I've got about another 10 months left at my current job and after that... I don't know what I'll do. I've already moved down to 4 days a week in an effort to glide down to FIRE. Do I really want to go back up to 5 days? Could I find somewhere that would be happy with me doing 3 days? Can I be arsed to constantly hustle for ad-hoc client work? Can't I just stop? What would happen if I took a gap year? A sabbatical? A full year of not working? I'm lucky enough to have enough savings for this …
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As previously mentioned, I quit my job. So now I'm no longer working for The Man. Instead, I am working for a man. Specifically: me. I've launched Open Ideas Ltd. It's a bespoke computing consultancy focused on open technologies. Here's a brief run-down of what I offer: Open Source Want to understand open source licencing? Confused about your options? Worried about getting it right? I am here to help. Open Standards Interested in getting involved with Standards Development…
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This is the final post in my MSc journey. Last month, in an academic congregation at Northumbria University, I was formally awarded a Master of Science Digital and Technology Specialist (Data & Analytics) with Distinction. Look! Actual proof! Thanks to Mike, my Father-in-Law, for ripping that stream. As my research was about "Exploring the visualisation of hierarchical cybersecurity data within the Metaverse", I thought it only fitting that I had a formal photo taken wearing the damned …
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When I was... Oooh... 8 or 9 I entered a "count the number of spots on the giraffe" competition one summer holiday. Apparently I was the only child who noticed that there was a spot on the tail, so I won a YEAR'S SUPPLY of Cadbury's Curly Wurlys. Nothing I've ever won since has lived up to that childish feeling of absolute glee I got from seeing a HUGE box of chocolate which was MINE! ALL MINE! It was only mildly tempered by the fact that year's supply was a measly 52 bars. My intention was…
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I started dating Liz - my now wife - one cold January back at university. We were young and disgustingly in love. This was it - 💕true love💕! And then, right in our honeymoon phase, she left to Australia for the summer holidays. We both wailed and made overly dramatic speeches about how we'd stay true to each other. And we'd write every day! And nothing would tear us apart! Those eleven weeks sssuuuuuccccckkkkkeeeeddddd! Skype hadn't been invented, and long distance calls were prohibitively exp…
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Way back in 1999, I moved to Canada for a year. Ottawa got down to -30℃ - so I grew my hair to prevent my ears snapping off in the cold. And then I kept growing it. Very occasionally I'd go to a barber for a trim, but I hated the experience. I'm not good with strangers touching me, I don't like making small talk, and I resented paying for a needless expense. So I stopped going. Fun fact - nothing bad happened. As I hit a significant birthday recently, I decided to let the "wisdom" of the c…
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(Disclaimer - I currently work for GDS, although I don't work on FOI. This is an opinion piece and doesn't represent the views on any of my employers - past, present, or future.) The Irish government recently complied with a Freedom of Information Act request from journalists at RTÉ. The journalists wanted copies of messages sent via a WhatsApp group. The Irish government complied and sent out several pages of documents. Let's take a look at three of the core mistakes that they made. …
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I don't often venture into American politics. It is hard to know whether Trump is a master strategist - as Dilbert seems to think - or merely a chaos monkey. But, somehow, he seems to have stumbled on genius tactic. Trump has repeatedly called for Clinton to be thrown in jail. This has provoked a howl of rage from the liberal media elite. In a civilised democracy the victor simply doesn't imprison their opponents. John Nichols@NicholsUprising"Demagogues don't imprison just their political …
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Being a review of 2013, from my FourSquare check-in and blogging perspective :-) The year started off cold and snowy in Woking. I was busy teaching a Code Club in the local library. For our anniversary, Liz and I went on holiday to Las Vegas. The jetlag was unfortunately crippling, and the Beatles' Love show was cancelled 5 minute in - which was very upsetting. That said, we had front row seats to Rebo and Zooty Penn and Teller, Saw Ray Kurzweil speak, And flew over Vegas in a…
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Sites like Klout and Kred are perfect examples of social media frippery. A vaguely plausible "score" that you can use to justify your "investment" in tweeting all day long. When they're used as a silly little badge, or an informal competition with friends, they're a (mostly) harmless way of gamification. Of continual annoyance is the complete lack of transparency these services show. How is your score calculated? Is anyone manipulating it? What can you do to improve it? Still, it doesn't…
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As part of the Parliament and Internet Conference, there was a panel discussion about 4G networks. These are my notes on the session. I've applied the Chatham House Rule - mostly because I can't remember who said what, rather than any backroom skulduggery. Any errors are mine and mine alone. Neither Vodafone nor EE have signed up to the Network Neutrality pledge. O2 have. (Disclaimer, I work for Telefonica, these thoughts are my own.) The Open Internet Code of Practice is the Government’s n…
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Sixteen months ago, I climbed a rattly staircase behind a restaurant to a fairly typical "start-up loft". My first taste of InMobi. I was enthralled! I've spent the last year driving the developer relationship process in the company, watching as we've grown from 15 people in a small room to 70 people in swanky London offices on the Strand. InMobi has sent me all over the world - South Africa, San Francisco, Romania, Barcelona, Bangalore, Cologne, and Bath! It has been an amazing adventure, …
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