Tim Nicholls

A decision was made.

A medium shot captures two men standing amidst lush green foliage in a sun-dappled woodland. The individual on the left is wearing a charcoal-coloured cap and an olive green utility vest layered over a dark blue shirt. He has a puzzled expression, with his mouth slightly agape. Beside him, the man on the right wears thin, rimless spectacles and a dark green outdoor jacket over a light blue checked shirt. He appears startled, looking directly ahead with a concerned gaze. The background is a soft-focus blur of leaves and branches, with patches of bright light hitting their shoulders and the surrounding greenery.

I have to say that the new three-part special of The Detectorists was a depressing departure from its usual style.

This might give you a new appreciation for the sport and it's also one of the best things I've ever watched too!

www.itv.com/watch/shores...

I don't know what you're reading but I bet it's not Tatung Einstein User.

A Tatung Einstein 256 micro-computer sits inside a cardboard box, appearing to be recently unboxed. The dark grey console features a light grey keyboard with a prominent orange Enter key and a built-in disc drive on the right side. Propped up behind the machine is its spiral-bound owners manual, which displays a colourful rainbow graphic and the text "512 Colour Micro-Computer". A small 3-inch floppy disc in a clear plastic bag is also visible in the background.

I'm not, but I probably should be...

Thank fuck the Winter Olympics is over. If I heard one more person use the word ‘medal’ as a verb someone was going to get hurt.

They're all 'A' and little or no 'I' ;-)

They’re Large Language Models fed masses of content to teach them how language works. Any facts they pick up are a by product. They started off as just glorified autocomplete that couldn't even search the 'net. Now they can, but that training still stands.

New Business Idea Number 315: Corporate training videos.

Last play of this turntable (brilliant but fiddly, delicate, and just a bit too 'audiophile' for me) before it gets replaced with a chunky Tim-proof Technics.

ACiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiD!

Toy car floor mat.

Why has there never been a racing game based on this?

The Ultimate Emulation Machine (Part 3) Nearly There!

Part 3 of my Emulation Machine build is up on Substack - open.substack.com/pub/virtvics...

Official Childhood Briefing (1970s UK Edition)

1. Substations were electrified murder temples.
2. Ponds were staffed by vengeful ghosts.
3. Fireworks actively wanted to blind you.
4. Cars killed you on sight.
5. Wearing flares (ideally brown) was mandatory.
6. All male children were called Jimmy.

32 loose Atari 2600 games in vintage cartridge drawers.

Original Atari packaging boxes.

Sealed Atari 2600 games.

You know it's time to shrink down your collection when you find stuff like this that you forgot you owned.

Green printed circuit board with a row of identical black edge connectors mounted in a straight line, resting on a wooden desk and supported by white foam packaging.

Vintage Atari 2600 console on a workbench, fitted with a Hales RomScanner cartridge selector loaded with multiple Atari game cartridges. The console has a woodgrain front panel, black ridged top, and classic toggle switches, surrounded by tools, wires, and electronics, suggesting a retro gaming repair or setup workspace.

Still very much at the prototyping stage, but if you were or are an #Atari #retrogaming fan and always wanted one of those crazy expensive 10 game cartridge switching RomScanner devices, watch this space!

Black shop sign mounted on a white building reading “INCELL” in red, with “Mobile Phone Repairs & Accessories” in white below. Overhead cables run above the sign and part of a smaller matching repair centre sign is visible beneath it.

I bet these guys have some strong opinions.

Close up of a small triangular enamel badge held between fingers. The badge is red with a green triangle in the centre showing a black silhouette of a cyclist. The words ‘National Cycling Proficiency’ are printed around the triangle.

If any world leader would like my Cycling Proficiency badge, just let me know (assuming awards are all just vibes based now)

Terms and conditions apply*

*Badge holders must not arbitrarily claim sovereign territory as their own.

Interior of an abandoned cinema auditorium with rows of decaying upholstered seats leading towards a damaged stage. The stage is covered in peeling purple carpet and debris, backed by closed, faded curtains. Walls are stained and crumbling, with exposed brick and flaking paint. The floor is littered with wood fragments and dust, creating a sense of long neglect and disuse.

This is the old Cannon #cinema in Hinckley. It closed in 1993. The two pink dots are where my friend Gareth and I sat when we saw Star Wars (and it was just called Star Wars back then!) in 1978. We were eight years old and got dropped off by my dad because he wasn't interested in "that space crap" 😂

I highly recommend finding a #therapist that speaks your language:

"Also, guilt here is not evidence of wrongdoing. It’s evidence that you care deeply. Unfortunately, caring brains are absolute bastard bellends and like to invent moral failures where none exist."

I know what the opening line of Neuromancer looked like.

Without revealing your actual age,what's something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?

Happy Mondays cassette.

I’m enjoying myself this afternoon! 🎶 Found me an old cassette player in the ‘man drawer’!

Brilliant! This is a genuine offer: I bought 4,000+ cassettes from a secondhand shop on Merseyside that closed down in 2004. Some used and sone new old stock. I them (for free) to music fans and tapeheads. If you have a list of bands or genres, I'd like to send you any I have that you might like.

Vintage black portable CRT television with chunky dials and knobs sitting on a wooden table, displaying a blue tinted image of the fictional character Max Headroom on screen. The set has a utilitarian 1980s design with a telescopic antenna, control labels on the front panel, and a slightly curved glass screen, creating a distinctly retro broadcast aesthetic.

Close up of a red 3D printed UHF RF transmitter inside a black protective case, connected by composite video and audio cables on the left and a coaxial antenna cable on the right. A small blue OLED screen on the transmitter shows frequency settings. Next to it sits a black 4K HDMI media player with connected power and HDMI cables, all neatly packed together for portable broadcast or signal testing.

I built a #TV station! Well, sort of. I built a UHF transmitter connected to a little hardware media player and it all fits in a cheap plastic case with a power bank in it and 'broadcasts' a folder of MP4s to my old analogue CRT televisions.

Transparent blue Sony CDit II 90 cassette tape photographed close up on a desk. The clear plastic shell reveals black tape spools with pale blue hubs. White printed text reads “SONY”, “POSITION CHROME”, “CDit II 90”, and “IEC II TYPE II HIGH BIAS 70 µs EQ”. The cassette is upright, label side facing the camera, with audio equipment and cables softly out of focus in the background.

Bit of an unsung hero these Sony CDit II tapes. They're the later ones in slide cases and they look like they're nothing special but the tape stock in these is phenomenally good for the price, especially used. I've tested them in a Revox B215, a Yamaha KX-10, and a NAD 613 and they rock! #cassette

Funny really, when I AM the security risk! 😂

I'm getting nudges from my Mac Mini to upgrade and I've resisted so far. I really don't want my Mac to look like a giant iPhone (and I'm not an iPhone user!)

One of the most stressful times in anyone's life is when you have to murder a loved one because you discover they pronounce the word lozenges as "lossinjers".

These promotional tee shirts were fun to rediscover today as I move things into the new store room. All from the period.

An open, elongated white plastic box containing 28 promotional domino tiles from Netscape, arranged in two parallel columns of seven tiles each, resting on a warm-toned wooden surface with visible horizontal grain and subtle shadows. Each tile is a smooth, off-white rectangular piece with rounded corners, approximately twice as long as it is wide, and they feature variations of the classic Netscape logo: a teal square background with a stylized white capital "N" overlaid by a thin black curved line suggesting a horizon or wave. Due to the angled perspective of the photo, taken slightly from above and to the right, some logos and text are rotated or mirrored, adding a dynamic feel to the arrangement. The box itself has a simple design with no visible branding on the exterior, and its lid is folded back out of frame, revealing the neatly packed tiles inside. This item is vintage tech swag from the 1990s era of early web browsers, evoking a sense of internet history nostalgia.

Very relatable Neil. I unearthed a stack of old 90s Netscape dev team T-shirts while loftmining for Christmas decorations this year and got walloped by nostalgia. I also unearthed a rare unreleased game from Netscape*

*okay, technically an unreleased merch sample, but it's still a game!

Close up photo of a sealed BASF Ferro Extra I C90 audio cassette in clear plastic retail packaging, with bold red and black branding. A yellow and red ‘Special Buy’ sticker and a white Woolworths price label showing £2.49 are visible on the front. The cassette reels can be seen through the transparent case, and the package is resting on a beige carpet.

Photo of a Brownstone ‘5 Miles to Empty’ cassette standing upright on a wooden surface in front of a black hi fi cassette deck. The cassette inlay shows three women posed with a chair in a studio style portrait. A Woolworths price sticker reading 99p is attached to the front. Behind it, the deck’s blue digital display is lit, showing a counter reading 999 and level meters.

Every time I come across a Woolworths price sticker on an old #cassette it makes me somehow simultaneously really happy and really sad. I took #Woolworths for granted because it had been there since I was born and always would be. Until it wasn't :-(