My week of Monday 23 to Sunday 29 January 2023 was a calm before the storm affair, really, with the holiday for Australian Day forming a quasi-long weekend. Still, there was a livestream and some other interesting buts and pieces — and the crowdfunder wrapped up as a resounding success.
Wrapping up the crowdfunding campaign
In brief, The 9pm Hardware Refresh 2023 turned out to be great success. On Thursday night it wrapped up with a last-minute surge to 100.5% of Target Five, raising a gross total of over $8,000. Thank you all very much.
The core component was of course a new MacBook Pro which has already been delivered and is in regular use. I also grabbed two external 1TB SSDs for backups and replaced a faulty mouse which decided to die the other day.
The remainder of the project will now include a camera (budget around $1,000) and HDMI capture device; a quality 4K external monitor, such as a Dell P2723QE 27″ UHD, and third-part VESA arm; a RØDE Procaster microphone, PSM1 shock mount, and WS2 wind sock; a Casematic hard case or equivalent for my existing RØDECaster Pro mixer; and a set of RØDE XLR-ID cable labels.
There’s also an allowance for feeding and watering the guests on the Public House Forum podcast episodes — two episodes now, which will be recorded in March and April.
On Monday I’ll post a more comprehensive update and flesh out the plan. However the process with Pozible involves some checking, and the funds will finally drop into my bank account on 6 February — and it’s then that I’ll make the final hardware choices and place the orders.
Videos
- The 8pm Quiz of Everything 2023 Part 2, streamed on Thursday night. There was a weird internet blockage towards the end of this episode and not all of it was broadcast properly. I’ll check again during the coming week and perhaps posted a fixed version. Stay tuned.
- RV006: D-Set at Springwood, a two-minute video of a NSW TrainLink New InterCity Fleet D-Set Mariyung train arriving at and departing from Springwood station during a test run on Friday.
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Photos
- Not only did I shoot that video of the new train, I also took a few photos of that D-Set train at Springwood, one of which sit at the head of this page.
Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 22, 27 January 2023. Disinformation on social media, government secrecy, and ransomware were on Canberra’s worksheet this week. And in NSW, there was movement on digital ID for alcohol sales and election disinformation.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None of any of these things.
Recommendations
I’m running way behind schedule today so here’s just a couple of quick links.
- Here are the 2022 Aussie Bird Count results. This year 77,419 people participated.
- The latest episode of Russell Kane’s Evil Genius podcast is about JRR Tolkien, the creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I learned some things.
The Week Ahead
The main theme this week is a focus on client work as the 2023 work year gets under way properly. Indeed, this will be involve a heavier workload through February and early March than I’ve had for the last couple of months. This is a Good Thing.
Also in the second half of this week I’ll throw in a solo episode of The 9pm Edict podcast and map out the production schedule for the next couple of months.
I’ll also see if I can catch all five episodes of the Ecamm Challenge, a set of tutorials in the new version of the Ecamm Live video streaming software I’ve been using.
Other than that, I’ll just plod through the tasks needed each day as they arrive. It’s a perfectly straightforward work week — or at least that’s what is intended.
Further Ahead
I’ve started pencilling in some of the options, although as you can see many of them are still to be confirmed. In particular, there’s no way I can do all of those things in March — although of course the Public House Forum recordings are a definite thing. That’s just a matter of confirming the dates.
- ASPI Presents: The geopolitical and technical changes reshaping cyber risk, Canberra and online, 6 February 2023. I’ll be attending online, of course.
- NEW DATE (AGAIN): The 9pm Edict recording with Elise Thomas, freelance journalist and OSINT analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. She’s been on the podcast before in April 2021 and February 2022. We’re recording on 8 February 2023. If you’re a podcast supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please get the details to me by midday AEDT on Tuesday 7 February.
- Australian International Airshow, Avalon Airport, 3–5 March 2023 (TBA).
- Everything Open conference, Melbourne, 14–16 March 2023 (TBA).
- The 9pm Public House Forum 7 livestream and recording, 18 March 2023 (TBA).
- Australian Cyber Conference 2023, Canberra, 20–22 March 2023 (TBA).
- NSW state election, 25 March 2023. I’ll definitely do something special for this one.
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, online, 4–5 April 2023.
- The 9pm Public House Forum 8 livestream and recording, 15 April 2023 (TBA).
- Coronation of Charles III, 6 May 2023, although I have no idea what I’ll actually do about it.
[Photo: A NSW TrainLink New InterCity Fleet train, the type known as a Mariyung or D-Set, consisting of sets D31 (4-car) and D131 (6-car) arriving on platform 1 at Springwood station during a test run on 27 January 2023.]