Monday 6 to Sunday 12 February 2023 was an excellent week. The crowdfunding monies finally arrived, the equipment they paid for started to be delivered, quite a bit was accomplished for clients, and I finally produced a long-overdue podcast. I am happy with all of this.
Crowdfunding update
The funds for The 9pm Hardware Refresh 2023 dropped into my bank account on Tuesday and I placed orders for the second batch of gear. Read my update for the details. There will be a further, more detailed update next week, once I’ve ordered the camera and set the dates for the Public House Forum episodes.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Polystomatous Russian Disinformation Campaign with Elise Thomas, recorded on Wednesday and posted on Sunday.
Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 24, 11 February 2023. Parliament has kicked off for 2023. There’s no new legislation to concern us here, but there’s news of spooks and spies, electronic warfare, Medicare, My Health Record, TROVE, cryptocurrency, and more.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Videos, Photos, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None of any of these things. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Recommendations
The Musk-Twitter saga continues to stumble along, so of course I have a few links to news about that.
- Elon Musk fires a top Twitter engineer over his declining view count, reports Platformer, and as one employee said, “There’s times he’s just awake late at night and says all sorts of things that don’t make sense.” This whole story is remarkable.
- Elon Musk tells Twitter users to ‘press the heart’ in an apparent bid to boost ad engagement.
- Former trust and safety head Yoel Roth gave evidence that a campaign of harassment against him and other employees came after Musk made certain defamatory accusations.
- Leaked Document Suggests Hardly Anyone Bothered to Pay for Twitter Blue.
And in other news:
- The Lowy Institute has updated its Asia Power Index, as it does every year.
- The UK echoes Scott Morrison’s concept of “on-water matters”: The UK will treat online images of immigrants crossing the Channel as a criminal offence.
- Please enjoy this excellent ABC News feature on Australia’s dingo fence.
The Week Ahead
A quirk of schedule means that while the main theme this week continues to be a focus on client work, there are no other specific appointments or journeys planned. I guess I’ll be making it up as I go along.
Further Ahead
- Australian International Airshow, Avalon Airport, 3–5 March 2023. I’ll be going on Sunday, but I’ll be in Melbourne for a couple of days either side so do let me know if anything interesting is happening.
- Everything Open conference, Melbourne, 14–16 March 2023 (TBA).
- The 9pm Public House Forum 7 livestream and recording, Sydney CBD, 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.
- Truth, Trust and Hope, “a global dialogue on disinformation and the erosion of public understanding and trust in science”, Nobel Prize Outreach, Washington DC and online, 24–26 May 2023.
[Photo: A bee sits on a Coreopsis lanceolata flower near the railway near Wentworth Falls back on 3 December 2022. It’s now February, but these plants are still in bloom.]