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Weekly Wrap 39

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. With three full working days occupied by conferences, I still managed to get a few things done. And not all of it was drinking.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 78, “Bionic eyes, gigabit Wi-Fi and the NBN”. This is my wrap-up of the NICTA Techfest, including an interview with Dr Terry Percival, one of the inventors of Wi-Fi, about potential future uses of the National Broadband Network. He reckons video will be the killer technology, with the world returning to non-written communication as the norm.

Articles

Media Appearances

  • This week’s edition of the Business 21C Weekly podcast from Sydney community radio station 2SER was all about the Australian government’s plans for internet censorship, and I was one of the guests. The program also features web developer Scott David from Flock and the president of the Internet Society of Australia, Tony Hill.

Corporate Largesse

  • The Kickstart Forum on the Gold Coast continued on Monday and Tuesday. My airfares and accommodation were paid for by the organisers, Media Connect. Monday’s lunch was sponsored by Samsung. There was also plenty of freebies from the vendors, though notably less than last year. And substantially fewer USB memory sticks. Should I bother reporting all this stuff? If nothing else, it’s interesting to document for posterity.
  • On Thursday I attended the Digital Directions 2011 conference as their guest. They provided food and drink. Stories relates to the event will appear next week.
  • The lovely folks at Saasu — well, their CEO Marc Lehmann — decided to give me a three-month extension on my subscription, just as a gift. I’d still say it’s a delightful online accounting system even without that.

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: The view this morning from the front door of Tea Tree Cottage, one of the Bunjaree Cottages at Wentworth Falls, where I’m living this week. I’ll write more about this experience very soon.]

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Weekly Wrap 38

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This is being posted rather late, Wednesday rather than Sunday or so, because I was flat out at the Kickstart Forum. Must. Do. Better.

Podcasts

Articles

  • AFACT versus iiNet appeal decision resolves nothing, for Crikey. In summary, while the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft’s appeal against the Federal Court’s decision in favour of iiNet was lost, this’ll probably all end up being appealed again to the High Court.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday I attended the NICTA Techfest and was provided with free food and drink.
  • Starting on Sunday I was attending the Kickstart Forum on the Gold Coast. My airfares and accommodation were paid for by the organisers, Media Connect. On Sunday evening security firm AVG bought me a drink. Sunday night’s dinner was sponsored by MyNetPhone.

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.

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Sydney, Gold Coast for Kickstart, Sydney

Time for a quick update on my movements. As I write this, I’m on a train returning from the Blue Mountains to Sydney, where I’ll be spending Saturday night. I’m then on the Gold Coast for the Kickstart Forum from Sunday 27 February to Tuesday 2 March, then back in Sydney for a few days to attend, amongst other things, Digital Directions 2011 [nee Media 2011] on Thursday 3 March. It’s then Mardi Gras weekend in Sydney, so I’ll probably escape back to the Blue Mountains. More details soon, or via my Twitter stream.

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RSA Conference keynotes: a personal viewing guide

All of the keynote sessions from the RSA Conference on information security are now online as video and audio. Here’s my personal suggestions for the ones to watch.

I didn’t see all of these keynotes. Sometimes there were 17 or 18 sessions running in parallel. I also skipped most of those that were obviously a vendor telling their story. Once I saw a couple of them, I was reminded that for so many IT folks the word “keynote” doesn’t mean something that provides insight any more, but is merely a synonym for “infomercial”.

It’s a shame that RSA hasn’t provided the media in an embeddable form. Or provided an obvious way to link to each keynote directly. Or given the keynote titles. Or told you which ones are panel discussions rather than single-person presentations.

But here’s what I reckon you should watch.

  • Wednesday’s panel led by James Lewis, “Cyberwar, Cybersecurity, and the Challenges Ahead”, with former NSA head Mike McConnell, former US Secretary of Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and security guru Bruce Schneier.
  • The Cryptographers Panel with Dickie George, Whitfield Diffie, Adi Shamir, Martin Hellman and Ronald Rivest. I didn’t see this one myself, but from the comments on Twitter it was a must-see tour through the history of cryptography and an informed look into the future.
  • The presentations by US Deputy Secretary of Defence William Lynn and the head of US Cyber Command General Keith Alexander. Lynn’s presentation was a little dry but set out US political views. Alexander was witty and expanded on Lynn’s comments into the practical realm.
  • Microsoft’s Scott Charney’s presentation of their “Collaborative Defence” strategy, important because this is the worldview that Microsoft is encouraging us to adopt.
  • Michio Kaku, physicist and best-selling author, on “The Next 20 Years: Interacting with Computers, Telecommunication and AI in the Future”. I didn’t see this one, but I’ve seen Kaku on The Colbert Report and he’s a damn good presenter.
  • Michael Capuzzo, author of The Murder Room, on forensic pathology. Again, I didn’t catch this one, but was told it was fascinating.
  • Bill Clinton’s “Embracing our Common Humanity”. My understanding — although I haven’t checked yet — is that this is essentially the same speech that he gave at Dreamforce in December. That said, he’s a persuasive speaker and it’s worth a listen.

That’s my personal selection, based on what I saw or what I heard about? What are your selections?

[Photo: James Lewis’ keynote panel, “Cyberwar, Cybersecurity, and the Challenges Ahead”. From left to right: former NSA head Mike McConnell; former US Secretary of Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff; and security guru Bruce Schneier. Disclosure: I travelled to San Francisco to attend the RSA Conference as a guest of Microsoft.]

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Weekly Wrap 37

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This time I’m making up for the recent slow weeks with a whole bunch of material from the RSA Conference on information security.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 76, “The end of the open internet?” “I think the age of the deeply competitive internet is over,” says author and telecommunications lawyer, Tim Wu. “The next five years is going to be a story of the big four or big five.” This podcast contains the complete interview with the author of The Master Switch: The rise and fall of information empires, sections of which were quoted in the stories below.
  • The next episode of Patch Monday is all about the RSA Conference, cyberwar, and Microsoft’s call for what referring to as “collective defence”. I’ve already completed that episode, and you’ll be able to grab it late Monday morning Sydney time over at the Patch Monday podcast stream.

Articles

Corporate Largesse

  • My trip to San Francisco for the RSA Conference was paid for by Microsoft.

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: Cincinnati nerdcore act Dual Core performing at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation’s 21st birthday party in San Francisco on 16 February 2011.]