Category: Rants

Mark Pesce’s Keynote is up

The video that sparked controversy at LCA 2011 in Brisbane this year is now available, accompanied by a warning for some of the graphic elements used within. Sure, that’s fine, some people are sensative to this, but for the majority of the world, look at the message being delivererd and try to see the point that, whatever your private indulgences are, they have the potential to be exploited by unwanted yet naievely and implicitly trusted services that the world takes a free ride on.

I think Mark took a lot of flack for this, but the message of the presentation is good. This coverage will hopefully bring more focus on the content of this keynote.

So, if you’re a balanced and forward thinking mature individual, see the video here; if you’re not, look here.

The furore that this has sparked has oveshadowed much of this, and put enormous pressure on the LCA and LA teams. Numerous apologies for the graphic content have been given. So now its not time to harp on about this issue again, but to look at the message within.

Freedom ain’t free. Freedom costs more than free.

This same issue goes for all “cloud” services that you’re being advertised right now. It’s not magic. It’s handing your data to someone else; it’s making sacrafices for your ability to control your information. Offloading your infrastrucutre to a 3rd party is easy, flexible, but you’re at the whim of a third party. Imagine trying to open a large bookstore application on Amazon EC2? How long until Amazon decide that they don’t want you competing with them?

Perth busses suck

Its not the vehicles; its the very loose schedule. Zone 1, 6pm on a normal Friday, and its 45 mins between services. At the best of times there are 4 busses an hour. I miss a bus Everett 5 – 10 mins. Least I don’t do this often…

Train lines

With the exception of city centre termini, train lines don’t end somewhere interesting and exciting, but where demand and excitement has dropped off so far they can’t be bothered going any further.

Snapfish deleting photos

I started using Snapfish to store photos as the only main way to get an online album displying in my HP DreamScreen. HP decided against supporting Flickr, Picasa, or other established sites, opting to use Snapfish because – HP owns them. Fair enough, so I signed up and uploaded some content to show on my Hp DreamScreen device(s). Now, Snapfish have told me:

Please place an order by October 12, 2010 or you risk losing your photos. Lastly, remember you can also preserve your photos with a photo CD.

Thanks HP; you’ll delete my content since I havent purchased prints from you. How else can I display an album online to the display I purchased from you? Can I get an app for Flickr, Picasa, or perhaps access to boot and run my own code on here yet? The platform appears to be stagnant now for some time….