duncanriley.com

Category: Web 2.0

  • 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 Crikey March 20, although in that case I referred to Google links (however noted the 6 degrees of separation theory, saying

    Here?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s the catch: if the Google search results are declared prohibited content (which they should be if ACMA is to apply the law evenly to all sites), linking to those search results would also be illegal. Any site linking to the search results becomes illegal, and any sites linking to the sites linking to the search results become illegal ?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ and sometime next year, every site on the internet is illegal in Australia because of the Government?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s crusade to save us all from the things they don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t like.

    In a later column, I noted that Google was bizarrely exempt, but noted the idea was still the same: linking to a site that links to something that is RC, is in breach of the Act.

    The story also runs counter to the claims by Kim Holburn that the proposition that linking to a page that links to RC isn’t illegal.

    It’s worst nightmare stuff, and in this case I wish I wasn’t right, and Kim Holburn was.

    The unanswered question though is how far is ACMA going to take the link to a link policy? For example, if the EFA was hosted in the United States, would linking to the EFA who linked to the link to the RC then become subject to a takedown notice and/ or fine? (yes, that’s a tongue twister, but that’s part of the point on how stupid this is.)

    That’s the perilous question. We’ve gone past direct linking, but how far will it now go down the chain? Could half the internet, or more one day be RC according to ACMA?

  • 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 the top 10, that isn’t great, but it’s a figure I didn’t have.

    They recorded Alexa at 12543, where we’re 11,678 today, maybe a delay. Compete 3907 and Quantcast 2206 I’ll happily own 🙂

    One good thing about the list is the ability to sort by stat service. We come in at 4th on Compete and Quantcast.

  • 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 “catchup TV” offering.

    First couple of weeks was fine, but for at least the last 3-4 episodes, downloading it has been a pain. The download connection constantly drops out, so you need to restart it a dozen times to get it to finish. I’ve done a trace on the problems, it’s not on our end, it’s their server constantly cutting us off.

    But the problems have gotten worse, because now the download speeds have become spotty. Where it might start at 120kbps down, it slows to 10kbps, before cutting out. This week that meant that when I wanted to watch it on Tuesday, I finally finished downloading it on Wednesday (note, because of the constant cut offs, you can’t just leave the computer to download it over night.)

    But this week was the icing on the cake, because despite taking two days, and probably 5-6 hours to download on my 24mpbs ADSL2, Nine then inserted pre-roll ads. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t object to seeing ads on a legal download, but I object to being forced to view ads (the DRM meant we couldn’t fast forward, despite the download playing in Quicktime) when it was such a bloody hassle in getting the download to start with.

    It’s enough to turn a person to piracy, after all, it would have taken maybe 2-3 hours max (possibly quicker) to download Underbelly from BitTorrent. If it was available on a streaming site (I didn’t check) I could have watched it on demand, without waiting for the download.

    The big fail is why Nine is doing the downloads to begin with, and not offering Underbelly on demand, be it through a Flash, or Silverlight embed. Seven and Ten are offering shows this way, so why is Nine being different?

    The point of offering an alternative to piracy is to offer an alternative that is similar, or more appealing to the pirated version. On this front, Nine fails.

  • 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 have taken him.

    Notable is how many of the hacks at News and Fairfax have embraced Twitter. Talk about everyone piling on the train all at once.

  • 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 Allure Media title.

    Meg for the first time is asking for donations, and I’ve sent over a small amount. Even if I’d rather be first, and we can argue about the way she calculates it, I value that list none the less, and I’d encourage others on it to donate.

    The Inquisitr came in 6th on the Technation list of top Australian startups here which is flatering given the competition.

    Onward and above….

  • 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 decide to force Telstra to divest the cable network, Merrill Lynch said it could be folded into the proposed national broadband network, which would mean that fibre-optic cables would not have to be rolled out to many homes and businesses in the cities.

    The broker said the new company proposed by the Government to run the national network was the “only logical buyer” of Telstra’s city cable network.

    More wow.

  • 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 tell us with any degree of precision because it is yet to conduct a feasibility study. That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s right, K-Rudd and the team don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t know if what they?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve announced is feasible.

    I did some digging, the Government doesn’t use the words feasibility study…but it’s an accurate description. Point one of the NBN rollout (source)

    Commence an implementation study to determine the operating arrangements, detailed network design, ways to attract private sector investment

    but wait, there’s more:

    The preliminary estimate is that the enhanced NBN network will cost up to $43 billion…

    The Government’s objective is to achieve 90 per cent coverage of the FTTP network, and remaining coverage to be delivered through wireless and satellite technologies, within this funding envelope. Initial advice to the Government is that this objective is achievable, but this estimate will be subject to an implementation study.

  • 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 is to be spent on the rollout, not the repayments. If this is the case, the $43 billion could actually be something like $45 billion.

    2: Why doesn’t the NBN include planning for increased international access?

    The NBN includes

    implement measures to address backhaul ‘black spots’ through the timely rollout of fibre optic transmission links connecting cities, major regional centres and rural towns – delivering improvements to telecommunication services in the short term

    But no mention of international pipes. We already have the problem where say a 20mbps ADSL connection here is the equivalent of maybe a 2mbps connection in San Francisco because of the distance and congestion in the connections that pull the data across the Pacific.

    100mbps internal connections mean little if there isn’t increased capacity on the international backbones. Yes, you’ll be able to access sites hosted in Australia quickly, but sites outside Australia are another matter.

  • 10 million page views

    Dashboard - Google Analytics
    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 pages views since then. From Dec 5, we’ve done 7.4 million. Goes to prove the point: it takes 6-9 months for a blog to establish itself one way or another.

    Hopefully for our first full year, May 5, we’ll come in at around 12.5 million page views.

    I should add: ignore the drop at the end of the chart, for some reason the total view doesn’t offer a full count for the current day and it is suppose to go up, not down.

  • 5000

    5000

    The comment count is a little strange. Disqus 17,300 odd, and I don’t think there was 7000 in the time before Disqus and after.

    The 5000 came Friday US time (March 20). So 5,000 posts in 319 days at an average of 15.7 posts a day.