Category Ramblings

Boring stuff. Mostly nonsense.

The ‘West’ is losing. How could it not?

I’m pretty sure that February 24th, 2022 is going to be found in the history books of the future; if those books ever get written and we don’t end up witnessing how a nuclear winter really looks like. The predictability of a Europe, and later United States-dominated world, where the ‘West’ ruled and enjoyed unprecedented […]

EVs – For the Few.

For several decades, automobiles have been synonymous with the democratization of mobility both within and beyond the city, for billions of people across the globe. You would think that by switching to Electric Vehicles (EVs) en masse, we’d be replacing ‘traditional’ cars with something better, cleaner, faster and cheaper to run, but also easier to operate […]

On Remote Working

My interest in remote working dates from the early 2000s, when I got my first broadband connection at home, or rather at what was my “home“ at the time, Imperial College London’s postgraduate accommodation at Clayponds Village located next to Gunnersbury Park in west London. Clayponds was a very interesting place, with a great atmosphere […]

Why despite the EU's €4.3bn Google Fine, things won't be fine.

A few days ago, the European Union decided to hit Google with a €4.3bn fine. The reasons put forward by the European Commission focus on the company’s MADA or Mobile Application Distribution Agreement, that all device manufacturers that want to license Google’s apps and include the Google Play Store with their devices are forced to […]

The jing-jang of hardware and software support

Ever since the 1980s, a vicious cycle of software and hardware requirements and updates has ‘plagued’ users and maintained high and constant rents to the vendors who systematically collude to render their previous offerings obsolete, while forcing (not enticing) their customers to upgrade to the latest incarnation of their products. The justification for this form […]

Euroend.

The holidays are almost over, for those lucky enough to be able to have holidays, not in the not_working sense, but rather the peace_of_mind sense. Suddenly people remember the misery of their reality, the lack of prospects, the bleak predictions and — above all — that those who are, in theory, responsible for fixing this, […]

Αστικές δικαιολογίες

Διαβάζω στο podilates.gr σχετικά με την συνάντηση που έκαναν μέλη του site με τον δήμαρχο Αθηναίων, Γιώργο Καμίνη σε συνέχεια επιστολής που του είχαν αποστείλει πριν από μερικούς μήνες. Στο σχετικό post αναγράφονται λεπτομερώς τα θέματα που συζητήθηκαν κατά την συνάντηση αυτή. Είμαι φίλος του ποδηλάτου και αναγνωρίζω πως η Αθήνα είναι μια ιδιαίτερα εχθρική […]

Μια Προσωρινή Πολιτική Τρικλοποδιά ή Μόνιμη Απαξίωση της Ευρώπης;

Διαβάζω το άρθρο στο BBC για τα παιχνίδια με Προσωρινές Άδειες Παραμονής σε Τυνήσιους μετανάστες στην Ιταλία, το Σένγκεν και τα τρένα. Η γειτονική μας χώρα, χρόνια ‘σκληρή’ απέναντι στους μετανάστες που κατέφθαναν στα λιμάνια της από την Αφρική, αλλά και την Αλβανία, αντιμέτωπη με αυξημένη, ενδεχομένως υπερβολική, εισρροή μεταναστών από την βόρεια Αφρική μετά […]

Unrated.

Today, Greece and Portugal saw their credit ratings downgraded, once again. Greece’s socio-economic mess notwithstanding, reading the linked BBC article made the absurdity of the dependence on the ‘markets’ (and the ‘unrated’ rating agencies that drive them) clearer than ever: in 2010 Greece woke up to the realisation — or at least some in that […]

Google Chrome ∞

There is an untold general, cross-platform, inter-device rule regarding versioning: Major versions are major because they expose significant improvements and functional upgrades to the user whereas minor versions are typically either minor feature upgrades or bugfix releases. Many projects, corporations and communities deviate from that loosely defined rule, but none do so more than Google […]