Linus Torvalds, the Finnish software engineer and creator of Linux, famously captured the essence of his hometown with this quote:
“Helsinki isn’t all that bad. It’s a very nice city, and it’s cold really only in wintertime.”
I was in Helsinki in February 2025 when a workshop was held to see what potential there was for NRENs to collaborate and work together to deliver on the potential of student mobility.
I was not in Helsinki this week for TNC 2026. For a variety of reasons not attending TNC this year, which is taking place in Helsinki in Finland. One of the side meetings is the inaugural meeting of the new GÉANT Education Digital Infrastructure and Interoperability Coordination Group which is essentially an evolution of the NRENS4Education group. I was, though, able to join remotely. I had also recorded a video in case the remote connection failed.
I had bought some accessories for my iPhone for shooting the video, a Mini Wireless Lavalier Microphone, a 128 LED Rechargeable Portable Selfie Light and a YZNT tripod mount. I liked the fact the microphone came with some windproof heads for using the mics outside. I have been thinking about rebooting the elearning stuff podcast.
One gadget I had back around 2010 was the Edirol R-09HR 24bit 96kHz Wave/MP3 Recorder which was an audio recorder, which was great for recording audio files direct to an SD card. You could use it to record mp3 and WAV files. This is now a retired product, I am not sure what products are out there that would fulfil the use cases that the Edirol did. Not sure if the iPhone is an adequate replacement, but it’s being a while since I looked at audio stuff.
Watched the WWDC keynote from Apple about their work on Apple Intelligence. I realise that in the world of AI, I am way behind in this space and this was one thing I was doing as part of my personal development to update my understanding.
Spent much of the rest of the week supporting staff.
Friday I made my way to the Bristol office. Nice to have a change in pace, location and routine.