Pupdate

The weather for June has been… variable, with some glorious days, but also some torrential downpours. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the boys muddier than they were after this particular walk in the woods.

EMFcamp cont.

Last month’s post came midway through EMFcamp, so there was more fun to be had.

Saturday was probably the most fun day I’ve had at EMF over my three visits. Good talks, great times with friends, and an amazing ‘whisky leaks’ party at Milliways.

Sunday was great too, but sadly we had to leave before it was all over, as a fresh half term beckoned. Thankfully the drive home in the motorhome was uneventful.

EMF was life affirming, and definitely the best one yet. It didn’t feel busy despite having more people there, and I hope to return in 2026.

Veteran’s Railcard

It’s been 3 years since I first got a Veteran’s Railcard, so time to renew, and also reflect on how good it’s been.

The headline is that it saved me £1082.80 over 3 years, which is pretty good :) Of that £372.95 was for work trips, and £48.95 for trips with my wife.

For the last few years the main benefit has been cheaper access to First Class fares. My trips to London are generally on Thameslink, but their standard class seating is awful – it’s a design that I could excuse for suburban commuter trains, prioritising density and standing room over comfortable seating. But it’s not good for trips of an hour or more (and people going from Brighton to Cambridge or Bedford could be spending many hours in those seats). Anyways… the First seats aren’t anything special – pretty much what used to be standard class. But they’re worth the premium to avoid backache.

Berlin part 1

Just like last month found me midway through EMF, this month catches me midway between two trips to Berlin.

The first was for Google’s I/O Connect, an event that brought together the regional developer community to recap highlights from the I/O event, and in some cases provide fresh product launches and service updates. Peeking past the AI hype, it was great to spend some time with the Dart/Flutter product team, and learn a little about what’s changing with Android 15.

As there were so many Google Developer Experts (GDEs) in town, the team also took the opportunity for a get together at Google’s Berlin office for a GDE Forum. This provided a good opportunity to meet fellow GDEs from other disciplines, and also learn about some new interop features in Dart.

The best bit of course was spending some time hanging out with fellow community members, and we get to do it all again next week at Fluttercon, where I’ll be talking about supply chain security.

Escaping Berlin

Shortly before I was due to leave the GDE Forum for the airport I got an email saying that my flight was cancelled. EasyJet’s rebooking site was pretty useless, and each alternative I tried to pick wasn’t there by the time I got to the confirm button. Eventually I got a trip back (to Luton) with a long layover in Amsterdam – leaving two days later; and the hotel they booked for me was only for one night :0

Thankfully the Worktrips travel agents used by Google stepped up to get me an alternative flight home a day later, and Google were happy to swallow the additional cost providing quick approval for the new plan. I’m glad they did, as the alternate flight was also cancelled, so I’d probably still be stuck in Berlin.

Hopefully next week won’t be so dramatic.

Tiny USB-C Laptop Charger

I’ve written before about USB-C chargers and power bricks, but when I saw this at an AI workshop I had to find out more.

It’s made my Dell, called the LA60NM200, it’s tiny, and it kicks out 60W:) I found a used one on eBay for £20.

The cables it comes with are a good length, but not too heavy, and the UK plug is one of the smallest I’ve seen. My only complaint is that the mains connection is a ‘Mickey Mouse’ C6 socket rather than the smaller ‘Figure of 8’ C8, which means it can’t be used with my preferred laptop adaptor mains cable (which is a Euro plug C8 fitted with a Euro-UK adapter). It might find its way into my US travel bag as a smaller and lighter replacement for the Mackertop.

Audiobooks

Amazon were doing a promotion on Audible, so I reactivated my account (at least for a few months), and I’ve been listening to a few books:

Rory Stewart “Politics on the Edge”

This is Stewart’s autobiography of the chunk of his life as a politician. I’ve always liked Rory (despite him being a Tory), and his storytelling did little to dissuade me from that view. He came across as a genuine nice guy, trying to do his best for the country and its people, who ultimately got shivved by the schemers and malcontents he was surrounded by.

It does sadly paint a picture of a fairly fundamentally broken system, where the good guys get crushed, and it’s winner takes all for the psycho/sociopaths. I’ve added Ian Dunt’s “How Westminster Works… and Why it Doesn’t” to my wishlist, as the hardback I bought is stubbornly refusing to be handy when I have time to read (and I have more time to listen than I have time to read).

Patrick Alley “Terrible Humans”

A compilation of stories emerging from the work by Global Witness, “Terrible Humans” was gripping right the way through. I particularly enjoyed the story of their collaboration with Citizen Lab to investigate spying enabled by NSO group, as I suppose it’s closely related to my own work on privacy and security.

Alley’s earlier “Very Bad People” is now on my wishlist.

Solar Diary

This June was about 10% down on last year, which is hardly surprising given the ‘variable’ weather :/