Month: June 2014

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Weekly Wrap 212

[This post was actually written on 17 August 2014, but I’ve dated it 29 June 2014 so it appears in the archives in the correct sequence. This post is part of an attempt to clear the backlog of routine posts, hence the lack of photo, detail and finesse. — Stilgherrian.]

My week of Monday 23 to Sunday 29 June 2014 was relatively unproductive, thanks to the illness alluded to previously. There was one significant highlight, however: the return of The 9pm Edict podcast.

Podcasts

Articles

None. I did write a column for ZDNet Australia, but it wasn’t published until the following week.

Media Appearances

5at5

Why don’t you subscribe to 5at5?

Corporate Largesse

None.

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The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion

The Internet of Trees: click to embiggen

This episode of The 9pm Edict heads into a eucalypt forest in search of the internet, and encounters a dog.

You’ll hear about the National Broadband Network’s fibre-to-the-node trial, Russell Brand, Bertrand Russell, the 20th anniversary of a sarin nerve gas attack in Japan, the 25th birthday of the internet in Australia, the 60th birthday of nuclear power stations, Hillary Clinton and the mangoes, Google co-funder Larry Page’s threat to kill 100,000 people, and the arsehattery of Village Roadshow co-CEO Graham Burke.

And there’s the dog, of course.

And a cat. Sort of.

But don’t forget the dog.

Continue reading “The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion”
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Weekly Wrap 211: Cold, briefly, with secret television

[This post was actually written on 3 July 2014, but I’ve dated it 22 June 2014 so it appears in the archives in the correct sequence. This post is part of an attempt to clear the backlog of routine posts, hence the lack of photo, detail and finesse. — Stilgherrian.]

My week of Monday 16 to Sunday 22 June 2014 was both unproductive, thanks to what was probably a cold, and over quite some days ago — so let’s keep this brief.

I also spent an entire day being a consultant on a new television series, a political thriller which has hacking and surveillance as key plot elements. I can’t talk about that any further, but it’s fun, and I daresay you’ll find out more soon enough.

Articles

Media Appearances

None.

5at5

Why don’t you subscribe to 5at5?

Corporate Largesse

None.

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Weekly Wrap 210: A rainy Monday sets the pace

Rushcutters Bay, Sydney: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 9 to Sunday 15 June 2014 went moderately well, starting off with a pleasant walk around Sydney on Monday, the Queen’s Birthday.

Productivity was a bit lower than I’d have hoped, but I did plenty of thinking about the future. The rapidly approaching end of the financial year tends to encourage that.

Articles

Media Appearances

5at5

A short week due to the holiday on Monday. Why don’t you subscribe to 5at5?

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a day of planning, focusing mainly on the next steps for my podcasts, The 9pm Edict and Corrupted Nerds. I’m likely to produce an episode of The 9pm Edict in the days following.

Wednesday and Thursday are writing days, including something for ZDNet Australia and something for someone else.

On Friday I’m heading to Sydney to do some more consulting work on a certain television drama series. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, because the first series hasn’t aired yet. But it’s looking like there’ll be a second series, so my input has been requested.

Saturday is the Winter Solstice, happening at 2051 AEST for me, so I’ll celebrate that in some way. I haven’t figured out exactly how yet.

[Photo: Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, photographed just after a rain shower on Monday 9 June 2014.]

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So I’ve decided to drop Blogjune

Despite my early enthusiasm for Blogjune, saying I’d join various others in writing a blog post ever day this month, I’ve decided to give it a miss.

While I do want to be writing more of the essays I used to write, I’ve got plenty to be getting on with — including The 9pm Edict podcast, figuring out what to do with Corrupted Nerds, and of course generating more paying work.

Once I’d fallen a couple of days behind, the “commitment” to this arbitrary project was really only causing stress, without generating much in the way of benefits. So I’m quite happy to have dropped it.

The five Blogjune posts I did write are all tagged blogjune.

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Talking Google-Facebook links on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide

FIVEaa logoInteresting news today that Facebook will start using Google’s browsing history data to better target their advertising. It triggered an equally interesting conversation just now on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide.

According to the USA Today report run on Fairfax mastheads, Facebook is looking to ramp up revenue as it competes with Google for advertising dollars.

“Let’s say that you’re thinking about buying a new TV, and you start researching TVs on the web and in mobile apps. We may show you ads for deals on a TV to help you get the best price or other brands to consider. And because we think you’re interested in electronics, we may show you ads for other electronics in the future, like speakers or a game console to go with your new TV,” the company said.

Afternoon presenter Will Goodings wanted to chat about the privacy implications. But then I showed him the recent Bloomberg report which described how researchers could use smart meters — the electricity kind — to figure out what TV programs you were watching by analysing the TV’s power consumption patterns.

Here’s the full interview, plus the subsequent conversation with lawyer Paul Gordon from Finlayson’s Lawyers, who called in while we were chatting.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.2MB)

The audio is ©2014 dmgRadio Australia.