A Year in Technology
Looking back at my various posts regarding “technology” this year, a recurring theme has been my ongoing attempts to replace certain mainstream products with alternatives that do the job in-hand better, don’t require constant updates, aren’t bloated by superfluous functionality and are more cost effective or even ethical. Needless to say, this has proven quite hard. Hence I was unable to find a suitable replacement email client for Microsoft Outlook and end my subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal. The main problem is that most alternative software won’t support my email archive due to differences in the mailbox format. One possible work around is to install an older and therefore, non-subscription version of Outlook but this raises support and compatibility issues. It would be a lot easier to divest myself of a lot of mainstream software if I was starting from scratch.
Looking back at my various posts regarding “technology” this year, a recurring theme has been my ongoing attempts to replace certain mainstream products with alternatives that do the job in-hand better, don’t require constant updates, aren’t bloated by superfluous functionality and are more cost effective or even ethical. Needless to say, this has proven quite hard. Hence I was unable to find a suitable replacement email client for Microsoft Outlook and end my subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal. The main problem is that most alternative software won’t support my email archive due to differences in the mailbox format. One possible work around is to install an older and therefore, non-subscription version of Outlook but this raises support and compatibility issues. It would be a lot easier to divest myself of a lot of mainstream software if I was starting from scratch.
AI is currently everywhere and seems to be the biggest talking point of the year. I have mixed feelings on the subject as I feel that it can be a useful tool in some specific circumstances. I like AI tools that can be used to fix photos, as I am currently cataloguing my parents’ prodigious collection. Some of the pictures are from the start of the last century and have a lot of damage. I occasionally use AI for collating basic data. The sort of information that is not disputed or subject to political misrepresentation. However, I don’t agree with AI being used to bypass paid creativity and sadly that appears to be at the vanguard of its use. I’m sure Disney’s $1 Billion investment in OpenAI will end with negative consequences for the existing animators, voice artists and other creative employees. I look forward to an EU law that mandates that the use of AI has to be declared when buying a product or service.
Another notable aspect of 2025 has been the ongoing war between ad blockers and their respective corporate opponents. YouTube has pushed back hard against such apps and browser extensions. Although advertisements can still be blocked, there are notable delays, sometimes commensurate with the blocked adverts running time, before the desired video will actually play. Advertising has become more pervasive and invasive, even finding a foothold on my Windows 11 lockscreen and desktop. Fortunately such features can be removed. Advertising on social media also became problematic and is harder to remove or bypass. All of which indicates an advertising market that is declining, or at least fragmented, hence corporations are pursuing “their piece of the cake” more aggressively. Again, shareware, freeware and companies offering a one time payment, rather than a subscription become more appealing.
A short break at the end of October served as a timely reminder of the ubiquitous nature of the internet in our life and our reliance upon it for both work and leisure alike. I found myself in an environment (a static caravan) that did not have internet access by default and I briefly lost connectivity. It certainly gave me pause for thought about how I live my life. In the meantime while grappling with this philosophical crisis, I resolved the immediate problem by internet tethering to my phone. Another recent change is how I fill “dead time”. Over this year I have pivoted from reading while waiting for a bus, train or travelling, to relying on my phone to entertain me. This is mainly via the internet, with games such as Roblox. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of and I shall try and address this in the New Year. Using the internet for leisure is fun but everything in moderation.
I bought a little new technology this year, mainly out of necessity. My phone needed replacing due to battery bulge and my ageing monitors were becoming difficult for me to see clearly. So I bought a new handset and a pair of 2K monitors. I hope that I can future proof my current desktop PC for another 24 months. Looking forward to 2026, my next technology based endeavour is to see if I can ditch Windows as an operating system for everyday use. Perhaps set up a dual boot PC with a bare bones install of Windows for running games and some variation of Linux, such as Zorin OS, for everything else. I also need to continue with locking down my phone and making web browsing via that device as good an experience as using my PC. Overall technology is losing its appeal. Too often causes just as many problems as it solves. It also tends to serve the manufacturers needs more than the customers.
Thinking Out Loud
Simply put, I got fed up with my ongoing diet last week, so I came off the wagon. There were a few glasses of wine too many and a couple of meals that were larger than the new prescribed portion size. As a result, my weight has remained the same as last week’s. On mature reflection, I am glad it didn’t gain weight as that would be very counterproductive. Weight loss and trying to change your diet are difficult tasks and somewhat joyless. Mainly because you are denying yourself pleasure. However, I don’t like what I see when I look in the mirror, so if I wish to regain my former status as a minor deity and sexual Tyrannosaurus (in my mind), then I need to get back on track.
This is yet another post where I write a series of random thoughts, gathered under the title “Thinking Out Loud”. The fourth, if we’re counting, which we’re not. I tend to do this on Mondays but that’s not legally binding.
The Diet (Again)
Simply put, I got fed up with my ongoing diet last week, so I came off the wagon. There were a few glasses of wine too many and a couple of meals that were larger than the new prescribed portion size. As a result, my weight has remained the same as last week’s. On mature reflection, I am glad it didn’t gain weight as that would be very counterproductive. Weight loss and trying to change your diet are difficult tasks and somewhat joyless. Mainly because you are denying yourself pleasure. However, I don’t like what I see when I look in the mirror, so if I wish to regain my former status as a minor deity and sexual Tyrannosaurus (in my mind), then I need to get back on track.
Digital Terrestrial Television
I seldom watch live television these days, although it is something I did all the time as a child. However, there was no other option at the time until the advent of the VCR. Nowadays I use on demand, streaming services most of the time. Especially those paid services without any advertising and on screen graphics. However, because I am a “belt and braces” sort of person, I recently bought a USB digital terrestrial TV tuner for my PC, in case the internet ever goes down. We still have a roof antenna (although it is in the loft) and there’s an outlet in the spare room that I use as an office. Hence, it was no effort to run a cable from the socket, to the USB device and then to my PC.
I don’t know how bad digital terrestrial TV is in your country but it is pretty poor here in the UK. I’m not talking about the prestige channels such as BBC or Channel 4. I mean the cheap, filler stations that fill the extremities of the TV guide. Most of these channels are in standard definition, with poor digital compression and colour grading. There are far too many adverts, so you sometimes only get 9 minutes of actual content before the next commercial break. As for the actual programs, they tend to be low grade reality shows such as “cooking with ghosts”, or cheap cosy crime dramas about a barista who solves murders by night. If these channels broadcast old classic shows, they’re often edited for content so they can be shown at any time of day. Such is the reality of so-called “free” content. If you’re not paying, this is what you get.
Cleaning the Wheelie Bins
Upon adulthood, regardless of whether you cohabitate or live alone, you quickly discover that there are chores that need to be done. Clothes don’t miraculously wash themselves. You have to go grocery shopping to some degree. If you don’t clean your home, it will become verminous. Hence, we usually get into a routine of dealing with these tasks. How effective this is comes down to you as a person. However, not all chores are immediately apparent or even expected. We have 4 wheelie bins provided by the local council, to handle our rubbish and recycling requirements. Due to the hot weather we’ve had of late, these have all needed cleaning because they contained more maggots than a Lucio Fulci movie. Needless to say this chore fell to me.
Armed with a garden hose, an old mop and a couple litres of disinfectant, I set about keeping this sinister plague at bay. It certainly wasn’t a glamorous job. Nor was it something I ever envisaged doing when younger. Along with unblocking toilets, cleaning up fox shit, removing all spiders from the house, clearing leaves from the guttering and expressing the cat’s anal glands when they’re blocked. No wonder kids don’t want to grow up these days. Due to the internet, they know that adulthood isn’t half as good as it’s cracked up to be.
The Ubiquity of AI
I built a new PC in January which meant a fresh install of Windows 10. My policy regarding this operating system is comparable to one I have regarding my own body. Namely, I don’t install anything that isn’t necessary (I’m not sure if that analogy quite works). Hence I tend to check the various updates that Microsoft regularly shunts out, to ensure that I’m only installing essential patches, rather than superfluous new features. Sadly, this is not a process you can 100% control. Which explains how I found Microsoft Copilot installed on my PC, after an alleged minor update,
Now I am not at present pathologically against AI. Artificial intelligence is a tool and like any tool, it is the manner in which it is used which foremost dictates how it is perceived. Currently, AI seems to be running rampant like a schoolyard craze among kids. The world and his wife is trying to crowbar such services into their business model. All too often the results are not good and are subsequently withdrawn. Take courier company DPD for example and its customer service chatbot. AI is also saturating other markets. Take the freelance marketplace Fiverr. A lot of the design work on offer is now AI generated and frankly shit. YouTube is awash with AI generated content which is generic, simplistic and utterly bland. As for AI voiceovers, they are excruciatingly stilted.
I make it my business now to opt out of any potential AI scraping of material that I produce. Today, I went into my Twitter/X settings to ensure that the Grok AI couldn’t parse my tweets for training purposes. I have done the same with my Squarespace website. Again, I want to keep a level head about AI but suspect that senior management in a lot of major businesses see it as a means of bypassing services that previously they’d have to pay for. It’s not so much AI per se that’s the problem but AI in the hands of unreconstructed capitalism.
The Importance of Bots
The inclusion of AI bots in any multiplayer game is always an added bonus. Playing against bots is a great way of learning the basics of a game and practising your strategy. It also provides a welcome break from the human element of any game, which can become wearisome at times. It’s also a good insurance policy for the future, when a games popularity may have waned and finding an online game may prove difficult. Therefore, I am pleased to see this facility present in titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise, Overwatch, For Honor, and Friday the 13th: The Game. Bots are also present within the MMO genre. For example, these include your skirmish soldier in LOTRO or your away team in STO. When I played SWTOR I found that some companions were invaluable due to their role as a healer. And let us not forget combat pets. They may well be fluffy and cute or have large pointy teeth, but they’re bots no less.
The inclusion of AI bots in any multiplayer game is always an added bonus. Playing against bots is a great way of learning the basics of a game and practising your strategy. It also provides a welcome break from the human element of any game, which can become wearisome at times. It’s also a good insurance policy for the future, when a games popularity may have waned and finding an online game may prove difficult. Therefore, I am pleased to see this facility present in titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise, Overwatch, For Honor, and Friday the 13th: The Game. Bots are also present within the MMO genre. For example, these include your skirmish soldier in LOTRO or your away team in STO. When I played SWTOR I found that some companions were invaluable due to their role as a healer. And let us not forget combat pets. They may well be fluffy and cute or have large pointy teeth, but they’re bots no less.
As an advocate of bots, I would like to see them present in a lot more games. One of the main reasons for this, is that I see them as a solution to player toxicity. At least half of all the games I experience in Friday the 13th: The Game are unsatisfactory due to my fellow players fooling around, trolling or simply trying to pursue their own agenda. I stopped playing Overwatch because too many players have become self-appointed arbiters of how to do things “correctly”. And I ceased playing For Honor online due to the proliferation of “lag switch” cheating. Bots resolve all these issues and conspicuously lack a propensity for continuous garrulous inanities. Obviously, if you are a top tier player you may find bots an unsatisfactory opponent. Plus, there’s little fun to be had crowing or taunting a defeated AI opponent. But for the average player, bots can offer an entertaining and enjoyable experience free from stupidity and annoyance.
I would also like to see a greater presence of bots in the MMO genre. Often due to the culture of racing to level cap, if you’re absent from a game for a while, you’ll find yourself in a level appropriate region devoid of other players. If you’re part of a big enough and helpful guild, you’ll may find others to help you through instances and dungeons. But that isn’t always the case and personally, I don’t want to have to be dependent on the good will of other players. I would like to have access to multiple AI companions from different classes that would allow me to tackle what is usually group content. Now some players would consider this an anathema, stating that it mitigates the point of an MMO. However, the Achilles Heel of the genre is the very inter-dependency upon other players. Irrespective of ideological arguments, from a business perspective it is not wise to inconvenience your player base. If I cannot progress, then I will go find something else to do.
I believe that bots may well become more common place in gaming because they ultimately fit into the “live services” mindset that is currently on the rise within the industry. Bots offer convenience and convenience is a marketable commodity. Unlocking a bot healer, DPS class or tank that would allow me to clear content in MMOs that I currently cannot currently do or more to the point, clear more quickly, is something I would pay for. AI technology is also something that is constantly improving, so may be existing prejudice against it will diminish over time. Certainly, the inclusion of AI bots in a game increases its longevity and that therefore impacts positively upon its financial lifecycle. And if we’ve learned anything from the games industry in recent years is that fiscal imperatives drive the market. So, don’t be surprised if the next big thing is the proliferation of bots. I for one will welcome it.
