Highlights
Nearly half a bicycle
The atomic theory in Kilburn — This place (on Kilburn High Road) has been morphing steadily from dry cleaner’s to bike shop over the last few years. I remember being surprised one morning to see a few kids’ bikes lined up for sale outside but I’d say the shop is now approaching 50% bike shop. […]
Where is my patriotism?
Come, love of country, fill my heart… — I do love Britain. I guess I love England more. London most of all. I hope that in my life I’ve honoured the place I live and not disgraced it or undermined it (I support England and GB in sporting events – I fly a little flag […]
Some bullet-points about regulation
In case you’d got the wrong idea about how the ’regulatory state‘ is supposed to work — UPDATED 23 May 2025. I could update this thing daily. Regulation is always a news story in the UK (Search any news service for ‘regulation‘ right now and you’ll get a long list of current news stories about […]
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Down by the River
Fall in a River, Badly Drawn BoyRiver Theme, Bob DylanThe River Hymn, The BandAfrican River, Abdullah IbrahimDam That River, Alice In ChainsDown By The River, Neil YoungFind The River, REMHarlem…
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You want me to provide my own firewall?
I guess my main problem with Danny O’Brien’s thinking about running web-based services from home is a kind of category uneasiness. The kind of services Danny wants us to run…
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Running web-based services from home
Danny O’Brien’s been talking about making good use of an always-on home connection to replace all those web-based services we’ve become dependent on and that are about to start charging.…
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Introducing the Groucho-gram
I’m not sure that I can make a meaningful connection between Groucho and Elvis (apart from the fact that they both died 25 years ago this year) but if there…
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A shrinking Europe?
The Economist’s cover story this week is a blockbuster (you may need to subscribe to see the story). The message is simple: the population of Europe is – almost everywhere…
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Hilary’s thirteen years war
I tried to date Hilary Rosen’s battle with the demons of high-tech. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to find this Usenet reference to her 1989 opposition to Digital Audio…
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Is this what they call creative destruction?
(This is a longer version of an article written for The Guardian) The music and tech industries have been locked in mortal conflict for decades with no resolution in sight.…
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sufficiently advanced technology…
ShazamSo it’s here. Possibly the most hyped consumer tech product in recent history (apart from Ginger) has finally arrived and it is mindblowing. Shazam has morphed from not-here-yet near myth…
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Bamber Gascoigne and me
For people of my generation (I’ll be 40 next birthday) Bamber Gascoigne is a creature of myth. He was the cocksure big brain who grilled those terrifyingly egg-headed University students…
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Networks need diversity
GPL zealots play with fire — Open source lobbyists are pushing laws through various legislatures to prohibit Governments from purchasing software from companies who won’t publish source code. Bill Gates,…