Weekly Wrap 203: A short, productive week in autumn

The train approaches Wentworth Falls: click to embiggenMy 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

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.

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.]

Weekly Wrap 201: Heartbleed into my wallet, with cockatoo

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo: click to embiggenMy 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.

Media Appearances

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.

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.]

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.

Weekly Wrap 181: The Productivity Fairy strikes!

Wentworth Falls in the fog: click to embiggenMy week Monday 18 to Sunday 24 November 2013 was… well, let’s just say that everything went to plan.

Podcasts

Articles

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.]

Talking family data disaster planning on ABC 702 Sydney

ABC logoOn 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.

The audio is of course ©2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, archived here because it’s not archived anywhere else.

The Cicadas! The Cicadas!

If you’ve been watching my Twitter stream recently, you’ll know that I’ve been complaining about the cicadas. Here’s why.

I recorded the ambient sound here at Bunjaree Cottages about half an hour ago. Please put on your headphones, turn it up full, and press the play button.

Now imagine that going continuously for about ten hours. All day. Every day. You’re welcome.