blue mountains – Page 3

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.]

26 October 201429 October 2014

Weekly Wrap 229: Currawongs and climate change

Flustered currawong My week of Monday 20 to Sunday 26 October 2014 was moderately productive. Not as productive as I’d hoped, but close enough.

Winter is definitely over. Despite the snowfall nearby last week, this week temperatures in the Blue Mountains rose to 28C or more, and the weekend brought a mix of bright blue skies and the occasional thundery rainstorm. We have broken the climate.

Podcasts

Corrupted Nerds: Conversations 12, being a discussion of mandatory telecommunications metadata and surveillance with Carly Nyst, legal director of Privacy International.
“The 9pm Vision for Australia”, being The 9pm Edict episode 31, 22 October 2014. It includes quite a bit about the passing of Gough Whitlam.

Articles

Will metadata musings ever mature beyond paranoid fears?, ZDNet Australia, 20 October 2014.

I’ve also written a second piece for ZDNet Australia, as well as a piece for Crikey, both of which will be published on Monday.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday, I spoke about Telstra wholesale pricing and how it affects your phone and internet bills on 1395 FIVEaa.
On Thursday, I was a guest on the recording of this week’s Download This Show for ABC Radio National.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

It’ll be another busy one, structured around a trip to Sydney on Tuesday to go to a lunchtime briefing from NetSuite and then the OpenAustralia Foundation Pub Night. I’ll be staying in Sydney overnight.

Arranged around that will be the writing of a security-related feature plus my regular column for ZDNet Australia, and the production of an episode of The 9pm Edict, probably in that order. The exact details are still to be sorted out.

The weekend is unplanned.

[Photo: “Flustered currawong”, taken when a pied currawong (Strepera graculina) managed to find its way into Bunjaree Cottages on 26 October 2014.]

19 October 201421 October 2014

Weekly Wrap 228: Snow, at least nearby, and privacy

My week of Monday 13 to Sunday 19 October 2014 must have been influenced by the photo I posted last week, because it did end up snowing in the Blue Mountains — but no closer than 8km from me.

So, in the interests of triggering pleasant spring conditions for the week ahead, I’ve kicked off with another pleasant photo from my archives.

Articles

Dropbox password scam shows up our sloppy infosec, ZDNet Australia, 14 October 2014.
How ABC 702 Sydney failed the Blue Mountains, and Twitter won this morning, Crikey, 15 October 2014.

I’ve also written a second piece for ZDNet Australia, but it won’t appear until Monday.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday, I moderated an event for Electronic Frontiers Australia and the Australian Privacy Foundation, “Data Retention: the European Experience”, which was a public conversation with Privacy International’s legal director Carly Nyst. A full audio recording will appear on Monday as an episode of the Corrupted Nerds: Conversations podcast.
On Friday, I spoke about voiceprints and biometric ID on 1395 FIVEaa.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

It’ll be a busy one. While I haven’t mapped out exactly what will happen each day — I can’t do so until a certain tardy clients pays me and I can lock in certain commitments — there’s plenty of media objects to make.

A new ZDNet Australia column and a new Corrupted Nerds podcast will appear on Monday, as I said. After that, I’ve got two ZDNet Australia pieces to write, and an episode of The 9pm Edict to produce. I also want to resurrect the 5at5 newsletter, but that has a lower priority.

The weekend is unplanned.

[Photo: Yellow, being a narrow-leafed drumstick (Isopogon anethifolius) photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 1 November 2012.]

31 March 2014

Weekly Wrap 199: Lost in the mist and the rain

My week of Monday 25 to Sunday 30 March 2014 has been and gone. It wasn’t very productive, but I’m going to zoom forward quickly for reasons that may become obvious in the next day or two.

I should mention that pretty much everything that last week I said I’d do this week didn’t actually happen. Shoosh.

Articles

None.

Media Appearances

None

5at5

Two days, plus a correction. There’s nothing more that needs be said in this section but, because I think it looks ugly when I have so many short paragraphs in a row, I’m going to waffle on here for a few more words so that the right-hand margin is once more established visually. Because I care.

5at5 number 22, 24 March 2013.
5at5 number 22A, 24 March 2013.
5at5 number 23, 28 March 2013.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday has already happened, and was moderately productive. I did a thing for ZDNet Australia, Plibersek loses our privacy in a haystack of envelopes, amongst other things.

Tuesday is a day of writing and planning here in the misty, rainy Blue Mountains. The near-continual gloom, coming somewhat early this year it seems, hasn’t exactly helped my mood.

On Wednesday I’m heading into Sydney for a media briefing about HP Enterprise Services and their security work — and probably staying overnight. And the rest of the week is only tentatively planned.

I will say that tomorrow, 1 April, sees the start of a new quarter, and I’ve got a few things in mind. Stay tuned. There may be charts. There may even be announcements.

[Photo: Bunjaree Cottages track in the mist, 24 March 2014. Even though the rain screws with my mood, it does look beautiful here at Bunjaree Cottages.]

16 March 201418 March 2014

Weekly Wrap 197: Leura, clouds, and other minor joys

My week of Monday 10 to Sunday 16 March 2014 has been a vast improvement, with plenty of signs of productivity returning.

The difficulties hinted at last week were more about continuing gastro-intestinal problems rather than stress and depression — though obviously such things interact — and I’m fairly sure that the third anti-depressant I’ve been trying has very much not been helping in this regard. But I won’t tangle that thread of thought into this Wrap.

While there might not seem to be that much more this week, that’s because I don’t include the various geek-for-hire things I still do from time to time for some legacy clients. A couple hours of relatively straightforward systems administration pays more than writing a typical column, which can reduce the stress remarkably. Such a thing happened this week.

Articles

Want secure software? Listen to Marge Simpson, ZDNet Australia, 13 March 2014. In a way, this is a continuation of my column Apple’s goto fail needs a massive culture change to fix from 26 February, riffing off the news that a similar bug had been found in some Linux software, but drawing in some other threads as well.

By the time today (Sunday) ends, I should also have finished a piece for Crikey that’ll probably be published on Monday — though given the fascinating political news following the state elections in Tasmania and South Australia yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were held over until later in the week.

Media Appearances

None.

5at5

We seem to have gotten back on track from Wednesday, and the coming week is looking good.

5at5 number 15, 12 March 2013.
5at5 number 16, 13 March 2013.
5at5 number 17, 14 March 2013.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

On Monday and Tuesday I’ve got lunchtime briefings in Sydney, with Dell Australia and infosec company Imperva respectively, so that means I’ll almost certainly be in Sydney overnight too.

I haven’t locked in the exact order of play after that. It’ll depend on when payments arrive and when I feel in the mood for work, but obviously you can follow my Twitter stream to stay up to date.

[Photo: Study in purple and grey, Leura,14 March 2014, being a picture of the typical pre-storm cloudscapes we see up here in the Blue Mountains.]

31 October 201301 November 2013

Weekly Wrap 177: Fire, travel, hacking and alcohol

My week Monday 21 to Sunday 27 October 2013 was just insanely busy, including everything from bushfires to fine food to hacking, little sleep and far, far too much alcohol.

In the one week, I felt guilty for leaving the Blue Mountains when the locals were about to face what looked like a severe bushfire threat, especially when the very next day I enjoyed a luxury lunch, and spent four solid days absorbing deep, deep information security information and, in the evenings, alcohol.

I survived.

Articles

From CIO to CUXO: Chief user experience officer, ZDNet Australia, 21 October 2013.
Breakpoint Day 1: Smart TVs to the digital arms trade, Corrupted Nerds, 25 October 2013.
Smart TVs are dumb, and so are we, ZDNet Australia, 25 October 2013.

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday I spoke about backing up your home and personal data in case of disasters on ABC Radio 702 Sydney.
On Thursday I spoke about my Pozible crowdfunded journalism project on ABC Radio National’s Media Report.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday I went to a lunchtime media briefing by Amazon Web Services at the O-Bar, the restaurant at the top of Australia Square tower. The food and wine was delightful.
On Thursday I had dinner with Michael McKinnon from AVG Technologies AU and a chap from a government agency at Syracuse Restaurant and Wine Bar in Melbourne. AVG paid for that one.
On Sunday I had dinner with Michael McKinnon from AVG Technologies AU at Ishiya Japanese Stonegrill. I can thoroughly recommend the “sake degustation” options. But McKinnon again? I know. He even acted as my driver for an errand on Saturday afternoon. People are starting to talk…

The Week Ahead

Well, it’d almost over now. All I’ll say is that tonight is Thursday night and I’ll be returning to the Blue Mountains tomorrow. The weekend is unplanned, at least in detail, but I’ll be producing some media objects between now and the end of Sunday. Stay tuned.

[Map: The view from 29A, taken at Sydney Airport on 23 October 2013.