Very sorry to learn that the magnificent David Potter died on Sunday evening. A pioneering mathematical physicist, he founded Psion, created the first hand-held organizer and oversaw Symbian, the standard mobile operating system. He was a wonderful philanthropist and supporter of @opendemocracy.net

Arm64 on the desktop? It’s spendy and it’s sluggish

SwiftKey used to be the greatest Android keyboard by a long chalk. But then Microsoft bought it and injected "AI" into it. Now it doesn't even recognise dictionary words. I don't think it actually has a dictionary as such any more. Just AI vibes. I want the pre-Microsoft version back.

The Ballad of Wallis Island is on Sky Cinema right now if you're a subscriber. It's often compared to Local Hero, but it's so much better. Don't watch the trailer, forgive the early "yes you're allowed to laugh" scene - it's a lovely little film.

🤦‍♂️

By far the funniest moment is the sincerity of the professionals' celebration.

OK, so just as I have to yell at my fellow Americans "air conditioners *are* heat pumps!" to combat basic ignorance of what the tech actually is, Europeans need to hear "heat pumps *are* air conditioners" because y'all are making arguments which don't make sense if you see why heat pumps are good.

But please, tell us again how arbitrary and joyless Net Zero is

"Stop it Xiaomi, they're already dead."

I've been living with a bunch of Ikea Kallsup so-cheap-they're-almost-free Bluetooth speakers. They're a fiver(!) and you can connect "up to 100" together. So can I recommend them? No. There are several problems.

Okay, UKsters, the media is useless re: extreme heat, so let’s do this. I’m from Southern California, spent the last ten years living outside Seattle, which has a similar climate to Scotland, where I am now. Here’s what I know. 1. Heat exhaustion and sickness are no fucking joke. Do not tempt them.

Reminder: Xiaomi released their first ever car 27 months ago. Now a YU7 is driving the Ring on its own (I hope it enjoyed it). This is why legacy carmakers are furiously lobbying for more petrol cars - they're stuck in the 20th Century in their technology, engineering AND their thinking. Doomed.

My neighbor told me a cat keeps eating his british prime minister so I asked how many PMs he has and he said he just goes to the commons and gets a new PM afterwards so I said it sounds like he's just feeding PMs to a cat and then his daughter started crying.

"Museum of Meaningless Metrics" #EngineeringManagement

DKs.

Two tier outrage.

Fangorn.

@shera-marley.bsky.social Thread!

Ringing

Post this and watch them go wild

📉 The headline: Brexit has cost the UK economy roughly 7-8% of GVA by 2023, consistent with the upper range of existing estimates, and confirmed across multiple donor pools and methods The loss area opens immediately after the 2016 referendum and keeps widening 2/…

Does "Fix this code" fix things they don't want fixed?!

NEW ARRIVAL! Before the iPad, there was the Acorn NewsPAD (1996). Only two prototypes known to be still in existence, this rare prototype tablet was donated by its designer! While most 90s publishers dismissed digital news, Acorn saw the future. #RetroComputing #AcornComputers

Funniest pan in the history of cinema

Russian bomber crashes in Siberia: www.reuters.com/business/aer... US bomber crashes in California: news.sky.com/story/us-b-5... Where's Bond?

Entirely related, because nobody does effective policy around tech. Nobody.

I've removed the menagerie of social media logos from my username (🐦 🦣 🐋 🃏 🥚 etc) because I'm definitely only here now. Bluesky is good enough.

Chrome! What are you DOING?

RIP Dave Greenslade. This album blew my mind in 1979, first heard on a high-end audiophile deck through gargantuan speakers thanks to a friend's divorced dad. Still a regular listen 47 years later. Bought it multiple times since (second only to Jeff Wayne's WOTW).

after a month driving an EV, they are just better in every way. I honestly had no idea. it is nuts. caveat that I upgraded from an extremely basic gas car, so part of it is just moving to 2026 car tech. but the EV aspects specifically are amazing. so quiet, so fun to drive, AC works immediately, etc

Is the Microsoft Office Ribbon causing people to have fewer children? A provocative new working paper explores the persistent drop in birth rates since Office 2007 was introduced nearly two decades ago.

The Brexit effect in one image. The currency lost 8% of its value and never recovered. Once you understand this everything else is easy to follow.

IBM SK-8811 keyboard appears to have keys for the electric windows.

Scriptwriter on BBC TV’s “That Was The Week That Was” A member of the editorial staff on “Private Eye” since 1963 his own material appeared in 1,247 issues before Barry retired in 2010 Art critic and diary cartoonist for the Times 17 of his caricatures housed in the National Portrait Gallery

today I discovered this incredible story of a minor league pitcher who is 6'4 wears glasses and a ginger beard who hurt his elbow and went to the doc for Tommy John surgery and was mistaken for a pitcher from a diff team who was also there for TJ surgery on same day anyway heres their pics and names

$10 per key:

Cartoon by @stevesack.bsky.social

“Legitimate Concerns”

Commentary: I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

the cars don't drive themselves and we're still nowhere near Mars, but you can't question Elon Musk's ability to deliver screwworms and racial violence

Sold as a reading aid, this set of colour gels is £3 at Sainsbury's. If it had "Pantone" written on it they'd be 20× the price!

I did Compiler Explorer's monthly accounts, and for the first time in ages we only broke even. Usually we run at a small surplus (which I save) & we have a year contingency saved up. If you want to support us: * Buy stuff: shop.compiler-explorer.com * Patron/GH: "Other" menu on CE Please repost. thx

I've released the aforementioned MacroKeys module that brings the Acorn Electron's FN key handling to RISC OS. It also contains an Obey file to program all the standard Electron soft-key expansions - even in the desktop.

Own cooking

A rather interesting Bamboo Keyboard and Mouse. I've never seen one of these before. Great idea. The keyboard seemed to be pleasant enough to use.

PlayStation 5 owners: If your DualSense battery only lasts an hour (me), your headphone socket is dodgy (me), or your sticks are drifting (not me), EE currently have six colours on sale at £42, which is a great price:

If this had come out of China there would have been a lot of relieved giggling in European boardrooms.

Every time Matt Damon appears in his stupid helmet the audience must shout "My hair!".

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Polestar 3 & 4 are too big for the UK. I was tempted to park next to it but I'm not that cruel.