/ blog · 2008
Archive
Posts from 2004 to 2017. This was a personal blog during a fairly chaotic decade in independent publishing — some of it tech commentary, some of it Australia, some of it ephemera. It’s kept here in full for anyone who arrives via an old link.
Current writing lives at SiliconANGLE.
Testing Blogo
so far so good….or maybe not…. image didn’t upload. Lets try again.
Even at Christmas, Digg still sucks
The good news going into Christmas for me was strong traffic for The Inquisitr at a time I honestly worried that we might drop right off. Christmas Eve (US time, so my Christmas Day) delivered us our 4th best day for December, and our best day since December 11. We’ve never had any luck with […]
Bleak Shopping Christmas
I’ve so far managed to avoid Christmas shopping, not helped by the fact that I can’t stand crowds….probably some sort of medical thing, but I feel claustrophobic in large crowds and ill to the point of near panic. Only at Christmas I might add, I wonder if there’s a phobia for that? But I digress: […]
How long now for the Australian Car Industry?
The above chart comes from Key Automotive Statistics from the The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. With GM likely to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy before Christmas with the bailout package failing to pass the US Senate, and Chrysler and Ford not far behind it, how long now for the Australian Car Industry? […]
Fence sitting on an Australian Bill of Rights
So the Governments latest shiny media promotion tool is an Australian Bill of Rights, starting with a “nationwide consultation on human rights.” I’m not quite sure where I sit on it, at least until what’s going to be in it becomes clear. The Libs have come out hard against it naturally, and any over extension […]
More sloppy newspaper reporting on job ads
You’d think it was the end of the world when you see things like this crap from The Oz “Ads in newspapers suffered the biggest two-month fall in the 30-year history of the ANZ job ads survey.” Of course the newspaper figures are always quoted first Jobs ads in newspapers fell by 12 per cent […]
Ghostbusters Video Game
Via Lee, Want. Imagine playing this with a Wii remote.
Missing F9 + F11 new Mac Keyboard
So my old Mac keyboard died earlier this week, or to be more precise the TAB and CAPS LOCK keys stopped working, so it was time for a new keyboard. I’d seen the new flat key Mac keyboards before, but after 25 years of typing I liked having raised keys. However I wasn’t impressed by […]
The Inquisitr November
Pageviews: 1,085,598 (per Google Analytics) Traffic profile: highest post accounted for only 5.8% of traffic. Top 5 posts accounted for less than 20% of traffic. Finances: profitable (that is, more income than the cost of paying writers excluding me) Cash Flow: same as last month, tight. Net 60 on ads, so we won’t be making […]
Tasmania
Port Arthur: nice Tasmanian Devil Park: overpriced Salamanca Markets: crafty Getting caught in a snow storm on Mt Wellington: priceless, given Ive only seen snow twice before PS WordPress iPhone app isn’t half bad either. Pics to follow tomorrow, after Crowded House tonight
Hitler – Internet Censorship Australia
Brilliant. Watch it while you still can.
Bailouts
So the US Government bailed out Citibank. Add them to the long line of bailed out companies. They’re still blueing over the auto industry, but the likely outcome is more taxpayer dollars spent. I know I’m not alone in thinking this, but has the world gone crazy? Since when were Governments in the business of […]
Syndication Offer
The Huffington Post has an interesting way of syndicating some content. The short version is they run the first three or four paragraphs of a post on their site, then end it with “read more here xyz.” I’m not sure if it’s under legal agreement or not, and as a rule I don’t like running […]
Free Labour
I’m quite bewildered at these multi-million dollar sites/ blogs that get thousands of people writing for them for absolutely nothing. I’m not sure if I’m troubled because of the financial dimension (exploitation) or I’m simply troubled because I’m jealous and I wants me some of that. Hmmmmmm……
Drew’s Strands Tattoo
I love Drew. Here’s a guy who always puts his 110% into everything he does, and he does it so well at the same time. More on the Strands blog here. Click to play
Now would be a good time to invade Australia
It could be worse…like New Zealand Via SMH Navy closes for Christmas NAVY chiefs battling a staffing crisis have taken the unprecedented step of ordering a two-month shutdown over Christmas, and have told personnel with child-care problems that they can work from home. The navy has also ordered all ships not deployed on operations home […]
Take on Me A-ha
…and the sea will grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams of home. Memories of my youth: Take on Me: A-Ha
Chumby now legally available in Australia
The Chumby a.k.a The Worlds Dearest Alarm Clock in now available legally in Australia. Internode is the local distribrutor and has it for $299 here. I’ve had mine for at least 6 months, and I love it, but the widget/ content side is overated. Why the hell would I wan’t to browse RSS feeds or […]
Embargo Fail
So I get an email this morning from a company telling me to take down a post because I’d broken their embargo and that me having the post up would effect their ability to get publicity on other sites. The thing is I hadn’t broken it. They’d failed to detail the embargo time properly. The […]
Remembrance Day 2008
Lest We Forget. Until the day I die I’ll always remember that my great-grandfather died on the Western Front, and that my Grandmother lost her father at such a young age, and her speaking of it when I was young (she has since passed on). We are the last generation to have met or have […]