Author: iandick

Still here. Still working from home. Hope everyone is doing their best to get through the Covid-19 crisis as safely as possible. I’ve been keeping the daily walks going and last weekend popped into Glasgow city centre. I couldn’t believe how quiet it was. While my local area is busier as people do their exercise the city centre was deserted. Nothing opened, little use of public transport. No rough sleepers. There were more police visible than anything else. No cars and the few cyclists had the run of the streets – why worry about the one way system when there is no one around. Does make you wonder what our towns and cities could be in the future when you factor in the climate challenge we face.

Working from home has become a bit relentless. Call after call with little to break the day. Taking a few days off soon and also counting my blessings as I’m lucky. Still in a job, still productive, still healthy. My fortress of solitude is quite nicely setup now although thinking about a new office chair to make the long days that little bit more comfortable.

Comparing Stats

We are told by many many people (politicians mostly) that you shouldn’t compare stats across countries when it comes to Coronavirus. I even nodded my head in agreement reading this article from David Spiegelhalter in the Guardian that it will only be at the end of the crisis that we’ll see just how badly each country has done in dealing with the pandemic. But then there are some stats that you just can’t ignore:

China Coverup?

With much of the world hitting first wave peaks, attention is now turning to how Covid-19 originated and could China and WHO have done more in January? This Wired article focuses on the information disappearing before our eyes as China tries to re-write recent history.

Getting It Right

Many countries have worked hard to control coronavirus. One who locked down early was New Zealand. While many countries have lessons to learn, if we do hit second peaks later in the year I hope our politicians look at the actions taken by the likes of New Zealand and are quicker to act.

Lockdown Photography

I’ve done precious little photography over the last two months – loving the lockdown photo project by Christopher Swan. Great images and also many places I recognise around Glasgow and also where I work. The glamour of South Street.

Watch your back

With so many video calls and Zoom traffic booming, video backgrounds are now a thing. Couple of options if you want to jazz up that call. Studio Ghibli have released a set of great images from some of their best creations and Got Your Back have an ever growing set of suitable…and not so suitable backgrounds. Choose carefully!

Love Bug

Anyone remember the I Love You virus that spread in the early 2000’s? The author has finally been found! I still remember someone at work clicking on the e-mail and spreading it even though we told him not to….but I got an e-mail from such and such that said I Love You. Doh. Social engineering is a powerful drug.

iPad Keyboards

Great article on the history of iPad keyboards. I’ve been using a Magic Keyboard for a couple of weeks and I’ll post my thoughts soon but as the article shows there’s been a lot of changes in the last decade.

Spaceship You

Important video for all of us during the lockdown. Spaceship You gives some great advice on how to get through the next weeks and months. Find 10 minutes to watch this.

1 Pixel Wealth

When you hear about millionaires and billionaires it can be hard to imagine just how much money that really means. 1 Pixel Wealth does a great job in highlighting the inequality in the world right now. Keep scrolling!

Jukebox

This is pretty amazing. OpenAI have released an AI Jukebox – give it an artist and genre and it will generate new music. Some of the results are spookily good.

The Best Sporting Video Games

The BBC have put together a top 50 sporting video games list with comments from loads of people about why a particular game is important and needs to be in the top 50. So many great memories in this list.

9 Eyes

What a time sink this is. 9 eyes is named after the Google Maps camera module that sits atop cars, bikes…even people to take new Google Maps imagery…and has 9 cameras. This site is full of the weird and wonderful images that Google has captured. Some are funny, some weird, some seedy and some a snapshot on everyday lives across the world. Addictive.

We’re now into week four of the UK lockdown, and week five of me working from home. This new normal will be with us for months. The daily death tolls are horrendous as is pretty much all news. But look on the bright side…even dogs are grassing people up to the police now.

We’ve turned into a nation of curtain twitchers happily passing judgement on others. Sad. However I’m more angry than anything else at the moment. Angry at our government who are happily spinning the lack of PPE while avoiding scrutiny as to why we are the worst performing country in Europe. Angry that daily stats are trotted out and we are almost numb to them now. Angry at years of underinvestment in the NHS. Angry that the Tories are riding this pandemic for all it’s worth.

But staying angry will get me nowhere. It’s not healthy and at the moment thats the only thing we can focus on. Staying healthy, following the rules and protecting the NHS so it’s there for our friends and family when we need it. Stay safe folks.

The Queens Speech

I’m no royalist but the Queens speech to the nation was damned impressive. Clear, honest and with a degree of hope. While she always speaks at Christmas this was only the fifth time in 68 years thats she’s addressed the nation on TV. Powerful.

Boris thanks the NHS

Another speech that was impressive was Boris Johnson on his release from hospital. It’s good to see he’s recovered from a nasty infection and I can only hope that his words, though well said, are followed by action. However he has form so time will tell if he really does value and protect the NHS.

So much living to do

Very few stories have been about the victims of Coronavirus. So much is made of stats, lockdown, Boris, that the huge number dying each day are often lost. So thank you to The Guardian who paid tribute to some of the people who have tragically lost their lives early.

Sick man of Europe

We are approaching (hopefully) peak infection in the UK but it’s disappointing that despite the warnings from Italy and Spain it looks like the UK will have some of the worst statistics at the end of this pandemic. Two views stand out. Germany and the UK started at around the same time and pace but the UK have came of far far worse – is this why? Also, this twitter thread from Elaine Doyle is really worth your attention. Why has Ireland been far less impacted than the UK? The UK were slow. I know also that there are big differences in population density but Ireland acted quickly and decisively like New Zealand. The UK took their time. The main question now – why aren’t the mainstream media questioning the government. There’s a fucking press conference EVERY DAY. Ask something other than PPE and what are the rules for ending the lockdown.

I’m Bored

If you are off work, missing going out at the weekends and can’t quite find something to do or watch then bored.solutions is for you. Basically it’s a site full of idea’s of what to do while self isolation with some handy filters to allow you to pick 1 day, weekly or 1 month challenges. Enjoy.

Here’s How Those Hot Jigsaw Puzzles Are Made

My mum loves jigsaws and thanks to the lockdown they are in hot demand and short supply. Loved this story from The New York Times that shows how modern jigsaws are made. I thought they would be far more automated by now.

Scotland after the trial of Alex Salmond

While the pandemic unraveled much of UK life, the trial of Alex Salmond concluded and in his favour. There’s much to unpack and so much of this story still to be told. This article from Dani Garavelli covers the trial and what’s still to come. There’s some uncomfortable days ahead when some more of what happened is finally revealed.

Avengers Endgame

Let’s end on a high. Endgame came out a year ago and these clips from the film alongside the opening night audience in New York are just joyous. Movie watching in America is very different to the UK.

What a month. The impact of Coronavirus has now hit home in the UK…scrap that…across the whole world. What was impacting China and other Far East regions earlier in the year has now totally changed life in the UK and Europe. I can’t think of anyone right now who won’t have been impacted.

The “new normal” is what many are calling it. For me that means working from home. Trying to keep a routine, trying to do some sort of daily exercise, getting used to constant video and phone conferences. I’m lucky in that I can remain productive and keep doing my role remotely but others aren’t so fortunate.

Job losses, money fears, mental wellbeing and all that on top of the impact of the Coronavirus itself. People warned what a global pandemic could do to the world and guess what – they were right. Social media has become even more noisy and sometimes for good as well. Local groups forming, how can we help each other as we will all be impacted at some point. The negative is the constant shouting by so many people that the government is wrong. The scientists are wrong. They are too slow, they aren’t reacting, country x did this by now, why haven’t we, masks are vital….or they aren’t as it’s not airborne. CONSTANT SHOUTING.

Twitter feels like an anxiety amplifier at the moment. For every positive post there’s another 50 that are predicting doom. I’ve a particular hatred for those on social media that have pivoted from Brexit and/or technology and become scientists in literally two weeks. Impressive. Makes you question what they actually know as much of what they spew or retweet isn’t really fact but merely information that supports their argument. Try TikTok instead. Almost calming. And those that are still claiming it’s like a mild flu. That the lockdown is an over reaction. Fuck you. It’s not. It will kill lots of people in the UK well before their time. Friends and family. Hopefully not yours. Just today the first NHS frontline worker has died due to Coronavirus. This isn’t flu!

The difference when outside is stark. Empty roads and pavements and for the most part people are respecting the social distancing rules. Some don’t. Some get too close. Some look like they don’t care. Shopping is now queue’s with 2 metre gaps and empty shelfs. On a walk this morning three different police vehicles passed by, all the more obvious thanks to the empty roads. Police state? But then I’m judging those that can’t keep their distance – ticking off a shopper on Friday cause they couldn’t wait to grab the same goods I was buying. And I’m saying pavements are quiet but late morning to early evening they are really busy as people get some of their daily exercise. If the rates don’t start to plateau in a couple of weeks I can see the exercise guidance changing.

The impact of the virus will be felt for years. Economies tanked. Pensions bust. Economy is a funny one. All of a sudden we can find money for everything. Broadband is now a utility. Key workers are some of the lowest paid in our economy. The NHS is now getting the investment it should have had for the last decade. And Jeremy Corbyn has been proven right. The only thing proven is that it has and always was…all about him. Thanks goodness his reign is almost over. Also a small plea to tech podcasters right now…there isn’t much tech news at the moment, stop spinning out your podcast for advertisers. Thanks.

Didn’t expect to write all that but needed to vent. Before I finish with a few links just want to say one thing….stay safe.

The Doctor Who Helped Defeat Smallpox Explains What’s Coming

Coronavirus isn’t Smallpox but lessons from years of fighting it are worth understanding.

Coronavirus tracked

There are so many sites tracking the global spread of Coronavirus but I find the FT’s the clearest. No longer behind the paywall the datasets are fascinating. Great work from Steven Bernard, Cale Tilford, John Burn-Murdoch and Keith Fray.

How the Pandemic Will End

Great long read on what’s happening now but more importantly what’s to come.

All The Streets

Davis Vilums cycled all the streets in London and also made a great site talking about it. Love this.

Google tracked his bike ride past a burglarized home. That made him a suspect.

This is scary. A man in America is accused of a crime as the tracking data from his app put him at the scene of a crime. With the increased powers at the UK governments disposal there needs to be checks and balances on the use of technology to fight the pandemic but also how it may impact on civil liberties.

Who Would Have Thought an iPad Cursor Could Be So Much Fun?

The new cursor support in iPadOS is great. And fun. Using it with the iMac’s trackpad and it works really well. The new Magic Keyboard, while expensive, is something I’m looking forward to trying later in the year. Really liked this series of tweets from Steven Sinofsky on the cursor update and the new iPad Pro’s.

30 years of hope: my life as an ardent Liverpool fan

This from March the 8th feels like a lifetime ago but it’s a great read and shows how important football is to so many people.

Deacon Blue’s City of Love

The new Deacon Blue album is one of their best. Great lyrics, strong melodies and a damn fine album up there with Raintown for me. This review is a love letter to Deacon Blue and like their new album I loved it. Give it a try – a bit of a tonic against the grimness of 2020.

Feb was quite the stormy little month. Too much wind. Too much water. A whole lot of virus. For one reason or another I never got round to one of these posts until March. Oops.

How the BBC’s Netflix-killing plan was snuffed by myopic regulation

The BBC has been fighting Netflix, Sky, and now Apple and Disney with one of it’s hands tied behind it’s back. iPlayer was, and still is, an amazing resource but has often lagged Netflix and others. Now it’s probably too late to fight back, especially if the Tories (and crazy Corbynista’s) get their way.

The boss who put everyone on 70K

Dan Price shows there are other ways to run a company and make it a success. The unexpected side benefits are a real plus.

In Coronavirus Fight, China Gives Citizens a Color Code, With Red Flags

Only time will tell how successful each countries fight against the Corona virus is. China has used tech and it’s communist power in ways that very few others can emulate. It’s right that a government should use all power and tools at it’s disposal. Shame that China initially tried to hush it all up.

Google’s ambitious push into gaming is floundering, and it’s due largely to too few games on its Stadia platform — here’s why developers have held back

Few things unite gaming firms. However they are pretty united in condemning Stadia. The tech is great but the economics and the consumers sell just doesn’t make sense. This is dead.

Record breaking rainfall

No surprise that this last month has been the wettest February since records began in the UK. What really surprised me is the MET office graphic that had to go to 400% to cover off the rainfall totals. Wow. What you saying now climate deniers?

Tot

Mac text editors are ten a penny. Tot is a little different. It’s a small menubar based text scratchpad on the Mac that is free. It supports iCloud syncing and you can get it on iOS….where’s it’s £20. I’m loving it on the Mac but can’t quite bring myself to buy it on iOS yet. Well worth a download and try to see if it fits your workflow.

Behind the Scenes — Experiments IV: Fire & Ice

The Fire & Ice Apple add is lovely but far more interesting is the behind the scenes video on how it was shot. Clever.

PARASITE House Build

Parasite is a great film, and this video shows the Parasite house being built and walked through in The Sims. Watch the film, then watch this. Lovely.

The marketing genius of Lil Nas X

Wow – Things didn’t happen to Nas. Things happened because of Nas. Virality is not mystical. The story of Old Town Road is not magical. What a story!