Button pressed

I’m a tad unclear on whether building a device that lets you press a button in order to press another button is quite the great leap forward it’s being painted as here: I showed this to someone and they said, “So.. you built a button that you press that will press a button? Why not… Continue reading Button pressed

Incorruptible

Today seems to have turned into a day of reading speculative fiction online. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday… I first read Incorruptible by Peter Watts a couple of years ago as part of the XPRIZE Flight #008 competition. It’s precisely as optimistic as you’d expect from Watts: This is the moment Malika… Continue reading Incorruptible

A short Trek

I truly wish the folks running the Short Treks series could get behind adapting Matchmaker of Mars by Edonohana. [End of a rejection letter from Campbell…] As for “The Phonemes of Aldebaran,” it’s well-written but I have to pass. Astounding is a science fiction magazine and linguistics is not a science. I mean, how can… Continue reading A short Trek

Surface Duo (again)

I have to confess that I’m fascinated by the slow reveal of Microsoft’s Surface Duo, as reviewers have had to negotiate two separate embargoes on the reveal of first the hardware1 and then the software. 2 Part of me really hopes Microsoft have the deep pockets 3 and the patience 4 to pull off creating… Continue reading Surface Duo (again)

BSG is back

Happy to see Battlestar Galactica return to BBC2 tomorrow. Looks as if the plan is for two episodes a week on Saturdays, so that’ll be something to look forward to. Admittedly All This Has Happened Before and All This Will Happen Again, but perhaps this time knowing in advance how badly they lost their grip… Continue reading BSG is back

Author, author!

Adrian Hon reminded me of something I’ve been puzzling over for a few months, in the wake of the Mystery of the Missing Amazon Receipts: Chances are you’ve bought something from Amazon in the last few months (yes, we are all hypocrites, also there’s a pandemic on). Try searching your email for one of those… Continue reading Author, author!

Good news, bad news?

Amazon missed an opportunity when they failed to issue a press release announcing that their planned TV adaptation of Consider Phlebas was cancelled due to special circumstances and left it at that. For the record, if the rights are picked up by someone else perhaps we’ll look back a decade from now and be glad… Continue reading Good news, bad news?

Joking. Not joking.

Horrifying to contemplate how big a round of applause this would get at the next Conservative Party conference if it was delivered by the right member of the Cabinet: This kind of stuff, filmed in 1980s & early 90s, if released today would be trending on here for days. He died 2014 aged 56. What… Continue reading Joking. Not joking.

Surface Duo

I have a feeling that lots of people are going to be confused by the Surface Duo once it gets out into the market: I am confused. Microsoft did a press blitz for their Surface Duo device this week and… I don’t understand anything. About the product. The strategy. The goal. Look, I think the… Continue reading Surface Duo