Surveillance Donkey Style

Hi <<Name>>

I've been a bit quiet these past two weeks, but rest assured I'm working on some good stuff. I've finally finished my logo experiment for Dobit and I've got some tutorials and tools to release for anyone that wants to try something similar. Click and drag on the logo a bit. It's supposed to be like a digital Newton's cradle.

There's a bit of a dystopian future feel to this newsletter, so apologies if that creates the wrong vibe for a Friday afternoon. I promise to lighten the mood next time.

Both Buzzsumo and Clearleft have recently published posts on growing their businesses slowly rather than chasing after millions in funding. I think they make interesting reading and encourage a more sustainable tech economy. So, if you're working on a side project this weekend be encouraged that there are many very successful businesses out there that don't have billions of users and dollars of VC investment. In fact micro-saas businesses must make up a proportion of the 600,000 businesses incorporated each year, right?

In a life imitating Robocop type move, Taser are going to start using police body camera footage to anticipate criminal activity. That'll help them persecute people who have made a mistake in their lives just a little bit more. Good idea Taser!

Taser was built on some science fiction ideas of producing a Buck Rogers/Star Trek style ray gun. I highly recommend listening to this episode of 99% Invisible about Jack Cover who invented it and founded the company.

Now I've made you all paranoid about your privacy and some of you are reading this as you've entered competitions to win the gadgets I back on Kickstarter - how about replacing that bit of unsightly tape over your webcam with this thin little sliding cover? It's a great idea that Apple and other manufacturers should build in to the hardware. Hopefully the NSA can't force them to put a hole in it!

To finish the dystopian theme, and in case you're the only one who hasn't seen it yet. How about watching the official Blade Runner 2049 trailer? This article has a bit more analysis of it. This is bigger than Star Wars for me, and I hope it doesn't disappoint.

I know I normally share a web game to while away the afternoon with, so apologies to anyone that hasn't got an iOS device to play this on. You might be thankful of that though as this is ridiculously addictive. A puzzle game with an origami aesthetic, Kami 2 has you attempt to convert patterns of triangles to a single colour. You'll pick it up quickly and struggle to put it down.

Feel free to send this newsletter to anyone you think will enjoy it. You can them know where to sign up too, or if they're quick they can enter the latest giveaway.

I'm off to see Leftfield next Friday so I hope I will have recovered in two weeks time. Email me, or take to twitter with your warnings about raving after 40, and I'll see you next time.

Cheers,

Paul. (Bunkers)