Year: 2017

Life
Work was pretty full on this week but got a lot done. Finished with an 8 mile walk n Saturday morning which was good…but tired me out. Slept like a baby last night. Still not got rid of this viral nonsense yet.

Media
Watched the first episode of Taboo last week. Stylish, moody but needs more plot and story. Also back into West Wing series 2 which is a magnificent counterpoint to American politics right now. If you haven’t watched it (really?!) or haven’t see it in years dive in and watch along with the excellent West Wing Weekly podcast.

Links

• Uber debuts Movement, a new website offering access to its traffic data
  Uber is opening up in an area where it might make sense competitively for it to stay more closed off: The ride-hailing company’s new Movement website will offer up access to its data around traffic flow in scores where it operates, intended for use by city planners and researchers looking
  Great use of the data that Uber have amassed. For me this is what Ai in cars can bring, not just safer driving but
• Twelve things you need to know about driverless cars
  By 2025 most of today’s drivers are unlikely to even want to own a car. But will we still have gridlock? Will you need to pass a test? We asked the experts From forecourt to scrapyard, a new car in the UK lasts an average of 13.
  Just moved into third year of the A3 so later on will be deciding on keeping, getting a new lease or moving to 2nd hand again. Tipping point soon but maybe not this year?
• This Is What It’s Like to Read Fake News For Two Weeks
  A few weeks ago, perplexed by the persistence of fake news, I attempted to think like someone I wasn’t. On December 13, I created a dummy Twitter account. More of a clone, actually. I chose to emulate Michael Flynn Jr.
  Fake news has become so prevalent, not just online but in the newspapers as well, that I’m not sure it can easily be countered. Sad.
• I wore men’s clothes for a month – and it changed my life
  It’s 9am and I’m having breakfast at the House of Commons. I’m wearing a three-piece pinstriped suit, matching tie and pocket square, and the confidence of a mediocre white man. To my left, a man is pouring me coffee; to my right, another is listening respectfully. How did I get here?
  Eye opening read. Didn’t expect the results.
• Guy Makes Sweaters Of Places And Then Photographs Himself In Those Places
  Love it!
• Bringing Wide Color to Instagram
  When captured by an iPhone 7 Plus, most of the oranges and colors in the room are outside the sRGB color gamut, so detail is lost unless we use a wider color space. The color space that Apple chose for its devices going forward is Display P3.
  A great, detailed and downright geeky post…and I love the results on the iPhone. More please, on all devices. And thats not just a plea to Apple but also iPad support please Instagram.
• Final Fantasy 7 – An oral history
  We are saving your place in the story as you read. Today, it sits above a Doutor coffee shop a few doors from a train station in a busy part of Hiyoshi, Yokohama.
  Long, long read on an incredible game.
• The 50 Most Beautiful Shots of The Star Wars Franchise
  Indulge!
• The dream of Ara: Inside the rise and fall of the world’s most revolutionary phone
  It looked nothing like an iPhone, or anything Apple might dare to make. Hakkens imagined a smartphone made of interchangeable blocks, and each block — the screen, the battery, the processor, and so on — could be easily upgraded or repaired, so it wouldn’t end up in a landfill after two years.
  Never thought this would work and some of the idea’s are batshit.
• Tony Fadell tells us the story of the iPod-based iPhone prototype
  This week marks the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone introduction, and with it, a flood of stories about the design and development of the device.
  Some good background from one of the actual team at the time.
• How the world reacted to the first iPhone 10 years ago
  A decade ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, and nobody knew quite what to think. It was expensive; it didn’t have 3G; there was no physical keyboard and the touchscreen didn’t have a stylus.
  Still interesting to see the reaction to the iPhone…especially Ballmer.
• A closer look at the Nintendo Switch
  Nintendo finally unveiled launch details for its its new Switch console today (to recap: March 3rd worldwide for $299). While the pricing and availability are big news, the bigger news for me was the ability to actually play with the new console at an event in London. The console consists of a 6.
  Really not sure about the Switch. Pricey, lack of games, low tech specs. Still, I’ve ordered one as I’m intrigued…or an idiot!
• The Greatest Chess Game ever played
  The Greatest Chess Game ever played: Garry Kasparov (2812) – Veselin Topalov (2700)
  Great commentary of a great game.
• How An Allegedly Fake Video Killed A Much-Hyped Drone Startup
  On Dec. 20, Lily Robotics was up against a wall. It was five days before Christmas, and dozens of eager customers who had spent more than $499 to pre-order the company’s flagship product were wondering if they were ever going to see it.
  Cheeky fuckers. They faked the video, took in millions from people and never delivered the final product. With Kickstarter there is always an element of risk, but these guys look to be fraudsters which doesn’t help anyone on that platform.
• How voice technology is transforming computing
  ANY sufficiently advanced technology, noted Arthur C. Clarke, a British science-fiction writer, is indistinguishable from magic. The fast-emerging technology of voice computing proves his point.
  It’s early days but voice offers an intriguing glimpse at a future without UI.
• App Extensions Are Not a Replacement for User Automation
  Here’s a thought experiment. Let’s imagine that Apple decided to combine their engineering resources to form app teams that delivered both iOS and macOS versions of applications.
  Really thought provoking article by Sal Soghoian, an automation genius recently let go by Apple.
• Euan McColm: Why voters should take no pride in the NHS
  It is a minimum requirement of any politician that he or she should be a passionate defender of the National Health Service. Few things matter more to voters than the NHS. We are sentimentally attached to it in a way that we just aren’t to other public services. This is quite understandable.
  Maybe we should focus less on Independence, eh?
• Understanding the Diderot Effect (and How To Overcome It)
  I am not a psychologist, nor am I philosopher. But I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the goals we pursue, the things we own, and the items we buy. I find it to be a fascinating study into the human spirit. There are countless reasons we buy more stuff than we need.
  So this is why I buy so much shit.
• How the inventor of Mario designs a game
  Shigeru Miyamoto’s design philosophy, explained.
  But maybe it’s Miyamoto’s influence that makes we want the Nintendo Switch.

Slightly different look to the post this week thanks to Gordon’s article on how he automates his Weekend Reading posts. So I’ve followed his advice and use Workflow on iOS to save a few steps and quite a bit of time. Enjoy!

Life
Straight back in to work and it’s busy busy busy. Set yearly goals and hoping to deliver a few more than I managed last year.

Media
Sherlock…just not doing it for me this year.

Forza Horizon 3 on the Xbox One. Really enjoying it. Great gameplay, lots to do and it looks and sounds gorgeous.

Links

• Thanks Mom!
  On Christmas in 1995, I unwrapped a shiny new IBM Aptiva. Much to my delight, my mom had gifted me my first PC. Each time I’ve thought about my mom making this purchase, it’s been thru the lens of someone looking back in time.
  Love this post. Reminds me of my mum and dad getting me an Amstrad CPC for Christmas. Money was tight and they must have scrimped and saved to get it but I loved that machine and in many ways set me on a path.
• Apple’s 2016 in review
  This has been the winter of our discontent. 2016 was the year the tone changed. There’s always been a lot of criticism and griping about anything Apple does (and doesn’t do — it can’t win) but in 2016 I feel like the tone of the chatter about Apple changed and got a lot more negative.
  Excellent post and captures what many feel about Apple right now.
• Wind just generated more power than coal in the UK, for the first year ever
  During most years since the industrial revolution, the UK has relied on coal to produce the lion’s share of its energy (in the last 10, gas has been top some years, and coal others).
  Good to see our reliance on fossil fuels decreasing.
• Alexa: Amazon’s Operating System
  The concept of an operating system is pretty straightforward: it is a piece of software that manages a computer, making said computer’s hardware resources accessible to software through a consistent set of interfaces.
  Alexa won CES this year. VW & Ford are putting it in their cars, many vendors had integrated Alexa into their products and Amazon have a real leg up on their competitors with Alexa. Interesting times.
• How ‘Rogue One’s’ Princess Leia, Grand Moff Tarkin Were Created
  Bringing back the late Peter Cushing and 19-year-old Carrie Fisher for a story taking place before the 1977 “Star Wars” was a CGI challenge.
  Still found the CGI characters false and jarring in amongst the real actors. Do not like.
• That mystery Go player crushing the world’s best online? It was AlphaGo again
  DeepMind’s AlphaGo is back, and it’s been secretly crushing the world’s best Go players over the past couple of weeks. The new version of the AI has played 51 games online and won 50 of them, including a victory against Ke Jie, currently the world’s best human Go player.
  AI is taking over the world, one little step at a time.
• Mini Metros
  Love this – minimalist graphics of the worlds light rail systems.
• What Did And Did Not Happen In 2016 – AVC
  As has become my practice, I will end the year (today) looking back and start the year (tomorrow) looking forward. As a starting point for looking back on 2016, we can start with my What Is Going To Happen In 2016 post from Jan 1st 2016.
  Review of the year by Fred Wilson. His 2017 predictions are worth reading too.
• The Scottish pioneer whose plan for a basic income could transform Britain
  In the city where Adam Smith developed the free-market theories that inspired Thatcherism nearly 300 years later, a young Labour politician is pursuing an economic vision that takes a drastically different approach to “the wealth of nations”.
  Not sure if this will work but it’s worth trying and one could argue it’s better than what we’ve got now.
• First 10 Years of iPhone: How It Has Changed Our World
  The Legendary Intro 10 years ago from now, Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone. I was luckily covering the event onsite.
  January 9th 2007. Time flies.
• Journey to Iceland
  @Shortstache full trip. Entire country of Iceland over 10 days.
• this is iceland
  I really need to book a trip to Iceland.