Tag: download this show

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Talking password protection on ABC Download This Show

Stilgherrian in bunny hat from Download This Show

ABC logoCareful and sighted readers will have noticed that in the photo accompanying the audio for this week’s Download This Show I was wearing a bunny hat for Easter. That’s because this radio program now appears on video as well as part of the new RN TV.

Not all of it, but one segment at least, and you’ll see that video over the fold.

In light of the software bug Heartbleed, we examine password managers and ask are they the safest way to manage your security online?

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Talking lots of things on ABC Download This Show

Stilgherrian, Marc Fennell and Claire Porter in the ABC studios: click for full image

ABC logoThis week saw my first appearance on ABC Radio National’s Download This Show for 2014. Presenter Marc Fennell made the grave mistake of putting me and Claire Porter, editor-a-large of Techly, in the same place at the same time. Chaos ensued.

“Killing Comic Sans, SELFIE Mirror, Password Managers” is the headline for this episode.

Comic Sans comeback: Created for Microsoft in the mid-90s, Comic Sans might just be the internet’s most-hated font. But this week we meet the guy who’s trying to save its reputation and reintroduce Comic Sans to a new generation, by making it look cool. In light of the software bug Heartbleed, we examine password managers and ask are they the safest way to manage your security online? And it’s a contender for the weirdest high-tech gadget yet: the mirror that automatically takes a selfie.

Here’s the full program.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.7MB)

The audio is ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served here directly from the ABC website.

[Photo: Stilgherrian, Marc Fennell and Claire Porter in the ABC studios, 17 April 2014.]

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Talking security and more on ABC Download This Show

ABC logoBack on 13 December I was a guest for the recording of the penultimate episode of Marc Fennell’s Download This Show for 2013.

Data privacy. What a year it’s been: 2013 will be remembered as the year we came to understand just how much our data was not our own. Edward Snowden might not have won Time magazine’s Person of the Year, pipped to the post by Pope Francis, but the former NSA computer specialist has forever changed the way we think about our information security as a result of his world-changing revelations. But has he changed our behaviour?

My fellow panellist was Karalee Evans, head of social for advertising agency DDB Australia, and we had a great time. Here’s the full audio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.4MB)

The audio is ©2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served here directly from the ABC website.

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Talking crowdfunding etc on ABC Download This Show

ABC logoAfter a six-month gap caused by the failure of our schedules to cooperate, I was finally a guest once more on Marc Fennell’s Download This Show this week, which we recorded this morning.

Online crowd funding: Whether it’s a brand new gadget or a bouncing baby, you can crowd fund anything these days? But which online service is the most likely to get your project to its funding target? Plus, want to know what the internet feels like in an oppressive regime? Google has helped build a site that will show you what it feels like and it’ll help internet users in those countries as well. And is it a phone or is it Lego? The modular phone you can rebuild and reshape as you see fit.

My fellow panellist was Janet Carr. And here’s the full audio. I talk about breast enhancement, amongst other things.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.4MB)

The audio is ©2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served here directly from the ABC website.

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Talking LulzSec and more on ABC Download This Show

ABC logoMy third radio spot for this busy radio week was Marc Fennell’s Download This Show, which we recorded on Wednesday morning.

Can you imagine being able to control a crematorium, a powerstation or traffic lights somewhere out the world from your laptop? Welcome to the mysterious search engine Shodan. If Google is the search engine for web pages than Shodan is the Google of “things”. Also in this episode we examine the state of Lulzsec in Australia and experiment with the new crowdsourcing app SeeSaw.

My fellow panellist was Claire Porter, technology editor for News.com.au. And here’s the full audio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.4MB)

The audio is ©2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served here directly from the ABC website.

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Talking censorship and more on ABC Download This Show

This week saw my third appearance on Marc Fennell’s program Download This Show on ABC Radio National. Great fun.

Cleaning up the web: Nearly three years since announcing the proposed mandatory internet filtering system Cleenfeed, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s scheme is dead. But what have they replaced it with and were we better off with Conroy’s old system? Meanwhile, we peek into the secret UN meeting that could radically change the way the net is governed, and take time out to ask whether games can truly change our minds and society.

The internet “filtering” stuff of course relates to the Interpol blacklist that I’ve written about for Crikey once or twice, and which was also the subject of this week’s Patch Monday podcast.

My fellow guest was digital arts evangelist Fee Plumley. The audio below is linked directly from the ABC’s website.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.1MB)

The audio is ©2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[Photo: Waiting in ABC Studio 291, Coffs Harbour, the location from which I joined the program.]