iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Every time I arrive at an EU border, I'm reminded how utterly moronic Brexit is and what an absolutely wasteful and destructive idea it was.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I wonder, if Count Binface wins and takes his seat in the Commons, what happens with regards to the dress code that members of the Commons are supposed to adhere to?

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I spent some time today playing around with the new Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) platform which has just been made public alongside the release of Android/AAOS 17. The screenshot is SDV Cuttlefish images I built running the SDV solution. I'm looking forward to working more with this.

A screenshot of Android Cuttlefish running the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) platform. In this example, this includes an instrument cluster as well as the In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) screens.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I gave a brief interview to Mohsen Mirhoseini about LLMs and the future of software development at KotlinConf last week in Munich, which features in his latest video. Check it out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybZG...

youtube.com

Are We the Last Generation of Developers? KotlinConf 2026 Unfiltered AI Survey

YouTube video by Android Developer Tips

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

If the question is "Should I fly to/from Glasgow airport?", the answer is no.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

In appears to me that the Conservatives are engaged in political trolling, whereby they hand over a very shit inheritance to a new government and then they be like "Wow, the country is so broken, isn't it? Who done that?"

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

I've just realised that if Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is charged and it proceeds to court, we'll witness the spectacle of "The Crown vs Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor", which will be prosecuted by a member of the King's Counsel. That has an extra sting to it when the Crown/King is your brother.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

While working on @mybusedinburgh.bsky.social this week I encountered an annoying subtle thing with Gradle. I tried to use convention plugins in the `buildSrc` dir. But I kept getting issues with classes not found. So there was clearly some classpath thing happening.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

I would describe the queue for security at Charleroi airport as currently constipated.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The issues with the Edinburgh bus tracking API over the past few weeks have been a massive pain, but hopefully I can put it behind me now. After a massive effort, I'm glad to get this app update out. Now time for sleep.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Now that 2025 has concluded and I have the full energy stats for my usage, I can give some stats. Firstly my setup; 12x 405W solar panels 9.5kWh GivEnergy battery storage South facing roof - located in Edinburgh, Scotland (Solar and battery installed June 2023) Last year: bsky.app/profile/did:...

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

2025 was a year of great conferences for me: KotlinConf Copenhagen, Droidcon Berlin and Droidcon London. 2026 is shaping up for another great year. I will be debuting at FOSDEM in Brussels this month, and returning to KotlinConf in Munich and Droidcon London. Perhaps others too?

Three lanyards for three conferences I attended in 2025. The conferences were; KotlinConf in Copenhagen, Droidcon Berlin and Droidcon London.

At KotlinConf and Droidcon Berlin I was an attendee only, but at Droidcon London I was a speaker.

The Droidcon lanyards state that I work for Code Chateau Ltd (my own personal consuilting business) and that I am a Senior Android Developer/Engineer.

The KotlinConf lanyard has stickers containing pictures of Ash Davies' cats.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

It's possible to simultaneously hold the following views; - That Maduro is a piece of shit - a terrible person. - The behaviour of the current US administration is utterly contemptible.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

A short thread explaining the issues with My Bus Edinburgh and bus tracking in general over the past few weeks.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

My Droidcon London 2025 talk, "Dual booting for testing and curiosity with Dynamic System Updates", is now available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_o1... So happy to see my first ever conference talk now online :)

youtube.com

Dual booting for testing and curiosity - Niall Scott | droidcon London 2025

YouTube video by droidcon & fluttercon

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Reposted by Niall Scott

My Bus Edinburgh @mybusedinburgh.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

It took far longer than I hoped, but this morning Google finally approved the update to My Bus Edinburgh which fixes the issue loading bus times. This is now starting to roll out to users. If you don't immediately see the update, please check the Play Store throughout the day.

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Reposted by Niall Scott

My Bus Edinburgh @mybusedinburgh.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

A change was made to Bus Tracker without my prior knowledge which means bus times are not currently working. Fortunately the fix is simple and I am currently publishing a new app update this morning to fix it. I will update here when the update is out.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Thanks to everyone who came along to my Droidcon London talk. Now it's over, I can relax for the rest of the conference. Here's a link to the slides: docs.google.com/presentation...

Me, Niall Scott, standing in-front of my speaker card for the talk "Dual booting for testing and curiosity with Dynamic System Updates" at Droidcon London 2025.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

On my way to London to attend Droidcon this week. Looking forward to meeting with my fellow Android developers and friends.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

The biggest threat to the way of life of those who spout "go back to your own country" is that enough people actually do. However, the bigots are usually too stupid to realise this. Study after study shows that on the whole, migrants contribute way more than they take. Show them respect.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

A brand new update for My Bus Edinburgh is rolling out. It's been over 2 years since the last update, so this was long overdue. This is the first release with some features written in Compose. This project started in 2009 while I was at uni, and it's still rolling along. 25.5k active installs!

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

I just want to say, I'm using Gradle Managed Devices to run instrumentation tests across groups of virtual devices and it's amazing. Prior to a release, I'm getting very valuable feedback that the tests do indeed pass across many versions of Android.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Only 2 weeks to go until @droidcon.bsky.social London! I will be presenting the 20 minute lightening session "Dual booting for testing and curiosity with Dynamic System Updates" on the Dalvik Domain stage at 15:30 on October 30th (1st day).

A speaker card for Niall Scott's talk "Dual booting for testing and curiosity with Dynamic System Updates" at Droidcon London 2025. Niall is a contractor senior Android engineer. This is an intermediate level talk.

Droidcon London takes place between October 30th and 31st 2025.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

People go on about how long it takes to get through passport control in the EU for British citizens post-Brexit. But somehow it takes even longer to get back into the UK at Edinburgh Airport as a British citizen.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

I remember when prices for food and drink in airports were merely ridiculous. Now they're kick-you-in-the-balls insulting.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Next week I will be in Berlin for Droidcon. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to meeting up with my fellow Android developers. This time around, I am particularly interested in automotive and Android Open Source (AOSP) development. So if these things interest you too - let's chat at the conference

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

I don't think I'll ever tire of that little flutter of excitement when I perform an AOSP firmware build and then watch it booting on a device. On which note, if you want to play around with AOSP, get a VIM3 board. It's an accessible entry in to playing around with AOSP on a device.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

I'll be speaking at Droidcon London this year: "Dual booting for testing and curiosity with Dynamic System Updates" This will be my first conference talk. As such, I'm easing myself in by doing a lightening session. I'm both looking forward to it and very nervous.

A screenshot showing that my session "Dual booting for testing and curiosity with Dynamic System Updates" has been accepted at Droidcon London 2025.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Software engineers: when you're trying to find a solution to a problem you don't understand, it's tempting to put in the quick fix from SO or elsewhere, to make the problem go away. It's always worth digging down further to *understand* the problem, so you're aware of the consequences of your fix.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Once the free-speech lobby learn of this, they will be up in arms!* *They won't, because they're inconsistent with their arguments, and Trump is their man. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Trump administration orders US embassies to stop student visa interviews

Directive could severely delay visa processing and hurt universities that rely on foreign students for revenue

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

At the weekend I was in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It was a far more pleasant place to wander than most cities. The cycling infrastructure, meaning less cars, means the background noise is quieter. And the greenery of trees and plants on residential streets dampens the worst of the hard landscaping.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I dislike the dark practice by subscription services, particularly those which renew annually, of not notifying you a few days before the renewal before they help themselves to your bank account. It's a deliberate attempt to keep up retention.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

At some point, British society is going to need to have a conversation about why the Reform party keeps attracting people with spicy, unsavoury views on a whole range of topics. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Reform UK: Stephen Hartley suspended after pro-Jimmy Savile tweets

Stephen Hartley was announced as a Reform UK candidate in the Banbury Hardwick ward, but has since been suspended.

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Reposted by Niall Scott

Chris Simmonds @csimmonds.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 07/03/2025

We have two excellent talks lined up for you at the March AOSP and AAOS Meetup 1. Using Vendor APEX in AOSP, from Renjith Rajagopal 2. What to expect in Android 16, from @MishaalRahman Links: full details of the meetup at www.meetup.com/the-aosp-and-aaos-me… Information about the […]

fosstodon.org

Original post on fosstodon.org

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

It's insane that this is even being said, but here goes... If the US wanted Russia to prevail in Ukraine, what would they be doing differently from now? (Answer: almost nothing)

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

If the EU really wanted to send strong signals about what its priorities are, now would be a good time to kick out Hungary and admit Ukraine as a full member. However, unfortunately, the pragmatic position is to keep Hungary in the tent to use whatever remaining leverage it has over them.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

The new US administration is shameful in the extreme. Glory to Ukraine.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

On a reboot after a Windows Update where it wants to take you through the first-time setup yet again to get you to sign up for Office365, set Edge as your default browser etc - this process is a dark-pattern minefield. Shitty behaviour from Microsoft.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

I don't think Meta's existing content moderation system was particularly effective, but some of the quotes in this article point towards a very worrying trend in letting vile content go unchecked: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

Meta to get rid of factcheckers and recommend more political content

Mark Zuckerberg says company will ‘dramatically reduce censorship’ across Facebook, Instagram and Threads

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Car insurance companies: your details must be up to date for your policy to remain legal and valid. Also car insurance companies: that will be a £13 administration charge (plus the policy cost difference) for us to update your details, thanks.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

2024 was the first full calendar year that I've had solar panels with battery storage installed on my house (installed June 2023). So, some stats. Firstly my setup; 12x 405W solar panels 9.5kWh GivEnergy battery storage South facing roof - located in Edinburgh, Scotland (Continued...)

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

Fundraising for charities can be difficult. And I want to give to charities working on important causes. But I sure don't appreciate the dark-patterns to dupe donors in to signing up for promotional communications. And then when they want to opt-out, making it more cumbersome than it needs to be.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

My penultimate #AndroidDev tip of the year. Set up Gradle-managed virtual devices in your Gradle build files to run instrumentation tests more consistently and reliably, particularly on your build server. See developer.android.com/studio/test/... for more details.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Wednesday's #AndroidDev tip. `android:sharedUserId` in AndroidManfest.xml has been deprecated since API level 29. If your app is still using this property, then you should seek to migrate this. See developer.android.com/guide/topics... for more details.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Tuesday's #AndroidDev tip. Do you work with Kotlin's Coroutine Flow API? If so, the Flow Marbles website is a handy resource to explain a number of the default Flow operators with helpful marble diagrams: flowmarbles.com

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Monday's #AndroidDev tip. Earlier this year, ViewModel was updated to add a new constructor which allows you to set your own CoroutineScope, which overrides the ViewModel-provided CoroutineScope: developer.android.com/reference/ko...

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

And the last #AndroidDev tip for this week. Do not use the pre-defined Kotlin CoroutineDispatchers directly in your implementation. This will make your code hard or impossible to test. Instead, dependency inject the correct CoroutineDispatcher, and this can be swapped at testing time.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Thursday's #AndroidDev tip. Get the ADB Idea plugin for Android Studio to easily perform some common ADB tasks, right from inside Android Studio: plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7380-...

A screenshot showing the ADB Idea menu within Android Studio, with some example actions such as;

Revoke Permissions
Revoke Permissions and Restart
Grant Permissions
Uninstall App
Kill App
Start App
Restart App
Clear App Data
Clear App Data and Restart
Start App With Debugger
Restart App With Debugger
Clear App Data and Restart App With Debugger
Enable Wi-Fi
Disable Wi-Fi
Enable Mobile Data
Disable Mobile Data

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Wednesday's #AndroidDev tip. Do you have a Java-only library/module and you want to supply Proguard/R8 rules which are applied downstream? Place the consumer rules in `<module-path>/src/main/resources/META-INF/com.android.tools/r8/` and it will be picked up automatically by Android modules.

This image shows a consumer proguard-rules.pro file located at the path `src/main/resources/META-INF/com.android.tools/r8/` relative to the module's root path.

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Niall Scott @niallscott.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Tuesday's #AndroidDev tip. In a small number of use-cases, you may want to run your app before the user has unlocked their device after a reboot. E.g. to re-schedule a user-set alarm. To do this, you need to support Direct Boot mode: developer.android.com/privacy-and-...

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