Angus Bradley

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Get your local library card number

Download libby app - works on ios and android

Download PressReader App

That’s it, loads of good long form content awaits!

On Libby I’m currently on  the latest Taleb book, and some audio books. You can borrow about 10 things at a time.

On Press Reader you have quite a few papers, notably Daily Telegraph and all local papers, as well as somewhat unexpectedly, the Economist.

I've been asked by a few people how to make their children's phones safer. I'm pretty concerned about the effect of always on internet for children (and adults) so I restrict how much time they can spend online, as well as what they can see and do.

The good news is it's easy with an iphone. It is much easier to do if you do it before you give your child a phone. You can do a lot of this with Android, but I find the iphone is easier to keep restricted.

General

Lock down your wifi to block adult sites. 

Don't let younger kids install apps without your approval.

Don't let them use a vpn

Don't let them change their passcode and lock you out!

With this in place you might need to install a VPN yourself if you want to buy wine or <ahem> look at special sites!

Iphone specific

Setup screentime (ideally do it before you hand over the phone!)

On your phone turn on Family Sharing, and add child accounts - full instructions below*

Pretty much all the controls below are in the screentime menu, in the settings app.

Setup ask to Buy

under Family sharing, tap your kids name, and choose ask to buy - then they have to ask you before they buy anything

Limit time (in screentime)

setup up downtine, e.g just make the phone useless between 10pm and 6am

Setup app limits - if you're worried about an app (looking at you TicToc - some kids spend 6hours+ a day on this), you can set up limits for apps in screentime

setup always allowed. e.g you may want your child to always be able to make a call, or use a sleep app.

Turn off mobile use of porn / guns etc (content & privacy)

Go to Content & Privacy and turn what you want off.

Stop change of passcode and accounts (content & privacy)

Sometimes, its a good idea to be able to read your childs messages. If they're having a hard time or mental health issues. So if you can agree with them that you need to know their passcode, you can set it so they cannot change it - just check 'don't allow' for passcode changes and account changes.

turn off passcode changes & account changes

For young children (content & privacy)

I think it's a good idea to limit who they can contact, so I only allow my 10 year old to speak / text/ call people I approve first. 

These settings game centre will help stop them chatting to randoms.]

This only works for phone and imessage - so if you let them install whatsapp, snapchat etc then you lose any control over whom they talk with. So I only let them install stuff I approve, and that means no whatsapp for until they're a bit older.

Game centre - restrict messaging

and under Communication limits, you can choose to manage your childs contacts - so you can control who they speak with. this only works for phone and imessage  - so if you let them install whatsapp, then you lose any control.

contacts - restrict contacts

Finally

Check these settings every few months. Kids are great at working out the passcode and turning them off

Setting up screentime - in full

How to set up Screen Time on your kid's device:

Tap the Settings icon.

Tap Screen Time.

Tap "This is My Child's iPhone."

Follow the prompts and then create a passcode.

This code is different from the one you use to unlock your phone. Instead, it's a code you set so kids can't change the settings. Remember to write down the passcode in a safe place because it's a real pain if you lose it. And don't share it with your kids.

How to set up Screen Time using your device:

Tap the Settings icon.

Tap your Apple ID.

Tap Set Up Family Sharing (this is the option you'll see if you don't have a family group set up already).

Tap Add Member, and then tap Create an Account for a Child. Then follow the prompts to create the account and read the privacy agreement.

Go back to the Family Sharing page, tap Screen Time, and then tap Add Child.

Enter your kid's Apple ID and a password. Note: This is their Apple ID password, not the one you'll use to control Screen Time.

April 2022 One of the reasons I bought a Tesla was I saw a model S in Samoens in the Alps a few years ago,and thought - ahhh it must be possible. At the time we were driving a Mitsubishi hybrid, and the idea of an all electric trip seemed brilliant. The Model S looked super sleek, so I figured it was probably faster than our petrol/electric SUV too. In this I was to be proven incorrect.

So when we finally got our Model Y long range in March, first thoughts were for a first holiday to the alps in the EV. Why not? Then I googled it, and only found horror stories. Folks taking 16 hours or longer to get down, huge queues at super chargers, and cars limping along at 50 mph to make the next charge.

La Lechere-les-Bains, an absolutely beautiful super charger location nestled at the foot of the alps.

So it was with some trepidation that we set out in April for La Rosiere, a lovely, high ski resort at 1850 meters, just over 620 miles from the Calais Eurotunnel. The car was loaded with ski gear, 2 kids and my wife and I. No roof boxes or extra drag!

ABRP (a better route planner) was on my phone, Spotify was working, and we had our Sanef auto route toll tag.. what could go wrong ?!

Actual EV range in the cold. Our model y has a nominal range of about 340 miles when it's warm. But you don't really want to charge more than 90%,so let's call that a range of 300. Then I was really concerned about having family in a car in freezing temperatures, so didn't want to arrive at a charger with less than 20% charge. So usable range was now 240 miles. And  in the cold a lot worse, usually between 160 and 200 miles (electric cars are *much* less efficient when it's cold)

With experience, in future I’d be happy arriving with 10% charge, the Tesla gauge is very accurate.

So having negotiated the madness of Dover port, headed off to our first stop, Troyes - first charger was going to be Aire d’Urvillers, where we'd arrive with 20%. 20 minutes later the car said range had dropped, and we'd arrive with 15%. Slight panic from me, as this seemed very low,  but the tesla map showed an ionity charger en route, and we headed towards that.

Smooth. The Tesla pre-heated the battery, and we arrived  at a bank of 8 ionity chargers, mostly empty, for a quick charge, paid for through the phone app.

That was it, the rest of the trip was smooth,lots of empty charging bays, lots of interesting stops. I learnt to trust the Tesla navigation, if it says you’ll arrive with 15% thats what will happen, unless you drive at 100 all the time.

We stuck with Tesla chargers, as for Teslas they are really fast, literally jump out of the car, press a button on the cable to open the charge port, and plug in, rarely for more that 20 minutes. 

Tesla superchargers are often a few miles off the autoroute, so may cost you 5 minutes of detour, however they are often in interesting places, usually with a few choices of food.

Big diesel is still the fastest

On the way down we didn't time things, had a leisurely night over in Troyes, and when we got to La Rosiere, it had taken a while, maybe 11 or 12 hours. Our mates arrived in their big Landrover Disco, they'd smashed it from Calais, averaged about 95mph and 18mpg, and made the trip in 8 hours. Admittedly their fuel bill was something like £220 each way, but still a hell of a lot quicker.

So I thought I’d write down as much detail as I could.

**All the details  - alps to folkestone and back** We drove between 70 and 80 mph when possible.

Calais to La Rosiere Drive 9hr 23 Charging - 2hrs 15, plus an overnight charge in Troyes. This could have been 1hr 50 if we hadn't had to do a charge at the foot of the Alps, maybe 1hour 30 if I hadn't insisted on arriving at each charger with 20%

La rosiere to Calais. 627 miles Temperature - from -4 to 15 degrees C. 10.5 hours driving (average 60 mph, reflects about 90 minutes of heavy traffic we sat in)

Charging time - 2 hours 25 mins. Charging stops - 5 Energy used 174kWh Supercharger cost £70 (left with about 80%, arrived with about 40%)

Estimated times for EV routeplanning in a Model Y

Just after we left I found Bjørn Nyland’s work, he tests EV’s on a 1000Km run, somewhere that looks warm in America. His best time for the Tesla Model Y for 1000Km is 9hr 45 in average 17 degrees. 

So in winter, with no extra charge stops, I think the entire journey should take say about 11 1/2 hours. This is almost exactly what the Tesla route planner said, and about 45 mins longer than what ABRP predicted. And nearly 3 1/2 hours longer than our speeding friends in the Discovery.

So in future I’ll plan for summer - 10 hours per 1000Km, and Winter 11 1/2 hours per 1000Km.

A great trip, and a different pace of travel.  So for now, at least until we get different battery technology,cold weather trips will be a lot slower than diesel. BUT - the stops are fun. Think more grand tour than an auto route smash. We stopped in Troyes on the way down, a beautiful medieval town, great fun to browse and had a wonderful meal and French cafe experience. Our last supercharger stop was La Lechere-les-Bains, absolutely beautiful location nestled at the foot of the alps. Here we had a quick 15 minute walk and checked out the baths hotel, which the Victorian travellers probably used on their grand tours!

Next time we go we will probably stop more, and have an overnight stop on the way and the way back. I'll also trust the Tesla on board navigation, and be happy to arrive at charges with less that 10% charge which should reduce charging time a little.

Whilst I am a complete evangelist for not using email for anything that will have long term importance, its still really useful. I turn off all alerts, and check it about 3 6 times a day.  This way it’s much less interrupting than things like slack or WhatsApp. 

I work on an iPad and MacBook, so need a fast client that works on both of these, and looks nice.

Sadly Newton just announced they’re closing down - this has been my email client of choice for the past year. Newton did some great stuff, the key wins for me were

- Read receipts - tells you if an mail has been read* - Send and remind me if no-one replies to a mail - Snooze an email for a few days - Great fast search - this for me was the best bit of Newton.

However there are some great alternatives out there:

Sanebox ($7 a month)

Sanebox will keep you sane - it adds automatic filtering of mail, an email digest, and also snooze folders - emails re-appear when you’ve set them to. So snoozing emails, and deferring them works will, with any client. 

Apple Mail  Apple mail is ok. Search is works well, UI is nice, but it’s not super slick for fast email filing. What I do use apple mail for is alerts for specific threads (I need this cos I only check email occasionally). 


Spark  Spark is a great app, it’s also free for one user. It’s from a really successful company, and with 1m users, it should have longevity. Great interface, and some nice extras like one click  replies and team collaboration. You can file, snooze or reply with simple gestures. The only thing it doesn’t do that newton does is ‘read receipts’, but they’re becoming less effective anyway*.

Polymail and Airmail I’ve heard mixed things about, but haven't tried them yet.

For now I’m going to use Spark and keep sanebox running. I get 1000+ emails a week, and sanebox keeps most of them out the way, whilst sparks ‘reminder’ features and interface work well.

What do you use?

It feels like this might be peak summit for me, it’s just huge, too many people!

I didn’t really get the talks today, Des Traynor at intercom good as always. However some great early stage companies I met: @JarTechnologies, @uptimerobot, @joinbuglab, @trackingdoc.

Jar technologies, looked like a really interesting testing platform,, using real browsers.

Uptimerobot - cost effective alternative to pingdom with the features you actually want.

I’ve been intermittent fasting a la 5:2 diet for about 3 years now. On fast days I eat nothing until about 6pm, then I have 600 calories. 

The key thing - IT’S EASY! You get hungry at about 11am, but it turn out hunger doesn’t get worse - I’m no hungrier at 5pm than I am at 11am (after the first few weeks, which are harder as your body acclimatises).

When my weight drops to 13 stone I fast one day a week, and when it rises to 14 stone, I start doing 2 days again. The other days I eat normally - including alcohol, chocolate etc!

Here’s my findings:

Fast once a week - eat and drink moderately -  weight stays static

Fast once a week - eat badly (pizza, beer on normal days) - gain 2-3 lbs a month.

Fast twice  a week - I lose 4-6 lbs a month 

When you eat, energy goes to your liver as glycogen - and this is what your body taps into for energy. It takes about 10-12 hours to deplete the glycogen stores in your liver, so unless you exercise loads you will never burn any fat! 

I’d really recommend intermittent fasting as a way of controlling weight, and more importantly, looking after your health. 

To find out how it helps your brain, produces ketones  etc read this link

We love pivotal tracker, and we use it for tracking lots of stuff, as well as development it’s becoming great for admin tasks, and is becoming a place where we log activity and security related processes (nothing we consider secret, but certainly a bit sensitive).

But there’s one thing you need to do if you use pivotal for anything remotely sensitive (say vulnerability tracking), and that is disable the email alerts. There is a problem with them - they send not only the story header, but the description and comments. And sending anything that is sensitive by email, even internal email, is just a plain bad idea.

Here’s my setup now:

I’m working on our company mission, i.e. why we exist, what we want to achieve, why go to work on a Monday morning, and found this quote:

Every modern, progressive, and socially responsible organisation should strive to achieve three goals: 

To serve society with specified services or products;  To operate in an economically sustainable manner;  To achieve these results while rigorously adhering to a defined set of ethical principles and shared values

The purpose of a company is not to make money, or pay shareholders.. It’s to serve society! If you focus on money, or just shareholders return, your business will be dull, and work will lack reason. The end goal should be selling a product or service, and the means to keep doing so should be making a profit. 

This if from a great book ‘Joy at work’ by Dennis Bakke, who headed up AES, which is a pretty amazing company, run a long very similar lines to those espoused by Ricardo Semler in his ‘7 day weekend’. This is another huge corporation which includes in its company values unexpected items like “Have Fun Through Work”.

Also see:

One pain with evernote is that it will not search for handwriting in PDF's.

Here's a great work around for Mac users using automator and a little bit of apple script. 

If you set this up you can print any document into evernote as sequence of images, so handwriting will get searched. This is great if you use @notability or goodnotesapp.

Start up automator and create  new print plugin, then make it look like this:

This says, given a PDF, turn it into a load of images, then use this apple script to send them to evernote.

Here's the applescript

tell application id "com.evernote.evernote"

      activate

      set note1 to create note with text "created by automator"       repeat with this_item in the input             set the item_info to info for this_item             tell application id "com.evernote.evernote"                   tell note1 to append attachment this_item             end tell       end repeat end tell return input

Code cribbed with thanks from: http://www.documentsnap.com/evernote-mac-import-folder/

Those skilled at the myriad functions built into SS7 can locate callers anywhere in the world, listen to calls as they happen or record hundreds of encrypted calls and texts at a time for later decryption

Surprise surprise.. 

James Hong - the guy who invented amihotornot (remember that!) has introduced cakey - an app that lets kids watch YouTube videos that parents have vetted first. You can download vetted playlists, or submit your own.

Seems like a bloody good idea (Before this I would never use youtube with the kids due to 'unexpected' videos popping up).

Anatole France.

http://cjyu.tripod.com/majesticequality.html

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or I can use it for good.

What I do today is very important because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes this day will be gone, forever, Leaving something in its place I have traded for it.

I want it to be gain, not loss, good, not evil, Success, not failure, in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it.