wentworth falls – Page 6

04 May 201405 May 2014

Weekly Wrap 204: Libertarian troll beach abortion, yeah?

My week of Monday 28 April to Sunday 4 May 2014 was yet another solid performer — which, to be honest, surprises me. But here we are. Praise be.

The entire week was spent at Wentworth Falls, apart from a day trip to Sydney — but despite the rapidly dropping temperatures as winter starts to bite, and despite Mistress Insomnia’s continuing persistent calls for attention, my mood holds up.

Articles

Enjoy your Ubergasm, but don’t expect respect in the morning, ZDNet Australia, 30 April 2014. Needless to say, this latest contribution to my battle against the mindless fandom of Silicon Valley’s libertarian arseholes met with a mixed reception.

Podcasts

The big chunky piece of joy for me this week was resurrecting The 9pm Edict. The first episode, “The 9pm Shire” should have been appearing tonight — and the photo at the head of this post was taken during the recording expedition — but for reasons already explained that’s been postponed until this coming Tuesday 6 May or thereabouts.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday I was interviewed by The Wire, the daily current affairs program of Australia’s community radio stations, about internet security — but that’s being held over to the coming week.

5at5

Four out of five this week. But why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

5at5 number 42, 28 April 2013.
5at5 number 43, 30 April 2013.
5at5 number 44, 1 May 2013.
5at5 number 45, 2 May 2013.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday I had coffee with someone from LivePerson, a company that provides technology for online customer service. Their PR company paid for the coffee.
Also on Thursday I went to Good Technology’s Sydney Mobile Summit, all about the state of the art of mobile security — or at least as framed by their products and PR messaging. It was held at the Sheraton on the park, and lunch and afternoon tea was provided.

The Week Ahead

Next week is already completely packed out, and it also sees me heading to the United States yet again.

On Monday I’ll be heading to Sydney to complete my recordings at Cronulla and deal with a few errands.

I’ll be staying in Sydney overnight, because on Tuesday I’m going to a breakfast briefing that starts at 0730 — this is how businesses treat their staff, apparently — as well as doing a couple of interviews. I’ll head back to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, it’s a day trip to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing by AVG Technologies on some research they’ve done into the security of the Internet of Things (IoT). “There isn’t any,” I assume to be the answer, but with additional wine.

Thursday is a writing day. Then on Friday it’s back to Sydney again for a bunch of errands and then the Optus IT Journalism Awards, in which I am a finalist. Then I stay in Sydney overnight before flying to San Francisco on Saturday.

On Sunday I’m visiting some wineries in the Sonoma region, thanks to NetSuite, who are also paying for that US trip. But I’ll write more about that in due course.

[Photo: Fisherman at North Cronulla Beach, photographed shortly before sunset on Saturday 3 May 2014.]

30 April 2014

Weekly Wrap 203: A short, productive week in autumn

My week of Monday 21 to Sunday 27 April 2014 was another solid performer, despite it supposedly being a short three-day working week between Easter and Anzac Day, and despite having to rebuild my computer.

There’s not a lot to say without me getting into a whinge about software generally, so let’s just get on with it.

Articles

Un-API dinosaurs can’t leap the legacy chasm, ZDNet Australia, 24 April 2014, which seems to have gotten quite a bit of positive feedback — despite the lame pun in the headline.

Video

I produced seven short movies, which were supposed to be progress reports for my Pozible campaign, but which were really just me arseing around. You can find all seven in a YouTube playlist, The 9 O’Clock Resurrection.

Media Appearances

None.

5at5

There was one for every working day, plus an extra for Anzac Day. But why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

5at5 number 38, 22 April 2013.
5at5 number 39, 23 April 2013.
5at5 number 40, 24 April 2013.
5at5 number 41, 25 April 2013.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Oh dear. We’re halfway through it already. However it’s already been quite productive. I’ve wrapped the Pozible project, written a piece for ZDNet Australia (to be published today), recorded a radio interview (to go to air next week), and recorded an interview which will turn into some media in due course.

Today, Wednesday, is a day of planning and writing — in particular sketching out what will happen in May. Thursday is a day trip to Sydney, for a meeting and then Good Technology’s Sydney Mobility Summit, a briefing about strategies for mobile device security. Friday is a day of writing and production planning.

On Saturday I’ll be recording “The 9pm Shire”, the first full episode of a new series of The 9pm Edict. That involves a trip to Cronulla and other places in the Sutherland Shire for the location recording. And Sunday will see the post-production of that podcast and its publication.

[Photo: The train approaches Wentworth Falls , photographed on Sunday 27 April 2014.]

13 April 2014

Weekly Wrap 201: Heartbleed into my wallet, with cockatoo

My week of Monday 7 to Sunday 13 April 2014 was astoundingly busy and productive. Yes, Heartbleed is to blame. But so is completely ignoring medical advice — which is something I’ll write about next week.

While there’s a lot on my mind that I want to tell you about, I’ve been churning out so many blog posts today, and so many articles about Heartbleed in recent days, and ~~drinking so much wine~~ relaxing across the weekend, that I can’t be arsed saying anything more.

So here’s the list.

Articles

Every single thing that I wrote this week was about the Heartbleed security bug.

Heartbleed reveals a big hole in Australia’s cybersecurity strategy, Crikey, 9 April 2014.
Businesses need to inform users about Heartbleed exposure, ZDNet Australia, 10 April 2014.
Lagging Android devices vulnerable to Heartbleed, ZDNet Australia, 11 April 2014.
Heartbleed soul-search: regulation proposed for critical crypto code, ZDNet Australia, 11 April 2014.
SANS warns end users against Heartbleed patch panic, ZDNet Australia, 12 April 2014.

Media Appearances

On Monday I delivered my guest lecture at University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
On Tuesday I spoke about Game of Thrones and copyright infringement on ABC 720 Perth.
Also on Tuesday, I spoke about my blog — that is, this website — and a few of the issues on my mind with Tim Brunero on ABC 783 Alice Springs. Unfortunately that radio station isn’t streamed online, so I couldn’t record that spot.
On Wednesday, I spoke about Heartbleed on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide.
On Thursday, I spoke about Heartbleed on ABC Radio’s The World Today.
On Friday, I spoke about Heartbleed and a social media story on ABC 702 Sydney.

5at5

I managed to pump out another five this week, although one of them was on the weekend. Why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

5at5 number 29, 7 April 2013.
5at5 number 30, 8 April 2013.
5at5 number 31, 9 April 2013.
5at5 number 32, 11 April 2013.
5at5 number 33, 13 April 2013.

Corporate Largesse

On Monday, some of the people at UTS bought me coffees and lunch. Does that count as largesse?

The Week Ahead

I have no idea. The only things that have been locked in are being in Sydney on Thursday morning so I can be a panellist on this week’s Download This Show for ABC Radio National, which is being recorded at 1100, and of course it’s Good Friday and then the Easter weekend, so in theory I shouldn’t be working.

The reality, however, is that Easter is a shitty time for freelancers, because public holidays mean a serious drop in revenue — and I’m already rather stressed about March having been a quieter month than planned.

But I’ll figure it out, just not tonight.

Oh, and there’s a lunar eclipse on Tuesday.

[Photo: Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, photographed at dusk near Wentworth Falls on 8 April 2014.]

05 January 201405 January 2014

Weekly Wrap 187: A slow start to 2014, thankfully

My week of Monday 30 December 2013 to Sunday 5 January 2014 was, like last week, devoid of productivity and reportable interestingness thanks to the slow week between Christmas and New Year and the slow days thereafter.

I have been thinking about 2014, however, and I may pour some of those thoughts into a blog post some time in the next few days. The brief version is roughly “Thank fuck 2013 is over and done with, and here’s to a much better 2014.”

Certainly yesterday, Saturday, contained a significantly odd and yet strangely wonderful event.

No, there shall be no details.

The Week Ahead

Well, the working year kicks off properly tomorrow, Monday, so I guess I’ll be starting to focus on planning out January. I have very little mapped out just now — the only firm appointments are a couple of social events — but with the PR folks back at their desks tomorrow, the next few days will see the invitations and other communications kick off.

And I need to placate my editors after a rather unproductive November and December.

I’m in Sydney currently, and will stay in Sydney through to Tuesday before returning to Wentworth Falls — though there’s a chance that plan might change at relatively short notice. As always.

I know I have some writing to do, namely my usual column for ZDNet Australia and the remaining loose ends for the Corrupted Nerds hacker conference thingy.

24 November 2013

Weekly Wrap 181: The Productivity Fairy strikes!

My week Monday 18 to Sunday 24 November 2013 was… well, let’s just say that everything went to plan.

Podcasts

Corrupted Nerds: Conversations 9, being a chat about amateur satellite intelligence with David Jorm, a watcher of North Korea.

Articles

Stephen Wolfram ensmartens all the things, ZDNet Australia, 22 November 2013.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

It’s a busy one. My writing schedule includes a feature and two columns for ZDNet Australia and a couple stories for CSO Online, plus in theory a piece for Corrupted Nerds.

On top of that, there’s the Internet Industry Association’s Nautical Policy event on Wednesday — look alright, it’s a cruise on Sydney Harbour with alcohol — and perhaps one other Christmas event too.

Wish me luck.

I plan to be in Sydney all week.

[Photo: Wentworth Falls in the fog, photographed on 19 November 2013.]

29 October 201329 October 2013

Talking family data disaster planning on ABC 702 Sydney

ABC logo On Tuesday last week, we feared that Wednesday would be a day of disastrous bushfires in NSW — certainly the risk was there — so what should people do to make sure their valuable personal and family data was safe?

I spoke about this with morning presenter Linda Mottram on ABC 702 Sydney, but not before we had a chat about what my impressions of how people were reacting to and preparing for the approaching fires — including my own emotions.

We ended up talking for 15 minutes. Here’s the full audio, minus the break for the news headlines at 1030.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.1MB)