Author: iandick

Life
More frustration as the new flooring was delivered but the fitter was unavailable so the kitchen drags on. It will finish this week, and I’ve delayed my week off so I can focus on getting it all sorted. Dragging now. However, it’s looking braw so shouldn’t complain too much.

Media
Watched Blade Runner 2049 on Friday. Stunning film and a worthy follow up to the original. Caught it on IMAX and it looked and sounded great. Felt it a tad long but that was more my tiredness. The world it depicts is so real but it really is a must see in the cinema to get the size and scale of it. This and Dunkirk are my fav films of the year so far.

Links

• One Man’s Journey From Welfare to World’s Hottest Video Game – Bloomberg
  Really looking forward to this on the Xbox, but the story behind the game is just as interesting.
• A New Way to Tackle Gun Deaths – NYTimes.com
  Maybe just ban them? Can’t see it ever happening…so sad.
• Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?
  Oh I’m pretty sure he knows what it is…and is quick to deny it as well.
• Coughing, heckling – what went wrong for May – BBC News
  The prime minister’s speech was more eventful that many expected.
  The combination of events, the lack of preperation…May just looks done as PM…but I’m sure none of the beasts really want the job right now. What a mess.
• From Boris the Lion King to Theresa May’s P45 – my malarial week at the Tory conference | Politics | The Guardian
  Skewered.
• In Six Seconds, Giphy Could Make Billions | The future of business
  Many years ago I thought the gif was dead…more fool me.
• Here’s How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled White Nationalism Into The Mainstream
  Rise of the right is often blamed on social media but it’s much more of a story than that.
• iPhone 8 Plus vs. Sony A7 — zeiPAD
  These comparison shots show how little there is between proper camera’s and this years smartphones. Some of the pics are obviously iPhone but many are hard to differentiate.
• ’Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia
  Well this is a fun read…and much of the fear is thanks to the tech insiders in the article.
• Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year | Royal Museums Greenwich | UNESCO World Heritage Site In London
  Wow. Some jaw dropping photo’s in this bunch.
• Hundreds of new emoji coming to iOS 11.1 beta 2 next week [Gallery] | 9to5Mac
  The art in some of these emoji’s is amazing.
• You can stop Brexit by joining the Labour party – or even the Tories | Nick Clegg | Opinion | The Guardian
  Well this is unexpected…ah…he’s got a book to sell.
• Uncovering How Streaming Is Changing the Sound of Pop | Pitchfork
  Making it all sound the same more like.
• Don’t Get Too Comfortable at That Desk – The New York Times
  I work in an open plan office, but at least there are breaks in the office and a little privacy. Crave for my own space from time to time though to get away from distractions.
• Jacob Rees-Mogg: on the trail of the pinstripe pretender | Politics | The Guardian
  I know the rise of Corbyn was unexpected, but surely Rees-Mogg couldn’t be the next PM. Surely?!?

Life
The kitchen drags on. Mostly all done (and it looks great) but one of the last major tasks was the new floor…and they’ve shipped a mixture of flooring so the fitter had to stop on Saturday afternoon. Instead of finishing today leaving me with painting it will be mid to end of this week. Frustrating. Still, a week off work starting this Friday to get everything done and the house back in order.

Media
Star Trek Discovery off to a strong start. Looked good, story wasn’t a disaster and the opening credits were a triumph. Looking forward to more.

Picked up a SNES Mini this week much to my surprise. Tesco said they wouldn’t deliver on release date but they did. It’s tiny but the pads are the same size as the original and the games included are a fantastic range of titles from the Super Nintendo days. Shame there is no Pilotwings though (hack coming soon hopefully) but it’s the easiest way of reliving some classic games. Can easily swap between games, states can be saved and some screen options to try and polish up the vintage visuals. Well worth a purchase if you had a SNES back in the day

Links

• How I hacked hundreds of companies through their helpdesk
  UPDATE: The Next Web wrote a story about my findings: http://ift.tt/2ysKAuq Months ago I…
  Shocked by how easy this is.
• macOS High Sierra Review: A Modern Snow Leopard? – 512 Pixels
  Detailed review of High Sierra which came out last week. Picked up a few new things from the review too.
• TOYO TIRES | Ken Block’s Climbkhana: Pikes Peak Featuring the Hoonicorn V2 – YouTube
  Another jaw dropping video from Ken Block.
• Apple is really bad at design | The Outline
  Scathing piece and in some ways hard to argue against it.
• The Coming Software Apocalypse – The Atlantic
  A small group of programmers wants to change how we code—before catastrophe strikes.
  Long but important look at a rocky road ahead.
• How Crossrail is using 3D-printing to build its stations – IanVisits
  These stations look stunning.
• The people who still compete in Super Mario Kart, 25 years later – Polygon
  Die hards!
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System™ Super NES Classic Edition Manuals | Nintendo
  Alongside the SNES mini, Nintendo have published the original manuals online. Brings back a lot of memories where getting a game manual was the norm. Now you get a download code for some crappy gun/armour and thats your lot.
• SNES Classic interviews revisit the creation of 21 great games – Polygon
  More trips down memeory lane – some great stories here.
• Apple Music’s Long Game: Why Jimmy Iovine Thinks They’re ‘Not Even Close’ to Success With Streaming | Billboard
  30 million subscribers but not enough for Apple. I’ve enjoyed Apple Music so far but can understand why Spotify is still the market leader.
• Eric Reid: Why Colin Kaepernick and I Decided to Take a Knee – The New York Times
  Still boggles the mind when the sports stars talk more sense than the politicians.
• The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life: the new sleep science | Life and style | The Guardian
  I’ve really struggled with my sleep over the last few weeks and it’s taking a tole on my health. So important, especially as I get old(er).
• The Power Of Compounding: You Can Achieve Anything, If You Stop Trying To Do Everything
  A trap I fall into at work and in my own hobbies. Juggling too much instead of doubling down in one or two area’s.
• This island is not for sale: how Eigg fought back
  Well worth a read.
• Spanish Riot Police Are Trying To Prevent People From Voting In Catalonia’s Independence Referendum
  The north-eastern region in Spain is holding an independence referendum Sunday. Central Spanish government has declared the vote illegal.
  The actions of the Spanish government and police today have been disgraceful and almost unbelievable. Would never have predicated state violence at such scale.
• Blade Runner 2049 – Prequel Short Film #3 – Ab 5.10.2017 im Kino! – YouTube
  Last of three short stories that bridge the gap between the two films. I watched Blade Runner over the weekend and still can’t believe that it’s 35 years old. Role on the new film this Friday.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 | Official Trailer #2 | PS4 – YouTube
  So good and seemingly still on track for a Spring 18 launch.

Life
Kitchen underway and thankfully no major problems found once the old one was ripped out. Will take a bit longer than expected but please with what I’ve seen so far.

Media
Destiny 2 single player complete and enjoying the variety of missions, strikes and multiplayer that it offers. Much more enjoyable than the first one.

Links

• iOS 11: The MacStories Review – MacStories
  For the second time in three years, the iPad isn’t following in the iPhone’s footsteps. With iOS 11, the iPad is going in its own direction – this time, with no
  Long but great review of iOS 11. Lot’s of detail but you will learn loads about the new O/S.
• Dive into the details of iOS 11: Is Apple still detail-oriented?
  There are some rough edges but overall I don’t find it impacting in day to day use.
• iPhone 8 Plus Camera Review: India — Austin Mann
  Hard to believe the quality from phones now. Great review.
• How Apple Built An iPhone Camera That Makes Everyone A Professional Photographer
  How does Apple think about iPhone camera design? Obsessively.
  Love these articles were you get a little insight into what drives Apple.
• Satya Nadella Rewrites Microsoft’s Code
  Microsoft’s CEO has stopped infighting, restored morale, and created more than $250 billion in market value. All it took was focusing on what matters most.
  The change at MS has been staggering…and for the good.
• A new kind of map: it’s about time – Points of interest
  If you’re like most people, it starts with a ballpark estimate of how long it usually takes. Or maybe several estimates, depending on when you leave for work, how bad traffic is, or whether you’re…
  A great new take on maps.
• MY CRAZIEST EVER CLIMB! Glasgow Tower – YouTube
  Mental, Can’t believe they could just walk up and climb the tower.
• Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone Too Far – NYTimes.com
  Some men need to wake up.
• Mark Zuckerberg’s Political Awakening – Bloomberg
  Uber this week and Facebook on the back foot, is this the start of more regulation and oublic awareness of just what some of these tech companies do?
• Sundance on Skye: local hero to launch cinematic revolution on his home island | UK news | The Guardian
  Love this – someone trying to do the right thing.
• LEGO GTA – YouTube
  Too good.
• The 100 Hardest Video Game Bosses, Ranked By Difficulty
  Surprised at the number one but not by the top 10 in geenral.
• Ridley Scott Walks You Through His Favorite Scene from Blade Runner | Open Culture
  Wouldn’t have thought this would have been his favourite scene. Only a couple of weeks to 2049 is released.
• The New Yakuza Murders: Inside the Japanese Mafia’s Circle of Death
  Loved this insight into the Yakuza.
• The Lonely Road Back From a Very Public Injury – NYTimes.com
  Great read, photo’s impressive too…shot on an iPhone.

Life
Busy week at work and home but everything now ready for kitchen build to start tomorrow.

Media
Destiny 2 is such a well polished game. Well worth picking up.

Links

• Apple Explains How It’s Making Siri Smart Without Endangering User Privacy
  Key differentiator between Apple and competitors, but Siri always feels behind the others as well.
• Steve Jobs’ legacy
  Loved this from Om Malik
• Apple’s Best Product Is Its Media Strategy
  It’s an advert and I know that but still enjoy the Apple events.
• Photos: What it was like to attend Apple’s iPhone X event – Recode
  Apple Park and the Steve Jobs Theatre look fantastic.
• The Best Utility Apps for iOS – Initial Charge
  iOS 11 is out this week and here’s a great list of utilities, some really useful that were new to me.
• Games aren’t always fair, the magic lies in making you think they are – Polygon
  Interesting look at making games feel fair.
• Here’s Elon Musk’s SpaceX blooper reel  – The Verge
  Expensive but also shows how normal the repeated landings now look.
• BLADE RUNNER 2049 – “2048: Nowhere to Run” Short – YouTube
  Blade Runner short number 2.
• As Amazon Pushes Forward With Robots, Workers Find New Roles – The New York Times
  Intersting look at the rise of automation, likely to be one of the great talking points over the coming decade.

Life
One week until work on the kitchen starts. Lots to do and not looking forward to the work that week but once it’s done then happy days. Also got some time off coming up – need the break although it will be filled with DIY methinks.

Media
Destiny 2 – I loved the review that said it was Destiny without the bullshit and so far it feels exactly that. No surprise that it reminds me so much of Halo – well done Bungie.
Eveybody’s Golf – Nice golf game for PS4 with a lot of depth underneath the arcade graphics.
Both these games are good but the grinding/microtransaction bullshit that goes hand in hand with almost every game now is getting tiring. One of the reasons that the Switch so far has felt refreshing.

Links

• Attacked by Rotten Tomatoes – NYTimes.com
  Piracy is down…but so have cinema takings so there needs to be a new bad guy. Step forward Rotten Tomatoes. How about the movie studio’s stop with the formulaic superhero films and endless sequels and try something new for a change?
• Not so super: why Hollywood’s cinematic universes are on the way out | Film | The Guardian
  Marvel’s interlinked superhero movies transformed industry thinking, but now rival studios are increasingly reverting to simpler, old-school storytelling
  Always thought it was daft for others to try and copy Marvel. The DC films are poor in comparison apart from Wonder Woman. Stop building worlds and just focus on making each movie great.
• IBM pitched Watson as a revolution in cancer care. It’s nowhere close
  Pretty damning on IBM and Watson. Some of the failures will be rectified but the brand is tainted.
• Donald Trump Is the First White President – The Atlantic
  Good if depressing read.
• TIME Firsts: Women Leaders Who Are Changing the World | Time.com
  Good and uplifting read. All pics shot on iPhone too.
• Modder builds his own custom iPhone 7 that restores the headphone jack – The Verge
  Love this. No dongle for this guy, he modded the iPhone 7 to get the headphone jack back.
• Leaked iPhone 8 firmware reveals animated emoji, Face ID, and updated AirPods – The Verge
  The big Apple event is only 2 days away and this year the biggest leaks are from Apple themselves. The first leak looked accidental, via a Homepod firmware. The leak of a GM build on Friday however looks malicious from someone in Apple – they won’t be happy. Still, much to look forward to.

Life
Autumn’s here. Bit cooler, bit wetter and could see some change in the tree’s this morning on my walk. Looking forward to getting out and about with the camera as I love this time of year.

Media
Bake Off is back…and as good as ever. New presenters weren’t Mel and Sue but good enough and nothing has been broken in the move. Yes there are adverts, but record and skip or stop moaning.

Links

• Blade Runner 2049 Short Film Reveals What Happened in 2036 | Collider
  The first of three short films to bridge the gap between the original Blade Runner and the follow up. Roll on October.
• How YouTube perfected the feed – The Verge
  Good read on how AI delivers your YouTube feed. Works well for me.
• How I replicated an $86 million project in 57 lines of code
  Love this. How many projects, especially in enterprise IT, could be reduced to small programs like this?
• Destiny 2 – Official Live Action Trailer – New Legends Will Rise – YouTube
  Great trailer…onky 3 days until Destiny 2 lands.
• 36 Hours in Glasgow – The New York Times
  This story got shared due to it describing Glasgow as remote, but it’s recomendations are good apart from doing it all in 36 hours – thats manic!
• Hurricane Harvey devastates southeast Texas – The Boston Globe
  Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm along the southeast coastline of Texas over the weekend, the most powerful storm to hit the United States since 2004. As the storm lingers in the region, rainfall has caused major flooding in the Houston area and south Texas, leading to thousands of people needing rescue and evacuation.
  Haunting images from Texas.
• The Subscription App Paradox – Hacker Noon
  Good post on subcription app’s and services. I need to review what I’m subscribed too as it add’s up to a fair amount each month.
• I Doped Like Maria Sharapova And It Was Actually Pretty Great
  Drug’s in sport are hard to understand. Fine line between banned substances and looking after yourself but I’m in no doubt that Sharapova is a drug cheat – just listen to her fellow pro’s.
• Game of Thrones season 7: each character’s strategy, ranked by political science – Vox
  Almost too much Thrones coverage but I liked this slightly different take on events.
• Introverts Don’t Hate People, They Hate Shallow Socializing
  Loved this.
• How the press lied about the little girl staying with Muslim foster parents. Here are the facts. | Pride’s Purge
  Shocked by just how much has been written about this which was untrue.
• marvel || battle royale – YouTube
  Fan made trailer but don’t let that put you off – it’s awesome.
• Inside story of Kezia Dugdale’s resignation
  Sorry to see Dugdale go. She did far more right than wrong.
• The Most Beautiful Country in the World – As Voted By You | Rough Guides
  Planning your next trip? To help spark your imagination, we asked our readers to vote for the most beautiful country in the world. These are the results.
  Some amazing places in the top 20, can’t disagree with the no 1.
• RealTime WWII
  Twitter account which posts a few times a day in sync with the happenings of World War II. Today saw Britain declare war on Germany. A must follow.

Life
A day later than normal but a busy weekend…Ok…I was dying repeatedly in Battlefield 1 and couldn’t be arsed to post last night. I’ve been busy! Honest!

Media
Finished The Defenders. Well worth a watch if you liked Daredevil.
Also finished Game of Thrones this evening and loved this series. Roll on series 8.

Links

• Ellen Pao: This Is How Sexism Works in Silicon Valley
  If you read one thing today, make it this. Many lessons that we all need to learn.
• BBC – Future – The bunkers built to survive an apocalypse
  Can’t believe these are being talked about again. Sad.
• Identity Thieves Hijack Cellphone Accounts to Go After Virtual Currency – NYTimes.com
  Nothing is safe, not even virtual currencies.
• Photos: China has one of world’s largest bitcoin mines — Quartz
  These farms blow my mind. So much effort to mine a bitcoin.
• Estonia could offer ‘estcoins’ to e-residents – e-Residency Blog – Medium
  Love what Estonia are doing – first true digital country and economy?
• New app scans your face and tells companies whether you’re worth hiringWould you be nervous with an artificial intelligence evaluating your interview skills? Come discuss in The Climb, Ladders’ Facebook Group. | Ladders
  Just wrong. This isn’t the future I want.
• 8 Lessons from 20 Years of Hype Cycles | Michael Mullany | Pulse | LinkedIn
  Gartner Hype Cycles are interesting but I don’t always believe them. Turns out I wasn’t far wrong – we are crap at predicting the future.
• Louis Rossetto – Pi.co
  I loved the origial US Wired magazien so this interview is a treat. Buying it in the UK meant trips to specialist newsagents or Borders in Glasgow which I still miss. The UK edition, while good, just isn’t the same.
• The best photos and videos of the 2017 solar eclipse
  Amazing images from last week.
• Daring Fireball: Wading Through AccuWeather’s Bullshit Response
  AccuWeather can’t be trusted. Delete the app, use Dark Sky, Carrot Weather or Hello Weather instead.
• Location Tracking
  Perfect post from the authors of Dark Sky on why you can trust them…and how the misuse of your data must be pretty widespread.

Life
That was a fun week. Nothing much happening in the world, everything postitive…politics taking a summer break. Sigh.

Media
I’ve binged on Defenders over the weekend and really enjoyed it. Liked it more than Iron Fist and Luke Cage but I’ve only a couple of episodes to go. Boo for an 8 episode run.

Game of Thrones this week was double the fun. I got a small spoiler after HBO accidently showed episode 6 so I downloaded and enjoyed it as well. What a series and I can’t wait for the last episode and some of the possible events that could happen.

Links

• Alien: Covenant – Art References on Vimeo
  This is “Alien: Covenant – Art References” by HERROZZY on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
  I thought the film had a few flaws but one of them wasn’t the looks. This video highlights the references from many many sources throughout the film.
• Action Video Games May Affect The Brain Differently : Shots – Health News : NPR
  Not a massive surprise.
• Temperature anomalies arranged by country 1900 – 2016.
  Why didn’t the BBC show this alongside the Nigel Lawson interview?
• The reality of post-Olympic Rio
  The Olympic legacy isn’t so great for Brazil. Kudos to London for what they achieved.
• Charlottesville: Race and Terror – VICE News Tonight on HBO – YouTube
  Really well put together video on the Charlottesville Nazi march.
• Holly O’Reilly on Twitter: “That Nazi who said he was “trying to be MORE violent” on the @vicenews special is out here bawling about being arrested for…being violent. https://t.co/LAaycdlIn3”
  And the follow up to that Vice video was the same guy crying on video as he is threatened with arrest. Life comes at you fast.
• ATTN: on Twitter: “.@Schwarzenegger has a blunt message for Nazis. https://t.co/HAbnejahtl”
  Arnie for president…except he’s a Republican.
• Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle Interview with Brad Thomas GOES OFF THE RAILS (8/17/17) – YouTube
  Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle Interview with Brad Thomas GOES OFF THE RAILS. Welcome to Our Channel, SUBSCRIBE, LIKE and SHARE.
  I want to see journalists do more of this. Stop letting politicians and pundits push their fake news.
• Near mint: A conversation with game collectors • Eurogamer.net
  Pride of place in Jason Lindsey’s game room is a stacked shelf of big-box PC games. In the days before Steam homogenised the purchasing process, packaging w…
  If you have to ask how much this article isn’t for you.
• Hollywood, Apple Said to Mull Rental Plan, Defying Theaters
  I love seeing the big blockbusters in the cinema but generally don’t like the experience so I’m interested in seeing what Apple will do with this.
• Subscription Software – Matt Gemmell
  More app’s moving to this model and it’s interesting to see people’s reaction. I’ve got a couple of subscriptions at the moment, but there’s only so many I can grow to – can’t buy them all.
• Essential Phone review – The Verge
  Great review of a really interesting phone. Love the screen, no branding and the design/materials but it looks like a poor (relative) camera and some buggy software. Good luck to them.
• Cambridge University Press accused of ‘selling its soul’ over Chinese censorship | World news | The Guardian
  Academics and activists decry publisher’s decision to comply with a Chinese request to block more than 300 articles from leading China studies journal
  More fake news.
• A stupid gamble on evil machines | Victoria Coren Mitchell | Opinion | The Guardian
  Fixed-odd betting terminals ruin lives, yet the chancellor still wants the tax revenues they bring
  Couldn’t agree more with this. Evil machines preying on the most vulnerable. Industry can’t self police either.
• The Wire – Characters Saying the Opening Quotes – YouTube
  Need to re-watch this at some point.

Life
Spent much of the week watching the World Athletics Championship from London. Some great performances, amazing crowds and yet again Britain puts on a world class event. Loved seeing Laura Muir pushing herself and so close to a medal in the 1500m. Her time will come.

Media
Game of Thrones this week was epic and not just for the battle at the end. So much pay off throughout the episode. Loved it. Also watched Alien: Covenant and while it was beuatifully shot it ended up an average film for me. They should just leave the franchise alone.

Picked up Nex Machina on the PS4. Basically Smash TV on steroids – a fantastic game.
No Mans Sky has been out for a year and saw a big update this week, so much so I reset my progress and started again. Well worth a try if you were interested last year but were put off by the negative press.

Links

• Man charged with murder following car ramming incident as violence erupts at white supremacist rally in Virginia
  Nazi’s publically demonstrating in America. The photo’s and video’s from yesterday were hard to believe. Where were the police? If that was blacks armed like that there would have been a very different response. The tame statement from the government shows that this is Trumps America. Horrible.
• James Damore, Google, and the YouTube radicalization of angry white men | Technology | The Guardian
  More white privilege. Another bandwangon for the alt right to jump on, except we shouldn’t call them alt right anymore. White supremists. Thats what they are. Rebranding of that kind of view shouldn’t be allowed. Well done Google for taking a stand. When will social media companies also take a stand? They play whack a mole with muslim extremists, why not the same with white extremists?
• A Brief History of Women in Computing – Hacker Noon
  For anyone in doubt about the part woman play in computing, here’s a history lesson.
• The Last Word On Nothing | Here Are The Actually Interesting Questions about RFID Chip Implants
  Couldn’t agree more with this. No way would I let a company chip me.
• The New Copycats: How Facebook Squashes Competition From Startups – WSJ
  I’ve always been down on Facebook and this is another ding for me. They own a VPN company, and although your traffic is being safely routed through that VPN they analyse what users are doing…strikes me as wrong.
• The world’s best Dota 2 players just got destroyed by a killer AI from Elon Musk’s startup | The Verge
  Ominous.
• Game of Thrones: The Loot Train Attack (HBO) – YouTube
  If you watched episode 4 of Game of Thrones then find 15 mins to catch this behind the scenes on how the action in this episode was shot.