Unveiling the layers in the Covid-19 inquiry
In the wake of the Covid-19 global health crisis in 2020-22 that reshaped our world, the United Kingdom has embarked on an ambitious and crucial endeavour: the Covid-19 public inquiry. Announced in May 2021 by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this independent public inquiry delves into the UK government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to unearth lessons for the future. Led by Heather Hallett, a retired judge at the Court of Appeal, the inquiry scrutinises various aspects including the……
The OpenAI upheaval: decoding the Sam Altman episode
Last Friday 17 November marked a pivotal moment in the AI industry, with the unexpected announcement by OpenAI that its CEO, Sam Altman, had been fired by the company’s board of directors. The surprise event has since spiralled into a media maelstrom. Over the weekend, rumours and speculation flooded both social and mainstream media, with reports and opinions about negotiations for Altman’s potential return to the helm. According to some reports, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, is mediating negotiations over the……
A wizard setup for a WordPress block theme
Since I first got to know WordPress with version 1.2 back in 2004, I must have installed, set up and used well over 30 themes in my quest for the subjective “great look and feel” for my websites. At least ten were themes I paid money for. I’m not a WordPress developer, simply a keen and enthusiastic user who is always willing to try out new experiences with WordPress, diving into PHP and CSS on a relatively simple level (CSS……
Customizing social media icons display with ChatGPT
For some time, I’ve wanted to update the social network icons on my primary blog to use icons that accurately represent the social networks concerned. There have been many changes this year – not the least being Twitter’s change to X – plus the emergence of new social networks like Pebble, Bluesky, and Threads. As my sites all run on WordPress, I use some pretty good free plugins for features such as linking to social networks, and sharing content with……
The sound of silence
As a podcaster, I’m conscious of the need for ambient quiet in the room where I record audio and video. That’s my home office. It’s not a formal recording studio with sound-absorbing panels, etc, just a room with a view, desks, a picture or two, a bookcase, some knick-knacks, and three computers with monitors. A few weeks ago, I bought a new microphone, a Rode PodMic USB that also has XLR connectors for using it with a mixer such as……
Claude Pro: First impressions of Anthropic’s paid AI chatbot
Artificial intelligence is all over the news right now with information, narratives and opinions plentiful if not bountiful on the pros and cons of AI. The hottest topic is generative AI, the subset of AI that, broadly speaking, is a form of machine learning that’s able to produce text, video, images, and other types of content based on user-given text prompts or dialogue. Essentially, you chat with a bot. ChatGPT and DALL-E are examples of generative AI applications that produce……
ChatGPT, Claude, Bing, or Bard?
How do four of the most prominent AI chatbots compare? That question was put to me recently by a friend who has a fair amount of scepticism about AI chatbots and was keen to know which one is best. Inevitably, a question like that will get an “It depends…” answer. I’ve been using four chatbots for quite some time, each one depending on the type of information I’m seeking. I find each of them invaluable research assistants who are significant……
Tony Blair’s Vision for Election Success
I first voted for Labour in 1997 when Tony Blair stood as the leader of New Labour, the moniker of a rebranded Labour Party that stormed the general election that year to win the biggest majority in the House of Commons (179) in the Party’s history. It was far from a perfect project, but New Labour lasted until 2010 when the Conservatives under David Cameron won the general election that year. This paved the way for the Conservative Party’s 13-year……
A Word About Themes
In the world of digital content creation, WordPress stands as a beacon of versatility and user-friendliness. One of the platform’s most compelling features is its vast array of themes, each offering a unique aesthetic and functional twist to your website or blog. Look-and-feel is the first thing visitors notice when they land on your blog. This is the first touchpoint of a visit: the theme sets the tone, creates an atmosphere, and can significantly influence a visitor’s first impression. A……