From today, I’m starting a month-long experiment: can I ‘switch off’ from work entirely? The Next Web recently introduced a ‘one month off after three years with the company’ policy. As I’ve been with the company more than three years, I’m going to take them up on it for the duration of February.
I first got into synthesizers when I was 11 years old. I could’t afford a ‘proper’ synth at the time, but I had received one of these little babies for Christmas when I was 10…
I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while, and the start of a new year is as good a time as any to do it. While it might seem a bit of a pompous and self-absorbed piece, I get pitched a lot on different social media in addition to via email, and I often … Read More
Between 2004 and 2009 I used to make electronic pop under the name The Star Fighter Pilot. I used to play live regularly in Manchester and beyond and had a lot of fun doing it. Since then, I’ve just been too busy to focus on music, but maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough. This … Read More
It’s inevitable that robots and artificial intelligence will end up taking a lot of today’s human jobs over the next few decades, but whenever I’m in my local Tesco store, I can’t help but feel I’m hurrying the process on a little. You see, I always opt for the self-service machines, even if there’s a … Read More
The good folk at Desert.fm asked me for a playlist of ten songs and the stories behind why I chose them.
I was surprised this week when a SXSW panel I put together last summer, and that took place in March this year, became a key part of a much-shared profile of Kara Swisher. However, there are a few quotes from Alexia Tsotsis in there that were taken out of context and jumped upon as supposed … Read More
I recently started making music again in my (occasional bit of) spare time. Ahead of new songs being finished, I’ve put a bunch of old songs up on SoundCloud. The new stuff will be in a similar vein – looking forward to getting it out there.
Foursquare’s ‘unbundled’ check-in app, Swarm, came out today. Nick Summers wrote The Next Web’s review here and I had a whinge about one big thing missing (points!) here. In the interests of balance, here are some more of my thoughts about the new approach:
Video game nostalgia is bigger than ever, with print magazines; blogs; emulators, and remakes for modern platforms all catering for those who want to relive the games of their youth. The problem is that it’s incredibly time-consuming to actually play Jet Set Willy; Chuckie Egg; Super Mario World; Pilotwings; James Pond 2: Robocod; Alex Kidd … Read More