If you watch episode 1 of Gerry Anderson’s gloriously sexist 1970 television series UFO, you will discover that he invented the best machine in the entire universe. That is all.
Weekly Wrap 108: June lull not lulz
Here’s a quick wrap of my week from Monday 25 June to Sunday 1 July 2012, mostly so the media output is documented. I won’t bother with a photo for now.
Podcasts
None. Long story, which I’ve started writing a post about. Stay tuned.
Articles
- Prepare yourself for more Dropbox-like security disasters, CSO Online, 25 June 2012.
- ‘It’s how we connect’: Telstra and the spy sites mystery, Crikey, 27 June 2012. So Telstra had been monitoring the web browsing of its Next G mobile customers and reporting it to an overseas company, Netsweeper? Bonus.
Media Appearances
None.
Corporate Largesse
None. In the last week of the financial year everything goes very, very quiet.
The Week Ahead
With Bunjaree Cottages booked out for most of the school holidays, I’m lurking in a SEKRIT location in Sydney. Work plods along in the background. It’s nothing very exciting.
Elsewhere
Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream (or they used to before my phone camera got a bit too scratched up) and via Instagram. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags. Yes, I should probably update this stock paragraph to match the current reality.
Weekly Wrap 107: Tribalism and the Gold Coast
So here’s my week from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 June 2012, which turned out to be much as planned. Thank you, Fate.
Podcasts
- Patch Monday episode 143, “Microsoft? Is that still a thing?” I took a sickie on Monday, so this was another Patch Monday (on Tuesday) edition. And that meant we could talk about Microsoft’s new Surface device that was announced early Tuesday morning Australian time. But Kate Carruthers, Paul Wallbank and Benno Rice all suggested this probably wasn’t going to fix Microsoft’s flatline share price and that chief executive officer Steve Ballmer should go. That didn’t go down to well with, um, certain communities of interest.
Articles
- Innovate or die!, Technology Spectator, 18 June 2012. A report on the speech given last week by Greg Ellis, chief executive officer of REA Group.
- Perimeter security: IT’s Maginot Line, ZDNet Australia, 22 June 2012.
Media Appearances
- On Tuesday night I spoke about Microsoft Surface and the Fairfax job cuts and stuff on ABC Local Radio around NSW.
Corporate Largesse
- On Wednesday I visited IBM’s Australia Development Laboratory on the Gold Coast for a briefing about the security stuff that happens there. The Maginot Line story mentioned above was the first resulting media object from this. IBM covered a night at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel in Sydney en route, flights to and from Gold Coast, and a rather lovely seafood lunch.
The Week Ahead
At this stage I plan to return to Wentworth Falls on Monday afternoon and stay at Bunjaree Cottages for the week. Where I live from Friday onwards depends on how we arrange things to deal with the fact that the school holidays start on the weekend.
I don’t have any specific work locked in yet. That said, I do have a lingering feature story to start writing, and other stuff always turns up. And given that that it’s the end of the financial year, I’ll be reflecting on the work I’m currently doing and decide which parts of the mix get expanded and which cut back.
I’ve had a few thoughts already about certain media projects…
Elsewhere
Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream (or they used to before my phone camera got a bit too scratched up) and via Instagram. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags. Yes, I should probably update this stock paragraph to match the current reality.
[Photo: Shadow of my former self, a rather pointless self-portrait I took Friday afternoon because I saw my own shadow on the wall.]
Weekly Wrap 106: Excess rain, trains and depression
My week from Monday 11 to Sunday 17 June 2012 was short (because it contained the long weekend) and annoying (because I ended up staying in four different locations) and cold (because of weather).
Eventually I decided that it was probably better if I just spent the weekend in bed. So I did.
And that’s why this post is so late.
Podcasts
- Patch Monday episode 142, “Apple iOS 6, start-up killer”. I took advantage of the post-long-weekend timing to record an immediate reaction to Apple’s launch of iOS version 6 operating system, chatting with mobile developer Chris Stevenson who was at the launch, and application architect Benno Rice.
Articles
- Aussie broadband to make a trillion in 2050, ZDNet Australia, 15 June 2012. A quick news-cycle story based on IBM’s A Snapshot of Australia’s Digital Future to 2050.
I did write a second article, for Technology Spectator, but it was held over to the following week.
Media Appearances
- On Sunday I spoke about new internet domains on ABC Radio National’s Sunday Extra.
Corporate Largesse
- On Wednesday I attended the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AMCHAM) lunch at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney, as the guest of the REA Group, who run realestate.com.au and other things.
- On Thursday I attended the launch of IBM’s A Snapshot of Australia’s Digital Future to 2050, where food and drink was provided.
The Week Ahead
Erm, well, it’s already Thursday, so I don’t see a lot of point in writing a future-past version of this. Or is it past-future?
Elsewhere
Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream (or they used to before my phone camera got a bit too scratched up) and via Instagram. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags. Yes, I should probably update this stock paragraph to match the current reality.
[Photo: Waratah Cottage, where I spent the latter part of the week. This photo was taken with the Samsung Galaxy S III, whereas this previous one was taken with my beaten-up HTC Desire.]
Things will become more normal after the Solstice
It’s the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere today, at 0909 AEST to be precise. I intend to have a quiet, personal ceremony at that time, and then after that try to catch up with the backlog of posts here. Wish me luck.
Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone first impressions
Three days ago I finally got around to setting up the Samsung Galaxy S III review unit that I’d been given. Here are my initial impressions after a few hours of playing around on the long weekend.
These comments should be read in light of what I wrote for Technology Spectator in terms of this new smartphone being a shot across the bows for Apple. But bear in mind that I’ve never used an Apple iPhone, so I can’t make direct comparisons.
I’m also upgrading from a very bashed-around two-year-old HTC Desire, as seen in the photo above. That means a jump from Android version 2.3 to 4.0, and I’m not making clear distinctions between Android improvements and Samsung-specific features — but then I don’t think average users do either.
In other words, this is definitely not a proper review. “First impressions”, I said.
Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone first impressions”