Archives
Browse the linkblog archives.

Friday 30th July, 2021 #

  • Conversations with Tyler Podcast - Niall Ferguson on Why We Study History - I won’t try to describe in detail the topics covered since the episode description does a far better job than I could do, but I really enjoyed this, it’s a very high-brow look at some interesting aspects of UK history, from the perspective of a Scott who has studied the relevant history in great depth and formed some controversial views - One aspect I liked and share with him is a dislike for the common practice of reviewing the past using the current world view, anyway I was really wanting to hear some stuff about the UK recently, because so much of what I listen to has a US focus, and this episode was exactly that, I’d love to hear similar stuff from english/welsh/northern-irish folks to get a more complete picture of the UK - I don’t know if the interview is live or if the questions are shared in advance, either way, it’s a real pleasure to listen to
Become a Patron!

Thursday 29th July, 2021 #

  • The New Stack Podcast Ep #1266 - Cloud native deployments bring new complexities to the developer - Interesting discussion around how the move to cloud native infrastructure is affecting developers, how they are now having to get involved in devops activities and how a defacto architecture is emerging based around Kubernetes
  • Tech Dirt Podcast - Free speech, elections, vaccines, and social media - Level headed discussion about the most pressing free speech issues currently arising in the tech industry
  • Shop Talk Show Ep #473 - Brad and Ian Frost - From meteorologist to web developer - There’s a nice story of career change into web development, but the thing I found interesting is their discussion about web components, which they have been using as a way to reuse frontend functionality across apps, dropping them into different frameworks such as React and View that handle the orchestration - They have found that this way of building fits in well with larger companies that have many different frameworks across their organisation, but still want a consistent look and feel to their apps
  • Freakonomics Podcast Ep #470 - The pro’s and cons of America’s (extreme) individualism - I really enjoyed this episode, it was very focussed on the USA, and it would have been nice to hear about the UK a bit more, but it nonetheless paints quite a good high level picture of the cultural tides that shape the world around us - I don’t think any country got painted in particularly negative light, things are just different in different places, it’s nice to have a cultural map like this, I’d be interested to hear about similar maps created by other nations
  • Deviate Podcast Ep #168 - Japan’s Shikoku Pilgrimage - I felt a sort of kinship with the interviewee since, like on his pilgrimage, I am currently experiencing the challenges associated with walking around in small shoes
  • This Week in Travel Podcast Ep #286 - John Argento - RVing in Europe - Nice detour from Tech into Travel, very interesting account of a recent RV trip - Also an unexpected mention at the end of a new movement called Podcast 2.0 being led by Proto-Podcaster (and RV enthusiast) Adam Curry - I think it can be summarised as Podcasting + Bitcoin + Tipping while you listen, and sounds like it could be an interesting direction
  • Resident Advisor Podcast Ep #790 Cici - 2021.07.25 - I wasn’t too keen on the description but this mix has some rather good bits, the first half is a bit patchy, but the overall progression is kind of cool, some fun bouncy acid and electronic/house/tech, then into break beat, drum & bass and jungle tracks, interesting selection of uptempo and occasionally bassey EDM - Momentarily transported me back to the late 90s - It’s nice to hear old sounds and rhythms sometimes
  • 20 000 Hz Podcast Ep #72 - 808 - I browsed back through some of the old episodes and noticed I hadn’t listened to this one, it features some of the most iconic samples, loops and sounds that are now part of the international cultural soundscape, explores their origins, and the stories around how electronic sounds gradually got integrated into music - It’s a great listen
  • The Changelog Podcast - Why we 💚 Vim - I’ve been using VIM for many years now, so I really liked this episode, the care and attention to detail in how it was put together, and I even learnt a few things - VIM is awesome :)
  • I’m still having power cable issues, but it started working again, so I’m back online, not sure for how long though
Become a Patron!

Saturday 24th July, 2021 #

  • I’ve been surviving the past week with a really dodgy power cable, sometimes worked but had to place it carefully, all the shops are still closed, as soon as I sent out the newsletter today the power cable now totally doesn’t work at all, I’m at 10% power, once again I hope to be back online soon!
  • 🚀 My javascript / tech / web development newsletter for 2021-07-24 is out!
  • 20000 Hz Podcast - The Buzzer - Really well produced episode, very much in the audio documentary style that makes the 20 000 Hz podcasts really great, this episode has mystery, intrigue and old school tech in the form of short wave radio, I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would
Become a Patron!

Friday 23rd July, 2021 #

  • Virgin Galactic: Sir Richard Branson rockets to the edge of space - This happened a few weeks ago, I’m just seeing it now, I’ve listened to some great space podcasts this week, so it’s incredible to hear that he made it up there, pretty big moment for travel :)
  • Tech.eu Podcast - Going after the world from Europe - Interview with Jean-Pierre Saad from investment firm KKR - I enjoyed this interview, some good perspective, lots of stuff happening in the european tech sector
  • vervet/ncc - Compile a Node.js project into a single file - Supports TypeScript, binary addons, dynamic requires
  • Node-Red - Version 2.0 released - There aren’t a huge amount of new features, however they are releasing the first version of a flow debugger and linter which look super interesting, it’s part of their push to improve the developer experience
Become a Patron!

Wednesday 21st July, 2021 #

  • Lex Fridman Podcast Ep #201 – Konstantin Batygin - Planet 9 and the Edge of Our Solar System
  • Lex Fridman Podcast Ep #198 – Sara Walker - The Origin of Life on Earth and Alien Worlds
  • Source Code Podcast - Netflix gaming, privacy fights and the rise of Tiger Global - Great selection of interesting and current tech topics with coverage of Netflix’s somewhat surprising move into the gaming space, the recent twists and turns in the privacy debate which has gravitated over to the W3C, and Tiger Global shaking up the VC industry, all with just the right amount of depth and analysis
Become a Patron!

Monday 12th July, 2021 #

  • Earlier today I was chased down by 6 what appeared to be police officers in Vietnam HCMC in broad daylight right outside the main palace, they were on motorbikes, one of them them drove into me on purpose hitting my feet with great force, they then beat me with a truncheon, and I have sustained quite a serious injury to my left foot (probably broken), and I am having real difficulty walking and balancing now, I am very shook up by the experience - I just wanted to make a public note of that here
Become a Patron!

Saturday 10th July, 2021 #

  • In the ongoing saga of the universe vs Mark Smith, which has recently gotten much more intense, my main device power cable has suddenly stopped working, and because of the crazy world situation most shops are shut, so posting this in case it takes a while, hopefully I’ll be online again soon, all the best
  • 🚀 My javascript / tech / web development newsletter for 2021-07-10 is out!
Become a Patron!

Wednesday 7th July, 2021 #

  • The Another Podcast Podcast - 'Digital transformation' - beyond the silly slogan - Some interesting historical context about what digital transformation is all about, from main frames to cloud computing, it’s all happening, all at the same time - This struck a chord with me because just the past few days I’ve been having this weird feeling that I’m somehow stuck in an alt reality designed by main frame programmers, but I just want to do things the cloud way :), no offence intended to anyone
  • Shop Talk Show Podcast Ep 470 - Slap a WAAPI, Explaining the Shadow DOM, LayoutNG, iFrames, the Web Animation API - Good episode this week especially if like me you have been a bit mystified by the shadow-dom, which it turns out can be more accurately described as the egg-dom
Become a Patron!

Sunday 4th July, 2021 #

  • Where are we going from here? Software engineering needs formal methods - I liked this because it’s well written but also because it highlights that software is used in many different areas and that formal methods are appropriate in some of those but not necessarily all those areas, and the world of software engineering is changing as we learn new approaches, things worth considering as we introduce AI dev tools
  • England beat Ukraine 4-0 to go through to the Euro semi-finals
  • League of Legends’ new music gives streamers lo-fi beats to game to - I really like this idea for a themed music album, curious to hear what it sounds like
Become a Patron!

Friday 2nd July, 2021 #

  • Your AI pair programmer - I’ve been wondering when AI based tools would start to make appearances in dev tool chains, here’s one from Github, hopefully it won’t have the annoying behaviour that some other autocompletion tools have of blocking your cursor at the exact moment you try to insert and type
Become a Patron!