Tag: crikey

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Weekly Wrap 412: Cyber in Canberra, then SEKRIT things

Parliament House, CanberraI was a busy possum during the two weeks from Monday 9 to Sunday 22 April 2018. The first week was spent in Canberra covering some cyber events, and the second was spent writing, and working on the SEKRIT editorial project which I’ll tell you a tiny amount about… now!

I’m the series editor on a project for Crikey, one that they’ve crowdfunded via a Pozible project called Crikey Digs. Some of you may have seen me tweet that part of it is about businesses that misuse Australians’ personal data, or trade it in a dodgy way. More will be revealed in the coming week.

Meanwhile, all these things…

Articles

Media Appearances

I’ve fallen out of the habit of posting the audio from my radio spots. Would you like me to return to that habit?

Podcasts

None. However see below for a bit of a plan.

Corporate Largesse

  • There was plenty of food and drink at the ACSC Conference in Canberra, though I skipped most of the functions.

The Week Ahead

The next few weeks see me based in Ashfield, Sydney, working through the SEKRIT editorial project, and writing for ZDNet much as usual. I’m hoping to get some walking in, however, and I might post some stuff about the places I visit, including photos.

On Tuesday night I’m doing a radio spot for ABC Melbourne, some time between 1900 and 2200 AEST. We haven’t locked in the time yet.

Wednesday is Anzac Day. It’s a public holiday, so I may take it easy. But I also might get up early for the Dawn Service. Undecided.

Further Ahead

The next episode of The 9pm Edict, will be recorded and streamed live on Tuesday 8 May at 2100 AEST.

Other things I’ve pencilled in:

[Photo: Parliament House, Canberra, photographed on 13 April 2018.]

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Weekly Wrap 327: Spring is far more painful than planned

Almond Blossom at Bunjaree Cottages, Day Four: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 29 August to Sunday 4 September 2016 was full of pain. I didn’t realise how seriously I’d been injured last weekend. Somehow, however, there’s plenty of things to report.

The injury I mentioned last week turned out to be a severe contusion — that’s bruising — of the ribs. It was just short of a fracture, but oddly enough the bruising is usually more painful, and that pain will be with me for several weeks. It’s strong painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and rest for me.

I strongly recommend never getting severe rib contusions.

All last week’s planned events were cancelled. It’s a good thing, therefore, that things emerged from the pipeline.

Articles

Media Appearances

Podcasts

None, but next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Tuesday 6 September at 2100 AEST.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a relatively quiet day. I’m being interviewed about The Code at 1430, but apart from that it’s production planning and administrivia, I think.

On Tuesday, it’s an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.

Past that, well, it depends on the pain levels and the mood. This much pain doesn’t exactly cheer one up. But I’d like to get down to Sydney for at least one day. Stay tuned.

Further Ahead

I’m going to the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October, and an event in Melbourne I can’t tell you about yet on 17 November.

[Photo: Almond Blossom at Bunjaree Cottages, Day Four, one in a series of daily photos taken of an almond tree at Bunjaree Cottages near Wentworth Falls, 100km west of Sydney — although the images are of different parts of the tree. This one was taken on 2 September 2016.]

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Weekly Wrap 307: Cockatoos and cybers, more or less

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos at Wentworth Falls: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 18 to Sunday 24 April 2016 went pretty much to plan, with productivity when it was needed, and some relaxation when that was needed.

Articles

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Monday, I went to a lunchtime briefing by Nuix, and they provided food and drink.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be spending another whole week in Sydney, staying at my usual SEKRIT cave in Lilyfield.

[Update 26 April 2016: I’ve had to rearrange my week, because my decision to eat all the leftovers on Monday was a poor choice, and because I didn’t allow quite enough time for moving my data to the loaner MacBook Pro. Update 27 April 2016: More schedule changes. This is not a low-entropy week.]

Monday is Anzac Day, but instead of enjoying the public holiday, I’ll be catching up on some geek-for-hire work, and finishing the script for an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast. I’ll also be collecting a loaner MacBook Pro, for use while mine goes in for repair some time in the following days, and loading it with data.

On Tuesday, I’ll be writing for Crikey, getting a briefing from Verizon on their new Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), probably writing for ZDNet, and recording that podcast catching up on some geek-for-hire work, finishing the script for an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, and at 1900 AEST doing a radio spot for ABC 774 Melbourne.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll be going to some of the Amazon Web Services Summit Sydney. On Wednesday evening, I’ll be recording that podcast.

On Wednesday, I’m posting the audio from Tuesday night, working on the much-delayed geek-for-hire projects, and proposing some topics for Thursday night’s videos. I’ll also be battling considerable nausea. The geek-for-hire work continues on Thursday morning.

On Thursday afternoon I’m dealing with the computer repairs repairs (if I haven’t already done so), then in the evening recording some videos for ZDNet.

On Friday, I’ll finally be recording that podcast.

Somewhere in there I’m doing some writing for ZDNet.

Further Ahead

On 3 May, I’m covering the inaugural National Fintech Cyber Security Summit in Sydney. Then on 24-27 May, I’m covering the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast.

[Photo: Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos at Wentworth Falls. Wentworth Falls is home to a clan of sulphur-crested cockatoos numbering about 50. I managed to capture some of them in flight while waiting for a train on 20 April 2016.]

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Weekly Wrap 270: Generosity and some deep rabbit holes

Newtown, with mesh fence: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 August 2015 was remarkable, because I had so many votes of confidence, as it were. I’m pretty chuffed.

The most remarkable of all was that I raised more than $7200 in a crowdfunding campaign to replace and upgrade my core work tools. I won’t go into the details here, because you can check the project updates. But as I explained last week, having a working computer has really helped my mood. Knowing that I’ll soon have the kit to do certain kinds of projects is even more mood-improving.

Also, at the ADMA Global Forum, I met Professor Stephen Pulman, head of computational linguistics at some university called… Oxbloor or Oxfart or something like that. When I showed interest in his session on the sentiment analysis of textual data, including tweets, I was invited to his masterclass the next day. I’m kinda chuffed that I could dive deep into this stuff after so many years.

There’s a few other things too, but that can wait. On with the show…

Articles

Podcasts

None. But it’s looking like there’ll be three episodes of The 9pm Edict over the next five weeks. I’m also thinking of resurrecting Corrupted Nerds.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday morning, I spoke about the Wentworth Falls bushfire on ABC 702 Sydney.
  • On Tuesday evening, I spoke about various technology issues on ABC Local Radio across NSW, but there’s no recording. That’s a shame. It was a good segment.

5at5

There were editions of 5at5 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday and Wednesday, I covered the ADMA Global Forum, so there was plenty of food and drink to be had at Sydney’s Hilton Hotel.
  • On Wednesday evening, I went to Text100’s (in)famous Xmas in August event at the Bavarian Bier Cafe in Sydney. Bang & Olufsen gave me a rather nice leather keyring, and a USB stick containing their promotional material. Amazon Kindle gave me a promo-filled USB stick too.
  • On Thursday, NetSuite has a lunchtime briefing at Gowings Bar & Grill at Sydney’s QT Hotel. As usual, the food and drink was stunning.

The Week Ahead

Monday will be a long, long day. I’m taking the 0706 train to Sydney. At 0900 I’m meeting someone over coffee. From 1000, I’ll be at Deloitte’s media briefing on their annual Media Consumer Survey. Then it’s a haircut, and lunch, and buying a new shirt. The afternoon is flexible, shall we say, because at 2030 I’ll be live on ABC TV’s Lateline to talk about certain cybers. I think I’ll try to have a nap in there somewhere.

Tuesday is an easier day, and I plan to sleep in. I’m finally getting an eye exam done, and then I’ve got a couple meetings before catching the train back to Wentworth Falls.

On Wednesday, I’ll be running errands and doing my shopping in Katoomba, as well as working on a few stories. On Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet. And on Friday, it’s the next step of The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh. I’ll have the final budget and podcast content selections, so it’ll be time to lock in the shopping list, and send RFQs to my suppliers.

I think I’ll record an episode of The 9pm Edict on the weekend, but we’ll see how that goes. Next weekend is so far away…

[Photo: Newtown, with mesh fence, photographed on 4 August 2015 as my train down from the Blue Mountains sped through Newtown on its wat to Central station for its scheduled 0847 arrival.]

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Weekly Wrap 263: Cold, but productive and entertaining

The View from Level 16My week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 June 2015 was yet another reasonably productive one, though the cold weather meant that I spent more time than ever before in the warmth of the Blue Mountains City Library in Katoomba.

This week also saw a significant reduction in my stress levels, for a variety of reasons. I’ll write more about that later in the week.

Articles

Podcasts

  • The 9pm Planet of Fascist Delusions, being The 9pm Edict episode 45. I think that podcast production expands to fill the time available for it. This episode soaked up 17 hours, spread over two days.

5at5

There were five editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That’s more than 25 things for you to read! To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

My week will begin with the Winter Solstice — sorry, I’m running late — the week began with the Winter Solstice, which happened at 0238 AEST on Monday morning. I celebrated the Solstice as I often do, by reflecting on many things overnight, so Monday is a bit slow. Household chores, administrivia, some research, and the like. In the evening I’ll plan my writing for ZDNet.

Tuesday to Thursday will be writing days, with a couple of stories for ZDNet, as well as that goddam ebook. Friday will be devoted to certain activities related to the end of the financial year. The weekend will see the production of another episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, interspersed with a modest social life. That episode will be completed and posted on Monday 29 June.

That seems a bit thin. But my ponderings over the Solstice will trigger further actions, trust me. There is much that I want to change in the coming months.

[Photo: The View from Level 16, being the UBS offices on level 16 of Chifley Tower, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney, photographed on 19 June 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 261: Two conferences, two states, many cybers

Sunset on the Gold Coast: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 1 to Sunday 7 June 2015 has been both productive and exhausting, covering two conferences in two states.

It’s a long time since I’ve written five articles in week. It’s at least six months since I’ve done four, which is as far back as I could be bothered scrolling let alone five. But of course, there’s podcasts and other projects that have generated revenue, including random geekery and technical consultancy, so “number of articles” isn’t a fair measure.

Still, this has been one of my most productive weeks in a while. Excellent.

Articles

Podcasts

None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict is scheduled for Monday 15 June, or the day after.

5at5

There were two editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, and Sunday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday, I spoke about Chinese ATMs with face recognition on ABC 891 Adelaide.
  • On Friday, I took part in the AusCERT Speed Debate. The Livestream recording has bad audio, so I’ll link to the YouTube version when it becomes available.
  • Also on Friday, I was interviewed by the University of Melbourne student newspaper Farrago. I’ll link to that story when it goes live.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday, I went to the Check Point Cyber Security Symposium in Sydney, or at least part of it. The goodie bag included a signed copy of Brian Krebs’ book Spam Nation, a Check Point branded notebook, a chocolate from A10 Networks, and of course copies of Check Point’s promotional material. Food and drink were supplied.
  • From Tuesday night through to Friday, I was at the AusCERT Information Security Conference as AusCERT’s guest. They provided return flights from Sydney to the Gold Coast, airport transfers, three nights accommodation at RACV Royal Pines Resort, and of course all the conference food and drink — and there was plenty of that. For taking part in the Speed Debate, I was given a bottle of Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2012 from the Clare Valley. And everybody got a copy of Bruce Schneier’s book Data and Goliath, an AusCERT-branded shirt, and a rather well-made courier bag. From CyberArk: A macaron, delivered creepy-like into my hotel room while I wasn’t there. From Firemon: A branded glass-cleaning cloth. From Mimecast: a keyring bottle opener. From NCC Group: a golden bath duck. From the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service: an NCIS cap — yes, from the real NCIS, not the TV show.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, but nevertheless I’ll be working. I’ll be writing a feature for ZDNet, as well as returning to Wentworth Falls after a week away.

From Tuesday to Thursday, I’ll be working on another feature for ZDNet, as well as my “regular” column, as well as the running so late it’s embarrassing ebook. I see there’s an Apple keynote at 0300 AEST on Tuesday, so that may feed into something. [It didn’t.] And I’ve got an interview to do on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, I’ll be heading down to Sydney for a media briefing by Cisco. Friday is another writing day.

I’m not sure how the weekend will go, but I see that there’s Poetry in the Pub in Katoomba on Sunday afternoon. I happened to be there last month, and I thought it might be interesting for The 9pm Edict podcast. We’ll see.

Update 11 June 2015: Edited to reflect the abandoning of the Friday trip to Sydney.

[Photo: Sunset on the Gold Coast, Photographed from the 16th floor of the RACV Royal Pines Resort on 3 June 2015.]