Derek Peden

I’m reminded why I update software so infrequently. I’m 10 minutes into an update that should take 3 - 5 minutes.

Considering replacing my original AirPods with the reduced AirPods Pro. Especially since the battery life on my current set is 3mins [L] and 45mins [R].

Tried to press the spacebar on iPad to page down on a News app. The triumph of optimism over experience.

How about the big tech companies get the basics right before they start on new concepts? By basics I mean remembering personal settings, the preferred positions of windows, of menus, avoid daily repetition of setup. It shouldn’t be down to plug-ins, scripts and macros to it should be built into the OS regardless of the platform.

Moved hundreds of documents from one SharePoint site to another only for Microsoft to update the “modified date” field even though the file contents haven’t changed. Words fail me…

My parent’s are just away with my niece. “A” (11) was bitterly complaining that her phone, her mum’s old iPhone SE doesn’t keep a charge. I did point out the things I would have done for an iPhone when I was 11 but that didn’t make any difference.

So I gave her one of my portable batteries away with her and that I’d get it back from her this weekend. Once they were out the door I ordered her a new battery. She’ll have to wait till she’s all of 12 for a new iPhone.

Like every generation before her she’s no idea how lucky she is.

I regret ever signing up to the mental burden that is standing for 1 minute every hour. I think any physical benefit is diluted by the mental frustration of false positives and fitting this within hour-long commitments.

When did it become okay for vaccinations or injections to be referred to a “jab”. That some people don’t like either word doesn’t justify the euphemism, and journalists should know better than to use the word.

I put the thermostat in the bedroom. In the last 1/2 hour it’s dropped to 16.6°C (61.9°F). I might have to put the heating on for a while.

The thing about using an iPhone 6S in 2021 is that you can never have too many lightning cables lying around, regardless if they are plugged into batteries, power bricks, USB hubs or ports. Even when it’s only 18 months since the battery was replaced.

Recognised that my 1st Gen AirPods have reached end of life based. The battery life is almost unusable.

Since I discovered the amazing back catalogue of Carol Kaye I feel my life and attitude to music from the 60’s and 70’s will ever be the same.

Apple can show all the commercials they want of people swimming with their watches on, but I still clean the back of mine with a damp cloth then immediately dry it off.

The wait on hold to a “call centre” only to be connected to someone at their kitchen table makes that 1:1 experience so much more human. I hope company’s can find a way to continue to make those calls feel as direct, as personal and welcoming.

Today I’m thinking that maybe there wasn’t really a need to finish the bottle of Loch Lomond Malt whisky last night.

Microsoft should buy the rights for “beach ball” to use as the logo for Office for Mac.

John Niven writes,

He took the worst fantasies of the bottom 10% of the school class and spent the next half-decade pumping them into their veins, as potent as the Oxy and the malt liquor ever was. It turned out these f**ksticks would believe anything as long as it was racist enough.

I bet business is booming for biscuit manufacturers. I should change my middle name to McVitie.

Lockdown No.3? To be honest I’m loosing count (amongst other things)

How do you know you’re back at work? 4 words:

Microsoft Excel (not responding)

That’s how.

Turned on last 10 minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark on Channel 4 just in time see them edit out the face melting.

Scathing but accurate tweet by Mary Riddell:

Brexit is done. The deal is thin, the future perilous, and the applause non-existent. This exercise in national self-destruction has ended as a sad sideshow to the Covid crisis. Both will ultimately be the epitaph to Boris Johnson, Britain’s worst and most incompetent PM.

Back from a 2 km walk. Saw a gitter with the shovel 2" off the ground depositing a thin layer of grit on the snow and paintwork of parked cars. The equivalent of asking firefighters to spit on the flames.

Contrast this with last winter in Finland where I watched them clear 12-18" overnight snow down to the asphalt.

As usual in the UK we do the bare minimum of effort then claim this as a success.

Unsurprising laziness in the Brexit deal referencing,

modern e-mail software packages including Outlook, Mozilla Mail as well as Netscape Communicator 4.x.

Makes you wonder what other outdated legislation is featured in this “new” law.

Getting some criticism for clearing away Christmas cards and decorations.