October 2011 – Stilgherrian

30 October 201130 October 2011

Weekly Wrap 73: The Mysteries of the Desert

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets — finally posted on Sunday like it’s meant to be.

On a personal note, it was great to finally get the dental work done so that my jaw is no longer infected. Now, to wait for my shoulder to heal…

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 111, “Cybercrime 2016: a view of the future”. Recorded in Las Vegas, it’s mainly Michael Fey’s view of 2016. He’s McAfee’s worldwide senior vice president of advanced technologies and field engineering. Also, an explanation of how advanced persistent threats are a three-stage attack, and a chat with the bloke who taught me how to create malware and construct botnets in just one hour.

Articles

Hybrid clouds the eventual reality for risk management, CSO, 26 October 2011. And according to the Gartner Hype Cycle, mainstream businesses will start to achieve the benefits of cloud computing in two to five years.
DSD wins US Cybersecurity Innovation Award, CSO, 26 October 2011. DSD provided real-world evidence on how best to defeat the bad guys — and it’s cheap and simple.
Patching the price of security, Technology Spectator, 28 October 2011. While DSD provides simple, effective countermeasures, the big infosec vendors try to sell us ever-more-complex software.

I wrote another two stories apart from these, one for CSO and one for ZDNet Australia, but they won’t be published until Monday.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday morning I spoke about the iPod’s tenth birthday on Adelaide radio 1395 FIVEaa.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday I covered the ISACA conference in Sydney, so of course I got free food and drink.
On Friday I went to the launch of Intel’s Ultrabook standard for laptops at BAR100, The Rocks in Sydney, so naturally there was more free food and drink. They also gave me an Air-Tech Turbo Blimp radio-controlled indoor airship, which I gave away — to someone who then discovered that the blimp itself wasn’t in the box.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: A mysterious oval-shaped object in the desert somewhere between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This might be in Death Valley, but more likely somewhere else. I wasn’t paying much attention until I saw this. Any idea what it is? You can click to embiggen. Oh, and yes this photo was taken last week, not this week, but I’m sure you can live with that.]

26 October 201129 October 2011

Talking iPod and iTunes on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide

This week is the 10th birthday of Apple’s iPod and the sixth anniversary of the launch of Apple’s iTunes store in Australia. Yesterday morning I spoke about those things with Keith Conlon and John Kenneally on Adelaide radio 1395 FIVEaa.

I’ve also included the talkback caller they had just before speaking to me, since I refer to his comments.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.6MB)

16 October 201116 October 2011

Weekly Wrap 71: Mist, followed by Russian-sponsored beer

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets — leaving out most of the embarrassing bits.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 109, “Early Jobs: innovative, underground, illegal”. Yes, a Steve Jobs episode, but covering the early days and AppleTalk and the Apple LaserWriter and things. My guests were Mark Pesce and Nick Hodge.

Articles

Aussie “family” social network fails security basics, CSO, 11 October 2011. Family HQ was launched as a private social network for family use, with privacy as its focus. So it’s a shame they didn’t get someone to test that.
Turnbull’s NBN twilight zone — give the man a cigar (Cuban of course), Crikey, 11 October 2011.
From idiot box to idiot internet, Technology Spectator, 13 October 2011. Thanks to ubiquitous internet and 3G phone networks we no longer sit up in our chairs and “go online”, which means the social TV phenomenon is here to stay.
Android, the simmering security shemozzle, CSO, 14 October 2011.

Media Appearances

None. Which is a nice change after last week.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday evening, I attended the launch of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8.0 at The American Club, Sydney. Kaspersky Lab paid for the food and alcohol. Too much alcohol. So it’s a good thing they also paid for a hotel room.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Misty Morning at Bunjaree Cottages, which I think should be self-explanatory by now.]

10 October 2011

Weekly Wrap 70: Jobs, hipster love, pain and transformation

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets — leaving out all of the most important bits.

I can’t tell you about the highly personal things that happened last week, except to say that something which had been gnawing at the very core of my being has… changed. And my mind is still adjusting. As is my shoulder, which continues to misbehave. But codeine is dealing with that. Again.

The tooth situation is being resolved, though. Stage one of the root canal work has been performed.

I can also tell you about the nauseatingly young-and-in-love hipsters, pictured above, with their matching skateboards and matching sneakers. Well, that’s all I want to tell you about them, or I’ll get cranky.

So with the linkage…

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 108, “Adobe’s long battle with security flaws”. A conversation with Brad Arkin, Adobe’s head of product security and privacy.

Articles

Flash Player 11: Adobe’s great security hope, CSO, 4 October 2011.
iPhone release: no bunch of fives to the fore, but it’s OK, Crikey, 5 October 2011.
Steve Jobs deserved his cult — you don’t even know how he influenced you, Crikey, 6 October 2011.
Gillard and others honour Jobs’ memory (contributor only), ZDNet Australia, 6 October 2011.
Global time zone database closed following legal threat, CSO, 7 October 2011.

Media Appearances

Every single media spot I did this week related to Apple and/or the death of Steve Jobs.

On Wednesday I spoke with Adelaide radio 1395 FIVEaa about the iPhone 4S. But interest in the iPhone subsided when…
… on Thursday the media spots about the death of Steve Jobs began. The first was with ABC Gold Coast.
The second spot was with Triple J’s Hack.
The third spot on Thursday was with ABC News24’s discussion program The Drum.
And on Friday evening I spoke about the death of Steve Jobs on ABC 666 Canberra.
On the weekend, I also provided some comments on Steve Jobs to the TECHGEEK Weekly podcast.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday lunch, snacks and coffee were provided to me as an attendee at the Digital Culture Public Sphere event in Sydney.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Matching skateboards and sneakers, a rather nauseating expression of young love spotted on King Street, Newtown, on Saturday night.]

08 October 201108 October 2011

Talking Steve Jobs on ABC News24’s “The Drum”

If all those radio spots I just posted weren’t enough, I was also asked to talk about Steve Jobs on ABC News24’s program The Drum.

It was my first time on the program. I think I did OK.

If you can’t see the embedded video, try watching it directly on YouTube.

08 October 2011

Talking Steve Jobs on ABC 666 Canberra

My final radio spot on the death of Steve Jobs was this chat with Louise Maher on ABC 666 Canberra late Friday afternoon.

I know these spots are starting to sound the same, but they were all on different radio stations and so reached different audiences. I’m posting them here for reference as much as anything else. You don’t have to listen to them all.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.2MB)

The audio is Â©2011 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, presented here as always because the ABC doesn’t generally post these live interviews and it’s a decent plug for them. Broadcast 7 October 2011.