Before we get started... You may have noticed that I’ve been a bit quiet on the newsletter for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes life gets in the way and priorities need to be shifted around but hopefully I’ll return to a more regular schedule going forward. I might just switch the newsletter from being ‘weekly’ to a more irregular schedule. — This week I’d like to talk about forming habits, and the 7 steps you can take to make them last. I first came across this idea on an old episode of...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read
Software development is about solving problems. But what if the solution to the problem is only making things worse? This is something I’ve encountered recently. Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on an update to one of the features of our application. The updates added a lot more complexity to the feature but the core functionality remained unchanged While developing, code was being added and more and more edge cases were being tackled until we finally ended up with a hugely...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read
TextFX is an A.I. experiement using Google's PaLM 2 large language model. It's a collection of 10 tools are designed to expand the writing process by generating creative possibilities with text and language. The tool was developed in collaboration with Grammy award-winning rapper, Lupe Fiasco as an experiment to demonstrate how generative language technologies can empower the creativity and workflows of artists and creators. By feeding the app a series of words and concepts, the A.I. can...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the news about my debut album. That’s right… I make music. Since 1996 I’ve been involved in music In some capacity. I started DJing at the tender age of 14 and then later went on to study music for my GCSEs. I’ve learned a number of instruments over the years and eventually started producing my own music in the early 2000’s. I experimented with various genres from HipHop to House to Bhangra, but my true passion lies with Drum and Bass —...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read
Last week I gave a speech at my sisters wedding. It went down pretty well and for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel nervous speaking in front of a crowd. It could be that the crowd was mostly family, or it could have been the drinks I’d had leading up to the speech, but I like to think it’s due to the speech being well written, well organised and personal. Even my brother was impressed when I shared it with him! Since I’ve been publishing this newsletter for over 6 months now and...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read
I’m writing this while laying in bed in a hotel room using my phone. I’m away from my desk at the moment for my sisters wedding, but that’s no excuse to skip a week of my ‘weekly newsletter’. I’ve been trying to be more consistent with things I’ve committed to this year and so far things have been going well. The newsletter has been going out weekly for around 6 months, I’ve recently passed a 200 day streak on Duolingo and I’ve recently started journaling with Day One on a fairly regular...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read
Over the weekend we took the kids to Rock-Up indoor climbing centre. One of the challenges there is the Stairway To Heaven — a series of thirteen vertical poles where climbers need to reach the top without holding onto the safety rope. Both kids made it up the first 10 steps fairly easily but the final 3 were where the nerves and wobbly legs kicked in. As they froze and started telling themselves they couldn’t go any further, I was stood on the ground below shouting encouraging them to take...
over 2 years ago • 1 min read
If you can’t do the things you enjoy, learn to enjoy the things you do. This quote is paraphrased from Ali Abdaal’s video on Long-Lasting Productivity. I was reminded about it while listening to the latest episode of The Side Hustle Show, where Nick and his guest Alan Donegan talk about How to Start a Business You Care About. One of the points Alan makes is about starting a business around a passion or something that excites you. His point is that running a business you’re passionate about...
over 2 years ago • 2 min read
Hey folks, This week I’ve been thinking a lot about content creation and writing and after heading down a Google rabbit hole I came across a podcast called The Side Hustle Show by Nick Loper. Whenever I come across a podcast which seems interesting I queue up some random episodes in my podcast player and if I’m still interested after those first few, I subscribe. Turns out the first episode I queued up was “7 Steps to Start and Grow a Side Hustle” which really resonated with me so I...
over 2 years ago • 1 min read
