 | |
 |
I got something of a giggle out of this sequence of stories coming out of the RSS feed of Melbourne’s The Age newspaper:
Firstly, Mike Hussey retires from test cricket with a victory – (twice, mind you) – circled in green, followed by continuing live commentary of the cricket, circled in red – (remember of course, RSS goes in reverse chronological order).
Afterwards.
Live. From just a few moments ago.
In this the 2012 edition of my ‘posts of the year’, we have a decidedly NBN flavour, with the statistically most popular article on my site in nine of the twelve months being NBN related.
Yes I do write about the NBN quite a bit, but that these articles are so popular on my site shows just how important the NBN has become in the national debate. People want information on it, and I try to give it as clearly and as accurately as I can.
Here now, the most popular monthly articles…enjoy!
A curious piece of programming on a web form on the Optus Rewards website caught quite a bit of attention in January. While it was most likely not deliberately sexist, the release into production of such a badly written form was more than a bit of a concern.
“However, I am still concerned that a form such as this was released into production in this condition. What happened to their User Acceptance Testing (UAT)? Why does ANYONE think you need to check the title against gender to go to the bother of programming such a check into the code?”
Starting a year of flip-flopping and inconsistent statements from opposition communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, support was stated for running fibre down every street, whilst simultaneously standing against such a thing. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?
“So he’s praising a solution that runs fibre down every street, while bagging the NBN FTTP network, which runs fibre down every street?”
In March, Turnbull’s partner in crime Paul Fletcher went on the attack about various aspects of the NBN and its rollout. Interestingly, much of his attack was in complete contradiction to what he wrote in his own book some years earlier!
“How does it follow that the Optus network failed because it couldn’t win enough of Telstra’s customers, that the NBN will fail given that it will gain almost all of Telstra’s customers?”
Still on the NBN, Queensland MP Andrew Laming exploded in a rage of inaccurate dribble one night on Twitter, and ended up cracking the sads by blocking people who disagreed with him. As it turned out, Laming’s own “social media policy” described how politicians shouldn’t get into online slanging matches, and how blocking constituents was “the most damaging thing” a politician could do online. But he did it anyway.
“Far from pork-barrelling, the ALP had little or no influence on the chosen POI locations, as it was based on the location of existing fibre, layed out over the years, based on market needs.”
Rolling into May, the media were going on a “do we really need the NBN?” crusade. After only 30 minutes of searching, I found a whole swathe of communities begging for the arrival of the network, as soon as possible.
“When you subtract all the “tasty soundbites” from each of the government, the opposition, and the various slants of the major news outlets, and actually listen to Australians, it is wanted and it is needed.”
A major version upgrade to Google’s Chrome web browser brought with it a change in policy with regards to the default levels of acceptable cryptography with certificates, catching out many who were using self-signed certificates. A little research and testing, and I found the answer.
“This error seems to occur when the self-signed certificates are hashed with the MD5 algorithm. This is not uncommon, as the example certificate creation routine supplied by OpenSSL, which most people follow, runs through an example that uses the MD5 algorithm, which Chrome appears to be declaring to be too weak a hashing algorithm.”
In keeping with his apparent plan to keep as much coalition broadband policy invisible as possible, Malcolm Turnbull carried on ignoring questions about his alternative policy, from anyone who asked them. High-profile technology site Delimiter was the main outlet probing Turnbull, who finally got around to answering some of the questions in late November, even if the answers were vague. And they were vague.
“If he disputed it, he thinks it is wrong. If he thinks it is wrong, he must know – (at least in a ballpark kind of way) – what the cost will be, to know that Citigroup’s figure is wrong. Leading to the possible conclusion that he either doesn’t know the cost, or doesn’t want to tell us the cost.”
August saw the release of NBN Co’s updated business plan, and the inevitable shouties from the anti-NBN media. I took some time to consume its contents, and provided my view on what the updated plan offered.
“Overall, you won’t see these positive points in coverage from the major media outlets, yet they show quite clearly that progress on the build of the NBN – albeit slow on the surface – is ready to explode.”
In the midst of his ‘I no answer your question’ period, Turnbull started demanding answers to his own questions. Many people laughed.
“Yet he can’t be honest and answer reasonable questions about his alternative NBN policy, or have the courage to release his policy for comparison.”
With more information emerging in regards to NBN revenue streams as applied to the current business plan, I was able to do some rather simple calculations as to what sort of revenues NBN Co should be expecting over the life of the project – and the numbers were quite surprising to many.
“Not bad for a “white elephant” that will never pay for itself! It should also be pointed out that NBN Co didn’t start charging ISPs until October 2011.”
Getting away from the NBN for a moment, but staying with government technology policy, November finally saw the official death of the much hated “mandatory internet filter”, as previously promised by Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy. There was much rejoicing.
“In a significant backdown by the Australian Government, the mandatory ISP-level internet filter previously proposed for Australia, has now been officially buried.”
To finish off the year, and in another example of how the mainstream media in Australia will use just about any vague of the very vague NBN connections to create a story, we were presented with this completely boneheaded article. Laughter was ample.
“Well, the Australian mainstream media are at it again, using misleading headlines to try and trumpet misfortune upon the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN).”
Yeah, no…
You really shouldn’t rely on the EXIF information stored in your image to provide the caption for your image.
| Outrage As Qantas Says No To American Staffordshire Terriers |
Oops!
In the wake of the recent wrong-way freeway accident at Lara in which five people were killed, authorities have necessarily been reviewing how such incidents might be prevented in the future.
Particularly since there have been more incidents since this major accident, on the same stretch of road:
| Wrong-way Crash Audit |
“The review came as a police source revealed yesterday another motorist had been nabbed driving on the wrong side of the freeway just 24 hours after the December 8 accident.”
Terry Mulder, the Victorian Minister for Transport, suggests that the “review will assess road infrastructure, such as signage and line marking, to ensure they achieve national standards.”
Newsflash – a few signs and line markings won’t stop people from getting onto the wrong side of a freeway.
Drunk people, suicidal people, or just plain stupid people aren’t going to heed a few warning signs or lines on the road.
How about something like this?
Spikes.
These can lay dormant and non-protruding on freeway on-ramps and off-ramps, and be designed to pop up when a car is detected – (by radar or road sensor loop) – travelling the wrong way.
They won’t get onto a freeway.
Harsh? Maybe.
But five people dying unnecessarily is harsher.
For the last week or so, 3G coverage from Vodafone has been VERY spotty in my area, after being almost perfect since my switch from Telstra a couple of years ago.
Despite the cries of “Vodafail” from many customers, I’ve not experienced any significant issues in my time with the carrier.
With respect to the current issues, I gave them a little time to address the problem, as there were outages already listed in my area linked to the apparent problem, so I figured they must be onto it.
Noting yesterday that the fault listed on their website had changed status from “Open” to “Closed”, I found it curious that the problem was apparently not resolved at all.
I queried this with Vodafone’s Twitter service account, and I’ve been providing them with descriptions of the problem, screen shots, and other observations to help them along.
It has been showing all the classic signs of a congested cell. The phone dropping to “SOS Only” quite often, and not being able to make or receive calls.
There are times when you seem to have five bars of service, but not being able to make or receive a call, send or receive SMS messages, and unable to use 3G data.
There are times when there a no signal bars at all, but the service appears to be connected – (the “3G” indicator being shown, as below) – but still not being able to do anything in 3G mode.
From time to time, things seem to work okay – so it definitely appears to be a congestion issue, else it would a problem all of the time.
For the record, 2G services appear functional, but that’s no good when you’re paying for a 3G service.
The issue was referred to their network guys for investigation – one of whom contacted me this afternoon to advise that it was indeed a cell congestion problem, and that three new towers were to be deployed in the area.
They decided that since yesterday huh?
He confirmed that “an increase of subscribers in the area” was the root cause of the problem.
Given the rate at which Vodafone has been losing customers of late, an “increase” in subscribers should be something they are celebrating – but I digress.
Here’s the kicker though – he said it would take until April to rectify.
April? Four months?
That is 16% of my 24-month contract period, and I can’t have a properly functioning service whenever I’m home?
I’m usually relatively even-tempered when it comes to problems with telecommunications services. Given I work in the industry, I appreciate that things do go wrong, and they can be difficult to resolve…
…but FOUR months?
I really hope this doesn’t turn into a long running saga, but I’m putting this out here now – because it could easily become one.
The most curious thing to me is that yesterday they declared the issue resolved, yet today they need three more towers. Given that subscribers in the area are apparently “increasing”, surely they already knew this was coming? It wouldn’t – (or shouldn’t) – be perfectly fine one day, and this bad the next.
Apparently, the network was upgraded in the area a little over 12 months ago:
Given the current status of services in the area, I’m somewhat less than convinced.
Somewhat a lot.
It doesn’t seem to add up.
Lease some coverage from other carriers perhaps?
You’re being watched Vodafone – so you better come up with something a little better than your current response.
And before April, thanks.
There is a lot of huff and puff spreading online in regards to the change of policy with the social media photo-sharing application, Instagram, which allows it to perpetually sell user photos without payment or notification.
While – (as I’m not a lawyer) – I’m not going to attempt to decipher at any level of detail what the policy change does and does not mean, I would make this fairly common sense observation.
If you don’t like it, leave Instagram. Stop using it.
Remember, there are other photo-sharing tools to be found online.
The most ironic response I’ve so far seen is the creation of this Facebook group, entitled “Hey Instagram, Hands off my photos!”, and which was pointed to by Green Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
The group description espouses:
“Let Instagram know that our photos belong to us and we have the right to control how they are used and whether or not our information is sold to advertisers.”
The first irony is that Facebook owns Instagram.
| $1b Deal: Facebook Buys Instagram Mobile Photo Sharing App |
The second is the fact that Facebook sells personal data to advertisers too, so complaining about Instagram making this policy change, on the platform created by its owners seems to miss the point.
They should complain about Facebook too.
It could – (and has) – been argued that the creation of the group is designed to send a message to both Instagram and Facebook.
My observation is that I would find it most likely, that most users of either or both services don’t even know about the relationship between the two.
Social media is riddled with this business model.
How does the advertiser promoting the current Icehouse tour know to put their advertisement on my Facebook home page?
Because as a long time Icehouse fan, I’ve ‘liked’ their official fan page. Facebook provides that information to the advertiser, so the advert can be directed to me.
Specifically to me as an Icehouse fan.
Very efficient.
A number of betting agencies target my account with Essendon Football Club branded advertising, because Facebook knows I’m an Essendon supporter, and tells the advertising agencies so.
How do you think Facebook makes squillions of dollars, without charging their users a single cent?
It is the information they collect about you, which they can and do sell as a service to advertisers, who know they will get to exactly the people they want to get to.
The would be no point sending an Essendon branded advert to a Collingwood fan.
Given the hate/hate relationship between the two football clubs, mixing this up in your advertising could actually harm your standing with the person you sent the wrong version of the advert to, and you’d have spent money doing it.
Not so efficient.
The simple fact is, if you don’t want personal information or content to be used for the financial goals of the social media sites you provide that information or content to, don’t provide it to them.
Remember, anything you put online, stays online, somewhere – and can be used by anyone who finds it – with or without your permission.
Participate or not – it’s your choice.
Regular readers may remember the laughable effort displayed towards me by Andrew Laming when dealing with criticism of his position of the National Broadband Network (NBN) back in April this year.
Andrew ended up blocking me on Twitter – (which he is perfectly entitled to do) – and I thought nothing of it until I discovered his very own social media policy, which he prepared for ‘all politicians’:
“Politicians reaching out to their communities via social media should avoid getting into public slanging matches with critics.”
“…disconnecting or blocking constituents is ‘the most damaging thing a candidate can do’…”
Andrew got into a very public slanging match that night in April, and he blocked me – thereby completely ignoring his own “policy”.
Tonight, the post I made in April came up in another conversation online, and Andrew tried to have a go at me, labelling it a “fabrication”:
“TWEET: @mwyres @janeelot @AndrewLamingMP Michael, nice fabrication. Am neither wrong, nor bothered to even waste a click blocking you. Welcome back”
I stand by my original comments for which I labelled Laming “wrong”.
Laming also doesn’t think he “wasted a click” blocking me.
Are you sure about that Andrew?
While I can see the tweet via a search – (blocking a person doesn’t remove their tweets from search results):
This is what happens when I try and view the tweet individually:
And this is what happens when I try and view his timeline:
So, you’ve “not bothered” to block me, Andrew?
I call bullshit, but I do apologise for you having to waste a click on me in April.
You blocked me then, and I’m still blocked now, despite your protestation that you did no such thing.
Secondly, aren’t you supposed to be staying off Twitter, in case of “stuff ups and scandals”?
Well, you stuffed up again, pal.
I’ll give you some advice Andrew – the internet never forgets.
Current score is: Wyres 2, Laming 0.
UPDATE: 18/12/2012 13:56: I have been reliably informed that Laming has been blocking other people who tried to call him out on his lies last night. What’s the matter Andrew? Don’t want to face up to a little truth? Sorry about that.
So much for not blocking people because it’s the “most damaging thing a candidate can do.”
Have you blocked this guy? I bet you haven’t – because he agreed with you.
Well, the Australian mainstream media are at it again, using misleading headlines to try and trumpet misfortune upon the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Here’s the latest effort:
| NBN Contractor To Lay Off 160 Workers |
And this is how it looked on the front of The Age website:
The blurb says:
“NBN contractor to lay off 160 workers: Construction company Silcar is set to lay-off 160 employees [in] January next year.”
The headline and blurb tries to scream out “Hey look! NBN employees being laid off!”. It makes no mention of the fact that the lay-off has nothing to do with the NBN at all.
Here’s what the article says:
“CONSTRUCTION company Silcar, which has won a significant slice of the NBN building contract, is set to lay-off 160 employees [in] January next year.”
“The company said in a brief statement that it would terminate the employment of 160 staffs (sic) after it lost the maintenance services contract with BlueScope Steel at its Western Point site.”
So nothing to do with the NBN in any way. So why do the headline?
Yup – just like the last one I spotted – it’s all about sensationalist bullshit.
How about reporting the news accurately without sensationalising?
Media fail, once again.
While the recent announcement of the addition of 40 new carriages to the V/Line fleet is welcome after years of overcrowding, particularly on the Geelong and Ballarat lines, I believe that an important point has been missed.
| State Government To Buy 40 New V/Line Carriages |
“Mr Mulder said today the Government would spent about $207 million on 40 carriages. The carriages equate to seven three-carriage trains. The remaining 19 carriages will be used to bump existing two-car trains up to three.”
This is interesting because in November 2008, the “flagship” services between Melbourne and Geelong were upgraded from six carriages to seven carriages. This was achieved by coupling a three-car set with a pair of two-car sets to provide seven carriages.
The single platforms at South Geelong and Marshall, and both of platforms five and six at North Melbourne were extended to cater for the increased length of the consists.
Except there won’t be any two-car V’Locity sets left after this order is completed. So consists can only be in multiples of three carriages.
Three, six or nine.
We won’t see nine, as the platforms aren’t long enough – so the longest V’Locity consists we will see are six carriages long.
The money specifically spent extending the platforms to host seven carriages has effectively been wasted.
Now, it could be argued that the additional seven V’Locity sets will allow more trains to be run to cover the drop in carriages numbers making individual services – and that yet may happen.
That would certainly be welcome.
However, the government has not yet committed to the increase of services:
“A V/Line spokeswoman said the Baillieu government had not yet accepted its proposal to run off-peak Melbourne-Geelong trains every 20 minutes.”
The bottom line is, even if the number of operating services increases to compensate for the loss of carriages – (and therefore seats) – on individual services, the loss of two-carriage V’Locity sets also decreases the flexibility of the fleet.
Two-carriage consists, and five-carriage consists will also no longer be possible.
It means that services that might previously have run with a single two-carriage set will now have to run with three-carriages – which will increase fuel usage by 50% for those services.
Previous five-carriage services either have to decrease to three carriages – (a service reduction) – or increase to six carriages – (extra fuel usage) – to operate.
This just doesn’t seem all that well thought out.
If they went for 42 new carriages instead of 40, we could have 14 more three-carriage sets – (instead of just seven) – and we could maintain the flexibility of having two-car sets in the fleet.
They could also run even more extra services, because instead of 58 V/Locity sets they will end up with after this new order, they would have 65 sets.
Extra carriages are great – (and welcome) – but every silver lining has its very own grey cloud.
Yesterday’s 2012 Sydney Telstra 500 marked the end of the first era of V8 Supercars, which started way back at the 1992 Sandown 500.
With the end of the current regulations, new cars are to be introduced for 2013 – the upcoming VF Holden Commodore, the FG Mark 2 Ford Falcon, the Nissan Altima, and the Mercedes E63 AMG.
Prototypes of the Holden, the Ford, and the Nissan were demonstrated on track yesterday.
The future will be different, but the future looks bright.