Stilgherrian » n80

At Town Hall station? You breathe this!

Stilgherrian — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:13:47 +0000

This is the air vent in the elevator between platforms 1/2 and 4 at Sydney’s Town Hall station. Do you like that layer of black crap?

Town Hall station is already hot, humid, smelly and dangerously over-crowded. Add to these risks the fact that you’re breathing whatever it is that’s accumulating up there.

While taking this photo with my trusty but battered Nokia N80 the other day, I expected someone to question me — concerned that I was a terrorist or something. I reckon terrorists are the least of your worries here.

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Whither “Stilgherrian Live”?

Stilgherrian — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:31:20 +0000

With Thursday’s night’s episode the Alpha series of Stilgherrian Live came to an end. What next?

Across eight “proper” episodes, plus a couple of impromptu programs from a local pub and a hotel room in Canberra, I achieved my main aim. I proved that it’s possible to do a live video program on the Internet using equipment I can carry in a backpack.

I got a feel for how much pre-production is needed. I got inbound talkback calls working via Skype. And I was very pleased to sustain a regular live audience of 30-odd people. Thank you.

Recently, thanks to Qik, I was able to broadcast live video feeds from my Nokia N80 phone. They’re still viewable at qik.com/stilgherrian. However the “standard” 3G available in Australia meant the technical quality was pretty average. It really does need HSDPA, i.e. a new phone.

So, given that “we have the technology”, what sort of programs should I create?

The 8-plus-2 episodes of Stilgherrian Live Alpha, all linked off the program page, were a mixed bag. They were meant to be based on a half-hour chat show format, but some weeks I simply didn’t have time to prepare and they were little more than me ranting at the camera. Should I continue aiming at that sort of format, or something different?

Here are the random thoughts I’ve been having, numbered so you can refer to them in the comments:

Am I worrying too much about making things look like traditional network TV graphics? Where should I be on that scale of “polished” to “rough”?
Can there be different kinds of Stilgherrian Live, including more serious interviews, quick random broadcasts using Qik, the more “produced-up” weekly chat show etc?
What sort of topics should I cover?
How does this fit with my writing here on the web (both the essays, the link compilations and the random bits), what I do on Twitter and what I do for Crikey?
And, given that I only have a finite amount of time, how much of each do I do?

I’ll leave it there for now, because the Snarky Platypus and I will be meeting at the gym shortly. I do have more thoughts, but I’d like to hear from you, my adoring public, first. And then I’ll respond. Comments please!

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Newtown Sunset, one month ago

Stilgherrian — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:42:03 +0000

Too long since I posted a photo. I thought of taking a quick snap of the street but after 12 days of rain King Street looks bleak. Instead, here’s the glorious sunset scene from 26 March. Enjoy.

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Relatives by appointment…

Stilgherrian — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:06:13 +0000

I spotted this sign on a gate in Enmore yesterday. I know how they feel. I think I might get myself one of these signs…

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The Man in the Window, revisited

Stilgherrian — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:17:30 +0000

Here’s a closer, colour view of The Man in the Window. I still think he looks a little creepy.

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The Man in the Window

Stilgherrian — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:56:52 +0000

I took this photo with my phone the other night at The Duke Hotel. The man stood at the window in exactly this position for about 15 minutes.

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It even works from a moving taxi!

Stilgherrian — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:26:26 +0000

Last night I managed to publish to the Internet while trapped in a stairwell and from a moving train. Tonight I can prove that it also works while travelling at high speed in a moving car.

It’s the same workflow as before — Nokia N80 camera phone, Bluetooth image to PowerBook, then use the phone’s data link to publish back via WordPress. But it’s still fairly clunky because it’s hard to type in a moving car in the dark, and I haven’t set up any actions in Photoshop so everything has to be done manually.

And I hate to think what this is costing me!

So, what do I do for my next challenge? Any suggestions?

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The Stairway to Freedom!

Stilgherrian — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:43:45 +0000

As much as one stairway can symbolise imprisonment, another one at Gordon railway station (pictured) is a symbol of Freedom. It’s deserted, but I know there’ll soon be a late-night train taking me somewhere that dinner can be found. Huzzah!

Yes, I really was trapped alone in an office building, with deadlocking doors at the top and the bottom of the stairwell. One of the tenants is Westpac bank, so everything is solid. And I’d already phoned the client’s people but bounced to voicemail each time. I was looking forward to a long night on the stairs. Not.

And yes, I really did post to my website from The Stairway of Imprisonment.

My PowerBook has a battery. It talks Bluetooth to my Nokia N80 phone, and uses the phone’s 3G data link through Vodafone to teh Internetz. I used the N80’s camera to take the photo, and Bluetooth’d it back to the PowerBook for a quick and dirty bit of Photoshop. The photo transfer happened without disturbing the data link too! Impressed.

Luckily, while I was doing all that one of the client’s staff phoned back. I could take the call while still online, too. Hi, Loraine! She only lives 15 minutes of late-night driving from the office, so I was freed soon enough. And right now I’m on a train back to the City. Indeed, I’m posting this story precisely as I cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

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Ah, beautiful Perth!

Stilgherrian — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:56:23 +0000

I arrived after dark last night, had a bite to eat with friends and checked into the hotel very late. So I didn’t really see Perth until I opened the curtains this morning and saw… this! Glamorous, eh?

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Polite!

Stilgherrian — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:03:59 +0000

The food is laid out, ready to eat, but everyone’s waiting for someone else to make the first move.

This photo was taken at the close of the Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize exhibition on Sunday. Eventually the woman in the blue top sliced into the cheese — and suddenly the spell was broken!

’Pong tells me that in Thai, the very last piece on a plate is called “the polite piece” — the piece everyone is too polite to take.

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Newtown Coven

Stilgherrian — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:32:59 +0000

Last night this curious little coven of witch’s hats caught my eye.

This photo was taken on Enmore Road, Newtown in Sydney — as usual with my trusty Nokia N80 pimple-cam.

Some time — when I get the time! — I’ll set up the workflow so I can post this sort of thing directly from the phone.

The N80, like the rest of the Nseries, actually has single-timeline video editing software built in, which means I should be able to make video podcasts directly from the phone.

I know it’s “easy”, but it’s still one more thing to do…

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Pub plant at dusk

Stilgherrian — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:55:35 +0000

As I sat drinking red wine and discussing politics with the Snarky Platypus yesterday, the lighting on this plant at the Coopers Hotel, King Street, Newtown, caught my eye. Anyone know what it’s called?

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Photos courtesy of a Nokia N80

Stilgherrian — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:53:26 +0000

I should mention that most of my photos I’ve been posting here lately have been taken with my Nokia N80 Nseries “multimedia phone”. Not too foul for a camera with a lens the size of a burst pimple.

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The view from the hotel

Stilgherrian — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:09:40 +0000

For today’s strategic planning session, we booked the executive boardroom at Rydges North Sydney. This was our view. Remember, this is the middle of winter in Sydney. Hello, London.

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Nokia gets the Mac, finally

Stilgherrian — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 22:58:29 +0000

My biggest gripe about Nokia’s Nseries “multimedia telephones” was that the management software was only available for Windows — despite such a massive proportion of “multimedia people” using Macs. This has now been fixed with the new Nokia Media Transfer application for Mac. Will play tonight.