via bigyahu.com
Great Little Post by the Big Yahu.
Another big bend over by NSW. Time to end this short termism.
October 28, 2010
October 11, 2010
September 13, 2010
Microsoft’s Great Windows 7 Growth Lie — RoughlyDrafted Magazine
In reality, Microsoft’s Q3 2010 profits from Windows were up 35% over its Q3 2009 figures only because Q3 2009 had plunged to $2,273 million, making this year’s Q3 income of $3,061 million seem like growth when in reality, it was still lower than Microsoft had reported in Q3 2008 (when the company earned $3.1 billion) and significantly down from 2007 (when it earned $4.2 billion).
Those figures don't lie. Microsoft earned around 15% less in it's first quarter after the Windows 7 launch than it did in the first Quarter after the Vista launch.
September 12, 2010
If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today...
August 14, 2010
Social Innovation Bar Camp #sibsyd
This morning I listened to Bob Carr open this event and was stimulated into revisiting this site which I have left fallow for some time.
I did a talk on what I've learned by this exercise. And will later write a new post which discusses the talk, what I learned from giving it and also why I've added to my understanding from some of the other sessions today
Meanwhile, estimates are I am already exceeding my target 10% reduction for Electricity and Water, despite the winter still not being open.
I'll update with the tangibles later
August 12, 2010
The Politics of Fear #ausvotes
...The Labor’s 100 Million Dollars a Day. Why is this a problem, quite simply because the Liberals have said they will pay of the deficit at more or less the same time. So this means that the Liberals if they get power will have exactly the same level of debt repayments that Labour currently has. So the issue is that if the Libs get power, they will do exactly what Labor are already doing? A large number of (possibly overpaid) financial experts all agree that Australia weathered the GFC (or whatever technical term you wish to apply) incredibly well and that no matter who was in power, the government of the day would have entered into some level of debt.
As has been pointed out, the debt levels that Australia has are 2nd to none in the world. ( and not just because of the last 10 years, but 20 years of economic reform ), yet the Liberals run a policy of fear.
...So the numbers are bullshit, the argument is flawed and the subjective nature is exploitative. Why, because it works. The politics of fear has always been the way of politics. Even the Greens use these tactics. As they say, doesn’t matter who you vote for… a politician gets in. With ads like this and people believing them, this will never change.
read the full article at wolfcat.com.au
Lowest level of debt in OECD, despite this spending. Labour seem to be incapable to selling this. As I wrote this morning "Of course Governments shouldn't invest tax dollars in the country, Tony. They should keep it to Pork barrel Nationals electorates"
A Governments job is to invest our taxes in the country. Especially if times are tough and especially if you more than have the means to pay it back.
I can't understand how the Libs are getting a free ride on this because, yes, it's errant Nonsense.
August 10, 2010
August 04, 2010
Gillard: Coalition want to 'bamboozle' voters this August - (with Apologies to The Hill's Ballot Box)
Prime Minister Gillard told Labor fundraisers that the Coalition are banking on voters having "amnesia" in this months elections.
"They have not come up with a single, solitary, new idea to address the challenges of the Australian people," Gillard said. "They don’t have a single idea that’s different from John Howard’s ideas — not one."
The PM said that instead of helping her and Labor push for healthcare and Education reform, Liberals and Nationals are "betting on amnesia.""That’s what they’re counting on," Gillard told the audience. "They’re counting on that you all forgot. They think that they can run the okey-doke on you. Bamboozle you."
In her speech, the PM blasted Liberal opposition to her small business tax cuts, saying Liberals are opposing their own ideas in an effort to hurt Labor.
"Liberals say they're the pro-business party, isn’t that what they say?" Gillard said. "You would think this is something they would support, but they keep opposing it. Why? Pure politics."
The PM also criticized Tony Abbott for pledging to repeal the NBN if the Coalition wins back Power.
"They're more interested in the next election than the next generation," Gillard said. "And that's why they can’t have the keys back — because we need somebody who is driving with a vision to the future."
Read the real article at thehill.com
The real article has the real story about Obama and the stonewalling of the Republicans BTW. I haven't had to change much, you might notice.
Would the "real" Julia Gillard pick at the exposed underbelly of the Liberals so easily?
August 02, 2010
July 29, 2010
So you’re not going to vote Labor because of #nocleanfeed…
I’ve seen lots of people talk about Net Censorship and how it is the only thing that people are going to use to define who they vote for in the election.
Firstly, anyone that votes only on one policy is nuts… there are a lot of things that makes Australia what it is… voting on one tiny aspect of a whole of government approach is just weird IMHO.
Now I am on the record as saying that I think the whole Net Filter is a big joke… (a bad one), but a joke. It won’t do one thing to stop what the government claims it is for. How often do you see when places are raided, collections of DVD burners. These DVD’s are distributed by hand or by post, not by the internet. But I digress…
Ludlam, who has long opposed mandatory filtering, said the Liberals were likely to support Labor’s filtering proposal under Tony Abbott’s leadership.
“I think the Liberals are ducking and weaving; I think internally, they’re split … but the fact is, the party is led by Tony Abbott who is deeply conservative,” he said.
Never have truer words been said. If you don’t think that a government lead by someone on the record by such a Conservative as Tony Abbott would not leap at an opportunity such as this (even if only partially technically feasible) you are in the words from The Castle ‘Dreaming Mate’.
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Tags: Annoyances // 3 Comments »
via wolfcat.com.au
I've been curious that the Net Filter issue has been a bigger problem for many techies than the Liberals stated policy of killing the NBN, here's an interesting take on the Liberals and the Filter courtesy of Wolf Cocklin
July 20, 2010
Arguments from Global Warming Skeptics and what the science really says
Skeptic Arguments and What the Science Says
Here is a summary of what the science says on each skeptic argument. You can also view the arguments sorted by taxonomy or a print-friendly version.
July 17, 2010
July 16, 2010
One more whiskey
One day, when an election is underway, we will celebrate it with whiskey.
These days we anticipate them as if we can dictate the outcome.
But haven't we had an election every time we've had an opinion poll?
How about some honesty?
How about a site which measures the people looking for your vote based upon their adherence the what we think are the real issues?
That's this site...and we want your content
Right? Left? Hot? Cool? We don't care, just send it to post@deeplyofftherecord.posterous.com and it'll go up here.
Just be a realist. Ask questions. Don't allow them to set the agenda, let us
July 12, 2010
The heat is on for change: coal | The Australian
Each step of the coal life cycle -- mining, transportation, washing, combustion and disposing of post-combustion wastes -- affects human health. In Australia, research is lacking but there is no reason to believe similar effects are not occurring in coal communities here. To deny it would be akin to holding smoking causes lung cancer in the US but doesn't in Australia.
The health burden of coal in Australia is estimated conservatively at $2.6 billion a year. There are also economic losses due to land pollution and degradation and the open mining of good agricultural land in the face of the projected world food crisis.
David Shearman is emeritus professor of medicine, a practising physician and honorary secretary of Doctors for the Environment Australia.
July 07, 2010
July 01, 2010
iPhone 4 Gyroscope Teardown - iFixit
via ifixit.com
"three red blood cells lined up side by side"
And we're worried about a bunch of people with minor reception issues?
June 16, 2010
What do those "who only think of the Children" fail to tell us?
See the Written Declaration currently going through the EU Parliament
http://smile29.eu/doc/DS29_EN.pdf
On the Surface it looks all sweetness and light, but take a look at what the Swedish Pirate Party Say
If you follow the reference to Directive 2006/24/EC, an old acquaintance rears its ugly head: the Data Retention Directive.
According to the Data Retention Directive, which is currently in various stages of implementation in the different member states, Internet service providers and mobile network operators are required to collect and save data about who we are in contact with and where we are located. With Written declaration 29, search engines like Google and others will have to collect and save data about our searches, and make the data available to the police on demand.
This is the same bullshit which our Attorney -General is proposing to introduce here.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/govt-wants-isps-to-record-browsing-history-339303785.htm
I suggest you contact your local MP if you have any concerns around this.
June 11, 2010
Philippe Cousteau: Reflections From the Gulf
Once we made it to the southern part of Louisiana about an hour into the trip we started to see signs advertising small shops shut down due to no fish being available to sell and others pleading with the gov and BP to help them feed their children. By the time we got to Grand Isle and met the team there was a sense of frustration and anger that was palpable amongst the people milling about the marina.
Follow Phillipe @pcousteau
June 10, 2010
Last Century Music Industry wants to ream LimeWire, avoids responsibility for own failings
The record labels have told a federal judge LimeWire is liable for possibly “over a billion dollars” — the latest sign that the industry is seeking to annihilate the New York-based file sharing company.
via wired.com
Hi,
I've got a Business who's model is being destroyed.
Look there is someone who is destroying my business model.
Work with them, you say?
Hark! Let us, with prejudice, destroy them with Lawsuits!
Cowen seeks to hide policies from bank probe
ec4BillyHiggins.jpg" border="1" height="160" width="300">Cowen seeks to hide policies from bank probe
By Paul O’Brien and Mary Regan
Thursday, June 10, 2010
BRIAN COWEN is seeking to prevent the banking inquiry from examining the policies he implemented as Finance Minister which added "fuel to the fire" and helped stoke the crisis in the sector.
Two devastating preliminary reports published yesterday found that policies adopted by the Government during the boom helped cause the overheating of the economy and the subsequent banking crisis.
They laid bare Mr Cowen’s culpability as Finance Minister from 2004 to 2008, when the Government failed to apply the brakes and rein in spending.
But despite the reports’ indictment of fiscal policy, the Government does not intend to allow the commission to examine the decisions it took during the boom.
The Cabinet has agreed draft terms of reference for the commission which exclude any mention of Government policy during the period under investigation – January 2003 to September 28, 2008. The timeframe also means Government actions taken to solve the crisis from September 29, 2008, onwards are set to be off limits to the commission.
Instead, if the draft terms are passed, the commission will look at the failures by the banks themselves, the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator. These failures were outlined in yesterday’s preliminary reports, but the documents also extensively criticised Government policy during the boom.
The second report, conducted by Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan, who was appointed last year as part of the clean-up of the regulatory system, blamed the banks in the first instance.
But he was no less damning of the Government, saying budgetary policies "contributed significantly to the economic overheating". The Government had helped foster a climate that led the public to believe the "party could last forever".
As Fintan O'Toole writes in his book ship of fools, as long as there is no accountability, everyone thinks they can get away with anything.
June 08, 2010
Wired: U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe
Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.
via wired.com
Pretty Amazed that Photos can be published with such impunity. Let the witch hunt begin!
Robert Fisk on Journalism and 'the words of power'
...the flotilla - the convoy of boats setting off for Gaza. I don't think they are a bunch of anti-Israelis. I think the international convoy is on its way because people aboard these ships - from all over the world - are trying to do what our supposedly humanitarian leaders have failed to do. They are bringing food and fuel and hospital equipment to those who suffer. In any other context, the Obamas and the Sarkozys and the Camerons would be competing to land US Marines and the Royal Navy and French forces with humanitarian aid - as Clinton did in Somalia. Didn't the God-like Blair believe in humanitarian 'intervention' in Kosovo and Sierra Leone?
In normal circumstances, Blair might even have put a foot over the border.
But no. We dare not offend the Israelis. And so ordinary people are trying to do what their leaders have culpably failed to do. Their leaders have failed them.
Have the media? Are we showing documentary footage of the Berlin airlift today? Or of Clinton's attempt to rescue the starving people of Somalia, of Blair's humanitarian 'intervention' in the Balkans, just to remind our viewers and readers - and the people on those boats - that this is about hypocrisy on a massive scale?
The hell we are! We prefer 'competing narratives'. Few politicians want the Gaza voyage to reach its destination - be its end successful, farcical or tragic. We believe in the 'peace process', the 'road map'. Keep the 'fence' around the Palestinians. Let the 'key players' sort it out.
"Competing Narratives" Yeah, weasel words FTL!
June 04, 2010
John Abraham's reply to Christopher Monckton - pls RT #climate #deniers
via stthomas.edu
Friday night viewing. Can we please RT this!
May 21, 2010
On Emailing Posterous
Posterous likes email
I've never used Email to post an article. I mainly use the Share on Posterous Javascript Toolbar button.
I wonder how well customising this will work?
Testing
May 19, 2010
On telling bedtime stories to Ms4
As a father one of my favourite things is bedtime stories with my daughters. Reading is not just something I love to do, but something I've done since I was very very little. Legend has it I was reading my first proper books at 5 and upon entering proper school at a little over 6 was bringing my own Famous Five and Secret Seven Books to the class library because "the ones already there were only for babies".
At least that's how I remember it. My mother may dispute this.
Normally at bedtime we have stories ranging from 10 Little Rubber Ducks
by Eric Carle to Reading is Great to Miffy. Tonight at bedtime was more than subtly different. Ms4 asked me if I could read one of my books to her.
Now I've tried this before, The Hobbit has been produced and paragraph one of page one was attempted with indifference. Since we've had kids the opportunity to retake the steps of my boyhood hero has been one of the things I've looked forward to immensely. So imagine my horror some months back when it was rejected out of hand at the first attempt.
Since that failure I've sustained myself with an almost convincing argument; they were just too young.
My first reaction tonight was it was going to be the perfect opportunity to reacquaint my offspring with Hobbits & Dragons, Wizards & Dwarfs as described so vividly in the prose of the erstwhile Mr. Tolkien.
Imagine my surprise when the first book which came out of the shelf was The Perfect Gift for a Man. Unhesitatingly I joined it with a couple of other books (including the fantabulous Room on the Broom), grabbed a cup of Milk for Ms4 and sat down with her to read.
Cuddles ensued, accompanied by the prose of a certain Ms. Annik Skelton.
I'm pretty sure Ms4 had no idea about most of what I was reading, so the descriptions of Blood, Guts, sewing people on the kitchen floor, sexually transmitted diseases and certifying corpses with Daddy at 5 would hopefully have gone right over her head.
While The Perfect Gift for a Man was a Perfect Gift from Gavin Heaton to me, because I wrote a post for the Manweek initiative from ReachOut Australia. However I nervously chose not to submit for the book and hadn't read all of the stories in it previously. Telling Neekatron's story to my little girl while I read it for the first time seemed amazingly inspired to me.
Because if my girls ever feel they can hold me up as the standard for all men who ever enter their life, as Annik does with her dad, I'd be the proudest Dad alive.
At least that's how I remember it. My mother may dispute this.
Normally at bedtime we have stories ranging from 10 Little Rubber Ducks
by Eric Carle to Reading is Great to Miffy. Tonight at bedtime was more than subtly different. Ms4 asked me if I could read one of my books to her.Now I've tried this before, The Hobbit has been produced and paragraph one of page one was attempted with indifference. Since we've had kids the opportunity to retake the steps of my boyhood hero has been one of the things I've looked forward to immensely. So imagine my horror some months back when it was rejected out of hand at the first attempt.
Since that failure I've sustained myself with an almost convincing argument; they were just too young.
My first reaction tonight was it was going to be the perfect opportunity to reacquaint my offspring with Hobbits & Dragons, Wizards & Dwarfs as described so vividly in the prose of the erstwhile Mr. Tolkien.
Imagine my surprise when the first book which came out of the shelf was The Perfect Gift for a Man. Unhesitatingly I joined it with a couple of other books (including the fantabulous Room on the Broom), grabbed a cup of Milk for Ms4 and sat down with her to read.
Cuddles ensued, accompanied by the prose of a certain Ms. Annik Skelton.
I'm pretty sure Ms4 had no idea about most of what I was reading, so the descriptions of Blood, Guts, sewing people on the kitchen floor, sexually transmitted diseases and certifying corpses with Daddy at 5 would hopefully have gone right over her head.
While The Perfect Gift for a Man was a Perfect Gift from Gavin Heaton to me, because I wrote a post for the Manweek initiative from ReachOut Australia. However I nervously chose not to submit for the book and hadn't read all of the stories in it previously. Telling Neekatron's story to my little girl while I read it for the first time seemed amazingly inspired to me.
Because if my girls ever feel they can hold me up as the standard for all men who ever enter their life, as Annik does with her dad, I'd be the proudest Dad alive.
May 02, 2010
Honesty in Football - and my own thoughts on 44,000 tweets
I say: 'Come on, you have two personalities?'" Assou-Ekotto says. "I can't listen to people when they speak like that. I know that they lie, and I hate lies. Me, I am not like that. I am honest all of the time, although the truth is not always good to say.
via guardian.co.uk
As I drive past 44,000 tweets this morning, let me associate with Mr Assou-Ekotto's sentiment. As Jason Fried writes in ReWork, it's all Wabi-Sabi. If you like it, you follow me, even if you don't like it, maybe you do too. Perhaps just to figure out what rot I'll write next. That's okay, I might be sometimes wrong or just plain stupid, but I'm sharing my honest position.
Does that work against me sometimes? Perhaps. But at least you know what you are getting.
There are no Plastic Flowers here.
Desmond Tutu: Arizona: The Wrong Answer
The police talk today about how they do not wish to, and will not, engage in racial profiling. Yet faced with the option of using common sense and compassion, or harassing a person who has done nothing wrong, a particularly sinister aspect of Arizona's new immigration law will be hanging over his head. He can be personally sued, by anyone, for failing to enforce this inhumane new act.
...How far can this go? We lived it -- police waking a man up in the middle of the night and hauling him off to jail for not having his documents on his person while he slept. The fact that they were in his nightstand near the bed was not good enough.
...Abominations such as apartheid do not start with an entire population suddenly becoming inhumane. They start here. They start with generalizing unwanted characteristics across an entire segment of a population. They start with trying to solve a problem by asserting superior force over a population. They start with stripping people of rights and dignity - such as the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty - that you yourself enjoy. Not because it is right, but because you can. And because somehow, you think this is going to solve a problem.
...The problem of migrating populations is not going to go away any time soon. If anyone should know this, it should be Americans, many of whom landed here themselves to escape persecution, famine or conflict. With the eyes of the world now on them, Arizona has the opportunity to create a new model for dealing with the pitfalls, and help the nation as a whole find its way through the problems of illegal immigration. But to work, it must be a model that is based on a deep respect for the essential human rights Americans themselves have grown up enjoying.
If it looks like Racism, if it sounds like Racism, if it feels like Racism, pretty sure it is Racism
May 01, 2010
Michael Pollens Food Rules (via Darina Allen)
be guided by Michael Pollen, who wrote the Omnivores Dilemma published by Puffin, in his book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.- Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.
- Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
- Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup
- Avoid food that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
- Avoid food products containing ingredients that an eight year old child cannot pronounce.
- Avoid food products that make health claims.
- Avoid food products with wordoid "lite" or the "low-fat" or "non-fat" in their names.
- Avoid foods you see advertised on TV.
- Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
- Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
- Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
- Buy your snacks at the farmer’s market.
- Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.
- If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
- It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
- It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language
Sounds good to me
April 28, 2010
Say What #1
An occasional post where I review my twitterfeed over the last x hours and post some juicy ones.
Popularity Contest
(being where I was retweeted)
Raiding Gizmodo
Today I had an interesting back and forth with one or two others over the all too often used 'fanboi' term or "Applevangelists" in this case when it was alleged we would be 'defending Apple' because the Police in San Mateo county, California raided a Journalist house as part of a felony investigation.
I wrote;
For me, experience tells me - in any country, Police tend to raid first and ask questions later. So we shouldn't be surprised. The suggestion that Apple were prompting the raid was just ridiculous. So I wrote;
The rest of the conversation was mainly asking questions. I don't know enough about California law to judge. In any case, plenty of others have a more informed opinion on this one;
I'm still toying with the idea of committing Facebook suicide due to their ridiculous tell everyone everything non-privacy;
Twitter love
I need a tiler for a small job for my house. The Joy of twitter includes getting numbers!
Appreciating Politicians
The ruling party in Australia is outdoing itself this week
Mind you the other crew are trailing in their wake
and finally...
It's 2010, there should be Hoverboards!
Popularity Contest
(being where I was retweeted)
Remind me ... why exactly did people elect Kevin Rudd? What was it he was going to do? /via @GreenJ not be Little Johnny nose hair
Is Jon Stewart the TV equivalent of a Cyberbully? 24 mentions of Fox News so far this year!http://nyti.ms/cOpFB2
libs should cut the crap on a lot of things really. Especially electing anachronisms as leaders #alot
I hope little Kev enjoys his discount purchase of a second term. #smallbrainssmallideas
Raiding Gizmodo
Today I had an interesting back and forth with one or two others over the all too often used 'fanboi' term or "Applevangelists" in this case when it was alleged we would be 'defending Apple' because the Police in San Mateo county, California raided a Journalist house as part of a felony investigation.
I wrote;
Gizmodo should have checked the California law on receipt of stolen goods. Journalism, FTW!
For me, experience tells me - in any country, Police tend to raid first and ask questions later. So we shouldn't be surprised. The suggestion that Apple were prompting the raid was just ridiculous. So I wrote;
AFAIK, if the Police are asked to investigate a crime, the complainant doesn't really dictate the terms of the investigation
The rest of the conversation was mainly asking questions. I don't know enough about California law to judge. In any case, plenty of others have a more informed opinion on this one;
reading @hblodget on the Gizmodo, iPhone thing. It appears the Police have overstepped the mark.Leaving Facebook
I'm still toying with the idea of committing Facebook suicide due to their ridiculous tell everyone everything non-privacy;
deleting Facebook Applications in prep for possible FB-suicide due to this FB everywhere crap
Twitter love
I need a tiler for a small job for my house. The Joy of twitter includes getting numbers!
Appreciating Politicians
The ruling party in Australia is outdoing itself this week
I hope little Kev enjoys his discount purchase of a second term. #smallbrainssmallideas
Mind you the other crew are trailing in their wake
Libs should cut the crap on a lot of things really. Especially electing anachronisms as leaders #alot
and finally...
It's 2010, there should be Hoverboards!
allegedly this ipad thingymajig is a cleverly disguised hoverboard #2010
April 27, 2010
Simon Tolkien: In My Grandfather's Footsteps
I had a lot of fun times with my grandfather when I was a boy and went to stay with him and my grandmother for seaside holidays at the Miramar Hotel in Bournemouth on the south coast of England. We played endless word games and I asked him innumerable questions about Middle Earth and he was always kind and affectionate. I can close my eyes and see him now, wreathed in smoke like Gandalf as he lit his pipe with a flaring Swan Vesta match and spoke in a deep voice about dragons and dwarves. In the afternoons we went for long walks along the beach with the wind in our faces and he showed me just the right thin black stones for skimming out into the waves, and yet, however hard I tried, I never managed to skim mine as far as his, even though he was sixty-seven years older than me.
exactly how I feel about the short times I spent with my Grandfather, who also died when I was pre-teen. He wasn't quite so famous though.
April 19, 2010
My thoughts on Digital Tip » Who owns social content?
Given the cavalier attitude to copyright and intellectual property on the web, and the trendiness of mashups and UGC, the era of social content is proving to be a fairly treacherous minefield for the brands or agencies who are naive or insular.
Cavalier, in this context, is defined as: "given to haughty disregard of others". Allow me to disagree with the use of the term in this context. I would actually use the word 'cavalier' to describe the 'Copyright' and 'IP' owners. Due to the haughty disregard they have for the changing world and how digital has destroyed their monolithic view of 'their content'.
So much of the legals around stuff like this, appears to me to be so far behind the reality of the world today. Just like everything which is impacted by the internet, its probably time to throw the baby out with the bathwater and rather than rewriting the old laws, forget about them and start again.
Looking forward to the discussion this evening at Social Media Club.
Points of View | Digital Citizens #digicitz cc @ecitizens
Digital Citizens strives to remain impartial, but we believe serious issues merit frank and open discussion.
Providing a neutral space to connect, learn and share is part of our remit.
With that in mind, we announce “Points of View”, guest posts addressing topical, interesting and occasionally confrontational subject matter relating to the internet, new technologies and social media.
We welcome feedback, respectful debate and submissions for posts and articles on any relevant subject.
Submit ideas or contact us here.
New space to share your thoughts on Digital Citizens
April 16, 2010
Remembering Hillsborough and an Opportunity for the future
Yesterday was 21 years since the Hillsborough Disaster finally brought English Soccer out from the dark Ages. I don't pretend to be an expert in the dreadful conditions which fans were supposed to put up with prior to the implementation of the Taylor Report as I didn't grow up in England (not to mention the pure evil supposed fans, otherwise known as hooligans, gave out). But living close by in Ireland and noting the dreadful state of what passed for 'Stadia' there while a child, and seeing plenty of it from England on Telly, I could pretty much imagine.
From just 21 years into the future the thought, 11 years from the end of the 20th Century, a society could treat its own people like cattle - herding them into pens - and the Police could so easily denigrate perfectly respectable men and woman seems awesomely base.
From just 21 years into the future the thought, 11 years from the end of the 20th Century, a society could treat its own people like cattle - herding them into pens - and the Police could so easily denigrate perfectly respectable men and woman seems awesomely base.
Eyeballs still don't pay the bills - (37signals on Ning)
Are you kidding me? The company has blown through $120MM of VC funding over six years, built up massive traffic, yet just had to slash and burn, and you’re saying that “traffic growth is no longer good enough”. How the hell was it ever good enough?
Ning’s problem is not a lack of eyeballs but its inability to turn them into cash money to pay the bills. Getting more of something that’s a net-negative is not going to make up for it.
That was always their problem. From day one. Just like it’s any other business’ problem. Acting all shocked and surprised now is just incredibly ignorant of our industry’s very recent past.
This is the same kind of ignorance that goes on to celebrate so-called businesses successes before they posted black numbers on the balance sheet. Until that happens it’s all conjecture and possible maybes.
The just-give-it-away-for-free-and-they-will-come-and-we’ll-be-rich automatron is as broken now as it was in 2001.
via 37signals.com
With a HT to @deptofinternets Funnily enough, I'm reading ReWork at the moment and commented this morning. 37 Signals didn't take long to enter the conversation with the statements I expected.
Yes there are different models for business, but IMHO, if you are small, niche, VC'd to your eyeballs, and not making money within a couple of years, you are lucky to be still alive.
But what do I know?
April 14, 2010
Writing tips: “If it sounds like writing, rewrite it”
What was I saying in conversation with @otherandrew and @franciejones at #digicitz last night?Elmore Leonard wrote this as the last of his ten rules of writing.
If it sounds like writing, rewrite itLeonard is an author. A first-rate author who writes fast-paced novels with great dialogue and plenty of action.
While Leonard is an artist, his advice also applies to journalists and anyone else who writes for a living.
What he means, is make sure you writing doesn’t sound like an undergraduate essay or a piece of high school homework.
April 11, 2010
If you make yourself a target
Cyberbullying is a dreadful problem, which appears to be only growing greater in my experience. I'm finding that over-reliance on technology to guard against it is becoming a challenge in the industry I work in. It appears every Tom, Dick and Harry is coming out with the best technological solution to help protect YOUR children.
It is my clear opinion that regular engagement with your child about being online and helping them to understand the signs of bad behaviour online is the best way of protecting them from cyberbullies - or any kind of bullying really.
It is my clear opinion that regular engagement with your child about being online and helping them to understand the signs of bad behaviour online is the best way of protecting them from cyberbullies - or any kind of bullying really.
Of course, cyberbullying is certainly not just limited to Children, adults are of course as susceptible to it as anyone else. The difference, in my opinion, between real victims of cyberbullying and one which has recently become almost viral in cyberspace is that real victims have generally done nothing to deserve attention of any nature and often do not have support networks to help them through the experience.
So the problem for me with Laurel Papworth's post on the supposed 'cyberbullying' by Tim Burrowes of Mumbrella is then twofold.
First, while some of what she describes in her post seems to illustrate forms of bullying, and we use my understanding, as outlined above, what she's describing isn't bullying at all, but criticism of her professional position. Yes with a dose of ridicule where deserved.
Secondly, and more importantly, because of point one, calling the criticism, even if it bordered on ridicule, 'bullying' dilutes the real impact of real bullying on real victims of it.
I've no doubt that Ms. Papworth thinks she has been 'bullied', but I would have thought someone with such an expert understanding of the online space and publishing in General would realise if you put it out there, not only are you open to criticism, but you are also open to ridicule - even if totally undeserved.
You may not like that, and you may not understand why someone would focus on you so, but the reality is it happens. So you either grow a spine and ignore the critic or you get out of the kitchen for the good of your health.
If you want more info on Cyberbullying and strategies to protect yourself from it, please click on the links below (updated thanks to Stephen Collins from AcidLabs)
- Safe Kids giving a Reality check on Cyberbullies and Online Predators
- Telling the difference between flaming, cyberbullying and other forms of negative Online behaviour
- Cybersmart by the ACMA
- Stay Safe Online at Telstra
- Why banning YouTube won't work
- The Allanah and Madeline Foundation
- The Olweus Anti-bullying program
- Cyberbullying Checklist from Smart Online, Safe Online
And actual examples of cyberbullying:
April 03, 2010
Derek Sivers: How to start a movement: TED
via ted.com
"It's the first follower who transforms a lone nut into a Leader"
March 31, 2010
Court OKs Repeated Tasering of Pregnant Woman | Threat Level | Wired.com
A federal appeals court says three Seattle police officers did not employ excessive force when they repeatedly tasered a visibly pregnant woman for refusing to sign a speeding ticket.
via wired.com
They shoulda just used their nightsticks and saved electricity. Fuckers.
March 30, 2010
ADD a blessing or a curse for a creative
via slideshare.net
Excellent Presentation from @maldamkar from Ignite Sydney in October 2009. I see so much of myself of this in the slides.
March 25, 2010
Customer Experience, Apple Style
I just had to go through my entire iPhone Camera Roll to identify Photos and Videos which hadn't been taken on the iBone.
Why?
Apple think that you shouldn't be allowed to get your Photos off your iBone if you have the temerity to save MMS or Emailed Photos into your iBone Camera Roll.
But they don't stop you from saving them there, and don't tell you it will stop you from getting ANY photo off the iBone. Not only that, there isn't an alternative location to save them.
Even if there are technical reasons why they want to prevent Photos not taken from the device to be able to be pulled into your iPhoto (or even using Image Capture), preventing the computers Image Management from even recognising the device is some sort of bug. Exacerbated of course by not even correcting the Image Management on the iBone so that it stores these Images or Videos in a separate hierarchy.
Exacerbated further by Apple not even appearing to recognise the bug, which appears to have been spoken about online for at least 12 months and probably longer
Thank Christ for DropBox etc.
See more information on this ridiculous #fail by Apple.
Why?
Apple think that you shouldn't be allowed to get your Photos off your iBone if you have the temerity to save MMS or Emailed Photos into your iBone Camera Roll.
But they don't stop you from saving them there, and don't tell you it will stop you from getting ANY photo off the iBone. Not only that, there isn't an alternative location to save them.
Even if there are technical reasons why they want to prevent Photos not taken from the device to be able to be pulled into your iPhoto (or even using Image Capture), preventing the computers Image Management from even recognising the device is some sort of bug. Exacerbated of course by not even correcting the Image Management on the iBone so that it stores these Images or Videos in a separate hierarchy.
Exacerbated further by Apple not even appearing to recognise the bug, which appears to have been spoken about online for at least 12 months and probably longer
Thank Christ for DropBox etc.
See more information on this ridiculous #fail by Apple.
Another Football Club dies only to be reborn by its only real shareholders
So a modern, enlightened vision for a football club is taking shape in the ruins of the old, in which clubs are just companies, up for sale to just about anyone. The wider lessons of Chester City's gruesome demise should be heeded across football...
After years of supporters' loyalty being taken for granted, the end for the Chester regime arrived because the fans finally became mad as hell, and then decided they were not going to take it any more.
via guardian.co.uk
As I wrote recently, this will continue as long as football exists. Love for the Game, passion for your local team will always mean when the scumbag speculators and shady businessmen walk away, the only real shareholders will bring it back to life.March 24, 2010
Delimiter – Media companies don’t get it: Open market = sales via @iDarryl
in Australia, the process of trying to get people to sell you content is a frustrating one that makes piracy the safest and easiest way to get content
via delimiter.com.au
I have money, you have content. I want to give you that money to see your content. Sounds Logical? Not to the numbnuts.
The 9 Types Of "Social Media Experts" - WOOT! A definition of #SMEG's
To be sure, there are some people working in social media who really shouldn't be - but I don't believe this number is as high as others would say. Instead, I think that many people who could be great at certain roles are simply trying to fill the wrong role. So, to help, I thought I would share what I think the 9 types of social media experts really are.Note the 'working in social media'. Tut, tut, typical marketer position on 'What is Social Media' For the record, here is my view, previously shared on Mumbrella:
I’m against it. Social Media that is. Especially in the sense that it is only about “creating successful measurable campaigns”. I call this thing called social media “online conversation”. The social part of this “online” media being the facilitation of the conversations with a huge new channel. Yes you marketers use it, sometimes successfully. But don’t tell me you have some ownership of it. I’m against it. We all “own” social media. And we’ll do what we damn well please with it.Also, the author isn't Irish, it is illegal for him to use 'To be sure' in a post without prior Authorisation from the Murphia.
Update, if you want to know what #SMEG means, it is now defined at Tagal.us
March 23, 2010
Volvo, an example of Australia being behind in the reduction of Emissions
My Dad recently bought a Volvo C30 with DRIVe technology. I'm not going to evangelise it's features here, but if you go to the Irish Volvo Site and click through the DRIVe part of the website, you can see the details.
Now, I'm not saying I'm going to buy a Volvo, and the C30 wouldn't meet my needs, so I checked to see how far I could go on one tank of fue in an S80, and noted it knows where I am, so I was told I could drive to Adelaide and Rockhampton on one tank.
Wow! Thought I, thats nearly 1200kms!
So I went to the Australian site and immediately spotted some subtle differences.
Can you tell?
How about you check the engine options on the S80 in the Australian Site with the Irish one.
So Volvo, or whoever own you now - simple question, at what point are you going to bring cars - already available worldwide - with this interesting, emission and fuel reduction technology to Australia?
March 19, 2010
It's our game, not yours - My Guest Blog for bhatt.id.au on the Football. Real football.
We might seem unpredictable, inane, exasperating, infuriating, divisive and yes annoying. But we are eloquent, heartfelt, poignant, spirited, sturdy, and, most importantly, loyal.
We are football supporters and we are coming your way. We claim a global passion about sport that your local sports really can’t match, hard as they try. We are expats, immigrants, sons and daughters of immigrants, Wogs, Paddies, Poms, Scots and Brazilians.
via bhatt.id.au
March 18, 2010
Michael Moore: The Green They Steal, the Greed They Wear ...a St. Patrick's Day Lamentation
The rest of the day I'll spend wandering the halls of Congress with my shillelagh and shamrocks, doing my best impersonation of St. Patrick as I try to drive the snakes out of Capitol Hill. Wish me luck...
If Moore is right, this isn't Health Care reform, this is chipping away at the edges of Nixon et als failed legacy. I fear for Americans and am stunned at the apparent inanity of much of the response -e.g. "Tea Party"
March 12, 2010
Express yourself with the Blogger Template Designer
Finally Blogger seems to be offering some better customisation which might stop me from moving to Wordpress
March 10, 2010
The Lines are open, but no-one is listening
I rarely watch Free to Air TV, not because it doesn't sometimes (okay hardly ever) have good content, but because of the quantity and (lack of) quality of the advertising - most especially those ads which aren't.
I really question, having sat through the Blackadder marathon last week on one of them, whether the advertisers actually think they are getting value? I'm sure the metrics are telling them yes - but if I was an Advertiser, I'd be querying it anyone remembered my brand halfway through a 4 minute ad break? Maybe that's the sweet spot for someone coming back from a piss or getting another Beer?
Anyway, I turned off most of Blackadder, as even that humour was getting abused by the shit it was being associated with.
I say, let them put as much cross-promotion and advertising as they like all day every day. The 'majority' of the population which currently watches these channels will soon realise there are myriad alternative ways to get Blackadder which no longer involves having to sit through 7 or 8 ads in one break for every 5 or 6 minutes.
Having an online complaints mechanism is very modern, but if there are no penalties and the outcomes are ignored, what's the point? Let them all kill each other anyway, they're all dead already. They advertisers which keep them alive just don't know that yet.
Fuck it, lets just cross-post our twitter hastag for Hey, Hey when it comes back to the Online complaints page.
That'd be awesome!
I really question, having sat through the Blackadder marathon last week on one of them, whether the advertisers actually think they are getting value? I'm sure the metrics are telling them yes - but if I was an Advertiser, I'd be querying it anyone remembered my brand halfway through a 4 minute ad break? Maybe that's the sweet spot for someone coming back from a piss or getting another Beer?
Anyway, I turned off most of Blackadder, as even that humour was getting abused by the shit it was being associated with.
I say, let them put as much cross-promotion and advertising as they like all day every day. The 'majority' of the population which currently watches these channels will soon realise there are myriad alternative ways to get Blackadder which no longer involves having to sit through 7 or 8 ads in one break for every 5 or 6 minutes.
Having an online complaints mechanism is very modern, but if there are no penalties and the outcomes are ignored, what's the point? Let them all kill each other anyway, they're all dead already. They advertisers which keep them alive just don't know that yet.
Fuck it, lets just cross-post our twitter hastag for Hey, Hey when it comes back to the Online complaints page.
That'd be awesome!
March 09, 2010
Whirlpool BB Survey #nocleanfeed
What should the Government focus on in terms of internet safety?
Educating parents 83.0% Educating children 64.7% Law enforcement 43.6% Subsidising desktop filter software 42.2% Subsidising ISP-level opt-in filters 33.3% Mandatory internet filtering 2.9%
via whirlpool.net.au
While 7.4% of those surveyed thought the filter was a good thing, only 2.9% thought money should be spent on it. So about a third of those who support it think it is the best option when presented with alternatives.
March 06, 2010
March 04, 2010
Peter Dutton MP are you for or against the filter? | Darryl King’s blog ireckon
So I propose a simple two part question for you. This is the crux of the matter for me, and it may also be for a number of other voters.
My Questions:
Peter, do you support the introduction of any form of mandatory internet filter in Australia?
And if the answer to that question is no, will you push to have it removed if and when you next get into government?
I hope you get around to reading this Peter; I will make footnotes to keep my tiny speckle of readers informed on what you feel. Two quite simple questions, which in fact I believe could be answered with Yes or No responses.
I don’t need spin. I just want to know which team you are on.
I want a personal answer to a personal issue for me a resident in your electorate.
Excellent Work as Usual Sir!
How NSW Went Septic | newmatilda.com
Of course the prospect of a Liberal/National Party government in NSW isn’t much to get excited about, but comparatively, it’s a benign tumour.
The best way to prevent golden staph is to wash your hands. Let’s hope NSW voters do just that as soon as they are given the opportunity.
via newmatilda.com
The idea of NSW Labour as Golden Staph! Wonderful Metaphor!
March 01, 2010
kung fu grippe : Feed Me, Atlantic (too true)
Short version: If you’re hobbling the emerging medium in order to artificially prop up the flat-lined medium, your company is running the wrong way with extreme efficiency. Period.
via kungfugrippe.com
Merlin Mann...enough said
February 26, 2010
Apple and Titty apps
The cynical take on these exceptions, if you don’t buy my branding argument, is that Apple might have decided not to antagonize those companies with large, talented, corporate legal departments. ↩
Perhaps I'm cynical, but I think @gruber could've saved himself a whole lot of writing if he had just used the line I quote above.
The big story buried on @mumbrella #wwmd
And last week an Ogilvy staffer apologised to SMH columnist Miranda Devine after saying on Twitter that she hated her.
via mumbrella.com.au
Jesus, this is terrible, we have to apologise to that hater of humanity if we diss her? What's the world coming to?
February 25, 2010
Nothings changed...much
I've just read John Bergin's excellent piece Is the Real-Time Web Really Changing the Rules of Journalism? on the Media140 blog and was inspired to write as I, unusually, agree with the majority of the article. Though I was initially a bit confused after our rather ragged exchange at the Australian Internet Industry Association Dinner last week.
I have continually disagreed that Journalism itself has changed. While I did some training and plenty of writing in my late teens, I'm not and never have been a practitioner, perhaps I'm not the one to comment. But when has that stood in the way?
I would actually say the inputs or noise around the story, the influencing whispers always have existed. The work has always been to ignore those noises or at least take them and mark them as relevant or irrelevant to the story? No doubt the amount of noise has grown, and the great difficulty is sorting the relevant and irrelevant in so much data. Though I'm pretty sure this applies to every profession as the ability to seek and get feedback from all stakeholders, real or otherwise has become easier.
I have continually disagreed that Journalism itself has changed. While I did some training and plenty of writing in my late teens, I'm not and never have been a practitioner, perhaps I'm not the one to comment. But when has that stood in the way?
I would actually say the inputs or noise around the story, the influencing whispers always have existed. The work has always been to ignore those noises or at least take them and mark them as relevant or irrelevant to the story? No doubt the amount of noise has grown, and the great difficulty is sorting the relevant and irrelevant in so much data. Though I'm pretty sure this applies to every profession as the ability to seek and get feedback from all stakeholders, real or otherwise has become easier.
February 24, 2010
The iPad-Adobe Flash Argument Concluded, Completely aka "more shit from Fast Company"
February 22, 2010 at 7:53pm by Jason Van Pelt
This is a ridiculous argument. I've written Flash apps for tablet PCs for years. You do lose the mouse over state - but that's not imperative for all flash apps, especially if you are designing FOR tablets. If anything it is a short-coming of tablets, not Flash. Are HTML hover states are any different?
Then there's multi-touch support for flash...
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/multitouch_gestures.html
http://theflashblog.com/?p=1666How can we not argue that this is a content-control issue on Apple's part? Flash isn't the answer to everything, but neither is Apple.
via fastcompany.com
What a pile of tosh. I just used the new Foxtel App from Telstra on the iPhone and it has a form of hover control. I hate it, but that's not the point - it exists in multi-touch. I think I'll take Mike Chambers opinion on that when it comes to Flahs too; http://bit.ly/cXsH82
Do some Journalism 'Kit'.
Two articles from Fast Company, two pieces of poo - Unsubscribe.
Most Innovative Companies a la Fast Company (or linkbait excrement)
via fastcompany.com
Looks like they just picked shit. Last years #1 (whoever the fuck) apparently was so innovative, it doesn't need to be innovative anymore. And HTC? The company which over the last few years has, all alone, made WinMo usable, is apparently 'new' this year. Probabaly cos they built the Google Phone.
These sort of articles are like the Techpop which appears on the front page of MSM online properties.
Yeah, you said it - utter excrement
February 23, 2010
Is the Celtic Tiger finally about to lay down to die?
Two statements from Bank of Ireland on Friday underscored the crisis that continues to engulf Ireland's banking system. The first came in court, where the bank was trying to pursue unpaid loans from a developer.
via independent.ie
First, though, I should note, I'm NOT an economist, nor am I a financial expert. What I do know is that the accelerated rate of Property Value I noticed in the 3 or 4 years before I left Ireland took off even more in the 5 or 6 years following. Each time I went back the prices of basic housing seemed to have increased by a factor of whatever.
Perhaps it was the ready availability of cheap credit as we have already seen hammer previous sufferers such as the US and the UK. Perhaps it was with Irish peoples obsession with owning their own house. Either way as resources shortened (despite the influx of Economic Immigrants from Eastern Europe - the irony!) and the people got 'richer', so the prices went up.
I know of many people who lost large deposits on houses off the plan when developers started to go belly up three or four years ago. They weren't alone in then
February 19, 2010
Seth Godin on Firing your Customere
Firing the customers you can't possibly please gives you the bandwidth and resources to coddle the ones that truly deserve your attention and repay you with referrals, applause and loyalty
Digital Citizens
I originally posted this article via a Posterous quote from Mumbrella
I'm updating it to include a brief explanation of my reason for getting involved, as published on the Digital Citizens Site.
I'm updating it to include a brief explanation of my reason for getting involved, as published on the Digital Citizens Site.
I'm a conversationalist and oversharer in real life, and for some mad reason have been switched on to the value of what’s become known as Social Media almost since I first signed up to Facebook, Twitter et al a couple of years back. I firmly believe online is an enormous channel for widening conversations and sharing knowledge with a whole set of new people, promoting a wider world view and, hopefully a much more tolerant society.And here is an extract from the original article over at Mumbrella
Recent Studies show on average, people were much more likely to display their real personality on the social networking sites. While we have developed trusted relationships online, often there aren’t places to have those conversations facilitated in real life as often it isn't practical to catch up in the pub or over coffee - and anyway they aren't venues where the conversation can 'go large.
I like to think I've become a part of Digital Citizens because I believe it exists to help us to do this. I believe in sharing stories, why don’t you come and tell us yours?
Duo quit Social Media Club committee to launch Digital Citizens
Two members of the Social Media Club Sydney organising committee have quit their roles to launch an alternative organisation aimed at attracting a wider audience than marketing professionals
Mumbrella can reveal that Digital Citizens will launch in Sydney on Tuesday March 9.
It is the work of a committee of five including SMCSYD co-founders Heather Ann Snodgrass and Cathie McGinn. The others are James Fridley, Gavin Costello and Scott Rhodie.Former Amnesia and Host staffer Snodgrass now works with PR agency Klick; McGinn works at digital agency The Reading Room; Fridley is from a research background; Costello is a technologist at Telstra and Rhodie runs digital PR agency House Party.
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