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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.
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 […]
I’m Not a Camera Whore, But Is That Wrong?
I keep seeing people in photos with “famous” people and I realize that I have none, despite having met a reasonable share over the years, both in politics and tech. For some reason I just don’t feel the need to get a picture of myself with that person, and yet I seem to be fairly […]
BART Clip
I made this short video of the San Francisco BART for my son who still loves his trains. If you’ve got kiddies they might find it interesting, other than that paint drying may provide a more interesting alternative 🙂
This is a Fucking Joke, Right?
The Melbourne God-botherer has a post on his blog about swearing. Here’s some choice quotes Blogging using cuss words has become a trend for some new bloggers hitting the scene, but I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m wondering is it really to any avail? I want to take this time on Problogger to analyze the pros and cons of putting […]
2Web Crew 14
The 3rd come back show of the 2web crew can be found here. Our best show since we resurrected it at the beginning of the year. Great conversation, and I had to cut it off before it went over the hour.
Humility
I’ve been tossing up this week how I should post about this result. To simply go out and boast about the result would simply make me out to be a complete and utter wanker, and I know some of you think that, but lets spend at least 30 minutes together and correct that perception. I […]
AT&T Makes Telstra Look Good, And a Good Travelers Tip
Given when I first traveled to the United States in November 2006 I came home to a $998 Optus bill, I’ve been really, really shy on subsequent trips about using my mobile for anything. The roaming charges on Optus are insanely expensive, some calls are $2.50 a minute, and for memory it’s $1.30 to receive […]