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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.
Budget 09-10: NBN and Censorship
Repeat after me….repeat after me….polly want a cracker….. least that’s what we got with tonights budget when it came to the NBN. Mentioned by Wayne Swan, and naturally trumpeted by Stephen Conroy (in a press release) new funding for the NBN itself in this years budget was….wait for it….$0. You don’t have to believe me […]
Censorship related funding to watch for in the Budget
Budget night Tuesday night. Although the Government’s “cyber safety” policy was costed in last years budget, the massive change to Government finances could see a revision to what was announced last year. Here’s what to look for. Last years costings here as the start point. $125.8m total. ISP funding The original commitment included “a one?¢‚Ǩ‚Äòoff […]
One time I wish I wasn’t right
The Register: Aussie censors implement six degrees of separation policy This article received massive attention overseas since it was published late last week, including top of Reddit and Digg. It notes that EFA received a link deletion notice for “linking to a link to allegedly harmful content.” The crux confirms a concept I mentioned in […]
Inquisitr’s 1st birthday + April stats
First birthday post on The Inquisitr here. I won’t do a huge stats post this month. Short version: 2.34m page views, just over February’s previous record of 2.31m I also managed to screw up the GAnalytics code this month, so there’s a day and a half missing in the total count. I’m guessing the total […]
Down 2
The Inquisitr dropped 2 places to 8th on the April Australian Startups list from TechNation. This may have been available in previous months, but I’ve paid more attention this month: a Hitwise rating. According to Hitwise, The Inquisitr comes in at 7028 of the most popular web sites. Compared to some of the others in […]
Nine’s double edged sword
One of the few Australian television programs we watch is Underbelly. However when I say watch I think we’ve watched it once when its broadcast on a Monday night, mostly we catch up with it during the week. Nine was half reasonable in offering a DRM infested download of the show, as part of their […]
Waterboarding
Lets take away the arguments for and against the use of torture by the US Government as a legitimate tool in the fight against terrorists, and lets consider the effectiveness of the favored method of “waterboarding.” The argument for waterboarding is that it’s an effective way of breaking prisoners, and gaining vital intelligence information. And […]
Australian New Media and Journalist Twitter list
Dave Earley has put together a list of “Australia?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s top 100 Journalists and news media people on Twitter.” I didn’t count them, but there seems to be more than 100. Either way, damn fine list, and without doubt the best compilation of this type I’ve seen yet. I’d hate to think how long it must […]
Qantas Fail
SMH: Save Qantas from unfair practices, unions urge QANTAS needs saving from “unfair competition” from foreign government-backed airlines to protect Australian jobs, the ACTU will argue today when it meets the airline over its decision last week to axe up to 1750 jobs. Yes, but who saves us from Qantas extortion on routes without enough […]
2nd, 6th… got to try harder
The queen of Australian blogging lists Meg updated her Top 100/ 250 Australian blog list over Easter, the first time since Australia Day. The Inquisitr came second for the 2nd time running. My old business partner Darren Rowse beat me out with Problogger. He wasn’t there last time: in Jan it was Gizmodo Australia, the […]
Wnning line: “I’d trust Mr Bolton like I’d trust a rabbit with a lettuce leaf.”
I still don’t know what this bloke is playing at: I mean seriously, all the media attention and sucking in investors only to sell out at the 11th hour, but I love this line in response The Age: Stunned investors vent fury at chairman “He’s not going to get (the $4.5 million), I can promise […]
Blue Moon: NBN waited for you….
Oz: Telstra open to break-up TELSTRA will consider a voluntary separation of its wholesale and retail arms as well as the sale of some assets to the federal Government’s proposed $43 billion broadband network in a spectacular about-face that effectively dumps the aggressive four-year strategy championed by chairman Donald McGauchie and chief executive Sol Trujillo. […]
NBN as a TV killer? Unlikely
Mark Day in the OZ (via Mumbrella) IF we look through the increasingly clouded questions surrounding the Rudd Government?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s plans for a fibre-to-the-home high-speed broadband network, how it will be designed, who will build it, who will own it and what it will cost end users, one thing is crystal clear: this is a game-changer […]
Holy Smokes Batman: Telstra might be broken up!
Age:?Ǭ†Telstra set to abandon major cable upgrade In the aftermath of the Government’s decision last week, Telstra’s immediate task will be to rethink its investment in cable after it emerged that regulatory changes could include forcing the telco to divest the network which passes 2.5 million homes and businesses. Wow. Just wow. Should the Government […]
Whoops, NBN might not be feasible. The devil is in the detail
Steve Murphy in the Business Spectator: The 21st Century infrastructure equivalent of the Snowy Hydro is what K-Rudd says of his new Broadband plan, but will we end up flushing as much money down the fibre optic drain as we do water down the Hydro. The problem is we don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t know and the Government can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t […]
NBN Questions: debt + international connections
Two questions 1. Does the $43billion include the cost of repayment of debt, or is it simply the cost of the actual rollout? Whether the Government directly borrows, or offers infrastructure bonds, both come with interest that needs to be repaid. The official release says “will invest” which could suggest that the $43 billion figure […]
Conroy’s internet filter ‘won’t stop child porn’
Courier Mail: Stephen Conroy’s internet filter ‘won’t stop child porn’ Question then, if it won’t stop child porn, why do it at all? After all, it was Conroy who continually said that the filter was all about child porn. “Black lists are needed to combat child pornography” Conroy (The West) On the overall policy: “It […]
How the RBA f&*ked over the non-bank banking sector
On March 3, the Reserve Bank in Australia (RBA) abolished bank intercharge fees on ATM’s in favor of a pay to use system where consumers pay a rate determined by the owner of the ATM. This was allegedly about reducing charges for consumers, and providing a more transparent charging regime. SMH March 24 Reserve Bank […]
Culture wars and Stephen Conroy
Australian Minister for Censorship Stephen Conroy appeared on the ABC’s Q&A Thursday night. Transcript and video here (I’m not sure if the video is available outside of Australia). I won’t rehash it all, but some interesting takeaways: Political Content STEPHEN CONROY: But that is not what is being proposed. I mean we believe that there […]
10 million page views
It must be milestone week. First, 5000 posts for The Inquisitr, now 10 million page views. We snuck past the 10m mark some time on March 23 US time, or morning March 24 AEDT. The funny stat: if we take a line from Oct 5 (US time) our 5th month anniversary, we’ve done 9 million […]