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Archive
Posts from 2004 to 2017. This was a personal blog during a fairly chaotic decade in independent publishing — some of it tech commentary, some of it Australia, some of it ephemera. It’s kept here in full for anyone who arrives via an old link.
Current writing lives at SiliconANGLE.
Why is the Australian media silent on Chk-Chk-Boom Girl?
I wrote on Sunday asking what Channel Nine’s role was in the Chk-Chk-Boom Girl scam. Chk-Chk-Boom Girl appeared on A Current Affair (ACA) last night, and you’ve probably never seen a softer interview. Clare Werbeloff claimed on camera that she saw a camera, and ran up to it, and magically came up with a story […]
What was Channel Nine’s role in the Chk-Chk-Boom scam?
Days after Clare “chk-chk boom” Werbeloff was exposed as a fraud online, the Australian newspapers have finally caught up. According to reports, “she has also signed a contract with Channel Nine’s A Current Affair and is likely to appear tomorrow night” and that she wouldn’t be speaking to any other media outlet. That would be […]
What if the problem wasn’t Rugby League’s alone?
This whole debate over player behavior in Rugby League is bizarre. On the radio the other morning, John Faine went as far as comparing RL to AFL, suggesting that the problem was one of Rugby League’s alone. Of course that’s bollocks. Anyone who has ever been around a football club of any code knows that […]
Australia’s bogan viral sensation may be a fraud
What does it say about our country that our best viral video exports are usually bogans? I’ll leave that argument for another day. If you haven’t seen it yet, this video is so big at the moment that News.com.au has a related story as its current lead (image above)….ironically (well, maybe not) with a Corey […]
In response to Mark Pesce
On Nick Hodge’s excellent video podcast last night, noted futurist Mark Pesce said (and I quote) that I should “shut the fuck up.” He’s entitled to his views, but it’s what he said around it that I take offense at (and the reason I’m writing this post), in particular the idea that I ignore the […]
The last unpublished This Week in Geek
I quit the weekly column at Crikey today, and they chose not to publish the last one. Why let it go to waste though. The stories that I cut before submitting (and are not below) were a Huffington Post internship selling for $13k, a new round for BlogHer, and a piece asking why The Gruen […]
Where’s the NBN Debt Provision in the Budget?
As I noted last night, besides some small related investments, there was no additional funding allocated to the NBN in the 09/10 budget, leaving a $38.3b short fall. The Government has previously said that the NBN would raise money via infrastructure bonds, but wouldn’t these bonds count as debt? The on the books catch is […]
Budget 09-10: NBN and Censorship
Repeat after me….repeat after me….polly want a cracker….. least that’s what we got with tonights budget when it came to the NBN. Mentioned by Wayne Swan, and naturally trumpeted by Stephen Conroy (in a press release) new funding for the NBN itself in this years budget was….wait for it….$0. You don’t have to believe me […]
Censorship related funding to watch for in the Budget
Budget night Tuesday night. Although the Government’s “cyber safety” policy was costed in last years budget, the massive change to Government finances could see a revision to what was announced last year. Here’s what to look for. Last years costings here as the start point. $125.8m total. ISP funding The original commitment included “a one?¢‚Ǩ‚Äòoff […]
One time I wish I wasn’t right
The Register: Aussie censors implement six degrees of separation policy This article received massive attention overseas since it was published late last week, including top of Reddit and Digg. It notes that EFA received a link deletion notice for “linking to a link to allegedly harmful content.” The crux confirms a concept I mentioned in […]
Inquisitr’s 1st birthday + April stats
First birthday post on The Inquisitr here. I won’t do a huge stats post this month. Short version: 2.34m page views, just over February’s previous record of 2.31m I also managed to screw up the GAnalytics code this month, so there’s a day and a half missing in the total count. I’m guessing the total […]