Weekly Wrap – Page 106

26 June 201102 December 2011

Weekly Wrap 55

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. If last week was a bit thin, this week more than made up for it — and as I noted yesterday, I’m knackered.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 93, “Are we missing the bus on Gov 2.0 data?” A popular Sydney Buses app died when Sydney Transit cut off the data feed after just a few weeks, citing lack of server capacity. Developer Ben Hosken is disappointed, but he’s more concerned that developers aren’t making enough use of the government data on offer. I also speak with developers Benno Rice and Adrian Chadd.

Articles

The exploits of Freelancer.com, for Technology Spectator, in which I have yet another go at the immorality that is crowdsourcing.
AVG urges mandatory cybercrime reporting, for ZDNet Australia.
Forget Anonymous, LulzSec, the real bad guys are in your bank accounts, for Crikey.
Telstra backs the NBN, but the devil’s in the detail, for Crikey. This is essentially a straight news piece about the deal struck between Telstra, NBN Co and the government.

In addition to these, I wrote a fifth piece for ABC’s The Drum, but that hasn’t been published yet. And there’s a couple of pieces I’ve been working on that I must finish and file tomorrow.

Media Appearances

I did five radio spots this week, which is a record I think. Well, except for when I worked full time in radio, obviously.

On Tuesday I spoke with Louise Maher on ABC 666 Canberra about the photographic project Everyday Photographs, Extraordinary Journeys, which I inspired. Well, partly inspired.
On Thursday morning I spoke with Adelaide radio 1395 FIVEaa about the National Broadband Network. I’ve already posted the audio.
A little later on Thursday morning I spoke on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters about the current state of play in information security. I’ve already posted about that.
While I was talking live on Radio National, ABC North Coast NSW broadcast an interview with be about Facebook and Social Media that has been pre-recorded. Alas, I don’t have a copy.
On Thursday afternoon I spoke with ABC 774 Melbourne about Bitcoin a digital currency. And I’ve posted that audio too.

Corporate Largesse

None. We’ll have to fix that. Dear PR Operatives, my junket calendar for July is empty. You know what to do. I prefer an aisle seat.

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 afternoon sunlight can be fierce at The Grand View, an image taken in The Grand View Hotel, Wentworth Falls, yesterday.]

19 June 201119 June 2011

Weekly Wrap 54

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. It was a short week, thanks to the Queen’s Birthday public holiday and a severe toothache. Those events are unrelated. Mostly.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 92, “Gamification and VC’s spotty bubble”, being an interview with Tim Chang from Norwest Venture Partners. I wasn’t quite as harsh on gamification as in my op-ed for Technology Spectator or The 9pm Edict episode 13.

Articles

None. Not a single one. I know it was a short week thanks to the public holiday, and I know I had a toothache, but this will come back to haunt me.

Media Appearances

As explained previously, I did a spot on London radio LBC 97.3 with Iain Dale. There’s a podcast in here somewhere, but you’ll have to pay to subscribe.
On Friday I spoke with Bernadette Young on ABC 91.5 Gold Coast about Apple’s patent that outlines how to prevent an iPhone recording concerts, and the Lulz Security hacking stories.

Corporate Largesse

None.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Tea Tree Cottage, one of the Bunjaree Cottages in the Blue Mountains where I’ve been living of late. I took this photo only this afternoon, when I discovered that the fire was still going from the punters last night.]

13 June 201113 June 2011

Weekly Wrap 53

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. We’re late this week, posted on Monday rather than Sunday, because I forgot. That and, well, it’s a holiday anyway so the new week doesn’t start until Tuesday.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 91, “Tackling cybersecurity: it’s a start”, being a continuation of my thoughts emerging from National Cyber Security Awareness Week last week.

Articles

Santorum’s presidential hopes face a sticky problem, for Crikey. Santorum may be running for president in the US, but thanks to Dan Savage he’s got a problem.
Less pep talks, more stick on cybersecurity, for ZDNet Australia. I’m quite happy with this op-ed calling for a little bit more aggression from the government against slack corporate security.
Hywood on Fairfaxâ€¦ expectation, hoping, wishingâ€¦, for Crikey. Based on my encounter with the CEO of the Fairfax media empire, Greg Hywood.
The Weiner show: we have no prick of conscience, for Crikey. As editor Sophie Black put it, I’m working blue this week.

Media Appearances

On Friday I spoke with Kate O’Toole on ABC 105.7 Darwin about cloud computing. And here’s the audio.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday I attended the Mumbrella360 conference on media and marketing, which involved the usual level of food and drink for such things — first at the Hilton Hotel and then at the Arthouse Hotel.
On Thursday I went to the welcome reception for X|Media|Lab’s current Sydney event, which again involved food and drink, this time at Customs House. I didn’t actually go to the conference itself, for various reasons.
On Monday and Thursday I was taken to lunch by two different people who are interested in having me work on forthcoming projects. I can’t talk about either of them yet — they may not even happen — but this was really just the usual introductions over lunch thing.

Elsewhere

[Photo: A random photograph of Broadway, Sydney, taken on Saturday.]

05 June 201113 June 2011

Weekly Wrap 52

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This week featured a trip to Canberra for the Microsoft Politics and Technology Forum.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 90, “Real issues for cybersecurity awareness”, mostly being an interview with Paul Ducklin, Sophos’ head of technology for Asia-Pacific.
Iain Dale on politics, Twitter, radio and authenticity, the first “real” edition of my Conversations series. As I asked in that post, should I do more like this?

Articles

Political tweets eclipse blogs, but parties still don’t get it, for Crikey, based on my interview with Iain Dale.
Conroy’s blueprint for a digital economy â€¦ that doesn’t need an NBN, for Crikey, being my cranky commentary on the National Digital Economy Strategy. Also published at Technology Spectator as Forget strategy, Conroy needs a reason.
I spy 100Mbps, for Technology Spectator, in which I try to destroy the anti-NBN myth that no-one can think of any uses for 100Mbps broadband speeds.

Media Appearances

The Microsoft Politics & Technology Forum probably counts as one of these, but I’ll post links when there are links to link to.

Corporate Largesse

This doesn’t really count as largesse, because I was actually working on the discussion panel as the Microsoft Politics & Technology Forum, but Microsoft paid for my transport to Canberra, accommodation at the Hyatt Canberra Hotel, and a lovely dinner at Mezzalira Ristorante.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Bombardier Q400 aircraft at Sydney airport, the one I took to Canberra on Tuesday.]

29 May 201113 June 2011

Weekly Wrap 51

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This week returned to something a little more normal after the crazy fortnight of travel and conference coverage.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 89, “Stuxnet, routing hacks and a seized iPad”, based on material connected with the AusCERT Conference on information security. Security analyst Eric Byers warns of imminent Son of Stuxnet copycat malware. APNIC chief scientist Geoff Huston warns of the security problem in the internet’s routing protocols. And a whole bunch of people talk about the demonstration of a Facebook hack that led, eventually, to the arrest of a journalist.

Articles

NBN: ACCC wet dream, security nightmare, for ZDNet Australia. Network strategist Paul Brooks from Layer 10 reckons that consumers won’t know how to set up a home network in the NBN’s multi-provider world. I reckon he’s right.
Harvey should have stayed at home, for Technology Spectator, being a rather scathing review of Harvey Norman’s BiG BUYS website.
Facebook for under-13s? Whoâ€™s kidding whom here? for Crikey, responding to “outrage” that Facebook want to admit younger kids as users.

Media Appearances

I was part of the first ZDNet Tough Talk panel discussion, recorded on video at the AusCERT information security conference, along with Longhaus and Business Aspect board member Sam Higgins, IBRS analyst James Turner, NetWitness chief security officer Eddie Schwartz and Kaspersky CEO Eugene Kaspersky. The moderator was ZDNet Australia’s editorial director Brian Haverty. The topic was: Is cloud secure enough for business? I still haven’t watched it yet. What do you think?
On Wednesday I was interviewed by ABC Radio 891 Adelaide about changes to the internet’s top-level domain names. I can post the audio here should you care.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday I attended a briefing on various information security issues hosted by Sourcefire. They served a light breakfast and handed out a notebook and a toy pig.

Elsewhere

22 May 201103 May 2013

Weekly Wrap 50

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This week was mostly about the AusCERT information security conference on the Gold Coast, although a few things relating to the previous week dribbled through.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 88, “Social business + cloud != revolution”, based on material recorded at NetSuite’s SuiteWorld conference the previous week.

Articles

What a lot of articles we have this week! I was covering AusCERT as part of the ZDNet Australia team, and the Technology Spectator article was actually written the week before. There’ll be more AusCERT articles next week.

AusCERT 2011: Firms ignore ID theft risk, for ZDNet Australia, which is based on some of Bennett Arronâ€™s comments during the conference’s opening keynote.
AusCERT 2011: Son of Stuxnet within a year: expert, ZDNet Australia. The source code for Stuxnet is out there. Security analyst Eric Byres reckons that’ll show everyone how to make sophisticated malware, and the “Russian business network” will be first off the rank.
Privacy is a commodity, for Technology Spectator, in which I bite the hand that feeds me by criticising the comment they use.
AusCERT 2011: Black hats and whitegoods, for ZDNet Australia. We’re creating the Internet of Things by turning everything into a network device. But when was the last time you heard an appliance manufacturer talking about network security? CBS Interactive’s Brian Haverty came up with the OARSUM headline.
AusCERT 2011: Bank theft goes truly mobile, for ZDNet Australia.
AusCERT 2011: Silent victims thwart cybercops: Qld Police, for ZDNet Australia.
Qld cops denounce ‘ethical hacking’, for ZDNet Australia. This headline is a bit of a misdirection. Ethical hacking is generally when the target has given permission, such as when someone is hired to do penetration testing. The kind of hacking games at black hat conferences, which is what Detective Superintendent Brian Hay was talking about, probably don’t fit into this category.

Media Appearances

I was asked to do a bit of trickery before Bennett Arron’s keynote at AusCERT. It didn’t go quite as planned. When Munir Kotadia produced the Day 1 Highlights video, he made sure that no-one forgot.

Corporate Largesse

I travelled to the Gold Coast for the AusCERT Conference on information security. My air fares, accommodation and breakfast were covered by CBS Interactive, ZDNet Australia’s parent company, as is normal for freelancers so that doesn’t count as largesse. AusCERT provided free conference entry, as is normal for any media attending, and that included meals and drinks at the social events. In the goodie bag was: webroot Personal Security and Mobile Security for Android from, erm, webroot; notebooks from webroot and Juniper Networks; PostIt-style thingies from Symantec; pens from RSM Bird Cameron, Citrix, Netgear and M86 Security; a Rubik’s Cube from WatchGuard; 3D glasses from SecurityLab; a yoyo from McAfee; and, via a voucher, an AusCERT conference t-shirt. I’ll have more to say about this later. I was also given a t-shirt by Sophos and a stubbie holder from Splunk.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Sunrise over the Pacific, Surfer’s Paradise, taken from my room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in 17 May. I didn’t really bother trying to take a good photo, it’s just a snapshot from my phone. Sometimes I wonder why I bother.]

[Update 3 May 2013: Edited to fix broken link to Patch Monday podcast.]