Meta's Twitter competitor, Threads, goes live in just over five minutes! I'm really looking forward to seeing what this brings! Go to threads.net to see it when it goes live!
As a relatively long-term Mac user, and once (from about 2013 to 2021) an Apple Everything supporter, I am now trying to redirect myself the opposite way.
In short, Apple is beginning to suck.
Since replacing my MacBook Pro with a Windows machine I have found it very hard to move entirely from macOS to Windows. Bear in mind, when I first got a Mac back in 2009, I ran Windows on it as I wouldn't say I liked the software but loved the hardware. Fast forward to 2013 and my attitude shifted when I only used Mac OS X and didn't use Windows except for playing the odd game.
In 2022, I began to transition away from Macs, but it's not been easy. macOS is a lovely operating system, nicer than Windows by a country mile. But still, Apple's lack of repairability made my transition away easy, because the environment is more important than a Mac.
Their latest Mac Pro is an absolute disgrace - it's a large machine which hasn't changed in terms of design since Intel, despite the fact it should have. And I say that because the air cooling in the system is much more than necessary. This means that not only has Apple been lazy in terms of design, but it also means that the Mac Studio is actually a better buy for most people. The only difference is those PCI-E slots in the Pro, yet in theory several of those could be integrated using Thunderbolt anyway (though of course, not all).
Whilst I keep saying I'm transitioning from Macs, I still find it hard to not pick up my MacBook or use my Mac Mini so I'll be getting a Studio or Mini as my next Mac in the house (mid-next year though).
ZPE Online is the cloud service for ZPE that runs via my own website. Users rarely have to interact with it from my website and I intend to keep it that way. ZPE Online already allows users to save their code online - one of the most significant breakthroughs with ZPE since its inception. But cloud variables, which will be known as ZPE Online Variables on release, are only a short while away. In fact, they are partially implemented in ZPE as of now.
This is how they work:
- A user creates a variable online (only the original creator can then change the value)
- A user subscribes to the variable by selecting it from online (they are then periodically checked against the online version to check for changes)
- A user then uses the variables, which for quick access, are read from their local machine rather than online. If a user runs a program which contains a reference to an online variable that they do not have, they will be asked if they wish to download the variable.
ZPE will also contain a new security feature which will ensure that the user does not download a variable that could exploit their system. Further to this, cloud variables will only be able to store ZPE primitive types excluding records and objects.
ZPE 1.11.7 also intends to improve the performance of ZPE a bit further as well.
This is all planned for July's release.
After buying my HP EliteBook in December of 2022, I vowed never to buy another desktop computer. Now I can say that this is how I intend to be in the future. My desktop was a large machine, and whilst I loved all the space, the fact I had 10 drive spaces in it and lots of airflow, I don't see any need for any of that any more.
Most of the time my gaming is light enough that my integrated graphics are sufficient for running the games I play, but for those times when I need a better GPU, I've got a nice eGPU.
My next laptop will be the Framework laptop I nearly bought when I bought the EliteBook.
Unfortunately, I've decided against moving to a dedicated server just now.
After a little discussion with the rest of the team at Jambour Digital, we all decided it would be better to postpone the move for another few months.
However, by having a dedicated server setup, I realised how easily I could write a script to set up the new server, so that's exactly what I did. The script automates the whole process, to the point where it loads all of the SQL into the databases, sets up the needed applications and starts HTTPd.
To setup the new VPS, all I needed to do was run the script.
Moving away from the dedicated server is a sad moment for me, as I was so close to getting it perfect, but the fact that the connection is unreliable (due to not being a business broadband connection) I could not continue to use it.
A few months ago I had an idea that would improve start-up times for ZPE severalfold. I tried to implement it once before and it failed, resulting in me reverting back to a backup and leaving it alone for a while. Well, I have at last implemented this feature.
This feature makes the performance of ZPE better, the start-up times lower, the memory footprint lower and the CPU usage lower. Development is a little more complicated due to the use of reflection rather than using the object-based code that was used before but I know what I am doing with this. ZPE now has reached the 50,000 lines of code mark, even after the latest purge I carried out that took out over 20,000 lines of code.
The June release of ZPE will be available at the end of next week, with many minor improvements and additions. Today really does mark a monumental achievement.
Over the last five years of me being a teacher, I have developed quite a few pretty handy tools for teaching. Those tools have for the most part only been used by me.
Some of the tools, such as BalfVote are nearly available to the general public but others remain behind closed doors and only for me to use.
Well, today that is about to change with my plan to amalgamate these tools together. So far my teaching tools are as follows:
- BalfVote
- PlanIt
- Timetabler
- Teacher Organiser report writer
- Course planner generator
My vision is that these five tools merge into one collective group of tools with one central location to use them.
It was one year ago I was offered the amazing job I am in. Tuesday 24th of May 2022 was the day I got the job I always wanted to do!
I've wanted to do this for a long time - a dedicated server!
For the last five years, I've been running Jambour and all hosted websites using a VPS (virtual private server) with Digital Ocean - an absolutely marvellous company. Well, not any more! As of yesterday, most of my websites have been moved to my own dedicated server, sitting there in my office.
There are massive benefits to this.
Firstly, cost. It's actually much cheaper for me to run a dedicated server in my house than to rent a virtual part of a server. Our prices were going up so much that we started off paying £7 a month for our virtual private server in 2018 and by the end of 2022, we were paying over £26.
Second, upgradability is much easier, we can provision a second system quickly which can run an updated operating system and be spinning up in less than a second of downtime.
Thirdly, security. Unlike using Digital Ocean, the only way to connect to the server is from within my house, there is absolutely no other way to do this.
Fourthly, performance is much higher. A dedicated system can have whatever performance you want. We've got a 12-core system as opposed to a 4-virtual core system.
Fifthly, storage space. We have a whopping 256GB and 2TB of additional space available as opposed to 50GB.
Finally, ownership. I now physically own the server and can shut it down or turn it on whenever I need to.
After 15 years of the Core i series Intel finally appears to be changing the branding they use for their products. In a Tweet by @Bernard_P, it was stated that Intel would be making changes to the branding of their CPUs.
Yes, we are making brand changes as we’re at an inflection point in our client roadmap in preparation for the upcoming launch of our #MeteorLake processors. We will provide more details regarding these exciting changes in the coming weeks! #Intel
— Bernard Fernandes (@Bernard_P) May 1, 2023
This will be the first time Intel has done this since the introduction of the Core i series in 2008.
To me, this personally seems like a waste of money and a careless thought towards their clientele. It's a radical move by Intel and it may backfire on them. We'll just have to wait and see.
