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Peak Ad Irritation
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1–2 minutes·
No comments on Peak Ad IrritationUsing Adblock on my desktop browser gives me a completely unrealistic view of the internet. Websites magically become temples to content and information; they are unsullied by commercial interests and bias; they place my interests as a reader above all else. I can’t imagine using the internet without it. I realise I’m potentially depriving sites…
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Apple Health vs. Fitbit
A new feature of iOS 8 is Apple’s Health App. It’s a way for users to view any health data that has been collected by in-built sensors in the device itself (such as step counts from the phone’s specialised accelerometers), along with data that can been added by third party apps (such as your weight,…
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Powerpoints, Bullet Points, and Conferences
A couple of days ago, I sat next to a student on the train creating a Powerpoint presentation. She had started on a slide titled, “Germany’s Policy of Fulfillment” and was pulling out bullet points from a text book. Ten words per bullet, four bullets per slide, lots of slides, each on a small question.…
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Journeys, Not Badges
From Girl Scouts Debate Their Place in a Changing World (NYT): A 2011 overhaul of girl scouting programs abandoned the old badge system and adopted a set of three “Journeys.” It also aligned badges and leadership opportunities with 21st-century ideas revolving around social issues, professional opportunities for women, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the…
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Piracy
When are you allowed to pirate something? These days, I rarely pirate anything at all. I subscribe to Spotify and Amazon Prime, and I pay the BBC TV Licence Fee. I buy all my books, apps, and games from Apple and Amazon; these are all unimaginably affordable compared to just a couple of decades ago,…
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Brain Training Games Don't Work
A few days ago, 73 scientists signed a letter asserting that brain training games – which typically feature puzzle games and mental exercises on smartphones, tablets, PCs, or handheld devices – do not successfully increase general measures of intelligence or memory. I have long had my doubts about the efficacy of games like Brain Age…
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2001 and Master and Commander
Next month, the BFI is releasing a new digital transfer of 2001. I will be there. Quite apart from the fact that even a big TV can’t replicate the ultra-widescreen experience required to properly appreciate 2001, I think that most normal people – myself included – are incapable of paying sufficient attention to the movie…
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Why We Go to Starbucks
At Wordstock, where I was improbably on the same (short) bill as Alex Garland and Andy Serkis, I had an interesting conversation about Starbucks. Why do we go to Starbucks? To get coffee, of course – and maybe to get something and sit down. That’s not an interesting question. What’s interesting is why people who…
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KILLER APP: The Movie
We open on two college students driving through the woods at night. One is peering at the bright screen of their phone, giving directions. “Can’t this piece of junk go any faster?” “If you want to get out and push, you’re welcome.” “I heard that if you get to the party before anyone else, you…
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Worrying and Thinking
Over the past few years, I’ve been worrying over a knot of problems that seem to defy any straightforward answers, including: How can we use Google, Facebook, and Amazon’s services when we know they’re putting people out of work, centralising information, and often acting against our interest? There are no more jobs for life, so…
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