Contactless payments – travelling in Europe

Contactless payments – travelling in Europe

When travelling in Europe one is able to use public transportation for most journeys. This means that a hire car is unnecessary, and that the environment is a little bit more protected. We started our most-recent adventures in Brighton & Hove, England, using buses and trains, then went to Brussels, Belgium, using trains and trams. Now we’re in Essen, Germany. The first two make it very easy. Touch your contactless debit or credit card on the reader on the way…

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Playing video games on Mac is heart wrenching

Playing video games on Mac is heart wrenching

I’ve written before about how I recently became an Apple devotee. I was previously an Android-and-Windows all the way kind of person. In my pension, I own shares in Microsoft because I believe their system is ‘better’ in some intangible way – selling software and letting others innovate in the hardware space. Apple is a different proposition, and one that should attract games and gamers, if the iPhone and consoles were a guide. Games are missing, leading me to wonder where…

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Criticism as an immigrant

Criticism as an immigrant

I recently was involved in a conversation which criticized the way something was done. I didn’t start the conversation, but when I enthusiastically joined in, I was asked, directly, why I had sought US citizenship if I don’t think the US is great. And, if I am honest, that hurt. Nowhere is perfect. I could write a list about every country or community that I know much about, of things that that community gets wrong, in my opinion. And sometimes,…

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Why I use Bing, not Google, nor Siri

Why I use Bing, not Google, nor Siri

I’ve said before that Siri understands me better than Google Assistant. Google Assistant will often say it doesn’t understand the name of devices in my house, or will add “pingle” to the shopping list, whatever that is. When I got my iPhone 15 with an action button, I made Bing listen for a question when I pressed it. This works well for me because, like Siri, Bing understands me better than Google Assistant. But, more important than that, it can…

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How to use Bing voice search on iPhone 15 Action Button

How to use Bing voice search on iPhone 15 Action Button

The new Action Button on iPhone 15 replaces the hard mute switch which has existed since the original iPhone as a way to mute calls. It comes set by default to behave like the old mute switch, but it’s possible to re-program it to do almost anything. But when I went to use the Shortcuts app to make the button open Bing to a voice search, I struggled at first with how to make it do something within the Bing…

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Google, Antitrust and Google’s terrible decisions

Google, Antitrust and Google’s terrible decisions

This post and the last are weirdly timed. Last week, I wrote about how Google make terrible business decisions that harm their long-term success. I said, interestingly, that since around 2011, Google has failed to make any new business models work. And this week, the US Department of Justice trial against Google started in earnest. The Verge has a great podcast episode about it, describing some of the arguments that are being made on each side. Although their description of…

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Why does Google suicide itself?

Why does Google suicide itself?

Google is one of the wealthiest, companies in the world. I don’t want to imply, in the rest of this article, that Google is ‘unsuccessful’, but there are some things that I think are worth saying and which, from an outsider’s perspective, make no sense at all. The Google of old The original Google had a compelling product: the best search engine ever designed. The search engine has been improved over the years and, ultimately, that is still its core…

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Vote for Will Stewart in Manchester NH Mayor election: September 19, 2023

Vote for Will Stewart in Manchester NH Mayor election: September 19, 2023

On September 19 this year, we vote for our next Mayor. I genuinely believe our best option is Will Stewart because his policies reflect the reality on the ground. There is another good candidate, but Will’s policies go that little bit further beyond what is some candidates believe will be politically tolerated, towards what is actually needed, will work, and what is supported by the evidence. For example, we know that most of the Western world has a lack of…

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Why is my new Apple Mac Mini struggling to connect to Wi-Fi?

Why is my new Apple Mac Mini struggling to connect to Wi-Fi?

I recently bought a new Mac Mini. The 2023 edition, like the following devices, has Wi-Fi 6E, which should mean it has a better connection to the internet, especially if you are very close to a new Wi-Fi router: The presence of Wi-Fi 6E, though, turned out to be our problem. Until recently, all Wi-Fi routers had two bands: 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. 2.4Ghz is slightly slower but has a longer range. 5Ghz is faster but has a shorter range. I…

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How to use chat search engines

How to use chat search engines

In the last seven months or so, artificial intelligence has taken a large step forward. You may have noticed a sudden surge in media about these systems. Something that has surprised me, though, is how few people I know have actually tried them. So I thought I would share an example of why they’re so powerful. Example: Researching electric cars There are a lot of things to consider when buying a new car, but for me the most important elements…

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