car – 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..

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Feb 2025)

Woman looks to the viewer while a bot looks over her shoulder

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed reading how Zuckerberg wants to dodge EU fines, the AI Brad Pitt scam and when will the car data grab stop?

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 Meta running scared of Fediverse links, large scale eink displays and the EU are on Musks case.

Cover your tracks?

Ian thinks: The EFF highlights how fingerprinting works using your own browser data. It seems so harmless but the site runs you through the identifying information and how unique you are to advertisers. Its eye opening and worth 5 minutes of your time.

Is Biden right in his warning of ‘tech-industrial complex’ and oligarchy undercutting US democracy?

Ian thinks: There has been a lot said about Biden’s last words before handing over to the trump presidency. I found the German broadcasters summary pretty good in explaining what a tech oligarchy means for us all. Also worth listening to Tech won’t save us deeper discussion on the same point.

Kurt Vonnegut’s letter to the future

Ian thinks: This letter beautifully written and read for us in the future, has a lot to think about right now. Quoting @andtobin’s comment for the video… “Kurt Vonnegut, always having the right of it. Benedict Cumberbatch, always reiterating the message perfectly.”

Luddites with mechanical eyes?

Ian thinks: Although Marx has talked about the Luddites term in the past, this updated insight is worth hearing, as written in his Futurism post. Looking and understanding of systems and technology like a mechanic is key to the decisions of these so called Luddites. I would describe it similarly to how hackers see the world.

Swiping to see if your home still exists

Ian thinks: A conversation between Sinek and Mills is emotional but digs deep into the problems of competition and true metrics. Although an American focus, there is a lot learn from this interview, especially around the importance of public services. We all need more of this.

Charlie LLM meets your Solid pod?

Ian thinks: This update from Tim Berners-Lee is a positive sign towards an AI agent using only your controllable data. I would still like to see Solid, use the human data interaction guidelines, as this would bring a level of autonomy to everything. However, one step at a time?

Nations fall without women rights

Ian thinks: The more sexist a nation the more fragile the nation is the core message in this economist short documentary. Its pretty self evident but this pulls together a lot of research from across the world. This is a message which isn’t getting through, especially with the recent call for more masculine energy. Its time this changed!

How we fell in love with plastic?

Ian thinks: This podcast, although obvious in nature doesn’t just chart how we got so in love with plastics but also delves deep into what we should do. Focusing on making the polluters pay, it pulls together a number of high profiles legal cases and points the way to change our love for plastics.

The second renaissance: A matrix fan fiction

Ian thinks: The matrix is already well established and a clear warning when looking at the current AI resolution. This fan fiction is striking and right on point as another warning of where we are and where we may end up if things are left to fear and ego.

Find the archive here

My new years resolutions for 2025

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

Find a new position of employment
The word is out, I’m leaving BBC R&D after almost 21 years. I’ll be taking a few holidays and breaks but ultimately will be looking at new positions of employment. I may do something else like consulting, academia or develop one of the many side projects further.
Finish my dating book
Another throw back to 2024, The dating book is so close, self publishing is the way forward, rechecked with Grammerly again (avoiding the AI stuff, which I tested and it turned the chapters into something very middle of the road and not my voice) and I’m aware the first edition will be bad. But I’m very close but struggling with a book name, subtitle, cover, etc. I also made a stake to publicly release before Hannah finishes her PhD. The race is on!
Head even further a field with the scooter
Now I will have lots of leave and holidays, I’m thinking this is a good time to finally get this one crossed off. I could easily drive over to Hull or even Newcastle and get the ferry to Rotterdam or even Ijmuiden (Amsterdam). Maybe a week would be perfect and I could finally use those side saddles I bought.
Learn to drive a car
So with more time, I could actually start booking driving lessons and book a test. I’ve been told in the past, I likely won’t need many lessons as my road sense is high driving a motorbike for 27 years. I did pass the car theory once before and was flawless in the hazard perception test. Plus I now know my full bike licence gives me a car provisional.
Listen to 25 Audiobooks in the year
As mentioned in the review from 2024, this was quite easy which surprised me. There were some great books and I do like how it expands my mind. I’m going to expand it to 25 as there were a few shorter books last year.
Go to a new country
This is always a good one and honestly there are some key countries which I have passed through many times in the airport but never left. I’m looking at you Switzerland, Czechia and Austria. Although I am also thinking South Korea after needing to cancel in the pandemic and part of me is still regretting not heading to Hong Kong and feels like Taiwan should be higher on my list before its too late?
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
A regular resolution but a good one and if I head to another country, its certainly high on the list that I will find a way to check out what options for a day of pure rollercoasters.
See more of my friends further a field
My friends are diverse, interesting and great to be around; especially right now. During the Covid pandemic, I would call them up on the off chance and have some incredible conversations. It was amazing and some went on for 4 hours. So in 2025, I’m going to catch up with more of my friends I haven’t seen in years. Be it on the phone, online, in person, what ever works.
Personal knowledge management and task rethink
I’m a little annoyed with the way I’m managing my notes, tasks and projects. I liked using Trello but don’t like the closed nature of it, I like Obsidian but it is closed source also puts me off. I’m also using Todolist for tasks which is insane but I had to move from todo.txt which was just too basic for my uses.
I like what I’m seeing with Anytype & Tagspaces but also seen some interesting uses of markdown with Logseq? This whole personal knowledge management or as I use to call it personal semantic stores.
So now is a good time to relook at everything especially since I finally got Nextcloud working on my NAS (finally!).
Be more active about my personal health
Especially over the last few months, I have been pushing my health too much. On top of this, I am getting older and need to be better about things like sleep and exercise. More Volleyball, more consistency and more investigating those problems I keep ignoring.
Create a new social event
It’s been a while since geekdinner, barcamp, hackday, geeks talk sexy, 2nd degree dinner, Manchester futurists and much more. I’ve been hovering on creating a new type of social event post pandemic and come across a few good examples recently. 2025 is a good time to do something different and unique I feel, especially as it would be good to get back into the swing of things.
Do my bit for others in the community
One thing I certainly will miss after I leave the BBC is mentoring. I mentored quite a few people and even been involved in reverse mentoring (where I was mentoring someone further up the hierarchy about diversity and inclusion). I was part of Million mentors but struggled with work commitments, so now seems like a good time to do similar or potentially look at other things I could do, like helping people to manage technology?

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Aug 2024)

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed while seeing Palestinians accounts shut down by Microsoft for no clear reason, a look at the global suppression of LGBTQ+ speech and the endless AI scraping.

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 Swiss law for the public sector, researchers using AI chat bots against scammers and the wrongful arrest of a black man down to facial recognition, knocking on to wider reform.

Crowd strike: the result of move fast break society?

Ian thinks: There is so much about the worldwide outage due to Microsoft and Crowd strike. Zitron zooms out and points fingers at shareholders supremacy , recent tech layoffs and the silicon value of move fast and break things.

What is the difference between Green growth and Degrowth

Ian thinks: In this thoughtful discussion Hickel outlines a number of key concepts of degrowth including, the assumption the rich countries should continue to increase growing for the rest of the century. Plus the metric of growth based on GDP, was never developed for this purpose warned the creator of it.

We let tech take politics out of innovation?

Ian thinks: This talk from Republica is raw and will caused a lot feelings. Deep down under the skin of the talk is the underlying understanding Tante has some very good points including the fact “we let tech take the politics out of innovation.”

Negotiability is needed in car privacy

Ian thinks: This video builds on the huge data privacy problem of modern cars. There is a huge problem of negotiability with the contracts you sign. Access to emergency service is important but that shouldn’t mean data being shared with an unknown amount of data brokers. Its time for a change.

Can alternative business models survive in the future?

Ian thinks: This short documentary about John Lewis and Waitrose is quite telling as their business model feels so obscure now, especially in the face of stakeholder capitalism or as others call it Shareholder Supremacy. You can see the same of public service broadcasting and likewise their are lessons and difficult decisions which need to be made before its too late.

The LLM craze / bubble

Ian thinks: Interesting but sweary rant from a senior data scientist about the AI bubble and C-suite’s fascination with it. Good points made counting the business narrative of you need AI for everything.

Human Data Interaction needs to be a standard

Ian thinks: While watching this video about keeping contacts private, I couldn’t stop but think the whole notion of how apps, services and platforms interact with our personal data must change. Human data interaction is a step towards this but it needs standardisation and adopted very soon, because putting the burden on users through scope storage, permissions or installing GrapheneOS isn’t sustainable.

Welcome to the digital afterlife?

Ian thinks: The notion of a digital afterlife will either fill you with dread or joy. But what ever side you come down on, it’s clear existing power laws like enshitfication, surveillance capitalism, etc will be in full effort. Legal reform in this space to give agency to the user is essential and must come soon.

Influencer, human traffiker, and finally jailed

Ian thinks: The story of Kat Torres is a hard one to watch but a important one to see. There will always be influencers but could human scale social networks change this, I wonder?

Find the archive here

Perceptive media in car

Something I have been talking about a long time ago, is what Perceptive media could bring to the in-car experience. Also MBUX sound drive is something which could easily be done with the open sourced Adaptive podcast app if you write a connection to the car sensor…

My new years resolutions for 2024

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

Digital nomad things
This is the make or break year I think. I need to move things forward as time is going by quickly and i’m not getting younger. My next step is a meeting with the Portuguese embassy to clarify the tax side of things. An official note could make all the difference.
Finish my dating book
Its been way too long and its so close now, as mentioned in the review of last year.I have all the illustrations now except the front cover (but have plans). I also formatted the latest version into the 8×5 inch book format using templates, added the illustrations and shared it with a selected few. I await there comments over the festive season, then another check and final look at by Hannah.So I’m expecting some changes but its well on its way now. This year I’m looking into self publishing alternatives to Amazon KDP. But I don’t see any problem with a printed and ebook version by the end of the 2024.
Head even further a field with the scooter
I still need to get the scooter out to mainland Europe, ideally 2024 is a good time before things change with visas, etc.
Learn to drive a car
There are times when a car would be helpful and now with the drive towards electric cars and automatic drive. Its just a matter of doing the theory test again and then booking lessons.
Listen to two Audiobooks every month
I have been listening to one a month, but its time to push for two a month. Its quite a push but I think its worthy of the push I think.
Go to a new country
Its been long and there is a lot of Europe I haven’t visited, plus I have friends in those places I could easily visit. Although there is a temptation to visit some of the places again with my partner, new places do bring a new experiences.
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
A regular resolution but a good one and if I head to another country, its certainly high on the list.
Take the Diabolo skills up another level
I’m doing some exciting things with the diabolo but I really need to see some of the tricks done in person. YouTube is good but to really get a grip of the advanced tricks I need to meet other people doing the diabo lo.
Next year its time to meet more of them and learn those tricks like the infinite suicide!
Move over to privacy preserving protocols and platform
I am more and more annoyed at the business models of the majority of services out there. Cory frames it perfectly as enshittification and it’s frankly not on. Although this raises a bunch of questions about data portability (something I was deeply involved in, a long time ago regardless of what Wikipedia says) I need to just move! The alternatives are not only good enough in some places (tasks) but far better (like the fediverse). I will keep the old services but by the end of the year move over.
I’m also going to lean more on my blog more to bring things back into one place, for example why isn’t my bookwrym account not attached to my blog? Its also a good way to do collections, rather than this type of thing.
Separate out my food waste
In most of the UK, food waste is separated from the rest. Just like how we recycle paper/card and some plastics. However as I live in a set of flats, Manchester Council tried to make us separate our food waste too. This was great because my main bin stopped smelling and I had to empty it a lot less. However the community bin for food recycling in the flat basement was full of different things because people kept emptying in plastic and other things into it. In the end Manchester council stopped food waste collection and we stopped food recycling (sadly).
So my thought is to keep on doing it but empty the food waste inside decomposable plastic bags into the main community bins. Its not ideal but I think separating the waste is generally a good thing. Its a good habit and who knows maybe I’ll find a food waste bin to empty them into later.
Start to mark out significant moments in my history
One of the things I have done when mentoring as an exercise, is pull out key part of my/their life to help pick out key things which helped and hindered.
It a great little way to help understand your life and paths going forward. But I always found different ways to illustrate them using categories/layers to hide personal, work, etc.
Then recently I discovered Your life in weeks, which got looking around and finding a bunch of apps/webapps using the concept. This got me thinking about codifying key moments in life in a more neutral format. Ideally this would be XML but alas markdown will work better than CSV?
See more of my friends
My friends are diverse, interesting and are great to be around. During the Covid pandemic, I would call them up on the off chance and have some incredible conversations. It was amazing and some went on for 4 hours.
I’m going to next year catch up with more of my friends I haven’t seen in years. Be it on the phone, online, in person, what ever works.

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Jan 2023)

Xmas tree in Fediverse colours and streams

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing Channel4 interview ChatGPT, FTX’s Sam Bankman and the biggest hacks of 2022.

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 3M stopping forever chemicals, sodium-sulphur batteries becoming a thing and the BBC’s director general’s speech rallying call towards digital.

The environment will not wait for us

Ian thinks: The problems with GDP are well known but I certainly like this video by the Economist which makes the urgency a lot clearer. Can money stop deforestation? Not while we look quarter to quarter.

AI photos privacy and ethical concerns

Ian thinks: Although things are not super clear in the AI generation space, Lensa AI always struck me as something you may want to avoid. As usual people jump in and think later.

Is computing the new cars problem?

Ian thinks: Interesting discussion hinged on the question will we grow to regret computing as much we regret the way cars changed society. I have compared Jane Jacob’s life and death of the american city to the modern technological world.

Car tech isn’t helping with public safety?

Ian thinks: I found this conversation with David Zipper fascinating from a public service point of view. All the hype and funding going into autonomous cars isn’t making our streets safer for the public, and David has some very clear points demonstrating this. Worth reading this Time piece too.

Not everything darkweb is bad?

Ian thinks: Seeing some of the good things about the darkweb is never a popular but Mozilla does a good job explaining what it is and how it works in the usual fun style.

Web3 is going so great

Ian thinks: This interview with the author of web3 is going great, Molly White is just great and this interview has so many to think about. Follow on from the interview Paris Marx and Molly White talk about the FTX.

All in on the fediverse

Ian thinks: A bit of a history lesson of where microblogging came from and where it splintered. Blaine Cook’s instinct for this space has been spot on and with him throwing some weight behind the fediverse

A taste of living in an authoritarian country?

Ian thinks: Umair makes a lot of good points, comparing the way Twitter was made to work with authoritarian countries. A real taste of whats to come if the public service internet isn’t fully realised.

Seeing the power of community

Ian thinks: The importance of local communities working together for the better, is something which underpins so much of the public service internet.

Find the archive here

The rainy days travelling mix

Rain drops on a window screen — Photo credit to: josephb on flickr

It was a rainy drive down through Birmingham on Sunday but complete with the Pacemaker device and a steady driving from my partner, I was able to do a mix for the whole journey down south. Kind of gutted I didn’t include Travel (Signum mix) by Bulgarian

This time I recorded the whole mix, which was meant to be slightly more chilled as I’m sure it affected the driving speed a bit. I think its worthy of a journey with pacemaker mix and I dedicate it to my lovely partner who drove quote a bit last weekend.

Lots of new tunes and some old classics, mixed up and played over a car stereo while travelling on the motorways.

Enjoy!

The Blessing – Gui Boratto
Lately (The struggle dub) – Airbiscuit
Suru (Martin Roth Electrance remix) – Super8 & TabArm
Shoreside – Streetcleaner
Rain (Cosmic Gate remix) – Armin Van Buuren feat Cathy Burton
BOOM – MaRlo
The Storm – Eco
Breath (Blake Jarrell remix) – Anna Nalick
Percussive Thinking (meat katie & elite force remix) – Forme
Communication (mas mix) – Mario Piu
Rosegarden 2.0 – JS16
City of lights – LTN
Shnorkel (Dousk Exclusive Gems Remix) – Miki Latvak & Ido Ophir
Cafe Del Mar at Night (Beat Service’s Out of office mashup) – Energy 52 vs Shakedown
Switch (Oliver Klein & Peter Jurgens remix) – Beckers
Mirrors – Trilucid
Z.I.T.A (Markus Schossow remix) – Hiver & Hammer with Funabashi
Daddyrock – Sander Van Doorn
Dance4life (12 inch mix) – Tiesto Feat Maxi Jazz
Anjan – Angelica S
Weather The Storm (Daniel Wanrooy twister remix) – Space RockerZ
Cream (Paul Van Dyk remix) – Blank & Jones

Where are all the Electric Maxi-scooters?

I do enjoy my Honda Silverwing scooter but I keep thinking its time for a Electric vehicle. Especially seeing how it currently wouldn’t pass the new London ultra low emission zone and frankly its time for more environmental focus.

The problem I see is there are two extremes when it comes to electric motorcycles/scooters.

At one end you have your electric scooters (don’t look up electric scooters, as you get something very different and questions of where to ride them). I remember looking at scooters to hire in Berlin, thinking where the disc breaks and will car drivers actually see you on such a small thing? But at the other end there are electric motorcycles like the new Harley Davison livewire. But theres little in between.

What is needed is maxi-scooters which are electric powered surely? However I have had such a hard time finding them.

The closest I can find is the BMW Cevolution