Weekly Wrap 370: One and a half launches and climbing

Taking off for new adventuresMy week of Monday 26 June to Sunday 2 July 2017 was strangely quiet, but also strangely productive. It’s a fine start for the new financial year.

I’m even fixing my broken time-management systems, and that’s just one of the reasons I finally feel like I’m climbing out of a low patch.

Articles

I wrote a second piece for ZDNet, which will be posted on Monday.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday night Australian time, the ransomware known variously as Petya or NotPetya amongst other things, spread across the planet. Inevitably, I ended up talking about it in the media on Wednesday. I did radio spots on 3AW Melbourne, ABC Brisbane (where I also spoke briefly about the €2.4 billion fine copped by Google), ABC Melbourne, and various ABC News reports. I also appeared on Channel TEN’s The Project.

And on Friday evening, I spoke about Australia’s new cyber warfare unit (briefly) and other matters with Peter Goers on ABC Adelaide.

Podcasts, Corporate Largesse

None. Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 370: One and a half launches and climbing”

Weekly Wrap 369: Corrosion and corruption and things

Retired TerminalsMy week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 June 2017 was delightfully unproductive, for various reasons that I won’t go into today. I can see again, however.

Articles, Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None of these things happened.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project, and completing it. Stay tuned. I also hope to write something for ZDNet. It’s also the last week of the financial year, however, so certain administrivia needs to be done. We’ll see.

Further Ahead

On Wednesday 5 July, I’m presenting to the journalism students at Macleay College in Sydney. I’m not sure whether you’ll be able to hear any more about that.

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Thursday 6 July from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

On Tuesday 11 July, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast idea. More about that very soon.

On Wednesday 12 July, I’m covering the Data + Privacy Asia Pacific conference in Sydney.

I then hope to cover the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, but I still have to organise the funding.

I’m then covering the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Retired Terminals. The corroded terminals on some of the 15-year-old lead-acid batteries retired from use at Bunjaree Cottages, photographed on 25 June 2017.]

Weekly Wrap 368: Plodding through winter, thoughtfully

Approaching the BridgeMy week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 June 2017 was steadily more productive than the last, despite appearances.

I did foreshadow last week that I’d be recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ve put that back a few weeks, for various reasons, but as you’ll see below there will be a podcast soon.

Articles

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday morning, I met with some people from Bitdefender and their external PR firm, and they bought me a coffee.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project and writing for ZDNet, with a break mid-week to celebrate the Winter Solstice. At some point I’ll probably pop down to Sydney, but I haven’t set a date yet.

Further Ahead

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Thursday 29 June 6 July from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

I’m covering the Data + Privacy Asia Pacific conference in Sydney on 12 July; the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

Update 26 June 2017: Edited to reflect schedule changes.

[Photo: Approaching the Bridge. The approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, off-camera to the right, photographed on 30 October 2012.]

Weekly Wrap 367: Too much rain, too little evidence

Central Station in the rainMy week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 June 2017 wasn’t bad at all, despite the rain. Most of the achievements were in the background, however.

Articles

Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, but I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project. That work will continue on Tuesday, after which the project should not be SEKRIT. Wednesday will be devoted to administrivia.

Thursday will be spent in Sydney. So far I’ve scheduled a meeting, two medical appointments, and a bunch of errands.

On Saturday, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ll tell you more about that in about a week.

Further Ahead

I’m covering 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Central station in the rain, photographed on 9 June 2017. The view is from a NSW TrainLink V-set (#purpletrain) standing on platform 7 looking towards platform 8.]

Weekly Wrap 366: Winter, inevitably, but you knew that

Elizabeth Bay, SydneyMy week of Monday 29 May to Sunday 4 June 2017 was less annoying than usual. I take this as a positive sign.

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Monday 29 May, Justin Warren quoted some of my tweets is a piece for Forbes, Fast Failure Of Imagination.
  • On Tuesday, I spoke about digital driver’s licenses on ABC Adelaide. I won’t be posting this audio, or the ones I’ve missed uploading in the last couple of months. There’s some higher-priority things to focus on.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

It’s more or less the same as last week, except that the plan might actually come together. There’s work to do on the SEKRIT editorial project; and writing a thing for ZDNet, plus a bunch of administrivia. Then it’s the long weekend for the Queen’s Birthday, though I haven’t had a chance to even think about that yet.

Further Ahead

I’m covering 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, photographed on 9 June 2014 just after some afternoon rain. This image had previously gone through Instagram. While some might complain about the supposed purity of not using filters, I quite like the painterly effect. I’ll rant about the idiocy of the #nofilter hashtag another time.]

Weekly Wrap 365: A certain quality of light in May

The Library a la Jeffrey SmartMy week of Monday 22 to Sunday 28 May 2017 wasn’t special in any way whatsoever. Why should it be? All this carry-on about magical lives is a bunch of middle-class smugness that should be erased from the earth.

Did I tell you I broke my glasses on Wednesday? That event shaped the latter part of the week, because I’m struggling a bit to organise replacements. That’s under way now, thanks to the generosity of friends, and I’ll tell you more over the next few days.

For now, on with the show…

Articles, Podcasts, Corporate Largesse

None, but I did write a piece for ZDNet that’ll appear in the next few days, and podcast plans are detailed below.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday 22 May, one of my photos was used to illustrate a piece on The Conversation, The weather is now political. I’m continually amazed by the way people find a use for what are really just random snapshots, and poor ones.

The Week Ahead

Like last week, this week I plan to do a solid amount of work on the SEKRIT editorial project; write a thing or two for ZDNet, plus, I guess, a bunch of other things, like organise new glasses. I won’t assign specific tasks to specific days, because as I explained last week, that tends to jinx things.

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Tuesday 30 May Thursday 1 June from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

(For those of you who’ve been asking about ongoing contributions, yes, I still intend to set up a better system for that. That won’t be finalised for a while, though, so one-off contributions are very welcome.)

Further Ahead

I’m covering 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney on 10 to 12 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

I also plan to produce a short series of podcasts which will be conversations with people I don’t necessarily agree with. These might be public figures — I hope to speak with One Nation’s Senator Malcolm Roberts, for example — or people who simply represent a different point of view. In June, I’ll record a pilot episode, kicking off with an easy question: Is there a God?

[Photo: The Library a la Jeffrey Smart. The view from the cafe in the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre in Katoomba, photographed on 5 May 2017. The cropping and adjustments to the colour needed to bring out detail in the seated figure drew out the light in the matter of a Jeffrey Smart painting.]