Ian Robinson's Weekly Digest - 15th August 2021

Here is my latest weekly digest. Five articles and 13 new music releases are linked below. Hopefully, you’ll find something interesting. Get me on Twitter to discuss.

Privacy: Interview: Apple’s head of Privacy details child abuse detection and Messages safety features - Techcrunch - Link

Apple botched their announcement of new child protection measures two weeks ago. They have been in reassurance mode ever since. I still think the measures that Apple are taking are a good compromise to an issue that has to be solved and will be subject to poor legislation with a worse outcome if the tech companies don’t solve the problem themselves. Some people are using the confusion to attack Apple for their own reasons. We see you Epic. Anyway, this Techcrunch interview with the Apple HEad of Privacy is worth a read.

Software: The Tool That Helped Me (Finally) Finish Writing My First Novel - The Strategist - Link

If you know me, you’ll know that I can wax lyrical about how good Scrivener is given any opportunity. Rather than do it again, I’ll let this New York Mag review from The Strategist cover it for me.

Biochemistry: The doctor will smell you now - Chemistry World - Link

A remarkable feature article from Chemistry World about a retired nurse who can tell by smell which people have Parkinson’s disease. In a controlled blind trial, she got them all right. Including one from the people the scientists had as controls. Who went on to be diagnosed with the disease. To quote the nurse:

She was right. Smell is now being seriously investigated as a diagnostic technique.

Climate Change: Most of the power sector’s emissions come from a small minority of plants - Ars Technica - Link

Bloody hell. Something needs to be done to these plants. Either carbon capture to reduce their CO2 emissions or replace them with green alternatives.

Climate Change: “Blue” hydrogen is worse for the climate than coal, study says - Ars Technica - Link

Some people are promoting the switch to ‘Blue’ Hydrogen as a way to reduce emissions from natural gas use. A new study casts doubt on this idea. Let’s just move to renewables as fast as possible!

Chemistry: Machine learning delivers ‘human genome’ moment for proteins - Chemistry World - Link

This is probably the best application of AI to something useful in the world. It’ll help determine the shape of proteins and will have many applications in the search for new drugs and ways to deal with plastic recycling.

Music: New music I discovered this week (listed in the order I added them to Apple Music)

Courtney Barnett - Before You Gotta Go - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Wishlyst - Bad For You - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Maisie Peters - Brooklyn - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Emmi - Night Light - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Beebe - Paper Cuts - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Fergus - Leave Me Light - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

SUPER-Hi & Neeka - Following The Sun - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter (Super-Hi) - Twitter (Neeka)

Honey Motel - Milk and Honey - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Måneskin & Iggy Pop - I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter (Måneskin) - Twitter (Iggy Pop)

Green Lung - Reaper’s Scythe - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Katnes - Born To Make You Happy - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Old Sea Brigade - Motivational Speaking - (Album) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Before Breakfast - Wreck - (Single) - Apple Music - Spotify - Twitter

Here are Apple Music and Spotify playlists with all the singles and one selected track from each album or EP. In no particular order. Play them on shuffle!