Moving this blog to Wordpress -- go there for the new stuff

I am somewhere in the process of moing this blog to Wordpress on its own server -- now properly and accurately at stephen-turner.net. But there seems to be no end of problems to the import/export process, to the point that I don't even know if it will happen properly.

So I suspect I might just start fresh at stephen-turner.net, and leave this here as an archive. There's enough links in the article to find your way there, so go for it!

And the good thing is, if I can ever figure out the import process, all past posts will be at my new locationm very soon anyway.

Frustrated

Frustrated because my blog isn't publishing but I won't stop writing on it anyway.

Frustrated because I really don't know why it isn't working.

Frustrated because I've setup a new site but I can't use it yet.

Frustrated because the import function in Wordpress scan't find my posts in Blogger.

Frustrated because that just slows everything down.

Frustrated by the seeming lack of time in every night.

Frustrated by CNET -- it should have been bettter but it isn't, and I'm still there.

Frustrated because I stil don't know where the money is coming from.

Frustrated by the huge delay when typing in Blogger!

Not frustrated by the last episode of Burn Notice tonight -- damn good. NCIS is back next week.

Not frustrated by my new job, but a litte frustrated by the fact I haven't started yet!

Not frustrated, because it is time for sleep ...

Joss Whedon's online comic book comedy musical!

Now that was a mouthful! Word from various sources is that Joss Whedon has written and is currently filming a short online film -- an oddball comic book musical with some fairly well known actors and well known collaborators.

Found this at the Whedonesque blog, best if I just let Joss explain in his own words:

So.....

The bag is catless.

During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed, his fiancee Maurissa, and my other brother Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it. To my greater shock and surprise, we managed (with the help of many people I'll be praising at length soon) to drag it into preproduction (yes, just as DOLLHOUSE was given a start date two months away and all my comics were due.) And today, after a grueling week of writing everything ever while trying to be a producer, I got to start shooting. A musical.

This much I will say: It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life.

"DOCTOR HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG"

Neil Patrick Harris.....as Dr. Horrible
Nathan Fillion..........as Captain Hammer
Felicia Day.............as Penny

And a cast of Dozens!

Coming soon.

-j.

I already forsee this as the next mega Internet viral hit -- and it's one I actually want to watch this time :)

Domains, servers and getting things right

At the moment no one can really read this even, so it seems a bit dumb, but I do want to keep up the habit.

Either way, that shouldn't last for long, as tonight I've set up a new decent web space account, and am setting up Wordpress to go with it (where I can have also raw pages, FTP servers, databases, wikis, message boards -- in short, anything I feel like). No more Blogger for me I've decided, and I want to be able to transfer all the data from this to the new site, and really get this looking professional.

I mean, this new setup isn't even that hard or that expensive, but it will be seriously better quality -- just what I need.

And naturally, when the site is up and running, first job will be pics on the Underbelly story :)

In other news, the NRL started tonight, and I'm 0 for 2 in tipping already. And the Kings lost the last game of the finals as well.

That would seem to mark the end of Summer, not that you can tell from the sudden warm spell.

Toys for big kids ...

While it's undoubtedly childish, it's also incredibly fun ... a guy in the US has started making custom weapons for Lego figures. Everything from world war 2 weapons to pulse rifles from Aliens and everything fictional and real in-between. Check out the pics at the Brickarms site or a Gizmodo interview with the creator.

It's funny really the new life that Lego has online ... adults who are either recapturing their childhood, or enjoying a new one with their kids are becoming Lego fans in a big way. And the Lego company has responded pretty well to this, providing custom brick sales and bulk sales of specialist pieces. And it's not even that childish of course -- adult creators are building complicated models and doing scientific designs, but most of all they're just having fun with it.

I can get behind that ... and while I haven't bought any new Lego yet, I would really like to. Both to get Will and Alex into it more, but also for my own fun :)

300 posts and other things that couldn't happen soon enough

I noticed when I really got back into the blog at the start of this year that I was barely over 200 posts in the whole history of the blog. Now this is post 300, which is quite a pace -- and I like to think they're useful posts as well.

My personal highlight has been the Underbelly characters post, though I wish of course I'd een able to get the pics working on that one. And the minor post on the Google law suit with the real estate guys ended up being the most popular thing Ive done -- who knew that shonky real estate agents had so much Google juice!

As for everything else, now I wish that my current job would just end, and fortunately enough it will soon enough ... but I have to do as much as I can to keep in contact with people.

And the new job is a big challenge, one I start to get an idea of on Thursday with a half day's training (on my birthday -- the upside being the rest of the day off!)

Making and breaking

Now that I'm letting myself think I can afford a few things, I am thinking about how to move the PC from the loungeroom (where it's mostly a media centre but terrible for the task) back to the office/sunroom where it can be used more usefully, especially by Sallie, who's sick of a nine year old laptop she uses for everything. And in its place, I'm looking at building a small, low power, media PCthat will be stripped down in features, quiet and easy to use, but do everything it needs to and be on the house network.

While working at home today, I spent some time researching all these mini-ITX motherboards and low voltage power supplies and other things for very cheap operation of a good media PC. This page is especially useful, just run by some college student in the US, but it really gave me tonnes of ideas. Even in the local lingo, I could do it for as little as $250, and I can see some wooden casemod plans in my future.

In other news, the blog still isn't fixed, but that will be in action by the end of the week ... ha ha ...

Nothing technical is working ... everything else is good

Lunch at the parent's today, with Will positively gidy dwith joy at having the backyard to walk through, to sit by the barbecue fire with his Granddad, and run himself ragged up and down stairs to the sundeck. Alex just enjoyed the walking practice and the exploration. A fun afternoon.

But back here, this blog isn't really even working right now -- I suspect crap Optus web space is to blame -- so no one is even reading this! At the end of the week when I get paid, I am signing up for some real web space, converting all of this to Wordpress and diverting the domain for real. That will make it all legit, properly set-up and actually let me do things properly, like upload images. Then this site will really get the detail it deserves, and that will only cost about $50 a year!

And the media centre is mental, with the D drive crazy on that PC only. Something has got to change there ... depends on the layout and the money.

And for the first time in years, we might just have the money for that ...

I've got a new day job

Yes, this came about pretty suddenly, even for me.

It's no real secret that I haven't been that happy with my current job. Great company, not so great position within it. All the fringe benefits in the world couldn't make up for a job that was restrictive, uninspiring, unexciting and woeful compared to everyone around me.

So I was looking around. Then in the space of less than a week, I applied for a job on Monday night, got a call on Tuesday, went to an interview on Wednesday morning, was offered the job Wednesday afternoon, accepted on Thursday afternoon and sent away the acceptance letter, then gave notice at my current job on Friday afternoon. Just like that.

And the new job ... well, very interesting. Its title is Web Producer, for a magazine, so I'll be in charge of the whole web presence and operation for the title. There's a hell of a good pay rise in it, which is always a good thing.

And it's for Australian Penthouse magazine. Yes, that's exactly what you think it is.

So while it's not all you know what all the time, there will be a lot of it :) But I'll also be establishing a men's lifestyle/entertainment web destination, something that should actually have a lot of variety. And a whole lot of other stuff as well ...

I case you are wondering, the wife doesn't mind at all -- she's most definitely amused, but also happy with the pay rise and the new responsibilities, and I'm trustworthy :)

Needless to say, I'm very impressed with the whole situation :)

A day of frustration, with fun links ...

A day that started off OK, then ended up feeling really frustrating, at least in a professional sense. Some amusement in the morning that at least gave me the illusion of being involved, but then an afternoon that dragged on and on with no end in sight. It usually ends eventually of course, but then usually much later than everyone else there.

However, Happy Birthday Mum! Won't say how old she is here, but it's a major, even age.

Some amusing and interesting links this afternoon though:

Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?
Is this brilliance or idiocy? Hard to say really, but it is in the tech section, so I can't really complain about their political seriousness. Kind of a funny idea though, but it does have a fairly thorough examination of their websites. Someone should forward this to John Hodgman and see what he thinks :)

Time Space Map
Now if this is handled well, this could really be a great site. A Google Maps mashup that is a bit like Wikimapia, but takes the 4th dimension, allowing you to plot history on the site. Will develop as people add to it, but could be a great resource.

Angry Journalist
Now I can see myself adding to this one ... on some days anyway. Basically an anonymous complaints box where you can write and read angry comments on the profession. Sometimes inspiringly true, sometimes sad, sometimes pathetic.

Let's make tomorrow better ...

Morning is for the logical, night-time the creative

Been going through freelance journalist Clive Thompson's blog today -- he's a regular writer for Wired and New York magazine, two excellent publications.

A couple of months ago, he wrote about a study that identifies morning people as logical, and night-owls as creative. I can't say I disagree :)

I like to think of myself as creative, and I know I've always been a night person more than a morning person, so this study certainly agrees with me. But on the other hand, I've known lots of creative people who get up early to work, and I imagine there's some mathematicians who love to work through the night, so it hardly seems conclusive.

But it's always good to see a study that seems to mirror experience.

Six-word biography

There's a bit of a "web meme" thing going around right now where writers famous and anonymous are writing six-word biographies that sum up their lives to date.

Sounds fun, I can be in this too ... wouldn't promise this as a lasting example, but here's my thought on it at 2am on a Sunday morning:


Met girl. Had kids. Wrote stuff.


Good for a start I think ...

Underbelly: Ridiculous media suppression

So everyone now knows that Underbelly has been banned from airing in Victoria, and banned from the Internet altogether. But the reasoning behind this and the ridiculousness of it all in the modern media age is what I want to mention here.

Basically, the judge's thinking goes: We have a murder trial coming up, the series relates to the trial, therefore showing the series will pollute the jury pool, therefore the series can't be shown until the trial is over. I think they'd ban it in the whole country if they could, but I doubt the Victorian Supreme Court has that power.

But why just the series? Underbelly is based on books that have been available for years. They're still on sale. And there's websites and news articles everywhere that are all still freely available.

And here's the ridiculous part: this has all come about due to a trial where the defendants name is suppressed and the case is not mentioned. So we can't even know who is stopping this, or how the case relates to Underbelly (reminder: I'm in NSW so this is only an academic interest in the ban -- I'll watch this with everyone else in Sydney tonight).

Except ... we can. Five minutes of research on Google told me exactly who the suspect is, who was murdered, and exactly how the case relates to Underbelly and some of the characters in the series. I won't say it explicitly here, but read this article from a very major Victorian newspaper, and you will know all.

That's the stupid thing about these bans now. In the distant past, it would have worked, because newspapers were a day to day affair, old news went away, and people forgot. Now everything is there for us all the time, news old and new.

And of course, the last point is that Underbelly will now probably be the most BitTorrented Australian series of all time. Usually there isn't much incentive to get local shows on BitTorrent. But for thousands of Victorians, they now have plenty of reasons. And archaic laws declare they could actually somehow be in contempt of court for doing so (let alone breaching copyright).

So when will the courts wake up and notice what century we live in?

Underbelly: Bad luck if you're in Victoria ... or ...

News in today that a Supreme Court judge has banned Underbelly from being shown on Victoria television. Sucks if you're in Victoria, so being in Sydney, this isn't a problem for me. But it's an exact replica of the Blue Murder situation from 1995, where ongoing trials stopped the show from being aired in NSW for five years.

But one we have now (and didn't have then) is the Internet. In the short term, it appears this Victorian decision has also seriously damaged Nine's online promotion ambitions. All videos from their offical site have been removed -- even the brief promos. I expect if this is really being enforced, then other clips from other sites will be removed as well.

Of course, this should also mean that Underbelly will be one of the most BitTorrented Australian shows ever. If you've ever looked for Australian show torrents, they're usually light on the ground. But this one will definitely rocket up there -- simple supply and demand. The people who can't watch it (Victorians) will find a way, and that way will be BitTorrent (as many of them are used to for US shows now).

Ironically, this won't be Nine's fault, but they will still lose out on the audience. I can almost see the judge's point, but I think it's about time they gave up trying to enforce these draconiam bans -- they just don't work anymore in the Internet age.

(And yes, I really must get my Underbelly feature up tomorrow morning -- damn image uploading!)

Damn Google ... or Optus ... or something ...

It is so incredibly annoying when things don't work properly. Especially when you don't even know what it is that's stopped working.

Since at least yesterday morning, my blog posts have gone a bit weird. Can't get any images to upload properly (missing my wonderful image of the Deschanel sisters from the previous post!), and posts themselves, while being added to the index, aren't having their unique page created.

If I could blame Blogger I would, but there's no info and I'm sure others would be affected. If I could blame Optus I would, but why would their servers just stop accepting images (wondering if it's an issue with *new* files, since the index is an existing file being updated).

Anyway ... it's annoying! And it's giving me some serious trouble with posting my big Underbelly feature before Wednesday, when the series premieres.

Dumbest lawsuit EVER

This story caught my eye because it's about Google, but man, the stupidity and ignorance of some people is astounding ...

Real estate agents launch defamation action against Google

Two Victorian real estate agents have launched a defamation action against the search engine company Google.

Counsel for agents Mark Forytarz and Paul Castran of Castran Gilbert, appeared in the Supreme Court today for a directions hearing, alleging their clients have been defamed by articles found via Google searches.

That's right! They're not suing Google because of something Google did, they're suing Google because another site had an article about them they didn't like, and Google wouldn't remove the link! Apart from the sheer idiocy of this, and Google's complete lack of obligation to remove links they don't like, these people have defeated their own purpose already.

By committing to such a stupid lawsuit, and getting all the attendant (bad) publicity, it now takes just seconds to find out what they're suing over!

Go here -- this is the article, at Melbourne Indymedia, and author Richard Jenman's Web site also. I mean, did these two get sued as well? Not that they deserve it, but they must have been targets.

Do you hear that Mark Forytarz and Paul Castran? That is the sound of the world world laughing at you. You two are complete and utter fools, because now I know what you did, and can tell the whole world, and so can everyone else. If you had left this alone, who would notice?

Now I think I see what is happening -- they are essentially suing over Google's algorithm. Because so many other people have linked to these jokers names to expose them, the Google algorithm has placed these articles highly. It's so funny they can't seen the problem here -- now stories about this case will put their names at the top of Google for all the wrong reasons, again!

I'd like to see this case go to trial, please. SHould be good for a laugh.

Things I know today:

It can still be dark in the morning in the middle of summer.

A mobile phone just isn't good enough anymore as an alarm (where's my Chumby!)

A three-year-old will usually tell you he hates things even when he doesn't, especially first thing in the morning.

My salary isn't going far enough, at least based on what I have to do every month.

If it can rain this summer, it will -- always.

My job really is office-optional -- when you sit at a desk using a web browser and communicating via YIM, you really can do that anywhere. If they want me to be there for a reason, they should invite me to a meeting or something.

The work day never goes fast enough.

Northern State are really, really good! Thank goodness for being allowed to listen to music at work, listening to their album "Can I Keep This Pen" and having my own private party :) Fun, fun, fun ... both poppy, good clever rap and great beats. Love the girls, wonder why they aren't more well known. This is the good and bad of the music industry right here -- it's great they can make a go of it themselves without a major label, but it's ridiculous they aren't high on the charts. They make music that would have commercial appeal -- if enough people heard it.

Apparently it always has to rain right when I'm going home. Always ... this summer at least.

The kids are both at an age where they're either asleep when I get home, or soon will be. Oh well, I guess there's always the weekend.

Mary Louise Parker is really hot, and Weeds is really funny. Except when it's dark and serious. Which works too. It can often be both at the same time, which is even better.

I always go to bed too late, even when I don't mean to.

The unsaid truths about the Microsoft/Yahoo deal

Naturally been reading a lot about this deal, mostly at work, but a little in my own time as well, and it's quite interesting to see the varied coverage. Mainstream media are just fawning over Microsoft as usual, talking up how clever they are, but as usual, they've missed the point. Tech news has been smarter, but I've rarely read a few key points.

The most interesting to me is that this is a clear admission of absolute failure by Microsoft. They still dominate the desktop and OSs and make huge money from those sectors, no matter how lumbering they appear. But they have absolutely failed in the online space. Spectacularly so.

They are saying loud and clear that they can't compete with Google at all where they are now, so this is what they need to do to try and get somewhere against them -- the biggest aquisition deal in their company's history. They still have a tonne of cash on hand, so an aquisition deal is all they've got left.

(A far cry from the "Microsoft backs Google into a corner" rubbish that some media is running with.)

Secondly, if they think this deal is all about search and advertising, they're probably going about it the wrong way again. Even combined, Microsoft/Yahoo still only represent about 30 percent of the online search/ad market, still less than half of what Google have. What they should be doing is looking at their strengths and Yahoo's strengths -- online applications and e-mail. I think Gmail is the best, but the market shows Yahoo's e-mail is the biggest. And Microsoft has the obvious advantage in application software, which could work very well combined with Yahoo's consumer online know-how.

Instead, they're trying to take on Google at what they do best -- search and advertising. Contrast this with Google's approach, and what helped them to dominance. Google didn't take on Microsoft directly for a number of years, instead working on two fields Microsoft had little direct initial interest in. And as Google came to dominate there, they could branch out more, then Microsoft saw the danger from this new rival.

So if Microsoft wants to fight back against Google, is trying to attack them directly the right way to go, when Google did the opposite in return to begin with? Only time will tell I guess, but there's a long way to go in this whole battle.

The other biggest issue is integration of product -- does Microsoft want to become more like Yahoo online, or make Yahoo more like Microsoft? The former would make more sense (and more likely bring success), but the latter seems more likely given Microsoft's history -- and more likely to ruin this deal. Yahoo have created and bought a good set of consumer online properties, while Microsoft have had very limp success, if not outright failure. Microsoft just doesn't seem to know how to reach consumers online, while Yahoo have done very well in that aspect of their business.

People joined Flickr and deli.cio.us because of the quality of service and innovation they offered. Microsoft just didn't have that and still don't, despite the resources they have. If Flickr ends up looking like Windows Live Photos, people will leave in droves, because that's not what they signed up for.

So really, if Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo for their user base, the best advice they could take would be to not drastically change the Yahoo properties at all.

There's so many other issues (such as corporate culture, Yahoo's embrace of open source vs Microsoft's hate and the Australian implications with NineMSN vs Yahoo7), but these above points are mostly being overlooked.

Addendum: Will people stop talking about Microsoft's monopoly and Google's "monopoly" as if they're the same thing produced in the same way? The legal status of monopoly doesn't come from dominating a market alone, it comes from dominating a market then abusing that power to keep the monopoly by crushing, damaging or abusing competitors. There's been an abundance of information over the years to show how Microsoft did that, but none as yet, as to how Google might do that. The worst Google seems to get is speculation on how they *might* abuse their power -- but they haven't done it yet.

(Wow ... that's the most I've written about technology for a while ...!)

Can't help it ... have to mention this one ...

I know the methodology is dubious, and I know it doesn't say much except how stupid the viewers of a certain UK TV channel are, but ... damn ... this one is funny, and worth mentioning:

Nearly quarter of Brits think Churchill a myth: poll

Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll which shows nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth, while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

Read the whole thing -- I dare you to.

While I know the headline is the worst, conflating a guaranteed-not-very-scientific poll with a national trend for their whole country, but seriously, who could possibly be under the impression that Winston Churchill and Gandhi were fictional? It's just nuts ...

The article also mentions Florence Nightingale and Richard the Lionheart as other figures believed "fictional" by a large percentage, and while I think they're slightly different and slightly more forgivable examples, it still reaks of extraordinary stupidity. Florence and Richard are both very real of course, but both people that are imbued with plenty of popular myth to go with their reality -- not to mention lacking obvious film of them a la Churchill and Gandhi.

But still, where are these people that were polled and what can we do about them?!?!

An 18-year-old today ...

Charles Stross had an interesting post today that related to a long studied uni project that looks at the life experience of the new freshman class each year. It's a very American study, so he took it further and thought about the British experience from his point of view and the view of British youth.

So naturally, I want to think about it from the Australian perspective. Much of what he discussed (and others in his comments) is of course international, but I still want to think about specifically Australian elements. Especially since I'm trying to write a novel with six main characters that fit right into that age group.

To me, it's still all about the Internet. I remember getting my first at-home Internet conenction when I was 20 -- yes, 20! (I'd had any exposure to it at all for about a year beforehand at uni). Of course, that's nothing on a lot of other people, but I do find myself envious at times looking at kids (many of them my work colleagues now) who grew up with the Net as a permanent presence, from the age of 10 or less. I'm sure it changes people's perspective on the world, in all kinds of ways.

Sadly, I want to write more on this, but will be headling for sleep now instead (it's later than the post says). Maybe more on it soon, including a list on a more Australian perspective of this qauestion. Read the link to Charlie Stross to get an idea.

Triple J Hottest 100 2007 -- Wikipedia style

The Hottest 100 contest was a week ago, and for the most part it was quite enjoyable. Really was surprised that Muse song Knights of Cydonia ended up number one -- it's not that I hate it, but I find it really so terribly average and a bit silly that I can't believe it topped the thing. From my ten picks, I have seven made the chart, which was quite good for me.

Anyway, I found today that Wikipedia has a page for the charts this year (and every other year) that is really better than Triple J's own list, full of annotations, trivia, and a helpful flag icon so you can see where each song comes from.

This year, there was 52 Australian songs, 20 American songs, 17 English songs, four Canadian (Tegan and Sara X2, Feist and The Arcade Fire), three French (Daft Punk, Soko and Justice), one German (Digitalism), one Scottish (The Fratellis, but not the one I voted for!), one Norwegian (Jose Gonzalez) and one Swedish (The Hives). Australian songs always do well in the list, but that wasn't always the case.

Anyway, check the list out, it's a great resource and lets you find out about all the bands and many of the songs (as far as I can tell, local band Blue Juice are the only ones without a Wikipedia page at all!)

Winning and losing the "format war"

News reports in the last couple of days seem to suggest that Sony's Blu-ray format has won, or will likely win, the "format war" to control next generation video content. After spending a pointless couple of years fighting Toshiba and HD DVD, it appears that Blu-ray probably has won, with their 70 percent share of Hollywood studio output, and large penetration mainly from PlayStation 3 consoles.

But in the long run, I suspect they're both losers. The linked Valleywag article got me thinking about this one again, but I would rather see online video become the ultimate future format, as has been the case with music and MP3s. This mostly relies on sufficiently fast broadband of course (which will happen for enough of us over time), but if online distribution becomes the way, then physical format is irrelevant.

With the reality that most people will be happy to stick with regular DVDs for the forseeable future, online distribution still has plenty of time to establish its superiority over any new physical format anyway. And I do really despise the attitude of the studios, who see a new physical format as just a way to boost sales by convincing people that everything they own has to be bought again in the new format.

So Sony may have won for now, but I don't think any new format is a winner in the long term. Of course, they're busy developing download stores for the PS3 (as Microsoft is also doing for the Xbox 360 and plenty of other players the same), so I think the big companies see this as well and are hedging their bets.

This is where I work

The New York Times is reporting that a group of investors has gathered a 21% stake in CNET and is trying to take over the board of directors and seriously shake things up. This comes after years of poor stock performance, including a 19% decline over the last three years as other Internet companies have soared.

But it really isn't as bad as it sounds ... apart from the fact that I work in Australia, which is quite removed from CNET in the US despite being the same company, much of this is typical Techcrunch overhyping. CNET US has some issues (and probably too many employees in their head office), but internationally its doing quite well.

Still, it's an interesting experience to have speculation on the fate of the company you work for pop up in the news like this every so often ...

Turns out Facebook is just full of liers instead

I only even mention this because it comes from something I blogged last week, but it turns out that my previous post about Benazir Bhutto's son announcing his future intentions on Facebook, wiht a link to an ABC news story, was actually a hoax.

It wasn't something I took terribly seriously, and it was a decent news outlet reporting it (and we all loved the idea that a future world leader was a Buffy fan), but I was more interested in the Facebook angle than anything else. So naturally the Facebook angle was the worst part.

News just in: Facebook full of crap, most profiles unverifiable anyway, watch what you do with social networking :)

Update: This guy claims to be the hoaxer, and apparently that's true. If you read some or all of the lengthy message board thread link, you'll see he's just some obnoxious little gamer jerk who was just looking to be a tool, but he did have the (probably unintended) outcome of showing how easy Facebook is to game, and how many journalists will be taken in by a hoax.

There's even the implication that the Buffy and West Wing stuff was meant as some kind of insult. I mean, if they're really wanted to insult the guy, they would have made him out to be a Britney Spears loving, Big Brother watching pop fan. Now that's an insult :)

The Facebook generation is taking over already

There's already been many jokes about the Facebook generation having their own openness coming back to haunt them in 20 years time, when they're running industry and running for various political office. But that time is already here.

In the tragic situation of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, and the surprising rise to power of her 19-year-old son Bilawal, he is using Facebook already to communicate to the world. ABC New has more on the story at the link, but it's at once both bizarre and fascinating to see how such a "trivial" tool can appear in such a serious and world-changing situation.

His note included the following:

"I am not a born leader. I am not a politician or a great thinker," he wrote in the message, which is his first public statement since a few brief words when he was appointed party leader.

"I'm merely a student. I do the things that students do like make mistakes, eat junk food, watch Buffy but most importantly of all... learn," he said.

"My time to lead will come but for now I'm the one asking questions, not the one answering them."

Well, I guess the other thing it tells us is that even future world leaders are Buffy fans as well ...

Politicians started using Facebook in the last year or so (we can see it both in the US and Australia at least), but this has to be the first time a politician (well, future one, in a sense), has used his own profile and posted his own personal messages.

Probably the first really stupid thing Labor has announced

While I'm linking to the TechCrunch article, which is probably the most stupidly alarming one I've found, there is definitely real reason for concern here.

Labor is following through with their plans to implement some kind of offical censoring/filtering of all Australian Internet content. Apart from the fact that this is pretty condescending and offensive to adults (who apparently can opt out of it, but who will do that -- imagine the sort of scorn you'll receive -- "you want to access child porn?"), it's also likely to be fairly pointless for the target market (tech-savvy kids can get around anything).

Most importantly of course, there's still so little information about how they actually intend to do this. While I don't doubt their sincerity in wanting to keep kids away from the bad things online, why do it like this? And how do they think they will even be able to do it? Some kind of blacklist of just bad sites we could live with, as it would be largely transparent to normal people (that is assuming the blacklisting service doesn't slow down speeds for all). \

But what if they suddenly go for a commercial filtering service? Those things are a joke, as likely to block pages on sex education or breat cancer as they are to block porn -- not to mention blocking a whole range of things that are OK, for consenting adults. And then there's the damage they do to a site like Boing Boing, so eclectic that it could get banned for one blue post among thousands.

This is all speculation though. We'll need to watch what happens here, because the future of online media in Australia could seriously change depending on what decisions they make. The options range from irrelevant to dire, which is hardly a good range to be looking at.

A more straight news story can be found here. Still alarmist language from Labor, but again, this could be nothing. Or not.