Month: August 2016

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Weekly Wrap 326: To the Mountains for Spring, and pain

Sydney Central Station on a spring morning: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 22 to Sunday 28 August 2016 began well, but ended in pain.

Monday and Tuesday went to plan, but after that the fatigue set in right through until Saturday. The cat’s humans returned on Saturday evening, rather than Sunday as I’d expected, and that night became a bit… rowdy.

I awoke Sunday morning in pain, thanks to falling onto the edge of a coffee table, and copping the hard corner in the ribs. Do not trust coffee tables. That made the return to Wentworth Falls… interesting. But hey, here I am.

Articles and Podcasts

None, but I’ve gathered plenty of material for writing over the next few weeks.

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday, I recorded another five videos with Chris Duckett for the ZDNet Security TV series. They will appear over the coming weeks.

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

It’s my first week back in the Blue Mountains for three months, and it’s the start of Spring. I’m looking forward to it.

On Monday I’m keeping quiet to rest my back, then staying in to watch an episode of ABC TV’s Four Corners on Cyber War. On Tuesday I’m doing an early-morning interview, reviewing Four Corners for Crikey, and in the afternoon running errands in Katoomba.

On Wednesday, it’s the long commute down to Sydney for a briefing by Nokia’s Fixed Networks division that morning, then writing for ZDNet. I may or may not stay in Sydney overnight. Then on Thursday I’ll be at the Trend Micro CLOUDSEC conference.

There’s a chance all that might be reshuffled or even cancelled if the pain lingers too long.

It most certainly was reshuffled. It turns out that while I haven’t broken any ribs or damaged my kidneys, it’ll take two to four weeks for the injury to settle down. Resting is a more sensible idea than long train commutes. I’ll do some writing and suchlike from where I am.

I reckon Friday will see some more writing for ZDNet, and then the weekend is unplanned.

Further Ahead

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed on Tuesday 6 September.

I’m going to the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October, and an event in Melbourne I can’t tell you about yet on 17 November.

Update 30 August 2016: Edited to reflect pain-related schedule changes.

[Photo: Sydney Central Station on a spring morning, photographed not this year but on 15 August 2012.]

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Weekly Wrap 325: Crossing a canal as winter ends

Glebe Park Canal: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 August 2016 was an interesting one. While the severe back pain continued, it’s slowly declining, and so is the stress. We’ll see how that all turns out.

Anyway, on with the details…

Articles

Podcasts

None. I’m planning to produce the next episode of The 9pm Edict in the first week of September.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

Yet another week in Sydney will make it 13 weeks in a row. I wonder when I should start considering Sydney as my home again? Sydney doesn’t feel like home again yet, but then nowhere does. That’s probably a topic for another time, however.

On Monday and Tuesday I’m covering the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney, an event that always seems to be good value for me. On Tuesday night I’m recording some more short videos about security for ZDNet.

The rest of the week is the usual jumble of geek project work, writing for ZDNet, and a few other things, which I’ll juggle as I go along.

On Saturday Sunday I’m bumping out of the Ashfield apartment, leaving a well-fed cat in my wake, and migrating up to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, where I’ll be for a few weeks. Sunday is unplanned.

Further Ahead

I’m going to CLOUDSEC Australia 2016 in Sydney on 1 September, the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, and the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October.

Update 24 August: Edited to reflect changes to the weekend plans.

[Photo: Glebe Park Canal. Crossing the canal at the western side of Centennial Park, Glebe, in Sydney at the end of a late winter day, 17 August 2016.]

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Talking Facebook’s Project Aquila on ABC Radio National

Facebook's Project Aquila

ABC logoOn Wednesday I spoke with ABC Radio National about Facebook’s Project Aquila. I’ll let their introduction explain it.

Facebook’s ‘Aquila’ drone has the wingspan of a 737 airliner. But it’s powered by the equivalent of three blow-dryers, and it will stay aloft for months at a time.

It’s a technological feat, built with the idea of extending internet connectivity to more of the developing world.

But the net commentator Stilgherrian explains that Facebook’s offering comes with certain limits.

Here’s the full conversation with presenter Michael Mackenzie, which also included a few words about Google’s Project Loon and net neutrality.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.5MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is being served directly from the ABC website.

[Photo: Facebook’s ‘Aquila’ aerial internet platform has the same wingspan as a Boeing 737 airliner. (supplied)]

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Weekly Wrap 324: Back to the pain, causing chaos

Stripes in KL: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 August 2016 did not go to plan at all. I had to cancel everything from Wednesday onwards thanks to severe back pain.

Podcasts

Articles

None.

Media Appearances

None, though the Census disaster would have generated a few media appearances had I not been in pain. Messages started coming in from 0600 the morning after, and eventually totalled requests for nine or more radio spots and three TV spots — not that I could have done them all.

Corporate Largesse

  • CrowdStrike sent me a couple of their handy little webcam covers.

The Week Ahead

It’s yet another week in Sydney, which will make it 12 weeks in a row. I’m kinda glad I’ve avoided being in the Blue Mountains during the coldest part of winter.

It’s also another jumbled week of updating all the geek projects, writing for ZDNet, and trying to sort out my never-ending cashflow disaster. Details via Twitter each day.

On Thursday evening, I’ll be going to Text100’s infamous Xmas in August event, where they preview their clients’ products for Christmas and no-one ever drinks any alcohol whatsoever. On Friday, I’ll migrate to Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west, where once more I’ll be cat-sitting.

The weekend is unplanned.

Further Ahead

I’ll be going to the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney on 22-23 August, the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, and the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October.

[Photo: Stripes in KL. A snapshot of contrasting stripes taken when I was wandering the streets of Kuala Lumpur on 12 September 2011.]

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The 9pm Edict’s Census Night Special LIVE

Photo of Census form, with a microphone in the foregroundTonight’s recording session of The 9pm Edict podcast will be streamed live from 2100 AEST via Spreaker.

You can listen right here. The widget immediately below currently shows all the episodes of the Edict uploaded to Spreaker. A “Live” button will appear when the broadcast starts.

You can also use the Spreaker apps (the listening apps, not the studio/production apps) or listen on The 9pm Edict‘s show page.

Tweet along using the hashtag #9pmlive.

A test transmission will start at 2055 AEST, five minutes before the program proper starts at 2100 AEST. Give or take.

[Photo: Photo of Census form, with a microphone in the foreground.]