No Logitech, I don’t want or need an AI prompt system attached to the mouse software wasting GPU uselessly. At least make it so we can switch that crap off if we want! FFS!

Logi Options uninstalled, and I’ve gone back to a basic mouse for the time being. I miss the MX Master 3, but I don’t want everything ChatGPT-ified.

23 April 2024 — French West Indies

When Facebook (or Meta if you believe they have changed purpose) first proposed the EU-only pay-for-no-ads subscriptions to their “products”, there was something that rubbed me up the wrong way but I couldn’t articulate it.

Now they have climbed down a little, in a tactic to see where the line is for the EU in accepting such a scam.

And that’s what it is… a scam.

And this is what I was trying to articulate previously but couldn’t. What really irks me is that the “proposition” from Facebook comes from a point of view that they are entitled to this money.

No they’re fucking not! They’re entitled to some money if they actually provided a real service, rather than a global surveillance network with added crappy AI ads and vacuous “Influencers”.

The litmus test, as I wrote about years ago, is forcing them to ask EVERY user to pay for the service, then we’ll see what “service” is essential for all.

16 April 2024 — French West Indies

Normal person reading Science Fiction novel: “Oh wow, cool story. Not reality however because of a million and one flaws and oversights in physics, sociology, politics and human nature.”

Billionaire Tech Bro reading Science Fiction novel: “Oh wow, cool story. I got all this money and I can make this reality because number go up. It’s like they’ve created a user manual for me.”

15 April 2024 — French West Indies

Every now and again, I get to show people around this Island in the middle of the Caribbean. I have friends over from the UK at the moment and I got to take them up the killer volcano. OK, I’m dramatising, but it is a volcano that killed around 30,000 people in 1902!

I love going up there but haven’t done it for several years. The night before the walk, I didn’t sleep well. I was anguished and couldn’t stop thinking about all the bad things that could happen during my attempt at sleep. I do that sometimes. I can’t help it. It contributes to me losing a lot of sleep. But on the bright side, at least I’m up early to prepare in time.

An early start of around 6 a.m. allowed us to be among the first groups to start the climb of nearly 500m of vertical ascension from the car park to the deuxième réfuge. The weather wasn’t with us, and visibility was limited, and even very limited at times, but the walk was really enjoyable and gave me the taste for doing more walks in the future.

I was worried about my fitness level, but I had no reason to worry as I was fine, apart from a slight knee pain while descending. I’m getting older, so it is to be expected.

I plan on going on more walks and possibly taking my dog along for the experience. She’d love it.

6 April 2024 — French West Indies

BBC: Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped again, setting a new low recorded by the long-running British Social Attitudes survey.

Just 24% said they were satisfied with the NHS in 2023, with waiting times and staff shortages the biggest concerns.

That is five percentage points down on last year and a drop from the 2010 high of 70% satisfaction.

The poll - the gold-standard measure of the public’s view of the health service - has been running since 1983.

This is the result of an age-old strategy of making things progressively worse, with one aim —to privatise— and get the architects and their friends rich off the spoils. This is nation-level short selling on an industrial scale and should be illegal or, at the very least, highly regulated.

27 March 2024 — French West Indies

Burning the planet to a cinder is the answer to getting fans to buy your music?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/25/james-blakes-music-subscription-model-is-a-fantasy-that-disadvantages-fans-and-musicians

This is such an extraordinarily bad take. Repeat after me: blockchain is not the answer.

26 March 2024 — French West Indies

I spent the weekend replacing an ageing Apple Airport wifi network with some fancy gear from Ubiquiti.

I should have done this ages ago, but I’m glad I waited for this generation of Wi-Fi device. The configuration options are much better than those in my previous kit.

18 March 2024 — French West Indies

So much of the Internet is now a Hobson’s choice, that we’ve lost what its purpose was.

7 March 2024 — French West Indies

Should owners of GenAI machines be made responsible for their outputs?

I’m not sure whether I entirely agree with that statement, but I think a more nuanced interpretation could be considered for regulation or rules of use. Something like: If you can’t precisely describe how the algorithm produces its results in a methodological and repeatable manner, then perhaps you shouldn’t be operating them, and at the very least, you should be held responsible for their output.

These are not like search engines or social media platforms, despite the concerted effort to portray them as in the same category. The implication is that Section 230, therefore, shouldn’t apply.

TLDR: No one knows ‘how’ these systems work.

6 March 2024 — French West Indies

3 March 2024 — French West Indies

They say RSS died years ago, killed by Google.

Lol.

https://rss-is-dead.lol/

2 March 2024 — French West Indies

Aren’t we all in need of this?

27 February 2024 — French West Indies

From 9to5Mac.

I’d argue that pretty much all of Apple’s recent accessories are junk these days. The quality and longevity have generally nosedived over the last few years.

Present Apple has changed from supplying quality equipment to extracting rents on services because it can no longer grow as it used to. On a finite planet, there’s only a finite number of people to sell stuff to. Shareholders are contributing to the decline of the very thing they believe they’re going to get rich from.

This is not another “Apple is doomed” post, but it is a waypoint in the history and direction the company has chosen.

26 February 2024 — French West Indies

25 February 2024 — French West Indies

This is the first post of a completely new blog based on the old blog that used to reside here.

I recently went through a complete overhaul of all my writing into one site, consolidating everything in one place. After an arduous migration of data and a failed attempt at using a popular platform, I decided on Micro.blog (MB) as my new home.

MB allowed me to easily and quickly create a blog and a newsletter and cross-post to a bunch of other sites like Mastodon and LinkedIn, to name a couple, for $10 per month. Excellent value as far as I’m concerned.

In theory, the idea was reasonable, but I quickly stumbled upon one of the issues of our technological times: the separation of professional and personal blogs and miscellanea. I found that I’d put in place a professionally oriented site in terms of content, and it stifled the outlet for personal thoughts and reflections on the world I live in. I had previously used separate platforms to achieve this, resulting in extra costs. Then something changed.

I feel like I have totally lucked out (in?) when I chose MB, specifically the Premium plan. If you’ve popped in here recently, you’ll have fallen on a link list aimed at linking to the main site. This was available at no extra cost and was very useful. However, Manton Reece, the founder of MB, announced a change to the pricing model, allowing a Premium subscriber to run up to five separate full blogs at no extra cost. This is an incredible value, and it was this change that made me rethink that separation, and hence, this blog was (re)conceived.

For what it’s worth, I’ve decided to start from scratch and not migrate the old posts here. I might reflect on that and change my mind. I’m undecided currently. As I write this, I’m thinking it would be more coherent and allow me a little more freedom to post other things. We’ll see. That’s the beauty of these tools. We can mix and match and change things up as we see fit, particularly as it is a personal site with absolutely no monetisation or tracking whatsoever.

But that’s a can of worms for another day.

/French West Indies