Bernie Goldbach

Experiments with Google Gemini

I help run Tuesday evening Zoom RUNEUAI meetings for a group of students from five universities across three time zones. Our 7 October session focused on effective prompting techniques and AI tools like Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. Several people encountered challenges accessing …

While Amalgamating Leuchtturms

Hats off to @manton for configuring Microblog in a way that handles HD video right from my Android phone. My smartphone experience making, trimming woth Filmora, and uploading with the Microblog app is silky smooth.

New Kaffeeklatsch

I have decamped to new kaffeeklatsch locations where exceptionally diverse convos enlighten me. Now I know I have reached the Retirement Zone.

Feeling Like a Cafe Stranger

My new routine involves being the first customer to order inside my local coffee shop. For more than an hour, I am the only man seated at a table.

The Nazis Showed Us How to Do It

I wish American law had a pre-requisite that specified prospective voters had to prove they had passed a civics course or they had completed one semester of history. In my history textbook I read as they came to power in Germany, the NSDAP staged violent confrontations using police and paramilitary …

Inside View of Topgold

I asked ChatGPT-5 to qualitatively review the current archive of my microblog. OpenAI says I write about educational technology and teaching practice; personal knowledge management and productivity workflows; and the social web/podcasting and online publishing culture.

Another Foray into the Kunst Matrix

Mounting another students exhibition inside the Kunst Matrix. This time it’s in support of the RUNEUAI genre. That’s a playful way of describing an assortment of images, original voices, and video clips generated through both Camtasia on laptops and Vyond on both desktops and mobile …

Gen AI for a Non-Tech Audience

I hope an audience that I will meet next month isn’t overwhelmed by a quick explanation Frances ODonnell and I will make about a chatbot we use with some of our EmpowerAI training materials. ​We have a simple chatbot that is powered by ChatGPT as generative AI and several hundred megabytes of …

Starting Another Kunst Exhibition

I’m stuck into a RUNEU Special Advanced Programme and have the gracious help of a curator who is gathering information about RUNEUAI from people sharing how practical workflows with AI has enhanced their digital literacy.

Missed a Big Event

I had to look to see what happened in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium last week. Nothing appeared in my newsfeeds.

Clearing Desk After International Work

Just back after four days in The Netherlands where I enjoyed first rate collegiate collaboration.

Planning a Workshop on Authentic Storytelling #iceri2025

’m deep into a prep session about authentic storytelling with Brigit Kolen on the campus of Fontys University in Eindhoven. I will bring selected bits of AI into a series of workshops we’re proposing for the 18th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation.

Starting a New Phase #buzzquarter

I have started a new phase by occupying the largest creative space ever. The outside of the building says Questum. The outside of my door says Buzz Quarter. I am starting work here by dumping out the contents of a 15 year old briefcase I once carried between Dublin and Thurles. Some of its contents …

First Phone Upgrade in Six Years

I figured out I needed to get a new phone after several phone calls dropped whenever I turned my head. So I dug deep into my spare change to get a Samsung Galaxy S25 with a terabyte of on-board storage.

Learning about a Groyper Sniper

Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University by student Tyler Robinson. The battle of dumb and dumber in this edition of leopards eating each others’ faces wasn’t on my bingo card. This is a red on red crime.

Tall Garden Out the Back

We're at the tail end of a colourful summer with two very stubborn sunflowers towering more than eight feet tall behind our home. I watched my wife buy an assortment of plants, many perennials, during the past four months. I'm surprised (delighted!) to see how we've planted a forest of plants that …

Appreciating Free Local Bus Service

I can ride around my local town for free on a highly subsidised local link service. It’s an unexpected benefit and one that dozens of elderly people use every day.

Scoping Out a Workflow for Cross-Channel Info #RUNEUAI

​I’m running a 15 week programme called RUNEUAI that leads people through a process of creating practical workflows with AI. The first challenge I’m facing concerns how to build a workflow that elegantly shares content into the channels where students currently visit.

Using Claude When Diving into Spreadsheets #RUNEUAI

I first got into Claude.ai because it could write quality content faster on the first draft than I could do myself. Now I’m using Claude to extract information from spreadsheets and then create spreadsheets from my chat prompts.

I am a daily user of readwise.io and I am very impressed by several clever enhancements this year. I chat with my Readwise every morning, surfacing connections between things I’ve read. #RUNEUAI

Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be?

If there is any place where AI is rendering humans obsolete—in which the dawn of superintelligence is already upon us—it is coding. This makes the results of a recent study genuinely astonishing.

Advice for Software Development Students

I’m on a university campus at the start of an academic year, sharing my experience about people with basic AI skills who get much more done during the day than people like me who graduated with the ability to write code with punch cards. And during coffee chats with university lecturers, I …

Currently reading: Tekstzinnig by Ank van Heur and Brigit Kolen 📚 and since I read natively in English, I’m asking a lot of Dutch-to-English questions to my virtual assistant Claude.

I Remain the Tallest

Remembering how young Dylan (now taller than his mom) was only tentative outside his primary school five years ago. At the start of his secondary school education, he’s up earlier and eager to walk into Raheen College in time to get offered the first sausage roll.

We expect strong winds and the last time that happened several plants taller than 1.5 metres snapped. Hopefully, our two remaining Titan Sunflowers survive.