Tag: china

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Weekly Wrap 405: Too much hospitality in Tasmania

Crossing the DerwentMy week of Monday 26 February to Sunday 4 March 2018 began in Launceston, passed through Hobart and Sydney, and returned to Wentworth Falls.

Many thanks to my Pozible supporters, as well as my generous hosts and guides in Tasmania. I think I’ve put on about 35kg thanks to you.

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday afternoon, or Tuesday morning their time, I spoke about the futility of trying to “recall” an email on ABC South-West WA. I won’t be posting the recording.
  • Also on Tuesday afternoon, I spoke about goats and read goat poetry on ABC Hobart. I won’t post that recording either.
  • On Wednesday, I spoke about goats and crowdfunding on Tasmania Talks across northern Tasmania. You can listen at Psychic goat predicts hung parliament in state election.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

This week is primarily a writing and editing week, apart from a scheduled day trip to Sydney on Wednesday. I won’t schedule it any more tightly than that. The weekend is unplanned.

Further Ahead

I’m travelling to a few cities to present at a commercial event. Details TBA, but I’ll be in Melbourne on Tue 20 Mar, Brisbane on Wed 21, Adelaide on Thu 22 (and staying there through the weekend, I hope), and Sydney on Tue 27.

I’ve launched another Pozible campaign, The 9pm Hometown Forum, which aims to fund a Public House Forum episode of the Edict on Saturday 24 March.

Looking way further ahead:

  • Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Conference, Canberra, 10–12 April.
  • Australian Cyber Conference, formerly the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference, Melbourne, 9–11 October.

[Photo: Crossing the Derwent. Two seabirds skim the wetlands as I cross the Derwent River at Bridgewater, Tasmania, on 26 February 2018.]

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The 9pm The Earth is Flat and So’s Your Mum

This man decided to share some of his lunch with an ibis. But there is never just one ibis.
The 9pm Edict cover art version 2, 150 pixels

We explore one of the world’s greatest coincidences. President Donald Trump finally does something sensible. And we bring you the latest in science.

There’s also talk of Bitcoin, bin chickens, nuclear weapons, and UFOs. And Nicholas Fryer takes a look through The Arch Window.

Continue reading “The 9pm The Earth is Flat and So’s Your Mum”
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Weekly Wrap 379: Six weeks at winter’s end

Dawn at Wentworth FallsThis Weekly Wrap covers six weeks, Monday 24 July to Sunday 3 September 2017, because it was a Bad Time. Quite a bad time, clearly. But let’s focus on the good bits.

Articles

Podcasts

None, but I’ll announce my latest alleged plans in the next few days. Heh. Yeah, right.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday 24 July, I spoke about exploding batteries on ABC Melbourne.
  • On Wednesday 16 August, I speculated about Australia’s new cyberwar unit on ABC Adelaide.
  • On Tuesday 22 August, I spoke about a bunch of things on ABC Melbourne.

I probably won’t get around to posting the audio from these, but we’ll see.

Corporate Largesse

  • My flights from Sydney to Canberra and return on 11–12 August were provided by Australian consulting firm IBRS.
  • There was plenty of free food and drink at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit on 21–22 August, as well as vendor swag. Crowdstrike: Branded webcam privacy covers. Cylance: Branded USB-to-various recharge cable. Thales: A branded lens kit for mobile devices, with macro and fisheye lenses; another of the excellent Thales pens. Trustwave: One of those credit card sized multi-purpose tools.

The Week Ahead

All I’ll say for now is that I’ll definitely be down in Sydney on Thursday for a couple of medical things. The rest I’ll make up as I go along. As always, watch for the details on Twitter.

Further Ahead

Events I’m covering or speaking at include:

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Dawn at Wentworth Falls, looking east from Wentworth Falls railway station on the chilly morning of 21 August 2017.]

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Talking surveillance and privacy on ABC 774 Melbourne

ABC logoEarlier this month I was in Melbourne to speak at Pause Fest, as well as talk to the media about some of the issues surrounding digital surveillance and privacy.

Here’s the 19-minute conversation I had with Lindy Burns on ABC 774 Melbourne on Wednesday 10 February. As usual, we rambled all over the landscape of the topic, but I think you’ll find it interesting.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.2MB)

This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[Note: Yes, I’m catching up on my blog posts, I should have them all caught up within the next 24 hours.]

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Talking ATMs with face recognition on ABC 891 Adelaide

ABC logoEngineers at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and Hangzhou-based security company Tzekwan Technology have unveiled an ATM with face-recognition — and I discussed the implications on ABC 891 Adelaide on Monday.

I spoke with drive presenter Michael Smyth about why China might want to do this, including making more of their technology domestically, and linking ATM authentication with their growing national database of facial biometrics for… other purposes.

Here’s the full seven-minute conversation, which was broadcast live.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.6MB)

The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Talking ASIO hack on BBC World Service

BBC World Service logoMonday night’s Four Corners episode claimed, amongst other thing, that Chinese hackers had stolen the plans to the new headquarters of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). It made global news, and as a result, I ended up being interviewed on the BBC World Service program World Have Your Say.

The 15-minute live panel discussion also included Four Corners journalist Andrew Fowler, one of the BBC’s journalists based in China, and a journalist from The New York Times.

I quite enjoyed the chat, but it also showed how new all this stuff is to a mainstream audience.

Here’s the audio of the full 30-minute program. It starts off with a discussion of the current situation in Syria, and then we start at about the 14-minute mark.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.3MB)

The audio is of course ©2013 British Broadcasting Corporation. The audio player is linked directly to the BBC’s copy of the MP3 file. If that ever breaks, let me know and I’ll post my copy.