…and the sea will grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams of home.
Memories of my youth: Take on Me: A-Ha
Blog
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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 weather from my alarm clock when I usually have my iPhone and Macbook Pro sitting next to it 🙂
Still, nothing quite like waking up to 977 The 80’s Channel every morning 🙂
(via Core Economics)
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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 original email said midnight, September 11, and was for an Australian site (the intro of the press release read Melbourne, Australia). It didn’t say midnight September 11, US Eastern or Pacific. I posted it at midnight, September 11, Melbourne time, which just happens to me my time, so I sort of knew what time that was.
In retrospect it was probably an unintentional oversight on their behalf, and I won’t name the PR firm, but I take issue with being accused of breaking an embargo and damaging the prospects of their client because they fucked up.
I’ve actually asked the company to please consider removing me from future distribution lists. I would have likely written the post anyway in this case because I love nothing more than promoting local sites (well, as long as they haven’t taken funding from Jordan Green), but the traffic benefits for me doing so were marginal at best, and although it may have been a somewhat interesting story for some, ultimately choosing to write it is doing them a favor, not the other way around, although you’d never know by the way they seemingly deal with bloggers.
I’m really starting to get tired of the whole embargo thing again, although in some regards I guess I never was not tired of it to begin with. I’m tired of getting people asking if they can send things through if I agree to respect an embargo. I WILL RESPECT YOUR EMBARGO AS MY DEFAULT POSITION. STOP CLOGGING MY INBOX.
But there is one exception, and that’s AOL, who I’m guessing will probably never send me a thing again. I’ve had two recent releases under embargo from AOL. The first story involved a 1 hour chat with them on the phone, and a considerable amount of effort into the post. One site broke the embargo by 6 hours, and others followed. By the time we hit the story it was too late. The second time I went to write the story 2 hours before the embargo time, and I found out that AOL had actually broke its own embargo. The last email I wrote to AOL was that while I’m happy to receive their correspondence in future, I reserve the right to randomly post the story at any time before the embargo.
The problem with embargoes is the haphazard way they are enforced. The first company got really shitty with me breaking their embargo (even though it was their fault), but other companies just shrug their shoulders when someone breaks it. And the end result is a complete and utter joke.
I’ll still consider stories under embargo, but from now on I’m going to ignore or request removal from distribution lists where the embargo is not enforced (and regularly broken by others), or as the case may be, I get blamed when I was actually doing the right thing. Life’s to short for these stupid games, and although I’m always interested in story ideas, PR folk need blogs and bloggers in general more than we need them.
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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 spent time with those who remember the Great War, but let us hope that future generations will never forget the sacrifices made by an entire generation for freedom.
The one fact that always startles me from an Australian perspective: 216,000 Australian casualties at a time the country had a population of 4.5 million. They say that no town was left without a casualty, and that 1 in 6 Australian families were directly affected, and that everyone knew someone in that total. There are towns today in France that still proudly fly the Australian flag in remembrance of their sacrifices.
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Worst Ballmer interview ever
No, Steve Ballmer actually did a really good job, but the questions had more than a lot to be desired. I caught this originally in the car, and the News Radio announcer continually referred to Ballmer as Bal-a-mer, and I knew it was just going to get worse from there.
Here’s some choice questions from the ABC’s Ticky Fullerton. I can’t embed the video unfortunately, but if I find a copy I’ll add it later. Full transcript here.
Opening question
TICKY FULLERTON: You are in Australia, of all places, during US election week. What will an Obama government do for corporate America?
WTF? You’re interviewing the CEO of Microsoft, and you ask him about Obama???TICKY FULLERTON: The next stage for business users in particular could be Cloud. What is Cloud, and won’t it cannibalise some of your existing products?
“Cloud”???? Oh, THE CLOUD….just bizarre. Ballmer responded extremely well
TICKY FULLERTON: Microsoft Outlook has become the lingua franca of communications; you captured the world with it really.
How are you going to keep that loyalty, when you now have companies like Skype, like other telcos going for the customer and going for the directory?
Ummm, Outlook has a 27% market share, and recent numbers show Hotmail is used just as much in business. But comparing Outlook to Skype and telcos? WTF x100???!!!!!
TICKY FULLERTON: Yet you say nothing is given. I mean, looking forward we’ve got voice, we’ve got face and expression, handwriting recognition, and what they call the new wireless direct neural interfaces.
Where do you think the drivers of value will be in these spaces and how is Microsoft going to grab the drivers?
I just don’t get this at all. Looking forward we’ve got voice???
TICKY FULLERTON: How much of a threat is open source code? I know it’s been around for a while. I think the Queensland Government is looking at it now.
But in this time of global meltdown, could we see emerging markets like China and India looking at the free alternative and being a threat to Microsoft?
I think she means Open Source software….or maybe it’s just random parts of free code 🙂
TICKY FULLERTON: The other battleground is the mobile. Windows mobile is growing rapidly as the market grows.
Do you accept the criticism that perhaps once again you haven’t been listening to the end customer as well as say Apple, in terms of functionality and simplicity?
Windows Mobile isn’t growing, and it’s still a small player, unless she’s talking about a specific country. talk about slanted facts though.TICKY FULLERTON: Back to Australia and the long awaited broadband tender, which seems awfully laboured. Do we seem very troglodyte to you?
WTF WTF WTF WTF. Some Australian angst thrown in with something Ballmer would no little about. He responded like a gentleman though.
If this is the current state of reporting at Aunty….well, OMG
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YouTube’s geotargeting beyond sucks
So I was trying to view a post on the YouTube blog tonight here. Simple exercise you might thing, but YouTube has decided that any time I visit it, on ANY browser (so it’s not cookie related), I should be redirected to YouTube Australia. No major deal with video content, given the swap out is just “au” instead of “www” in the www.youtube.com URL. But here’s the REALLY dumb thing. When I try to visit the official YouTube blog, it redirects to the “official YouTube Australia blog” which doesn’t show the same content as the US site, so the URL comes up a COMPLETE BLANK. The only way I could view the post is via a proxy.
Georetardation is bad enough, but this is even more beyond a joke. Youtbe FAIL.
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An end to the politics of old
Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States of America. Voters have rejected the negative politics of McCain over something more positive.
Today’s coverage on The Inquisitr
Exit polls show economy number one election issue (update: Obama up)
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We’re F*cked
So on Melbourne Cup day, the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates by 75 basis points, or 0.75%, on top of the 100 basis points, or 1% cut last month.
We’re f*cked. Nearly 2% in 2 months….nothing I can remember in my life time. Massive economic stimulus attempt that could have only been based on figures that showed Ausrtalia sliding to a halt, or going backwards. It was nice to grow up through a recession, then beyond that. Gen Y and Z, welcome to my youth!!!!!!! 😉
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Melbourne Cup tips
My first year in Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup….and I’m not attending. Wife + son home, turns out schools and workplaces make the Melbourne Cup public holiday (yes, it’s a public holiday for a horse race here) into a 4 day long weekend. Maybe next year 🙂
Camberwell is quieter then Easter…and there’s less shops open. The more religiously inclined may want to reflect on that.
Anyhow, an exercise in futility, I haven’t backed a Melbourne Cup winner since Mackybe Diva, and before that it was probably 5 years, but here we go
FTW: 8 Mad Rush
Places: 7 Zipping, 9 Ice Chariot
She who must be obeyed tips: 8 Mad Rush, 11 Littario
The golden child tips: 14 Gallopin
Trifecta I’ve boxed 7 8 9 14. The idea of a horse called Gallopin coming a place appealed to me 🙂
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How Obama is to the right in an Australian sense
The 2008 US Presidential election is getting unprecedented coverage in Australia. The Presidential debates were covered live here on major stations, and our television news, online news, radio and newspaper news is giving the elections serious coverage.
But how do the two sides compare in an Australian sense? Not everyone in Australia is following the news, and the depth of understanding in probably weaker again.
Traditionally Australian political parties have affiliations to American parties (often formal), for example the Liberal Party of Australia (our conservative party) has ties to the Republicans, the Labor Party to the Democrats. This split is reflected amongst newspaper columnists as well, for example Andrew Bolt is fiercely pro-Republican, anti-Democrat, but the divide has never made sense to me, because the policy divide isn’t anywhere similar to the Australian picture.
My wife recently told my mother to think of the two sides this way: The Democrats are the Liberal Party, and the Republicans Family First, because both are to the right in an Australian sense, but one is clearly more religious. It’s a generalization to be sure, but lets test it.
How Obama compares to the last Howard Government (and where applicable the Rudd Government)
I’m a former Howard Government staffer, as was my wife, so I’ve got some grounding in what the Liberal Party did in office. These points may generalize a little bit, but they are accurate without always referencing every fine detail.
Healthcare
Howard: supported universal healthcare through the Australian Medicare system. Offered tax incentives to those who took private cover
Obama: doesn’t favor state sanctioned universal healthcare, but is looking at a fallback option outside of the private system, an affordable health care pool
Result: Obama to the right of Howard
Defence (or Defense in US English)
Howard: troops in Iraq (and generally supported Bush), but most Australian troops in Afghanistan. Pro ANZUS
Obama: favors pulling out Iraq, increasing troops in Afghanistan. Pro Anzus
Rudd: favors pulling out Iraq, has kept troops Afghanistan. Pro Anzus
Result: Obama is to the left of Howard only on Iraq. May be more interventionist then Rudd
Industry policy
Howard: spent billions on propping up car industry, subsidising other industries. Reduced tariffs but didn’t remove them all.
Obama: talks about investing in industry, retooling car industry.
Result: about the same
Free Trade
Howard: started signing free trade agreements later into his term, previously more a unilateralist. Generally free trade, although conceded may conditions in various FTA’s.
Obama: wants conditional FTA’s. Regarded as anti-free trade, but hasn’t ruled them out
Result: hard. Obama wants different conditions in FTAs, but Howard regularly had conditions as well, so Howard wasn’t a pure free trader either. Obama slightly to the left, but not by a lot.
Farm policy
Howard: unprecedented socialist on farm policy, billions in subsidies.
Obama: not clear. Farm subsidies aren’t talked about much because generally both sides in the US support them.
Result: about the same.
Welfare
Howard: cracked down on unemployment benefits, but didn’t abolish them. Number of disability pensioners ballooned. Australia still has a generous social welfare system
Obama: wants the state to look after people more, but hasn’t proposed Australian style system.
Result: Obama to the right.
Environment
Howard: soft on global warming, but backed clean coal and some alternative industries.
Obama: strong on global warming, talks about investing billions in green energy.
Rudd: talks strong on global warming, but hasn’t done much yet.
Result: the environment isn’t necessarily a left/ right divide anymore, but Obama to the left
Taxation policy
Howard: cut taxes at all levels while in power. Did offer tax cuts to middle class only at times. Didn’t offer relief in Fringe Benefits Tax but some Capital Gains Tax relief
Obama: will cut tax for middle class, increase for wealthy, but rates are still much lower then Australia
Result: actually about the same. Howard did target tax cuts for the middle class, and the wealthy still pay tax at higher rates.
Education
Local/ State issue in both countries at some levels.
Howard: increased funding in education, talked about choice and standards. Tax help for early childhood education/ daycare.
Obama: wants to increase funding in education, supports “charter schools.” Wants to target early childhood education.
Result: about the same. Obama more to the right on some things, left on others.
Higher Education
Howard: supported HECS/ HELP, the system where University students don’t pay upfront, but pay back the Government when they earn, although increased fees significantly. Government still major backer of University system
Obama: wants to make College more affordable. Is not proposing a HECs style scheme from what I’ve read. College in the US primarily private or nonprofit run.
Result: Obama is a shift to the left from Bush, but is still way to the right compared to Howard.
Retirement/ pensions
Howard: free market superannuation where savings are invested with fund managers. However, increased the compulsory rate employers must contribute to super.
Obama: anti-free market 401ks, but isn’t proposing compulsory employer contributions from what I can read
Result: about the same. Howard increased taxes on employers and forced them to contribute more to retirement savings, yet was to the right on where the money should go.