Tag: nbn

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Weekly Wrap 221: An exhausting end to winter

Sydney skyline at dawnMy week of Monday 25 to Sunday 31 August was hectic. Again. Hence so many missing blog posts until now. But it also marked the end of winter. I therefore have some hope that today, 1 September, will mark some new beginnings.

“New beginnings” sounds a bit naff, I know, but “spring cleaning” sounds a bit naff too.

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Wednesday I spoke about internet banking security on Radio 2UE Sydney. A link to the audio recording will appear here in due course.
  • Also on Wednesday, I spoke about ASIC’s big IP address oopsie on ABC Radio’s PM. This was later turned into a news story that quoted my description of ASIC’s actions as “both hilarious and frightening”.

5at5

Only one edition this week.

Head to the 5at5 site to subscribe or browse through recent editions.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Monday and Tuesday I covered the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, a task made slightly more burdensome by the lingering effects of food poisoning the immediately previous Sunday. I was suitably fed and watered at Gartner’s expense. Also, Vormetric Data Security gave me a t-shirt.

The Week Ahead

It’s another busy one. Monday has already gotten off to a slow start — though deliberately. I’m writing this post on the train from Sydney to the Blue Mountains. En route and later this afternoon I’ll be planning a month-long fundraising campaign for my podcasts, and particularly The 9pm Edict.

On Tuesday I’ll launch that fundraising campaign with a podcast and appropriate noises on Twitter. I’ll also be starting some spring cleaning, starting off with the backlog of audio recordings that need sorting out.

Wednesday will see a continuation of the spring cleaning theme. It’ll also see 5at5 number 100, so I might mark that occasion in some way. Bursting into tears, perhaps.

Thursday will be a day of writing, with the usual column for ZDNet Australia, and perhaps something else. Friday will also be a day of media production, but I’m not sure what that’ll entail, apart from another mini-podcast.

Saturday is a day of cleaning and tidying at Bunjaree Cottages, before heading to Sydney to spend a month housesitting in Hurstville.

[Photo: Sydney skyline at dawn, photographed from Camperdown on 31 August 2014. Not quite the first day of spring, but it certainly had that feel about it.]

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The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion

The Internet of Trees: click to embiggen

This episode of The 9pm Edict heads into a eucalypt forest in search of the internet, and encounters a dog.

You’ll hear about the National Broadband Network’s fibre-to-the-node trial, Russell Brand, Bertrand Russell, the 20th anniversary of a sarin nerve gas attack in Japan, the 25th birthday of the internet in Australia, the 60th birthday of nuclear power stations, Hillary Clinton and the mangoes, Google co-funder Larry Page’s threat to kill 100,000 people, and the arsehattery of Village Roadshow co-CEO Graham Burke.

And there’s the dog, of course.

And a cat. Sort of.

But don’t forget the dog.

Continue reading “The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion”
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Weekly Wrap 185: A post-productivity period, primarily

Poster for iloveshopping24hrs.com: click to embiggenHere’s the key stuff that happened in my week of Monday 16 to Sunday 22 December 2013. Like last week, it wasn’t nearly as productive as I wanted it to be.

Articles

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

None. I’m guessing that all the corporate types had stopped worrying about the clients and started worrying about their own end-of-year parties.

The Week Ahead

Well Monday has already happened, and it wasn’t very productive. Tuesday is just beginning, and it’s full of errands in and around the Sydney CBD. It’s also Christmas Eve, so once those errands are done I’ll be turning down the productivity dial even further for the rest of the week.

I may write a couple things over the remainder of the week, or I may not. It’ll all depend upon how I feel at the time.

[Photo: Poster for iloveshopping24hrs.com, photographed at Yok Yor Thai Food Factory, 19 December 2013.]

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Weekly Wrap 173: The early spring continues regardless

Sunday evening in the village: click to embiggenSo here’s my week Monday 23 to Sunday 29 September 2013, posted without further comment because quite frankly I couldn’t be bothered.

It was looking like the only media items I’d publish this week would be on Monday, my article and subsequent radio spot about the National Broadband Network — both of which are now distinctly out of date because the story has moved on — but today I managed to knock out another podcast episode.

Podcasts

  • Corrupted Nerds: Conversations 5, being a chat with Dick Bussiere, principal architect for Tenable Network Security in the Asia Pacific region.

Articles

I’ve also half-written two articles that will be published in due course. So I am catching up.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday will see me doing an end-of-month writing burst, so that’ll keep me out of trouble. Tuesday, being the start of a new quarter, is an administration day for me — though I may head to Sydney in the afternoon to get a head start on the rest of the week’s adventures.

On Wednesday I’m heading to Newcastle for the DiG Festival and Conference, which will keep me busy through to Saturday.

[Photo: Sunday evening in the village, being a photograph of Wentworth Falls village taken this evening, Sunday 29 September 2013. Not exactly a brilliant photo, but I was determined to post an image produced this week.]

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Talking NBN board sacking on ABC Gold Coast

ABC logoMonday morning brought the news that the board of NBN Co had tendered its resignation — although it later transpired that they’d been asked to resign, and one member had chosen not to tender their resignation. But whatever the fine details, it was certainly the day’s big news.

And so I found myself talking about the National Broadband Network on ABC Gold Coast on Monday afternoon with Matt Webber.

Here’s the full audio. I was surprised to find myself outlining the key differences between the Coalition and Labor broadband policies. I’d have thought these would have been discussed to death during the election campaign that had ended only two weeks earlier. But then I don’t follow the daily news bicycle these days, so perhaps I over-estimate how well our media serves the citizenry.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:15 — 3.8MB)

I should note that the story has moved on since this was broadcast, so check your favourite news source. The audio is of course ©2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Talking NBN on Radio Adelaide

Radio Adelaide logoThe National Broadband Network (NBN) has been a thing in the news for years. It’s less that four months until another federal election where the NBN will be a critical policy issue. And yet I still find myself explaining some of the basic concepts in the media.

Tuesday morning saw another such session, on Radio Adelaide‘s breakfast program with presenter Angus Randall.

I wonder how well we managed to explain the differences between the Labor and Coalition policies. In interviews like these, I try to present both policies fairly. While I have my own views on what I think Australia should do in terms of its broadband policies, it’d be completely unprofessional to turn such an interview into an opportunity to push my own agenda.

Here’s the full audio.

[Update 4 June 2013: The interview has been posted at the Radio Adelaide website, and at their request I’ve linked to that instead of embedding the audio here. Due to a quirk of how they’ve set up their site, I am unable to make that part of the iTunes-compatible feed on this website.]

The audio is ©2013 Radio Adelaide, of course, but as usual I’m archiving it here because I don’t believe it’s archived anywhere else.