James Cridland

Passionate about audio · Editor of Podnews https://podnews.net · Host of the Podnews Weekly Review https://weekly.podnews.net · I also write about radio https://james.crid.land · These messages self-destruct · ⚡james@crid.land

I also have a thing for craft beer, and did so before it was quite as trendy as today.

I live in Meanjin/Brisbane QLD Australia - in Bardon 4065 - on the land of the Turrbul and Jagera people. I'm British and moved here almost seven years ago.

Public Key

npub1g5h6rwmps922vx6m3rfj23r9wlkkp9dzrwefuyzfkjktqnfwvxasc9t5sr

NIP-05 Address

james_at_bne.social@mostr.pub

NIP-57 Address

james@getalby.com

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsy2taphdscz49xrddc35e9g3jh0mtqjk3phv57zpymft9sf5hxrwcw60a98

Author Public Key

npub1g5h6rwmps922vx6m3rfj23r9wlkkp9dzrwefuyzfkjktqnfwvxasc9t5sr

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Last Notes

2024-08-15 01:17:51

With clowns like this in charge, no wonder Google has lost its way.
From: @npub1p67…xh53
https://mastodon.social/@verge/112963210509815132

2024-08-11 02:19:58

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I’d go for “Brisbane’s biggest hit music station”. Or “best”, though “biggest” has two syllables like Brisbane, so it works better. Both communicate more than #1.
@npub1xjq…d7rr one for Mr Brisbane perhaps

2024-08-11 02:11:44

Back in #brisbane and enjoying SCA’s B105 claiming it’s “Brisbane’s #1 Hit Music Station” meanwhile down the dial, ARN’s KIIS 97.3 claims it’s “Brisbane’s #1 Hit Music Station”.
I wonder whether the only thing this communicates is that #radio stations think the audience is dumb. Do they genuinely think audiences won’t notice? How does this do anything other than erode trust?

2024-08-10 23:58:44

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@npub1cnh…xm8p Yes, voice is never great for that. But at least Spotify won’t have merged “The Band” and “Band Aid” in its database!

2024-08-10 23:40:26

I use YouTube Music rather than Apple or Spotify, because it’s a family account and the video benefits are also good.
But its metadata is just bad. Today, it’s decided that Gomez (a laid back band from the early 2000s) is the same as Gomez (a relatively talent-free Christian rapper from 2024). Argh.

2024-08-10 23:29:19

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@npub10h7…l9gn Also the country isn’t full of racists oh wait

2024-08-10 13:21:44

This evening in #Sydney I was here, in the room where it happened. This photograph was taken before it was about to happen, because we don’t get to take photos in this room when it happens.
Sydney was a *much* better production than London, which was a bit more cramped and much more robotic. #Hamilton
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/937/923/970/508/172/original/bd6ce76fe7466a42.jpeg

2024-08-10 03:45:36

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@npub1m38…6p0r I’ve been! It’s a fun evening, though not sure how long it’ll be there given how quiet it was…

2024-08-09 23:45:34

I find myself in Sydney. A few hours to kill this afternoon in the CBD - do I walk aimlessly about looking at things, or is there something I should actually plan to do?
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/934/722/756/376/761/original/13de98a7ee01e4c8.jpeg

2024-08-09 23:35:26

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@npub1auh…u2le Are you upside down because I’m viewing this from Australia?
Also, do you take requests?

2024-08-09 06:55:03

“Fake videos” never get recommended by YouTube, they say.
Also - my YouTube.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/930/747/060/851/030/original/1c278dc65131f057.jpeg

2024-08-09 01:47:34

Long post from a guy annoyed that his podcast wasn't appearing as high as it could be in the Podcast Index. Alleges "shadow banning".
He has more than 15 duplicates, because his website spews out RSS feeds and 302 redirects like crazy. That's why we can't find your real feed, dude. Go fix it.

2024-08-09 01:42:17

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@npub1mvg…sjsx The HTML <s> tag, surely?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/s

2024-08-08 23:29:28

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@npub1hte…dr40 Maybe we just need to wait until they screw up mine! They normally send my bill on the 5th of the month; but no bill yet.

2024-08-08 23:08:38

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@npub1hte…dr40 No July bill yet.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/928/916/525/974/522/original/8bf63cf9acf20acc.png

2024-08-08 23:00:00

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@npub1dzn…4dfn Yes, please do

2024-08-08 05:53:21

Ah, ha. It turns out that "Farage" is an upmarket clothes designer in Australia. Oh dear.
https://farage.com.au/

2024-08-08 04:03:15

Just added links to episodes(dot)fm, and episode notes, to the Podnews podcast episodes pages. Almost all the hard-graft is done in the browser; it parses the RSS feed directly.
https://podnews.net/podcast/i8xe9/episodes

2024-08-07 12:39:30

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@npub10fp…qqev I believe it won't appear in the most obvious place, but in a dusty corner of the app where people won't see it...

2024-08-07 06:02:14

@npub1hj9…777d I love Ice Cubes (and have donated money!) but have had to remove it from the Mac, because it has a memory leak that leads to freezing and the Dreaded Beach Ball Of Death. :(
I hope it's fixable... I'm a particular lover of the "hyperlegible" font that you can display everything in.

2024-08-07 05:56:02

A man from Telstra rings me, with worrying news - my IP address "is in public mode". He gets me to check "what is my ip address .com" which contains scary language about my "public" IP address.
I wasted 15 minutes of this chap's time (I'm with Aussie Broadband and Vodafone), and he was most keen to "fix" my computer, but I got bored with talking to him.
Imagine if you're a pensioner with only a vague grasp of the internet - what a minefield.

2024-08-07 00:11:47

Sniffing around an interesting story in podcast land. If you know anything about The Interesting Story (Why? Who next?), do get in touch! Not hard to find my SMS, or DM here, or email…
#mysteriouspost

2024-08-06 03:29:36

Lunch out today, celebrating wedding anniversary. Pretty view of #Brisbane too!
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/912/952/971/951/112/original/807b8189df01fdf0.jpeg

2024-08-06 03:24:20

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@npub14cp…c5d7 Would love to catch up. I’ve got about 6,000 events to go to on Tuesday night already; but either 4pm Tue or 10a Wed?

2024-08-05 21:52:26

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@npub1dzn…4dfn I killed it. AWS Polly cost quite a bit, and your reflections service was good.
I tried something interesting with the feed yesterday and found a bug in Apple (I think)

2024-08-04 11:45:31

Just played (and finished) @npub107w…vhcd ’s Thank Goodness You’re Here - wonderfully silly and very excellent.

2024-08-04 10:53:06

Interesting discovery from the RAJAR figures (the UK radio audience numbers) - radio listeners are now listening to an average of 20.6 hours a week. That’s the highest figure for five years, and has nothing to do with the increase in population fuelling other, more spurious, claims. Yay!
https://james.cridland.net/blog/2024/rajarq224/

2024-08-03 12:29:50

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@npub1qj7…ech2 Good grief.

2024-08-03 12:20:00

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@npub1qj7…ech2 I assume that a VPN will get round the block?

2024-08-03 04:51:54

An hour’s cycling - the first for some time. Now treating myself to a little self-care, before the return journey (which won’t be an hour, primarily because I’ll not get lost this time)
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/896/288/164/976/970/original/9cd53b551e831710.jpeg

2024-08-03 02:34:00

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Here’s a probably rather too clickbaity article explaining why. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/paris/articles/why-its-illegal-to-take-pictures-of-the-eiffel-tower-at-night

2024-08-03 02:30:04

An interesting quirk of copyright law is that photographs of the Eiffel Tower at night are copyright, and (rather amazingly) someone at the ABC will, at some point, be sent a bill for this image. As might I, for republishing it.
From: @npub163d…j6ra
https://social.chinwag.org/@abc_bot/112895711222368095

2024-08-02 23:17:39

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@npub12rn…fpl8 That’s certainly one way to put it. The figures also don’t include any community radio, which is big here, and would push the numbers up even higher - which I find interesting.

2024-08-01 21:44:51

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@npub12rn…fpl8 Brisbane is around 94% weekly reach. They don’t release hours though.

2024-08-01 12:41:32

UK radio figures have come out and the industry is crowing about “best ever figures”.
The percentage of the population listening per week is the lowest ever for Q2, at 88.1%. The time spent listening per week is 20.6 hours; in 2017 and 2018 it was 20.8 hours. But the highest ever number of people listening, because there are 1.3mn more adults who live in the country, and every Q2 they adjust the population numbers accordingly.

2024-08-01 11:58:33

Client wondering why his sponsorship stopped running in mid July.
I’ll tell you, Mr Client - because the invoice said you had bought a slot until 12/7/2024.
Ah.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/886/638/887/676/705/original/8437230bb96e72ed.jpeg

2024-08-01 04:51:47

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@npub1nej…m48v I’ve now disallowed there as well, good shout. Should probably flush the cache…

2024-08-01 01:12:21

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My fault, really, for not putting these in a background service, rather than holding up the server response. Here’s iHeart slowing things down for everyone (the numbers here are when these timing events happen in the script).
podnews.net/podcast/ib06p includes:003ms cachecheck:003ms podcastindexapi-byid:190ms itunes-pi-crosscheck:948ms luminaryapi:1.376ms iheartcheck:2.469ms globalapi:2.708ms rssfetch:2.796ms apple-channels-api:3.032ms updateapi:3.039ms

2024-08-01 00:07:13

Harry Morton talks about Lower Street buying Pacific Content in the Podnews Weekly Review tomorrow. Here’s that in image form in Hindenburg PRO.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/883/846/126/681/128/original/8a6efedadfad7874.jpeg

2024-07-31 02:39:45

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@npub1df6…ns3a Yes, exactly.
(The station uses the Great British Pound, but the same thing)

2024-07-30 12:17:15

In this post (on Reddit!) a man follows an #AWS article and gets charged $130 more to serve less. Sigh.
Does anyone know the answer?
https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/1efrtx5/what_is_best_practice_to_block_hotlinking_images/

2024-07-30 11:22:14

Great news, but also, no, not great news. Is the amount of ads in podcasting beginning to be a worry for the growth of the medium? I wrote a thing on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamescridland_so-today-with-this-slightly-ridiculous-activity-7224010379679424512-YUno
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/875/175/451/622/345/original/47c436b79f1ee171.jpeg

2024-07-30 08:08:14

Invited to a thing at a conference (in Washington DC next month).
The only way to RSVP is to call a telephone number. That telephone number is in New York, so I have to either stay awake until 11pm tonight, or set the alarm before 7am tomorrow. I responded to the email, but am told to call the telephone number.
It must be brilliant to be American, and to ignorantly forget that the rest of the world exists.

2024-07-30 01:07:41

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@npub19hk…najs Tell that to Karmala

2024-07-30 01:01:21

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@npub19hk…najs …. fill in… some CIRCLES?
You lot are weird.

2024-07-30 00:58:31

Just watched a helpful video (on Elon’s hate site) on how to pronounce Kamala Harris’s first name. “Comma-la” (as she has written) is actually wrong if you’re British/Australian, because we pronounce “comma” very differently to Americans.
The way to think about it is “Karma”, it turns out. It’s good karma to pronounce someone’s name right. And her name is correctly pronounced “Karma-la”, no matter which version of English you speak.
#kamalaharris #karma

2024-07-30 00:30:40

Not a particular fan of this, but due to “recent events”, I’ve now produced a one-click Alfred shortcut to add a watermark to an image before uploading it. This is 5% opacity and I think it might still be a little much, but let’s see.
https://podnews.net/uploads/goog-podcasts-subs.png

2024-07-29 12:15:12

I saw this little monster over the weekend in #brisbane
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/869/722/060/116/068/original/715d846262c6eb48.jpeg

2024-07-28 13:28:58

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@npub1acg…qy64 “couched”
I see you

2024-07-28 12:02:42

Had GBNews on for some noise while I was doing other things in the house.
They started proudly promoting a feature called “The Racist Briton”, where they choose someone special each day to highlight.
I looked up at the screen, a bit startled.
Oh.
“The Greatest Briton”.

2024-07-28 08:19:56

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@npub14xq…afu2 Sure - linked from Podnews on Fri.

2024-07-27 03:06:11

Ah, #brisbane, you never disappoint with your random things you deposit into our garden. Today, this carpet python came to visit. He’s next door’s property now.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/856/232/479/826/769/original/c50a69eea22b9273.jpeg
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/856/232/517/073/626/original/2bfb0df9b0549dbc.jpeg

2024-07-27 02:00:00

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@npub15k8…d496 a) it’s the British Royal Mail; b) AusPost does exactly the same. https://aucustomsclearance.com.au/australia-post-customs-clearance is a company that helps with incoming AusPost customs bills.

2024-07-26 11:10:24

A pandemonium of parrots.
(That’s the collective noun for them, which is very excellent, isn’t it?)
They’re King Parrots, and I saw them a few weeks ago.
#brisbane
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/852/478/915/440/074/original/159c050273700888.jpeg

2024-07-26 01:50:26

Hmm.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/850/278/622/011/102/original/3f6a1e31ada17239.jpeg

2024-07-26 00:50:44

Wow, @npub1rj9…6rnv - this is quite the advice. Congratulations on the pivot to full influencer. Nice new beard, too.
Oh, it’s not you? That’s a relief
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/850/039/468/437/154/original/b9bb01354475d17b.jpeg

2024-07-25 04:57:18

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@npub142u…w5fu I think StreetComplete is funded by European grants. Would be great, but I suspect that’s considerable cost for someone!

2024-07-25 04:48:50

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@npub142u…w5fu It’s the one app I miss now I’ve switched to an iPhone

2024-07-25 03:36:25

Interesting. Proton launches a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet. https://proton.me/blog/proton-wallet-launch

2024-07-24 11:30:25

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@npub1nam…l3t5 I would like to turn my MacBook Pro into an Ubuntu machine (or similar), but wifi isn’t supported. :(

2024-07-24 11:04:38

First PMQs for Sir Kier Starmer. https://livenow.news/#skynews

2024-07-24 04:49:28

Huh. Another thing killed by Google - this time, it’s their “dark web report”, which was a feature of their paid-for Google One service. They killed the VPN it offered earlier this year.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/839/656/856/403/371/original/baf08ed130f82796.jpeg

2024-07-23 05:53:19

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@npub1jw7…u8nx I don’t care very much, to be honest. But he seems decent enough.

2024-07-23 05:31:11

Oddly excited about Kamala Harris running for US president: such a good choice against Trump. Can they have Pete Butt-cheeks or whatever his name is as VP? He seems good too. #uspol

2024-07-23 04:11:10

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@npub1vh9…pr44 Brilliant, thank you. Exactly what I was looking for.

2024-07-23 03:41:14

Remember when Google knew what they were doing? What a shell of a company it is these days.
From: @npub1uth…wprp
https://mstdn.social/@hkrn/112833679877342864

2024-07-23 03:36:12

iPhone users - is there a way to turn off the swipe-down gesture that moves the entire screen halfway down? Every single time I’ve invoked it, it’s been a mistake.

2024-07-22 07:04:31

From @npub1dan…asp3 later today. Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to why the number of active podcasts has a peak in mid-March every year? (I've no idea, so just wondering).
Quite interesting to see the data like this.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/828/857/064/609/228/original/28a7de63efe7aad3.png

2024-07-22 02:00:00

A nice email asking for work experience. I can't, obviously, offer it. But, goodness, it must be almost impossible to do work experience these days: working from home is one thing, and many people's idea of "work" is sitting solitarily at a computer, typing things into other things.

2024-07-22 01:55:23

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@npub1qe5…8ugl Interesting choice to post a link past the paywall. (I use these services, but not sure I'd have the guts to actually post the links).

2024-07-22 01:50:14

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@npub1auh…u2le ...and the ones that block any access from the EU, thus sparing everyone the effort of their dodgy privacy policies! :)

2024-07-21 11:22:16

The blue screen of death makes an appearance in my radio trends newsletter this week... https://james.cridland.net/blog/2024/bsod/

2024-07-21 04:43:32

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@npub14vd…dha3 Allow me to demonstrate this thought with my rice cooker.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/822/648/374/106/375/original/5261e8b8ca51719f.jpeg

2024-07-20 12:13:36

Successfully fixed our automatic outdoor light, which has been stuck on for the past two weeks rather than only turning on when someone’s close by.
How did I fix it? I got around to researching the issue today, expecting to climb a ladder to fiddle with it. The answer was the strikingly familiar: “turn it off and turn it back on again”.
Amazing how that works.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/818/747/476/508/184/original/947126e89359bb1a.jpeg

2024-07-20 10:04:36

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@npub1nqs…azt8 Most of the streams are multi bitrate, though, and should come down to a reasonable level to cope with your bandwidth.

2024-07-20 01:27:14

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@npub17lg…9uux Um
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/816/214/777/630/054/original/23bed4f19c90264b.jpeg

2024-07-20 01:23:58

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@npub1lks…a4mq
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/816/202/491/103/360/original/62b02144ef72d52d.jpeg

2024-07-20 01:05:42

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@npub1nqs…azt8 Glitchy streams? Yes, I think that’s just you.

2024-07-20 01:01:52

Just attempted to unbrick my partner’s work Windows laptop; but the corporation uses Bitlocker, so the only option is to take it in to the office. Luckily, that’s only twenty minutes away.

2024-07-19 23:21:24

Wow.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/815/720/260/962/060/original/ccbe020f341ad6f3.jpeg

2024-07-19 11:37:14

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@npub179v…8k2z Fun, but no you won't. Modern cards don't have any raised numbers on them. (I have three different cards from three different banks, all of which have flat-printed numbers on them.)

2024-07-19 09:24:35

I just saw a piece of video played on ABC News! #natureishealing

2024-07-19 08:52:17

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Loving Anna Jones on Sky News UK, closing her laptop and admitting "it doesn't work, it's just a prop".

2024-07-19 08:50:22

Sky News UK is back. No on-screen graphics, though. https://livenow.news/#skynews

2024-07-19 08:37:42

ABC News doing an amazing job. Really impressive, given they have no access to any video playout system. https://livenow.news/#abcnews

2024-07-19 07:25:15

ABC News has worked out how to get a caption on the screen. That's not their standard font - I almost wonder if that's someone's computer running the <marquee> tag.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/811/957/731/343/961/original/dcadec1b7e6dccb9.png

2024-07-19 06:59:16

Sky News UK.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/811/858/285/747/315/original/aa12822982319c38.png

2024-07-19 06:55:57

Sky News UK has now failed entirely. Sky News Australia (different ownership) appears to be limping back on-air but no studios: https://livenow.news/#sky-news-australia

2024-07-19 06:31:32

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@npub17qu…4zw7 Yes, Sky News Australia mentions Crowdstrike on their emergency rotating 3-minute clip. I've no idea what that is (not having used Windows since 2009). What a monumental screw-up if that's the case.

2024-07-19 06:23:07

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@npub180e…pn95 Yep. Aware.

2024-07-19 06:17:59

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Sky News UK (a separate unconnected company from Sky News Australia) is also unable to broadcast, and is running documentaries. https://livenow.news/#skynews

2024-07-19 06:04:33

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Also entirely down is Sky News Australia (which you can watch here - https://livenow.news/#sky-news-australia - which has just given up, running a rotating piece of video recorded seemingly on an iPhone.

2024-07-19 05:59:06

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You have to hand it to them. They literally have nothing other than a set of people to talk to camera, and they're filling quite happily.

2024-07-19 05:50:06

Want to see a television network running under severe stress? https://livenow.news/#abcnews is ABC News from Australia, where none of the computers are working. Seemingly, no captions, no reports, no graphics, and just someone talking to camera...

2024-07-19 05:23:05

Another killed service from the awful idiots at Google. Don't build or depend on Google, it will never end well. https://9to5google.com/2024/07/18/googl-links/

2024-07-19 00:59:38

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@npub19hk…najs I mean, I put that on a private Slack group for the lols! I wasn't going to post it publicly... :)
Anyway, I'm loving the eye makeup.

2024-07-18 12:36:17

Stolen from Facebook - BBC News interviews a guy in a bed called Amin Abed. That’s nice.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/807/514/511/553/798/original/0083a203238751eb.jpeg

2024-07-17 09:09:32

Important calendar news in @npub1dan…asp3 today.
https://assets.bne.social/media_attachments/files/112/801/045/682/198/045/original/6cf1cac0cce5952f.png

2024-07-17 08:27:51

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@npub1qed…0jxu Looks like you can turn it off (for now) here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/beta/join

2024-07-17 05:59:08

@npub185t…pwlf In ATP you say: “I've had all these requests for things like a mono down mix” - no need, it's baked into the OS, and also you can just wear one AirPod for automatic mono only. #savedyouajob https://podnews.net/article/mono-listening-for-podcasts