On a rainy Scottish island called Jura, it’s time to talk about the Manual, about long-term sustainable success, and about not having just that one catchphrase. The term “viral” has fallen out of fashion in the last few years, which is why this series wasn’t called “going viral”. And in […]
The Global Vehicle Target is the new standard for testing autonomous driving and crash test systems. To cameras and radar, it looks like a car: but if you hit it, it’ll fly apart. So if your emergency braking doesn’t quite work… well, this is what happens. Thanks to everyone at […]
For years, moderators of online forums and chat rooms have wielded a metaphorical “banhammer” to deal with anyone who steps out of line. Now it’s real. Well, a bit more real, anyway. THANKS TO: Mat Hill for design and coding: http://mat-hill.xyz/ Chris Joel for the idea, and for wielding the […]
Back in the 1920s, wingwalking claimed lives. Daredevils would move around on the top of a plane’s wings, in mid-flight, often without any harness or any safety line. Maybe they’d be able to clip onto something during takeoff and landing, but maybe not. There are still a few of those […]
In the 1830s, two French brothers, François and Joseph Blanc, pulled off the first telecoms scam in history. The optical telegraph, a line of semaphore towers stretching from hilltop to hilltop, was for government use only: but something as simple as the law wasn’t going to get in their way. […]
That’s right, we’re kicking Season 2 of the Basics off with a technical episode about a somewhat-obsolete technology! IT’S PARTY TIME. Wait, no, not party time. IT’S CODE TIME. Close enough. Let’s talk about seven-segment displays, and about the longest word you can write with them. Public domain list of […]
There’s a reason music videos look strange. I could just talk about framerate, cuts and continuity… or I could get an actual music video director. And a leaf blower. Directed by: Sammy Paul https://twitter.com/icoepr Produced by: Cambria Bailey-Jones https://twitter.com/cambriabailey Guy Larsen https://twitter.com/thisisguido Director of Photography: Ciaran O’Brien https://twitter.com/ciaranobrien Featuring: dodie […]
Ogham is an old Irish script made by carving notches into stones. It fell out of use more than a millennium ago – but it’s an interesting exception to a linguistics and computer-science rule that I’d never even realised existed. Let’s talk about the Ogham Space Mark. Thanks to all […]
Our traditional Wartime Badass Episode this week, albeit a wartime badass whose weapon included expense reports. BONUS MATERIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFoDDhl9DA FULL PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C35uN7xGIo2odDuuPeYtb7BtQ1kBhp WEB SITE and MORE AUDIO EPISODES: http://techdif.co.uk Featuring: Matt Gray: http://mattg.co.uk – @unnamedculprit Gary Brannan: @garybrannan and Chris Joel, who doesn’t do this social media nonsense More from […]
No, a hail cannon isn’t for if you just want to accelerate a lot of hail really quickly. This week: pseudoscience and real science! BONUS MATERIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgerCSpxSWo FULL PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C35uN7xGIo2odDuuPeYtb7BtQ1kBhp WEB SITE and MORE AUDIO EPISODES: http://techdif.co.uk Featuring: Matt Gray: http://mattg.co.uk – @unnamedculprit Gary Brannan: @garybrannan and Chris Joel, who […]
