iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 26/08/2026

Oh no - they've cancelled xcancel - clearly no care for free speech :0 I was about to scold a colleague for posting an X link rather than xcancel, and I get:

Screen grab from an cancel URL:
On Monday 24th August at 8PM EST, we received at letter from X Corp. asking to cease and desist the service XCancel.
The service XCancel is stopped until further notice.
We are seeking legal advice and won't share more details for now.
Thank you for the trust you have put in these two years of XCancel.

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 28/02/2026

Did the liquid glass people at Apple take their inspiration from Douglas Adams and the Disaster Area stunt ship? “Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls that are labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let you know you’ve done it.”

Button bar screen shot from my iPad. There are a bunch of buttons on the right hand side, but they're black, on a black background 🤦🏼‍♂️

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 04/02/2026

What fresh hell is this? I'm guessing the GitHub PM for Discussions has a number to make, and the only way to do that is dark patterns 🤦‍♂️ #e14n

GitHub Community Insights is now hidden behind a mandatory setup of discussions.

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 28/11/2025

On the flip side I've also found examples where train tickets can be less than the contactless fare (e.g. evening LBG-CHX with a Railcard). It's a total mess.

Screenshot of National rail app showing that discounted rail ticket is £2.70 versus contactless fare of £3.70 for a journey from London Bridge to Charing Cross

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 25/06/2025

Front row seats with the amazing @mhadaily.bsky.social for Google I/O Connect

Chris and Majid with audience in background

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 18/02/2025

Some of us are old skool enough that we remember the R3000 for being in fancy aspirational workstations that we sometimes got to play with so long as we were really good.

Silicon Graphics Indigo workstations at Jim Austin's 'Computer Sheds' collection.

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 07/02/2025

The mixed grill packs from my local butcher are absolutely ridiculous. There's dinner for two, and a bunch of leftover lunches in the making for £5.21

Mixed grill pack consisting of lamb chop, 2 sausages, thick cut bacon, black pudding slice, steak, pork chop and chicken thigh; weighing in at 1.27kg

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 04/01/2025

Ian Grigg wrote a defining piece on that topic back in 2008 with "The Market for Silver Bullets" iang.org/papers/marke... Though I like to consider a third dimension of what the attackers might know. It's interesting that SBOMs (and SLSA, and OpenSSF scorecards etc.) finally provide some insight

2x2 matrix of buyer/seller information asymmetry

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 01/01/2025

Was it good? Our evening kicked off with some of this, which is the nicest local fizz I've found (so far). It's top of my list for a vineyard visit once that season comes around.

Sparkling wine bottle with label: Beacon Down Blanc De Blancs 2017

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 16/11/2024

When @monkchips.bsky.social says kimchi makes everything better he's 💯 right. But I think I've found a better delivery mechanism.

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 26/10/2024

Trying some zero dosage wine at Rathfinny. I think @monkchips.bsky.social and @monadic.bsky.social would approve.

Rathfinny 2019 zero dosage sparkling wine with manual dosage added to the centre and right hand glasses

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 23/10/2024

Should I be posting #dachshund #pupdate here as well as on Mastodon? hachyderm.io/@cpswan/11335371789465… Which would mean paying for a cross posting app like Croissant (and maybe breaking the original thread).

Miniature Dachshunds Max and Milo on a park bench

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 27/04/2024

Wow, the Ozzie folder is a treasure trove of documentation, some of which portends why 4.0 was a flop. "The solution to these problems will have to wait until the 388 microprocessor is available (that can run 8086 programs while providing protection), and this means a delay of many years."

In summary, the operating system architecture must allow programs to be written so that a single binary copy can run in protected 286 mode on a 286-based machine, and still run on existing 8086 machines, including 8086 machines running earlier versions of MS-DOS. If this cannot be arranged, then the 286 will never happen; 286 chips will be run exclusively in 8086 mode "forever." The solution to these problems will have to wait until the 388 microprocessor is available (that can run 8086 programs while providing protection), and this means a delay of many years.

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Chris Swan @cpswan.net · 03/01/2024

I got a bounce from the email in your skeet :(

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