Blog

Life
Kitchen chosen and all going well will be done by end of September. Just need to get some tiles and paint chosen now.

Media
Saw Dunkirk and it’s pretty special. Little dialogue but it grips you within the first few seconds unlike many other films and never lets go. Visually spectacular as is the audio…visit an iMax to see it at it’s best.

Links

• iPhone 7 — The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day — Apple – YouTube
  You should never, ever, under any circumstances, underestimate how much Dwayne Johnson can get done in a day with Siri. Follow the world’s busiest actor and …
  Not as bad as I feared…but Siri is never this good for me.
• iOS – Siri – Apple
  Siri on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV lets you use your voice to send messages, make appointments, control your home, and more.
  If you want to get more out of Siri, here’s some help from Apple.
• BBC Blogs – Internet Blog – Putting audiences at the heart of VR
  Interesting post of VR and the BBC.
• How Jony Ive Masterminded Apple’s New Headquarters – WSJ
  With Apple Park, the company’s chief designer has once again brought Steve Jobs’s exacting design vision to life.
  Apple Park looks stunning but so much open plan…can see trouble ahead.
• The Camera Drone Company That Fell to Earth | WIRED
  Over promise, under deliver.
• Troy Hunt: Passwords Evolved: Authentication Guidance for the Modern Era
  Interesting read on where cyber security is heading.
• The future of fake news: don’t believe everything you read, see or hear | Technology | The Guardian
  The camera never lies. This is scary.
• Charlie Gard: facts, medicine, and right-wing fictions
  Feel sorry for Charlie Gard and the family, but the media manipulation was a disgrace. This article does a great job of reporting the facts which is more than the Daily Mail managed with much of their articles coming from the Gard families PR team.
• Tesla’s Model 3 Arrives With a Surprise 310-Mile Range
  Looks a great car.
• How Tesla changed the auto industry forever – The Verge
  What will be driving in 20 years? More to the point, what will be driving us?
• A New Approach to Designing Smart Cities – Design Matters – Medium
  Thought provoking read on future cities. Makes me think about drone lanes, cities where AI cars are mandatory. Exciting times.
• The sound illusion that makes Dunkirk so intense – Vox
  Nice insight into the audio tricks that get played.
• Hollywood’s Next Big Thing: ‘Dunkirk’ Star Fionn Whitehead Goes From London Barista to Leading Actor – The Hollywood Reporter
  He still hasn’t seen the film!

Life
New kitchen almost chosen. Expensive but will make a massive difference.

Media
Game of Thrones returned strong. Very much setting the chess board for this series but loved it all apart from Ed Sheeran which totally took me out of the GoT universe. The Handmaid’s Tale is finishing really stongly. Can’t wait for the last two episodes.

Links

• Remembering George Romero – Edgar Wright Here
  Good article from Wright.
• Google Glass 2.0 Is a Startling Second Act | WIRED
  Good to see Glass is still around and focussing on the enterprise which looks a far more applicable market…for now.
• As ‘Brexit’ Clock Ticks, U.K. Seems Adrift – NYTimes.com
  Adrfit…lost…and a disappointing stand from Corbyn as well.
• Joy of sticks: 10 greatest video game controllers | Technology | The Guardian
  From Atari’s CX joystick to the Oculus Touch, here are our favourites
  Where the fuck is the SNES pad? Disgrace.
• Daring Fireball: Public Service Announcement: You Should Not Force Quit Apps on iOS
  If you are on iOS please read this.
• Female BBC stars’ letter to Tony hall demanding equal pay in full
  The BBC having to release salaries is a disgrace. An attack on the BBC by the tory government. However if equal pay is addressed not only at the BBC but across all walks of life then it will have been a good outcome.
• The billion-dollar palaces of Apple, Facebook and Google | Art and design | The Guardian
  Modern day churches.

It’s trailer week thanks to comic con…and what a great set there’s been this year.

• BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Trailer 2 – YouTube
  This looks and sounds stunning…but I still have the fear.
• The Walking Dead Season 8 – First Look Trailer, only on FOX TV – YouTube
  Watch the gripping new trailer for #TheWalkingDeadUK Season 8 which returns to FOX on Monday 23rd October.
  Stepping up the action after last year. Whats with old man Rick?
• Ready Player One – SDCC Teaser – Warner Bros. UK – YouTube
  Loved the book and the trailer is mostly hitting the spot.
• Justice League – Comic-Con Sneak Peek [HD] – YouTube
  Looking a lot better than Batman vs Superman.
• Stranger Things Season 2 Trailer – YouTube
  Best trailer this week. Roll on October.
• Westworld Season 2: Comic-Con Trailer (HBO) – YouTube
  Carnage!
• ”Thor: Ragnarok” Official Trailer – YouTube
  Crazy fun, total contrast to most of the other superhero films.
• Star Trek: Discovery | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix – YouTube
  Something is found lurking at the edge of Federation space, and Starfleet will never be the same. Explore an all-new era of Star Trek weekly on Netflix start…
  Not sure what to make of this. Love a good space sci-fi but some of the effects look a bit off.

Life
Interesting week. Colonoscopy on Tuesday which saw me get an all clear and yet again be thankful for what the NHS offers. The preperation the day before was…cleansing 🙂 Pretty close to deciding on a kitchen which will be worth it in the end but will see a bit more upheavel and more than a bit of cash.

Media
Caught up on Game of Thrones ready for season 7 tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Links

• DJI Is Locking Down Its Drones Against a Growing Army of DIY Hackers – Motherboard
  Drone hackers have forced DJI into an arms race.
  I think the hackers will win this one.
• 5K Versions of Every Default macOS Wallpaper – 512 Pixels
  Nice set of wallpapers from every macOS.
• The New York Times
  A Russian lawyer was said to have dirt on Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump Jr. agreed to meet her. The tale of the email.
  Still can’t quite believed what happened early last week. How much can the Trump clan get away with?
• Messages from the tower – BBC News
  Messages from the tower – Piecing together what happened on the night of London’s Grenfell Tower fire
  A really diificult read but great reporting from the BBC.
• 2017 International Drone Photography Contest – WINNERS ANNOUNCED – YouTube
  Some jaw dropping images.
• Radiohead releases a surprise ZX Spectrum program for OK Computer anniversary | Ars Technica
  Yes I bought this, yes I can’t play the cassette, yes I’ve no record player. Still love it.
• SoundCloud sinks as leaks say layoffs buy little time | TechCrunch
  A tense scene unfolded yesterday as user-generated music streaming service SoundCloud held an all-hands meeting to explain to employees why it suddenly had to..
  SOmetimes we can’t have good things.
• Andy Murray corrects journalist’s ‘casual sexism’ – BBC News
  The British player is praised on social media after picking up a reporter on his “casual sexism”.
  In many ways Wimbledon was a let down this year but by far this was my favourite clip. That grunt at the end.
• First Look: Disney Parks Unveils the Star Wars-Inspired Land Model | Disney Parks Blog
  Is this Westworld?
• The Most Beautiful Shots of Game of Thrones – YouTube
  Lose yourself in this video.
• Leader: A true champion shows what he’s made of in defeat – The Scotsman
  In the tunnel that leads to Wimbledon’s Centre Court, the players pass under two lines from the didactic poem “If”. It reads: “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.”
  Great write up on Andy Murray in The Scotsman.
• All the X-Men
  So many!
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi Behind The Scenes – YouTube
  5 months to go.
• Pitching Up – YouTube
  Short documentary from The Guardian on sport integrating a community. Worth a watch.
• How can we stop algorithms telling lies? | Technology | The Guardian
  Algorithms and AI…what a threat to us all.
• Greatest Movie Props of All Time: From Lightsabers to Wilson – Thrillist
  Loved this, so many great stories.
• Nest Founder: “I Wake Up In Cold Sweats Thinking, What Did We Bring To The World?”
  Good or bad Tony Fadell has changed the world.
• The Rise and Fall of Working From Home – Bloomberg
  I like the flexibility of working from home but can sense change in the air as many firms question the benefits. The few ruining it for the many?
• BBC – Travel – China’s impossible engineering feat
  What an amazing feat of engineering. Breathtaking.
• Doctor Who’s 13th Time Lord to be a woman
  Finally! Great news that the next Doctor is female. Here’s a big fuck you to the minority saying they will never watch Doctor Who again. Losers.

Life
Busy week looking at kitchen options. Almost too many options so will take a few days break from it and come back later next week.

Media
Loving the new Haim album. Also enjoying The Handmaids Tale which is dark. In preperation for July 17th re-watching last season Game of Thrones. So good.

Links

• How Much Sleep Do Fitbit Users Really Get? A New Study Finds Out
  For me right now, not enough!
• From Ptolemy to GPS, the Brief History of Maps | Innovation | Smithsonian
  Some map history – thanks to Gordon for the link.
• From the Quiet of Wimbledon, the Loud Groan of the Crowd – The New York Times
  How groans at Wimbledon are more pronounced and offputting. Uggggghhhh.
• Daring Fireball: Speculation Regarding the Pricing of and Strategy Behind This Year’s New iPhones
  There’s been rampant speculation that Apple will release three phones this year including one at a higher price than we’ve seen recently. Gruber is speculating it will be a lot higher than we currently pay. Will be interesting to see what happens if the pricing he predicts is accurate.
• Plein Rond de Eik – Amersfoort, Netherlands – Atlas Obscura
  This building at Plein Rond de Eik is smiling, winking, crying, laughing, and sticking its tongue out the same way we do: with emoji.
  Modern gargoyles.
• Everybody lies: how Google search reveals our darkest secrets | Technology | The Guardian
  The truth about what we search for. Dark.
• The Story Behind the World’s Most Famous Desktop Background
  Microsoft has an insect infestation to thank for its classic Windows XP desktop background
  Amazing how old this is…and how so many people still use it.
• I Got Hacked and All I Got Was This New SIM Card
  I like to think I take an above average amount of steps to secure myself online: I use a password manager
  Scary tale. Phone provider allowed easy access…does yours?
• On London’s Streets, Black Cabs and Uber Fight for a Future
  London’s cabby wars are less about the disruptive power of an app, or a new business
  model, than about the disruption of Britain.
  Not just about tech.

Life
A day late thanks to another broadband outage. Twice in a week including a new hub being fitted. Not good.

Media
Golf Club 2 and a rather mixed reaction so far. Graphically a bit better, club options make it more interesting but multiplayer looks a hot mess and some of the ball physics just seem wrong. I’ll give it time, no doubt patches will fix over time.

Links

• Muscle-Up on Vimeo
  An amazing drone video.
• See How This Impossible Drone Shot Was Achieved – Part II | cinema5D
  And this is how the drone video was achieved. Clever.
• Grenfell Tower Campaigners Are So Angry With The Police They Are Creating Their Own Database Of Victims
  The Met police have said 79 people are missing and presumed dead, but Justice 4 Grenfell campaigners have rejected the figure and say they’re now doing their own investigation.
  Desperate. Doesn’t seem possible that the authorities are leaving this to locals. Something stinks.
• Flawed reporting about WhatsApp | Open door | Paul Chadwick | Opinion | The Guardian
  Open door: Cumulative effect of missteps led the Guardian to overstate the potential impact on the security of users’ messaging
  Guardian finally comes clean about this.
• Women in Tech Speak Frankly on Culture of Harassment – The New York Times
  It takes one brave woman to stand up and the rest step forward. Reminds me of the harrasment cases from 70’s and 80’s in the UK that are only now believed.
• Pando: The State of Pando 2017: Dropping the paywall on stories from the Silicon Valley Swamp
  Pando makes a stand
• Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get
  Course it does. Makes me question how I behave and react in the workplace. Not easy.
• Daring Fireball: Perfect Ten
  10 years and the impact of the iPhone.
• The Life, Death, and Legacy of iPhone Jailbreaking – Motherboard
  Hacking the iPhone
• Researchers Found They Could Hack Entire Wind Farms | WIRED
  Hacking a wind farm! Wow.
• UK is the worst-performing advanced economy in the world, official figures confirm | The Independent
  Cheery article to finish with. Strong and stable my arse.

Life
New boiler fitted and went better than expected…now onto kitchen shopping. Also got the new iMac this week. What a beast but it’s taken a back seat to other issues. Also had a week off work which was busy but a welcome break.

Media
Finished Ready Player One and really enjoyed it. So many geek wins and despite inital negative thoughts Wil Weaton was a great narrator. Looking forward to the film verison next year.

Links

• Michael Rosen: A firefighter who attended Grenfell tower has written this:
  Raw emotion. Can’t read this and not be affected by it.
• Nutella ‘Hired’ an Algorithm to Design New Jars. And It Was a Sell-Out Success. | Inc.com
  Expect more crazy, I mean algorithmic designs to hit a supermarket near you.
• Leaked recording: Inside Apple’s global war on leakers | The Outline
  Thats an awful lot of effort to keep a lid on things.
• After Finsbury Park, Britain must tackle its preachers of anti-Muslim hate | Nesrine Malik | Opinion | The Guardian
  Been going on for far too long
• Radiohead – Man Of War – YouTube
  ‘Man Of War’, taken from the forthcoming album OK NOT OK 1997-2017, out June 23rd on XL Recordings. http://oknotok.co.uk/ http://ift.tt/ztFZEq DIRECTO…
  Great video
• Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’: An Oral History – Rolling Stone
  Read an in-depth oral history of Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer,’ drawn from new interviews with all the band members and their collaborators.
  20 years since OK Computer. Time flies. OK NOT OK came out on Friday and this is a nice interview to go along with it.
• Videos – Radiohead – Glastonbury 2017 – BBC
  Headlined Friday and I thought it was stunning. If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare it’s well worth a watch.
• Stormchaser films a new cloud type during spectacular sunset / Boing Boing
  Lovely video.
• The secret lives of IS fighters – BBC News
  Sobering piece from the BBC.
• The Crystal Maze 2017: the long journey to bringing it back | Den of Geek
  Who didn’t love the Crystal Maze? So glad it’s back and it looks superb.
• Brexit: Tory MP Leadsom says broadcasters should be patriotic
  This is scary. Don’t question us, get behind us, be patriotic. Disgraceful.
• IoT goes nuclear: creating a ZigBee chain reaction | the morning paper
  My Hue bulbs don’t feel so secure now.
• How we make a game called Hidden Folks – Imgur
  Nice background to how Hidden Folks was made.
• Interview: Scott Forstall and Original iPhone Innovators @ Computer History Museum – YouTube
  It’s long but there’s some gems in here from how the iPhone came to be…and some of the changes since.
• Reviewing the First iPhone in a Hype Typhoon | WIRED
  The original iPhone from a reviewers persepctive.

Life
The Grenfell Tower fire puts everything into perspective. People lost families, friends, possessions and it’s hard to see who is helping them apart form themselves. Heartbreaking.

As for me, last week wears really busy but I’ve now got a week off work. However it didn’t get off to the best of starts with our boiler being condemned on Friday. New one being fitted this week which will cause quite a bit of upheaval…and probably a new kitchen will be required. Sigh.
Media
More WipEout, more Ready Player One. Half way through and it’s so good.
Links

• Inside Walt Mossberg’s gadget museum – The Verge
  Mossberg looks at the cirtical tech releases from his long career.
• The 10.5” iPad Pro: Future-Proof – MacStories
  I picked up the 10.5 this week alongside a pencil and keyboard. What an awesome device…more from me on this soon.
• WordPress parent Automattic is closing its San Francisco office because its remote workers never show up — Quartz
  Automattic, the technology company that owns WordPress.com, has a beautiful office in a converted San Francisco warehouse, with soaring ceilings, a library, and a custom-made barn door. If you like the space, you’re free to move in. The office at 140 Hawthorne went on the market after CEO Matt Mullenweg came to the realization not…
  Flxible and mobile working is the future.
• WWDC 2017 — Some Thoughts – Learning By Shipping
  Putting some of the major announcements of new platform technologies in context. What are the implications for ARKit, Core ML, SiriKit. Also ow does iOS 11 and the iPad Pro 10″ improve “productivity’.
  More thoughts on WWDC.
• The secret origin story of the iPhone – The Verge
  Great read…although it’s kicked up a bit of controversy.
• Life and death in Apple’s forbidden city – the guardian
  Another extract from the same book, the ugly side of the devices we all love so much.
• Apple’s Tim Cook on Donald Trump, the HomePod, and the Legacy of Steve Jobs – Bloomberg
  The head of the most valuable company in the world talks to Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Megan Murphy.
  Cook opens up a little more…and loves AR.
• London tower block fire: What went wrong at Grenfell Tower? – YouTube
  Investigators are trying to establish how a fire in a London tower block was able to spread so aggressively and so fast. A renovation of the building was com…
  Background to the Grenfell fire.
• 5 Fires That Shaped Modern London – NYTimes.com
  Why do we need a disaster to shape rules and regulations?
• Grenfell Tower cladding: Claims fire-resistance would have cost just £5,000 | London Evening Standard
  Anger is growing over claims a series of safety failings led to the Grenfell Tower disaster after it emerged contractors could have spent just £5,000 more on fire-resistant cladding. A “Justice for Grenfell” rally is set to take place in Westminster on Friday evening, while numerous distraught residents have demanded answers from politicians over the blaze that killed at least 17 people on Wednesday.
  If this is true then words fail me.
• London fire brigade boss: ‘It was a massive risk, but it’s our job to go in’ | UK news | The Guardian
  Inspiring
• This exciting Brexit future feels like all the rubbish bits from the past | Marina Hyde | Opinion | The Guardian
  By default I link to one Marina Hyde post every week, but she’s that good.
• How Newspapers Lost Their Monopoly On Influencing Voters In The 2017 General Election
  The Sun and the Daily Mail sell 3 million copies a day between them. But their decades-long claim to dominating public opinion may have finally come to an end.
  A good thing.
• Winners of the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest 2016 – The Atlantic
  Amazing photo’s to lift the spirits
• Developers Who Use Spaces Make More Money Than Those Who Use Tabs – Stack Overflow Blog
  Bonkers. And you should use tabs, not spaces.
• Different languages: How cultures around the world draw shapes differently — Quartz
  Who knew?

Life
A week is a long time in politics. Roll back six weeks and no one could have predicted what we’ve seen in the last few days. May is a busted flush. Indyref 2 looks dead…but I’m sure brexit or some other significant and material change will bring it back into the limelight. As for me, looking forward to a week off work from this Friday.

Media
WipEout Omega on the PS4 launched and is stunning. If you like anything about the original series you will love this.

Links

• The Second Coming Of iPad
  A great WWDC from Apple and this post covers my views on the iPad potential.
• The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2017 on Vimeo
  Recorded in front of a live audience at The California Theatre in San Jose, John Gruber is joined by Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi to discuss the news from WWDC:…
  Enjoyed The Talk Show live with Gruber. Always teases out some nice background to the new WWDC announcements and how Apple thinks.
• How to Make $80,000 Per Month on the Apple App Store
  At WWDC, Apple reported that they’ve paid out $70 billion to developers, with 30% of that ($21 billion!) in the last year. That’s a huge spike, and surprising to me because it didn’t seem like my…
  Scummy. Apple need to act to get rid of these type of apps.
• Urchins and alleyways: a rare glimpse of 19th-century Glasgow – in pictures | Cities | The Guardian
  Photographer Thomas Annan captured Glasgow between the 1860s and 70s, at a time when the city had transformed and rapidly grown
  Nice to spot some buildings that are still standing.
• A Photo of James Comey Takes the Internet by Storm – NYTimes.com
  What an image…how many more like this while Trump is in charge?
• How Britain Voted – The New York Times
  Results and analysis from the British general election.
  Great visualisations on what happened last week in the elections.
• The PM is like a deadbeat dad who’s gambled away the housekeeping | Marina Hyde | Opinion | The Guardian
  The PM is like a deadbeat dad who’s gambled away the housekeeping
  Marina Hyde on form.
• Insight: Wake-up call for Nicola Sturgeon’s indyref2 dreamers – The Scotsman
  In the end there was no real Portillo moment: the claiming of one high-profile scalp – such as Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster – that symbolised the much-touted blue surge.
  Shame to see Angus Robertson go from the House of Commons, but there’s no doubt that lasts weeks vote was a large drop for SNP…and nothing to do with Labour voters defecting to the tories despite what the Nat’s are spinning.
• Black Panther Teaser Trailer [HD] – YouTube
  HERO. LEGEND. KING. Watch Marvel Studio’s Black Panther teaser trailer now. ► Subscribe to Marvel: http://bit.ly/WeO3YJ Follow Marvel on Twitter: ‪https://tw…
  Looking good.

Life
What a fucked up week. Politics, terrorists and all the while the predominantly right wing media twist everything to suit their will. Hoping next Thursday will be a day of reckoning. Fearing it won’t be.

At least there’s WWDC to look forward to.

Media
Really enjoying Ready Player One. I can see me getting more into Audiobooks thanks to this.

Links

• 2017 Internet Trends — Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
  2017 Internet Trends
  Always interesting, although almost double the length of last years and harder to parse.
• Britain’s most average place – BBC News
  The views on the streets of Worcester – Britain’s most average constituency.
  Great article just one week before the election.
• StockStream – Twitch
  Mike Roberts is an Amazon engineer who is letting the crowd guide his $50,000 investments via Twitch. Bold…and it will be interesting to see if the wisdom of the crowd pays out.
• What Is ‘Covfefe’? The Internet Wonders
  Late Tuesday night, President Donald Trump tweeted the word “covfefe,” sending the internet into a frenzy.
  The Mango Mussolini strikes again…but what does it mean? I don’t think I’ve seen so many memes spread so quickly. Twitter at it’s best.
• 7 Ways to Maximize Misery 😞 – YouTube
  Love this from CGP Grey
• Inside Google’s Global Campaign to Shut Down Phishing | WIRED
  Google really are fighting a war on our behalf.
• What Really Happened with Vista
  A long read but really great. Vista was a mess and this story reveals some of the reasons why.
• Grilling Glasgow: a short documentary about Glasgow’s burger scene – YouTube
  Between 2012 and 2015, Glasgow experienced a foodie phenomenon – a burger boom. In this short documentary, we speak to the biggest and most influential playe…
  Good wee video into the burger scene in Glasgow and how it grew over the last few years.
• How Lego clicked: the brand that reinvented itself | Johnny Davis | Life and style | The Guardian
  Lego was part of my childhood and I love that they are still around and growing stronger. Picked up this last week and looking forward to building it soon.
• Channel 4 News on Twitter: “What brings politics into disrepute? @Krishgm spoke to Brexit Secretary David Davis. https://t.co/6QijvEtrLG”
  David Davis tries to be smart…Krishnan Guru-Murthy opens up and rips him a new one. Love it.