Author: Stilgherrian

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Weekly Wrap 311: A week that went to plan, mostly

Red Dawn: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 9 to Sunday 15 May 2016 went pretty much to plan. I think that’s all that needs to be said.

Articles

Podcasts

None, but earlier today I made a special announcement.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

None, but there’ll be quite a lot next week.

The Week Ahead

Monday is about bookkeeping and sorting out a billion loose ends.

Tuesday will be a geek-work day, and in the afternoon I’ll be heading to Sydney for a launch event for Huawei’s new Mate 8 smartphone. I’ll be staying in Sydney overnight.

On Wednesday, I’m going to a media lunch with Doron Kempel, founder and global CEO of SimpliVity. While I tense up every time I near their buzzword “hyperconvergence”, Mr Kempel is one of those tech CEOs who can talk intelligently about the industry as a whole without turning everything into a product pitch. The day ends with drinks with a friend.

Thursday will be a writing day. I’ll also be returning to Wentworth Falls.

Friday will be another bookkeeping day, with a medical appointment in Sydney at the end.

The weekend will see me put together an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.

Further Ahead

On 24-27 May, I’m covering the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast. Apart from my usual conference coverage, once more I’ll be on the panel for the event’s closing Speed Debate.

On the afternoon of Saturday 4 June, I’ll be recording The 9pm Edict Public House Forum 3 at a location to be announced. If nothing else, it’s half-way through Australia’s interminable election campaign, so I suspect that may be one of the topics for discussion. Another episode will appear some time around Monday 20 June.

[Update 15 May 2016, 1750 AEST: Edited to reflect changes to “The Week Ahead”.]

[Photo: Red Dawn. Smoke from the hazard-reduction burns in the Blue Mountains National Park may have made the air more difficult to breathe, but it also made for some spectacular dawns. This was the view from Rosella Cottages at Bunjaree Cottages, near Wentworth Falls, on 12 May 2016. Not bad for an iPhone camera in low light.]

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Announcing “The 9pm Plan to 30 June”

Screenshot of Spreaker Studio appCareful listeners will have heard that I’m hoping to produce The 9pm Edict podcast to a more predictable schedule. That schedule will start on 1 July. Between now and then, there will be three episodes.

  1. A regular episode will appear next weekend, 21-22 May.
  2. The 9pm Edict Public House Forum 3 will be recorded on the afternoon of Saturday 4 June, at a venue to be announced in the next few days. (If you don’t know what that’s about, listen to Public House Forum 1 and Public House Forum 2.
  3. Another regular episode will appear around 20 or 21 June.

While all three episodes will be produced during Australia’s federal election campaign, I’ll try to avoid any me-too election commentary. Wish me luck.

I’ll also be restructuring the funding model for the podcast from 1 July. Combined with the new schedule, I’ll increment the series number from 4 to 5.

You can listen to this announcement below. But if you want all of the episodes, now and in the future, subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe automatically in iTunes, or go to SoundCloud or Spreaker.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32 — 2.4MB)

[Photo: Screenshot of the Spreaker Studio for Desktop app which I’ll be using to live-stream some of my podcast recordings.]

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Weekly Wrap 310: Repaired computer, repaired(-ish) human

Malcolm Turnbull announces the federal electionMy week of Monday 2 to Sunday 8 May 2016 was essentially a continuation of the previous week, although the illnesses both physical and digital have ended.

Well, the short-term medical conditions anyway. The long-term conditions are both being addressed more or less according to plan. Ish.

I’ll tell you about the key events another time, however. For now, just the essentials.

Podcasts

I’m quite pleased with this episode, and what little feedback I’ve had about the potential future of this podcast suggests that this magazine format is the way to go — although the Public House Forum episodes also seem popular.

Meanwhile…

Jobs and growth, jobs and growth, jobs and growth. Australia’s federal election has finally been confirmed for Saturday 2 July. We have an eight-week campaign, which means there should be at least two episodes of the Edict.

The mediascape will be filled with the usual commentary and mainstream punditry based on each day’s action. So for my own efforts, in podcasts or elsewhere, I intend to slow down and get outside that bubble.

What will this mean in practice? I don’t know yet. Watch this space.

Articles

Media Appearances

  • Mark Newton decided to preserve my rant about Senator James Paterson from Thursday night. I was angry that he’d asked a question in Senate Estimates about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) spending $50,000 on a custom typeface, the answer to which he could have found by reading any news story on the topic. I’ll have more to say about that another time.
  • On Sunday, I was quoted in an article, My innovation is bigger than your innovation, by Ken Wolff at The Political Sword. It’s an interesting read, in which I play a tiny, tiny part.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be based at Wentworth Falls for most of the week, I believe, and it begins with a day off on Monday.

Remarkably, the rest of the week has no fixed appointments, but I’ve got plenty to do. There’s the usual writing for ZDNet and perhaps Crikey, the geek-for-hire work, and the neverending work to bring my tax affairs up to date. I’ll also have to lock in my podcast and election campaign plans. But I’ll be able to work on these things in the most comfortable order. This pleases me.

The weekend is similarly unplanned. Joy.

Further Ahead

On 24-27 May, I’m covering the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast. Apart from my usual conference coverage, once more I’ll be on the panel for the event’s closing Speed Debate.

[Photo: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces the federal election on 8 May 2016. Screenshot from ABC News24.]

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Weekly Wrap 309: Broken computer, broken human

Approaching Sydney: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 25 April to Sunday 1 May 2016 was disrupted — not in that silly fashionable way, but in the traditional annoying way — by failing computer hardware and illness.

My MacBook Pro developed a screen fault, so I lost time moving my work to a loaner machine and organising repairs. Somewhere along the way I got what I presumed was food poisoning but which is clearly something else. Both patients are getting better, the silicon more quickly than the flesh.

The many edits to last week’s Weekly Wrap reflect all the plans made and discarded.

As a result…

Articles

None.

Podcasts

None. However an episode of The 9pm Edict is part-produced.

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday, I spoke about all the cybers on ABC 774 Melbourne.
  • On Thursday night, I recorded some short videos on various information security topics for ZDNet, which will dribble out over the coming weeks.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

I’m back at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains this week, or at least for most of it.

On Monday, I’m working on geek-for-hire tasks in the morning, and completing that episode of The 9pm Edict podcast in the afternoon and evening.

On Tuesday, I’m making the long commute down to Sydney to cover the inaugural National Fintech Cyber Security Summit. Tuesday night is federal Budget Night in Australia, so I’ll probably stay in Sydney to amuse myself with that rather than spend the evening on the train. Nah, that’s too long a day. I’ll do some bits and pieces in the Blue Mountains instead.

On Wednesday morning, I daresay I’ll be writing something. At midday, it’s my first progress check at the Black Dog Institute, three months into working on the dog of a different colour. I’ll probably have some news. Then I’ll collect my repaired MacBook Pro, and return to the Mountains.

The remainder of the week and the weekend are unplanned, but I know I’ll be writing for ZDNet and doing more geek-for-hire stuff in there somewhere.

Further Ahead

On 24-27 May, I’m covering the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast. Apart from my usual conference coverage, once more I’ll be on the panel for the event’s closing Speed Debate.

Update 2 May 2016: Edited to reflect changed plans for Tuesday.

[Photo: Approaching Sydney. A Qantas Boeing 737-800, I believe, on approach to Sydney airport (SYD) over the inner west suburb of Lilyfield on 25 April 2016.]

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Talking yet more cybers on ABC 774 Melbourne

ABC Sydney TARDIS 1

ABC logoIn this month’s now semi-regular spot on ABC 774 Melbourne, it was only natural to talk about the Australian government’s new Cyber Security Strategy, as I did on four spots elsewhere last week.

But as you’ll hear, this 20-minute conversation with Lindy Burns on Tuesday night covered quite a bit of territory — even, briefly, the National Broadband Network.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:52 — 12.4MB)

For further background material, see the first post in this series.

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[Photo: The view in ABC Radio’s Sydney TARDIS 1 just before I did this radio spot on 26 April 2016.]