Finding easy help with Gemini. It could rot my brain, some say.

With Google Gemini showing up in nearly every screen I see, I wonder if there’s a compelling reason to upgrade to €140 monthly Google AI Ultra.

Irish inflation increasing

Like many people in Ireland, we’re being squeezed by costs of energy and fuel. The screenshot of our current electricity burn shows some of that happening. It’s not just increase in our electricity usage, our unit costs are increasing as well.

Memory of burning MC-130 in the desert

Thinking of USAFA friend who survived Iran in 1980.

Researching place for best sleep

I continue searching for a place in the house that provides zero sleep stress and discovered it is in the coldest room of the house.

Props to @garethoconnor and Studio 1 #AuthenticStories

Thanking @garethoconnor @Newschambers@mastodon.ie and the Thursday @virginmedianews crew for offering 14yo newshound son Dylan a behind-the-scenes look at how authentic stories are created.

Visiting the home of authentic stories

Today I took my 14yo newshound son to Studio 1 of Virgin Media where he had ay memorable experience.

Hiring but must play well with bots

I saw this post by Angir Carel and it resonates well. Angie writes: My last human assistant managed my calendar,answered emails, kept the books tidy, and handled light client requests. My next assistant? Will manage and work with my Al agents. I’m designing a role I’ve never seen - part …

Experimenting with TechSmith Fuse from mobiles.

I’ve been using Camtasia for a decade but today is the first day to attempt using TechSmith Fuse to create, upload, and share video content.

New adventure with microblogging

This blog post was generated by otter.ai

Using Claude with Airtable

I’ve used dozens of Bases on Airtable while teaching university students in Ireland. During the past 18 months, my Airtable usage has percolated into discussions with other researchers across Europe. I’m delighted to see how I can cross-check my Airtable through a slash command and …

Using Joe Dale’s Tips for Teachers

I appreciate Joe Dale’s Open Education Resources and his enthusiastic expertise. We use most of these tools when training Transition Year students in Ireland.

Looking at a way to quickly share working notes with collaborators in public.

Collaborating through Artifacts

Looking at a way to quickly share working notes with collaborators in public.

Addicting, brains, and children

I think the user experience that has been refined by aocial media is an on ramp for social disorders. Some courts agree. Trial lawyers are trying to copy the Big Tobacco playbook by arguing that socual media company executives concealed knowledge that their sites are addictive and deleterious to …

One of the best ways to authenticate your presence is by snapping a photo when you enter a geofenced area. I use my phone to do that when connected to Swarm, an app that I use to track my journeys (as seen photo). Today I am in Tipperary Town, watching elderly people use AI just with their phones.

Heathy focus on HRV

I am trying to watch for indicators that could point to a downhill slope with my health. One of the indicators is Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as measured by the medical grade Whoop fitness band that I wear. In the world of wearable tech, a 15% drop below my personal baseline is a significant …

Thanking my personal knowledge assistants

Late in 2025, I evolved from structured Personal Knowledge Management to verbally handling Personal Knowledge Assistants. Claude and Gemini have helped me reach this new height. So today I asked Claude to verify what I know is a monumental evolutionary step for all knowledge workers. Claude thought …

Learning About People and Pages in Books

I can use Ngrams to search the entire Google Books corpus of books captured via Google’s OCR.

Talking to Whoop #fitness

One of the most useful features of apps on phones and programs on laptops is the ability to use on-board microphones to ask qusstions. I have started asking my Whoop fitness app about how to keep me using healthy routines. Today Whoop delivered a playbook for me to use after I complete long duration …

Exploring my first Taschenbegleiter

I am trying to reduce the footprint I use on public transport so I’ve downsized to an iPad Mini with 190 pages in a notebook and a pen. I want to carry all those items in one hand so my attention turned to Roterfaden.de and their Taschenbegleiter.

When I planned wars

When I helped plan wars for the Pentagon, things were a lot different.

Time for a Second Look

Part of my morning routine often involves walking a kilometre regardless of the blowing rain while listening to things like the Connected AI Podcast in my noise-cancelling earbuds. Regular readers will know that I buy The Sunday Business Post mainly because Charlie Taylor edits content I can trust. …

Leaning on Whoop MG

Depending on Whoop to guide me to fitness.

32 Claude Shortcut Prompts

If you’re like me and you use long weekends to improve proficiency with command lines, these 32 Claude shortcuts from Ruben Hassid might interest you.

Planning to train people with Claude Co-work

Along with Larry Maguire, I have developed a series of five AI microlearning chapters that cover most of the functions that people want to use with Claude Co-work. The Claude Co-work training involves working with plugins that are comprehensive “role packages” that bundle together skills, commands, …