Observations on the world and its inhabitants
The transition to a Linux-based dual-boot system is often marketed as a streamlined experience. However, when high-performance hardware meets specialised networking requirements, the path quickly shifts from a standard installation to a deep-dive into kernel modules and system architecture. This is a technical post-mortem of a transition involving an RTX 3080, an Archer TXE70UH Wi-Fi ...
I looked back at what I wrote in 2015 and realised the digital landscape has shifted, but the fundamental mess remains. We’ve moved from small hard drives to massive cloud storage, yet the clutter has only scaled up with the capacity. It is funny how we thought more space would solve the problem. Instead, it ...
I’m not going into why Authors may want to use AI. It’s big business out there. And no – it’s not about letting AI write books! FFS. But wait – it’s not only authors who may be interested in running an AI locally on their computers. AI can present tools for many use case scenarios. ...
For the better part of three decades, “personal computing” was synonymous with Windows. It wasn’t just an operating system; it was the foundation of digital life. Blue Screens of Death and endless updates were tolerated because, frankly, there were few alternatives. Apple was expensive and maintained by a cult. Linux was perceived as an obscure ...
As some may not be aware, I’ve been developing my own software to convert text into high quality electronic speech. That development continued for several hours today. As I will remind myself – as if I need to – £490 for 1.6 hours for human narration vs AI-driven production estimated at ~£1.51 for 100 minutes ...
If you listen to the current discourse in the creative world—from the Authors Guild to the picket lines of Hollywood—you will hear a single, deafening word: Ethics. We are told that Artificial Intelligence is a “plagiarism machine.” We are told it is “stealing souls.” We are told that using it is a moral failing akin ...
Rationale: The project was initiated after a significant discovery: new Gemini-TTS models offer high-quality, expressive, multi-speaker audio generation. A cost-benefit analysis revealed a dramatic disparity between professional human narration (previously sourced at ~£490 for 1.6 hours) and AI-driven production (estimated at ~£1.51 for 100 minutes). This project was undertaken as a long-term investment to build ...
1. Introduction The motivation for this workflow exploration was the necessity of converting existing Microsoft Word documents (.docx) into well-structured Markdown (.md) files automatically. While Markdown is an ideal format for documentation, version control, and lightweight text editing (such as in Typora), manual conversion or reliance on simple tools often results in corrupted formatting, particularly ...
This is not a tutorial or how exactly to organise your files. File organisation is not for everybody. Some people insist on having the files on their computer ‘all over the place’ and stashed in downloads folders or scattered across their desktop. If you’re one of those dim people, kindly move on right now. If, ...
This will mean nothing to most people – like in the old days when people were scared to touch the very first prototype telephones. It was like, “I don’t know what that thing will do to me!😨😱” If you consider yourself a luddite or partial luddite, skip though to the conclusion at the end, to ...
This article is about more than just fixing a piece of code. On the surface, it’s a detailed log of a bizarre technical problem that defied all logic. But underneath, it’s a real-world case study in the partnership between human creativity and artificial intelligence. It’s a story about how the relentless, structured logic of an ...
WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. It provides the core software for a website, handling everything from publishing content to managing users. However, by default, its design and customisation options are limited. Building a WordPress site with GeneratePress (GP) and GenerateBlocks (GB) is a highly effective way to create a fast, stable, ...
Not everybody needs this! I often have text copied from PDF when I’m working on something. This leads to loads of unnecessary paragraph marks. At other times I have rows of plain text copied from somewhere. It’s a pain to get rid of paragraph marks at the end of each line, yet preserving the correct ...
This is one part of a strategy to clean up a MS Word document (ver 2019 and later). Too often I receive documents that have loads of double paragraphs, double-spaces between text, or a leading space at the beginning of a paragraph. Those are annoying. Today I deal with leading white spaces. This is only ...
Of some annoyance to me is the different spellings of the same words between the UK and the USA. I’m in the UK and culturally I prefer UK spellings. But it is not that simple. Microsoft Word that is ‘made’ in the USA seems to ‘think’ that it is fine if I spell prioritise as ...
Not everybody knows that Google provides: free word-processor, free spreadsheets and other Office software. How would I know that? Because I speak to ‘some’ people who don’t know. [AC_PRO id=6333]
Unless you’ve been buried under a Rock or you are Rip van Winkle himself, you will not have heard of ChatGPT. But the way it works is that the many will say, “I don’t understand it – I’m not a tech geek so I left it alone. Furthermore, the government said it could be dangerous! ...
The net has gone wild since around November 2022, when AI took off. The rate of advances is staggering in the last 6 months. As usual, when something powerful arrives that disrupts the usual run of the mill, people react in fear or freeze up. If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT by now, then your ...
All of this post is my notes. It is not designed for ‘you’. I use advanced features of find and replace in MS Word. I write my notes like self-talk because I’ve noticed that in a few months’ time I may not remember every aspect of this. Challenge Recently I wanted to find an easy ...
Lots of people are content to refer to themselves as luddites when it comes to things technological. The main reason for that is the sense of camaraderie and support from equally dim people. How would I know? I’ve seen and experienced the phenomenon too many times over the last 20 years. Cognitive miserliness The underlying ...
The short clip below shows what Dragon Naturally Speaking does. Semmelweis Reflexes – are going off like crazy among those who would be proud to boast that they are luddites. Others have jumped on Google to find that Dragon is too expensive for them. I’ve gone slowly in my dictation below. Dragon can do this ...
Some people – there are always ‘some people’ – will not know about Camtasia and Snagit. The Semmelweis reflex takes care of that lot. The way it works is that if you hear about something that sounds technical or comes from somebody you think is a nerd, you move on swiftly. After all ‘what’s it ...
This post is not for luddites and not for people who are diehard Apple lovers. Right – so I needed a solution for controlling my PC, when I’m watching Netflix or Amazon Prime. Somebody want’s to know why. Jeez. So – I’m sitting or lying several feet from my desktop which works with a large ...
So – for the last 2 years I have realised that many images in posts were not showing. Those were mainly before 2015. That as annoying but not in need of an urgent fix. I tried loads of thing that didn’t work. But – I kept on researching the problem every two to three months. ...
All technology is ‘confusing’ to most people. Read that again – carefully this time. Anything that is new, is on ‘computers’ and requires thinking through more than two steps – is confusing. Look, I’m not debating it – the latter is what I have seen repeatedly. Right – let me get on with the OneDrive ...
I’m going Draw.io mad! LOL. This software is soooo gooood – and free – and nice! ? See my previous post on this. I decided to draw this diagram below with Draw.io – which has an embed function from the desktop version. It generated the following in code that I embedded into the page. The ...
Over the years I’ve seen how people use word-processors. In fact the term has almost gone completely out of vogue. Most people in work environments use Microsoft Word. In the pandemic period documents would regularly have been shared in a group on a big screen and somebody would be typing. That experience over the last ...
Well, as usual people don’t know what they don’t know and won’t take the time to explore – so they need to be told. On this occasion I’m sharing this simple timer thing that lives on Windows 10. Obviously, I can’t say nor do I have time to check if it exists on any other ...
Oh yes – it was another day in ‘Paradise’. This is a place that cannot be named, cuz I’m not economically independent as yet. But.. but one day the beans will be spilt – fully! Until then just get the anonymised story. So, there is nail-biting anxiety among folk over here about using a thing ...
Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been on an e-cleaning binge! That means I’ve been sorting out loads of electronic files of all types and cleaning up electronic messages. Did I say ‘electronic messages‘? Just checking. Yes – I did! Some fool wants to know what does ‘electronic messages’ mean. Chrysst! People don’t know what ...
The £15 Anthropic Fuel Plan: complete with digital range anxiety
Captain Walker