http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/46093
This is the best article I've read on the USA and Saddam. What can i say read it agree, read it disagree but at least read it and expand your mind.
Cheers,
Dean
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Larry King and Al Jazeera
Larry King announced recently on his show to Roseanne Barr that he has never used the internet.
Barr said King would love the internet if he tried it. King replied, “I wouldn’t love it. What do you punch little buttons and things?” Barr even offered to show King how to use the Internet. King declined. Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/15/larry-king-internet/
How is it that a figurehead of American of American news culture can be so out of touch with reality and yet still be considered a 'source' of knowledge.
This from the country that every cable company in the country has refused to carry Al Jazeera news as there is 'no demand'.
Yeh Right.
Cheers,
Dean
Barr said King would love the internet if he tried it. King replied, “I wouldn’t love it. What do you punch little buttons and things?” Barr even offered to show King how to use the Internet. King declined. Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/15/larry-king-internet/
How is it that a figurehead of American of American news culture can be so out of touch with reality and yet still be considered a 'source' of knowledge.
This from the country that every cable company in the country has refused to carry Al Jazeera news as there is 'no demand'.
Yeh Right.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Australian Senate dismisses aussie expats
A while ago I was asked for some thoughts on the life of an aussie expat for a senate submission report and was pleased to provide some thoughts about why I'm working working overseas at the moment....I needn't have bothered.
Government Response Dismisses Ordinary Overseas AustraliansA pdf version of this media release is available at:http://www.southern-cross-group.org/
The Southern Cross Group (SCG) today expressed its disappointment withthe Federal Government’s recent response to Senate Committeerecommendations made in the Inquiry into Australian Expatriates.In the response tabled twenty-one months after the Senate Committeerecommendations were first published, the Government rejected eight outof sixteen recommendations.Senate Committee proposals rejected by the Government include:
· The recommendation to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 toassist expatriate Australians to maintain their electoral enrolmentwhile abroad;
· The recommendation to establish a web portal devoted to the provisionof information and services for expatriate Australians;· The recommendation that the web portal should include a page of linksto expatriate network websites, to facilitate engagement and informationexchange in the expatriate community;
· The recommendation to establish a policy unit with the Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade to facilitate the coordination of policiesrelating to Australian expatriates;
· The recommendation that the websites of Australia’s foreign missionsshould include an on-line registration facility to enable localexpatriates to register their professional profiles, in turn allowingstronger engagement between missions and expatriates, providing aresource for missions in their work of promoting Australia’s interestsoverseas, and allowing expatriates to be notified of upcoming events andnews;
· The recommendation to amend Australian citizenship law to ensure thatchildren of people who renounced their citizenship under Section 18 ofthe Australian Citizenship Act 1948 are eligible to apply for Australiancitizenship by descent.
To me they all seem fairly reasonable and intuitively responsible requests however I love this part of the report the best
SCG Australian Co-ordinator John MacGregor said, “A number of verysensible proposals that the Government has rejected would not beexpensive to implement but would make a big difference to the lives ofmany ordinary overseas Australians. Although the Government hasdismissed so many of the Senate Committee’s good ideas, it has to date wholly failed to put forward its own comprehensive strategy plan or blueprint for this country’s future engagement with its million-strongdiaspora. We can only assume that the Government finds such a step unnecessary because most of those in the diaspora are disenfranchisedunder Australian electoral law and have no power at the ballot box.”
I think the bigger issue to consider is the loss of these people as a resource, sure we'll come home and visit, probably buy an investment property or two, but at the end of the day Australia is missing out more from our absence than we are missing from being overseas.
Cheers,
Dean
Government Response Dismisses Ordinary Overseas AustraliansA pdf version of this media release is available at:http://www.southern-cross-group.org/
The Southern Cross Group (SCG) today expressed its disappointment withthe Federal Government’s recent response to Senate Committeerecommendations made in the Inquiry into Australian Expatriates.In the response tabled twenty-one months after the Senate Committeerecommendations were first published, the Government rejected eight outof sixteen recommendations.Senate Committee proposals rejected by the Government include:
· The recommendation to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 toassist expatriate Australians to maintain their electoral enrolmentwhile abroad;
· The recommendation to establish a web portal devoted to the provisionof information and services for expatriate Australians;· The recommendation that the web portal should include a page of linksto expatriate network websites, to facilitate engagement and informationexchange in the expatriate community;
· The recommendation to establish a policy unit with the Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade to facilitate the coordination of policiesrelating to Australian expatriates;
· The recommendation that the websites of Australia’s foreign missionsshould include an on-line registration facility to enable localexpatriates to register their professional profiles, in turn allowingstronger engagement between missions and expatriates, providing aresource for missions in their work of promoting Australia’s interestsoverseas, and allowing expatriates to be notified of upcoming events andnews;
· The recommendation to amend Australian citizenship law to ensure thatchildren of people who renounced their citizenship under Section 18 ofthe Australian Citizenship Act 1948 are eligible to apply for Australiancitizenship by descent.
To me they all seem fairly reasonable and intuitively responsible requests however I love this part of the report the best
SCG Australian Co-ordinator John MacGregor said, “A number of verysensible proposals that the Government has rejected would not beexpensive to implement but would make a big difference to the lives ofmany ordinary overseas Australians. Although the Government hasdismissed so many of the Senate Committee’s good ideas, it has to date wholly failed to put forward its own comprehensive strategy plan or blueprint for this country’s future engagement with its million-strongdiaspora. We can only assume that the Government finds such a step unnecessary because most of those in the diaspora are disenfranchisedunder Australian electoral law and have no power at the ballot box.”
I think the bigger issue to consider is the loss of these people as a resource, sure we'll come home and visit, probably buy an investment property or two, but at the end of the day Australia is missing out more from our absence than we are missing from being overseas.
Cheers,
Dean
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Life in Australia is.....
Life in Australia is ..... hanging out for a BBQ with friends on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon.
Good friends like you make it hard to go back to NY.
Cheers,
Dean
Good friends like you make it hard to go back to NY.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Open Phones
Yesterday I was involved in a Yi-Tan conference call with Jerry Michalski on the broad topic of 'Open Phones', we meandered between the new OpenMoko (or FIC GTA listed a few posts ago) to Asterisk to Hosted IP-PBX and associated applications.
I think I got my point across in that what we are moving to is a new paradigm where the computing no longer needs to occur on the device itself, which allows us a lot more creative freedom when it comes to designing applications and their various interactions with external objects.
The MP3 of the call (about 45 minutes long) is available here for geeks who have an interest, feel free to comment below if you have any thoughts on the topic.
Cheers,
Dean
I think I got my point across in that what we are moving to is a new paradigm where the computing no longer needs to occur on the device itself, which allows us a lot more creative freedom when it comes to designing applications and their various interactions with external objects.
The MP3 of the call (about 45 minutes long) is available here for geeks who have an interest, feel free to comment below if you have any thoughts on the topic.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
50 Most influential people in VOIP
Great article here about the 50 most influential people in VOIP.
http://www.voip-news.com/feature/voip-top-50-111306/
Couple of disagreements about ranking and a few names left off but apart from that well worth a look.
Cheers,
Dean
http://www.voip-news.com/feature/voip-top-50-111306/
Couple of disagreements about ranking and a few names left off but apart from that well worth a look.
Cheers,
Dean
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Bettie Serveert - bare stripped naked
This is with out doubt one of the best Sunday morning albums, nothing says cruisy Sunday morning like putting this on the stereo and whipping up coffee and scrambled eggs with the paper.
You can check out the album here at Amazon
Or even better listen to some of the tracks here
Some of their earlier stuff is a little 'raw' (lol - start this album and work backwards), but they seemed to have really made penultimate magic with this album.
They have a couple of videos online at their web site www.bettieserveert.com though you really do need to listen to the album beginning to end to get the 'chilled out effect'.
Definitely add this one to your collection and if you are ever in Amsterdam check out their gig guide.
Cheers,
Dean
You can check out the album here at Amazon
Or even better listen to some of the tracks here
Some of their earlier stuff is a little 'raw' (lol - start this album and work backwards), but they seemed to have really made penultimate magic with this album.
They have a couple of videos online at their web site www.bettieserveert.com though you really do need to listen to the album beginning to end to get the 'chilled out effect'.
Definitely add this one to your collection and if you are ever in Amsterdam check out their gig guide.
Cheers,
Dean
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Rollerman
Amazing French guy who has built a suit with 31 'rollers' that enable him to roll in almost any position.
I'm super curious to know more information about the actual construction but haven't been able to find anything online, if anyone sees something email me.
What is interesting is that some of the extremities are fixed while the back and front rollers appear to be pivots which allow for multi direction movement.
I'd also love to see some of the 'accident' B reel footage to see what can go wrong.
Either way he is a true entertainer and looks like he's having a blast.
Cheers,
Dean
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
FIC-GTA001
This thing is hot hot hot!!!!
Basically develop your own apps from scratch or apt-get a branch you want to upload to your handset. Will be interesting to see if this can crack the space that Savaje failed in.
First International Computing's (FIC's) "Neo1973" or FIC-GTA001, is the first phone based on the open-source "OpenMoKo" platform.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35590
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2986976174.html
http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/article072/sld002.html
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/11/08/004230.shtml
More as it becomes available.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Anyone wanting funding to develop apps on this email me.
Basically develop your own apps from scratch or apt-get a branch you want to upload to your handset. Will be interesting to see if this can crack the space that Savaje failed in.
First International Computing's (FIC's) "Neo1973" or FIC-GTA001, is the first phone based on the open-source "OpenMoKo" platform.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35590
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2986976174.html
http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/article072/sld002.html
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/11/08/004230.shtml
More as it becomes available.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Anyone wanting funding to develop apps on this email me.
2 "Comments of the Day"
Widespread reports of vote rigging and election fraud......yep another 3rd world gerrymandered election.....oh wait no it's not - this is 1st world America.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/727504.htm
(I love that i was able to find this link from the 'China Daily' even though plenty to choose from here in the mainstream USA press)
Maybe we should introduce thumb staining in 2008 presidential elections......
On the other side of the global spectrum India announced plans today for a 4 stage process of having an indian on the moon in 2020, beginning with the trial in 2007 and the first manned space flight in 2014.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/181.htm
JFK used the american space race to galvanise the nation in 1961, maybe this will be the 'trial by fire' to propel India forward. Remembering of course something India has a history of 'future future' that sometimes just never seems to materialise. I for one am hoping they can deliver.
Cheers,
Dean
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/727504.htm
(I love that i was able to find this link from the 'China Daily' even though plenty to choose from here in the mainstream USA press)
Maybe we should introduce thumb staining in 2008 presidential elections......
On the other side of the global spectrum India announced plans today for a 4 stage process of having an indian on the moon in 2020, beginning with the trial in 2007 and the first manned space flight in 2014.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/181.htm
JFK used the american space race to galvanise the nation in 1961, maybe this will be the 'trial by fire' to propel India forward. Remembering of course something India has a history of 'future future' that sometimes just never seems to materialise. I for one am hoping they can deliver.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Ibm - Linux - Future?
Now I'm a windows fan and I believe that money makes the world go around, but I also have my feet firmly in the open source community through my involvement with Asterisk...but at the same time most of it is in the commercial side of the spectrum with my work at Mexuar.
All that out of the way.....I cant help but watch this commercial and get shivers of excitement.
There is a power out there, it could be bigger than hummanity as we know it today ever was.
Lets face it blend 60's hippies with 80's wall street gumption and 2000's dot bomb rock bottom IT hardware pricing and the impossible is nothing.
Dream High,
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Kitty Cloners Shut Doors
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=2556375
Genetic Savings & Clone, a biotechnology company that sold cloned pets, sent letters to its customers last month informing them it will close at the end of the year because of little demand for cloned cats. The company had recently reduced the price from $50,000 to $32,000.
The letters said the Sausalito company was not accepting new orders for clones because it was "unable to develop the technology to the point that cloning pets is commercially viable."
I cant work out how I feel about this, on one hand I'm a huge believer in Ray Kurzweils "Singularity Event" and eventually we are all going to live forever but I'm probably on the cusp where we need to hurry up on this research if I'm going to have a body worth keeping forever BUT on the other hand people who know me would know that I'm a huge believer that death isn't that big a deal and we waste too much of societies money on sustaining life for way longer than we should.
Either way I'm still surprised they couldn't make a viable business model out of it at $50k a pop, leads me to believe that cloning may be a little more complicated than they could deliver.
Maybe I should go for a jog.
Cheers,
Dean
Genetic Savings & Clone, a biotechnology company that sold cloned pets, sent letters to its customers last month informing them it will close at the end of the year because of little demand for cloned cats. The company had recently reduced the price from $50,000 to $32,000.
The letters said the Sausalito company was not accepting new orders for clones because it was "unable to develop the technology to the point that cloning pets is commercially viable."
I cant work out how I feel about this, on one hand I'm a huge believer in Ray Kurzweils "Singularity Event" and eventually we are all going to live forever but I'm probably on the cusp where we need to hurry up on this research if I'm going to have a body worth keeping forever BUT on the other hand people who know me would know that I'm a huge believer that death isn't that big a deal and we waste too much of societies money on sustaining life for way longer than we should.
Either way I'm still surprised they couldn't make a viable business model out of it at $50k a pop, leads me to believe that cloning may be a little more complicated than they could deliver.
Maybe I should go for a jog.
Cheers,
Dean
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Quote of the Day
Today's "Quote of the Day" for November 1st
(on my 5 year old 'but sometimes i still get a kick out of these quotes each time I flip over the page' calendar is)
"Lord, Grant that I always desire more than I accomplish"
........Michelangelo.
Man that guy new what he was talking about, I love my job, I cant wait to open my email in the morning and see what cool things people have sent me overnight to work with for the next 12 hours.
I wouldn't trade my job for anyone elses - Maybe I'm just lucky but that quote really resonates with me.
Cheers,
Dean
p.s. Thanks Meena
(on my 5 year old 'but sometimes i still get a kick out of these quotes each time I flip over the page' calendar is)
"Lord, Grant that I always desire more than I accomplish"
........Michelangelo.
Man that guy new what he was talking about, I love my job, I cant wait to open my email in the morning and see what cool things people have sent me overnight to work with for the next 12 hours.
I wouldn't trade my job for anyone elses - Maybe I'm just lucky but that quote really resonates with me.
Cheers,
Dean
p.s. Thanks Meena
Monday, October 30, 2006
Windows Vista Licensing
Shoot me now.
I cant believe how insane some decision makers are, it makes me just want to tear my hair out. When I first heard this rumour a few weeks ago I just thought it was the linux zealots 'mis-reading' the wording of the EULA and hyping up the story.
Nope it's really true. I dont get it, I dont understand it, I dont believe it but it's true.
Microsoft Vista will only allow 1 major hardware change.....after this you will need to buy a new license.
So basically, I purchase Vista and then install it on my pc, 6 months later I replace the motherboard, no probs.
6 months later I decide to replace the hard drive......bzzzzt your Vista license is no longer valid, stops working and you need to buy another license. WTF!!!
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061030-8104.html
I hope this is just rhetoric that will never see the light of day if it is then I'm not going to upgrade from XP no matter what function is built into the new Vista OS.
Cheers,
Dean
I cant believe how insane some decision makers are, it makes me just want to tear my hair out. When I first heard this rumour a few weeks ago I just thought it was the linux zealots 'mis-reading' the wording of the EULA and hyping up the story.
Nope it's really true. I dont get it, I dont understand it, I dont believe it but it's true.
Microsoft Vista will only allow 1 major hardware change.....after this you will need to buy a new license.
So basically, I purchase Vista and then install it on my pc, 6 months later I replace the motherboard, no probs.
6 months later I decide to replace the hard drive......bzzzzt your Vista license is no longer valid, stops working and you need to buy another license. WTF!!!
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061030-8104.html
I hope this is just rhetoric that will never see the light of day if it is then I'm not going to upgrade from XP no matter what function is built into the new Vista OS.
Cheers,
Dean
Friday, October 27, 2006
Orative
You know when you have a really great idea and then someone comes and invents it at about the same time? Well thats the story with Orative. (www.Orative.com)
Earlier this year I was working on a project with Savaje and their all Java mobile phone operating system.
I was thinking wouldn't it be cool to have an application running on this mobile phone that could tell whether people in the office were on the phone/off the phone or logged off by using SIP presence status.
This would only be possible with companies running IP handsets like Polycom and Cisco but these are the defacto standard these days so within 3-5 years will be everywhere.
Well Orative came out with an application that did just that but it only works on the Symbian mobile platform (I guess they had to start somewhere - I'm sure they have a palm and windows mobile 5 coming soon).
Anyway well Cisco bought Orative today.
http://www.theregister.com/2006/10/26/cisco_buys_orative/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/102606-cisco-orative.html
I'm not sure they couldn't have developed it in house for cheaper but I guess it's the old "Buy instead of Build" strategy.
Lol I love the comment at The Register saying 33 people $31 Million dollars and sobering up, considering it was only a few months from start to sale they should be.
My one concern about this is that Orative will now be "Borgatised" into Cisco and pop out the other end no longer supporting all SIP handsets but only supporting the Cisco proprietary standard MGCP (watch out Polycom - this is aimed at you) but I guess we'll see.
Eitherway good luck to the guys.
Cheers,
Dean
Earlier this year I was working on a project with Savaje and their all Java mobile phone operating system.
I was thinking wouldn't it be cool to have an application running on this mobile phone that could tell whether people in the office were on the phone/off the phone or logged off by using SIP presence status.
This would only be possible with companies running IP handsets like Polycom and Cisco but these are the defacto standard these days so within 3-5 years will be everywhere.
Well Orative came out with an application that did just that but it only works on the Symbian mobile platform (I guess they had to start somewhere - I'm sure they have a palm and windows mobile 5 coming soon).
Anyway well Cisco bought Orative today.
http://www.theregister.com/2006/10/26/cisco_buys_orative/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/102606-cisco-orative.html
I'm not sure they couldn't have developed it in house for cheaper but I guess it's the old "Buy instead of Build" strategy.
Lol I love the comment at The Register saying 33 people $31 Million dollars and sobering up, considering it was only a few months from start to sale they should be.
My one concern about this is that Orative will now be "Borgatised" into Cisco and pop out the other end no longer supporting all SIP handsets but only supporting the Cisco proprietary standard MGCP (watch out Polycom - this is aimed at you) but I guess we'll see.
Eitherway good luck to the guys.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Mexuar Press Releases Go Out Tomorrow
Well these Press Releases go out tomorrow.
http://www.cognation.net/mexuar/CorraletaImages/CorraletaLaunchPR.pdf
http://www.cognation.net/mexuar/CorraletaImages/CorraletaLaunchMediaFAQ.pdf
I cant believe it's less than a week away before this project launches. If anyone out there knows some press now is the time to introduce them to the Mexuar Corraleta technology to help get the word out :)
Details at www.Mexuar.com or get them to try it out at www.Cognation.net/Mexuar
Cheers,
Dean
http://www.cognation.net/mexuar/CorraletaImages/CorraletaLaunchPR.pdf
http://www.cognation.net/mexuar/CorraletaImages/CorraletaLaunchMediaFAQ.pdf
I cant believe it's less than a week away before this project launches. If anyone out there knows some press now is the time to introduce them to the Mexuar Corraleta technology to help get the word out :)
Details at www.Mexuar.com or get them to try it out at www.Cognation.net/Mexuar
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Day After Photos
Ok these are the last photos I'm going to post about the plane crash as I need to get back on track with work.
Thanks for all of your emails, it's amazing how many close friends from around the world called or emailed yesterday, even the ones that knew I just lived in New York and wanted to reach out not actually realising how close it was to our apartment etc.
Our thoughts go out to the families of the 2 people in the plane who died.
I'll probably post something next week about the media and their reactions etc but I'm going away for the rest of the weekend on a working conference retreat with some amazing people so i need to get ready for that.
These photos were taken at about 1pm this afternoon, the crash site investigators are still at work and 72nd is still closed off to everyone but residents.
It's interesting to see how much damage was done by the fire but not the actual initial crash itself. Thankfully the two people who were in the apartment that was hit got out into the hallway safely.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. My photos made the front page of The Times in the UK http://www.scoopt.com/news/article.aspx?a=129
Thanks for all of your emails, it's amazing how many close friends from around the world called or emailed yesterday, even the ones that knew I just lived in New York and wanted to reach out not actually realising how close it was to our apartment etc.
Our thoughts go out to the families of the 2 people in the plane who died.
I'll probably post something next week about the media and their reactions etc but I'm going away for the rest of the weekend on a working conference retreat with some amazing people so i need to get ready for that.
These photos were taken at about 1pm this afternoon, the crash site investigators are still at work and 72nd is still closed off to everyone but residents.
It's interesting to see how much damage was done by the fire but not the actual initial crash itself. Thankfully the two people who were in the apartment that was hit got out into the hallway safely.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. My photos made the front page of The Times in the UK http://www.scoopt.com/news/article.aspx?a=129
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Warning over 'broken up' internet
Internet Governance Forum (IGF), set up by the UN, warned that concerns over the net's future could lead to separation.
"People are concerned about whether the system we have now will also work five years from now," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6037345.stm
Interesting follow up article from my post the other day.
"If I look at the internet in five years from now there are going to be very, very, very more internet users in Asia than Europe or America. "There will be more Chinese web pages than English pages".
"People are concerned about whether the system we have now will also work five years from now," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6037345.stm
Interesting follow up article from my post the other day.
"If I look at the internet in five years from now there are going to be very, very, very more internet users in Asia than Europe or America. "There will be more Chinese web pages than English pages".
There are very real effects that will be felt globally through the balkanization of the internet, and I don't think politicians making these decisions at the moment can scope the ramifications of their short term decisions.
Hopefully the laws will be so ineffectual and behind the technology wave that apart from sourcing more voting dollars it wont matter.
Cheers,
Dean
New York Apartment Explosion due to plane crash
Just occurred 5 mins ago, photos are from my apartment window.Will update as events occur. Both of us are fine.
Basically a plane crashed into building across the street on 72nd on the 38th floor from the north past our north west facing window on the 30th floor.
SMH Article
Freaky part is that it would have had to have flown past our apartment and the building next door which is only 50 meters wide.
Pilot NY Yankees baseball pitcher Cory Lidle and passenger (instructor- Tyler Stanger) are dead, but 2 people in actual apartment the plane crashed into are fine.
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Who is 'really' in charge of the internet.
US laws to clamp down on online gaming show that the internet can be controlled, argues Bill Thompson.
The myth of the borderless internet, never very credible to those who had any real understanding of the interplay between politics and technology that underpins the network, took another hit last week when the US Congress voted to ban bank and credit card payments to gambling firms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5412980.stm
I've posted about this topic before and I'll post again...and again... and again....
The USA needs to wake up to itself that they cannot impose their will on the internet anymore. This has outgrown the original darpa experiemental network that it was 20+ years ago.
Whats not mentioned in the article and outside of the scope of this post is that whilst the USA could hold the rest of the world at gunpoint in the past, there are now a number of alternatives that countries can/will be able to choose in the future.
The initiatives that Europe and especially the Chinese governments are taking around IPv6 may see the USA left behind.
So America, if you want to throw your weight around and control how people in other countries live their lives you'll have to do it the old fashion way and invade with an army.
Cheers,
Dean
The myth of the borderless internet, never very credible to those who had any real understanding of the interplay between politics and technology that underpins the network, took another hit last week when the US Congress voted to ban bank and credit card payments to gambling firms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5412980.stm
I've posted about this topic before and I'll post again...and again... and again....
The USA needs to wake up to itself that they cannot impose their will on the internet anymore. This has outgrown the original darpa experiemental network that it was 20+ years ago.
Whats not mentioned in the article and outside of the scope of this post is that whilst the USA could hold the rest of the world at gunpoint in the past, there are now a number of alternatives that countries can/will be able to choose in the future.
The initiatives that Europe and especially the Chinese governments are taking around IPv6 may see the USA left behind.
So America, if you want to throw your weight around and control how people in other countries live their lives you'll have to do it the old fashion way and invade with an army.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, October 02, 2006
BarCampNYC2
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So I had the amazing experience of attending my first BarCampNYC2 this weekend.
For those of you not familiar with BarCamp check out their 'global event wiki' and go along to the next one in your city as they are relatively global. (also check out these 10 tips for getting the most from BarCamp)
Lots of Flickr photos here
It was a 2 day event from Saturday morning to Sunday evening where approx 180-200 people from New York and the surrounding area got together to have an "un-conference" about technology.
There are no specific agendas and most important the event is free being fully funded by local Sponsoring Companies (yes Cognation did kick in) however a big shoutout has to go to Microsoft who provided the venue, lets face it, any company who would let 200 geeks sleep over in their offices for a weekend cant be all bad, and I have to point out that apart from 1 session they kept a very low profile. Barcamp is everyone's event.
It's a two day self managed, self organized, self driven geekfest.
Where 30 minutes before it starts there are no agendas and it's not only suggested but actually required you get up and walk out of a session if you are not interested.
Everyone participates and often some of the best advice or experiential information comes from people in the 'audience' if you could call them that than people who are leading the sessions.
The sessions leant towards software development (with some amazingly cutting edge development techniques being displayed).
There was a general skew towards a younger group of people, I'm guessing that the average age was 22-24? However age certainly wasn't a reflection of experience or potential, check out the Session Page above to get an idea on what was being discussed, these people are the future of IT development, and let me tell you it was very bright indeed.
These guys, and quite a few girls, are pushing the envelop of technology further than most of us even think is possible.
Special mention has to go out to Dennis Crowley the founder of Dodgeball (sold it to Google) for his session on Pervasive Games (massive urban games). It made me realize that this is an area I think I want to pursue on a commercial basis, I've thought about it in the past (read my post on Mogi Mogi) but it's an area where I think I can develop some real value.
Not to downplay the rest of the sessions, I learnt at least 3 or 4 new things in every session and I learnt about two whole technologies I didn't even know existed Json and Amazon Mechanical Turk. Some of the implementations of "ruby on rails" / web mashups / web delivered interactive content / social networking that these people are implementing is amazing.
I saw at least 3 business concepts over the weekend that I would be prepared to put my money where my mouth is and fund.
I don't think I can succinctly capture enough in one post my experiences but it's basically changed my mind about the depth of talent out there.
Yes some of it needs a little structure and yes some need a lesson about how coming up with great technology or a business idea, doesn't a successfully ROI make'th', but the enthusiasm and excitement was unstoppable. Besides they might even teach some of us older people whats really possible.
Cheers,
Dean
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Czech Women are No1?
My friend Dan from the Czech Republic (runs a very savvy web development /flash development company Unisona ) just messaged me because he wanted to let people who read my blog that Czech women are No1.
His ex girlfriend (joke) just won Miss World , now I'm not sure what he wants you to do with this information, he doesn't have any sisters that I know of, maybe the Czech's are trying to ramp up male tourism to their country.
He did go out of is his way to make sure I wrote that his current girlfriend (real) is hotter
lol.
At least they have great beer.
Dean
His ex girlfriend (joke) just won Miss World , now I'm not sure what he wants you to do with this information, he doesn't have any sisters that I know of, maybe the Czech's are trying to ramp up male tourism to their country.
He did go out of is his way to make sure I wrote that his current girlfriend (real) is hotter
lol.
At least they have great beer.
Dean
Friday, September 29, 2006
Neat Toys
I love geek toys. I've bought Palm's, Treo's, Window Mobile devices, Nec Mobile Pro's, Bluetooth headsets, Philip Pronto remotes you name it I've bought it and tried it.
I've looked at the Sony UX devices a few times (still not quite convinced and am waiting out for a faster generation of hardware) .
However when someone sent me a link for this device, even though I dont drive a car here in New York I seriously considered it for longer than I should have.
HP Ipaq rx5915 is a neat device, primarily for GPS driving directions to navigate around town in your car. However there is a whole heap of other functionality in there.
Disconnect the unit from the car mounting bracket and walk into your local wifi hotspot and you can browse the web via the IE Mobile 5.0 browser, use it to check email etc. although it doesn't actually explain how you type (I assume it's and onscreen keyboard).
If you are out of range of a wifi access point it can also connect via bluetooth to your mobile phone to connect to the web via the phones gprs data service.
It's supposed to play MP3's as well but without checking it out in person I'm not sure how realistic this is as an in car MP3 deck as the size is limited to SD cards.
All in all, pretty neat toy for only $US599......now if only I had the excuse of owning a car :)
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Another neat "Convergence Toy" is this watch from Fossil
Watches have always done a good job of quickly showing the time and date. But Fossil Inc. is convinced there's another piece of information worth displaying on the wrist: caller ID.
In a partnership with Sony Ericsson, Fossil on Thursday announced a new line of timepieces that will show who's calling on your cell phone.
The main advantage is that the system lets users quickly and discreetly know who is calling, without having to dig their phone out of their pocket or purse, said Bill Geiser, Fossil's vice president of watch technology.
Great concept, but I hope they come out with this bluetooth concept across a number of models as the one they have launched is as ugly as sin but A+ for the idea.
I've looked at the Sony UX devices a few times (still not quite convinced and am waiting out for a faster generation of hardware) .
However when someone sent me a link for this device, even though I dont drive a car here in New York I seriously considered it for longer than I should have.
HP Ipaq rx5915 is a neat device, primarily for GPS driving directions to navigate around town in your car. However there is a whole heap of other functionality in there.
Disconnect the unit from the car mounting bracket and walk into your local wifi hotspot and you can browse the web via the IE Mobile 5.0 browser, use it to check email etc. although it doesn't actually explain how you type (I assume it's and onscreen keyboard).
If you are out of range of a wifi access point it can also connect via bluetooth to your mobile phone to connect to the web via the phones gprs data service.
It's supposed to play MP3's as well but without checking it out in person I'm not sure how realistic this is as an in car MP3 deck as the size is limited to SD cards.
All in all, pretty neat toy for only $US599......now if only I had the excuse of owning a car :)
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Another neat "Convergence Toy" is this watch from Fossil
Watches have always done a good job of quickly showing the time and date. But Fossil Inc. is convinced there's another piece of information worth displaying on the wrist: caller ID.
In a partnership with Sony Ericsson, Fossil on Thursday announced a new line of timepieces that will show who's calling on your cell phone.
The main advantage is that the system lets users quickly and discreetly know who is calling, without having to dig their phone out of their pocket or purse, said Bill Geiser, Fossil's vice president of watch technology.
Great concept, but I hope they come out with this bluetooth concept across a number of models as the one they have launched is as ugly as sin but A+ for the idea.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
So Happy
I don’t know what it is today, maybe because so many cool things are going right for me at the moment, (top secret until October 24th but I'm working on a project that absolutely rocks), maybe just because it's autumn in NY, the air is fresh and crisp and the skies are extra blue but “Life is Good”.
Listening to Nina Hagen on my pc this morning (press the Flash MP3 player in the bottom right panel) and just bopping my head away like crazy. If anyone needs a favour from me today is the day to ask because I don’t think I could say no to anything today.
Hope every one in the world feels the same.
Cheers,
Dean
Listening to Nina Hagen on my pc this morning (press the Flash MP3 player in the bottom right panel) and just bopping my head away like crazy. If anyone needs a favour from me today is the day to ask because I don’t think I could say no to anything today.
Hope every one in the world feels the same.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, September 18, 2006
Protectionism
ha ha ha ha ha - man this guy makes me laugh, the USA worried about protectionism - what a joke.
On the eve of his first official visit to China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that he is worried about protectionist sentiment there and in other countries.
http://www.manufacturing.net/article/CA6372883.html
How about the Cotton subsidies Mr Paulson?
How about the Ethanol subsidies Mr Paulson?
How about the ........
Man what a joke, it's a funny situation that the USA find themselves in, they know it, the EU knows it, we all know it, Americans are living far beyond their means.
There is going to come an economic resolution to this event that will result in someone catching a cold, the question most people are concerned about is whether the rest of the world will get the sniffles or if it's going to be a full on contagion.
Either way, save your pennies, dont be too highly leveraged, go long on bonds and laugh when you see the pot calling the kettle black.
Cheers,
Dean
On the eve of his first official visit to China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that he is worried about protectionist sentiment there and in other countries.
http://www.manufacturing.net/article/CA6372883.html
How about the Cotton subsidies Mr Paulson?
How about the Ethanol subsidies Mr Paulson?
How about the ........
Man what a joke, it's a funny situation that the USA find themselves in, they know it, the EU knows it, we all know it, Americans are living far beyond their means.
There is going to come an economic resolution to this event that will result in someone catching a cold, the question most people are concerned about is whether the rest of the world will get the sniffles or if it's going to be a full on contagion.
Either way, save your pennies, dont be too highly leveraged, go long on bonds and laugh when you see the pot calling the kettle black.
Cheers,
Dean
5000th blog visitor
Hey all, just noticed the 5000th visitor to this blog just happened today.
I've often been curious if any of this information is of interest to people. Over the past few months I've tried to post about Life in NY, projects i'm working on, things I read online that I think are funny (or need attention drawn to it).
My only wish is that more people visited the archives as there are a ton of posts in there with some cool links.
My other wish is that people commented on the posts more often, apart from 1 or 2 who have contacted me directly there have been few direct comments, although there must be some interesting content as there is an average of 725 people visiting a month.
Well thanks for all the traffic, hope I added some value along the way, look forward to hearing more often from you in the future.
Cheers,
Dean
I've often been curious if any of this information is of interest to people. Over the past few months I've tried to post about Life in NY, projects i'm working on, things I read online that I think are funny (or need attention drawn to it).
My only wish is that more people visited the archives as there are a ton of posts in there with some cool links.
My other wish is that people commented on the posts more often, apart from 1 or 2 who have contacted me directly there have been few direct comments, although there must be some interesting content as there is an average of 725 people visiting a month.
Well thanks for all the traffic, hope I added some value along the way, look forward to hearing more often from you in the future.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
1? 2? or 4?
Do I really need quad core cpu's? probably not.
Do I want quad core cpu's? ooooohhhhh yehhhhh baby.
I know this isn't going to come as a surprise to those of you who have visited my home office (no that isn't a wine cooler-yes it really is a commercial 19" rack full of yuminess) but I'm an IT freak.
I hate working from clients offices because everything is faster and so much more efficient from my home setup.
Needless to say the only reason I haven't considered upgrading from my demigod Abit IC7-Max3's to a Duo Core motherboard is that I'm waiting for the quad core boards to arrive.
www.tomshardware.com/four_cores_on_the_rampage
Are there any limits to the performance frenzy? Even expert opinions are deeply divided, ranging from "more cores are absolutely necessary" to "why do I need something more than my five-year-old PC system?" Although the Core 2 quad-core processors are not expected to hit retail channels before October, Tom's Hardware Guide had the opportunity to examine several Core 2 Quadro models in the test labs. We would like to make it clear that these samples were not provided by Intel.
Cheers,
Dean
Do I want quad core cpu's? ooooohhhhh yehhhhh baby.
I know this isn't going to come as a surprise to those of you who have visited my home office (no that isn't a wine cooler-yes it really is a commercial 19" rack full of yuminess) but I'm an IT freak.
I hate working from clients offices because everything is faster and so much more efficient from my home setup.
Needless to say the only reason I haven't considered upgrading from my demigod Abit IC7-Max3's to a Duo Core motherboard is that I'm waiting for the quad core boards to arrive.
www.tomshardware.com/four_cores_on_the_rampage
Are there any limits to the performance frenzy? Even expert opinions are deeply divided, ranging from "more cores are absolutely necessary" to "why do I need something more than my five-year-old PC system?" Although the Core 2 quad-core processors are not expected to hit retail channels before October, Tom's Hardware Guide had the opportunity to examine several Core 2 Quadro models in the test labs. We would like to make it clear that these samples were not provided by Intel.
Cheers,
Dean
Friday, September 08, 2006
Peter Dicks Chairman of Sportingbet PLC is arrested at JFK!!
This is bullshit.
I dont know how to effectively express my outrage over this action by the US government.
Check out these links for background info;
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-online8sep08,1,2052648.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/technology/08gamble.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
money.cnn.com
today.reuters.co.uk
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8K02SM85.htm?sub=apn_euro_up&chan=gb
So basically we have a UK citizen, operating a UK business (sportingbetplc.com board) who the moment he steps foot into the USA is arrested, not for crimes he committed but for crimes committted by US citizens.
Oh and arrested under ambiguous Louisiana law, that defines all interstate gaming as illegal.
I cant wait for the chairman of the NY Times to be arrested on a visit to China because chinese citizens were reading copies of the NY Times on the internet.
Oh and as for visiting 'unfriendly' countries, how about if Castro started shooting american tourists he found in Cuba for 'crimes of treason' in carrying US dollars in their wallets?
This is insane America. When are you going to wake up and begin to be a good 'world citizen'?
You cant just arrest people for 'crimes against the state' that dont even occur in your country........isn't that what terrorists do? Impose their will against the world at large.
I keep hoping I will wake up and the insanity will end? it's like a bad dream.
It's getting hard to tell who is the bad guys anymore.
Dean
UPDATE
On April 2nd, 2009, Carruthers pleaded guilty to 1 charge of racketeering charges after being "under arrest" since July 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carruthers
On Sunday July 16, 2006 Carruthers was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas while changing planes. He was travelling with his wife, Carol, from the BETonSPORTS Annual General Meeting in the United Kingdom to his home in Costa Rica where the two lived since 2000.
So basically after almost 3 years he flipped and turned states evidence so he could finally go home.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=auba1hZVXuAk
Chris Flood, an attorney for Kaplan, said today his client maintains his innocence. Flood declined to talk about any discussions with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“I can’t comment publicly about matters that are supposed to be between myself, my client and the government,” Flood, a partner at Houston-based Flood & Flood, said by phone.
I dont know how to effectively express my outrage over this action by the US government.
Check out these links for background info;
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-online8sep08,1,2052648.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/technology/08gamble.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
money.cnn.com
today.reuters.co.uk
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8K02SM85.htm?sub=apn_euro_up&chan=gb
So basically we have a UK citizen, operating a UK business (sportingbetplc.com board) who the moment he steps foot into the USA is arrested, not for crimes he committed but for crimes committted by US citizens.
Oh and arrested under ambiguous Louisiana law, that defines all interstate gaming as illegal.
I cant wait for the chairman of the NY Times to be arrested on a visit to China because chinese citizens were reading copies of the NY Times on the internet.
Oh and as for visiting 'unfriendly' countries, how about if Castro started shooting american tourists he found in Cuba for 'crimes of treason' in carrying US dollars in their wallets?
This is insane America. When are you going to wake up and begin to be a good 'world citizen'?
You cant just arrest people for 'crimes against the state' that dont even occur in your country........isn't that what terrorists do? Impose their will against the world at large.
I keep hoping I will wake up and the insanity will end? it's like a bad dream.
It's getting hard to tell who is the bad guys anymore.
Dean
UPDATE
On April 2nd, 2009, Carruthers pleaded guilty to 1 charge of racketeering charges after being "under arrest" since July 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carruthers
On Sunday July 16, 2006 Carruthers was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas while changing planes. He was travelling with his wife, Carol, from the BETonSPORTS Annual General Meeting in the United Kingdom to his home in Costa Rica where the two lived since 2000.
So basically after almost 3 years he flipped and turned states evidence so he could finally go home.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=auba1hZVXuAk
Chris Flood, an attorney for Kaplan, said today his client maintains his innocence. Flood declined to talk about any discussions with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“I can’t comment publicly about matters that are supposed to be between myself, my client and the government,” Flood, a partner at Houston-based Flood & Flood, said by phone.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Compelling Art
I'm not turning my blog into a video blog however while playing around with the uploading of my YouTube video yesterday I came across this clip by Noah Kalina.
This has to be one of the most compelling pieces of art I have seen in a long time.
The url for Noah Kalina's website and the link to the music is at the end of the clip.
If this clip moved you to tears, show your support, go and donate via paypal to his site (I also donated to the Carly's music site as well before downloading the music).
Amazing dedication to his project, this is what real art is about. If this clip doesn't make you happy to be alive and human then nothing will.
Cheers,
Dean
This has to be one of the most compelling pieces of art I have seen in a long time.
The url for Noah Kalina's website and the link to the music is at the end of the clip.
If this clip moved you to tears, show your support, go and donate via paypal to his site (I also donated to the Carly's music site as well before downloading the music).
Amazing dedication to his project, this is what real art is about. If this clip doesn't make you happy to be alive and human then nothing will.
Cheers,
Dean
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Mexuar NY-Tech Meetup Speed Presentation
This is a video of a 'speed presentation' I gave at last nights NY-Tech Meetup for one of my clients I represent here in the USA.
I know I was a little short with some of the people in the Q&A session but you only get 4 mins to present and 1 minute for Q&A and there were about 40 people with questions (we only got through about 10 of them).
All in all not a bad presentation to a room of over 500+ people :)
Also I appreciate video isn't great I'm going to try and use a diferent encoding tool, but it was shot on a digital still camera from the audience so it's really about the audio, let me know if anyone wants a copy of the ppt.
www.Mexuar.com has just launched a server application called Corraleta, which will enables people visiting your website to talk to you using nothing more than their headsets.
There is no client to download, no click per call fees, nothing is required apart from a server for the corraleta application to be installed onto.
The main implementation for the Corraleta application is for people who run e-commerce websites that want to allow their consumers to 'call them' via the web. The most innovative part is that the call centre staff actually receive the calls on their normal telephones just like they would answering the calls from the carrier.
Because the calls are ip to ip all the way from the consumers browser through to the call centre PABX the calls are free.
If you want more information check out www.Mexuar.com or www.Cognation.net/Mexuar
Cheers,
Dean
I know I was a little short with some of the people in the Q&A session but you only get 4 mins to present and 1 minute for Q&A and there were about 40 people with questions (we only got through about 10 of them).
All in all not a bad presentation to a room of over 500+ people :)
Also I appreciate video isn't great I'm going to try and use a diferent encoding tool, but it was shot on a digital still camera from the audience so it's really about the audio, let me know if anyone wants a copy of the ppt.
www.Mexuar.com has just launched a server application called Corraleta, which will enables people visiting your website to talk to you using nothing more than their headsets.
There is no client to download, no click per call fees, nothing is required apart from a server for the corraleta application to be installed onto.
The main implementation for the Corraleta application is for people who run e-commerce websites that want to allow their consumers to 'call them' via the web. The most innovative part is that the call centre staff actually receive the calls on their normal telephones just like they would answering the calls from the carrier.
Because the calls are ip to ip all the way from the consumers browser through to the call centre PABX the calls are free.
If you want more information check out www.Mexuar.com or www.Cognation.net/Mexuar
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
MassMedia Studios Announced As One of Asia’s Hottest 100 Startups
Massmedia is one of my US clients. I'm helping them with their US sales strategies.
Congratulations guys, you've worked hard and deserve it.
Cheers,
Dean
MassMedia Studios one of Australia’s most innovative digital marketing powerhouses now with offices in London and New York have just been announced as one of Asia’s hottest 100 startups.
Their revolutionary ASP delivered multi channel digital marketing solution http://www.tractionplatform.com/ has rapidly been adopted by advertising agencies as the solution of choice to drive innovative interactive campaigns via email, sms, web, video and voice.
About Red Herring
Red Herring is the weekly magazine technology entrepreneurs, investors and industry observers read to stay ahead of the curve and to be better informed about the global marketplace. Red Herring covers technology, innovation, financial strategies, important personalities and trends that are transforming the world of business with unique insight, opinion and forward-looking analysis. Readers turn to Red Herring for knowledge to make strategic decisions, build companies and create a competitive advantage for their businesses. To learn more about Red Herring, please visit http://www.redherring.com/.
About Red Herring 100 Asia Conference
Red Herring 100 Asia Conference is an invitation-only event for CEOs, select senior executives, and Venture Capitalists. Red Herring 100 Asia will bring together executives from mostly private companies. These executives will be joined by senior executives from public companies and Venture Capitalists.
Congratulations guys, you've worked hard and deserve it.
Cheers,
Dean
MassMedia Studios one of Australia’s most innovative digital marketing powerhouses now with offices in London and New York have just been announced as one of Asia’s hottest 100 startups.
Their revolutionary ASP delivered multi channel digital marketing solution http://www.tractionplatform.com/ has rapidly been adopted by advertising agencies as the solution of choice to drive innovative interactive campaigns via email, sms, web, video and voice.
About Red Herring
Red Herring is the weekly magazine technology entrepreneurs, investors and industry observers read to stay ahead of the curve and to be better informed about the global marketplace. Red Herring covers technology, innovation, financial strategies, important personalities and trends that are transforming the world of business with unique insight, opinion and forward-looking analysis. Readers turn to Red Herring for knowledge to make strategic decisions, build companies and create a competitive advantage for their businesses. To learn more about Red Herring, please visit http://www.redherring.com/.
About Red Herring 100 Asia Conference
Red Herring 100 Asia Conference is an invitation-only event for CEOs, select senior executives, and Venture Capitalists. Red Herring 100 Asia will bring together executives from mostly private companies. These executives will be joined by senior executives from public companies and Venture Capitalists.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Congratulations to MassMedia Studios Part 1 (one of my clients)
RED HERRING 100 ASIA SHORT LIST
Congratulations! After a difficult evaluation process, the Red Herring editorial team is pleased to announce the selection of the 200 finalists for Red Herring 100 Asia for 2006. We would like to congratulate the following companies for being short listed as one of the most promising companies in all of Asia.
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Saturday, August 26, 2006
It's the little things :(
It's not the fact that the cheese is orange (and has no flavour), it's not that the streets are dirty.
I can live with all of these differences.
It's the fact that the coffee sucks and that Starbucks really is the best coffee you can buy in NY (ok almost there are 3-4 other favourite places I have found) however the majority of it sucks - but that’s not the worst part.
The worst part is that out of the 20 different American brands of instant coffee we have tried there isn't one that comes close to Nescafe Espresso.
Not a problem you think, considering Nescafe is an international company should be easy to find right?
Nope apprently it's a local brand and can only be purchased in Australia (and the UK of all places) oh and there’s a guy in Texas who sells it for a 50% mark-up.
So what do we do? Well every trip back always brings at least 6-8 jars of the stuff, and every time a friend of ours comes to visit....it's on their goodie list, along with Tim Tams and Vegemite.
Though this time our next trip home isn't until Christmas and we just ran out last week, so we had to get my sister to ship some to us at $60 for the coffee and $70 for the shipping (oh ok there were some dairy milk chocolate blocks in there as well which added to the weight).
It's given me a new appreciation to all the Asians you see trying to bring cured snake blood and other weird and wonderful things through Mascot customs.
At least for us it's just an email away and we can get some posted over. For them it's not a difference of orange cheese or real cheese, it's a totally different experience.
Travel the world people, it gives you a new appreciation for home but also gives you empathy.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Now thats how expats buy coffee :) 6 x 375grams all the way from Australia, thanks sis.
I can live with all of these differences.
It's the fact that the coffee sucks and that Starbucks really is the best coffee you can buy in NY (ok almost there are 3-4 other favourite places I have found) however the majority of it sucks - but that’s not the worst part.
The worst part is that out of the 20 different American brands of instant coffee we have tried there isn't one that comes close to Nescafe Espresso.
Not a problem you think, considering Nescafe is an international company should be easy to find right?
Nope apprently it's a local brand and can only be purchased in Australia (and the UK of all places) oh and there’s a guy in Texas who sells it for a 50% mark-up.
So what do we do? Well every trip back always brings at least 6-8 jars of the stuff, and every time a friend of ours comes to visit....it's on their goodie list, along with Tim Tams and Vegemite.
Though this time our next trip home isn't until Christmas and we just ran out last week, so we had to get my sister to ship some to us at $60 for the coffee and $70 for the shipping (oh ok there were some dairy milk chocolate blocks in there as well which added to the weight).
It's given me a new appreciation to all the Asians you see trying to bring cured snake blood and other weird and wonderful things through Mascot customs.
At least for us it's just an email away and we can get some posted over. For them it's not a difference of orange cheese or real cheese, it's a totally different experience.
Travel the world people, it gives you a new appreciation for home but also gives you empathy.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Now thats how expats buy coffee :) 6 x 375grams all the way from Australia, thanks sis.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Senator Coonan: A pipeline for "Hot Air"
http://www.crn.com.au/mobile_ban
Senator Coonan has made the statement "Mobiles A Pipeline for Perversion" and now demands the implementation of a R18+ set of laws to regulate the mobile industry.
Heaven help us, I thought when we got rid of Senator Richard 'Luddite' Alston things were looking up. What is it with positions like this....you must not understand technology in order to be nominated to the role otherwise go to the end of the line?
You know I laughed a few weeks ago when Cambodia decided to ban 3G because it was capable of porn, but that was because it's a technology backwater run by people who dont know any better. http://www.theregister.co.uk/cambodia_3g_ban/ (actually I have a lot of respect for Cambodians but thats a story for another time but if you have any interest you must read Pol Pot by Phillip Short it's sensational).
So would someone please go and tell the Senator that mobile content can be loaded by USB, or even shock horror browsed from a website outside of Australia's dictatorial reach, either way......Honey, we already have a law that covers it.....you know the one you pushed through last year that moved all the content offshore and had zero affect.
Now go and sit on uncle Fred Niles lap for a bedtime story.
Cheers,
Dean
Senator Coonan has made the statement "Mobiles A Pipeline for Perversion" and now demands the implementation of a R18+ set of laws to regulate the mobile industry.
Heaven help us, I thought when we got rid of Senator Richard 'Luddite' Alston things were looking up. What is it with positions like this....you must not understand technology in order to be nominated to the role otherwise go to the end of the line?
You know I laughed a few weeks ago when Cambodia decided to ban 3G because it was capable of porn, but that was because it's a technology backwater run by people who dont know any better. http://www.theregister.co.uk/cambodia_3g_ban/ (actually I have a lot of respect for Cambodians but thats a story for another time but if you have any interest you must read Pol Pot by Phillip Short it's sensational).
So would someone please go and tell the Senator that mobile content can be loaded by USB, or even shock horror browsed from a website outside of Australia's dictatorial reach, either way......Honey, we already have a law that covers it.....you know the one you pushed through last year that moved all the content offshore and had zero affect.
Now go and sit on uncle Fred Niles lap for a bedtime story.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
How far will consumer generated media go?
Heads up on a great panel discussion if you are in this space.
http://webcast.goingon.com/session8
Well informed and most importantly fairly frank and honest. One of the more interesting comments about 20 minutes into the session is the discussion about why is it that the majority of TV video advertisements is so mediocre.
The comment was made that why is it that people are always year after year so excited by Superbowl ads but that the rest of the year people complain about the intrusion.
When is it that the advertisements will become the "entertaining content"?
Why is it that some ads interest and entertain us and become runaway hits and others just bore the heck out of us
With the cost associated in shooting a 30 second advertisement is it time that they start audience testing? What’s your favourite ad and why is it your favourite ad? What would/could you change about a boring ad to make it more interesting?
There was an interesting discussion this week on the Yi-Tan conference call about user targeted advertisements.
I mean, I live in NY. I've always owned a car or a motorbike and whilst when I lived in Sydney (or a few at a time at one stage) here in NY I will never own a car, the cost of garaging it at $2,000 per month is one I just cant justify. Yet the majority of ads I see on tv personally are for car insurance. I feel like I owe Progressive and Geico some money based on the amount they have spent on me in the past 2 years.
I've got a concept running around the back of my head on how this could be done based on some stuff that I've looked at in the past with my dealings with Myth-TV and Akimbo but the question is - is there really enough good video advertisements to make user targeted ads more relevant.
I’m also having a hard time deciding is it the clients or the agencies that are driving this “entertainment” issue.
Cheers,
Dean
http://webcast.goingon.com/session8
Well informed and most importantly fairly frank and honest. One of the more interesting comments about 20 minutes into the session is the discussion about why is it that the majority of TV video advertisements is so mediocre.
The comment was made that why is it that people are always year after year so excited by Superbowl ads but that the rest of the year people complain about the intrusion.
When is it that the advertisements will become the "entertaining content"?
Why is it that some ads interest and entertain us and become runaway hits and others just bore the heck out of us
With the cost associated in shooting a 30 second advertisement is it time that they start audience testing? What’s your favourite ad and why is it your favourite ad? What would/could you change about a boring ad to make it more interesting?
There was an interesting discussion this week on the Yi-Tan conference call about user targeted advertisements.
I mean, I live in NY. I've always owned a car or a motorbike and whilst when I lived in Sydney (or a few at a time at one stage) here in NY I will never own a car, the cost of garaging it at $2,000 per month is one I just cant justify. Yet the majority of ads I see on tv personally are for car insurance. I feel like I owe Progressive and Geico some money based on the amount they have spent on me in the past 2 years.
I've got a concept running around the back of my head on how this could be done based on some stuff that I've looked at in the past with my dealings with Myth-TV and Akimbo but the question is - is there really enough good video advertisements to make user targeted ads more relevant.
I’m also having a hard time deciding is it the clients or the agencies that are driving this “entertainment” issue.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, August 21, 2006
Knock Knock..... Who's there?
Apart from Asterisk I dont use Linux persay (even though I've downloaded and installed various Unbuntu linux iso's to try it out from time to time) I've pretty much been a windows user my whole life and happy with all the neat software and functionality that this gives me.......until today.
Now I love geeks, I love the neat things that they can come up with that you wouldn't have thought of, and linux geeks especially so.
But this takes the cake.
The new ibm laptops have something called "Hard Drive Active Protection System" (HDAPS) built into their hard drives.....basically in english it means, your laptop knows when it is bumped or falling so that it can prepare to 'brace' itself for the knock.
Or thats what it was designed for.
So these geeks went out and wrote some code called knockAge.pl script. This is a Perl program that allows you to create knock sequences as well as listen for specific knock sequences and run commands.
http://www.ibm.com/Knock-Knock
Yep, you read that right, the hard drive can measure you knocking on your laptop and know when it is you versus someone who looked over your shoulder as you typed in your password last week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f_eU3huEG0
Want unlock your screen saver with a certain code.... no probs,
Want to log into your secure files ....whats the code :)
I know this is only going to appeal to a very small very unique audience but count me in for one - is it enough for me to swap to linux, no not really but it's certainly something to be envious of.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. if you are still reading this far you're a geek and will love this video as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbh_JGbPoJU&NR totally useless but uses HDAPS to move your active window around the display.
Now I love geeks, I love the neat things that they can come up with that you wouldn't have thought of, and linux geeks especially so.
But this takes the cake.
The new ibm laptops have something called "Hard Drive Active Protection System" (HDAPS) built into their hard drives.....basically in english it means, your laptop knows when it is bumped or falling so that it can prepare to 'brace' itself for the knock.
Or thats what it was designed for.
So these geeks went out and wrote some code called knockAge.pl script. This is a Perl program that allows you to create knock sequences as well as listen for specific knock sequences and run commands.
http://www.ibm.com/Knock-Knock
Yep, you read that right, the hard drive can measure you knocking on your laptop and know when it is you versus someone who looked over your shoulder as you typed in your password last week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f_eU3huEG0
Want unlock your screen saver with a certain code.... no probs,
Want to log into your secure files ....whats the code :)
I know this is only going to appeal to a very small very unique audience but count me in for one - is it enough for me to swap to linux, no not really but it's certainly something to be envious of.
Cheers,
Dean
P.S. if you are still reading this far you're a geek and will love this video as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbh_JGbPoJU&NR totally useless but uses HDAPS to move your active window around the display.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
AO Top 100 for 2006
Well it's that time of the year again. Here is the Always On Top 100 private companies for 2006.
I'll post some comments on a few of these companies as it comes up but great to see a few companies I'm already working with listed.
I wish when composing this list they made more of an effort to include international companies but this is a great place to do some research on whats hot and up and coming in the tech space.
However – how come Digium isn’t listed but Sugarcrm is and Zimbra is? Surely Asterisk has made a bigger impact on the IT community than either of these companies?
I think next year we should coordinate a campaign to get Asterisk on the list and make sure we get more traction for an application that definately has to be in the top 100 cool technologies for 2006.
Does anyone on this email list know Tony Perkins directly that we can leverage in advance of next years selection?
Cheers,
Dean
I'll post some comments on a few of these companies as it comes up but great to see a few companies I'm already working with listed.
I wish when composing this list they made more of an effort to include international companies but this is a great place to do some research on whats hot and up and coming in the tech space.
However – how come Digium isn’t listed but Sugarcrm is and Zimbra is? Surely Asterisk has made a bigger impact on the IT community than either of these companies?
I think next year we should coordinate a campaign to get Asterisk on the list and make sure we get more traction for an application that definately has to be in the top 100 cool technologies for 2006.
Does anyone on this email list know Tony Perkins directly that we can leverage in advance of next years selection?
Cheers,
Dean
2Wire
3VR Security
Adknowledge
Agitar Software
Airgo Networks
Ampd Mobile
Application Security
Approva
Aruba Networks
Authentec
Axentis
Azul Systems
Barracuda Networks
Bharosa
BitTorrent
Blue Lane Technologies
Blue Lithium
BlueArc
Brandimensions
CafePress
CipherTrust
Claria
CollabNet
Comergent Technologies
Coremetrics
Danger
DataSynapse
Dave.TV
DemandTec
Digital Chocolate
DivX
Dust Networks
Egenera
Eloqua
EnterpriseDB
Facebook
First Hop
Force10 Networks
Fortinet
Glu Mobile
Hands On Mobile
Hellosoft
IGA Worldwide
Impinj
Infinera
Infoblox
InFreeDA
IP Unity
IronPort Systems
Isilon Systems
Jingle Networks
Linden Lab
Lingtu Software
LinkedIn
LogLogic
mBlox
Mental Images
mFormation Technologies
Mimeo.com
Mobile 365
MySQL
Narus
Netli
NewsGator Technologies
Omniture
Orb Networks
OZ Communications
Pay By Touch
Photobucket
Positive Networks
Pronto Networks
Qualys
RazorGator
ShotSpotter
Silver Peak Systems
Simple Star
Sling Media
SOA Software
SOMA Networks
Sourcefire
SugarCRM
TagWorld
Technorati
Tellme Networks
Teneros
TradeBeam
Trapeze Networks
Unicru
UPEK
Veraz Networks
Visage Mobile
Visto
Vocera Communications
Vontu
YouTube
Zanox
Zantaz
Zappos.com
ZettaCore
Zimbra
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