Technology

05.04.2018 Technology

Everyday tech ethics

A couple of months ago I had a conversation with two academic friends of mine about why they refused to use any messenger other than WhatsApp. “We just want it to work!” they said. “Well, Volkswagen cars work” I hit

28.03.2018 Technology

A little live-blogging trip to Charleroi: the tech

Back almost five years ago I spent a week live blogging from Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship in the English Channel – you can find all my posts from that trip here. Now I am writing this on my way to

22.11.2017 Technology

A little Twitter spat with Andrew Neil

Just under 48 hours ago I spotted a tweet from the BBC’s well known political journalist Andrew Neil – someone retweeted it into my timeline: https://x.com/afneil/status/932742227218059265 Oh. The biggest political crisis since late 1940s? Really? Berlin Wall going up, anyone?

09.10.2017 Technology

What’s the age of members of the Tory Party? How an incorrect number lodged itself in people’s minds

(Note: this is not a story about BBC bias, but more how journalists can get caught up amongst the bias propagated by others) This tweet by the BBC’s political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg caught my eye the other day – retweeted

04.08.2017 Technology

Farewell, my faithful travel companion

For the past 8 years I have had the most faithful and reliable travel partner one could ever hope for. But everything has to come to an end. When I arrive in Berlin this evening, the curtain will come down

04.04.2017 Technology

The anatomy of misinformation: Cadbury, the National Trust, and (Easter) Eggs

At 10pm last night, The Daily Telegraph released a story entitled “Easter egg row: Church of England accuses National Trust of ‘airbrushing’ religion out of children’s egg hunt“, written by its Consumer Affairs Editor Katie Morley. The story concerns the

12.02.2017 Technology

The price of cheap disk space

A couple of weeks ago my MacBook Pro would not boot. On the first day of a week-long business trip. Damn. A laptop borrowed from a friend saw me through until I got home and I could take the time

11.11.2016 Technology

25 reasons Trump ended up becoming President

I’ve read too many pieces seeking the reason why Trump managed to become US President. There is no single reason. There are many overlapping and even sometimes contradictory reasons. Here are 25 I’ve come across, vaguely organised so they build upon each

11.08.2016 Technology

Gadget review: Kingston MobileLite MLW221

tl;dr – if you’re looking for a portable, battery powered, wireless card reader for use on holiday, this is an excellent gadget. It’s especially good if you use an iOS mobile. I’ve just returned from a 3 week trip to

14.06.2016 Brexit / Technology

Facebook’s pro-#Brexit bias

Bernd Hüttemann earlier pointed out to me that the mood section of the Facebook app for iOS has a mood “in favour of leaving the EU” but none in favour of remain. I scarcely believed it! But now I have

12.06.2016 Brexit / Technology

If you want to do something useful in the EU referendum campaign, step away from this blog, step away from Twitter, and turn to Facebook

The deadline to add people to the electoral register has passed. The campaign is entering its final straight. Those of us caught up with the debate about the referendum see an end in sight after months of spending dozens of