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Weekly Wrap 90: Propaganda, technology and bird life

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 February 2012. Busy busy busy.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 126, “Mobile broadband: the next 5 years”. Marc Einstein, who leads Frost & Sullivan’s mobile and wireless analyst team for Asia Pacific, foretells the future.

Articles

Media Appearances

None. That’s odd.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday I attended NICTA’s Techfest technology showcase, and they served food and drink.
  • On Friday I had an Important Television Production Meeting at which food and drink were to be had. But I’m not sure that counts because that’s how they always go.
  • This morning (Sunday) I’m heading off to Kickstart Forum on the Gold Coast, the annual link-up of IT journalists with vendors who pay money. My flights, accommodation, food and drink are covered by the organisers, Media Connect, but really if you trace it back it’s a whole bunch of technology vendors. I’ll post a list of all the freebies we’re given next week.

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). The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: Rosella Blur. A rosella is caught in a moment of impressionistic action. Yes, this was taken at the Bunjaree Cottages.]

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Separated at birth: Bob Katter and Ben Grubb?

So this image was sent to me in a very roundabout way, and I seem to have drawn the virtual short straw and ended up publishing it.

Could it be that Ben Grubb, deputy technology editor at Fairfax news sites smh.com.au, theage.com.au, brisbanetimes.com.au etc, is the secret love child of independent Member for Kennedy, Cloncurry’s own Bob Katter?

If you have a theory about what the connection might be, do tell me in the comments. People do need to know.

And no, I am not going to reveal who sent me the image.

If you find it to be particularly disturbing, do let me know and I’ll suggest some remedies.

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SMH: You are what you surf, buy or tweet

I have an op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald today about the surveillance society, something that’s already with us.

Computers can tell when your daughter is pregnant. Sometimes they know even before you do. In a recent feature for The New York Times, Charles Duhigg describes how Target in the US analyses everything it knows about its customers. A young woman buying unscented lotion, a large handbag, zinc and magnesium supplements and a brightly coloured rug is likely to be pregnant. So Target dispatches coupons for baby clothes.

When a father stormed into a store complaining that his teenage daughter had received the coupons, Target was forced to apologise. But days later, he realised the store was right…

You can click through to read the whole thing. But since it was written for the dead-tree paper and not the website there are no links.

Here’s the links to my sources:

You might also enjoy some of my more recent articles on related topics:

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Weekly Wrap 89: Storms and too many podcasts

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 February 2012.

I never did get around to writing that more reflective blog post, but you’ll cope. There’s enough here for you to be reading and listening to.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 125, “Blackhole: cybercrime toolkit of choice”. Jason Pearse, M86 Security Labs’ sales engineering director for the Asia-Pacific region, explains why Blackhole is so “good” and debunks some information security myths.
  • The 9pm Edict episode 18, which covers the NSW police lecturing parents and things.
  • The 9pm Edict episode 19, which covers idiot reportage of the Kevin Rudd swearing video and proposes a fix for the Canberra press gallery.

Articles

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday I attended analyst firm Frost & Sullivan’s “ICT Outlook Press Lunch” at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney. Sandwiches and salads and cheese and cake were served. However the waiter never did bring the proffered coffee and had to get my own at the end of the event.

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. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: Fleeting mists. I know I linked to the picture last week, but I do love it. Such magnificent sights make up for the hassle of the storms.]

[Update 26 February 2012: Added an entry for the Harrison Polites story to Media Appearances section.]

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Weekly Wrap 88: Mist, media and the joys of Optus

My usual weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This post covers the week from Monday 6 to Sunday 12 February 2012 — and yes, it’s being posted very late.

No excuses, no explanations. I hope to find the time for a more reflective post soon.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 124, “Society 5: our democratic digital future”. With two billion people now online, we should probably start thinking about the kind of world we want to create. Enter the Society 5 project. Co-founder Will Grant explains while his colleague Pia Waugh recuperates silently.
  • The 9pm Edict episode 17A, which covers the depressingly tight-sphinctered Melbourne suburb of Prahran and its inhabitants’ predilection to torture their dogs. Plus other stuff.

Articles

  • Sport has to think outside the box, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 February 2012. It’s an opinion piece about the Federal Court’s ruling that the Optus TV Now service is a legal form of time-shifting a television program.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

None. This will certainly change for the current week.

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. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: Katoomba in the mist. It’s hard to believe that this photo was taken in late summer, but this was Katoomba’s main street just a week ago. Mind you, this strange weather does lead to glorious views like this morning’s view from my bed.]