davidgerard

Redbubble 25% off sale ON NOW

Redbubble has a 25% off sale!

no idea how long it runs, so GET IN THERE

https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com/

T-shirts! Mugs! Good stuff!

I'm back!

Shoulda noted this yesterday. I appear to be back to health. w00t! Returned with "Open source projects reject AI code over copyright concerns":

• https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/07/22/open-source-projects-reject-ai-code-over-copyright-concerns/ - text

• 2025-07-23 15:17:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Pivot to AI is unwell

I got Saturday's 20-minute video of Veo 3 fails produced in a tour de force, ignoring my increasing headache and difficulty thinking clearly. But it's done, it's up, and it's fantastic. Tell all your friends!

By the time I went to bed I had 1°C of fever. This has continued today and I've spent the day in bed dazed.

So the blog post and podcast versions will be a while. Probably not tomorrow unless I'm magically well.

In the meantime, here's the video. It's awesome....

Pivot to AI merch is 20-40% off TODAY!

https://www.redbubble.com/people/pivot-to-ai/shop

There's a sale on, ends midnight tonight (not sure what time zone) - all your Pivot to AI and Bitcoin: It Can't Be That Stupid favourites are cheap.

Get in while you can!

Phil Ferguson Show interview

I did an interview on Thursday with Phil Ferguson, a financial advisor with a podcast. First half is crypto, second half is AI. This came out very well!

Sound is not awesome (Zoom being weird?) but you can hear all the words just fine.

It’s on video (33 minutes, just me) and podcast (55 minutes, more Phil, my segment starts around 16:40). [YouTube; 2025-05-30 22:51:38 +0000 UTC View Post

New Patreon beg video

You're all in with the in crowd, of course, but I thought you might enjoy the new video, just up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2S_3kkoBx0

Yes, you can ask some silly bitcoin stickers too. No, I haven't done Pivot ones yet.

Crime is legal — but the actual dollars aren’t showing up (text)

Here's the post version of the video posted earlier. This adds stuff on Twenty One Capital.

I was going to include an El Salvador segment, but that needs a lot more polishing.

Cryptocurrency! Crime is legal — but the actual dollars aren’t showing up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zISd2dKyI5w

yes, it's another video!

There will be a post later containing all the text for this video and more — but I thought I'd give you this the moment it's up. Please enjoy.

In 2025, venture capital can’t pretend everything is fine any more

I posted this to Pivot, but those of you who are here for the finance writing may enjoy it.

(No, not even the VCs are talking seriously about crypto.)

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/05/03/in-2025-venture-capital-cant-pretend-everything-is-fine-any-more/

2025-05-06 21:53:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Adding the Pivot podcast to Apple Podcasts

John Brewer on Mastodon just told me this method:

• Tap the "Library" tab.

• Tap the "..." button in the upper right.

• Tap "Follow a Show by URL..."

• Paste in the URL (in this case https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/rss )

• Tap "Follow"

Please let me know if this works for you.

I'll still try to get it added to Apple properly, but first I h...

Audio-only podcast up now

HEY CHECK THIS OUT https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/

yes it's the youtube version without the pictures!!

I'm checking how to upload backdated episodes too, i got gulp 50+ tiny episodes here

it should propagate to all the podcast networks (except Apple yet, i have to do the messing around there myself)

If you just need an RSS feed, it's: 2025-04-27 22:56:49 +0000 UTC View Post

Suitable newsletter plugins? Suggestions needed

A lot of you have signed up to get emails from Pivot to AI. The Pivot posts are canonically 250 words, so they'll fit on the front page. But many have been longer lately - I tend to write a post, then expand it for video, then blog it - so they have a "read more" at the end.

That works on the blog - but Jetpack (from WordPress) does the "read more" too. There appears to be no way to make it do a "read more" on the blog but send the full text to email subscribers.

I'm looking for a...

Redbubble 25%-off sale this weekend — tweaked mug designs, the Bitcoin: It Can't Be That Stupid shirt

People seem to like the T-shirts and merchandise, which warms my heart. And there’s a 25% off sale running as I write this. I have no idea how long it’ll last, so grab stuff while you can.

I’ve also tweaked the design for the mugs — see the site mockups. The Redbubble store is the worst to try to navigate (and it’s even worse to try to sell stu...

Video: The Røde NT-USB Mini is a lovely little podcast mic (2025)

I just posted a new video, which is a love song to my microphone. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aT2-7_wxck&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA

There's a bunch of links in the show notes to everything about the mic.

It's got subtitles for accessibility and I even corrected the subtitles, so we're covered for accessibility. But $5-and-up patr...

T-shirts! Merchandise!

The Redbubble store has been approved!

https://www.redbubble.com/people/pivot-to-ai/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent

It's print on demand. You send Redbubble lots of money and they print a T-shirt and send it to you.

It's pricy, but this way I don't have boxes of shirts in the cupboard.

I'm still sorting out the shop, excluding...

Statue to Buttcoin Unveiled in Lugano, Switzerland

it is evident I have far too much time on my hands

https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2025/03/31/statue-to-buttcoin-unveiled-in-lugano/

there's a video too

CRYPTO INTERRUPT: Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain on video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gozi23ze218

I have the new microphone and I thought, why not just ... ramble like I'm on a podcast?

So I did. I did this very quickly! ... and then spent a few hours dressing it up with slides and video clips.

I might do more of these, probably. Let me know what you think about slow rambling with hesitations versus the faster scripted things.

new toy get!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdGOmDljpA

first test: 40cm away, room echo, raw sound

second test: holding 15cm from face, 18dB noise reduction applied - this is what I want the sound on the videos to be like

I expect to attempt today's video with this

I will sound mellifluous on podcasts. here's three sides of a mellow tasty prog rock classic, this is "Metal Machine Mus...

Crypto update: LOL who cares, crime is legal

Yeah finally wrote another bitcoin newsletter. I haven’t forgotten crypto! I’ve just spent the past nine months or so writing the same article about bitcoin repeatedly.

I need to get one done about El Salvador giving up bitcoin too.

anyway, enjoy Disaster Girl.

2025-03-25 21:17:44 +0000 UTC View Post

How I make the Pivot to AI YouTube videos

• 1. Various people have asked how I make the Pivot YouTube videos, so I wrote a long post on how you can become a guerilla phonecam truth dropper in these difficult times, on a budget of not much!

(This one doesn't have an accompanying video as yet. I'll wait to co-opt the many useful comments from my fellow querulous nerds.)

2025-03-24 00:10:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Foreign Policy: The U.K. Pivot to AI Is Doomed From the Start

Pivot has covered the UK government's ongoing AI disaster at length. My editor at Foreign Policy asked for something similar for the lay audience, and it's up at last!

Article: https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/10/ai-uk-starmer-opportunities-plan1189169/
Hop the paywall: 2025-03-10 17:03:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Pivot to AI pivots to video

Hey, look what I just did!

https://youtu.be/c1yHrZR_Sgg

This is today’s Pivot story, read out just before I finished it up and posted it. I’ve expanded a bit because posts have links but videos don’t.

My plan is just five-minute sh...

Get a portable monitor, they’re great

Yes, I do hardware reviews too - when they're the stuff I'm actually using to write with. If I can deduct it, it's on topic.

This one is about setting up the new 17" portable monitor I've put on my writing PC.

Hello to all the new Patreon joiners! I tend not to post Pivot To AI here, 'cos they're daily (though I do suggest you sign up on the site for th...

Trump starts a presidential shitcoin

This was commissioned by a US magazine, but legal weren’t entirely happy — so it was spiked. I got a kill fee and I’m free to reuse the piece. Please enjoy.

(The editor took out “ephebophiles”; I’ve restored it for this edition.)

I normally avoid coarse language in the blockchain blog — but honestly, what else can you say about $TRUMP. 2025-02-05 19:34:42 +0000 UTC View Post

State of the art, 2024

Merry christmas to you all!

Pivot to AI is on a break until the new year. The last FP crypto piece seems to be spreading in influential pundit circles - FP pay is middling, but its exposure levels are off the charts.

I got made redundant from the British Medical Journal as of the end of October! I'm looking for another senior sysadmin (= can do/talk to management) job in a reasonably mission-oriented organisation with London-centred WFH. Chasing hot leads right now. Tips most welc...

Foreign Policy: Bitcoin and Hawk Tuah Aren’t So Different

Here’s my latest for Foreign Policy! I thought crypto was finally dying off. But just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Here's an archive.

The headline was the brief — and well done to Haliey Welch for stealing bitcoin’s thunder. I also swing by our good friends at Tether to e...

Dark mode on Pivot to AI broken then fixed

Dark mode on Pivot to AI broke yesterday because of updates to both the Blocksy theme and WP Dark Mode. Steve Farrugia and I tried to fix it and eventually concluded that Blocksy and WPDM were fundamentally adversarial to users - which is basically the WordPress theme/plugin business model.

I removed WPDM and put in Dark Mode Toggle. This is simple and it works.

Issues so far:

• It's very ... orange. This doesn't have a simple fix, even in the paid version.

2024-12-16 12:14:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Crypto magnate Barry Silbert pivots to AI for a 2018-style ICO token pump

w00t, two crypto posts in two days!

The collapse of Genesis risked taking down Digital Currency Group with it. So Barry Silbert is trying a pivot to AI with his new AI-on-the-blockchain company, Yuma!

SPOILER: it’s crypto token pumping.

The writeup is over at Pivot to AI.

I hear bitcoin is supposed to be good now. Is it a new bubble yet?

Bitcoin is almost at $100,000! So I wrote a post. There's also some news about enterprises not on the blockchain.

Call to action for Apple-using patrons!

If you signed up for my Patreon in November 2024 using the Patreon app on an iPhone or iPad, then please remove that subscription and rejoin through my Patreon web page!

Here’s the website version of my Patreon.

What’s going on?

Patreon has a mobile app, for no good reason at all, and they take payments through their app. So Apple is now demandin...