TfL Go is a handy app. It gives you real-time access to the timetables and delays of London's tube and bus network. That's all you can do with it. You can't buy tickets, store a photocard, or anything like that. Which was why I was annoyed when this popped up in-app one day: I emailed them asking why they were doing this. The reply I got back was underwhelming: Thank you for contacting us about your access to the TfL Go App. The app is only compatible with normal iOS and Android…
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I did not get on well with this story. I know every novel has to be about The Pandemic, but this feels like it really wants to hammer home that Boris Johnson wasn't an especially good PM. I mean, yeah, we lived it. We know. At its heart, a story about how a family survives from the Second World War until the end of Covid might be interesting. It pops back and forth in time. It flips between diary entries and third party storytelling. But it is just so dull and trite. I found the foreshadowing …
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I'm a little bit obsessed with building eInk displays. They're pretty cheap second hand. They're low energy, passive displays, with good-enough performance for occasional updates. Here's a new one which shows me what the current cost of my electricity is: Background After installing solar panels, a smart electricity meter, and a solar battery - the next obvious step was a smart energy tariff. Octopus (join and we both get £50) have an "Agile" tariff. Unlike a normal tariff - with a set …
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The good folks at Fifine have sent me this neat little microphone to review. Unboxing Sound Quality Writing about microphones is like painting about flavour. So here's what it sounds like: 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. No noticeable hiss. Captured my voice perfectly. It picked up a little clack from my keyboard as I typed. Colleagues could hear me clearly - even if they were somewhat distracted by the pulsing LEDs. I don't play any instruments, so I'm not sure how well it woul…
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Another blog post which is a long and complex search query. I have a bunch of smart plugs. Some use WiFi, some use Zigbee, some use Bluetooth. None of them use PowerLine Ethernet. Why is that? I have a bunch of PowerLine Ethernet adapters. They let me use my home's electrical wiring as a network. They also let me plug electrical items into them. But none of them can be controlled remotely. Why is that? I want to take one of these: And mix it up with one of these: That way I'd be able to…
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Rather pleasingly, I averaged one book a week this year, 52 in total. 24 by women - although that doesn't include compilations which had a mixture of genders. So fairly even handed. As per usual, I alternated between fiction and non-fiction. I find my brain gets confused otherwise. I also set my eReader to have a different font per book so they don't start bleeding in to each other. This year, I deliberately set out to read some older books - not just those on the modern best-sellers list. …
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I'm delighted to announce that I've actually finished a project! Over the last few years, I've been designing a custom map. As per the credo of the "Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality", this map uses the Equal Earth projection to ensure proportional land-mass size, the South is at the up, and - of course - the globe has been rotated to 150°. I've had it printed and I think it looks glorious! Hanging on the wall You can buy these maps from RedBubble. Details Buy …
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