By @edent · AI statistics · 4 comments · 900 words · read ~285 times.
During my (brief) stint teaching senior leaders about AI, there was one question that I urged them to learn above all others. What is the acceptable failure rate? For this, I had to teach them two concepts. False Positives. For example, telling someone they have cancer when they don't. False Negatives. For example, telling someone […]
Continue reading →By @edent · ReDeCentralize uber · 9 comments · 700 words · read ~3,192 times.
Uber are undoubtedly a company engaged in extremely dodgy activity. But, on the other had, they're ridiculously convenient. A few months ago, we landed in a foreign country, opened the same Uber app as we used back home, and booked a cab. It just worked. I didn't need to register for a different version. I […]
Continue reading →By @edent · future near future predictions · 6 comments · 1,000 words · read ~330 times.
Only fools try to predict the future. You can read my earlier predictions, or dig deep into my archives and rate me on how foolish I am. I tend to look at technology through the lens of "what do I want to happen?" and then assume the worst. So, here goes! Federation Gets Simpler As […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review new zealand · 150 words
Nat Spiller, an admired climate change activist, has accidentally drowned. That’s the police verdict. But was it an accident? His partner Ellie thinks otherwise. Pam, Ellie’s aunt, draws a reluctant Lauren Fraser into the mystery. It's a bit weird to describe a murder mystery as "cosy" - but that's the vibe of this book. It's […]
Continue reading →By @edent · dns fediverse mastodon · 5 comments · 500 words · read ~303 times.
How should I design my personal DNS for all the cool new Federated Services and IndieWeb protocols? Way back in the early 2000s, I started this website - shkspr.mobi. A few years later, I added a blog. I could have used the main domain, or created a subdomain like blog.shkspr.mobi. In the end, I chose […]
Continue reading →By @edent · gadget metaverse review · 200 words
The headstrap which ships with the Meta Quest 2 is shit. It is a cheap piece of fabric, held together with velcro. It's fiddly to adust and uncomfortable to use for longer than a few minutes. Zuckerberg likes causing you pain. So I purchased the cheapest upgrade strap I could find - £15 on special […]
Continue reading →By @edent · religion xmas · 8 comments · 500 words · read ~410 times.
The Church of England publishes statistics about the numbers of its faithful. These are particularly interesting in light of the recent news that the UK no-longer has a Christian majority. The CofE's statistics are for 2019 - before COVID messed up everything - and I think offer a fascinating glimpse into its future. The two […]
Continue reading →By @edent · alexa future metaverse technology · 4 comments · 500 words · read ~752 times.
Amazon Alexa is losing billions of dollars. Self Driving Cars are losing billions of dollars. The Metaverse is losing billions of dollars. Are we about to witness the biggest crash in technological progress? I'm particularly fond of the Rule of Credibility which states: The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 […]
Continue reading →By @edent · BBC history tv · 4 comments · 700 words · read ~170 times.
Way back in the mists of time, I did my secondary-school work experience at the BBC. Specifically, Children's BBC. Every day for a couple of weeks, I'd commute into White City, wander those hallowed halls, sit at a desk, and... You know... I can't remember! I know I got to visit the "Broom Cupboard", and […]
Continue reading →By @edent · drm ebook libraries · 9 comments · 500 words · read ~153 times.
It's a Friday night in the late 1990s and my teenaged friend group are bored. We're not cool enough to hang about in the park drinking cider. And we're not nerdy enough to play D&D. We don't have enough money to go to the cinema. What we do have is a Blockbuster card and, between […]
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