It’s Day 10 is Stilgherrian’s isolation, at least how he’s counting it. America is doomed, and the Easter Bunnies in Wentworth Falls look very sad indeed.
Continue reading “The 9pm His Plague Diary 3”The 9pm His Plague Diary 3
The 9pm Authentic Aussie Inauthentic Robot Food Politics, with Added Platypus
In this episode Snarky Platypus and I taste test the new Arnott’s Shapes Aussie Legends crackers, and we hear how bots and trolls are spreading disinformation about Australia’s unprecedented bushfires.
Continue reading “The 9pm Authentic Aussie Inauthentic Robot Food Politics, with Added Platypus”Weekly Wrap 474: Cold War, warm winter, and pubs
The week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 June 2019 ended the financial year. I took the opportunity to have a proper weekend off. I was also moderately productive.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 474: Cold War, warm winter, and pubs”Talking Victorian MP website hack on ABC Radio Melbourne
“Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas’ website hacked by Tunisian Islamists” was the headline on the Herald Sun story today. Yes, the Tunisian Fallage Team had taken credit for the defacement.
This afternoon I put this into context with presenter Warwick Long on ABC Radio Melbourne, formerly ABC 774 Melbourne.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:14 — 2.9MB)
The audio is ©2017 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Weekly Wrap 216: The return, the throat, the stress
My week of Monday 21 to Sunday 27 July 2014 is just about to end, after a month of virtual silence on this website. I’ve been active elsewhere, just not here. So what’s the story?
I’ve been exhausted. A few weeks ago I made the mistake of spending a Friday evening in a Sydney mass-market bar with ordinary people, and I seem to have picked up some sort of disease. An infection. A lurgy. Whatever. As far as I can tell, it’s something that’s currently doing the rounds in Sydney. A sore throat with fatigue that’s difficult to shake. So I’m not too worried, just annoyed.
I also went for nearly a week without a computer, when my MacBook Pro had to go in for repairs. That was more disruptive to my work patterns than I’d hoped. Maybe I’ll write about that soon. Maybe not. The short version is that an iPad is just not the same.
And as a third disruption, there was a technical crisis that affected the clients of my other little business, and which took over my attention for two long days. I don’t think I’ll write about that at all, because it’s annoying.
The combined result, however, is that I’ve only had energy to focus on those things, plus the things that I’d committed to do and which generated immediate revenue. Well, some of them anyway. And everything else has been burned.
I plan to back-fill the missing posts of media appearances and the like, but they’ll have to wait for about a week. Meanwhile, this Weekly Wrap contains the links to the stuff that is available now, and a plan for the week ahead. And a photo.
Oh, and I should also mention that on Thursday and Friday I had the distinct pleasure of presenting a two-day “Writing for the Web” course at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). It made a lovely change from my usual solitary work.
Articles
Here’s everything I’ve written since Weekly Wrap 211.
- Do the Privacy Commissioner’s teeth have any bite?, ZDNet Australia, 30 June 2014.
- Facebook manipulation yet more evidence of Silicon Valley’s contempt, Crikey, 30 June 2014.
- Ancient vulnerabilities are geddon in the way of security, ZDNet Australia, 3 July 2014.
- Twitter becoming the latest instrument of terrorism, Crikey, 4 July 2014.
- Big data is just a big, distracting bubble, soon to burst, ZDNet Australia, 11 July 2014.
- Is a second Snowden spilling more NSA secrets?, Crikey, 15 July 2014.
- Government’s voting source code secrecy is dumb and dangerous, ZDNet Australia, 17 July 2014.
- Beware the spin behind Australia’s new surveillance laws, ZDNet Australia, 21 July 2014.
Media Appearances
Quite a few since the last Weekly Wrap, but none this week. Watch out for blog posts as I publish the backlog.
5at5
Is listing them here pointless? Just head over to the 5at5 site, and either subscribe or browse back through the recent editions.
Corporate Largesse
None this week. I’ll report the rest in the next Weekly Wrap.
The Week Ahead
Monday is about finishing a column for ZDNet Australia and producing an episode of The 9pm Edict, as well as wrapping up some geekery for a client.
Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll be in Sydney covering the ADMA Global Forum for Crikey and Technology Spectator. I’m particularly looking forward to meeting Bob Garfield, co-presenter of WNYC’s On the Media.
Also on Tuesday evening I’m heading to the OpenAustralia Foundation pub night.
On Thursday there’s a media briefing on various information security matters by Cisco and, in the evening, drinks with executives from Oracle.
Friday will see me wrapping up whatever media objects need completing, and then the weekend is unplanned.
And at various points through the week I’ll be trialling a Microsoft Nokia Lumia 930 smartphone, their latest flagship model, with particular attention being given to the camera.
[Photo: The Tower at Dusk, being a shot of a mobile phone tower at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains earlier this evening.]
The 9pm Shire
Australia’s treasurer Joe Hockey exudes love and understanding. We take the train to Cronulla to find out exactly what makes this southern Sydney suburb so great. And there are shellfish, damn fine shellfish.
Continue reading “The 9pm Shire”