Derek Peden

Dear IT managers: the HP “Elitebook” is horrific. There is nothing “elite” about it. Performance is glacially slow and completely unreliable, with a trackpad which is unusable.

Another incredible video from Elle Cordova

Bring on the midterms

I feel some sympathy for the journalists who’ve had to endure this shit.

I love that Glasgow is playing host to Irish and Iraqi music. Proving once again that there is more that binds us than divides us.

Watching chef James Martin prepare raw squid for cooking…. I’ll stick with chicken, thanks very much.

I’ve addressed my occasional habit of posting film and TV reviews with a random format with a subscription to Quick Reviews.

I could use this to simply say how much I liked or disliked but that’s not my style. I prefer a more granular scale and based on stars, because, well because I am over 40 and prefer tradition to a thumbs-up emoji or some other visual indicator.

This post is a deliberate record to refer to, and make it consistent.

I, Tonya

and just my opinion.

MacRumors sharing What to Expect From iOS 26.4. The lacklustre adoption of iOS26 isn’t from features but function and usability. I see nothing here which fixes any of this.

The Rip

and just my opinion.

The black top to my standing desk might be gorgeous, but OMG does it feel like I am constantly cleaning it.

For someone claiming to a populist Trump certainly knows how to make himself unpopular and not just in his home country. I can’t think of a more reviled US president.

Daring Fireball: Ternus Now Overseeing Design at Apple, Reports Gurman

Sounds promising if true. However let’s not forget there will no immediate changes.

I fail to understand why Apple Music on Mac OS appears to have no knowledge of Apple Music the service. I’ve been trying to develop an Apple Music playlist and found Mac OS great for editing but unable to play tracks in the playlist when the tracks are in Apple Music.

Working for a French company really makes me wish I had paid any attention in French class when I was 12-13. The business might be conducted in English but when you visit the French sites in an entirely different matter.

It’s hard to justify Tahoe icons:

The main function of an icon is to help you find what you are looking for faster.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, adding an icon to everything is exactly the wrong thing to do. To stand out, things need to be different. But if everything has an icon, nothing stands out.

More than a little delicate today. Last night’s finale to the holidays was maybe a step too far. Or maybe it was just that last beer was one too many.

Straight from the presidential playbook : When in trouble, distract the voters away from your own performance by an act of war. This time it’s the people of Venezuela who are paying the price.

Whilst it is now 2026, but my Overcast backlog is still in 2025 thanks to the podcast time machine

I’ve been creating content for a while but infrequently and without the engagement I had hoped for. On re-reading some of my previous blog posts one obvious issue is the lack of transparency.

I have tended towards non-specific references to personal details, meaning that my content is minimal, cryptic and perhaps only makes sense to me.

One of the things I need to do this year is make them a bit more explicit and meaningful.

For example if commenting on a TV show or news event then a reference to that event is essential. Otherwise there is no connection to the topic and no connection for anyone reading. It’s hard to respond to something so completely unintelligible that you have no idea what it is actually referring to.

Secondly writing assuming an audience, even if I don’t think of myself having one. That’s maybe a small shift in tone but necessary to be more direct and lean into communication rather than a merely a public journal.

And thirdly, keep writing, keep sharing, keep generating content. Have an engaging bio and make the content frequent and engaging. The former is easier than the latter, so keep publishing and sharing when I can.

Whilst I don’t expect the Clicks Communicator to sell, I can at least see their vision. The sole purpose of my work-issued iPhone is communication, in Microsoft Teams / Outlook with phonecalls relegated to a distant 3rd place. They would prefer no other use cases, especially not the camera.

Another walk up to the loch but immediately turned and headed home. It’s absolutely freezing, with a northern wind that cuts you.

The surprising hit of this holiday break was sitting down to watch the original Star Wars Movies. Despite my better half claiming she would watch them one day I could never have predicted it would be now. Just the last act of Jedi left to watch.

This evening’s lesson is a Bailey’s coffee requires a shot glass, not a guess