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57 episodes with tom read
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3 episodes with tom read
2 episodes with tom read
2 episodes with tom read
The two former RGP officers involved in the Collision at Sea incident in March 2020 in which two Spanish Nationals died, have had the verdict quashed on Appeal. The Judgement, handed down today, successfully overturned the 2021 Coroner's finding of "Unlawful Killing" which had been upheld in judicial review last year. The Appeal Court ruled that the Coroner's directions to the jury were "deeply flawed" and said a fresh Inquest should consider the evidence. Our reporter Ian Triay Clarence told us more. It's Earth Day, and the theme this year is 'Planet vs. Plastics'. The day serves as a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability. It encourages us to come together and take action for a healthier planet and brighter future. One charity in Gibraltar which strives to do just that is the Nautilus Project, with a focus on marine conservation. We spoke to two of the charity's Youth Monitors, Erin Villa-Quick and Mikey Rugeroni.And, we spoke at length about all things sports! Robin Sheppard-Capurro brought us the latest in local sports, and we also checked in with Jamie Pratts who took on the London Marathon over the weekend. The Gibraltar Rugby Football Union is on the lookout for volunteers to help out with a massive tournament coming to the Rock this summer; 'Gibraltar 7s' will see 50+ teams compete with over 850 participants. We spoke to Rugby Development Officer, Tom Read, in the studio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Join us today with Tom Read, CEO of the UK Government Digital Service, and Audrey Tang, Taiwan's Digital Minister, as we delve into diversity, accessibility, and post-pandemic inclusivity in digital services. With a remarkable background in tech and public service, these two experts bring extensive expertise to the table. During this episode, Tom and Audrey emphasize the significance of digital accessibility in community centers, including rural areas and prisons. They also explore inclusive website design principles for users of all backgrounds, including non-tech-savvy individuals. Host ⎸ Sam Robbins (TaiwanPlus) Guests ⎸ Tom Read and Audrey Tang Season 2 of Innovative Minds deep-dives into artificial intelligence, digital democracy, and freedom of expression with leading tech figures. This podcast is released under a CC BY 4.0. Creative Commons licence.
In this week's Sports Loft Podcast, we explore the broadcast and sponsorship landscape surrounding the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, NWSL and Super League. To unpick it all, we've called upon Jenny Mitton, director and women's sport lead at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, who's worked on some of the biggest sports sponsorships of recent times. Joining Jenny and host Yanni Andreopoulos are returning guests Tom Read, chief commercial officer of Spalk, and FEVO's chief revenue officer, Josh Rose. Our panel assesses the state of play when it comes to broadcast infrastructure, sponsorship activations, commercial opportunities and more. And in the second part, we switch gears to explore the fascinating landscape of sports content streaming. As Netflix hints at venturing into live sports, potentially launching a new golf competition, we ponder its implications for the industry and ask whether some sports need Netflix more than Netflix needs sport. Answers on a postcard please. Timestamps 02:00 – Favourite sporting moments of the week 06:30 – The viral Orange Women's World Cup ad 12:30 – Investment in broadcast production around the women's game 17:15 – The opportunities around women's football and other sports 25:20 – Does sport need Netflix more than Netflix needs sport? 27:50 – The changing landscape of sports distribution 30:30 – Which stories should Netflix and others focus on? This episode references: The Drum – The Orange Women's World Cup ad is dividing the internet
Gibraltar's flights on Tuesday operated to schedule after a long weekend of chaos, as our duty editor Jonathan Sacramento explained.An independent climate change committee – led by Angelique Linares – believes Gibraltar could be re-positioned as a green economy, but they say better data is needed to monitor progress.Disability equipment at Camp Bay has been a talking point. Zeiviak Bear told us an outing to the beach on Saturday had to be cut short as his son, who has special needs, was unable to use the water wheelchair. An Anthology Of Gibraltarian Writing has been released by 'Patuka Press'. We heard from one of the contributors Gabriel Moreno. And, Tom Read told us about the Gibraltar 7s Rugby tournament's return to the Europa Sports Park. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Join BTK's Dr. Scott Steele for a discussion with Dr. Tom Read on leadership opportunities outside of clinical medicine. They discuss Dr. Tom Read's role as the executive chairman for the American Board of Colorectal Surgery. Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more. If you liked this episode, check out our other recent episode here: https://behindtheknife.org/listen/
Interview by Erin EddyIf ever there was a time to be in Queensland, it's right now. In parts of the country where theweather has taken a chilly turn, the Sunshine Coast is a welcome reprieve. But the favourableweather isn't the only drawcard this week.On Saturday June 3, the Sandstone Point Hotel is hosting Spring Loaded Festival.A delicious throw back for those of us who were big into the Triple J scene of the late 90's and early 2000's, Spring Loaded is serving up one mighty cocktail of Aussie music.HEAVY spoke with Tom Read of Bodyjar, one sliver of the Spring Loaded pie. He expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming event proclaiming, “Get me up to Queensland fast!”The festival line up is exciting for the Bodyjar congregation due to being among so many friends. A sentiment that is likely shared across all the bands attending, which is only going to make for huge vibes on the day.“I have no excuse but to go hard,” said Tom, who will be taking the opportunity to stick around in Queensland for a holiday with his family after the festival, “I can't not get in the pit for Shihad.”Bodyjar and Shihad are joined by Magic Dirt, Spiderbait, Frenzal Rhomb, Eskimo Joe, Ratcat and Screamfeeder. An epic assemblage of bands, right?Tickets are still available and can be purchased via Ticketmaster.Tune in to the really fun chat we had with Tom, talking about Spring Loaded, nostalgia, what Bodyjar are up to next and Tom's date with hypothermia post-interview!
In this episode, we take a look back at the recently concluded Cheltenham Festival, one of the biggest fixtures on the UK sports calendar. Our guests are Olaf Gueldner, chief marketing officer at The Jockey Club, Nick Goggans, CEO and founder of PumpJack Dataworks, and Tom Read, chief commercial officer at Spalk. Host Yanni kicks things off this week by asking Olaf about the success of Cheltenham this year and how his team approach marketing a sporting event with deep historic roots. The panel then dives into the challenges faced by organisers of such events, why knowing your audience can help to improve the fan experience, and how data is crucial for developing successful marketing strategies. Our guests also talk about the importance of broadcast and streaming for growing the sport and finding new fans, as well as the potential of audio and commentary in building relationships with fans and racegoers. Finally, as ever, we ask our guests to share their favourite recent sporting moment. 3baa75c089bcedf8a675e5d070333d2db07288b2
Police Commissioner Ian Mcgrail finds it "incomprehensible" that he should have been the subject of a "dawn raid" by police on Thursday. Reading a statement on his behalf, lawyer Charles Gomez said Mr McGrail had himself reported the data breach in the inquiry into his early retirement, and had made himself available throughout, to assist the investigation. Mr McGrail is "confident" he'll be found not to have committed the alleged offences. Jonathan Scott also spoke to the adjudicator of the Drama Festival - a bubbly Bev Jenkins - ahead of the Gala Night. And, on Saturday Gibraltar's rugby national team take on Jamaica on home soil - the first fixture back at Europa for our national team since 2019. And there are veterans and women's fixtures too. We were joined by Tom Read, Nick Ramagge and Fof Lombard.Gibraltar Today is live Monday to Friday 1-2pm on Radio Gibraltar and GBC Television. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For the second year running, this year's Super Bowl was streamed in Japanese via NFL Game Pass – the league's direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform. The goal? To bring new fans to the sport and serve existing fans better. It worked, with viewership increasing year-on-year by triple-figure percentages. Japan isn't the only country on the radar of Samson Mayall, the NFL's senior manager of direct-to-consumer. Game Pass delivers year-round NFL content to fans across Latin America in a range of local languages. Germany, a hotbed of American football fandom, has also been trialled. In total, fans can access NFL content in 200 countries around the world. Behind each of the local language streams is Spalk – the remote commentary platform that makes broadcasting multi-language sportscasts simple. In this episode, Yanni is joined by Samson and Tom Read, chief commercial officer at Spalk, to discuss the partnership, the NFL's approach to developing global fandom and how direct-to-consumer plays a pivotal role in the league's goal of taking football to the world.
Another week passes so Mark, Alan, Steve, and Karl return to share their thoughts and opinions on the last week's tech-related news. Elon Musk officially owns Twitter and he starts clearing house and announces a few changes. The EU wants Google and Apple to open up their walled gardens. The new iPad's USB-C port is not everything it appears to be and apparently no more new Macs this year. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
After a week full of updates, Mark returns to join Alan, Steve, and Karl as they summarise the new releases and familiarise themselves with the latest OS's. Plus, looks as if Apple isn't done with raising prices as their subscription services also get a price hike. Apparently, the recent firmware update for AirPods did officially lower the effectiveness of ANC. Apple almost confirmed at a recent tech event that USB-C is coming to the next iPhone and look for more ads in the App Store from this week. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week Alan returns and joins Dean, Steve, and Karl as they go through this week's announcements from Apple. New iPads, iPad Pro, and an Apple TV update, plus the release dates for updated OS's. They also try and make sense of Apple's pricing plans moving forward and the odd iPad lineup that potential new buyers now face. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Back from his recent trip to Octoberfest, Mark joins Dean, Steve, and Karl as they sift through the week's Apple-related news. Another round of updates get released. Lufthansa says they banned AirTags, then say they didn't. Apple launches another service for Developers. Rollercoasters are setting off the new crash detection feature and Tim says you need four attitudes to get hired at Apple. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week Dean joins Alan, Steve, and Karl as they celebrate Mac & Forth's 9th anniversary. Bugs continue to be reported, looks like this time the Apple Watch 8 is in-line for some pesky infections. Another bug got many excited about a possible new feature, but then hopes were dashed. Europe has passed its bill making USB-C a legal requirement from 2024. YouTube seems desperate to boost its paying subscribers and Elon is about to own Twitter. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Joining Alan, Steve, and Karl this week is YouTuber, blogger, and podcaster, Mark Ellis of Mark Ellis Reviews. They discuss his journey to becoming a technology reviewer for normal people and his thoughts on the whole creative process. Karl has some new goodies, finally. We learn the latest developments in Alan's quest to get a deal on a stainless steel Apple Watch. Plus, Apple has squashed some bugs and might have changed their minds regarding Stage Manager for older iPad Pros. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week David Dean, formally of the ‘I Confess I'm a Geek' Podcast joins Alan, Steve, and Karl to go over the week's Apple-related news. The new iPhones and most of the Watches are now available, but all has not been going smoothly as a number of bugs have emerged. Karl runs into a few issues trying to get a new Apple Watch but all will be sorted and Spotify adds audiobooks but still has some app troubles. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields, Allister Jenks and Zareef Saadat. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
The wait is finally over as iOS16, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16 (plus a few others) are finally here. Alan, Steve, Dean and Karl share their favourite new features and what they are still waiting for. Apples marks the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Garmin and Samsung give Apple a little ribbing and Apple's new hardware is about to go on sale, even if they did hit a few snags on launch day. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
After all the speculation we now know what Apple has in store for the iPhone, AirPods Pro and Apple Watch for the next year. GazMaz joins Alan, Dean and Karl as they share their thoughts on the latest announcements and discuss if anything has tempted them to sharpen their credit cards. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
After hosting last week, Mark returns to join Alan, Steve and Karl to speculate about what Apple might announce next week. Obviously, there will be iPhones and Apple Watches, but what else might make the mix? AirPods Pro 2, iPad Pro M2, HomePod 2…basically many things with a 2 in them? Well, only a few more days until we know, until then let the speculation run riot. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Once again Mark slides into the hosting chair and is joined by Alan, Steve and Barry. Apple has announced their next ‘Far Out' event coming next month so that gives us something to look forward to, as well as our upcoming London meet-up. Alan is a little concerned about his battery readings. Apple plans to add more ads, apparently, they now think they are Google. TikTok is spying on your keystrokes, who would have thought it and, thank heavens there's a Ming-Chi Kuo rumour. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week, Mark returns to join Alan, Steve and Karl to poke around the week's Apple-related news, what there is of it, before the next big event. Karl has decided his monitor should match his stature and well as finally released a new YouTube video. Alan's beta curse raises its head again and he's also gone a little old school with his music. Mark appears to be fighting password requests and Steve has probably just been going to work, then back home again. Also, the iMac turns 24, an Apple engineer is in trouble for helping a customer, AirTags help catch a crock and Apple patches a zero-day exploit. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week, Dean joins Alan, Steve and Karl to pick their way through the week's Apple-related news. Karl finally got around to visiting the new London Apple store. Alan has gone a little old school as well as getting a little agitated with modern life. We might have to wait a little longer for iPadOS16. Some Studio Displays are having more problems. Apple is clearing away lots more abandonware and Amazon Drive is coming to an end. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week, Barry is back to join Alan, Steve and Karl to delve into the week's Apple-related news. The newest London Apple store is now open. Spielberg shoots on an iPhone. Intel is banished from the M2 MacBook Air. Amazon is about to raise its prices for Prime and Karl is most upset about six calories. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Alan returns to join Steve and Karl to review the stories of the week. It's update time again as iOS 15.6 is released, along with a few others. London is getting another Apple store. Apple Music is getting some studio performances. Ted Lasso is approaching the final whistle and there's a possibility of lasers in our future iPhones! All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Has a book ever changed your mind? Do authors write differently for audio? Pack that reading list with Clarke award nominees, it's a new Sword and Laser!
It's that time again, as Dean returns to join Steve, Mark and Karl to discuss the stories of the week. The first reviews of the new MacBook Air with M2 are out. Apple releases the public versions of iOS16 and the other upcoming OS's. Jony and Apple part ways for real. The Elon and Twitter saga continues and now YOU can walk The Oregon Trail, hopefully without the dysentery. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week Steve returns from his holiday and joins Alan, Mark and Karl to discuss the stories of the week. The new M2 MacBook Air's are nearly here. Apple might be in a spot of bother with both the UK and the EU. Now even the Apple TV remotes gets a firmware update and Microsoft steps up to defend your Mac. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week Mark hops into the hosting seat and is joined by Alan and Dean to discuss the stories of the week. iOS16 gives the AirPods Max an audio update. Rumours of the AirPods Pro case could be fantastic if true. Sticking with AirPods a TV presenter swallows one thinking it was a vitamin… says so much about our presenters and it looks like there is a new way to buy Apple Gift Cards in Europe. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Has it been a week already? Time does fly and so Alan, Mark, Barry and Karl return to regale you as they attempt to find some worthy stories this week. The second round of new betas has arrived. iWork gets its own update. Apple Pay Later might hit a snag if it ever comes to the UK. Tim drops more hints of VR and Apple uses TikTok to promote AirPods. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Following on from last week where they discussed the latest reveals at WWDC (where all they covered was iOS16) Alan, Steve, and Karl return and are joined by the elusive Destiny player, Dean. Together they cover the rest of the announcements and delve a little deeper into some of the finer points. Plus Steve has actually been up to something this week other than just work! All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
One Big Family has a Spotify Playlist called New Music Friday: Indie-Christian. HERE is a link to the playlist. Each week we will feature some new track(s) released that week and hear from the artists. This week's featured artists and tracks: -Tom Read's & Praise Labangu's track 62 (Spoken) -Lj the Messenger's track HIGHER -Caleb Russel Kennedy's track Lead Me To The Rock That Is Higher Than I -More Rain's track We Give You Praise Kelsey Breedlove hosted this episode and it is presented to you by One Big Family. Follow this LINK to the website. Happy New Music Friday from One Big Family!!!
Apple has revealed what they have planned for us come Autumn. Alan, Steve, and Karl are joined by GazMaz, one-half of the G-Men from the mighty MyMac Podcast to review what was announced and offer their views and opinions. They also address the recent controversy between the two podcasts and bury the hatchet…somewhere. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. A special thank you to Christoph Trusch for their PayPal contribution. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
With WWDC just days away Alan, Steve, Mark and Karl list a few things they wish to see in the various announcements come Monday. Some are things we've wanted for years and some address little issues that arise now and then. Will we be disappointed Monday? We'll have to wait and see. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. Mark's Gousto Referral Code CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
The team has assembled again to disseminate the latest week of Apple-related news. Alan, Steve, Barry and Karl. Apple issues another update. WWDC is getting closer, especially for some guests. Apple pushes back another deadline. A new TV+ series is about to race onto the service and a Watch might have cost someone $40,000. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Another round of updates have been released, so Alan, Steve, Barry and Karl dig in and see what's new. Apple introduces a new training and certification program. iPhone ‘tap to pay' gets a step closer and there are a number of rumours from our favourite analyst. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
It's our 300th episode, but we aren't doing anything special as Alan, Steve and Karl don't wish to dwell on how long they have been talking nonsense about Apple over the years. However, there is news that the iPod is no more, AirPods got an update, AirTags saved someone $7000, a parent is angry and an Apple employee has a huff. Plus this week we are joined by Mark Chappell to go over all of that, and slightly more. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
After our rather ‘extended' absence we are back behind our microphones. So what have we been up to? I'm glad you asked. In this episode, we catch up with what Alan, Steve and Karl have been doing and buying over the last few months. They are also joined by an old co-host of the show, Barry Gentleman. Hopefully, it will be like catching up with some old friends. CONTACT THE SHOW: We really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. We won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all we ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
It's the one where Aaron discovers Bodyjar, with guitarist Tom Read.Bodyjar is a pop punk band from Melbourne, Australia. Being a band that formed in 1990, they've been around for quite some time, and definitely don't fit the 'new band' mold that the Discovering series will take.Having said that, they're also a band who have been grinding for years (decades), and it's about time you know a little more about them!In this episode, Tom shares three albums that have influenced him as a musician, as well as 2 songs from the Bodyjar library.JOIN OUR PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/growingpunkpodJOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/2UhJ7YxGRAB SOME MERCH: https://teespring.com/stores/growingpunkpodWEBSITE: https://growingpunkpod.comTWITTER: @growingpunkpodINSTAGRAM: @growingpunkpodFACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/growinguppunkpod/
This week, it's episode 50 of The Wormcast. Tom Read, VP of Strategy & Partnerships at Spalk joins the show. We talk about how Spalk has carved their position in the new world of sports production with their unique virtual commentary studio operation. They're provide multiple language commentary for Hockey Night in Canada, World Rugby and FIBA events through their technology. We also get into the NFT world, why it's exploded so fast in recent days, streaming the hope for tier 2 and tier 3 sports events and a lot more. Enjoy! Topics discussed: 1:45 Intro into Spalk and what service they provide rights holders 7:00 Spalk's mutiple language commentary options for Hockey Night in Canada 14:50 Inside the production process at Spalk 19:30 Investment from Greg Norman 25:45 Collectibles in the NFT world and where does it fit in sponsorship-wise 30:00 Will replay rights bt NFT's golden moment? 34:10 Streaming - the hope for tier 2 and tier 3 sports leagues 38:45 The Manningcast and how other broadcasters will creat different ways to keep eyeballs on their events. 42:00 Betting sites obtaining clip rights from leagues for their apps 45:00 Clubhouse, Greenroom and the future of social audio. Links mentioned in this episode: http://www.spalk.tv This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm
This week Mark Chappel joins Alan, Steve and Karl to share their views and opinions on the recent raft of updates for our favourite iOS devices. What do they make of the changes and what are their favourite new features? Spotify say they are aware that their app is a bit of a drain, on your battery that is. Apple have flexed their pricing muscles and upped the price of the Flex Headphones and there may be an issue with the Express Transit feature if tied to your Visa card, or there may not be. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read, Chris Fields and Allister Jenks. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Tim has shown us Apple's latest goodies so Alan, Dean, Steve and Karl cast their eyes over the latest product announcements. New iPad, iPad Mini, Apple Watch, iPhone and iPhone Pro but have any of them tempted the panel to break out their cards? All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week Alan, Dean and Karl return to discuss the week's Apple and tech-related news. As Karl predicted, Apple made their announcement of their announcement, it might have been pretty obvious but still, we're counting it as a win. So what may next week's presentation hold for us all? Well, again it's probably pretty obvious but we're still going to speculate, so there. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Once again Alan, Dean, Steve and Karl return to discuss the week's Apple and tech-related news. Karl gets a new tech toy and it's not even Apple related. Looks like some changes are afoot in the App Store, some by Apple, some forced on Apple. Today at Apple sessions return to UK stores. James Bond comes to Apple TV, kinda and Apple makes a classical move. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Back once again, Alan, Dean, Steve and Karl return to discuss the week's Apple and tech-related news. Tim Cook has been steering Apple for ten years, we reflect on his time as CEO. Apparently someone thinks if Apple doesn't produce a folding iPhone this year then Apple is screwed…alrighty then. Google pays big once again to remain the default search option on Safari, luckily it's easy to change and OnlyFans manage to annoy their creators and users but luckily there may be a happy ending. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Time flies by as once again as Alan, Dean, Steve and Karl return to discuss the week's Apple and tech-related news. The EU moves closer to standardising electronic device chargers. The Matter smart home standard gets delayed. Apple appears to be having some employee problems. SharePlay gets delayed and Apple appears to capitulate on its mobile Safari changes. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Another week has passed so Alan, Dean, Steve and Karl return to discuss the week's Apple and tech-related news. Apple has caused a bit of a stir regarding the privacy of photos in iOS15, but is it as problematic as some are making it out to be? Spotify has cancelled Airplay 2, or has it? Apple Arcade now boasts 200 games, and we ‘hopefully' clear up something that has been confusing one of our listeners. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
This week Alan, Dean, Steve are joined by guest host for the show, Mark Chappel, to discuss the week's Apple and tech-related news. YouTube and Spotify look to be adding cheaper subscriptions for their services. You can now get a separate Touch-ID keyboard but it's not cheap. Apple Store App Clips make it easier than ever to walk out of a store and look like you're a thief, plus we finally discover the truth about the Ted Lasso curry scene. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
After an unexpected break Alan, Steve and Karl return to discuss the week's Apple and technology related news. Ted Lasso is back and the guys are pretty excited about it. Another bunch of updates are released. Apple shares some film-making techniques. The guys discuss what they would want and not want to see under any Right to Repair laws and some developers of free apps demand $200 billion in damages. All this, and slightly more, on this week's episode. CONTACT THE SHOW: I really would appreciate it if you could take a few moments and submit a review on iTunes. I won't ply you with adverts, just a little review is all I ask…go on, you know you want to really, don't ya? The Mac & Forth Show Patreon Page. This Month's Wonderful 'The One with the Shout Out' Funders: Teresa Hummel, Steven Leach, Matt Barton, Ron Poyotte, Gordon Jackson, Paul Beattie, Jane, Alan, Martin Meadows-Evans, Frank Jacobsen, Keith Yarbrough, David Dean, Stephen Elliot, Barry Gentleman, David Renfree, Tom Read and Chris Fields. Also, thank you to all our contributors for other donations. Your support is always greatly appreciated. Or help via PayPal. Subscribe to us on: iTunes Overcast Pocketcast TuneIn Radio Stitcher Or feel free to join our Discord Contact us via Twitter, or follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. or like our Facebook page. or view our Website or via Apple News or YouTube Please visit our Merchandise Store Theme Music: Russ Clewett
Louise Harris: Hello and welcome to the Government Digital Service Podcast. My name is Louise Harris and I head up the Creative and Channels Team at GDS. In this episode, we're talking about our wonderful technologists. The Site Reliability Engineers, Technical Architects and Developers who work in multidisciplinary teams to engineer solutions to our complex architectural needs, evolve our infrastructure and tooling to keep us resilient and online, and develop digital products and services used by millions of people across the UK, and that are emulated by governments around the world. Technologists are a mainstay of how we help government transform and tackle complexity for users. Think about GOV.UK: it's actually 50 front and back end applications that are independently hosted and maintained that enable us to host over a million pages, deal with millions of visits a day and fend off regular Denial-of-Service attacks. But thanks to our technologists, all our end users see is a single site they can access day and night to get the information they need from government. Tackling that kind of complexity is not always easy, but it's definitely worthwhile. And it's what GDS is here to do. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Himal Mandalia and Louise Ryan to talk about the important role GDS technologists play. Louise, Himal, why don't you introduce yourselves to our listeners and tell us a bit about your roles. Louise Ryan: Hello, I'm Louise Ryan, I'm the Lead Technical Architect and Head of Technology in Government as a Platform. I joined GDS just under 4 years ago and I joined us from the private sector where I worked in a digital agency as a Technical Architect. Himal Mandalia: And I'm Himal, I'm Head of Technology for GOV.UK, and I joined about 5 months ago, and I've been working in digital circles for about 6 years as a contractor in several roles, including Developer, Technical Architect and a Technology Advisor. Louise Harris: So, Louise, it sounds like we've been lucky enough to have you at GDS for a couple of years now, and Himal, we've recently lured you over from another part of government. What is it that appeals to you both about working at GDS? Louise Ryan: Oh wow. Such, such a big question. There's so much to like about GDS and working in digital in government in general, really. I always like refer people to the GOV.UK Design Principles and the Service Standard. So if you take a look at that, it's all about doing things the right way, about doing things for everybody, having a multidisciplinary team focussing on what the actual problems are, not solutionising. Building services, not just websites, so we continuously improve things. All sorts of that stuff, but also the tech we use is really cool as well. So it's, it's pretty modern stuff: lots of Infrastructure as Code, Continuous Deployment, Continuous Delivery and lots of automated testing. Yeah, I mean, I could go on for a long, long time, but this is a, you know I think it's a brilliant place to work and I love it. Louise Harris: And Louise, just, just for our listeners who are maybe less familiar with Government as a Platform, or what we call GaaP, can you just run us through a bit what it's all about? Louise Ryan: So Government as a Platform [GaaP], is a suite of digital services designed to meet common needs which can be quickly integrated into-into other service teams services. This helps reduce duplication, variation and it-it enables other digital teams to build their digital solutions much quicker, much faster, much more efficiently. In terms of what the various services do, Notify is, is an extremely busy service. It's used by, I think around 4,700 other services. That's around 1000 organisations across the public sector using it. So it's scaling at around 120 new services joining every month. So that is, that's pretty big. So in, in, in terms of the last year, they've seen a-a 25 fold increase in volume of messages. And so that was a massive scaling challenge for the team that they, they just really smashed out the park. They're mostly hosted on the PaaS, which is really cool, and it's kind of asynchronous architecture so there's a lot of queues helping us process messages. You know it enables us to scale and enables us to retry when things break. So it's,it's good architecture. [GOV.UK] Pay take payments, take card payments for your digital services. It also, you can also use Apple Pay and Google Pay to pay for stuff. I think one of the main selling points of Pay is how much we care and test about the, the journey, the paying experience for people who use assistive technologies. So we really put a lot of effort into making sure it works really well for everybody. That's built mostly on Fargate, and, and uses some you know, it's got to be PCI [Payment Card Industry] compliant, so it's a, it's a complex, necessarily complex architecture. It scales really well and it's been used by, I think, over 550 large services now, and it's processed over a billion pounds. [GOV.UK] Platform as a Service: you host your, you can use Platform as a Service to host your web apps in the cloud without relying on, without worrying about the infrastructure underneath. So you can build your app in Python, Ruby or Rust or pop it in a container and then push it up to PaaS. And there you go, you've got a running app in the cloud. Also provides a bunch of backend services you can use. So backend services means databases like PostgreSQL, things like ElasticSearch or queue services like simple queue service from AWS. That's, that's the scale of this is, is, is very impressive. It's being used by just over 121 organisations and between the two regions in London and Ireland that it's hosted in, it's hosts, it's running around 2,800 apps at the moment. And they're processing an amazing amount of incoming requests: so we've got an average of around 300 requests per second coming through those pipes. So that's quite cool. And then we've got the Design System and the Prototype Kit Team. The Design System look after GOV.UK frontend, which is that set of styles, patterns and components that other teams use to build their frontend. What's really important about those patterns and components is that they've been researched extensively and tested extensively across a vast array of digital devices and operating systems and with real people and with assistive devices. So we can be sure that they're, you know they're, they're working. So obviously we do that once so service teams around the country don't have to keep doing that work. It really is an open source project as well, the Design System. It actively seeks contributions from the design and frontend communities a-across, across government. And that's, that's really cool. And it's yeah, it's used quite. It's, GitHub tells me it's, it's in use by over 2,600 other repositories. Louise Harris: That must be so cool to be involved in work that's being forked off, and used in so many other contexts. Is it safe to say that there's some stuff that you can get done at GDS that maybe you can't get done elsewhere? Louise Ryan: Yeah, I think it is. We are at the centre of government, being part Cabinet Office. If we're not going to do it in the centre, then it's not just gonna magically happen elsewhere in government. Those tools exist so other service teams can-can really benefit from having things done once really well in the centre so they don't have to keep reinventing that wheel. They can-they can just get started really quickly and benefit from all that work that we've done really well just once. Louise Harris: And it's not, it's not just teams kind of in and around the UK government that are getting to benefit from that approach either right? Some of our code has also been forked by international governments to do their own thing too. What do you think are some of the sort of GDS led technology success stories out there? Louise Ryan: Oh, wow. Yeah. So there's lots of examples of this happening. So take, for example, Notify. That's been forked and used by the Canadian government and the Australian government to create their own notification platforms. And, you know, t-t-that doesn't just-just happen and then stop. We continue to collaborate with those teams working on this platforms so we can all learn from each other. And it's not just about the tech either - that's really important thing. So obviously Notify have developed a whole bunch of operational practices and services around the service itself. So we share, we share those as well and you know, help people figure out what works, what doesn't. And it's not just Notify. So PaaS. PaaS works with, that's Platform as a Service, they work with their equivalents in-in Australia and, and the US government to share best practice. And then you've got the wonderful Design System that's been forked by a lot of countries. And not just other countries, but other authorities within-within the UK. So, for example, my own council, Wiltshire Council, they forked the Design System and used it to build their own website. But in terms of other countries. I think it's used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and the Netherlands. So, yeah, massive, massive success stories of-of re-use of our, of our hard work. Louise Harris: Wow, so lots to be proud of. And Himal, I guess same question to you - what is it that drew you to GDS? Himal Mandalia: I think GDS is sort of interestingly positioned right at the centre and, and being sort of highly visible, like it can be an exemplar of what good, sort of long live teams, services looks like. So all of the things that are articulated in the Service Standard, in the Technology Code of Practice, you know, we-we work to those ourselves since we-since we developed them. But I think what we've quite clearly put out very recently in the GDS strategy for the next 3 years, the core 5 missions, particularly the ones around GDS being the place, essentially the shop that builds and runs the common components and platforms that the rest of government build services on top of. I think that is now clearer, clearer than it's ever been. And you know there's something that, for me anyway, when I was thinking about a bit of a career change last year, drew me and I thought: this is a really interesting time to come in and join. There's a-there's a real sort of transformation of energy in the air again. Louise Harris: So it's great for our teams to know that their work is having an impact not just here in the UK and for our users, but also around the world as well. And Himal, like you say to be part of that, what did you call it, transformation buzz? I think that kind of flies in the face of the idea that jobs in the civil service are sort of slow or old school right? Do-do you think there are other misconceptions about what a technology job in government might be like, versus what it's actually like at GDS day to day? Himal Mandalia: I think what's interesting here is, you know we're about a decade into a transformation journey that's bringing in the sort of technology practices around Continuous Delivery, being Agile, having autonomous self organising teams and a lot of the-the technology driven processes that surround that in the ways of working. And I think it's easy for us to lose sight of the uneven distribution and maturity of this across government. So I think it's, I think it's interesting because government can't be seen as a, as a monolithic thing. I think if you're outside and you're thinking of you know, if you're, if you're a Developer or a Reliability Engineer or a Technical Architect and you think, you know you want to work in government, you want to work in the public sector - and that could be local authorities as well of course - it is, it is a very unevenly distributed landscape of maturity. I mean, I would say we're pretty much at the, at the higher end of the maturity curve at GDS here, of course, because what we've been doing for the last decade. And I think what's exciting for me as someone that's worn many hats and played different roles in this sort of journey is: it's, it-it can be, it can be rewarding to work somewhere where a lot of the basic capabilities, the fundamental enablers are already in place and you can deliver value and work with teams. If you consider GDS, then you would find something that's much more a-akin to a sort of modern sort of conventional tech company. Louise Harris: I think that digital maturity curve point is such a good one. Because yeah, with almost 10 years under our belt GDS has definitely been through a lot that foundational and capability building stuff that some other organisations might still be grappling with, and I think that gives us a kind of view on what their pain points are so we can shape products and platforms that are gonna meet their needs at different parts of the curve. And I think that actually leads us quite nicely to the next thing that I wanted to chat to you both about. So our regular listeners will know that earlier in the year, we launched our new strategy and centred it around 5 key missions. If you missed it, check out our May episode of the Podcast where you can hear our Chief Exec, Tom Read, talk more about that. But in essence I suppose, over the next few years, our focus boils down to this: helping to create services that just work for the user. So no matter how complex the underlying systems are or how much these people know about government, we're going to make services that just work. So mission 4 in our strategy that's looking at how we can make sort of effortless for departments and agencies to digitise their services by looking at centrally-developed common components. Louise, maybe you can tell us a bit about what's happening in that area? Louise Ryan: I mean to sum it up, you know, we've got a bunch of really cool services that are already providing value. So as a piece of work, that's ongoing to just make sure they keep delivering value and can scale with the increasing usage that they experience. We're also you know, obviously building on top of that and looking what else we can do to meet user needs. One exciting part of that is the work we're doing in the collecting information from users team. So that team is well, I think it sums ups, sums up its work. It's...you know, we want every single form that's published on GOV.UK to be accessible. That's huge. A lot of the forms on GOV.UK at the moment are published in PDF or, or other document formats. They present challenges, especially to-to users who, who need to use assistive technologies such as screen readers or magnifiers. And actually completing PDF online is-is no easy task either. It's pretty difficult. Whereas completing an online form is a much better user experience and hopefully much more accessible. So it's, that is a, that is a massive problem space, and a really interesting one. And we're just entering an Alpha-Alpha phase with that team. So it's, yeah, so it's very exciting challenge we presented with ourselves in, in GaaP. Louise Harris: And I don't think we can really kind of understate the scale of that challenge, because I think everybody around GDS we treat PDF's a little bit like our, a 4 letter word. But the team blogged recently and I think equated that if, without doing this work, if we were just relying on the existing kind of form building systems that were out there, it would take government about 70 years just to convert the PDF's that already live on GOV.UK, which are obviously growing, if not every day, then certainly most weeks. So super important work. Was there anything that came out of the discovery that-that surprised you folks? Louise Ryan: I think-I think you've, you've hit the nail on the head. It's the scale of the challenge. And it certainly surprised me. But when you, when you think about it, it's, it's not that surprising, actually, because there's teams right around government that don't have the digital capability to do anything else. This is, you know PDF's and other, other document formats are the tool they have, so that's the tool they, they have to use. So, again, GaaP is uniquely placed in the centre of government to do something about that. And that's, that's hopefully what we'll be able to do in the coming years. Louise Harris: So it sounds like through Government as a Platform right now, we are already kind of solving common problems at scale. But, but what about - and sorry to make you solutionise on the fly here Louise, because I know that everything we do is evidence based and user led - where do you see the next, beyond the collecting information from users work, do you see any themes emerging about where that next common problem is that GDS might want to solve? Louise Ryan: Yeah, so we are doing some research on this, so, but I don't want to pre-empt that, but I'm, I can, you know, there's, there's stuff we already know that, that service teams have to just keep doing over and over again. There's you know, there's thin--complex problems that don't seem complex until you really dig into them. So things like a postcode lookup. Service teams have to keep doing that, is-is there a way we can, we can provide a solution for that in the centre? Louise Harris: And that's all such important stuff right if we, if we want to deliver the transformation at the scale that we, we all want to see. One of our other central focuses is going to be this idea of joining up services so they solve whole user problems even if that means spanning multiple departments. Himal, I guess - as the platform for government services - GOV.UK is going to be pretty fundamental to how we get that done right? Himal Mandalia: Yes, so it's interesting because people can get a little bit, a little bit confused about what we mean when we say GOV.UK. So if we think about it as sort of layers of the onion: the sort of widest layer you have, what is known as the GOV.UK proposition. So that, as a user, you know, you go somewhere, you see a website, you see something that's branded with the crown and the stylings around that: that's a GOV.UK site. But it could very easily be a transactional service you interact with for--to do ev-everything from paying your taxes to a prison visit to renew your driving licence. And those are all on the GOV.UK proposition. So they feel like a single website as you move across them. And we have mechanisms like the Service Standard. If you work to that, that means that you're going to end up with a pretty joined up journey. But for me, the-the-the layer of GOV.UK that I work on and the technology I'm responsible for, that's the GOV.UK content. That's-that's the main page that you come to when you go to www.GOV.UK. That is a large platform with hundreds of thousands of pages of content that we-we hold and a set of tools that we run for thousands of users across government to create, to offer that content, to edit it, to manage it, including our internal content teams here. And we also run technology, which, of course, delivers all those pages so they-re, they're available globally. Louise Harris: And right now, a lot of that content is quite static right? Because we need to publish it and serve it quickly and then hold it in the cache and serve it up again over and over. Himal Mandalia: Yeah, exactly. GOV.UK delivers a lot of content right now, but it's usually...it's relatively static, it's relatively flat content, it's pages. And one of the things that we're exploring now is if you have an account, if we, based on consent, if we know some things about you - your approximate location or other attributes we have - we may be able to tailor that content. We may be able to personalise it, to put content in front of you that's relevant to what you're doing. Maybe even be proactive, send you personalised notifications with of course, a full consent model and opt in and easy opt out around that. But in order to do that, in order to personalise the content or even have content chunked up so it can be contextual, so a different snippet is mixed in based on a tag or some piece of data that we're using to construct that, that, all of that will require a fundamental re-architecting of GOV.UK's applications. So the front end applications need to change dramatically in order to stitch together that content in real time. The way that content is stored, the way it's structured, the schemas that are used to determine how that content is broken down into small snippets, how it's tagged, the taxonomy - all of that needs a rethink and redesign. And the publishing tools themselves, the tools that are used by the service essentially that is used by the content creators, that experience they have in not only creating content, but the taxonomy they're applying to it, how they're tagging it - all of that needs a rethink and a redes-redesign as well. So that sounds huge and it is. But it's not a sort of big bang, all at once programme of work. This is an incremental and iterative stream of work, like, like how we do everything, which is going to, which is going to be done bit by bit. The interesting challenges that we are talking about rebuilding the ship while there are people in it bit by bit. And this is very much that Ship of Theseus metaphor right? We're replacing the planks, and when we're done, it's going to be a very different looking ship. It's going to be a ship that does very different things. But we're not even completely clear exactly what it looks like, but if we really extend the metaphor, we do have a good idea of where we're going. Louise Harris: And that personalisation agenda that you talked about there Himal, it sounds to me like it's going to ma-make [laughs] the site work a lot harder. I mean, we're already processing thousands and thousands of kind of transactional services, but this sounds like a real shift. You talked about the GOV.UK Account functionality as well, which obviously we piloted last year and had, I think, about 50,000 people sign up for that as part of the Brexit Checker, Brexit Transition Checker. We've obviously been iterating that software ever since. Can you tell us a little bit about where we're at now with Accounts? Himal Mandalia: So what we've done to test the hypothesis with the Brexit Transition Checker and the-the prototype account functionality, which which has been amazing, which has been an amazing learning experience because we have had, as you, as you mentioned there, 50,000 people sign up, but because we're working off of an architecture and an infrastructure set up that doesn't support this yet, we have done those as, as a separate applications, which we've used, we've hosted in, in Platform as a Service, in PaaS actually, one of the products Louise mentioned and is responsible for which is, which is great, just to be able to use our own tools for things like this. But in order to have that as part of GOV.UK's core architecture, to support more of that personalisation, that's what we do need to have that re-think, that re-design and that re-architecting of all of our frontend apps and our publishing tools and the content platform. So I'm currently working on the future platform services and architecture strategy for GOV.UK. So all of the things I've just mentioned there are going to be sort of written up in plain language around what we're thinking of. And I-I view GOV.UK breaking out into a few really simple long term value propositions or services and platforms, and they are: presentation, or the frontend, what you experience as www.GOV.UK when you go there; the publishing service or tools that our thousands of users across government use; a content platform, that engine, that heart of content that does all the heavy lifting; and underneath all of that, the infrastructure platform that runs the applications, the databases, all of those things. And really looking to put an emphasis on the content platform, that engine of content and trying to move to a world where we can almost think of GOV.UK as a, as a sort of headless machine, that it does have a frontend, but really the most prominent part is the functionality that does all the lifting. Because in future there may be an app, there may be other ways, we may be syndicating content - these are all things we want to test. But having the flexibility and the ability to do that is, is vital because the way people, the way people interact with services online is quite different now to how it was a decade ago, and so we need to move on and have a much more Agile, much more flexible architecture that lets us meet users where they are rather than having a, just a website. You know we don't, we don't live in that era anymore. Louise Harris: So sounds then like we want to shift to a, a bit more of a channel agnostic approach then. Louise, you're a Technical Architect, what's your take on Himal's just said? Louise Ryan: Yeah, it's-it's a bit daunting actually [laughs]. Himal won't mind me saying that. You've got, it's a, it's a big job to re-architect such a big and important platform as GOV.UK. It's, it's really exciting. And it, you know, it's, yeah, you won't be on your own Himal. You know, the rest of-of GDS is-is very interested in this work as well, and there's crossovers right? Government as a Platform is very interested in, in what's happening with GOV.UK Accounts, because we might be able to use those features in our services. So for example, [GOV.UK] Pay: when someone's paying for something, if they're signed into their account, maybe they can save that, that payment method if they want to. Yeah, just solutionising on the fly, because obviously we'd need to research that to see if it was a, a thing people would be interested in. But, but obviously we you know, we're keeping a very close eye on what, what Himal's up to and, and wanna be part of it where we can. Himal Mandalia: I-I 100% agree with that, Louise. I think the thing here is, I think the, I think what we're doing with our, with our Digital Identity programme, with the GOV.UK Accounts, it really is, it really is that golden thread. It is the thing that ties all of this together. It does, it does offer the cohesion between all of our products and services. So we blur the boundaries between them. And I think notifications, payments, the publishing, the content delivery, all of that, and then, and then you bring into that all of the services across government as well, they're all tied together through your account. So what you end up with ultimately is a completely seamless experience, a citizen shouldn't need to, shouldn't, you shouldn't, it shouldn't even occur to them that a separate group of people delivered this piece as opposed to another bit. Louise Harris: As you say some kind of huge, huge programmes of work coming up, sounds like we're probably going to need a few-few additional crew. If-if people are interested in getting involved in this, where-where can they go to find out more? Himal Mandalia: So if you search for GDS careers, you'll find our careers site. We have a, we have a campaign going to hire Developers right now, but more will be launching soon. I'm particularly keen on trying to see about bringing juniors in. We need, we need more, we need more juniors into to-to-to not only be working with our teams, but also to be engaging in things that we've done previously at GDS like firebreaks, where you get that little bit of free time to experiment and come up with things. And of course, there will be a range of more senior roles as well. They'll be, they'll be more roles going out across-across the board at all levels. Louise Harris: So there's lots of really great new job opportunities coming up across GDS. For people who might be interested in that, what would you say the culture is like in our teams? Himal Mandalia: I think having, having just come through a crisis, or crises, where we were highly visible and doing a lot of work to surface essential guidance around Coronavirus, we've had to organise ourselves around mission focussed teams, which has meant a-a lot of the work that we planned and even written about, I-I think I've, since starting you know, I've dug into some of the blog posts that we put out in 2016 and 17, amazing planning around publishing tools and platform that we were not able to pick up or continue because, because of emergency work, urgent priorities around Coronavirus and some of the work around Brexit as well, those are all things we can return to now. H aving gotten to know my technologists community over the last 5 months, I think there's a real appetite to return to some of those longer term value streams - so working on services, being in long live teams, and what I'd mentioned earlier around things like a publishing service and content platform. You know, really giving groups of people, not just Developers, but Designers and everyone involved in a multidisciplinary team, that agency and that long term ownership over a problem and o-o-over, over the improvement of something. So I think some of that excitement is coming back now. And so, yeah, it's, it's a great time to join. It's a very active community. Louise Ryan: I-I don't think I've shouted from the rooftops enough about how important long-lived autonomous teams are. They really are the, the reason that Government as a Platform has been suc--as successful as it has. There, there's people that are really committed to these services, really understand the problem spaces inside and out and just, yeah, deliver amazing results and outcomes as, as a result. And yeah, this is, this is not just from a technical perspective that you know, we-we-we couldn't build the tech we build without the help of our, our user-centred design colleagues and product and delivery. We are...the selling points from me I mentioned earlier is-is how we work in teams, as a unit, how we figure out with things that we-we should be working on, making sure they are the things of most value and really understanding the problem space and then developing the tech to solve those problems. And that, that, that way we work is to me as a technologist, is, is very compelling and, and reason alone to join but...Also we use some really modern tech - so our programming languages in GaaP are, are Python, Java, Node and then we've got some, some other programming language such as Go in the mix, but we build stuff on, on really modern technologies. So a lot of stuff on Amazon Web Services. As I said, we use modern practices like Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, we do a lot of automated testing so we can deploy with confidence multiple times a day to make sure, yeah, we're getting our stuff out there quickly and getting people to actually use it as fast as possible. And hopefully that's a, that's a compelling story about why GDS is a really good place to work. I didn't actually mention the culture in, in all of that. And I think that's what you actually asked me. But the-the agile culture here is-is to be open, to be transparent, to share what you're working on with others, and that can be through show and tells, through pairing, through having your code open in, out there on GitHub. I really, I really like the culture at GDS. It's a kind of, you know, when I was in the office, come up to my desk and ask me anything kind of thing. No question too silly. Yeah. I think it's a, it's a lovely place to work. Himal Mandalia: Yeah, I think the only, I think the only thing I'd add and Louise said it all there really was: you know, if you a technologist that's passionate about open source development and the technologies that were mentioned there and you, if particularly if you're old enough, you have friends like me who are old enough to remember when open source was very much the underdog, and you know, we were, we were all sort of part of a rebel alliance trying to-to do a good thing. It's amazing that this is now converged with trying to do good for the public as well. So. I could, I couldn't think of a better argument to sell it than, than that: you get to use cool tech, do open source stuff to do good for tech and do good for the public. I mean, what more do you want, really? And we pay pretty well as well. Louise Harris: That's pretty cool, and if people want to find out about our code, which obviously we publish openly where we can, where can they find that? Louise Ryan: All our code is published on GitHub. So you need to go to GitHub. And it's Alpha GOV.UK is our organisation. It's all in there. I can't remember how many repos that there are, but there's a lot [laughs]. Louise Harris: Okay well if anybody's got a quiet Saturday afternoon, and they fancy digging into literally thousands of repos, head over to our GitHub to do that. Yeah so there you have it, an inside look into how technologists at GDS are doing the hard work to make it simple for users. Some seriously impressive and exciting stuff, and if you want to stay up to date with what's going on, please do follow us on the GDS blogs and check out our GitHub. A reminder that if you're a Developer, Site Reliability Engineer or a Technical Architect who fancies a new challenge as part of a great team doing work that impacts literally millions of people, you need to search GDS careers because we're hiring now. Louise, Himal, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and chat to me today. I don't know about anyone else, but you have been left with the impression of our technologists acting like a bevy of swans, calmly and gracefully gliding across the surface, totally belying all of the hard work and energy that's happening just underneath to make sure we're headed in the right direction. And thank you to you, our listeners. Remember, you can find all episodes of the Government Digital Service Podcast on Apple Music, Spotify and all major podcast platforms. And our transcripts are available on PodBean. Goodbye. Louise Ryan: Thank you, bye. Himal Mandalia: Thanks everyone.
We hope you enjoyed Season 1 of the Stabal Podcast. As we enter into season 2, we have changed up the format and have the podcast co-hosted by the incredibly talented Joshua Luke Smith as he chairs a series of round the table conversations. In this episode, Joshua talks to John Mark McMillan along with Kara Smith, Dani Miche, Dire Pitan, Marc James and Tom Read. Check out our on-demand platform at watch.stabal.com Host: Doug Ross Music: Influxx - Feels Good
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