One Man's Notes

There are times when I almost feel sorry for Theresa May. She is clearly trying her best to deliver something impossible, while being shot by both sides. It’s hard not to sympathise with that.

And then I remember that she didn’t have to rush into triggering Article 50. And could have published the research into the likely effects of Brexit. She could have been honest with the public, and communicated more directly with us all the way, and possibly even given us an informed choice at the end of it.

But no, like Cameron before her, she gambled on political advantage, tried to use the referendum as a tool to strengthen her parliamentary position, and then failed in that and in her negotiations with Europe.

Like Cameron she has ridden the Brexit beast into political disaster, one by trying to end it, one by trying to deliver it.

History will not be kind to these two PMs.

Here’s my incredibly sophisticated micro casting set-up, using Wavelength on my phone…

Some (rambling) thoughts based on yesterday’s NYT piece on Facebook’s senior management and the appalling reaction to the revelations about the site.

There’s some new research out on smart speakers and news - and it’s a mixed bag. Use is growing fast, but people are unenthused by the current news offerings. Is there an opportunity here?

Be vewy, vewy quiet. I’m hunting typos…

Really nice, measured take on the state of the iPad Pro from Charles Arthur.

I really recommend listening to this talk by Indy Johar from NEXT conference. Challenging and eye-opening.

Writing something to an embargo deadline for the first time in as long as I can remember. I almost feel like a real journalist again.

This is an absolutely brutal takedown of Medium’s UI and on-boarding experience - published on Medium. 🔥🔥🔥

Despite my previous post, I do enjoy binging on @Monday I find immersing myself in the community for a hour to be fun.

Catching up with a backlog of @monday posts is an odd experience - Just been through a run with a couple of people who have essentially left since.

Over a decade since my first download from the App Store. Not much use now.

This is super-handy: a Google web tool to optimise images for the web.

It bothers me that people think that Apple’s green initiatives are just “marketing”. It is possible for them to be both genuine, and good marketing, as I tried to explain last week.

A caravan of bots and other updates from the misinformation wars.

Stan Lee has gone to the great bullpen in the sky. RIP, Stan. Thanks for all the hyperbole and superheroics.

Y’know. I just realised - reading blogs used to - and often still does - make me happy, curious and energised. Reading social media rarely does any of those three. You lose something when you erode complexity and replace it with low impact interaction.

The problem with not working between Thursday evening and late Monday afternoon is that your in-box ends up a place of misery and horror. But my children are more important that my in-box, so I survive it…

Remember that Roman thing of having a slave whispering “remember you are mortal" to a triumphing general? We need that for every single person reading the internet - except they should be whispering “you, too, can fall to confirmation bias".

And that includes me.

Fantastic issue of The Discourse, looking at the dynamics of online hostility - you really should be subscribed to this.

Things I am not going to do: take marriage advice from a never-married 23-year old “top writer in love, psychology, and relationships” on Medium.

I feel like those last two books are less likely than ever to get written… George R.R. Martin Developing Even More Shows For HBO

11/11/18 - we shall remember them

Thou shalt not pass

‪If Apple could push iOS on iPad forward as fast and as thoughtfully as it’s developing the iPad Pro hardware, they’d be devouring this space. ‬

‪But they’re not. And it makes me sad. ‬