Mark Oliver

Preparing for the 11+ test? Meet It’s Grammar Time a free online practice website created by a parent going through the process. There’s no login, no subscription and no personal data is stored. itsgrammartime.markoliver.website

Just in case you still use any Basecamp products, DHH is crashing out about his AI product gently pointing out that it’s bad for him to have extermination fantasies about the Roma people.

The reconnectconference.co.uk is happening next week. It is in the heart of #Bournemouth and we have world class speakers. If you are in the tech industry, grab a ticket. DM me for a discount code

Our next event explores how AI can accelerate learning and skill growth in teams, alongside practical ways to simplify day-to-day developer setup. Free tiickets devdottalk.uk/next-event

Only six weeks to go now until SoCraTes UK 2026! We’re very excited, and we’re now on a final push to sell as many tickets as possible. We’re a community not-for-profit event, and every sale makes a huge difference to us.

🎤 Thinking about giving your first tech talk? Here are tips for the aspiring or first-time technical speaker. kendaleiv.com/tips-for-the...

We gave an AI a 3 year retail lease and asked it to make a profit https://andonlabs.com/blog/andon-market-launch (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47794391)

My alma mater, Hull, is having its very own front-end conference, Developers Up North, on June 18. My southerner chum @csswizardry.com - the man behind the very first Cheeky Girls official fan site - will be a speaker. Super early bird tickets are a mere £49! www.developersupnorth.co.uk

As usual, science provides good news. Gee, it's almost like science is a good concept that betters mankind.

Against the backdrop of the tragic meningitis outbreak, I asked Wes Streeting to consider my constituent’s proposal — having been seriously affected by meningitis — to raise awareness among younger people, particularly in schools and universities where the risk is higher.

I can’t believe KPop won not just ONE but TWO Oscars (it was surprisingly heavy btw, I had to hold with two hands cause I’m WEAK 😭) What an achievement for animation!! So proud of the KPDH crew & art team, and grateful to have been a part of this film!!! 🎊🎉🏆

Docker is most useful when you have multiple services working together. Single app? Probably not worth it. But a database, API, Redis, message queue? docker compose up and you are done. No install Postgres 15, configure this, set that env var. New dev clones the repo and starts working in minutes.

And given that March is Women's History month, I would be remiss without giving a big shout to MIT's Margaret Hamilton who led the team that developed the inflight software for these missions. (1/2) #TCMParty #ForAllManking en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...

An observation test for your inner 8-year-old. Can you spot 12 deliberate mistakes? From Treasure magazine, 1965 Official answers coming soon (Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one?)

Made by Markus Gillgen over on FB, here's his #Lego wall . ..."33.600 Bricks, each character is a 8x8 Lego technic module connected with pins to each other." Fab!

DDD events are fantastic and DDD South West is especially so because Bristol is a delightful city - and their CFP is open, so get those talks in now and hopefully see you in Bristol in May!

I've finally got round to submitting my new talk! Had a great time last year and really excited about what I've been working on for 2026. There's still plenty of time to submit if you're thinking about doing it.

To finish off the festive season, I recreated the mini "lego" I received in real lego. The stocking is 1:1 scale stud for stud . The rest are 2x2 block for a 1x1 block scale.

Merry Christmas everyone, especially my #Playschool Babies. Be kind, considerate and compassionate as the festive season continues. Spread joy everywhere you go and remember the best gift you can give is unconditional love ❤️🎄❤️

Every year I like to make sure I stream on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for those who need somewhere to hang out. This year is no exception. Doing a small LEGO build tonight before continuing Batman: Arkham Origins! #gaming #lego twitch.tv/GordMcLeod

I'm officially done. Here are my mostly Hallmark Christmas stats. #SecretSantaAoNZ

Our last event of the year is happening Wed. It is a social even with a general knowledge quiz. Come and meet thr local software tech community. Free tickets at devdottalk.uk/tickets

My article is featured on C# Advent today. Every December I try to contribute to a tech advent calendar and this year has been no different. So here is my take on Google Pub/Sub messaging using .NET

I made a tiny macOS utility to control your mouse pointer with the keyboard. Download and code: github.com/dave1010/Asd... Quick write up: dave.engineer/blog/2025/12...

I have been organising @devdottalk for a year now, and it has been a lot of work, but last night was such a great time that it makes it all worth it. I hope it keeps building like it has, and if you want to come and talk just let me know.

#dotnet 10 is online! devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/annou...

Smyths currently has an offer on any Lego set over £50; £5 off per £50 spent. It only really adds up if you spend hundreds of pounds, but it means that the Game Boy set is £48.

I made a tool that lets you use Claude Skills with any coding agent: dave.engineer/blog/2025/11... Set it up as a GitHub action in 2 minutes: github.com/dave1010/ski...

“Lord Of The Flies” may be a classic, but it’s also a bleak statement about how humans - boys, in this case - are riddled with violent, selfish cruelty & savagery. However, a real-life version happened in 1965 with 6 boys marooned on a deserted island in Tonga - & things went very differently! 1/

We have 3 speakers coming up talking about Software Design using DSLs, better dev environment within Linux, and how Product can make Dec's want to build something. An interesting lineup from 3 local speakers. Free Tickets devdottalk.eventbrite.com

🚀 Join us for brilliant speakers, practical .NET content, and a welcoming community of developers. 🎫 Tickets are FREE! 🍕 Pizza + drinks included 🍺 Pub afterwards for a chat Get your free ticket here 👇 www.meetup.com/dotnetnorth/...

🐶🐾 Lewis Hamilton shares a Lego portrait of Roscoe he was gifted: “This lego portrait of Roscoe really touched me. The amount of detail in it is incredible and I can't imagine how long it took. Thank you to Karen and Ilona for making this and sending it to me.” #F1 #TeamLH #Dogs #Lego

We're doing a limited-edition release of Windows XP-inspired Crocs with custom Jibbitz charms and a Bliss-themed drawstring backpack! Details in this blog post! I scored a pair - my first ever Crocs. #MicrosoftCrocSweepstakes #Microsoft50 blogs.windows.com/windowsexper...

Ship SaaS Fast — .NET SaaS Boilerplate Launch your SaaS in weeks, not months. Skip months of boilerplate development and start with a battle-tested, production-ready platform. jamiemaguire.net/index.php/20...

Don't want LinkedIN to automatically train its AI on your data, switch it off here: www.linkedin.com/mypreference... Not sure about the rest of the world, but if you don't switch it off it will start collecting in November for the Netherlands/ Dutch members.

Unfortunately, due to poor ticket sales, we are cancelling {dev.talk} this Wed August 27th. We will be back Sept 24th.

@kieranlarwood.bsky.social my son was giddy walking out of the bookshop yesterday clutching podkin books 7&8. He has devoured them and says he cannot wait for the paperback of 9, so is using money from his piggybank to get the hardback. Thanks for inspiring him with a great set of characters.

I'm off to BSides Bournemouth tomorrow. Never been to a cyber security Conf before. Should be interesting. Come and say hi if you are going too.

I'm having a rough go of it lately, and have been thinking: everyone is going through something, and you have no idea what it is, or how it's affecting them. Quote post this is if you're going through something, and maybe we'll all realize that we aren't as alone as we feel right now.

This is a neat tool to keep your MacBook from going to sleep: blog.markoliver.website/Keeping-Your...

I just wanted to say, I’m probably more proud of this Ted talk than just about anything I’ve ever done so I’m gonna be absolutely useless for the next couple of weeks as I promote the shit out of this because I want you to watch it because it matters in the moment we are in youtu.be/dVG8W-0p6vg

Just used the new evaluate JavaScript tool in the @playwright.dev MCP server to add thick red CSS borders around tested elements — then screenshot the result. 🔥 Visual debugging + test coverage. So many use cases. What would you use it for? youtu.be/n0CFmm38o4Y

Dev South Coast meetup in Southampton has @rendle.dev telling us how to keep software dev simple

Modern things that the Pride and Prejudice characters would LOVE. 🩷🩵 1/12 A little bit of silliness for Monday morning.