I just published my 100th product review on BTTR. Gonna have a little party on my own tonight to celebrate.

So BTTR seems to have a problem with the Rest API today and I have no idea how to fix it. Or why it decided to bug out on me. Let’s see what the tech support guy says.

Went to the opening of the new Nepean river walk at Camden today. It was a really gorgeous day for it, and a really nice walk.

Got to watch the gliders come in to land at Camden airport as well.

We’ve had to replace our car’s windscreen for the past two years. Fortunately, our insurance offers one free windscreen replacement a year.

Over the past week, we have suddenly had three (!) new chips appear in the windscreen. Insurance renewal is due next week.

Coincidence or fate?

Just phenomenal stuff here, folks. Every time someone like me reports on Google’s AI getting something wrong, we’re training the AI to be wronger.

Elizabeth Lopatto,  Google still recommends glue for your pizza, The Verge

I really can’t wait for all the AI hype to die off. Sure, there are situations where AI can be helpful, but most of it is just crap, and the lofty promises of the technology will likely never become reality.

But I particularly want the idea of AI in search results to die. It’s a completely inappropriate use of the technology, given it can’t (and will likely never will be able to) discern fact from fiction.

Loved the first two episodes of The Acolyte. It’s so good to see. New side of Star Wars that doesn’t involve the Empire or Skywalkers

I ate all of this. It was incredible.

Tried out a (new?) dumpling bar in Camden for lunch today and they were delicious.

Won #StarWarsTheCloneWars on 2024-06-08 with 3 players 🎲

Had to walk down the shops, and it looks like we had a fair amount of rain.

Had the hot water replaced today. Moved from gas to heat pump. Hoping it will save us some dollarydoos and be better for the environment.

A bird just flew into the window in front of my desk and scared the hell out of me.

Finished reading: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins 📚

Not as good a story as the original trilogy, but I think maybe better written.

Now I’ve passed the halfway point in my listen through of the top 100 albums on Apple Music, I was reflecting on the types of music I like and why. I don’t like hip-hop. I never really have. And I think that’s because for me, good music captures emotion. That’s partially through the lyrics, but also in the way the music is played, or the key, or the chords used… I’m not a musician so I’m butchering the description there. Continue reading →

So now that Apple Music has finished announcing its top 100 albums, I just want to say how crap I think the list is.

No Foo Fighters Colour and the Shape. No Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet. No Pearl Jam Ten.

I’ll keep listening through them, but I think Apple’s methodology was massively broken.

I can tell when I’m going to like a new product for review when I get giddy showing it off to the wife and kids. Doesn’t happen too often though.

If you run a business that relies on search from Google search, I would be mashing the hell out of the panic button right now. Google has shown that it is going to do everything it can to avoid sending people to your website. Now is the time to be doing everything you can to build a strong, direct relationship with your customer. An app would probably be best, a newsletter 2nd best, social media a distant third, though you’ll probably need all of them to survive the carnage that’s coming. Continue reading →

Ooh! Apple Music is running down its list of the best 100 albums. My mission is now to listen to all of them. Might even try and drop short reviews here as replies.

After years of trying to work out where we could fit it and whether it was a worthwhile investment, we finally bought a piano.

It’s a little cramped, but it’s beautiful. Sounds so much better than the keyboard we had previously.

Accepting that something you poured a lot of time and effort into isn’t going to work out is hard.