Public

Years ago we could choose between watching SRF, TSR, France Télévision, RSI and other channels. We had just five channels to choose from but we had them available for free. Today those channels are still available but because we live in modern buildings with no external TV aerials we are stuck relying on Swisscom, Sunrise, Orange, and other telecom providers.

You might think “But with a TV box we get access to all these channels, and we do, but we’re made to pay for content that should be available for free. RTS is available for free in Switzerland, but France télévision and other channels are not. Most of the time I don’t mind. It’s during the Tour De France that I want access to France 3 and France 2 because these are the channels I like to watch the Tour De France on.

For years I have used Sportstracker, and then Strava and Komoot and others. Whether I use one platform or another isn’t much of a concern. I can send my data everywhere. The question is whether I make that data public, private, or a hybrid compromise.

With Suunto and Sportracker I usually keep almost everything private because I can’t highlight zones that I want to keep private. With Komoot it requires cropping the start and end point to hide where you live. With Strava you highlight where you live, work, where friends live or work and then it automatically hides activities to and from those points. Specifically it hides the first 200 meters or more, depending on how privacy conscious you are.

Within 31-34 minutes you can be in Geneva-Eaux-Vives by the RE33 train. Yesterday I tested it on the way back from Silicon Chalet Event 39 about Infrastructure as Code and Security, a combination for success. The talks were interesting and informative. It’s an opportunity to see people from the Geneva tech scene.

For years I didn’t want to go to Geneva because by train and car it’s fine to get close to Geneva, but it’s less convenient to get from A to B. With a car it’s fast to get close to Geneva but then you hit traffic lights, and parking fees, and the car becomes a nuisance rather than an asset.

Yesterday I was surprised that someone had planned an activity without public transport in mind. A few years ago I would not have noticed. For a long time I never considered that people would want to take buses and trains to the start of a hike. Now I do.

For me, at this moment in time, I believe that every hike should start somewhere where public transport is available, both at the start and the end if it’s a linear hike, and at the start if it’s a loop. Without public transport being factored in everyone is condemned to car sharing. In and of itself the idea of car-sharing is not a bad one.

Ebibliomedia makes it possible to borrow audiobooks. Yesterday I noticed that I can download these books via the Cantook ereader app on Android and iOS. With this freedom comes a quick and convenient way to listen to audio books without worrying about losing my place.

With the website interface I could listen to a book but my progress would be lost as soon as I refreshed the page. In such a situation it makes sense to read a book one chapter at a time, and make sure to remember which chapter you have just finished.

By joining a book club and hearing people speak about borrowing books, rather than buying them I was at once asking myself the question “Why wouldn’t you buy a book when you can afford it?” and “Why wouldn’t you want to own the books you read?” Since then I have changed my mind.

Paid for Lending Libraries

As I wrote two or three days ago Audible, Kindle, Kobo and other platforms allow you to borrow books. Usually the cost is from 10-12 CHF except for Audible where the cost is over a hundred CHF per year.