Day: 26 October 2025

Weeknotes #144: the cloud ate my speaker

Tech frustrations, good theatre, tidy cupboards, and excellent Sunday pastries.

Week commencing Monday, 20 October 2025

A tall tree displaying brilliant red and orange autumn foliage against a dramatic, cloudy grey sky. In the bottom left, a section of a brick building with white windows is visible.
Autumn is putting on a dramatic show in Raynes Park.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move /37. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 40,851

Life

  • Frustratingly, I learned that my perfectly functional SoundTouch speaker is about to become an electronic brick. They can no longer “support the cloud infrastructure that powers this older generation of products”. This is not how Tomorrow’s World said the future would unfold. Also, very annoying.
  • Relatedly, unrelated: the Amazon Web Services outage shows infrastructure is at the mercy of American Big Tech. It’s bad for us all.
  • I really want to know if, when launching their newest thing, OpenAI wanted “Vibe Lifing” to become a thing. I suspect yes.
  • Oh, it’s not just agencies, Steve: “Have you ever looked up during an internal review and wondered ‘who the ✱✱ are all of these people?’”. Yup.
  • I think we might have had “one for the road” more than once on Thursday night. But Friday was actually a really interesting day at work, and I didn’t notice I was tired.
  • But then The Producers at The Garrick managed to keep me wide awake: I’d give it all the stars. I thought it was wonderful that it still works as satire. Who’s doing that kind of comedy today?
  • The Raynes Park branch of Lockdown Bakehouse had a steady stream of customers on Sunday morning. Great to see a new business in the area.
  • Later that day, quite a bit of “cupboard sorting”. Maybe I’ll start a TikTok; it seems like something that could make me a cleanfluencer.

Media

  • We are coming to the end of this season of Only Murders in the Building and, while I am still enjoying it, the robotic concierge character has stretched this one a little too far.
  • We have jumped on the Celebrity Traitors bandwagon—binging four episodes this weekend. I think we both wish there had been a few more hours (even if we did get an extra one on Saturday night). Don’t tell me anything.
  • And still no Taylor listening.

Phones and PDAs

I have spent the last few days trying to decide if I should update my ‘phone with Orange and today I have decided against.

I have spent the last few days trying to decide if I should update my ‘phone with Orange and today I have decided against. I have been contemplating upgrading my phone to one of those ‘phones that is both PDA and ‘phone. I am hoping this would stop me carrying multiple devices around with me and, also, ensure that I was in sync across all the things I use to try and orgainse my life. Sadly, I have decided there isn’t a device for me.

The Orange SPV seems to get me a lot of the way but the ‘phone hasn’t had the greatest reviews and, to be honest, if I was going to pay that much money I think I would like either Bluetooth or a camera built it (apparently, the next version will have both of these things). It also features a MP3 player that will, of course, play WMA format. I won’t get started on music formats – I am sure there is a whole post there.

Now the Treo 600 also interests me. It is a combined PDA and phone and will be able to utilise most of the palm-related software that I have already installed and use on my trusty Palm Vx. The Real One Mobile that you could use on the Treo doesn’t play WMA files which means that I would have to re-encode most of my music and, as I am not that much of an audiophile, I’d rather have the disc space.

Now, neither of these devices does all I need or want and I am not going to spend that much money yet. My Nokia 7650 tries to sync contacts and a diary but doesn’t do it very well. I looked at the Sony Ericsson T610 but it doesn’t seem to be much of a leap on from the Nokia I have.

So, what’s my wish list? A Palm-powered device which is also a ‘phone and decent MP3 player. If I had the money it would also be Bluetooth and WiFi enabled. One day, somebody will make it, I’ll have the money and we’ll meet in a shop on Oxford Street.

Oh, and if you have tips on getting the Nokia 7650 to sync well (not just sync, but sync well) with the Outlook I use in the office, then please let me know.

Go Out

I’m not the most active member of this community but I certainly feel it is a community and one I am happy to be part of.

This morning the post man knocked more than once. PY, who always jumps out of bed for parcels and post, decided to answer the door where he discovered a large parcel from Out – my lovely black fleece had arrived (from OutOnTheStreets to be precise). This event, and Tom’s post (which I highlighted the other day and started out as a response to this) set me thinking about notions of community.

Now Out is an online community of (mainly) gay men from around the world – although at the moment it’s predominantly UK based. It’s a great place to be and very unlike many of the other commercial gay sites. It’s all about social interactions and not about sex (like some) nor about profit (like others). It funds itself by way of a non-compulsory licence fee and sells merchandise to add to that. It encourages real-world events and traditional social interaction.

Now, I have never attended one of the events and I don’t log on every day (like some). I don’t count many of my friends (online or otherwise) as being members and I can’t say I have made any lasting friendships on Out – although many have.

However, it is still a community and I am still part of it. I choose to contribute financially and I should do more in real life. There are many issues raised by Out that I shall discuss in more detail at some point soon (paying for online content; the concept of zero exploitation and the concept of online communities) but at this point all I want to say is that I feel similar about blogging. I do it primarily for my own record/entertainment/amusement. As a by-product, I get to tell the world how I feel about things and strike up some interesting discussions and relationships along the way. It’s a place for me to express and, most importantly, it’s another community that I belong to. Again, I’m not the most active member of this community but I certainly feel it is a community and one I am happy to be part of.