bunjaree cottages – Page 7

29 November 2011

Weekly Wrap 77: Canberra, infosec, Chinese and bees

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. Given that this is being posted so late, suffice it to say that I went to Canberra again and I was too tired for much of anything by the end of the week.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 115, “SOPA: war on the internet continues”. CNET chief political correspondent Declan McCullagh outlines the controversy surrounding the US Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), and Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane from Crikey positions SOPA as yet another example of what amounts to a war on the internet.

Articles

Only two articles this week — well, that were published. There’s more to come, articles that were written but not published. Both of these, though, are from the Trend Micro Canberra Cloud Security Conference.

Today’s cloud winners: the cybercriminals, CSO, 24 November 2011.
Want government cloud? Rethink security!, CSO, 24 November 2011.

Media Appearances

This kinda counts as media. I was on the panel for the media140+ Digital Anonymity event, the audio recordings of which I linked to earlier.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday, breakfast was provided at the Trend Micro Canberra Cloud Security Conference. That was the historic Hyatt Hotel Canberra, though not their full and rather wonderful buffet.
Also on Wednesday, I had lunch at The Chairman and Yip, Canberra, courtesy of Datacom.

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: As I walked from Bunjaree Cottages to Wentworth Falls today, most of Railway Parade was lined with yellow flowers. The bees seemed quite interested. I’m also very impressed with the detail on the bee, given this was shot on a sub-$300 camera.]

28 November 2011

At night, quiet bushland not so quiet

It’s a relatively warm night at the end of spring here at the Bunjaree Cottages in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Quiet? Tell that to the critters down by the dam!

Here’s a brief sound snippet recorded a few minutes ago. I’ll post something longer in due course, because I think it’s worth recording the ambient sound.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:55 — 1.1MB)

Can anyone identify any of the creatures here?

16 October 201116 October 2011

Weekly Wrap 71: Mist, followed by Russian-sponsored beer

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets — leaving out most of the embarrassing bits.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 109, “Early Jobs: innovative, underground, illegal”. Yes, a Steve Jobs episode, but covering the early days and AppleTalk and the Apple LaserWriter and things. My guests were Mark Pesce and Nick Hodge.

Articles

Aussie “family” social network fails security basics, CSO, 11 October 2011. Family HQ was launched as a private social network for family use, with privacy as its focus. So it’s a shame they didn’t get someone to test that.
Turnbull’s NBN twilight zone — give the man a cigar (Cuban of course), Crikey, 11 October 2011.
From idiot box to idiot internet, Technology Spectator, 13 October 2011. Thanks to ubiquitous internet and 3G phone networks we no longer sit up in our chairs and “go online”, which means the social TV phenomenon is here to stay.
Android, the simmering security shemozzle, CSO, 14 October 2011.

Media Appearances

None. Which is a nice change after last week.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday evening, I attended the launch of Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8.0 at The American Club, Sydney. Kaspersky Lab paid for the food and alcohol. Too much alcohol. So it’s a good thing they also paid for a hotel room.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Misty Morning at Bunjaree Cottages, which I think should be self-explanatory by now.]

26 September 201130 September 2011

Weekly Wrap 68: Bad shoulder, with inquisitive rosellas

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. Last week was relatively unproductive thanks to continuing pain from my shoulder and continuing gut irritation from nasty anibiotics, about which I may write something later.

Once more I’m posting this on Monday rather than Sunday. Oops. I don’t suppose the world will end. Well, not because of this anyway.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 106, “Fighting malware at SophosLabs”. A conversation with Mark Harris, the head of SophosLabs globally, and Sean McDonald, who manages the lab in North Sydney.

Articles

Trends on Twitter brief but telling, just like in the real world, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 2011, my first article for Fairfax.
NBN retail pricing neither a bargain nor an extravagance, Crikey, 20 September 2011.
Hey Facebook, we want to share, but this is ridiculous, Crikey, 23 September 2011.

Media Appearances

On Monday I spoke with ABC 666 Canberra about Twitter, covering material from the Sydney Morning Herald piece. I’m not sure whether I recorded, but this time the ABC posted the audio themselves.
On Friday I spoke with ABC 774 Melbourne and ABC 666 Canberra about the Facebook changes.

Corporate Largesse

None.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Rosellas at Rosella Cottage, one of the Bunjaree Cottages at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains where I’ve been staying off and on this year.]

02 April 201113 June 2011

Weekly Wrap 43

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This week I’m slowly getting back to the normal level of media work, it seems.

I’ve even completely finished the coming week’s edition of the Patch Monday podcast and sent it to ZDNet Australia. I feel so… productive!

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 82, “Trends for a broadband-enabled future”. An interview with Brad Howarth, co-author with Janelle Ledwidge of the new Australian book A Faster Future.

Articles

Iranian hackers prove internet security is rubbish, for Crikey, explaining the implications of the presumed-Iranian hackers managing to issue themselves fake SSL certificates.
Electronic voting a threat to democracy, for ABC Unleashed. This opinion piece essentially says that the security risks outweigh the convenience. I was most amused to see commenters claim that I’m therefore “afraid of technology” because I don’t understand it. Convenience is everything, apparently.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday I was interviewed by Kate O’Toole on ABC Radio Darwin 105.7 about hacking. I have already posted the audio recording.

Corporate Largesse

Shiva Kumar from PR firm Edelman bought me a cup of coffee on Monday when he briefed me on using LinkedIn. LinkedIn themselves then provided me with a free Pro-level account.

Elsewhere

[Photo: The view from Wattle Cottage, which is where I’m living this weekend. Of course it’s one of the Bunjaree Cottages at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, where I’ve been based since early February. This is the first time I’ve stayed in this particular cottage and the view brings with it a vast number of birds.]

14 March 201113 June 2011

Weekly Wrap 40

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. Despite succumbing to a random fever for two or three days, I got quite a bit of writing done — and then forgot to post this until Monday. Sigh.

Podcasts

Patch Monday episode 79, “Cybercrime convention: civil liberties risk?”. Australia intends to sign on to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. My guests? Cybercrime specialist Nigel Phair from the Surete Group, who’s previously been with the Australian High Tech Crime Centre. His second book has just been published, Cybercrime: The Challenge for the Legal Profession. And Electronic Frontiers Australia chair Colin Jacobs.

Articles

How Al Jazeera leads the world in social media for news reporting, for Crikey, based on comments made by their head of social media Riyaad Minty at Digital Directions 2011.
Apple: saving old media, or just making them its bitch?, for Crikey. This was based on material presented at Digital Directions 2011 and elsewhere. I simply don’t get this idea that Apple’s iPad will be the saviour of the media factories.
Digital fingerprints the next privacy invasion?, for ABC Unleashed, a more personal opinion on the plans to sign on to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
Two chefs, Next G and the ‘wireless’ confusion, for CRN Australia. My first article for this masthead is about the communication gap between IT vendors and their small business customers.

Media Appearances

I was a guest on this week’s edition of The Fourth Estate, the community radio program and podcast, talking about Australia’s new journalist shield law.

Corporate Largesse

None.

Elsewhere

[Photo: Tea Tree Cottage, one of the Bunjaree Cottages at Wentworth Falls, where I’ve been living. I’ll write more about this experience very soon.]