. Although its easy to laugh, we already know there is a demand to connect with people and there is a ton of companies willing to supply them with better versions of clippy. But do spare a deep thought of all the data being shared and sold too.
Ian thinks: It was through the tech won’t save us podcast I came across the paper on Open AI’s whisper and indigenous languages. This isn’t just a cautionary tale, its actually as close to the playbook of colonialism. Glad the author and the community are call it out.
Ian thinks: Although a emerging technology, privacy pass could bring an end to those captcha’s which are annoying, don’t stop a lot of malicious activity, are basically free labour which is used to sell to others. Could this client-side privacy pass protocol which uses un-linkable cryptographic tokens finally put an end to them for good?
Ian thinks: This is a question which has existed for a long time. Even mentioning a persons name can have dire consequences. Two things which were not mention is the interconnected nature of this all.and the EU laws around the right to be forgotten.
Ian thinks: When i heard Kevin Mitnick died aged 59, I thought back to all the things I had learned through his books, experiences and the free Kevin movement. Well worth re-reading his books and this piece in the register. Rest in piece Kevin.
Find the archive here
Since the pebble I have been a bit fed up with the selection of smartwatches.
Originally I kickstarted the Bangle JS 2 smartwatch then bought the TicWatch 3 pro, but the battery life just frankly annoyed me so much and sent it back to get the Amazefit GTR 4.
I liked the Amazafit GTR 4 because the battery life was 3-5 days but the setup was something else. It doesn’t run Wear OS but I was fine with this because battery life made a big difference.
There is a review I read after getting the watch which sums up the problems with the watch. I like to hack and customise things but the options were insane. Then to add to this was the apps which included the default Zepp app and another one to pick up on the shortcoming of Zepp. Ultimately there were so many options but some of the basic things I expect were not covered.
Replying to messages by voice wasn’t possible, although the watch does support voice commands and even Amazon Alexia integrations. The other thing which got me was the calendaring. With the pebble, the calendar was always up to date and I could trust it to know what’s next. With the Amazefit the calendar only updated when I opened the Zepp app, stop the calendar sync and then re-enabled it again. My calendar changes sometimes hourly so an updated calendar is super important.
In the end I got so fed up with a watch I couldn’t really trust, and finally I made the decision to sell the watch on ebay after reading reviews about the new TicWatch 5. I decided the reasonable battery life, quick charge, wear OS 3 support was enough to convince me to switch (although I am wondering if wear OS 4 will make it to the watch). Its great to have proper sleep as android support again too.
Its still early days but I do miss some things like the automatic workout stuff, I have no idea what to put diaboloing under in my workouts. But generally if I’m charging the watch every day while in the bathroom, everything should be great.
The fast charge really has made a big difference and makes up for the smaller battery life. I can see this working when away from home due to cheap USB chargers (unlike the Oura). But that element of trust when looking at my notifications, calendar and tasks is something which can’t be underestimated.
Another recorded live mix due to the Pacemaker’s latest firmware. I was listening to some of my older mixes and the Knights of the old republic recorded while in another conference (republica in Berlin) stuck out to me. So I thought it was time for a redo as I was in Amsterdam at a similar conference (publicspaces).
Of course it includes the tune I’m still loving at the moment, Carl Cox’s Inferno and similar to the last mix, I decided to switch Blaze’s my beat to the Jan Driver remix. Which in my mind is a dance floor disputer.
As its recorded live with the loop feature, there is very few edits just a bit of normalisation.
You can listen to it on my mixgarden in full quality with Webmonitzation or peertube.
The playlist is here
I read a piece from the Guardian while in Amsterdam for a couple of conferences.
I honestly felt crushed by this, enjoying the pleasure of the Dutch while Brexit has clearly had an effect on so much.
While growing up I was blown away about the channel tunnel and being able to take a train to mainland Europe. But so much chimed in the guardian piece. For example I really wanted to take the train from Manchester to Amsterdam and although it would have taken a lot longer (well actually under 7 hours compared to Easyjet cancelling my flight and me having to order another one last minute, maybe not) but the cost on the UK side was a issue.
Trains to London from Manchester can be expensive and slower than you would imagine. On top of this if you get a lot of cancellations. HS2 will/could help but the biggest barrier is the border control due to Brexit. Hopping on and off is a complete fantasy now.
Dare I say the UK (Britons who want to rejoin EU at highest levels) has truly kicked the dream of frictionless travel into Europe I had when I was young into the gutter then set it on fire to burn.
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing students using AI to learn languages, the malicious use of AI and Meta’s Voice AI,
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 AI act, Amazon prime dark patterns finally being acted on and a look at the tangible risks of AI.
Ian thinks: I am biased as I took part in this years Publicspaces conference, however this is a conference worthy of watching once the 2023 ones are added to the others in peertube. Some highlights include Ruha Benjamin, Eli Pariser, Public broadcasters and private social networks, Building Digital Commons.
Ian thinks: I found this interview with Dave Eggers worthy of a mention. The EFF push him on his thoughts and get quite a lot back. I was struck by the line “…but who decided to insert the creepy?”
Ian thinks: This interview with Acemoglu is quite enlightening and highlights the critical question of how would AI & ML operate and look like if it wasn’t about increasing the bottom line or hoovering up data?
Ian thinks: Murthy in this interview has so many good points and ultimately links the possibility of loneliness with basic needs like hunger and thirst. I’m sure many disagree but as described in Turkle’s Alone together, its clear there is an unbalanced use of technology directly contributing to something.
Ian thinks: Following the previous link, Mozilla’s research deserves more attention. Consent is critical for trust and you would have thought the mental health industry would trust as their top priority? Maybe I’m naive and the commercialisation of the industry is self-evident.
Ian thinks: Every year I see such great talks and come from Republica, most are in German but there are also a number in English. I am pretty sure they will separate the talks in time.
Ian thinks: I needed to add my thoughts on this challenge against openness by those leading the charge for openness (yes confusing). I understand the potential but its more likely Meta will close their instances to the fediverse, lets not be that person ahead of time.
Ian thinks: As someone looking to be a digital nomad, this is a hard pill to digest. I certainly would like to see more meaningful exchange with the locals rather than dive in an carve out a new bubble?
Ian thinks: This book has come up so many times, but it wasn’t till I met the author at MozHouse Amsterdam. I decided to put it on top of my list. Symeon digs deep into the social dumpster fire and clearly points out the damage which has been done at all levels.
Find the original here – https://cubicgarden.com/2023/07/01/public-service-internet-monthly-newsletter-july-2023/ and the archive here
I was so happy to see Chris win my area, the previous councillors were ok but I felt not much was going on and it was time for a positive change.
Reading about my good friend Chris in the Manchester evening news. Having only missed out last election by not many votes, this May she smashed it with 355 votes in Ancoats and Beswick. I wonder how much of it was postal votes, because for example I switched which I gather can make a big difference to the turn out.
Of course the hard work has just started, as there is a lot of problems in and around Ancoats & Beswick, including a lack of green space, anti-social behaviour, tensions from gentrification, etc etc.
Go get them Chris! Apply your problem solving methodology to local political system… I know you will do a great job and be part of the very needed change in (#brexit) Britain.
June and July are busy for me… and you might have noticed less blogging recently. I’m carefully managing my time around the next few months.
Looking forward into June.
13th June – I’m going to be talking and networking at the Podcast news conference in the Lowry Salford. I’m expecting a much more future focused event unlike what I saw at the London podcast show a couple weeks ago, although I did speak and enjoyed the fringe events.
14th June – I will be at the opening of the Forest of Imagination in Bath for a short while but don’t worry I’ll be back in July. Its a wonderful event and takes over most of Bath.
19th June – I am running an ethical dilemma cafe with colleagues and partners within Mozilla House Amsterdam (no covid going to stop us this time). If you are local to Amsterdam, I highly recommend coming along and experiencing not just the ethical dilemma cafe but the many other talks and workshops already scheduled.
27th June – Its the PublicSpaces yearly conference and unlike last year, I will be covid free and looking forward to finally attending such a great conference. Once again if you are in Amsterdam, you will want to attend this a week after Mozhouse AMS.
Phewwww… Now July
5th July – Thinking digital which is usually in mid May, decided to switch to a summer schedule but is still in Gateshead/Newcastle over 1.5 days. Plus its still a must go conference in the UK.
11th July – I’m back at the Forest of Imagination but this time running a workshop with young people and artists as part of the rabbit holes collective. This also sits alongside the Bath digital festival.
Later in July – There is a number of Manchester International Festival events but not as many I have done in previous years.
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing dirty but cheap western cars filling Africa. malware infested new iot devices or how parents are monetising their children in digital times.
https://cubicgarden.com/2023/06/01/public-service-internet-monthly-newsletter-june-2023/
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing dirty but cheap western cars filling Africa. malware infested new iot devices or how parents are monetising their children in digital times.
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 Mozilla buying fake spot, google launching passkeys and even Meta’s well rumoured but not launched microblogging platform using ActivityPub.
Ian thinks: This podcast is all about Connor’s story, but more importantly his online identity being used to fool employers into paying people a lot of money for skills they don’t actually have. This raises a lot of questions for the future of identity
Ian thinks: Finally Google and Apple have gotten together to stop the massive stalking problems of Airtags
Ian thinks: Perfectly timed for the Sunday Times rich list, this simulator gives you a sense of the “struggles” of the very rich people in society. Funny but also deeply tragic too.
Ian thinks: There is so much to say about this space, which has been generally eclipsed by AI recently. However this FT video does raise a number of good points. I also recommend the recently published public DLT paper by BBC R&D advisory team.
Ian thinks: Over the last few months I have been asked about AI by many people, I want to deep dive but hold back. Using films like Her as reference, this video covers a lot of ground in short time but in completely understandable way
Ian thinks: Regardless of how close to midnight we are to AI singularity, the debate over UBI (Universal basic income) rages on
Ian thinks: This fits with why I am interested in looking to the edges, where people in the minority are doing things to adapt technology for themselves and their community needs.
Ian thinks: A bit of a key subject for me, I was surprised to see Wired explain the dirty secret in online dating. I am expecting AI chat bots to make things worst, as we experience higher levels of loneliness in society.
Ian thinks: I had only a small idea of the impact of streaming but this group is looking to make a big change to the sustainability of streaming services now and into the future.
Find the archive here
I have been meaning to write about this incredible street art tour I went on in Lisbon. The tour we were on was 3 hours long and many didn’t survive the full tour but me and my partner did and were so much wiser for doing so.
There was so much to say but here are some of the key parts.
Our guide showed us different examples where something was transformed into a whole new experience when stood in the right place. The one above is well loved and exists in many photos. However our guide talked about the importance of angle and viewpoint. When we moved to the carefully marked ground point, you could see the outline of the building in front obfuscating the other half of the street art.
Uniqueness is obviously key in street art and our conversation with the tour guide was fascinating as he asked if I preferred technique or message. Coming from Bristol, it was about the message but he pointed out one of my likely favourite artists now (Utopia).
Those things which look like brush strokes are not, they are unique ways to spray and it requires a lot of time and practice. So much so, its like a fingerprint.
Although our guide valued technique over statement. He did show us another piece I had seen previously. The first time I had seen it, it was all about the amazing tile design in Portugal but our guide, pointed out something which looks like eyes, then the mouth. Almost like a devil faces (once you see them you can’t un-see them!). I was thinking where is he going with this, then he pointed out the small church it faced and stoked up the long running issues with Catholicism in Portugal. He left with the point to me, you don’t need to make statements so explicit for them to have an effect.
Once last thing which I didn’t really see previously was other street artists highlighting other work. For example the panda can be seen across Portugal in different styles but its not about the panda. The panda likes something and is drawing attention to something important or great.
The panda likes the gay fishes which symbolises one of Lisbon’s first gay clubs and has been there for decades but is easily missed.
After this street art tour, I’m going to be a lot more choosy about which ones I pay for in the future!
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing the environmental impact of ChatGPT, the fascination to force people back into the office and that musk interview.
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 a new right to repair for up to 10 years. how solar got so cheap and John Oliver’s 2nd reaction to cryptocurrencies.
Ian thinks: There is so much to say about the potential UK online safety bill, when it comes to encryption. In my personal experience, weaken encryption is no encryption. I’m not the only one. There is a reason why no one uses MD5 anymore.
Ian thinks: This energy hack is exciting to say the very least. Although very exciting its very early. I certainly encourage reading the details of the Cambridge research here.
Ian thinks: Novel use of the many shut down coal mines, is a gem of not just an idea but something being put into practice in other countries.
Ian thinks: This interview with Rand Hindi of zama.ai is very enlightening. The idea of Homomorphic encryption at every level is fascinating. Could it be quantum resistant? Well Rand certainly thinks so. I also expect we will be hearing a lot more about this in the next 2 years and will be a building block for the public service internet.
Ian thinks: Its good to finally see an Android version of Bluesky, as there is growing interest in Bluesky and the actively developed AT protocol. There is also a lot of pumped up tension from some about Mastodon vs Bluesky which is just nonsense and a waste of energy.
Ian thinks: This very shared piece calls out the real problems of the new range of “AI Chatbot.” Bender runs through history and her challenging sometimes ignorant experiences talking with those evangelising the AI future. Its well worth the read if you haven’t come across it somewhere else already.
Ian thinks: Jaron’s thought on the affects of AI on our well-being is spot on. Be it consistently doubting, double checking or just the overload of AI generated content. It always makes me think an adversarial AI bot working for you makes a lot of sense.
Ian thinks: This very detailed post outlines with countless data points summarising the effect of social media on young girls. Just incase you were not clear already?
Ian thinks: This interview was a difficult one to hear, mainly because I usually find Kevin Kelly a good thinker. However his general thoughts on tech will save us, painful to listen to and it runs through most of his thoughts. Worth a listen with a sharp critical mind.
Find the archive here
I had most of my windows done in my apartment this week. There is a long story involving one of my glass panels being smashed in the middle of the night (from memory of when I heard one hell of a crack)
When I woke up in the morning, I walked into the living room and shouted something pretty rude and got on the phone to our residents liaison (that is a whole different story). Didn’t get through so sent emails but the builders were already ripping out the shatter glass. I talked with them through my restricted window. Long story short, they were able to get the panel of glass to installed the next day (Thursday 6th). In actual fact they put in the panel next to it too. Nice present for my birthday weekend, but friends couldn’t believe the pictures when I showed them in the party.
I was asked if I could allow access to my whole flat for a complete glass refit on Tuesday 11th. I agreed as I was going to be away and after coming back from a spa weekend. After coming back on Tuesday evening I found the new windows except in the second bedroom. I expect that will take another 5-6 weeks.
There is a lot more to this all including moving everything away from the windows, the endless back and forth getting a date and being let down. Will it make a difference to the heat? Its hard to tell because the original designs have changed and the windows are clearly less able to open as wide. There was always plans for two open windows to provide a in and out draft but in the Living room there is one. Plus its actually smaller than the original one and can’t open so wide.
One thing I do have is the temperature sensors in the living room and bedroom which I’m planning to map alongside the historical temperature over the last year (which I also have), to really understand the difference the new windows are making.
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing AI generated images fooling so many, OpenAI’s CEO a bit worried about the risks of AI and the cropping bug popping up everywhere.
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 FTC banning better health. Content protections to identify fake/modified media and Solar tech being deployed in new and huge ways.
Ian thinks: During the busy Mozilla Festival, was the announcement Mozilla was investing in the emerging market of trustworthy AI. We all want it but is Mozilla too early or will we look back and say it was perfect time? According to Jaron Lanier maybe Mozilla is perfectly timed.
Ian thinks: Twitter’s plans to be yet another everything app is painful enough, but if you look deeper into the idea of everything apps. Its super clear the reasons to be the one app to rule them all.
Ian thinks: A good summary of the key concerns in Europe explained to an american audience.
Ian thinks: The FT’s series of podcasts about quantum is enlightening. Although quite dry its still a good listen for those like myself who know a surface level of information.
Ian thinks: I found this Rocket podcast episode, the most clear reasons why the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank actually matters. Its easy to ignore but looking at the long tail of startups and the people who rely on them, was eye opening.
Ian thinks: There is so much happening in this space of the fediverse its almost like the Metaverse has been forgotten? But I found this panel at the recent Mozilla Festival hit the tone perfectly for a workshop titled designing the future fediverse, run by myself the next day. I also recommend this indepth interview with Mastodon CEO.
Ian thinks:I found this Mozilla Festival session, answered one of those questions I wonder about. A QR alongside signs of surveillance, link to a human and machine readable datachain explaining its capability, who is involved, storage, etc. Best of all is the whole project is Apache 2 and CC licensed.
Ian thinks: Timely reminder in the wake of Twitter, social sites which have gone, been archived and the rich community which stay strong.
Ian thinks: Japan for me was always the future. However this critical view of robots in elder care really brought a number of technical and cultural concerns into clear view.
Find the archive here
This is a bad story but I almost chuckled thinking about my wearables. The main point is about proprietary chargers for wearables and I completely agree. I always avoid proprietary chargers or ones which are not easily available elsewhere for a fair price. For example before buying the replacement to my Pebble, I bought cheap chargers for when I travel.
However back to the story, the Oura ring charger makes it all seem like a storm in a teacup, The Oura uses a USB C but has a completely proprietary charger which is also size dependent and there are 13 sizes!
Can’t even start to explain how expensive 2nd hand chargers are on eBay. but I have a filter looking for dead Oura rings which are size 13 on eBay just incase. Even the thought of a 3rd party one is someone dashed to the wind.
You can also buy a second one, brand new from Oura at roughly 50 pounds!
Of course the Covid pandemic isn’t over for many people…
A special anniversary mix for my partner, partly following the hearts in the clouds of Amsterdam mix. She loves vocals, while I tend to focus on the beats & rhythm. Looking through my collection of tunes, I was surprised how few had vocals.
With this, I started thinking about a mix using them and following a holiday in Lisbon. Tweaked an initial mix a few times to make it a better listen overall. The result is a mix which moves along at a higher speed of about 138bpm, matching the higher vocal trance and is a gift to my loving partner.
Of course enjoyable by all those who love vocal trance…
Enjoy it on my mixgarden or via Peertube!
I am still loving my DJ pacemaker device but stuck on the last official firmware for my main device (I have quite a few of them just incase). I always found I couldn’t guarantee the accuracy of the looping feature if I recorded on device, so didn’t use it unless playing live. I did a blog about this a while back.
However yesterday I happened to be doing a mix and it crashed with a 201 error, loosing my currently recording mix. Very annoyed I decided to look at the lack of space left on the device (7gig left) as I don’t actually know how much working spare space it actually needs to run?
Then I started looking at the settings, I noticed loop travel which I always turned on for some reason thinking it was something good.
Deactivate/activate loop travel
This setting disallows/allows loop in-point to push end-point and vice versa.
- When in Mix mode, select Settings > Mix control > Loop travel >.
- Toggle between Off/On by swiping right
Now to be fair in the early versions of the Pacemaker firmware, the looping was hit and miss but in later versions its not needed for me.
So I turned it off did a test mix and what do you know it looped perfectly when listening back in the editor!
All this time, I avoided looping unless playing live because of this. You can imagine how happy I was going to sleep. It also means I can upgrade the firmware to the latest and get the added features.
Wait for the next lot of mixes!!!
I have the absolute pleasure of hosting the incredible Cory Doctorow in Waterstones Manchester on Wednesday 31st May at 1830.
Cory I have known for a long while through many different events and through friend. His books are simply another level, from the fictional works to the deeply powerful non-fiction ones.
There is so much to be said starting with the book of course. Now to be honest, I heard most of Cory’s books via audiobooks. However my ever so sweet partner has offered to read me red team blues, which is great because its a really good opportunity to talk about the tech/rights/data side of things which we have only touched a couple of times.
You can sign up to the conversation with myself and Cory on the waterside site. Expect a real fascinating evening of wonder and conversation covering a lot of what makes Cory … Cory.
Cory will be signing books too, so bring your questions and books.
Little update…
Of course Cory has other upcoming appearances in the UK, not just Manchester
Red Team Blues event with Tim Harford in Oxford, Monday May 29th
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cory-doctorow-red-team-blues-with-tim-harford-tickets-574673793787
If you are in London UCL have Peter Kirstein on Thursday June 1st
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peter-kirst
Every once in a while I’m reminded I should carry some cash.
Recently I was in Lisbon, and as usually used my card for everything. However we decided to head to the beach of Cascais, as it was going to be warm (20c in Feb isn’t bad).
Of course after a while on the beach with the Diabolo and my partner, a toilet break is needed. So going for a walk around Cascais to spot a toilet in a shop, I saw a nice restaurant called Pistachio Bar. I knew I was missing a good Portuguese coffee, so I thought I’d buy a swifty espresso and make the excuse to use the toilet at the same time.
They started to make the espresso and I went to pay for the espresso with my card. But they didn’t accept card payments under 5 euros. The manager came over and they talked about the payment, I thought about other things I could do including turning it into a Americano/long black, etc all while needing the toilet still. In the end the manager turned to me and said just take it for free.
This would be great, although I couldn’t do it, especially since I still needed the toilet. There was no way I could take the espresso and then use the toilet for free. So I looked around and noticed a full bar, and offered to buy two shots for the manager and staff member. Manager said no way because they are working, however I thought some shots for me and my partner could work nicely.
I forgot shots in Lisbon is equivalent to about 2.5 shots in the UK. After finally paying and finally going to the toilet, I walked back to the beach with a espresso and two more espresso sized take out cups filled with dark rum. But happy with the positive story and a reminder I should have some cash!
On the way back I had a similar story after getting on the train back to Lisbon and realising there was no toilets on the trains. There was time to go in the station but once again there was no option for cards, so I did that turnstile hack. A angry Portuguese woman came into the male toilets and shouted at me over and over again. I tried to explain but I was kind of busy. Afterwards I offered an explanation and showed I had a legit travel card but it wasn’t enough. Conscious I needed to get the train and my partner was waiting for me, I just had to apologise again and again as I ran to the gate for my train.
As I did, I was reminded of the Wu-Tang-Clan’s Cream. Cash rules everything around me…
Its a return to Lisbon’s Martim Moniz after the heights of Lisbon mix, always reminds me of how the square is being used by many different people. I learned the old city wall runs right through it and its interesting to sit and watch the different people come, go and gather.
Bit of a moody mix during a lovely holiday in Lisbon but its winter so wasn’t as warm. Leaning on the tech trance side, this mix has a large number of new tunes and some bold choices with the crossfader, which I kept in. Its a mix which gets you bopping that head up and down with some excellent tunes.
Enjoy on my mixgarden or on Peertube!
For a long while I have been thinking about the incredible role of public service in the fabric of modern society. Not only because I have worked for a public service company for almost 19 years. There is so much happening in the public space but its never really talked about or even celebrated? This is all right at a time when there is so many strikes in public services.
With all this in mind and the pandemic a lot more clear, I thought its time for a new type of meetup. Something I have been thinking about since the end of Manchester Futurists.
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
One which is focused around the future of public service, ideally hosted in public services/spaces. Spaces like public libraries, health centres, national trusts spaces, etc. Its a challenge but could be great.
Since the days of London Geekdinners, I have greatly enjoyed running meetups and bringing people together. Its hard work but with a good group of like minded people it can work nicely.
Just recently I took part as remote guest in the think & drink.
It worked well with everyone in the room but me remotely connecting via zoom. They had a camera which would rotate to who is speaking. Not a huge number of people which made it a much easier to manage event it seemed.Nice hybrid event which worked.
If you are interested in the concept or/and possibility of being involved in one in Manchester, get in touch… Equally if you know a great guest which could fit the bill talking about the future of public service in the age of the internet, get in touch.
A while ago, Brock & Fernette announced they were working on an update to the Dyslexic advantage. As the book had such a profound effect, I pre-ordered it and it came a couple of days ago.
Of course I’ll be seeking out the audiobook but judging by the books side by side, there is quite a lot more in the new edition. I look forward to listening to it in full again real soon.
Also a big thumbs up on the new cover!
I have the joy of speaking at The Podcast Show on the 24 – 25 May in London.
I’m going to be talking about Adaptive podcasting and object based media. I’ll be joined with a couple more people discussing the possibilities for the future of podcasting. You won’t want to miss this…
You can book your Day Passes now and save 25% (£55 Day/ £99 2-Day) to this major International festival for the business of podcasting. .