Welcome to NaNoWriMo, where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You are reading "Tales of the Algorithm". A compendium of near-future sci-fi stories. Each chapter is a stand-alone adventure set a few days from now. Everything you read is possible - there's no magic, just sufficiently advanced technology. Think of them as technological campfire…
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Welcome to NaNoWriMo, where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You are reading "Tales of the Algorithm". A compendium of near-future sci-fi stories. Each chapter is a stand-alone adventure set a few days from now. Everything you read is possible - there's no magic, just sufficiently advanced technology. Think of them as technological campfire…
Continue reading →
Welcome to NaNoWriMo, where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You are reading "Tales of the Algorithm". A compendium of near-future sci-fi stories. Each chapter is a stand-alone adventure set a few days from now. Everything you read is possible - there's no magic, just sufficiently advanced technology. Think of them as technological campfire…
Continue reading →
Welcome to NaNoWriMo, where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You are reading "Tales of the Algorithm". A compendium of near-future sci-fi stories. Each chapter is a stand-alone adventure set a few days from now. Everything you read is possible - there's no magic, just sufficiently advanced technology. Think of them as technological campfire…
Continue reading →
Welcome to NaNoWriMo, where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You are reading "Tales of the Algorithm". A compendium of near-future sci-fi stories. Each chapter is a stand-alone adventure set a few days from now. Everything you read is possible - there's no magic, just sufficiently advanced technology. Think of them as technological campfire…
Continue reading →
Welcome to NaNoWriMo, where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You are reading "Tales of the Algorithm". A compendium of near-future sci-fi stories. Each chapter is a stand-alone adventure set a few days from now. Everything you read is possible - there's no magic, just sufficiently advanced technology. Think of them as technological campfire…
Continue reading →
Every year since 2009, I've taken part in NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. The aim is to publish a new blog post every day in November. In the last few years, I've blogged pretty much constantly - daily for 2020, 2021, and 2023. A total of around 2,800 posts. But now it is time for a new challenge - NaNoWriMo. Where I - and thousands of other plucky souls - try to write a 50,000 word…
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I remember seeing the original "A new decentralized microblogging platform" on HackerNews back in October 2016. A few weeks later, I joined - becoming the 7,112th user. As the years went on, my use of it waxed and waned. I started cross-posting to both Mastodon and Twitter. Gradually, I started spending more time on the Fediverse. Once Elon shat the bed on Twitter, I moved over completely. And, …
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I've responsibly disclosed a small security issue with Mastodon (GHSA-8982-p7pm-7mqw). It allows a sufficiently determined attacker to use any Mastodon instance to redirect unwary users to a malicious site. What do you think happens if you visit: https://mastodon.social/@PasswordReset/111285045683598517/admin? If you aren't logged in to that instance, it will redirect you to a 3rd party site.…
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As the Middle-East convulses in yet another bloody war, and with no end in sight to the barbarity, we're all looking for a way to understand the horrors unfolding. So I went searching in the past. What set the seeds of today's conflict and was there any way to prevent it? This is a dispassionate and, it has to be said, dry look at how the British intelligence agencies operated in the region…
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All USB-C cables are equal. But some, as the saying goes, are more equal than others. This little gadget from Plugable is a fantastic bit of kit. Plug your USB-C power supply into one end of the gadget, plug the gadget in to your laptop, phone, or any other USB-C device. Watch the screen to see how much power is flowing. Action Shot …
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Imagine a world with inter-city rockets, where tourists still use film cameras. Where self-driving trucks sport a wide array of sensor apparatus and record all their data onto miles of magnetic tape. Where the latest Androids are life-like and can perfectly clone a dead man's speech, yet are powered by punch-cards. People make video calls from public booths which eagerly accept coins as payment. …
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