kaspersky lab – Stilgherrian

22 November 201524 November 2015

Weekly Wrap 284: Busy, with a bit of Law

Stilgherrian speaking at the Law via Internet Conference 2015 Monday 9 to Sunday 15 November 2015 was a busy week. But apart from speaking briefly at a conference, and taking part in a couple of media briefings, it was mostly about things being done in the background.

In fact, this Weekly Wrap is so late, and there’s no new media objects for you to consume — apparently that’s how alleged adults speak these days — so unless you’re some kinda of weirdo, you can probably stop reading now.

Podcasts

None, but I did a lot of pre-production for my Future Tense documentary, so there’s that. This episode is now scheduled for broadcast on Sunday 29 November.

Articles

None. That’s a bit poor.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday, I spoke at the Law via Internet Conference 2015, organised by AustLII and held at the University of NSW. I did record it, but only a rough version for my own reference.

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday, I went to a briefing by Raytheon|Websense over a well-catered morning tea at the rather noice Black by Ezard at The Star.
Also on Wednesday, I went to a lunchtime briefing by Kaspersky Lab at the Hilton Sydney. In the Kaspersky Lab goodie bag was: a Kaspersky Internet Security Multi-Device license; a Fitbit Charge activity tracker (which I’ve started using, and about which I’ll write at another time); a Kaspersky 8GB OTG USB drive; a Kaspersky-branded folding Bluetooth keyboard; Kaspersky-branded stationery, including a Moleskine Squared Notebook 9 x 14cm, business card holder, and pens; and two small packets of mints.

[Photo: Stilgherrian speaking at the Law via Internet Conference 2015 at the University of New South Wales, 10 November 2015. Also pictured (left to right): Paul Chadwick, journalist and director of Guardian Australia; Lesley Hitchens, Dean of Law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS); and Martin Felsky, chair of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). Photo by Jesse Taylor.]

01 June 2014

Weekly Wrap 208: Mysterious productivity as winter arrives

I don’t want to jinx this, but my week of Monday 26 May to Sunday 1 June 2014 was yet another productive one. That makes it seven or eight solid weeks in a row. This pleases me. I jut wish I knew why it was happening, so I can make sure it keeps on happening.

That said, I haven’t had much of a social life in there. Maybe that needs to change. But for the time being, well, as the proverb says, “Make hay while this sun shines.”

Podcasts

“The 9pm Caltrain”, being episode 25 of The 9pm Edict. It’s also available on SoundCloud.

Articles

To win the cloud, remember George Westinghouse, ZDNet Australia, 27 May 2014. This is based on thoughts triggered by Zach Nelson, chief executive officer of NetSuite, when we were talking to him in San Jose in May.
Cash in by cleaning up the Internet of Messy Things, ZDNet Australia, 30 May 2014.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday I spoke about Wikipedia and self-diagnosis of medical problems on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide.
On Thursday we recorded this week’s Download This Show, on which I spoke about Facebook, and Apple versus Android, and stuff.
Download This Show also spawned a video, in which I spoke about Apple versus Android.
On Thursday evening I spoke about Facebook’s audio snooping on Channel TEN’s The Project.
On Saturday, very early, I spoke about various internet security issues on ABC Radio Overnights across Australia.

5at5

Another full week this week. But why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

5at5 number 54, 26 May 2013.
5at5 number 55, 26 May 2013.
5at5 number 56, 28 May 2013.
5at5 number 57, 29 May 2013.
5at5 number 58, 30 May 2013.

Geekery

I refurbished the website for my until-now-dormant business Skank Media, intending it to be an umbrella for my various media projects. I’ve integrated payment processor Stripe as well as membership management service Memberful. Both were completely painless, and now you can subcribe to The 9pm Edict or make a one-off tip.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday I went to the launch of Kaspersky Lab’s new product, Kaspersky Security for Virtualization Light Agent, namely a dinner at the ECQ Bar at the Pullman Quay Grand Hotel, Circular Quay. There was food and drink, of course, and we were all given a Kaspersky-branded coffee mug, pen and hard-backed notebook, plus the mandatory USB memory stick containing the media assets. I got back to my hotel through the magic of Kapersky’s Cabcharge account.

The Week Ahead

On Monday I’ll be working on an ebook project, and on Tuesday I’ll be writing about whatever Apple announces and then planning out the rest of June.

The exact order of play for the rest of the week will depend on cashflows, but it’ll include writing something for ZDNet Australia, finishing off the ebook, sorting out online sales for same, and finding some more revenue for my podcasts for June.

The weekend is a long one, for the Queen’s Birthday, so I will probably be in Sydney, though I’m open to suggestions.

[Photo: Departing Sydney Central on the 1621 to Lithgow , photographed on 30 May 2014 through the train window.]

21 November 201321 November 2013

Weekly Wrap 179: A very Kaspersky Canberra, with stress

My week Monday 4 to Sunday 10 November 2013 was another busy one, but I survived.

Once more the Weekly Wrap has been hideously delayed, so it’ll just be the facts.

A key part of the week was my trip to Canberra, mainly to cover the speech by Eugene Kaspersky to the National Press Club, but also to squeeze in some meetings with other people while I was there. Kaspersky seems to have dominated my media output for the week.

Podcasts

Corrupted Nerds: Conversations 8, being a chat about electronic voting with Dr Vanessa Teague from the University of Melbourne. If you think e-voting is the cure for electoral fraud and mistakes, you’d better listen.

Articles

Cyber espionage ‘extremely dangerous’ for international trust: Kaspersky, ZDNet Australia, 7 November 2013.
You’re not making cyberweapons, are you?, ZDNet Australia, 8 November 2013.

Media Appearances

On Thursday I spoke about Net Neutrality on ABC Radio National Drive.
On Friday I spoke about Bitcoin on an ABC Radio AM story about a massive Bitcoin robbery.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday I went to the National Press Cub in Canberra to hear Eugene Kaspersky’s address. I was a guest at the Kaspersky Lab table, and they paid for my flights from Sydney. I paid for my own accommodation because the Kaspersky thing itself could have been a day trip.

[Photo: Canberra sunrise, photographed from Rydges Lakeside Canberra hotel on 7 November 2013.]

03 November 201303 November 2013

Visiting Canberra to hear Eugene Kaspersky

I’m headed to Canberra this week to hear Eugene Kaspersky, chief executive officer and chairman of Kaspersky Lab, speak at the National Press Club on Thursday 7 November.

It’ll be an interesting event.

When I last spoke with Kaspersky in May — you can listen to that conversation now, because it became the first episode of the Corrupted Nerds: Conversations podcast — it was before Edward Snowden’s revelations began. Before “all of the cybers” changed from being something of interest only to a few specialist technology and national security writers into front page news around the world.

Actually, I’ll embed it here so you don’t even have to click through.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/115103814″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

I suspect that the kinds of questions asked by the insular and largely Canberra-bound press gallery journalists will be as revealing of the state of play as the words of the Russian information security star himself — and he knows how to work the media.

Kaspersky is speaking at the NPC at lunchtime on Thursday, immediately after which I’ll be reporting on it for ZDNet Australia. But I’ll be in Canberra from early Wednesday afternoon through until Friday afternoon, so if you want or need to catch up, do let me know.

Disclosure: I am travelling to Canberra as the guest of Kaspersky Lab.

[Photo: Eugene Kaspersky speaking at CeBIT Australia 2012. Original photo by CeBIT Australia, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC-BY) license. Digital manipulation by Stilgherrian.]

27 May 2013

Weekly Wrap 155: Chemtrails, elitism and much thinking

My week Monday 20 to Sunday 26 May 2013 was spent returning from The America, and then reading, writing, planning and generally trying to focus on the future.

If that sounds vague, it’s because it was vague. And it felt vague. It was all very, very vague. But the next week will be less vague. By at least fifteen percent.

Articles

Decoding NetSuite’s anti-SAP bravado, iTnews, 20 May 2013. This is the first story I’ve done for iTnews since 2010, when I visited Microsoft’s War Room and took photographs, and the first since the redoubtable Charis Palmer became editor.
iPhone, therefore I am … a selfish disruptor, ZDNet Australia, 24 May 2013. I’m completely sick of the word “disruption” being used, in and of itself, as a positive term for progress. It turns out I’m late to the theme of private shuttle buses as a symbol of the emerging Silicon Valley elitism, however — and I’ll return to that theme this week, somewhere.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

None, which I suppose counterbalances last week.

The Week Ahead

On Monday I’m doing the day trip to Sydney to catch up with Peter Coffee, Salesforce.com VP and head of platform research, for a chat about The Future. This is, I think, our fourth attempt at meeting up since we met at the Dreamforce event two years ago, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Tuesday is mostly a day of writing and research back at Wentworth Falls, although it kicks off with at spot on Radio Adelaide talking about the differences between the broadband policies of Labor and the Coalition. That’s at 0745 ACST / 0815 AEST.

Wednesday sees me heading into Sydney again, for interviews with Eugene Kaspersky of Kaspersky Lab and Chris Wood from Sourcefire, and then in the evening a long dinner and drinks event with Mr Kaspersky. I suspect I’ll be staying overnight in Sydney that night. If I survive the experience at all.

And then the rest of the week is about writing and podcast production. Probably. You known how my weeks go. Disorganisedly.

[Photo: How they make chemtrails, photographed at dusk over San Francisco International Airport. They’re just so blatant about it these days. While this photograph was taken on the evening of Sunday 19 May 2013 local time, it was already Monday 20 May Australian time, so I’m allowing myself to use this photo this week.]

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

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