Author: Ross Wintle

It pays for itself in a couple of years. Assuming good use in winter. But that's a lot of daily hassle.

Probably not worth it.

But something in me wants to try, even while I wait for plug-in solar!

Aldi are going to sell a 40-watt, 3-USB output portable solar panel next week. My office at the end of my garden is almost south facing and gets so much light.

I wondered what I could power from this, perhaps with some power banks in the loop too?

Is it even with it?

If I get just over 30W from it for 8 hours a day, that's 250 Watt-hours. 1kWh every 3 days. 10kWh/month. I'm on 22.17p/kWh. So I'd save £2/month.

Hmm…

I finally read "The Last Quiet Thing”. It has a lot to say. But I have no idea what to do with it.

https://www.terrygodier.com/the-last-quiet-thing

But I have said some things about software being finished that maybe give some direction – some "what now?" for some people.

https://rosswintle.uk/2025/10/software-can-be-finished/

Today I read about Jetbrains making AI orchestration tooling and then Mozilla are doing the same.

And I read about techniques for getting LLMs to build their own Wiki as a summary of a knowledge base and it makes me say “this is called ‘thinking’, this is what you use your brain for”.

And I hear about models getting stupider and how you can get your LLM to talk like a caveman because it turns out they are really verbose because you pay for output tokens.

And it’s JUST MADNESS!!!

Did someone here make or share a web app that tells you where a given TV show is streaming?

I also think I'm all in on @Vivaldi now. I might need to switch from Zen.

It's taken a while to get it set up how I like it, but it seems way faster than Zen, and I'm so used to working with Chromium's dev tools.

Thanks to @mike for the tips on getting set up.

I know it’s, like, the most trivial thing. But not only am I on team “vertical tabs” but I’m team “right-side tab bar”!

I’ve not seen anyone else do this. But I heard a great argument for right-side nav in a code editor: a left-hand sidebar moves all your code around when you minimise/toggle the sidebar; a right-hand sidebar does not.

I like this. So I applied it to my browser too!

RE: https://fosstodon.org/@topher1kenobe/116387684127680543

This is fun. And we need fun!!!

Devographics are running a "State of AI" survey for programmers/developers.

I fear this will be highly biased towards those who think AI is good. So I’d love for some of my AI-skeptical friends to take it too:

https://survey.devographics.com/survey/state-of-ai/2026

@Zenbuffy Oh hello! I just found you through someone else boosting you. Nice to have you here!!

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@cdnspace/116375064369481098

This person built the best Artemis 2 tracker site. Now he's building something similar for the ISS.

Great work! 👏

This also falls into the category of "Smart, funny people that I'd much rather be watching right now rather than politicans or the news". Sure, it's reaction-video genre which I wouldn't normally go near, but it's a joyful distraction.

Choice quotes from this "vocal analysis" video:

"Sometimes it's about poopy diapers"
"There's a ROOSTER on the CAROUSEL?!"
"I was once a killer chicken attack in a video game with just my voice."

🤣

I've enjoyed occasionally watching the vocal analysis of "The Charismatic Voice” on YouTube since it came up in my feed for K-Pop Demon Hunter's “Golden”.

It's fascinating seeing old 90's rock/indie tunes analysed and paying proper attention to them.

Turns out, the 4 Non-Blondes singer is AMAZING.

Also, I could watch Elizabeth’s (the creator) reaction facial expressions all day – she's hilarious, and she knows it. 🤣

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lzPBr_3zJtw&

Parents of SEN kids: I found a book called “Raising the SEN-betweeners” on Kobo/Bookshop.org/Kindle for 99p and the first chapter alone is worth the price.

Very real stories from the front line of parenting with good humour and tips mixed in.

Product tip: If you’re going to give me a 7-day trial of your app you need customer service to respond to questions within 7 days! 😬

Listening to scientists talking is so much better than listening to politicians. Curious. Excited. Smart. Humble.

I think I’m just going to listen to more scientists.

Sunderfolk – a turn-based RPG game on the Switch but controlled from a mobile app – was on sale, and we bought it to day for the school holidays.

Not sure on the game yet. It's probably good (my kid loves it already). But the experience of using the app as a controller is SO clever and well done.

This is the bit of the internet you want to pay attention to today:

https://iartemis2sa.gov/

Amazing #artemis2 imagery coming back.

Gosh darnit those shops installing cameras to catch shoplifters. They deliberately install them in the shops where the most shoplifting happens too. It’s a disgrace. It’s so unfair. They’re just in it for the money.

(This is actually about speed cameras)