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  • Looking for some Australian blogs

    Now I’m hooked on Google reader, I’ve started subscribing to more and more Australian blogs…what I’d really like to have is a dedicated “Australian Blogs” category, but so far the pickings are pretty slim. I’ve got most of the 2web guys in my feeds, and others I’ve met along the way (in person), but if you’re an Australian blogger who I might not have included, let me know, email or comments. I’ve ignored the Australian blogosphere for far to long and I want to read more, know more, and promote more!

    PS: while I’m at it, anyone interested in an Australian Blogging Conference still? We got close there for a while but it was canceled. If I can find 5-6 interested parties I’ll start organising it my self, and I’ll even try to not have it in WA. Jetstar flies Perth-Melbourne so put Melb on the shortlist 🙂

  • Why some bloggers shouldn’t be electoral pundits

    I literally chocked on the Coke Zero I was drinking when I read this. Don’t have the direct link, but quoting from Trevor Cook:

    If ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù and it is a big if ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù Labor were to secure the 58 per cent national two-party preferred vote suggested by the polls at the next election, my election calculator says Labor would win around 111 of the 150 seats.

    Like hell Labor will win 111 seats out of 150.

    Absolute BS.

    Anyone stupid enough to believe that 58% 2pp applies to all seats equally should be shot…ok, maybe not shot, but they shouldn’t be making these sorts of predictions.

    Do I believe that the swing is on. Yes. Do I believe that the final tally could be as big as 58% 2pp ALP across the country at the next election…well, maybe, it’s not unreasonable. But do I believe that it will be applied equally across all seats, that the Coalition will be all but wiped out: NO.

    Word to the wise: swings are NEVER uniform. Firstly they tend to be bigger in the seats with the party on the positive side of the swing currently hold, ie: ALP seats will see huge swings to the ALP: you’ll see 10-15% margins blow out to 20-40% margins.

    Polling currently also shows that the Coalition vote is still holding up in the West. 2.7% unemployment and AWA’s equaling huge pay packets for all does that.

    I believe, after many years heavily involved in politics and the State and Federal level (now retired) that all politics is local, and literally the size of the swing will depend in large part on the local member. Yes, a good portion of people vote for the party and not the candidate, but good local members switch the equation to being more about them and not the party. People can and do vote candidate first, Senate voting paterns should be enough proof of that.

    Here’s my prediction 6 months (or thereabouts) out: I’d say Labor by 10-15 seats (25-30 seat majority), maybe 85-90 max out of 150…there’s a high hope in hell that will see the ALP with 111 seats because simply, the swing wont be uniform, and it will be called on a seat by seat basis. Having said that it could be tighter, as much as I think the Government is on the nose (least thats the feedback I get from the punters) Howard is bound to be holding a rabbit in his hat, he always has before.

  • If the Kathy Sierra death threat meme was a legal case, would it be thrown out for lack of evidence?

    Wired tries to do some investigative journalism into the whole Kathy Sierra OMG death threats meme, and doesn’t come up trumps.

    If the whole thing was a legal case, would it be thrown out for lack of evidence?

    It even appears that at least a good portion of the defendants in this case have now been either forgiven and/ or protected by the alleged victim. Yes, you read that right, the accused have now mended fences…which begs the question: if it was all so bad to begin with, why the silence, why hasn’t the accused been bought to justice (literally, given it was potentially said to be illegal behaviour)…and I’d note, the commenters, not the other victims, Rageboy et al.

    I smell fish. Rotten fish in the state of Denmark 🙂

    There’s one thing for certain, the words storm in a tea cup and Kathy Sierra will probably go down in history together for many years to come.

  • In support of advertiser supported themes

    Matt Mullenweg has come out against advertiser supported themes for WordPress here.

    As much as I’ll always have time for Matt, I don’t agree with him on this.

    For starters, the arguments he puts forward in terms of WordPress is free therefore themes should be free of advertiser links is spurious at best. Yes, WordPress is free, but a template that runs on WordPress is a unique piece of code/ design that the author/ coder creates, that legally can be subject to copyright therefore legally can be advertiser supported. If we were to accept the opposite, that themes must be open sourced/ free because they run off WordPress, there isn’t a blog running WordPress out there that couldn’t be ripped or stolen..of course that isn’t the case.

    On the logic of it all, Mullenweg argues that there was a strong users community creating themes prior to advertiser supported themes, and there will be tomorrow if its banned. True, but here’s the thing: advertiser supported themes helped take WordPress to the next level. I couldn’t even try and guess how many themes are now available for WordPress, tens of thousands, even more? Every single one of those themes made WordPress that much more appealing to everyone. Variety is the spice of life, choice is the driving force behind WordPress’ resounding success in the DIY blogging game.

    And on morals: what’s wrong with someone getting paid for their work, particularly if we (as a community) all benefit from it? I hope Matt’s not going down the hippie everything should be free for the love of it route, if that’s the case perhaps Akismet should be 100% free for all users, and WordPress.com shouldn’t be charging for anything? Indeed, Automattic should be a not-for-profit company that pays no wages 🙂 Advertiser supported WP templates have helped drive choice and variety in a way that everyone wins: the advertisers win, they get their link out there, designers win, they get paid, we (the community) win because we get extra choices in terms of free templates. If Google has a problem with those links, that’s for Google to deal with, not WordPress/ Automattic.

    Now having said that, there is some implication that advertiser supported templates are doing more than just a plain ol’ text link at the bottom. If this is the case then I don’t support the other types: most people will happily accept a link to an advertiser in a theme, they won’t accept cloaked links, banners, any other types of advertising that is untowards or intrusive, and indeed I’d be tempted to support a ban on themes that do this sort of thing, but one text link as a swap for a free theme is more than a fair enough trade for me…end of the day, let the market decide, if people don’t like/ want this, they won’t download and install these templates, end of story.

    It will be interesting to see how the WP community reacts to this. I’d remind Mullenweg that the freedom the community has had, has all in all been good for WordPress, and that medling in things such as advertiser supported themes runs the risk of upsetting people and tipping the otherwise well working balance. Let history be the guide of what happens when well meaning people interfere in the community only to find people taking their time and effort elsewhere (hint: SA).

    Note: I do not own any advertiser supported themes, not do I use any BTW, so there’s no conflict of interest. Tinkering and creating themes though can be fun 🙂

  • All your ads belong to us: time for Government intervention?

    Steve Rubel calls it right on Google: “All your Ads belong to us“.

    Its been said before, but I’ll say it again: when will Governments start intervening in Google’s growth? How much of the online world will Google dominate before Government says enough is enough, this is anti-competitive, monopoly behaviour? Sure, the argument against is that you can’t regulate people’s behaviour, there is alternatives to Google in all the markets in which they compete/ dominate/ control, but every day, every month, every year Google gets bigger and bigger, more and more dominant and in control: Google + DoubleClick equals a massive share of the online advertising market. Search may not be all Google in the US, but Google has in excess of 80% market share in other countries, including Australia. Is Google close to becoming the Standard Oil or the AT&T of our times? remember that they also own a big chunk of internet backbone in the US as well. Time will tell I guess, but I’ll predict that if Governments aren’t taking a look at Google now, they soon will be.

  • Google buys DoubleClick for $3.1bn

    $3.1bn: Google’s purchase price for Doubleclick. Struth. Web 1.0 lives again, literally, DoubleClick is a Web 1.0 company, dating from the early days of the internet. Is this a smart move for Google? if they apply the Adwords model to Doubleclick CPM banner advertising is going to get a whole lot more sexy very soon, and firms such as ValueClick and RightMedia should be looking out, big time.

    Spot question: will this deal mark the top of the Web 2.0 boom/ bubble?

  • Will the CBS content be geoblocked?

    CBS announces 10 content distribution partners: BBC.

    Will the content be geoblocked? I can’t currently view video content (show episodes, not previews) on the CBS website without spoofing my IP address or using a Proxy; will services such as Joost also block content to non-US viewers? I can only hope they don’t. And of course if they don’t, the death of network delayed TV in Australia is sure to follow, after all, who’s going to wait 6-9 months to watch the latest hit series from the US when you can stream it from the web legally, as opposed to what many do now anyway, download the content from bittorrent. Here’s hoping.

  • Only in Queensland: croc not removed from park

    A large Croc is stalking people in a park in Cairns according to news.com.au.

    Get this, for the only in Queensland file, authorities are debating whether they should remove the croc or not! Yep, apparently it’s not a given:

    “Queensland Park and Wildlife crocodile scientist Mark Read said yesterday his team was “assessing” the croc’s behaviour and size to determine whether removal was necessary.”

    But to be fair, lets get the context right:

    “A 2m crocodile that has stalked a man is being allowed to roam a popular Cairns picnic spot as authorities continue their months-long debate over removing it.

    A croc expert has warned children’s lives are at risk while the crocodile continues to live at Centenary Lakes in the heart of Cairns, which is also a popular tourist attraction.”

    Popular park, centre of Cairns, popular with tourists, large 2m long wild croc living free in the pond and they’re thinking about whether or not it should be relocated….you’ve got to wonder 🙂

  • Wisdump on the market

    The Paul Scrivens owner Wisdump is on the market at Sitepoint. Bidding from $15k with a BIN of $30k.

  • Splashpress Media acquires 901am

    Is there anything David Krug won’t sell?

    Email in my inbox this morning (my time, +8GMT) letting me know that Splashpress Media has acquired 901am. Minin Rivera, ex-Editor of The Blogging Times has taken the Editor position.

    Congrats to all involved.

    I’m starting to become convinced that I must be psychic: I was only looking at domain names yesterday for a Web 2.0 focused site. Having said that I’ve made no decision as to whether I will continue there, particularly given my history with the new owners, and the tone they’ve taken with me so far on the acquisition (not bad, just formal).

    Spot Question though: is there anything Splashpress hasn’t bought? 🙂