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Unscrupulous app developers are in the news again today, with parents suffering “bill shock” when the kids buy expensive in-game items without the parents’ permission. There’s a setting in iOS that makes such things possible even if you don’t share your password with your kids, and it’s a good idea to change it. It’s in… [more]
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This is just lovely. One of AMOK’s stand-out tracks stripped down to a single voice and piano. (From ITV’s Jonathan Ross show, May 2013) [more]
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A fun wee thing I did for Techradar: ten digital-age dodos. [more]
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Paul Carr of NSFWCorp on the problem with some paywalls: Porous paywalls for journalism make as much sense as a coffee shop giving free lattes to anyone who comes in just twice a week but then charging fifty dollars a cup on the third visit. That’s a hell of a loyalty scheme, and a great… [more]
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Me on Techradar, writing about real world retailers’ troubles. In recent months we’ve seen lots of big names go belly up, citing too-high rates, rents and parking charges, as well as Amazon’s tax avoidance and dodgy downloads. There’s no doubt that it’s tough out there, and of course every retail job loss is a tragedy… [more]
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I blogged about an Eels gig seven years ago, and not much has changed: I still love Eels and I hate gigs. Last night’s show was a belter, although if you hadn’t heard the new album you’d be a bit lost: E’s gone for a garagey, three-guitar line-up this time around and the set was… [more]
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Apple’s Phil Schiller slags off Samsung, so of course Apple is doomed. Me at Techradar: You see exactly the same in music (“Our album’s going to be so much better than theirs“), and in boxing (“I am really good at punching people, and he isn’t”), and in supermarkets (“We’re cheaper than them, and our food isn’t… [more]
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Some parents let their kids use apps. Everybody panic! Me, at Techradar: My daughter’s been using gadgets since she was two. Kids’ ebooks from the likes of Oliver Jeffers and Nosy Crow are wonderful things. We’re using apps such as Mathboard to help her learn arithmetic. We have dozens of great apps for kids that enable… [more]
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Traditional publishers promise quality: you can be sure that when you buy a real book it’ll be properly edited. Increasingly I’m finding that isn’t the case. For example, I’m reading the current Peter Robinson paperback (Watching The Dark) and there are jarring typos and comma abuse that really shouldn’t have made it through the editing… [more]
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John Scalzi on dodgy ebook business models: This shit’s been around, my friends. It’s been around for decades, and writers groups and others who make it their business to warn aspiring authors about scams and pitfalls have been raising flags about it all that time. The idea that that because it’s now attached to electronic publishing, that… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
