/ 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.
FriendFeed = More Hyped Yawn
So I started another bush fire, at least among the growing list of self important so-called A listers who would happily crucify anyone who dare question their favorite startup of the minute. I say A-List somewhat lightly, because the guy who’s come after me is someone who’s called Louis Gray. I’ve been blogging a bloody […]
How Rooted Is The Valley?
I’m back home, and I’m still seeing people defending the work till you drop and bugger your family and those you love argument put forward by Calacanis + friends. So how rooted is the Valley? I found this on Amazon via Google DOWN AND OUT IN SILICON VALLEY presents a side of high-tech, dot-com culture […]
Spending Time With Your Family Makes You a Slacker According to Scoble. Scoble Can Get Fucked
language warning Following on from my post on TechCrunch calling out Jason “penny pincher” Calacanis for his call that people who seek balance in their lives should be fired, Robert “I’ve never done a startup of my own in my life” Scoble responds with this bullshit: Calacanis is right: startups can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t afford?Ǭ†slackers Jason Calacanis has […]
Australian Media = Corporate Tools Again
I was hard on the SMH the other day, now it’s time for News Corp, who are running shots of Qantas’ new Premium Economy service. See if you can spot what’s wrong with EVERY photo. Did you guess that every shot shows premium economy seats WITHOUT seats in front in the sample shots, giving a […]
SMH Spins Government Propaganda?
WTF on every level…. SMH: Labor to deliver Lightnight internet speeds Most homes will have broadband communication speeds up to 100 times faster than what is currently available, under the Rudd Government’s plan to wire Australia for the 21st century…. …by deploying VDSL, (also known as Very High Speed DSL) technology, Senator Conroy said the […]
City Living
Finally moved into the new house. Removalist came yesterday but it took me (and occasionally she who must be obeyed) a day and a half to unpack to living standards. There are still plenty of boxes and I haven’t set up my office yet. Desk is there, but there’s a stray bed (one that we […]
Suburban Slums?
They’ve obviously not been to certain parts of Western Sydney 🙂 From the Atlantic: The subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s McMansions into tomorrow?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s tenements. (full article here). Exactly the same thing happening in Australia.
It’s Getting Cold
…and not just in Victoria, where it’s snowing in the Alpine Regions in February (usually the hottest month of summer) and I’m currently dressed in winter gear. From DailyTech: All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s?Ǭ†GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped […]
I Don’t Get This Government [Bangs Head on Desk]
Mao Ze Rudd is going to make R rated games legal, a good thing, and yet they want to censor the interwebs from sex and anything else that might be offensive on the given day they pass the legislation, and the giveaways they’ll give to Fielding to get it through the Senate. Don’t get me […]
New Address + LPO’s are like Rabbits
PO Box 8164 Camberwell North, VIC 3124 With choice strangely comes scarcity. I started at the Camberwell West LPO because it’s easier to get a car park there (despite being further) but they had no boxes, so I ended up at Camberwell North which is within reasonable walking distance but being on Burke Road is […]
While Our Government Drags Its Feet on 24mbs, Japan….
…launches an experimental satellite that will provide internet speeds upto 1.2gb/s (1200mb/s) Via CNN Japan launched a rocket Saturday carrying a satellite that will test new technology that promises to deliver “super high-speed Internet” service to homes and businesses around the world. If the technology proves successful, subscribers with small dishes will connect to the […]
Bye Bye Satelitte
This is fairly amazing. Next step has to be a meteor or comet you’d think
The Recession We Had To Have Mk 2
The news tonight quoted economists saying that the RBA will lift rates 4x this year, and soon Australian’s will be paying double digital interest rates. The Recession We Had To Have Mk 2 is around the corner. Consider that when interest rates last peaked, housing was that much more affordable. The place I spent my […]
Viva Las Vegas, Travel Plans
I’ve got till October to earn 510 more status points to qualify for Qantas FF Gold, which means free Qantas Club. I’ll probably (well definitely) miss that target, but I need 110 to retain Silver before October (business class check in, and preference on seats), and that means one return trip to the States. Here’s […]
Moving Time
The removalist (BTW that’s a real word, at least in Australia, ppl have asked me about that before) dropped off the boxes today for my move to Melbourne. Instead of coming Thursday they’re now coming Wednesday, which gives me 4 days to pack, lodge my business and personal tax returns with the accountant (March deadline), […]
Data Portability and Me
I was asked to put this together by Brisbane based Chris Saad, head of the Data Portability Work Group. Short story I had to answer some questions and say at the end that I support Data Portability. From what I can gather Chris is asking folks with a reasonable profile to record support videos for […]
Frustration with an Apple Product…It Had To Happen Eventually
iMovie 08 was widely derided as a downgrade from iMovie 06, but given my previous video editing experience had consisted of once using Sony Vegas, I didn’t have a lot of preconcieved ideas. There’s a lot to like about iMovie 08. Editing is insanely simple, and it supports direct uploading to YouTube, a feature I’ve […]
Obama Rocks
This video was released a couple of days back, but in case you missed it My politics, if I were American, is probably soft Republican with a strong Libertarian bent, and yet every time I see Obama speak I’m overawed. I heard a Republican today on News Radio’s stream of NPR’s Super Tuesday coverage and […]
Monty Python’s Spamalot: Recommended
I nearly bought tickets for Spamalot when I was in New York in late 2006, but I never did, and I’d regretted it ever since. Today I had the opportunity to see the local production in Melbourne. First, like all shows these days tickets weren’t cheap at $117.50 for A Reserve tickets, which actually ended […]
The Melbourne Rental Market is Insane
I’m currently in Melbourne looking for somewhere to live. We’d have hoped to buy but there’s been 2 people through the Australind abode since it was listed, the property market is rooted in WA at the moment. The plan is to keep the house on the market another month, and if it doesn’t sell we’ll […]