Week Notes - July 2018


Terence Eden standing outside Number 10 Downing Street.

I've never written a Week Note before, but I was encouraged to do so after an excellent session at the One Team Gov Global conference. Here, in the spirit of openness is what I've been up to, and what I've got wrong in the last few weeks. NHS Open Source A four hour train journey […]

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Digital Court


Posters on the wall, telling victims of crime about their rights.

This is the story of my encounter with our justice system. It's a personal post that doesn't necessarily reflect my employers' opinions. September 2017 - I was standing by a bus stop when I noticed a man playing with his phone while driving. So I snapped a couple of photos of him and his car. […]

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Scam calls threatening a lawsuit from HMRC


Fraud alert warning signs.

Another day, another scam caller. Would you fall for this fraud? You'd probably realise that this was a (crap) text-to-voice system and that the tax authorities are more likely to send a letter than a phone call. But not everyone is so switched-on. If you've not had many dealings with HMRC, would you know how […]

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Interesting Failures - Group Calling


Another in an occasional series of blog posts where I discuss products I've worked on which failed. It boiled down to this. Was there a way we could make normal people want to be on a conference call with their family and friends? Let me explain. ARPU - Average Revenue Per User - that's all […]

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Electrical Neutrality


An electric car charging at a public charger.

There's a new energy provider launching in the UK soon, Elektrique Power. They've got an innovative pricing structure that I'd like to discuss. As a base rate, they charge 12p/kWh - that's one of the cheapest on the market. But that's where the good deals end. That 12p is only for domestic 13amp sockets. For […]

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What does a robot look like?


The Terminator is a terrifying metal skeleton with glowing red eyes.

This is a question I often ask my students. Typically they say a robot looks like this: Or this: Broadly human, but mostly metal. Occasionally, I get non anthropocentric answers like this mule: Or even something stark and industrial like this: One is experimental, the other is rarely seen in day-to-day life. The truth is, […]

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