Nintendo consoles tended to be radical, Nintendo handhelds were more iterative.

The Game Boy and DS lines all built gradually on each other, seems the Switch line is following suit. I assume Nintendo see the Switch as a handheld that can be docked, rather than a console that’s also portable, so I guess it makes sense that it’s following a similar trajectory of previous handheld lines.

Everything has to look so serious these days.

The colourful Joy Cons were part of the Switch’s identity, sad to see it reduced to an accent they seem almost ashamed of.

The N-Gage had a bunch of bizarre design decisions.

The game cartridge slot was behind the battery - swapping games required disassembling the phone.

The revised QD version fixed a lot of the mistakes but it was too little too late by then.

I was told the future would be all flying cars and food in pills.

But instead it’s industrial pollution and bloodletting.

I can’t give good answers to all of these, but here’s what I can say.

1. Check the mobile coverage in the area (Ofcom have a coverage map) you will be living and pick based on that and price. I personally use Giffgaff, which is a MVNO using the O2 network. They are no frills and cheap, I’ve been using them for years and quite a few family and friends have since joined me.

2. For a building society try Nationwide, long established stable option with a good high street presence across the country. My family have used them for many years.

3. Aldi and Lidl are cheap and cheerful, great for staples on a budget. Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s are the middle tier. Waitrose and M&S are the posher options. Wherever you shop you will save money by joining the loyalty scheme (Tesco Clubcard, Nectar, Lidl Plus etc).

4. Register for your local GP surgery once you have a place to live. You can always switch later if needed. The NHS website has plenty of info. The emergency phone number here is 999 and non emergency is 111.

6. You can carry your passport but it’s inconvenient. A provisional driving license is a commonly accepted ID here, and you can apply for one even if you have no intention to actually drive. We also have a scheme called PASS cards such as CitizenCard which are low cost and available for anyone with UK residency. Not as versatile as a provisional drivers license or passport, but work fine for simple checks like proof of age.

8. IKEA is fine. If you don’t mind second hand many charity shops have larger stores that sell furniture, there can be some real bargains there and they will often provide delivery.

9. Supermarkets do a reasonable range of housewares. T K Maxx often have some bargains. John Lewis is more upmarket.

10. Supermarkets again are cheap and reasonable. Somewhere like Next is may be better quality. I hear a lot of people recommend Uniqlo at the moment for quality everyday wear with a plain/timeless style that doesn’t break the bank.

11. Most ISPs provide national coverage, however the quality of the underlying infrastructure does vary by location. Most will use the nationwide Openreach network, which is slowly upgrading to full fibre, but exact speed will vary. Generally the more rural you go the worse the service gets. Virgin Media is the UK’s cable provider, and operates both copper and fibre networks. They do not have a great customer service record, but they may have a far greater service speed in your location so it’s worth checking out. Even the best ISPs for customer service such as Zen and A&A are often beholden to Openreach who may or may not give a crap about faults in a timely manner anyway. We also have several independent fibre “altnets” operating in different areas who may offer better speeds and prices. Also consider bundle deals for both broadband and mobile plans, there can be some good deals to be had there.

12. Officially you need a TV Licence if you watch or record any programmes via any device as they are broadcast, and to watch on-demand BBC programmes on iPlayer. You don’t have to have a license to own the TV itself, nor to watch non-BBC on demand content. I’d say it’s worth paying to legally access BBC content (which still has a lot of cultural relevancy here) and avoid hassle with the TV Licensing authority.

13. Eating out for breakfast is less common here. But a “greasy spoon” cafe will serve a traditional fried breakfast amongst other things. Ask locals for recommendations. Do not be afraid of black pudding.

14. Authentic Mexican or American-Mexican food seems to be rare here. When I have travelled in the US the Mexican food was very different (in a good way) to the “Mexican” I’d previously known at home. I’m sure there is some somewhere. We do have Taco Bell though now if that counts. If you are seeking spicy food in general though consider going for a curry - we have rich tradition there that has become a cuisine of its own.

16. For a job interview I would read that as “smart casual”, which would be a shirt and either trousers or maybe nicer/neater jeans. Definitely not sweats. Honestly depends on the company and area. If in doubt though - ask - if it was me hiring I would appreciate the proactivity and curiosity.

18. Going cashless is easy here. Cash is fading out here, to the chagrin of certain older folks. Contactless cards and Apple/Google Pay etc are widely accepted, even in small independent shops and market stalls. Bank transfers are near instant. The only places that may be cash only are places like certain takeaway food places. I carry an emergency £20 note and very rarely need it. Cash machines may charge for withdrawals. You can do most simple banking tasks at Post Offices if needed.

20. I hate it too, and I haven’t yet been dragged off to the tower, so I think you’ll be fine.

Other than that, enjoy your life in the UK.

The official AI Opportunities Action Plan has been published on gov.uk which may be worth a read.

Encouraging the greater development of the UK’s tech sector generally is a good thing. But having “unleashed AI” as the foundation for that doesn’t sound the best idea.

Throwing money at AI seems a big gamble for productivity.

I’d rather see the UK invest in its human workers instead, with better education and training. IT skills for example as still lacking in the country. PCs have now existed for 30+ years yet so many still struggle with task like making simple spreadsheets.

We desperately need to improve productivity, but I’m not convinced that going all in on AI is a great bet. The tech is still in its infancy and currently very unreliable. Letting it loose in places like the NHS sounds like a recipe for disaster.

By all means open doors for research, but I don’t think this tech is ready for critical implementations yet. We’d get more reliable productivity gains by investing in upskilling workers instead.

If there is going be insistence on platforms being open there shouldn’t be these distinctions.

All of these devices are capable of general purpose computing at a hardware level, phones, tablets, PCs, headsets are now very similar and generalised in that regard. I don’t see why a phone platform should be forced to be open while a games console gets to remain closed, when there is now only a hair’s breadth separating an Xbox from a Windows PC.

Considering the latest changes at Meta, it seems their latest innovation is to transform social media into antisocial media.

USB-C has been a blessing and curse. One port that does everything, except when it doesn’t. Even charging is now complicated by the “guess the cable that supports the right PD type” game.

Not that the old days were much better. I don’t miss faffing around with the myriad of serial and parallel port modes and settings.

Take the AI crap out and give it an open display API and it would be a fun desk toy.

A rotating phone screen in a cylinder creating a hologram-like effect to display notifications/metrics/whatever else.

I have the G4 Doorbell, it’s worked well as doorbell and camera in both UniFi and Home Assistant.

I had no luck at all getting it to work with a chime though. I tried several different chimes and transformers and the chime would never work.

I ended up setting up automations to trigger device notifications and a bell sound on smart speakers to act as the chime instead.

I’m surprised they didn’t include an option to disable the backup encryption.

It’s a good feature to have but it’s probably overkill for users who only store backups locally. Encrypting backups increases security but also danger, lose the keys and lose the data. It should be up the user to decide on that tradeoff.

So the plaintiff’s are claiming Siri was recording them without consent, and that Apple were sharing those recordings with third parties including advertisers.

Apple claims they were sometimes wrongly keeping recordings for internal quality control/analytics but hasn’t admitted to sharing them, and have agreed to the $95m settlement.

The sharing with third parties is the most egregious part here, but it doesn’t seem to be addressed any further.

There are some Xiaomi Bluetooth temperature sensors available. I have a few of the LYWSD03MMC models. They are very cheap, have a LCD screen, and can also be flashed with custom firmware.

I have a few flashed with custom firmware and use them as general sensors around the home integrated with Home Assistant via ESPhome proxies.

I’m not sure how you could monitor them from both a phone and a Bluetooth proxy, but as they are so cheap and hackable they might be worth playing with.

Or we could make less rubbish to begin with. We wouldn’t need to burn or bury it then.

The Wisbech incinerator has been dragging in for years. Before Wisbech there was a plan to build a similar plant in nearby King’s Lynn, but that was rejected after immense local pressure.

I can’t see building 40 plus more of them around the country going down well.

But this is flatly untrue. There are laws requiring local authorities to take this into account and they can compel developers to contribute either financially or in-kind.

There have been multiple developments in my own area where the initial proposals included service provisions alongside major housing. But for each one the infrastructure commitments get dropped but the houses go up anyway.

We may well have laws on the books that are supposed to address this, but they do not seem to be working.

What causes the problems with doctor’s surgeries is not new developments but austerity, which is why it’s a problem everywhere.

I agree austerity is also a problem, and it has to be addressed to make provision for community infrastructure.

We must have a carrot and stick approach to this issue. It’s not unreasonable for people to object to their communities being turned into giant dormitories. If they can’t make that heard at local planning committees they will make it heard at the ballot box. Labour’s reforms will do no good if they are all undone in a backlash at the next election.

Whatever the underlying reasons, service infrastructure must be delivered alongside housing commitments. It’s the only way to ensure this shift will be politically sustainable. I am not convinced that only increasing housing supply will itself attract infrastructure development later. It’s not really doing so in my own community.