Weekly Wrap 422: Struggling through a winter week

NSW TrainLink V-SetMy week of Monday 25 June to Sunday 1 July 2018 was less productive than hoped, thanks to being a computer down. It looks even less productive than it actually was, because the main work products haven’t been published yet.

Winter has finally arrived in the Blue Mountains too, so the colder weather has reduced my productivity. Yes, I am whinging and having a big sook. But on with the show…

Articles

I wrote three more stories for the Crikey project. The total is now four, and the first is scheduled to appear on Monday, as I understand it. Watch my Twitter stream for the details.

Podcasts

None, but there will definitely be at least one episode of The 9pm Edict in the coming week. Whether it’s the interview I recorded recently with John Birmingham, or a magazine-style series of rants, remains to be seen.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday, I spoke about Facebook’s new Subscription Groups on ABC Darwin. As you may have surmised by now, I’ve pretty much given up posting the audio here.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday and Tuesday are writing days, primarily, producing a fifth story for the Crikey series.

Wednesday is full of travelling. I’ll take the train down to Sydney to return a loaner computer and deal with a couple of medical appointments, a bus to Castle Hill to collect my repaired computer, a bus to Parramatta for an early dinner, probably, and a train back to Wentworth Falls.

There’s no clear plans yet for Thursday onwards, but it’s likely to include an afternoon off in Katoomba, and some preparation for the weeks ahead. I’ll also knock off some podcast editing.

Further Ahead

For a few weeks in July and August, I’ll be writing more than usual for ZDNet, covering for staff who will be taking leave. That’ll keep me busy.

Things I’ve pencilled in, none of which have been confirmed yet:

Update 2 July 2018: Edited to reflect schedule changes.

[Photo: A NSW TrainLink V-Set train at Sydney Central station, photographed on 27 June 2018.]

Weekly Wrap 379: Six weeks at winter’s end

Dawn at Wentworth FallsThis Weekly Wrap covers six weeks, Monday 24 July to Sunday 3 September 2017, because it was a Bad Time. Quite a bad time, clearly. But let’s focus on the good bits.

Articles

Podcasts

None, but I’ll announce my latest alleged plans in the next few days. Heh. Yeah, right.

Media Appearances

  • On Monday 24 July, I spoke about exploding batteries on ABC Melbourne.
  • On Wednesday 16 August, I speculated about Australia’s new cyberwar unit on ABC Adelaide.
  • On Tuesday 22 August, I spoke about a bunch of things on ABC Melbourne.

I probably won’t get around to posting the audio from these, but we’ll see.

Corporate Largesse

  • My flights from Sydney to Canberra and return on 11–12 August were provided by Australian consulting firm IBRS.
  • There was plenty of free food and drink at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit on 21–22 August, as well as vendor swag. Crowdstrike: Branded webcam privacy covers. Cylance: Branded USB-to-various recharge cable. Thales: A branded lens kit for mobile devices, with macro and fisheye lenses; another of the excellent Thales pens. Trustwave: One of those credit card sized multi-purpose tools.

The Week Ahead

All I’ll say for now is that I’ll definitely be down in Sydney on Thursday for a couple of medical things. The rest I’ll make up as I go along. As always, watch for the details on Twitter.

Further Ahead

Events I’m covering or speaking at include:

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Dawn at Wentworth Falls, looking east from Wentworth Falls railway station on the chilly morning of 21 August 2017.]

Weekly Wrap 369: Corrosion and corruption and things

Retired TerminalsMy week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 June 2017 was delightfully unproductive, for various reasons that I won’t go into today. I can see again, however.

Articles, Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None of these things happened.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project, and completing it. Stay tuned. I also hope to write something for ZDNet. It’s also the last week of the financial year, however, so certain administrivia needs to be done. We’ll see.

Further Ahead

On Wednesday 5 July, I’m presenting to the journalism students at Macleay College in Sydney. I’m not sure whether you’ll be able to hear any more about that.

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Thursday 6 July from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

On Tuesday 11 July, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast idea. More about that very soon.

On Wednesday 12 July, I’m covering the Data + Privacy Asia Pacific conference in Sydney.

I then hope to cover the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, but I still have to organise the funding.

I’m then covering the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Retired Terminals. The corroded terminals on some of the 15-year-old lead-acid batteries retired from use at Bunjaree Cottages, photographed on 25 June 2017.]

Weekly Wrap 368: Plodding through winter, thoughtfully

Approaching the BridgeMy week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 June 2017 was steadily more productive than the last, despite appearances.

I did foreshadow last week that I’d be recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ve put that back a few weeks, for various reasons, but as you’ll see below there will be a podcast soon.

Articles

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday morning, I met with some people from Bitdefender and their external PR firm, and they bought me a coffee.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project and writing for ZDNet, with a break mid-week to celebrate the Winter Solstice. At some point I’ll probably pop down to Sydney, but I haven’t set a date yet.

Further Ahead

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Thursday 29 June 6 July from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

I’m covering the Data + Privacy Asia Pacific conference in Sydney on 12 July; the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

Update 26 June 2017: Edited to reflect schedule changes.

[Photo: Approaching the Bridge. The approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, off-camera to the right, photographed on 30 October 2012.]

Weekly Wrap 367: Too much rain, too little evidence

Central Station in the rainMy week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 June 2017 wasn’t bad at all, despite the rain. Most of the achievements were in the background, however.

Articles

Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, but I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project. That work will continue on Tuesday, after which the project should not be SEKRIT. Wednesday will be devoted to administrivia.

Thursday will be spent in Sydney. So far I’ve scheduled a meeting, two medical appointments, and a bunch of errands.

On Saturday, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ll tell you more about that in about a week.

Further Ahead

I’m covering 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Central station in the rain, photographed on 9 June 2017. The view is from a NSW TrainLink V-set (#purpletrain) standing on platform 7 looking towards platform 8.]

Weekly Wrap 366: Winter, inevitably, but you knew that

Elizabeth Bay, SydneyMy week of Monday 29 May to Sunday 4 June 2017 was less annoying than usual. I take this as a positive sign.

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Monday 29 May, Justin Warren quoted some of my tweets is a piece for Forbes, Fast Failure Of Imagination.
  • On Tuesday, I spoke about digital driver’s licenses on ABC Adelaide. I won’t be posting this audio, or the ones I’ve missed uploading in the last couple of months. There’s some higher-priority things to focus on.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

It’s more or less the same as last week, except that the plan might actually come together. There’s work to do on the SEKRIT editorial project; and writing a thing for ZDNet, plus a bunch of administrivia. Then it’s the long weekend for the Queen’s Birthday, though I haven’t had a chance to even think about that yet.

Further Ahead

I’m covering 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, photographed on 9 June 2014 just after some afternoon rain. This image had previously gone through Instagram. While some might complain about the supposed purity of not using filters, I quite like the painterly effect. I’ll rant about the idiocy of the #nofilter hashtag another time.]