Jonathan Beckett

I tend to think the various platforms are best aligned with specific use-cases.

Looking at BlueSky once again, and wondering if it's worth the effort. Being "present" on the various social networks is kind of exhausting.

Not stopping once you've figured out how to do something seems to be a particular failing in software and web developers :)

The one where I won't admit how difficult I found it to switch off my work computer this evening, after finally discovering how to do something that I've been working towards all day - with minutes of the day left.

For far too long it’s been a few minutes here - a few minutes there - and while I mostly subscribe to Norah Ephron’s comment about a blog being “sort of like an exhale”, there’s a part of me that would like to write something of substance - of consequence. Something thoughtful. Worth reading.

I'm trying to make more time for writing. When I look back at my personal blog - started over twenty years ago - I am often surprised at how good it used to be.

We shall see :) In my experience, those that complain most vociferously about the various social platforms do so because they either can't post objectionable views without being censored, or can't force censorship upon anything they don't agree with :) (and yes, those positions do conflict lol)

I used to fly quite often with work. Sometimes the weather would be kind, and the approach route into Heathrow would take us over "the city of London" - I could never understand why everybody else wasn't filling their phone with photos too...

The city can be beautiful when it wants to be... #london

I watched the movie "Her" a few days ago, and something has been eating away at me ever since. Shortly before the plug is pulled on "Samantha", she seems to have become self aware. There's a much better movie hidden in those few minutes that doesn't exist...

Why is it we look forward to the weekend, then when we get there we stare in horror at the mountain of chores that need doing? Why do we forget about this peculiar hell by next weekend, and again the weekend after that, and so on?

Am I the only person that resists following people because I don't want to look like I'm trying to play the system - but then realise I'll never get to know anybody otherwise :/

The major thing I'm starting to understand - it's taken me several years to build nearly 40,000 subscribers at YouTube, and nearly 2,000 subscribers at Substack - all through organic means.

I need to protect them now. I receive marketing offers every week. I'm getting better at saying no.

I can't help feeling that segwaying into ads in the middle of videos is disingenuous, and will harm my YouTube channel more than help it.

You only have to look at the visceral reaction to Threads mentioning they are looking at ads to see how over internet marketing most people are.

Interesting few days:
- I posted my first "paying member only" post on Substack - testing the waters towards offering readers more in return for a small subscription fee
- I turned down a marketing agency wanting to advertise a very well known mental health product in the middle of my youtube videos

The effort some people put into mansplaining to anybody and everybody what they should see, not see, read, not read, watch, not watch, think, not think, like, dislike, love or hate is staggering.

Every like, follow, and interesting new person I cross paths with at BlueSky convinces me a little more that they might actually win hearts and minds - over so many other platforms that barely disguise their intention to consume and exploit. #bluesky

This.

I have mixed feelings about Applecare, and Apple. I once had an iPad fail, and they replaced it no questions asked (without Applecare). I had a Macbook that failed (structurally) in lots of ways (with Applecare), and they avoided touching it. I have never bought any of their kit since.

Waving hello to the US tiktok migrants landing on distant digital shores, getting a healthy dose of how it feels to be an immigrant :)

Boldly going to London :) #startrek

My mission is complete :) Lotus Organiser, running on Windows 3.11, running on Dosbox-x, running on a Raspberry Pi 500 :) #retro #raspberrypi #tech

I'm undecided about the removal of guard rails on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. At least if the worst of us are given enough rope, they will expose their prejudices for all - making it much easier to identify and block :) In my mind the algorithmic timelines are a bigger concern.

That's the problem experienced by every big company with many interests :)

Given the effort Microsoft is putting into AI in the corporate world, Flight Simulator would have been an obvious choice to show "agents" working with you and for you. I guess their fear may have been that autonomous air traffic services staff would be seen as "the coming of the machines".

This is where BeyondATC wins at the moment - by nature of it being more scripted, and unbending. It's going to be interesting to see how they both progress over the months ahead.

At the end of the flight I sum up a few thoughts - comparing BeyondATC with SayIntentions. At this point, it's clear that SayIntentions.AI is the clear winner in terms of communications - it's flexibility and adaptability is astonishing at times. It doesn't enforce air law *yet* though.

p.s. super annoyed that I can't get Lotus Smartsuite to install on it - then I could pollute BlueSky with pictures of Lotus Organiser :)

I'm guessing this isn't the best use of a Raspberry Pi 500 either (running Word 97 in Windows 98SE in dosbox-x on the Pi500) :) #raspberrypi #retro #tech #emulation

Yes - you need the floppies to install it though, and some config changes :)