- When Stephen Fry met Jony Ive: the self-confessed tech geek talks to Apple’s newly promoted chief design officer
- On Jony Ive’s Promotion to Chief Design Officer – No man is bigger than a company but Ive really is the new Steve Jobs given the analysis from the Apple community this week.
- Travels with the Apple Watch – I’m getting much more use out of the Apple Watch than I expected. Todoist this week was a nice addition and we should see more at WWDC.
- Google Wants To Be Your Everything – Google Now updates look impressive and Photo’s works well on iOS. I still use so many Google tools despite being on Apple platform.
- Web! What is it good for?
- Run – The benefits of running isn’t just physical as can be seen from this very personal post.
- Seeking Happy
- The Secret History of Ultimate Marvel, the Experiment That Changed Superheroes Forever
- KUNG FURY Official Movie [HD] – Mental!
Month: May 2015
Backpocket
Some nice movie reads this week and a farewell to Mad Men.
- My Reaction to Mad Max: Fury Road and the Utter Perfection that is Imperator Furiosa – Mad Max: Fury Road wasn’t just an action film
- The Untold Story of ILM, a Titan That Forever Changed Film
- Blade Runner: anatomy of a classic
- Labour’s problems in Scotland go well beyond Jim Murphy
- The Only Way Is Down: 18 Notes On The Uk Election</li>
- Alistair Carmichael urged to quit as MP for leaking anti-Sturgeon memo – Carmichael has always struck me as quite the buffoon. The fact that he couldn’t even cover his own tracks and then lied on camera surely means he has to go. Ridiculous that the Liberals are backing him on this. Desperate.
- It’s Weirdly Difficult to Start a Food Truck Business In Glasgow – Who knew?
- The Sliding Scale of Giving a Fuck
- 9 telltale signs it’s time to quit your job
- Meet the 22-year-old blogger who gets paid up to $15,000 for a single Instagram post – I knew there was money involved but the amount is pretty staggering.
- Apple Watch And Continuous Computing – Great insight from Ben Thompson and the first update for the Apple Watch delivered a nice update for third party apps.
- Time-lapse Mining from Internet Photos – Amazing results
- Jon Hamm Talks About the ‘Mad Men’ Series Finale – Mad Men finished this week and with a great ending too cementing it’s place as one of the great TV series of all time. Will be missed.
Grumbles
A pretty glum weekend all round. No one reason but a culmination of issues and niggles all of which are in my own gift to fix. Mostly.
Knee
Not quite sure what I’ve done but my knee is giving me problems for the first time. Had it for a few weeks and it wasn’t really stopping me running although the last run was more difficult than normal. An hour after the run and it was pretty sore and in certain positions it is really sore, like something is ripping at the knee. I’ve given it almost total rest this weekend and I’ll go easy for the next couple of days but it shows no sign of improving. Next step is to visit a physio and try and get to the bottom of the problem. I really missed doing any running or exercise this week and I don’t want it to turn into anything serious. Running/walking is great for de-stressing and clearing my head so I don’t want to go without it for too long.
Work
I keep work talk to a minimum but two issues are getting to me – meetings and e-mail. The volume of meetings is getting a bit OTT, to the point that I struggle some days to get any work done due to back to back meetings. My Todoist stats show the impact – no work tasks done on Thursday just…meetings. I’ve also spent the weekend catching up and doing my favourite task – PowerPoint presentations. There’s a definite knack to doing these, one that I don’t have. Still, broke the back on them.
Next issue – email. There’s nothing better than getting energy sapping nit picky admin e-mails on a Friday and it’s becoming a trend. I’m going to make sure that I don’t become guilty of doing the same but there’s little I can do to stop anyone else doing it…and it also shows my general state of mind that I’m letting things like that get to me. But still…if you’re in a position that you need to send out admin mails from time to time have a think about how you word it. Makes all the difference.
Man Up
So no biggies but all the same, it’s meant for a pretty miserable weekend. Not only that the TV is constantly reminding me that it’s a bank holiday weekend but not for me as I’m at work tomorrow. I’ve also got a head cold. And I’ve burnt my hand in the oven. Grumble grumble grumble.
But it’s fine really. Even writing this has helped. Perspective. If this is all thats bothering me I need to man up.
Backpocket
A week of Mad’s…McCluskey, Murphy, and Men as one of the best TV series ever draws to a close while the Labour saga looks to rumble on for weeks and months. Oh, and of course, Mad Max which was fantastic.
- Scotland and the SNP are not the same thing – Starting the post saying Labour was Gubbed is honest but not exactly the response people would have expected.
- There was no rise in Scottish nationalism: Understanding the SNP victory – Spot on.
- “So listen to me well, Labour Party, because if you get this wrong again you will be done for, once and for all” – Boom
- 26 Incredibly Obscure Reasons Why People Claim George Galloway Blocked Them On Twitter – Galloway is barking mad. I’ll probably get sued for saying that.
- Jetman Dubai : Young Feathers 4K
- Good Engineering Manager / Bad Engineering Manager – Don’t be a douche!
- Be Kind – lesson for us all, especially me.
- The only technique to learn something new – I want to learn but often struggle with time the easy excuse
- Why You Should Be Tracking Your Habits (and How to Do It Well)
- Navy probes leaked Trident safety claims – This story should be read alongside the report it’s based on, The Sec.ret Nuc.lea.r Th.re.At. It’s a sobering story.
- Adblockers are immoral and mobile networks should know better – Could be one of the big tech stories of the next 12 months. If ad’s aren’t invasive, flash based and take over my web page I’ve no issue but many of them aren’t. However I can see the publishers dilemma – without ad’s how do they make their site pay?
- Elon Musk’s Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla
- Maps We Love – I love maps too, especially ones that tell a story.
- World Without End – No Man’s Sky can’t come soon enough
- Sega Saturn: how one decision destroyed PlayStation’s greatest rival – 20 years since the Saturn. Still remember the Sega Rally battles.
- Mad Max: Fury Road Is An Astonishing Work Of Art – Watched it on Friday and it was stunning. Great design coupled with non stop action and a story that wasn’t drip fed. You had to work things out and it was all the better for it. In my head this followed up the others well, but seeing the original and Mad Max 2 this weekend there is a massive gulf between them. Rose tinted glasses and all that. Still, go and see it on the biggest screen you can and just enjoy it.
- Finally! Video shows what that extra shoelace hole on your trainers is for – mind blown!
If that wasn’t enough, take a trip over to Gordon’s blog for some Weekend Reading. I really love post’s like this as I usually pick up at least a couple of new reads.
Backpocket
22:00 on Thursday 7th May. How could the polls be so wrong? Surely this exit poll is way off…it actually underestimated the size of the Conservative victory. Tough years ahead.
- Election results: How did pollsters get it so wrong?
- Election 2015: What difference would proportional representation have made? – it’s laughable seeing Scottish Labour supporters complaining at the SNP domination and now clamouring for PR. You had so many opportunities to make that change but no, turkeys really won’t vote for Christmas. Who’s the turkey now!
- Life expectancy, coal fields and Election 2015
- The seats which changed party at #GE15
- ‘I’m afraid there is no money.’ The letter I will regret for ever – sobering post from Liam Byrne
- When will English politicians understand Scotland and the SNP?
- Microsoft (Yes, Microsoft) Has a Far-Out Vision
- Flying over the ruins of Berlin in 1945 (in color) – remarkable video
- A week with the Watch – I share a lot of these thoughts. Activity is pretty addictive – must fill the rings.
- 37 Excellent Apple Watch Tips & Tricks – some gems in this list
- Redesigning Overcast’s Apple Watch app – The updated Overcast app is much improved and Marco’s shows the key considerations when writing a Watch app.
- One day they’ll understand Apple
- iOS 9 Wishes – interesting read on what Federico Viticci would like to see in the next iOS update
- What Reddit’s ‘ridiculous’ button tells us about mortality
- Casting the vendors on Avengers – details post on Avengers VFX
- When You Lose Weight, Where Does it Go? The Answer May Surprise You – didn’t expect that answer
Decision Time
This has been one of the most interesting general elections for a while. Despite the millions spent by all the parties trying to convince the electorate to vote for them the opinion polls have shown little variance over the last 5 weeks. By all accounts it will be a hung parliament and deals will be done to form then next government or someone will have enough seats to form a minority. Only time will tell but the stench from the parties already around what are legitimate deals and what aren’t is telling. If you are still undecided, here’s a few links to help:
- Vote for policies – what matters to you? This helps get behind the personalities and focusses on what each party has put forward as policy in this election. Of course, how much will still remain if a coalition is formed?
- Your Next MP – Who’s standing in your area? This has taken a lot of work to keep up to date with the UKIP withdrawals.
- MP Report Card 2015 – see how your MP has performed. If you can’t decide based on the policies of each party has your current local MP done enough to justify your vote?
- They Work For You – more stats on what your MP has done over the last few years
- Want to vote tactically? Buzzfeed has a postcode driven tool to help you decide where to place your vote, The Guardian has a guide for Labour and Conservative supporters and the Daily Mail gives a detailed guide on how to keep out Labour. Twats.
I’m already surprised at how many are tweeting tonight of voting tactically rather than for their party of choice and that they have switched today, so it will be very interesting to see just how accurate the polls have been. In Scotland it looks like almost total wipeout for Labour and it’s not hard to see why. For the first time I’ll be voting SNP tomorrow and that won’t gift the election to the Tories – I voted Labour last time and still got Cameron. If Labour hadn’t spent the last 5 weeks telling everyone a vote for the SNP is a vote for the Tories and what they were actually standing for it could have been a slightly different story. Not much, but better than where they seem to be today.
Just one last thought…no matter your viewpoint I hope you make the effort to vote. It’s too important a decision to leave to others.
Backpocket
4 days to go. So good that our elections are pretty short in comparison to USA. Thursday night/Friday morning could be quite the thing.
- Euan McColm: Scottish Labour in a flap over SNP
- When is “once-in-a generation” not once-in-a generation? – Labour just won’t let go of their negative campaign, even though it’s leading to almost total wipeout of their seats in Scotland.
- 12 things I don’t like about the Apple Watch
- My Apple Watch after 5 days! – Molly Watt posts a unique take on the Apple Watch
- Distractions – Thoughtful take on the impact of the Apple Watch
- 28 Ways To Make Your iPad As Powerful As A Laptop
- Nobody Famous – whats it like to have a massive following on social networks
- Game of Fear – Insight into the GamerGate
- Why Marvel Movies Continue To Succeed And DC Just Can’t Seem To Get It Right
- An Oral History Of Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’
- Printing a wall-sized world map – love posts about passion projects
- Everything Is Awesome in This Guy’s Lego-Filled Basement Remodel – So want this!
- Plane Making – Someone creates an awesome RC model for the upcoming game No Mans Sky
- If you build it: Colossal Order on Cities: Skylines modding
- Anonymous Activist Gets Potholes Fixed By Drawing Giant Penises Around Them