Environmental and financial sustainability in tech, writing, music, and more
Tech, culture, music, sustainability…
In this newsletter, I look at how some of the hyperscale hosts are handling sustainability, new search engines, how not to handle layoffs, reviews of new text editors, a MIDI guitar pickup, and macOS virtualisation software.
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Google Is No Longer Claiming to Be Carbon Neutral
Last week, I was in Paris speaking at an event co-located with the Green IO event, which was perfect timing for diving into the writing of my forthcoming sustainable computing book. As part of my research, it’s become clearer that many of the environmental promises of the hyperscale cloud hosts have waned in the face of the apparent demand (in every way) for generative AI. And nothing has made this clearer than Google seemingly dropping its claims to be carbon neutral 😬.
Sustainable by design: Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling
Contrary to other stories in this newsletter, Microsoft still seems serious about its carbon neutrality (or at least offsetting its sizable AI footprint). In this case, focus on water reduction.
Create and share macOS virtual machines with Orka Desktop
Recent updates to macOS brought a plethora of virtualisation tools, and in this video, I look at one that adds something a little extra: the ability to push images to OCI-compliant registries.
Alternative Text Editors and IDEs for macOS
If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of time in a text editor. So, every now and then, it’s good to look around and see what you might or might not be missing.
Fishman tripleplay Express MIDI guitar pickup review
I am a reformed guitarist and getting back into music and music technology after a long break. In the interim, it seems that MIDI guitar pickups have gotten a lot better.
When layoffs go wrong: a cautionary tale in poor communication
While the tech sector is generally healthier than a few months ago, many companies are still downsizing or, at worst, applying for bankruptcy. And what’s evolved is a lesson in how not to make people redundant.
Can Germany still pay for arts funding?
Germany has long been admired for its generous public subsidies for arts and culture. Budget cuts could mean an end to that. Germany likes to promote itself as a nation of culture. But that image is at odds with plans by the cash-strapped state of Berlin to cut arts funding by 12%.
Two Upstart Search Engines Are Teaming up to Take on Google
Generative AI and new rules targeting tech giants are giving Ecosia and Qwant fuel to challenge Google and Microsoft and develop a web index for Europe.