5at5

21 December 201421 December 2014

Weekly Wrap 237: The week before Christmas, kinda

My week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 December 2014 was more stressful than I thought it might be, for reasons which may be alluded to in a future edition. However I will say that Mistress Insomnia was a persistent guest in my life. I hate her.

But on with the show…

Articles

Uber’s ‘asshole culture’ on full display in Sydney CBD siege, Crikey, 16 December 2014. I don’t think the headline is quite right. It was Uber’s tin ear that was on display on Monday. Their “asshole culture” is more pervasive. Both are mentioned in the article.
Note to data-retention law makers: The internet is not a telephone, ZDNet Australia, 19 December 2014.

Another full week for 5at5, with emails going out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday, I spoke about a variety of technology topics on ABC 720 Perth. This is the first of a new regular spot over summer called “Tech Wreck”, at 1430 AWST / 1730 AEDT.

Corporate Largesse

Sourcefire’s 2015 Snort Calendar arrived in the post. If only had somewhere to hang it.
I also received a copy of John Birmingham’s latest novel, Emergence, from the author himself. What a nice chap.

The Week Ahead

This is barely even a tentative plan, because it’s based on the assumption that a certain large media organisation will pay their goddam bills. If that doesn’t happen on Monday, then a lot of this will have to change. Nevertheless, we have to start somewhere, right?

Monday sees the Solstice, which happens at 1003 AEDT, followed by the New Moon at 1236. I’ll conduct a small ritual centred around those times. Before that, though, certain urgent organisational tasks need to be dealt with. And after that, I’ll start work on the next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, which has the working title “The 9pm Christmas Nazis”.

On Tuesday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia in the morning, I think, before heading to Sydney for some errands and the ABC at Ultimo to do the 720 Perth spot. I may stay in Sydney overnight, or I may not.

On Wednesday, I’ll be completing The 9pm Edict, as well as tying up several billion loose ends before the holidays descend.

Thursday is Christmas Day, which will be spent quietly because family is small and distant. I’m not sure whether I’ll be in Wentworth Falls or Sydney or somewhere else at this stage.

While Friday is a public holiday, I’d originally scheduled a server migration to start that day. However that’s now looking like that’ll have to change too. The weekend is unplanned, at least at this stage.

Update 1750 AEDT: Edited to add the New Moon time and to clarify some of the exposition.

[Photo: Wires, a view from Katoomba railway station in the Blue Mountains, photographed on 15 December 2014.]

14 December 201415 December 2014

Weekly Wrap 236: Summer and swirling water

My week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 December 2014 was decent enough, though everything in the latter part of the week was rearranged as it went along. Planning. Why bother?

Since this post is already rather late getting online, I’ll stick to the facts, ma’am. Well, I’ll make one observation: Summer seems to have arrived.

Podcasts

“The 9pm Personal Brand Enhancement Journey”, being The 9pm Edict episode 33. It’s nearly an hour long and contains, um, special sounds. I’ve also launched The 9pm Summer Scrounge subscriber drive, but there’ll be more about that tomorrow.

Articles

All aboard the internet of things infosec hype train, ZDNet Australia, 11 December 2014.

5at5

It was a full week for 5at5, more or less, at least in the sense that five editions went out. Tuesday morning (being the one that was meant to go out on Friday), Tuesday evening, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all. Eventually.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday, I spoke about the future of jobs on ABC 720 Perth.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday, I went to Symantec’s end-of-year lunch at Aria Restaurant in Sydney. The food and wine was as wonderful as always. I had the oysters, the barramundi, the cheese, and the things that came afterwards.

The Week Ahead

By the time you see this, most of Monday will have already happened — despite the date on the post. Monday is mostly about catching up on many, many loose ends.

On Tuesday, I’ll be writing for Crikey, and then catching the train to Sydney to run a few errands and then drop in to the ABC at Ultimo to do spot for ABC 720 Perth. That’s at 1730 AEDT / 1430 AWST, and this will be regular thing every Tuesday afternoon across summer. I’m toying with the idea of staying in Sydney overnight. Make me an offer.

On Wednesday, I’ll be starting work on a server migration. On Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia. Friday is as yet unplanned. Much of the weekend is unplanned too, although I’ll be doing the bulk of the server migration at some unpleasant hour in that period.

[Photo: The ferry departs, a rather heavily processed photo of the wake left by a ferry departing Circular Quay in Sydney on 8 December 2014.]

07 December 201407 December 2014

Weekly Wrap 235: More scallops, less disruption

My week of Monday 1 to Sunday 7 December 2014 was reasonably pleasant. Not much output, but I absorbed three “webinars” (ugh!) and one very fine lunch, and tried to de-stress as much as possible.

Articles

DevOps a natural fit for cloud security, ZDNet Australia, 5 December 2014.

5at5

It was a full week for 5at5, with emails being sent on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — although it appears that Friday’s didn’t get delivered properly. I’ll be chasing up that little problem tomorrow. Either way, you should subscribe so you receive them all.

Media Appearances

On Thursday, I spoke about Targetgate on ABC 936 Hobart.
Also on Thursday, I spoke about Stephen Hawking and artificial intelligence on Sydney radio 2UE.

Corporate Largesse

On Friday, I attended Cisco’s end-of-year lunch at the appallingly-named but rather lovely restaurant Gastro Park in Potts Point. The food and wine was lovely. I had the appetisers, the scallops and the duck, but had to skip dessert because I was running late.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, it’s a morning of administrivia and mapping out my work between now and Christmas — well, at least as much as it can ever be planned. In the afternoon and evening I’m producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, including setting up a subscription drive.

On Tuesday, I’m heading down to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing by Symantec, as well as running some errands. While I’m in transit, I’ll be doing research and writing some story pitches. I’ll also finish the podcast and post it on Tuesday evening, to coincide with the subscription drive kicking off.

Wednesday has been set aside for writing, but don’t know what yet, nor for whom. I’m assuming that one of the story pitches will be successful.

On Thursday, I’m writing my column for ZDNet Australia, then heading down to Sydney for VMWare’s end-of-year drinks — and I daresay some further social life after that. Whether I stay in Sydney overnight will depend on whether certain people have decided to pay me or not.

Friday is scheduled to be a day off, because at some point on the weekend I’ll be doing a big chunk of systems administration, and I’m trying to have at least one day a week without work-related thoughts. I’m rarely successful in that, but that’s another story. But when that work will be done, and what personal and social activities will also happen on the weekend, is still to be determined.

Update 1840 AEDT: Edited to reflect a slight change of plans, finishing the podcast on Tuesday rather than Monday.

[Photo: Wentworth Falls awaits tonight’s storm, photographed at Wentworth Falls railway station on 4 December 2014. There have been thunderstorms every day this week. Sydney is becoming a sub-maritime tropical climate.]

30 November 201402 December 2014

Weekly Wrap 234: Scallops and disruption

My week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 November 2014 was, quite frankly, irritating — for reasons that I won’t detail here. The end result was that I didn’t get to take part in some of the social and semi-social events that I’d planned to. I am grumpy.

Articles

Australia’s data-retention plans look increasingly out of touch, ZDNet Australia, 26 November 2014.
Infosec checklists becoming common, but they’re not magic, ZDNet Australia, 28 November 2014.

5at5

The only edition of the 5at5 email newsletter that I got out the door was Monday. There will be more this week, so why not subscribe so you receive them all?

Media Appearances

On Tuesday, I spoke about the Regin spyware on ABC Radio’s The World Today.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday, I went to AVG Technologies’ Christmas media lunch and briefing at est restaurant. They paid for the excellent food and wine, of course. I had the scallops and smoked eel (pictured above), the beef and the chocolate. They also gave us an AVG-branded umbrella and a branded USB hub.

The Week Ahead

This is the week where freelancers switch from the always-busy November to the stressful process of solving a specific, annual problem: How can I ensure that there’s enough cashflow to survive Christmas, New Year and through to the end of January, when all the usual sources of income are dry? Wish me luck.

(It’s actually quite depressing to see people starting to add Christmas motifs to their Twitter avatars and otherwise talking about “the festive season” when one’s own time is anything but festive. Sigh.)

With that in mind, Monday is a day of administrivia and planning, and Tuesday will be dedicated to production for The 9pm Edict podcast. I think a pre-Christmas subscriber drive will come out of that. That work will continue on the days after that, along with online briefings at 0830 and 1400 on Wednesday, and at 0600 on Thursday. Somewhere in there I’ll also write a column for ZDNet Australia.

On Friday I’ll be heading in to Sydney for a briefing by BAE Systems, and then ~~the (in)famous Watterson PR Christmas lunch~~ Cisco’s end-of-year lunch at Gastro Park. The weekend thereafter is unplanned.

[Update 2 December: Edited to reflect change to Friday’s commitments.]

[Photo: Scallops and smoked eel — or, more completely, grilled scallops, smoked eel, baby leeks, wakame, shiso, yuzu — all being an entrÃ©e at est restaurant, Sydney, photographed on 25 November 2014.]

23 November 2014

Weekly Wrap 233: From privacy around and back to privacy

My week of Monday 17 to Sunday 23 November 2014 was pleasingly productive, and struck a better balance between work and leisure time than the previous week. This pleases me.

I also suspect that Saturday night’s New Moon heralded the start of a new cycle of something or other, because so far Sunday has felt very different. We shall see.

Articles

Fix your security, don’t cover up breaches: Privacy Commissioner, ZDNet Australia, 18 November 2014. Given that bureaucratic language is usually rather restrained, these were strong warnings indeed from the Privacy Commissioner.
A right to privacy or rewriting history? Debate rages on the right to be forgotten, Crikey, 18 November 2014.
Tor’s feral fans are its own worst enemy, ZDNet Australia, 21 November 2014. I daresay I’ll get complaints about this one.

5at5

There were editions of the 5at5 email newsletter on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Why not subscribe so you receive them all?

Media Appearances

On Wednesday afternoon, I spoke about Netflix coming to Australia on ABC 891 Adelaide.
On Thursday afternoon, I did a spot on ABC News24 about Netflix coming to Australia and the backlash against mandatory data collection, but I forgot to record it.
On Friday afternoon, I spoke about unsecured webcams and CCTV on 1395 FIVEaa.

Corporate Largesse

On Monday, I covered the iappANZ conference, so there was food and drink on offer, and so I consumed same. I also had too many drinks with certain ISOC-AU people afterwards.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be writing a column for ZDNet Australia, and planning some technical work that’ll unfold in December.

On Tuesday, I’m heading in to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing by AVG Technologies. On the train, I’ll be working on a feature article for ZDNet Australia that’s due at the end of the month. I’ll complete that feature on Wednesday.

On Thursday, I’m writing another column for ZDNet Australia, and heading to Sydney for the annual internet industry boat party on Sydney Harbour, followed by further drinks in the evening. I’ll be staying in Sydney overnight.

On Friday, I’m writing a piece for Crikey, and starting work on another episode of The 9pm Edict podcast. That podcast will be finished on the weekend — although what else that weekend may hold is still to be determined.

[Photo: The Central Points, being part of a set of railway track points — what Americans would call “railroad switches” — photographed on 17 November 2014.]

16 November 2014

Weekly Wrap 232: Malware, mobiles and misery

Darling Harbour at dusk My week of Monday 10 to Sunday 16 November 2014 was very, very busy. I had very little sleep, and I’m exhausted.

Apart from all the events and media activity you see listed here, I ended up doing the long commute, almost two hours from Wentworth Falls to Sydney and two hours back, every day from Tuesday to Friday.

Normally I’d have stayed in Sydney, but hotels were largely booked out. Apart from the usual November conference season, there was also the massive World Parks Congress and many refugees escaping the G20 lockdown in Brisbane.

There was literally nothing available in my price range — well, apart from backpacker accommodation, but that’s not a good fit with having to get up early and concentrate on media work. There’s only so much enjoyment one can wring out of listening to drunken unkempt foreigners porking each other all night.

Podcasts

“The 9pm Words, what even are they?”, being episode 32 of The 9pm Edict, 10 November 2014. It’s about words. And other things.
Graham Cluley sings “The AntiVirus Industry Song”, 13 November 2014. Not really a podcast, but a video I was involved in producing. Security industry star Graham Cluley presented the keynote at the Association of anti-Virus Asia Researchers (AVAR) conference in Sydney this week, and it included this not-exactly-excellent rendition of a song he’d written. Auckland-based journalist Juha Saarinen caught most of it on video, and I had the full audio, so we put it together. The video was also published at The New Zealand Herald.

Articles

Australian government Drupal-based CMS goes live, ZDNet Australia, 11 November 2014.
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei wants a piece of Apple’s pie, Crikey, 12 November 2014.

5at5

There were editions of the 5at5 email newsletter on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Why not subscribe so you receive them all?

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday, I went to a briefing on govCMS by Acquia and the Australian government’s chief technical officer, John Sheridan, at Prime Restaurant in Sydney, where of course they paid for the food and drink. It was this briefing that led to the ZDNet story.
Also on Tuesday, I went to the launch of the Huawei Ascend Mate7 smartphone at The Star casino. Food, drink etc. That led to the Crikey story. I now have a Mate7 evaluation unit which, we were told, doesn’t need to be returned, on a Vodafone SIM, as well as a t-shirt.
Also on Tuesday, I went to the launch of Audible’s “#ListenUp, Australia” campaign, a promotion which allows you to get three free audio books by Australian authors, at Luxe Studios in Darlinghurst. Food, drink etc, and also a card telling me how I can get a free Audible service membership.
On Wednesday, I had coffee with the good people from Recognition PR. They paid for the coffee.
From Wednesday evening through to Friday, I was covering the aforementioned AVAR conference at the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney. Food, drink etc. Media objects have yet to be extruded.

The Week Ahead

It’s another busy one…

On Monday I’m heading to Sydney to cover the International Association of Privacy Professionals ANZ (iappANZ) annual summit, and on Tuesday I’ll be writing about same.

The rest of the week includes a TV spot on ABC News24 at 1615 AEDT on Thursday, as well as my usual ZDNet Australia column, plus initial work on a ZDNet feature, a Crikey story and some other bits and pieces.

The weekend is once again unplanned.

[Photo: Darling Harbour at dusk, with the rapidly-rising Barangaroo development on the right, photographed on 11 November 2014.]