My laptop ran out of space yesterday. Why? Useless ZIP files! I needed to download a Windows Virtual Machine in order to upgrade the firmware on a device (long story). The official Windows 10 VM is 20GB TWENTY GIGA-FUCKING-BYTES!!! It downloaded reasonably quickly - yay fibre! But I had to wait almost as long to unzip the bloody thing. Whereupon, I discovered that zipping the file - and it was only one single file in there - saved a whole 200MB. Yup, a 1% saving. As it happens, I downloaded …
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Before GameStop became a memestock (what even is 2021) - it was the subject of another popular meme. The First National Bank of GameStop. This got me thinking. In the UK, retail banking is (mostly) free. Rather than pay interest to depositors, banks give away free ATM withdrawls, free Direct Debits, free transfers to other accounts. Some premium accounts cost money. In return, the customer gets "free" rewards. Travel insurance, car breakdown cover, foreign exchange discounts. That's all…
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Force Directed Graphs of the London Underground have been done many times before - but I think I'm the first person to add the new Elizabeth Line (CrossRail). I've also created a JSON graph of all of London's rail services - including DLR, Trams, C2C, ThamesLink etc. Demo Play with it yourself Grab the code from GitLab I've also created a version with every London station and train line. Limitations This is a quick weekend hack - don't expect polished code or performance!…
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One of the problems with OEmbeds of Tweets is that they're heavy. Lots of JavaScript, tracking cookies, and other detritus. See this excellent post by Matt Hobbs looking at how to make your website faster by removing Twitter embeds and replacing them with images. Here's my attempt to turn a Tweet into a semantic SVG! This doesn't attempt to faithfully recreate the exact look and feel of an authentic Tweet. But it is designed to be a small, fast, and semantic representation. Here's what it…
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A decade ago, Stephen Elop made the announcement that Nokia was adopting Windows Phone 7 as its platform of choice. Being the mobile nerd that I was, I live Tweeted the press conference. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentRight, where can I watch thus #Nokia press conference? Is there a mobile friendly live stream?❤️ 0💬 0♻️ 007:31 - Fri 11 February 2011 Let's take a look back to see what Elop and I got right or wrong. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentSo, looks like Microsoft kills another Linu…
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This was an excellent writing prompt from Janet: Janet Hughes@JanetHughesWhat do you miss the least from pre-lockdown life? I absolutely do not miss wandering around the office looking for a meeting room for a confidential call or if I hadn't managed to book a room in advance. Let's never return to that joyless frustration, hey?❤️ 149💬 45🔁 010:27 - Wed 03 February 2021 Toilets! That's what I won't miss. It isn't the queueing for the single free bog, nor the (lack of) industrial-strength loo ro…
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I am reading The Digital Transformation Playbook for part of my MSc. It's a good book, but I found this passage about eBooks a little confusing: what about gift giving? No one I have ever asked has thought that an e-book was an acceptable substitute for a printed book when giving a gift. I've received an eBook as a gift (thanks David!) and it was perfectly acceptable. It was nice to receive, and didn't feel like any less than a gift. I got rid of most of my physical books a few…
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Another short - and probably incorrect - prediction about disruption. Spotify, for all its tech, isn't magically disruptive. The business model is similar to a radio station. It pays music publishers based on what songs its listeners' request. (This is grossly oversimplified. Stick with me.) Spotify buys a product wholesale and then sells it retail. This is different from, say, the original Napster which paid nothing for its product and then gave it away for free. Is there a way to provide …
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This is a frustratingly good movie. I wish I had the film-making vocabulary to describe it properly. As a fun sci-fi heist, it is a triumph. The special effects are light-years beyond Star Wars - both the original and the sequels. The multi-lingual world it presents is possibly the most realistic depiction of the future that I've seen. It is Firefly with a grander vision, bigger budget, and more focussed plot. And yet... It is aesthetic without being iconic. It outdoes Blade Runner and…
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Convenience subscriptions are huge business these days. A monthly delivery of X, to save you time, money, and effort! The problem is - subscription living rapidly becomes a chore. I cancelled a convenience subscription today - and I'd like to explain why. Smol offers dishwasher tablets and laundry pods by post. Their schtick is: Cheaper than the supermarket - and more environmentally friendly! Fire and forget! A subscription at a rhythm which works for you. Convenient! Fits through the…
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This is so annoying. Boyue have released an Android 8 update for their Likebook eReaders. But it's impossible to upgrade it on Linux - here's my guide to getting it working Ubuntu / Debian / Pop OS. There's some Linux debug tips at the end of this post. Install VMware Virtual Machine Download the latest version of the Virtual Machine. Make the downloaded file executable. chmod +x VMware-Player-16.1.0-17198959.x86_64.bundle Run the app as root: sudo…
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Once in a while, big companies suggest that the answer to abuse is to ban anonymity and institute a Real Names policy. This time, it is Google's turn. They think that critical software should only be authored by people with "real names". I don't want to go into whether this is a good idea or not. Nor philosophical discussions of what a "real name" is. I want to discuss how this would work practically. Let's assume that a central website - like GitHub - decided to gather real names for…
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