Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
On New Year’s Eve Snarky Platypus and I created this bingo card for 2024 listing 25 distinctly possible things. And we list another 25 possibilities that didn’t make the cut.
Continue reading “Bingo Card 2024: Which of these things will happen?”
Apple released an “emergency†security patch today, which of course led to curiosity about just how emergency it was. I spoke about this just now with Jules Schiller on ABC Adelaide.
Continue reading “Talking Apple’s “emergency” security patch and NSO Group on ABC Adelaide”
My week Monday 13 to Sunday 19 June 2016 was miserable. Why? Was it a cold? Was is a throat infection? Was it a gut infection? Was it all these things? Who can say?
I got nothing done, apart from some excellent lying in bed coughing. I do not recommend this as a way of life.
None. For obvious reasons.
On Monday, I’ll be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, and then celebrating in a private ceremony the Winter Solstice and the Full Moon. This will continue into Tuesday, because the Solstice itself is actually at 0834 AEST, well after the 0700 AEST sunrise.
The remainder of the week will see me in Sydney, working on the seemingly-endless tax compliance work, as well as the much-delayed geek-for-hire work. That’s enough for now, right?
[Photo: Sydney, five minutes before dawn, being the view of the Sydney CBD on 11 June 2016.]
I seem to have settled into semi-regular radio spots on ABC 774 Melbourne, talking about technology news roughly once a month. I did one of these on Thursday.
The main item was the legal battle between Apple and the FBI over an iPhone that belonged to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino shootings of December 2015. While there’s plenty of coverage of this case, I will mention that the FBI’s hack may never reach Apple, and the only winners are the shareholders of cybersecurity companies, because more people will see security as important.
The other item was the announcement on Thursday of the IOT Group’s new product, the ROAM-e drone for taking flying selfies. Yes, that’s what I said.
Heres the full 22-minute conversation with presenter Casey Bennetto, who was filling in for Lindy Burns.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (14.3MB)
This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
My week of Monday 22 to Sunday 28 February 2016 was another relative unproductive one, for reasons explained last time, but it was an improvement. Improvement is good.
A personal update will be posted in the next few days. For now, on with the show…
None, but I do want to wrap up that episode of The 9pm Edict podcast very soon. See below.
None, but I have a ZDNet column being published on Monday.
None.
This will be the first is a series of quite structured weeks for me, which will be a challenge. I daresay I may have to change a few things as I go along. But with that said, here’s the plan…
On Monday, I’ll catch the 0734 train to Sydney, completing my ZDNet column en route. At 1100, I’ll catch VA834 SYD-MEL. Once I’ve checked in to my hotel, I’ll bring my various geek-for-hire projects up to date.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I’ll be covering the APIdays conference for ZDNet, and catching up with friends in the evenings. On Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet, and having a couple of work-related meetings, before catching VA859 MEL-SYD at 1600. I’ll probably return to Wentworth Falls that night.
Friday through Saturday? Well, that depends on my energy levels. But I hope to get that podcast done somewhere in there.
The following week, I’ll be in Canberra from Monday 7 March for the Australian Internet Industry Association (AIIA) Navigating Privacy and Security Summit on Tuesday. I’ll probably stay in Canberra on Wednesday. Then on Sunday, I’ll be back in the Blue Mountains for Tech Leaders.
I’ll be in Canberra again 12-14 April for the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Conference. And I’ll be on the Gold Coast on 24-27 May for the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference.
[Photo: Beer Bubbles, specifically the Katoomba Brewing Company Great Western Golden Ale, photographed on 22 February 2016.]
Last Sunday, Telstra gave free data to all its mobile customers in an attempt to make up for a major screw-up in the previous week. That triggered a conversation…
As a variety of news outlets reported, one guy managed to download more than 420GB of stuff. Telstra’s mobile network was reported to be pretty slow as many other selfish pigs pigged out.
On Wednesday, I told Vanessa Mills on ABC Kimberley in Western Australia how people could reduce their mobile data usage and increase their battery like. This is the resulting nine-minute conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.5MB)
This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The ABC also turned this into a news story, Simple tricks to double your phone’s battery life and halve your data usage, posted Thursday morning.