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Last night Apple’s market capitalisation exceeded Microsoft’s for the first time since 1989. I think it’s interesting, not because Apple’s damaging Microsoft but because of the picture the numbers paint. Since the return of Steve Jobs, Apple has transformed itself, especially since its invention of the iPod: almost overnight, Apple went from being a computer… [more]
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A quick hands-on: The iPlayer home page now has four columns at the top: Featured, which details the BBC’s current pick of its output; For You, which is based on what you’ve been watching; Most Popular, which is self-explanatory; and Friends. That’s the iPlayer’s new social network integration, and you’ll need to sign up for… [more]
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Me, you know where: Parents of young children can spot an insincere apology from miles away. “Sorry,” your tot mumbles, after you find the dog half-shaved and your Xbox full of jam. “Sorry for what?” you’ll say. “Sorry for shaving the dog and putting jam in your Xbox,” he’ll say, looking at the floor. But… [more]
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I know, I know, I said I was going. Just one post… I’m writing this on an Acer Aspire 5051 laptop, a cheapo laptop that cost about £299 three-ish years ago. It’s rather underpowered, and moving from Windows XP to Windows Vista damn near killed it; Windows 7 made things a bit better, but using… [more]
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There’s been a lot of discussion about Gizmodo’s big iPhone scoop, where an iPhone prototype was apparently left in a bar. The person who found it then went round the gadget sites, selling it to Gizmodo for $5,000 (says the New York Times). Gawker Media (Gizmodo’s parent company) has made a smart financial investment here:… [more]
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Forget the Apple apologists and the aggrieved Adobe fans. This is the best thing on Apple’s latest anti-Adobe move that I’ve read. The trouble is, it’s not just ‘up yours’ to Adobe, but to Adobe’s users. That’s us, and you. Ironically, it’s the creative industries that propped Apple up for so many years when it… [more]
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Me, writing about the Digital Economy Bill debacle: You’ve got to admire the Digital Economy Bill. It made thousands of people pay attention to politics. It encouraged thousands of so-called Digital Natives to watch live streams from the House of Commons. It brought together writers and readers, bands and fans, designers and developers and creatives… [more]
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UK broadband is ten. How would we manage without it? If Chatroulette had existed in the year 2000 you’d have had to draw your genitals on a bit of paper, choose somebody’s address from the phone book and post the picture to their house. [more]
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Novelist and former tech writer David Hewson on the coming eBook avalanche/apocalypse/delete as applicable and its implications for writers: Technically it’s never been easier to get a book into digital print. But here you hit a perennial problem. Successful books aren’t just printed. They’re published. Anyone can print something. Few can publish successfully. Publishing involves a… [more]
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Adweek has a nice op-ed by Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter. I liked this line: But in this age of constant information availability, it’s important to take a step back every now and then — once a month sounds about right — to immerse ourselves in the stories that define our times. [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.
