iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 30/09/2026

Even the robot overlord says so. Although it leaves the door open for industrial, non-consumer, WiFi salad spinners.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 24/09/2026

I should probably unsubscribe from this newsletter.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 23/09/2026

Jottings of ethical tech-aligned orgs, movements and meetups from an event I went to last night. We need to do more clustering and mapping to help people to discover one another.

Overhead view of a cluster of pink, orange and yellow sticky notes on a white table, handwritten with names of technology and civil-society groups and events, including EFF, Open Rights Group, EDRi, EMF Camp, FOSDEM, OggCamp, Newspeak House, repair cafes and Geeks for Social Change.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 19/09/2026

The Digital Design Weekend at the V&A is great (still on, and free, tomorrow). Soil-powered microcontrollers, tactile synths with fabric, generating font glyphs with facial expressions, a very interesting physical model demonstrating LLM secret instructions and […] [Original post on macaw.social]

A sign for the 18-20 September
DIGITAL DESIGN WEEKEND
Drop-in activities
3 Ns and an M, plus Robots
Digital Studio, Learning Centre,
Level O
The Wild House
Lunchroom, Learning Centre,
Level O
Arcade Social: A showcase
of collaborative play
Hochhauser Auditorium,
Learning Centre, Level 1
Glyph Yourself!
Lobby, Learning Centre, Level 1
Screening
Digital Art Screening:
The 2026 Lumen Prize
The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy
Lecture Theatre, Level 3
Saturday 14:00-16:30, Sunday
11:00-16:30
Talks
The Age of Responsibility:
Rethinking Digital Futures
with The Lumen Prize
The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy
Lecture Theatre, Level 3
Saturday, 13:00-14:00
Creative Technology Social:
Voices from the London
community
Art Studio, Learning Centre,
Level O
Saturday 14:30-16:30
Workshops
Art Studio, Learning Centre,
Level O
Livecoding algorithmic music
Friday at 19:00, Sunday at 14:00
Visual livecoding
Friday at 20:00, Sunday at 15:00
Fabric synthesizer building
workshop
Saturday and Sunday at 12:00
Making compost-based
biobatteries for computing
Saturday and Sunday at 13:00
Digital art tours
Meeting Point:
Learning Centre, Reception
Digital Bodies
Saturday 14:30
Recombinations & Simulations
Saturday 15:30
Art of Drawing Machines
Sunday 13:30
From Plotter to p5.js
Sunday 14:30
Friday 18:30-22:00
Saturday and Sunday 10:30-16:30
All events are free and drop-in. Last entry
is 30 minutes before event closing time.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 17/08/2026

... so there are a bunch of places that I know about but I can't add to the collection right now, because of the Mastodon server not being at 4.6.x yet or their settings being set to the (privacy-conscious!) defaults and excluded from Collections and discovery. You should follow them all anyway!

Screenshot of a "Manage accounts" screen showing search results for "hackspace," with a list of nine hackspace accounts that cannot be added because they have opted out of discovery or are on servers that don't support collections.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 22/07/2026

this is depressing. Original title "The Linux kernel is falling apart" (yes, dear reader, I did indeed click). A small link offered me "clickbait shield". It rewrote the title. ("AI" feature, of course. daily.dev so I shouldn't be surprised?) Everything about […] [Original post on macaw.social]

Screenshot showing a headline "Linux kernel LPE vulnerabilities are accelerating due to Al-assisted research" with the text
"This title was optimized with Clickbait Shield" in small type below it.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 20/07/2026

Headed away from Eastnor and #EMFCamp 2026 - some family time for a couple of days before getting back to normal life later in the week. Lovely time. I did not post much or read much online because of the IRLs. I saw some folks, and I missed many others I know […] [Original post on macaw.social]

A board attached to a phone pole at Electromagnetic Field 2026. It is plastered in colourful stickers and messages.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 19/07/2026

I hear @cubicgarden talk about Death Glitch, I search, I find @Edent #EMFCamp breadcrumbs

A search result for the book Death Glitch by Tamara Kneese, with a review by Terence Eden highlighted.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 18/07/2026

@dansup @Mastodon I've also been leaving #FediverseForFreedom zines and @theindiebeat posters about the camp 😊 thank you!

Two small zines, Celebrity Ducks and Choose a human web

A flyer instructing EMF attendees to call a camp phone line to listen to music from the Fediverse

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 14/07/2026

Coming to a zine lounge near you #EMFCamp

Two stacks of handmade zines on a brown box: “Celebrity Ducks” on the left and “Choose a human web. Mastodon. The Fediverse” on the right.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 13/07/2026

If you are a @matrix fan and you come find me at #EMFCamp later this week, then I have a neat badge hexpansion to share with you (subject to availability). An NFC token for your Matrix handle or favourite room 👀

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 10/06/2026

At #DemocracyDrinks in Brussels. Thank you @AliceStollmeyer for the invitation! In other news, I made a strategic error by not bringing an umbrella 🌧️

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 03/06/2026

The UI is better with icons I think. Approaching final form. Shake for an offline fact, press to get one from the interwebs. #ducks #emfducks I think @diondiondion might appreciate my efforts.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 03/06/2026

Reading the @EUCommission press release on strengthening tech sovereignty. Something missing here 🤔

A screenshot showing a list of links to follow the European Commission on various social platforms, all of which are not EU sovereign, and all of which are owned by US tech giants.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has its own Mastodon instance... 🤦🏻

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 03/06/2026

Interesting salary dynamics here.

LinkedIn job listings for two roles - both Chief Technology Officer - UK Home Office, £120K-£150K per year; HM Treasury, £70K-£77K per year

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 03/06/2026

Lots of features still to add…

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 21/05/2026

“… I am never gonna describe this as a Physical AI meetup…” #iotlondon

A glass door with a Pull handle. A white sheet of A4 paper is on the inside of the door facing outwards, with the text “London Internet of Things Meetup”

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 16/05/2026

Day 3 of the #WimbledonArtFair - come and talk about #PenPlotters and other drawing machines with us! @forgeandcraft

An A3 pen plotter drawing a multicoloured sketch of Bamberg Rathaus

A display of various pen plotter artworks in a stand on a table.

Two technical looking pen plotter artworks of circuit-like designs, framed on a wall. Next to these are some artist statements for Heidi Blanton and Andy Piper.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 14/05/2026

Number of times someone has asked “so is this all AI?” at the art show today - three! I’ll keep a running total for the weekend 🫣 fairly quiet, but it’s only Thursday evening. Town hall in Bamberg, Germany, from a photo on our recent trip. #plotterart

A detailed colourful A3 pen plot of the town hall in Bamberg, Germany.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 13/05/2026

Come and shelter from the British winter - the #WimbledonArtFair kicks off tomorrow, and you can come and talk to us about #PenPlotter art and algorithmic creativity @forgeandcraft

An intricate electronics style pen plot in a black frame outside of an open door with a Forge & Craft sign above it.

A large Cistercian numeral / rune style icon on cotton rag paper.

Text on a sign on a wall

A pen plotter is not a printer - the pen and the materials interact in distinct ways. I'm fascinated by the different effects and textures available.
The symbol is a medieval Cistercian numeral. In the early thirteenth century the Cistercian monastic order in England created a compact numeric system whereby a single glyph could indicate any
integer from 1 to 9999, depending on the location and format of digits on the stave (they eventually adopted the more common Arabic system invented
around the same time, that we still use today.
This artwork is the number 1984, calculated in code and plotted using a twenty-first century machine, onto handmade cotton rag paper.

Andy Piper
Forge & Craft
Studio 273

An intricate electronics style design pen plotted in black and silver inks on white paper.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 13/05/2026

@simonwood this guy - tap it to get the extra field

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 12/05/2026

Oh COME ON. It's YOUR THING and you can't even get this right.

Screenshot show a Google search for "google chrome fedora 44" and the AI instant answer describing the "fastest and most efficient" method as downloading an RPM via the command wget https://google.com

This will not download an RPM.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 12/05/2026

FWIW this double-post happened via the web app (4.5.9), not a third party API client @MastodonEngineering (I've now deleted one of them) #bug

A screenshot showing two identical posts, with the same relative timestamp.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 10/05/2026

Today's artwork in progress. #penplotter #plotterart #NextDraw Come and visit us @forgeandcraft at the #WimbledonArtFair May 14-17 for more 😊

An imaginary circuit board design on paper, being drawn out by a pen plotter

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 30/04/2026

... and, you can come to visit us @forgeandcraft from May 14-17 at the Wimbledon Art Studios NB the magazine I'm holding in the photo is the very nice Machine Arts from @bantamtools #WimbledonArtFair #London #PlotterArt

Two people chatting in a busy maker studio beside pen plotter equipment. One holds a copy of Machine Arts while text on the image reads “Forge & Craft, Pen Plotter Art, Studio 273.”

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 26/04/2026

Hearing about The Great Moose Migration at #OggCamp

Michael Dales pointing at a slide showing moose captured in a forest on a TV camera.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 25/04/2026

Loving the collision of my art and programming and education interests with… stitching and needlework #oggcamp2026 @megjlow

A woman is presenting on stage, discussing "Exploring Algorithmic Art (using TurtleStitch)." Behind her is a screen displaying various algorithmic art patterns in different colors and designs.

A speaker presents on "Algorithmic Art," showcasing a piece titled "Hommage à Paul Klee" by Frieder Nake. The slide features a black-and-white abstract artwork with intersecting lines and shapes, along with text explaining it.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 31/03/2026

Nice to see a Mastodon shout-out on The Daily Show last night, thanks to @eff Executive Director Cindy Cohn! It's a longer segment, with some interesting nuance around social media and censorship later in the conversation. (disclosure: I am an EFF Member / […] [Original post on macaw.social]

A still from a TV show. A woman with grey hair in a black jacket sits opposite Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, at a desk. A subtitle shows the text "There's the whole Mastodon universe." at the bottom of the screen.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 17/03/2026

This could take a while. The flight tomorrow morning is cancelled, but it will take more than 2 days before I can contact the agent to discuss. 🤔

Screenshot showing contact options to solve travel needs. "Give us a call" option displays "Estimated wait time: 3285 minutes"

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 16/03/2026

Excited to be here at #fossbackstage seeing old friends and meeting new folks. Excellent to be in a space to discuss the policy and other non-technical aspects of the open source ecosystem. Oh, and a Fediwall right at the entrance! 🎉

A set of posters describing topics from FOSS Backstage - “what makes an open source project flourish”, “behind the scenes of open source products”

A scattering of stickers on two tables at different levels, with a sign showing it is a Sticker Exchange.

A large TV screen showing a “wall” of Fediverse posts across 5 columns, on a dark background.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 12/03/2026

Thanks for the nice wishes! Today, we mostly explored Franconia. 🥨 🇩🇪

Altenburg, a stone building with steep roofs and gothic-style windows, surrounded by cobblestones and bare trees beneath a dramatic sky with scattered clouds.

Bamberg Rathaus, an historic half-timbered building standing on a stone bridge over a fast-flowing river, with a tall tower rising above red-roofed houses under a bright blue sky.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 08/03/2026

I think the #LEGO Insiders app may have a small issue with labelling for some rewards.

A screesnhot from an iOS app for LEGO enthusiasts. There is a button labelled "Redeem reward". The image shows a small LEGO Technic seaplane model, but the description suggests that this is LEGO Art Claude Monet Colouring Sheet (worth 500 LEGO Insiders points)

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 28/02/2026

Special guest appearance from @pluralistic for the #TootWales Tŵt app launch event!

A group of people is standing facing a large screen displaying a video message from noted author Cory Doctorow.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 28/02/2026

Next up @michael is up talking about the launch of the Qlub app and the Tŵt app, and how US tech giants don't share the same community values of the towns and communities we live in. #TootWales

A speaker addresses an audience in a conference room. Two individuals stand facing a large screen displaying the message, "Communities depend on platforms that do not share their values."

A group of people are seated and standing in a modern venue with large screens displaying information about a community app. Attendees appear engaged, with some using their phones, while others listen attentively.

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 28/02/2026

The #TootWales event has all the goodies to help to spread the word!

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Andy Piper @andypiper.org · 28/02/2026

I saw the cover of the current @linuxmagazine “Streaming in the Fediverse”, and I’m a bit disappointed at the actual coverage of #Fediverse music services and the community of musicians - it is primarily a feature on *Navidrome* (which is great, but not […] [Original post on macaw.social]

A magazine cover for "Linux Magazine," Issue 304 from March 2026. The cover features bold text about "Streaming in the Fediverse," emphasizing freedom with Navidrome and Funkwhale. Below, there are headlines for various other articles.”

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