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?

Bots are the future of social media?

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.


Like this newsletter? find the monthly archive here

On buying the Boox palma 2

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…

Epic games serves up some 1984 on the app stores

 

Epic battle unfolds

Its been a Epic (Pun intended) battle going back and forth for Epic games and the app stores (Apple & Google).

For mobile developers the 30% cut has been a talking point for a long while but the fact you can’t use other payment systems really put the foxes in the hen house. I won’t get into details as there are others which do a much better job. I love this timeline

But I found the Fortnite 1984 trailer absolutely spot on. Pointing directly at Apple and their classic 1984 advert.  Although to be fair like most big companies, Epic isn’t clean in this area but the monopoly & closed doors of the app stores is a big deal. Its very clear Epic games planned the lawsuit, the 1984 and the trigger event in a perfectly planned check move (chess).

Shall we get the popcorn ready for this clash of the titans?

Regardless of what happens, I’m sure mobile developers will massively benefit from Epic pulling the trigger. Of course many other big names have also jumped in behind Epic.

Android App inventor 2 tempting me away from Webstandards

A long time ago , I blogged about Google’s App inventor. then  noticed Google gave it away to MIT who redeveloped it into something more usable. Recently App inventor has been upgraded to version 2 and it has some niffy features, including a live view which shows you the working app on a connected phone.

I’ve have been thinking about creating little apps for personal reason, for example a Tokyo maps app which doesn’t show ads. Its the little things. But something keeps me thinking about using the web standards and instead building a webapp.

I almost added to my new years resolutions

Develop a webapp which runs on the Mozilla Firefox phone and takes advantage of Ubuntu’s webapp features.

I was slightly inspired by Bristlr not going the standard app way. I was a little deflated by the way Android didn’t have a way to launch straight into the webapp (except as a bookmark it seems).

I prefer to work directly with open webstandards but App inventor is very tempting… Now if I could create webapps using app inventor…