The Happy Slacker

How's this for tasteless?

2009-02-26T07:05:00.003+11:00

It's a good thing that the Canberra Times is trying to add sense to the debate surrounding bushfires and prescribed burning ( article). But the Google advertisement, placed over the headline, seems a bit tasteless to me. Here's how it presented in Firefox ...

Solar component prices in Australia

2009-02-24T08:21:00.001+11:00

Further to my post the other day about solar prices, I have conducted a brief study.I should at the outset make it clear that this is not comprehensive. I did not include every solar system component from every outlet, because that would take ages and nobody's paying for this. This is a brief, personal study. It does, however, indicate that a more complete analyst's study would be valuable:

Results

2009-02-24T08:10:00.003+11:00

Panels – The price per rated watt of output ranged from $7.72 to $11.92, so the most expensive panels are 154% more costly than the least expensive. The best price per watt in the study was available from Solaronline for a Sharp 180W panel.Batteries – Cost ranged from $131.68 per rated Ah up to $665.71 per Ah, making the most expensive batteries more than five times the price of the cheapest.

Quick observations on the solar industry

2009-02-21T19:19:00.002+11:00

I've just spent a piece of today costing out solar systems for home use, because soon I'll be starting to build a holiday shack on a little plot in the Southern Tablelands.I settled on price per watt as a handy benchmark because it was easy to calculate, and there were some surprises.The first is that the price variations are huge - the most expensive at retail are twice the price of the cheapest

Let's burn a few social media straw men

2009-02-16T07:59:00.002+11:00

Perhaps it's the insecurity born of being the new kid on the block, but social media experts are full of criticism of journalists for not understanding or embracing social media. Their critiques are almost exclusively built on straw men, and I figure it's just as well to identify these.1) Journalists don't use Twitter.That's odd, because I know a bunch of Twittering journalists. In my immediate

Self Interest or Public Interest? - Google Maps Versus Crown Copyright

2009-02-12T16:03:00.003+11:00

!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->The story goes like this: seeing that the Country Fire Authority Website was struggling (as, for that matter, was the Geosciences Australia Sentinel site), Google decided to run a mash-up on Google Maps to display fire locations and help people get the information they needed.It was able to secure information very

A Non-Rigorous Calculation: Are E-Books Green?

2009-02-07T10:36:00.003+11:00

Just ask Steve Jobs: the best kind of marketing you can get is where your customers do the marketing for you. Buzz is everything.E-books are one of those markets. Users are absolutely convinced they're right about everything associated with e-books, and are happy to do the marketing on behalf of the industry (how stupid can you be, to act as an unpaid sales rep for anyone?). A quick round-up of

Testing a new disto...

2008-06-04T09:40:00.001+10:30

I haven't posted for a while, partly because I've been busy with other things (including paying work), partly because I've been busy trying to get Linux to work properly.Eventually, I had to give up on the Freespire experiment on this laptop (Acer 5315). It's too easy to brick Freespire, thereby putting myself in a place from which the only escape is re-installation.For example: when I connected

About the ITIF's Broadband Rankings

2008-05-06T11:36:00.001+10:30

!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->It's nice to see a broadband measure that gives Australia a reasonable score. It's a pity there are so many flaws in the data's assumptions. I'm referring to the ITIF study published here. Since last year, when with Market Clarity's Shara Evans (my then employer) I looked at the then-inadequate OECD data (it has

Digital Dividend or Free Spectrum?

2008-05-01T10:27:00.002+10:30

So what's the value of the "digital dividend"?The question arises because that silly expression is so ineradicable in the political lexicon. A "digital dividend" is out there somewhere, we just have to (as Senator Conroy put it) "put in the hard work" and we'll reap the rewards.The commercial data that led to America's recent spectrum auctions raising $19 billion aren't on the public record. We

Farewell CDMA...

2008-04-28T09:53:00.000+10:30

The CDMA network was never going to last forever. Did AMPS last forever? Even GSM will be killed off one day.However, as the CDMA switch-off approaches, I can say one thing that most of the Sydney-centric IT press can't say: I have seen first-hand that there are places where CDMA works and NextG doesn't work.Last week, I took a trip down to Bendigo to see some relatives, some of whom live to the

How to Build an Insecure Environment

2008-04-14T11:28:00.003+10:30

One of the worst habits in the IT industry is for engineers to do things "because they can".Today's manifestation of "because we can" comes from Cisco, which is introducing application server capability to routers. The idea is that since all your traffic's going to pass through a router, why not put the application right there in the router, so that the application is where the traffic is?It's a

Telemetry and 3G

2008-04-10T11:09:00.001+10:30

Telstra is spruiking the wonders of telemetry over the 3G network.It's an interesting thought, although not quite bleeding-edge. After all, telemetry over cellular networks has been with us for a while - even if it's hard to find in carriers' financial reports.The reason it's hard to locate in the financials is, of course, because the telemetry market is so small that it doesn't warrant a

Who will save us from bad software?

2008-04-08T14:35:00.003+10:30

No, this is not part of my ongoing battles with Linux (the sound's died again, by the way. Damned if I'm reinstalling...).What's on my mind here is the more general issue of software quality. More precisely, what's going to be the impact of crap software on the world at large?My washing machine is a case in point. Unlike the old world of washing machines, where a complex and breakable machine (a

The Old “Peak Speeds” Game Again

2008-04-08T12:20:00.000+10:30

I'll have more to say on this in Communications Day next week – I need a little time for research – but it may as well be blogged as well.Part of the ongoing muddying of the waters in Australia's WiMAX-versus-mobile debate comes from confusion about the intended applications of technologies (for example, fixed WiMAX is older than mobile and therefore it's obsolete).But the misuse of speed

Could the New Zealand Institute's Fibre Co Work?

2008-04-07T14:05:00.002+10:30

For some time, I have believed that the structure of Australia's telecommunications industry and networks should have been sorted out before privatisation of Telstra went ahead, rather than after.The problem is that when they're bent on a privatisation, governments are happy to take the biggest cheque they can get – something like structural reform of an industry might reduce the sale price, so

Where on Earth is my Microphone?

2008-04-05T08:55:00.000+11:00

I recall reading research that says Linux users do it partly for the fun. As a full-time, no-safety-net, no-dual-boot Linux user myself, I'm mystified by the definition of "fun" these people must use.Philip K Dick once described psychosis as being typified by an inability to see the easy way out. Dammit, I can see the easy way out, but I've already put too much of my stuff into the Linux

Opel Coverage: Why is WiMAX Obsolete?

2008-04-03T12:22:00.000+11:00

A day after the news story broke, there isn't much to add to the facts themselves: the Australian government cancelled the contract for the Opel (Optus / Elders) consortium to build a broadband network combining ADSL2+ and WiMAX; the Opel partners are upset; the opposition is outraged; and Telstra is gloating; and so on.The decision to unplug the Opel contract received plenty of media attention,

The Life of the Linux Newbie

2008-04-01T09:05:00.003+11:00

OK: it's not a proper blog. For a start, there's no link-farming. Second, no plagiarism (bloggers often don't dig ideas like "fair use" and "attribution". For them, it's about hitrates: whatever gets clicks is good). And third, I promise to try and offer moderately readable articles.Mostly I'll be talking about telecommunications, sometimes computing, sometimes life in general.But first, I want

On the Loose Again

2008-04-01T08:46:00.003+11:00

Some time ago - about two years ago! - I found it too hard to combine life as an analyst and life as a blogger, for two reasons: I had to self-moderate so as not to spoil the professional life with the fun life; and there just wasn't time to blog.Now I'm freelance again, and so with any luck I will get to blog again. I wish I could find some way to move all the old posts into an archive directory

Rules for Google Reporting

2006-05-20T10:14:00.000+10:30

Google Maps has discovered Australia: and the press gave a vivid illustration of the rules Australian media follow when reporting on Google.First and foremost, the Prime Directive is "go soft". Google is surrounded by a skepticism-removal field, Australian media can't get rid of that bit of cultural cringe which says "Australia needs to be noticed", and put together, the end result is a welter of

Thought is not property

2006-05-15T21:30:00.000+10:30

"Patents and copyrights are the legal implementation of the base of all property rights: a man's right to the product of his mind."So wrote Ayn Rand, a deity of libertarian thought.Her cry has been taken up by "intellectual property" lobbyists the world over (example here), but most particularly in America, where Rand is still considered to be a great philosophical thinker.Rand was wrong, and

The $100 publicity device

2005-11-22T09:15:00.000+11:00

It's one of those stories that people just can't resist: self-publicist and acclaimed guru Doctor Nick - sorry, Nicholas Negroponte - pops up in Tunis at the WSIS Summit promising $100 PCs for the world's starving children.Rather than critique the stunt itself, it's also instructive to take a look at what happened in the media, which was simple: it was taken as gospel. You know that guru-worship

Sony's Rootkit Gets the Go-By From Australian Journalists

2005-11-09T07:59:00.000+11:00

By now most people with a vague interest in stories about computers know that Sony tried to distribute copy-protection software with the characteristics of a rootkit with music CDs. The result was that playing the CD on a home PC would install the software; the software would hide itself; and it was difficult and dangerous to uninstall. What's fascinated me about the story is that it had almost

They Drop Like Flies in Korean Cafes!

2005-10-01T17:48:00.000+10:30

It's easy to understand why a daily might give space to a suspect wire story on its Web page: there are too many wire pieces and there's too little time. However, it's fair to say that the wires have a very, very long tradition of falling prey to urban legend. One of my favourites, "Man Dies in Internet Cafe", has made its annual appearance again, with a wire story spending more than a month

Media Advocacy

2005-10-01T17:42:00.000+10:30

The question you never ask about a blog is whether anyone's reading it. They're not and they don't, unless of course you proactively point someone at it. Well, I have kids and a job and all sorts of things to keep me busy other than this.But after a long silence, there are a couple of things which warrant some words, and this is the only outlet.First, there was this piece of silliness about the

Grafedia: Conditioning users to insecurity

2005-06-15T08:43:00.000+10:30

The press release view of Grafedia is that it's a new social phenomenon. Fine. I've never held the sort of rosy view of the world which expects a perfectly comprehensive and accurate description of something in a press release. But one of the jobs that media can claim as its own should surely be sufficient knowledge and scepticism to identify the whole of an elephant even if the press release

News Limited Eats the Fruit of the Idiot Tree

2005-04-24T20:24:00.000+10:30

Since we're giving some attention to News Limited outlets, why not this piece of drivel:http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,15065935%255E913,00.htmlIn what might have been an otherwise reasonable story about mobiles substituting for landlines we get this:"Fixed lines face a further challenge from wireless technology offered by three big players, Unwired, Personal

A Lesson in Ignorance: Don't Even do Easy Research

2005-04-24T01:57:00.000+10:30

It's a while since I poked fun at The Australian, but this story is just irresistible. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,15044655%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html Avoiding the crime of stealing a story wholesale for the blog, the essence is a very thin piece of information: the long-awaited (by some) Enum trial in Australia is starting at last. With a very thin press release to go on,

Take one dead horse, one whip, and one empty space to fill...

2005-04-13T15:17:00.000+10:30

This must be the nonscoop of the month ... http://www.theage.com.au/news/Outsourcing/Actors-union-shouts-cut-on-digital-film/2005/04/11/1113071894581.html "Actors' union shouts 'cut' on digital film" Wow, the Herald is up to the mark and racing ahead of time. This is one month old. Not a couple of days, or even a week. To my knowledge, the story first emerged in the middle of March with a

Syndicating the Scare Story

2005-03-24T07:19:00.000+11:00

From the Associated Press comes this world-syndicated sensation: "Hackers gained personal information of 59,000 people affiliated with a California university - the latest in a string of high-profile cases of identity theft." We have here pretty much a full house of tabloid assumptions. Something happened to a computer so it was hackers, and they gained personal information so it's a case of

Howler of the Week

2005-03-14T18:24:00.000+11:00

The Sydney Morning Herald (gee, Fairfax quality control is out the door lately) has this utter gem in a story about a Green's proposal to add Kids Helpline to Telstra's USO obligations:"The amendment would include the number for Kids Helpline, the only national 24-hour phone counselling service for young people in distress. "People should know that a fully privatised Telstra will shed this

Redefining "Most"

2005-03-13T16:44:00.000+11:00

Just a snippet. I have put a fuller version of this on CommsWorld but I find it amusing that Telstra's plan to put in 500,000 ADSL2+ ports has been re-interpreted by the Sydney Morning Herald, here as being ADSL2+ to most households.Half a million out of eight million isn't "most" of anything. It's just a piece of thoughtless, throwaway hype designed to lend excitement to what was an otherwise

The SCADA Cyberterror Beat-Up

2005-03-12T08:27:00.000+11:00

One of the more irritating habits of the IT industry in Australia is that US vendors believe they can ship American assumptions over to Australia and apply them, pretty much without adjustment, to their view of the Australian market (analysts do this as well. I well recall that in the 90s, a Gartner analyst told Australians with a straight face that ADSL was no good because it didn't work well on

Keeping the Industry's Secrets

2005-03-08T02:42:00.000+11:00

When a segment of the media gets too close to its industry, you get some strange outcomes. One of those is that the press tries to respect the secrets of the industry, instead of trying to uncover and report them.Over the last 24 hours, the wires have started lighting up with reports of a new malware, Serchmeup, which downloads a slew of exploits into the target machine. The journalists don't

Correlation Equals Cause

2005-03-06T09:40:00.000+11:00

VoIP is one of those hot-button technologies. All you have to do is stick it in a press release, and the media's critical facilities go out the window. Instead, the hacks and proxy publicists will not only run with the press release, they'll also run up a heap of bromides inserted into the stories using the Disruptive Technologies Phrase Grabber.Hence when Telstra (Australia's incumbent telco)

Two Obvious Questions that the AFR Didn't Ask

2005-03-04T14:23:00.000+11:00

I can't post a link to the story, because the Australian Financial Review is one of those odious subscription-only publications. Well, it's got a rich readership, I suppose...So instead, I'll give you the gist: private investigators in Australia are complaining that privacy laws are making it hard to collect debts. This got a bit of discussion on the Link newsgroup, which represents some really

Objectivity or Scepticism?

2005-03-01T02:32:00.000+11:00

To continue the thoughts from my last post about the bad science of the Global Consciousness Project, the question is: "why does bad science journalism matter?" The reasons are many, but I'm going to stick to a few, which cluster around one key issue: the public can't make good decisions on bad information. Who are the heralds of that information? The journalists. But we keep reporting on things

How a Mistake Becomes a Fact

2005-02-21T11:04:00.000+11:00

First, you create a story, then you keep it going not by facts or confirmation, but by repetition. And if you remember the infamous "Internet traffic doubling every X days" myth of the late 1990s, eventually anyone who nay-says the original "fact" is the outsider. When it emerged at the Senate Estimates last week that CSIRO had spent $9 million over

Pseudo-Science Reporting: How to Sell Fakery

2005-02-19T08:12:00.000+11:00

This is going to have to be broken into a couple of blog entries, because it's going to be long. On Red Nova, you can find this story about the "Global Consciousness Project", in which random number generators are believed to be predicting the future: Today's entry is going to dissect aspects of the story itself; I'll follow it up with another entry drawing the threads together. I haven't

Flogging a Dead Angle

2005-02-17T07:44:00.000+11:00

Unwired has killed its VoIP trials according to AustralianIT.Why am I not surprised? Because pretty much the same news was given by the same source last December.Here is the premise for yesterday's story in the Oz: "WIRELESS internet provider Unwired has killed off a planned voice over IP (VoIP) offering for its Sydney broadband subscribers. Announcing the company's financial results, Unwired

ComputerWorld Columnists, Again

2005-02-16T07:34:00.000+11:00

Another week, another filler column from ComputerWorld which puts forward silly suggestions based on an insane premise. If ComputerWorld fields aggrieved that I'm picking on it, it should make itself a smaller target...This time, the columnist (Frank Dzubeck of Communications Network Architects, whose Website says "Index of /") asks "Can the Internet Ever be Trusted?" and calls for the formation

VoIP didn't kill Telstra, Again!

2005-02-11T13:26:00.000+11:00

One of the fondest bits of the telco journalist’s utopia in Australia is that there’s a technology just around the corner which will destroy Telstra. Telstra is about as popular in Australia as Microsoft. The enthusiasm for “get Telstra” stories is so strong that it overrides any consideration of factual rigour. The story de jour is from Gerry Barker of the

VoIP Security: the Story Overlooked in the Rush to Reprint the PR

2005-02-10T03:07:00.000+11:00

When the VoIP Security Alliance was formed, the press release put (as Puck might put it) a girdle around the earth several times over.And with the ready-made news story right there in the wire filler, nearly nobody saw any need to add value to the story by noticing that Skype and Vonage, the biggest brands in VoIP, have left industry standing at the altar like abandoned bridegrooms at a Moonie

New Scientist Suckered by "News to Me" Syndrome

2005-02-09T16:00:00.000+11:00

One of the most fatal traps for the journalist to fall into is "news to me": where someone considers a story as newsworthy because they hadn't heard of it before.It's a particular vulnerability of anyone writing about technology, because tech journalists come to the story expecting it to be new. The very first thing the new IT journalist needs to learn is that most of it isn't news; it's just

A recipe, and a reason for it.

2005-02-07T05:32:00.000+11:00

My own recipe for pancakes is seriously "gold code", having been the Sunday breakfast for about 15 years. It only fails for people who can't follow four-step instructions.Put two cups of plain flour and four teaspoons of baking powder into a food processor, and spin it for about five seconds. Put in two eggs, run the food processor for about 15 seconds. Put in a pint of buttermilk (Australian

Editors Need to Control Even Their Contributors

2005-02-02T18:46:00.000+11:00

Well, well. The very thing I like most about Mozilla, its security, is according to a Jupiter Research dude writing for ComputerWorld (here: http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,99142,00.html)its biggest problem.I've been using Firefox myself for ages, having finally swapped from Netscape and being a long-time IE refusenik.However, that's the home persona. At various

Devaluing News with Google

2005-02-01T08:21:00.000+11:00

Ever since its launch, a mythology has grown up around Google News based on the way it's been hyped by people who ought to know better. The hype covers a couple of misconceptions which are driving a fairly complete mythology about Google News, most recently in my eyes seen in a short video published here:oak.psych.gatech.edu/~epic/The misconceptions undermine not just the popular understanding of

Diving Into the World of Blogging

2005-01-31T08:24:00.000+11:00

This is merely the "hello world" of this blog.Having complained for some years about the shortcomings of the IT press (after nearly 18 years as a participant), I was asked by a friend "So why not host a blog about it?"Here's the blog. I'll know whether to thank the friend for the suggestion after I've found out how much effort is involved...In the meantime, I would expect to come up with the

Protecting journalistic access: don't offend the talent.

2005-01-31T08:06:00.000+11:00

Lots of people, reading this Vunet piece (http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160853) from the point of view of Linux advocacy, will have dismissed the article as being written to serve the interests of an advertiser (Microsoft).They would be wrong.Sure, the journalist seems to have avoided the chance to ask a couple of challenging questions, instead happy to merely note-and-quote what Microsoft says