Stilgherrian – Page 161

14 July 201521 July 2015

Announcing “The gasping computer, the changing plan”

Some three weeks ago, I told you how my computer was dying, and crowdfunding would ensue. Then just two days ago I said that the crowdfunding was imminent. That too must change.

Yesterday morning I lost three hours to chasing various error messages. The week’s plans were ruined from day one.

Last night I stopped to think how the computer’s steadily degrading performance was affecting my productivity, and I went digging. The image at the top of the post shows just one species of frequent error message.

As I explain on the Flickr post:

For whatever reason, user interface (UI) updates get disabled — and stay disabled for seconds at a time. Signals just aren’t getting through, and I’ve seen them last for up to 20 seconds or more.

So the basic problem is that you click on something, or press a key on the keyboard, and there’s a delay. Then another one.

And that’s just one of several serious symptoms.

Trying to assemble the crowdfunding campaign — as well as all my other work — on the dying computer itself is a fool’s errand. And I have been that fool.

Fortunately, Justin Clacherty has a spare mid-2013 MacBook Pro with maxed-out processor and RAM specs, and he’s going to lend it to me while I organise things. The new current planned start for the crowdfunding campaign is during the week beginning 20 July. Wish me luck.

12 July 201519 July 2015

Weekly Wrap 266: The chasm of change yawns wide

Wi-Fi: No hardware detected My week of Monday 6 to Sunday 12 July 2015 was the first of two weeks I’ll be spending in Sydney — but it wasn’t just the geography that made it unusual.

I had intended to get a Pozible crowdfunding campaign under way for The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh, but I ended up doing quite a bit of work on the SEKRIT television project instead.

This is a Good Thing, because it’s fun and interesting work, and the pay is quite reasonable. But as the photo at the top of the post shows, my computer is dying fast. The Wi-Fi hardware fails regularly, and you can also make out the screen cracks. So that crowdfunding effort will have to happen quite soon. Like in the coming week.

Articles

Encryption’s holy grail is getting closer, one way or another, ZDNet Australia, 6 July 2015.
A column was written and filed on Friday, but it hasn’t appeared yet.

Podcasts

None.

5at5

5at5 is on hiatus this week and next.

Media Appearances

On Thursday, I spoke about digital detox on ABC 891 Adelaide.
On Saturday, I was quoted in The Saturday Paper’s story, Spyware company’s shadowy deals exposed, on the hacking of Hacking Team.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday evening, I went to Tanium’s open-house demo and drinks evening in Sydney, where of course there was free food and drink.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be working on that crowdfunding campaign, as well as getting a haircut, and in the evening meeting with Leslie Nassar about yet another, different SEKRIT project.

On Tuesday, I’ll be doing further work on the crowdfunding project and, ideally, launching it. I’ll also be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, which may extend into Wednesday. Otherwise, Wednesday is likely to be a day of research and writing, before I wander to Oracle’s drinks evening in Surry Hills. Thursday is also a day of writing, ideally culminating in a column for ZDNet.

Friday and the weekend are as yet unplanned. However there are many, many things that need organising, so I daresay they’ll be quite full days. Stand by. Also, and and all of this schedule may be disrupted by urgent work on the SEKRIT television project.

Update 13 July 2015: Edited to add The Saturday Paper reference, and indicate the flexibility of the schedule.

[Photo: “Wi-Fi: No hardware detected”, being an increasingly common sight on my rapidly-disintegrating MacBook Pro.]

12 July 201512 July 2015

Talking digital detox on ABC 891 Adelaide, again

It would be unfair to say that Randi Zuckerberg is only important because her brother is Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. She already had her own media career. Nevertheless…

Ms Zuckerberg spoke at the Asia Pacific Cities Summit in Brisbane on Wednesday, and if The Australian‘s report on Thursday is an accurate rendition, it must’ve been a disjointed jumble of ideas.

Chief amongst them was the idea of a “digital detox”, something which I’ve spoken about before. That topic caught the eye of the team at ABC 891 Adelaide, and I ended up speaking about it with Peter Goers. He normally presents the evening program, but this week he was filling in on mornings.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:33 — 5.7MB)

05 July 2015

Weekly Wrap 265: You want entropy? We got entropy!

My week of Monday 29 June to Sunday 5 July 2015 looks less productive than it actually was. But however you measure it, it was… interesting.

I didn’t publish any new media work this week. The ZDNet feature has been held over. The 9pm Edict podcast has been held over too, because I want to get the crowdfunding campaign locked in first. That campaign has been a little more difficult to conceptualise than I first thought.

And the rest of my time was full of end-of-financial-year tasks, and the stark realisation of how many different things I’m trying to do at once. So the list of media work actually generated this week is… also stark.

But that’s only because it doesn’t include the work I did on the SEKRIT television project.

Actually it’s not that SEKRIT. There have been hints.