Weekly Wrap 434: Spring, with quoll and crowdfunding

Tiger QuollThe highlights of my week of Monday 17 to Sunday 23 September 2018 included seeing a tiger quoll at very close range as it ambled part the house. That’s it in the photo.

I also managed — finally! — to extrude a podcast. And I launched a Pozible crowdfunding campaign to record some podcast segments in Adelaide, Washington DC, and Melbourne over the coming weeks. I’m visiting those cities for work.

Please consider pledging your support to The 9pm Flying Visits.

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None, but this will change a lot in the next few weeks, at least as far as Corporate Largesse goes.

The Week Ahead

I’m kicking off a few weeks that have already been mapped out. Monday is about planning, logistics, story pitches, some geekery, and shopping. Tuesday and Wednesday are about writing and data wrangling, ideally.

On Thursday, I’m heading down to Sydney for an interview at 1100, plus a few other bits and pieces, before wrapping up The 9pm Flying Visits at 2100 AEST. You have until then to pledge your support. Please consider.

On Friday, I’m flying from Sydney’s Bankstown airport to Wagga Wagga to Swan Hill to Goolwa in a Vans RV-6 light aircraft registration VH-SOL piloted by Mark Newton. We hope to start the engine at 0830 AEST. En route I’ll record things for a subsequent podcast and tweet some observations. So far the weather forecast looks reasonable, but there’s always the chance of delays.

Saturday and Sunday will be spent in Adelaide, and I’ll record a podcast bit or two. I fly out at 1805 ACST on Sunday, travelling via Melbourne and Abu Dhabi to Washington DC.

Further Ahead

I’m spending the week in DC covering the FireEye Cyber Defense Summit on 1–4 October, then enjoying my first visit to the city and recording more podcasts bits before flying out Sunday night to Abu Dhabi and Melbourne.

The following week I’m in Melbourne, arriving on Tuesday local time to cover the Australian Cyber Conference, formerly the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference, on 9–11 October. I’m staying in Melbourne to write, and record yet more podcast bits, before flying up to Sydney on Sunday night.

Beyond that:

  • The Sibos global financial services conference, Sydney, 22–25 October.
  • International Association of Privacy Professionals ANZ (iappANZ) Annual Summit, Privacy: Handling the Seismic Shift, Melbourne, 1 November. (TBC)

[Photo: Tiger Quoll. A tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), also known as the spotted-tail quoll, the spotted quoll, the spotted-tail dasyure, or the tiger cat, spotted at Bunjaree Cottages near Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains on 19 September 2018.]

Weekly Wrap 431: Spring, beyond the killing season

InterCity train at Wentworth FallsI am so, so glad that my week of Monday 27 August to Sunday 2 September 2018 included the end of winter — as did everyone else’s on this half of the planet — and the end of the latest campaign of carpet-bombing attacks on my intestinal biome. Things are returning to “normal”. I think.

Articles

Podcasts, Media Appearances

None, but I will finally be doing a podcast this week. See below.

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

Monday and Tuesday I’m writing for ZDNet and doing some pre-production for the podcast. Then on Wednesday morning I’m catching the train down to Sydney, and then to Cronulla, because…

The next episode of The 9pm Edict will be recorded in Cronulla this Wednesday 5 September at 2100 AEST. Listen on the livestream or on the Spreaker apps, or listen later on the usual feeds.

I’ve chosen Cronulla because that’s at the heart of our new Prime Minister’s electoral base, and because I want to revisit the episode recorded there four years ago, The 9pm Shire.

Thursday will be spent in Sydney, taking care of some medical and personal matters. The remainder of the week is unplanned.

Further Ahead

I’ve pencilled in:

  • Flying Sydney to Adelaide in a Vans RV-6 light aircraft registration VH-SOL piloted by Mark Newton, Friday 28 or Saturday 29 September. I’ll be recording things for a podcast en route.
  • FireEye Cyber Defense Summit, Washington DC, 1–5 October.
  • Australian Cyber Conference, formerly the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference, Melbourne, 9–11 October.
  • International Association of Privacy Professionals ANZ (iappANZ) Annual Summit, Privacy: Handling the Seismic Shift, Melbourne, 1 November. (TBC)

Update 3 September: Edited to add the top two items to Further Ahead. Update 5 September: Edited to reflect cancellation of podcast for health reasons.

[Photo: InterCity train at Wentworth Falls. A TrainLink NSW V-Set train emerges from the mists at Wentworth Falls station on 27 August 2018.]

Weekly Wrap 427: Cybers, and Melbourne in winter

Kill me now broIt was a busy fortnight from Monday 23 July to Sunday 5 August 2018, and this pleases me. So much written, across two cities. And I had a lovely time in Melbourne.

Articles

Media Appearances

Podcasts

None. I really must catch up on the podcast production.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday 24 July, the lunchtime briefing held at the excellent Bentley Restaurant and Bar in Sydney was paid for by Frost & Sullivan, CQR Consulting, Indra Australia, and Zscaler.
  • There was plenty of good food and drink at the SINET 61 cybersecurity innovation conference, held at The Langham, Melbourne on 31 July and 1 August. Note that I paid for my own flights and accommodation.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be back in New South Wales this week, starting off with the errands and medical appointments in Sydney on Monday before taking the train back to Wentworth Falls. I may well do some writing as well. The writing continues Tuesday through Thursday.

On Friday I’m back in Sydney for another medical appointment, a lunchtime meeting in Pyrmont, and a visit to the National Archives of Australia’s premises at Chester Hill. I hope that last errand will produce a fascinating document for you.

Further Ahead

I’ve pencilled in:

[Photo: Kill me now bro. Graffiti on a concrete anti-terrorist block at Melbourne’s Southern Cross station, photographed on 5 August 2018.]

Weekly Wrap 425: A winter of health records and privacy

Skyscraper SunsetMonday 16 to Sunday 22 July 2018 was another very productive week. So much of it seems to depend on the weather.

Articles

The third and final tranche of the Crikey Prying Eyes series was released, that thing with me as series editor. I had one story this week, my series wrap, which I’m quite pleased with.

Plus I wrote four stories about My Health Record, Australia’s “new” centralised digital health record system, for ZDNet.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday, I spoke about My Health Record on ABC Adelaide, and on ABC Darwin. I won’t be posting recordings, because I’ve pretty much said it all in the articles.
  • On Thursday, I spoke about Google’s €4.3 billion fine for anti-competitive behaviour on ABC Radio’s The World Today.

Podcasts, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

It’s going to be a busy one, because there will be at least two more stories on My Health Record for ZDNet. One will be written on Monday, before I definitely watch the first episode of the Australian edition of Pointless starting at 1800 on TEN.

On Tuesday, it’s the long commute to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing on the cybersecurity of the energy industry and other utilities. As usual, I’ll probably add some appointments around that.

On Thursday, I’ll be talking about the Crikey Prying Eyes series on Melbourne radio 3CR’s Communication Mixdown at 1800 AEDT.

Further Ahead

The following week I’ll be in Melbourne, from 30 July to 5 August. Primarily it’s for the SINET 61 conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’ll certainly be doing other things while I’m there, though, perhaps even recording a podcast or two.

Beyond that, I’ve pencilled in:

[Photo: Skyscraper Sunset. Sunset lighting strikes the side of an office tower near Central Station in Sydney on 25 June 2018.]

Weekly Wrap 325: Crossing a canal as winter ends

Glebe Park Canal: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 August 2016 was an interesting one. While the severe back pain continued, it’s slowly declining, and so is the stress. We’ll see how that all turns out.

Anyway, on with the details…

Articles

Podcasts

None. I’m planning to produce the next episode of The 9pm Edict in the first week of September.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

Yet another week in Sydney will make it 13 weeks in a row. I wonder when I should start considering Sydney as my home again? Sydney doesn’t feel like home again yet, but then nowhere does. That’s probably a topic for another time, however.

On Monday and Tuesday I’m covering the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney, an event that always seems to be good value for me. On Tuesday night I’m recording some more short videos about security for ZDNet.

The rest of the week is the usual jumble of geek project work, writing for ZDNet, and a few other things, which I’ll juggle as I go along.

On Saturday Sunday I’m bumping out of the Ashfield apartment, leaving a well-fed cat in my wake, and migrating up to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, where I’ll be for a few weeks. Sunday is unplanned.

Further Ahead

I’m going to CLOUDSEC Australia 2016 in Sydney on 1 September, the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, and the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October.

Update 24 August: Edited to reflect changes to the weekend plans.

[Photo: Glebe Park Canal. Crossing the canal at the western side of Centennial Park, Glebe, in Sydney at the end of a late winter day, 17 August 2016.]