Tag: zdnet

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Weekly Wrap 283: It’s raining progress, but mostly in audio

Central Station in the rain: click to embiggenSpring this year seems to have a certain momentum. My week of Monday 2 to Sunday 8 November 2015 was yet another continuation of the steady progress in the eternal battle against entropy.

I won’t go into details, lest I jinx it. But apart from the handful of completed items listed below, I made solid progress on the documentary I’m producing for ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, and on developing the audio rig I plan to use for future work.

Most remarkable of all was the fact that I didn’t have to do any work on the weekend — well, apart from this Weekly Wrap.

Podcasts

  • “The 9pm Live Animal Experiments 1”, being The 9pm Edict episode 52, was recorded live and streamed onto the internet on Thursday night. Being able to produce this audio material live is a significant milestone, and I’ll talk about that more in the coming week.

Articles

Media Appearances

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday morning is about bringing my various geek-related jobs up to date, including quoting for two new jobs. The afternoon is devoted to Future Tense production, kicking off with an interview recording at midday.

On Tuesday, I’ll be catching the 0606 train to Sydney, then a bus to the University of NSW, because I’m on a panel at the Law via Internet (LvI) Conference 2015. I can only stay at the conference up until lunchtime, however, because I’ll be doing Future Tense production in the afternoon. I’ll then stay in Sydney overnight, because…

On Wednesday, I’m going to briefings by Raytheon/Websense and Kaspersky Lab, over morning tea and lunch respectively, before returning to Wentworth Falls in the late afternoon.

On Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet, then continuing with the radio production. My aim is to complete the program by Friday, and then spend the rest of Friday mapping put all my production work for the rest of the year. The production will almost certainly continue into the weekend.

Update 11 November 2015: Edited to reflect schedule changes.

[Photo: Central Station in the rain, photographed on 4 November 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 282: Is this another turning point?

Producing Corrupted Nerds episode 13My week of Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November 2015 pleased me, mostly because a certain podcast returned.

I was rather exhausted in the middle of the week, however, because Ruxcon does tend to take it out of you. But I was very pleased that Certain Other Plans seem to be coming together just fine.

Articles

Podcasts

Media Appearances

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet, and mapping out my production schedule.

On Tuesday, I’ll sort out my audio recordings for my forthcoming documentary for ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, and organise any interviews that seem to be missing.

On Wednesday, I’ll catch the 0606 train to Sydney and head to ABC Ultimo, with recording sessions schedule at 0845 for Future Tense, and 1000 for Download This Show. I’ll have lunch in the city before heading back up the hill. Any takers?

On Thursday, I’m producing a special live episode of The 9pm Edict.

On Friday, I’ll be recording the last few interviews for Future Tense.

I am determined that the coming weekend will contain no work, mostly because this week’s attempt to have an actual weekend was a dismal failure.

Further Ahead

On Tuesday 10 November, I’ll be in Sydney for the Law via Internet (LvI) Conference 2015 at the University of New South Wales — and if you look carefully at the program, you’ll see that I’m on one of the panels.

I’m also in Sydney on Wednesday 11 for Remembrance Day commemorations, as well as a lunchtime briefing by Kaspersky Lab.

Update 2 November 2015: Edited to reflect some changes to the schedule. Update 3 November 2015: Edited to reflect further changes to the schedule.

[Photo: Producing Corrupted Nerds episode 13, photographed on Sunday 1 November 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 281: Melbourne again, with added chaos

St Kilda Dusk: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 October 2015 didn’t unfold as planned, except for the fact that it concluded with me heading to Melbourne to cover Ruxcon. That bit did happen.

The photograph is misleading, therefore. Those relaxing moments at St Kilda, Melbourne, were a tiny minority of those seven days — and they only happened on Saturday night because I’d started suffering microsleeps during the afternoon, and I went back to the hotel for a nap.

Still, I wrote two articles that have been very well received — thank you — and most of the targets were eventually achieved.

Articles

Podcasts

None, again, but a new episode of The 9pm Edict will appear… eventually. No, it will. Truly.

Media Appearances

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

  • While covering Ruxcon, there was a quantity of free food and drink. The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) supplied lunch both days, and the after-party drinks were provided by Hacklabs and Assurance.
  • Michael McKinnon, social media and security awareness director with AVG Technologies AU Pty Ltd, has once more been generous with his hospitality and logistic support.

The Week Ahead

On Monday (today), I’m sorting out all my audio recordings from Ruxcon, organising a few more recordings, and probably writing for ZDNet, before a live radio spot at 1930 AEDT on ABC 774 Melbourne.

On Tuesday, I’ll be doing a few more media things in Melbourne before catching VA865 MEL-SYD at 1645 AEDT. Whether I return directly to Wentworth Falls after that, or pause a while in Sydney, is yet to be decided.

The remainder of the week will see me writing a column for ZDNet, producing an episode of The 9pm Edict, finally finishing the video of my UTS lecture, and doing some pre-production for my Future Tense documentary — but the exact order has yet to be arranged.

I am determined that the coming weekend will contain no work.

[Photo: St Kilda Dusk, photographed on Saturday 24 October 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 280: Hacking, Melbourne, productivity returns

Lumpy Weather: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 October 2015 was a marked return to productivity — despite a severe lack of sleep along the way.

Apart from generating three quite adequate articles, and recording plenty of audio for future projects, I also made some excellent contacts at the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference and elsewhere, and certain geekery went pretty much to plan.

I was especially pleased that the Pozible campaign Send Stilgherrian To Ruxcon 2015 was fully funded. I’ll have more to say about that on Monday.

Articles

I also recorded an interview with Joe Franzi, Assistant Secretary Cyber Security with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), Australia’s equivalent to the US National Security Agency (NSA). It’s the first recorded interview he’s ever done in that role, and it’ll turn into an article for ZDNet on Monday. The full audio will appear in due course. Stand by.

Podcasts

None, but a new episode of The 9pm Edict will appear on Tuesday.

I’ve also been commissioned to produce an episode of ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, which will appear in late November.

Media Appearances

  • On Friday, I was interviewed for a story looking at the future of technology for ABC Online, which will appear some time in the coming week.

5at5

There’s still nothing from 5at5, and that continues to be terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones when they eventually appear?

Corporate Largesse

  • The AISA conference obviously included plenty of free food and drink.
  • My travel and accommodation for that Melbourne trip was covered by Tanium.
  • Michael McKinnon, social media and security awareness director with AVG Technologies AU Pty Ltd, was generous with the hospitality too.

The Week Ahead

It’s another busy week ahead. On Monday, I’m dealing with administrative loose ends, and at 1600 AEDT being a guest for the recording of Mark Pesce’s podcast TWISTA – This Week in Startups Australia, before finally returning to the Blue Mountains some time on Tuesday.

On Tuesday Wednesday, I’m doing the shopping in Katoomba, and wrapping up starting on another episode of The 9pm Edict. But mostly, it’ll be spent writing for ZDNet.

Wednesday is a day off.

On Thursday, I’m writing for ZDNet, before heading into Sydney for the evening. Once there, I’ll complete the podcast, I’ll waste much of the day tying up idioti lcoose ends.

Friday starts extremely early, waking at 0230 to pack and catch the 0358 train to Sydney in time for my 0715 AEDT flight to Melbourne. The rest of the day will be spent catching up with various people, and doing some location scouting in a stupor of tiredness, before some sort of drinks and dinner thing with a few people.

Saturday and Sunday will be spent covering Ruxcon, another of Australia’s key information security conferences. This will include recording material for Corrupted Nerds as well as Future Tense.

Further Ahead

On Monday and Tuesday 26-27 October, I’ll still be in Melbourne doing various things. That includes a Monday night radio spot on ABC 774 Melbourne at 1930 AEDT.

Update 19 October 2015: Edited to reflect a change of plans. Update 20 October 2015: Edited to reflect further change to the plan. Update 25 October 2015: Edited once more to reflect continuing change.

[Photo: Lumpy Weather, photographed from seat 29A of VA830 on 13 October 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 279: The transition, the imminent busy times

Crossing the Nepean, with boats: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 October 2015 was a strange pause, a transition between weeks of pain and discomfort, and what appear to be some very busy weeks indeed.

I shall let the facts speak for themselves…

Podcasts

  • “The 9pm We Are Above All That Stuff”, being The 9pm Edict episode 51, 11 October 2015. The first half-hour of this was actually recorded a week ago.

Articles

None, but research is under way for a ZDNet column to be published early on Monday.

Media Appearances

5at5

There were no editions of 5at5 at all this week either, and that’s terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Corporate Largesse

  • On Friday, I went to a briefing by Alcatel-Lucent over lunch at Gowings Bar and Grill.
  • The travel and accommodation you’ll see listed for next week is being covered by Tanium.

The Week Ahead

The last few weeks have been rather unstructured. Not so the week ahead. It’s both busy and tightly scheduled.

On Monday, I’ll finish a column for ZDNet, deal with an errand to Penrith, conduct some audio equipment tests, and prepare myself for the rest of the week.

On Tuesday, I catch the 0636 train to Sydney, and then VA830 to Melbourne, sneaking in a quick work session at Meanjin in the afternoon, before a reception kicks off the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference. I’m covering that event for ZDNet, as well as recording material for my own Corrupted Nerds podcast, through until Thursday.

On Thursday evening, I’ll be wrapping up the Pozible campaign Send Stilgherrian To Ruxcon 2015, which closes at 2230 AEDT. As I write this, it stands at 34% funded.

On Friday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet before flying back to Sydney on VA879 that evening. Whether I continue through to the Blue Mountains, or stay in Sydney overnight, has yet to be decided.

Further Ahead

On Monday 19 October, I’m wrapping up another episode of The 9pm Edict, as well as appearing on Mark Pesce’s podcast TWISTA – This Week in Startups Australia. The middle part of the week has yet to be mapped out, but if things go to plan, on Friday I’ll be heading back to Melbourne for Ruxcon.

[Photo: Crossing the Nepean, with boats, photographed on 9 October 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 278: Reducing the pain, increasing the pace

Waratah in bloom at Bunjaree Cottages: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 28 September to Sunday 4 October 2015 was another pain-ridden ocean of chaos, but nevertheless there were a few solid achievements.

I launched Send Stilgherrian to Ruxcon 2015, a Pozible crowdfunding campaign with an obvious aim. As I write this, it’s already reached 29% of its initial target, which is promising.

On the health front, the broken tooth was repaired again. As for my shoulder, the X-rays and ultrasound imagery taken last week showed no permanent damage or signs of specific problems. It’s “just” strained muscles and tendons, and all that’s needed is rest. It does seem to be getting better, albeit very slowly.

Articles

Podcasts

I got most of an episode of The 9pm Edict recorded, but was too tired to complete it on Sunday night. Stand by.

Media Appearances

  • On Wednesday, I spoke about Facebook hoaxes on ABC 105.7 Darwin, but I didn’t record it.
  • Also on Wednesday, I spoke about Bitcoin and tractor square dancing on ABC 774 Melbourne and stations around Victoria, but I didn’t record that either.
  • On Thursday, I spoke about my crowdfunding efforts on ABC Radio National’s Media Report.

5at5

There were no editions of 5at5 at all, and that’s terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Geekery

Having migrated the final batch of a long-standing client’s websites to new virtualised infrastructure, I finally shut down my remaining hard-iron Linux server, a leased machine somewhere in a rack in San Francisco. Typing halt for the last time also ended my business relationship with ServePath, which later became GoGrid, and which was recently acquired by and absorbed into Datapipe. I’ll miss the excellent support their engineers have provided over the years.

Meanwhile, I’ve picked up a quick little job: building what is in essence a paywall for the website of the literary magazine Meanjin, so they can start selling digital subscriptions.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Once more, most of this week is over. It’s already the end of Thursday! But there’s still plenty of things to do…

On Friday, it’s the long train commute to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing on smart cities and the Internet of Things with Alcatel-Lucent’s expert on such things, Marc Jadoul. I’ll knock off some errands while I’m down there, and certain SEKRIT planning on the train.

On the weekend — note that I’m not predicting a specific day for each item — I’ll finish that episode of The 9pm Edict, finish the video of my UTS lecture, do some audio equipment tests, and do the preparatory work for Meanjin.

Further Ahead

The week beginning Monday 12 October will be a hectic one. Monday is the calm before the storm, when I’ll collect my thoughts and prepare myself.

On Tuesday, I fly to Melbourne, sneaking in a quick work session at Meanjin in the afternoon, before a reception kicks off the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference. I’m covering that for ZDNet, as well as recording material for my own Corrupted Nerds podcast. My thanks got to security vendor Tanium for covering my costs.

On Friday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet before flying back to Sydney. Some time on the weekend, I’ll produce another episode of The 9pm Edict.

The week starting… no, I’ll tell you about that next time.

[Photo: Waratah in bloom at Bunjaree Cottages, photographed on 8 October 2015. This waratah flower is slightly past its peak, but the intensity of its colour still manages to dominate the camera’s sensors.]