Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Software Freedom Day

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

I'll be in Wellington on Saturday, September 20th, for Software Freedom Day. It's open source's open day, a chance for the general public who might have been curious about open source to come along and learn more. There'll be copies of Linux given out and a WellyLUG installfest ...

Webstock 2009 Lineup Announced

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

I'm speaking at Webstock 2009 and really looking forward to it. What an amazing lineup of talent they have! I've been privileged to meet many of these folks before, and I'm honoured and intimidated to be in their ranks. I can safely say that New Zealand has never ...

The Tyranny of Distance

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Jenny Morel is raising a $100M NZ VC fund. That's good news, in that NZ needs smart angels and VCs. I've had a number of NZ friends making the rounds of US venture capital firms and angels looking for investors, and the message has always been "not while ...

NZ Values

Monday, June 9th, 2008

I had a thought on Saturday that wouldn't let go. Here's the brief pitch: let me know what you think.

Will, Systems, Distractions, and Irony

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Paul Graham, the creator of Y! Combinator, recently wrote an essay in which he said "Maybe in the long term the right answer for dealing with Internet distractions will be software that watches and controls them". The link on "software" was to Rescue Time, a web site that gathers ...

Teaching Kids Computer Skills and Programming

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Last year, Kiwi Foo Camp acted as a fundraiser for my kids' local primary school. Around 60 kids, 3.5 teachers, and at the time they had around six old Windows 2000 and Windows XP boxes in various stages of decay. They'd planned to buy new computers but were ...

How Cuckoos Do It

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

I was editor for the first edition of Programming PHP and, like all O'Reilly books, there was a vigorous discussion with the authors about which animal should be on the cover. All the recognizable megafauna have gone and we're left with different types of birds, bugs, and fish, so ...

Ubicomp and ubisec

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Read this ABC news story on digital frames coming with viruses installed if you want a glimpse at an unpleasant future. Ubicomp ("ubiquitous computing", aka spimes aka real world objects with computation and network capability) promises wonderful things: fridges and pantries that network to produce your shopping list, ...

Explaining technology in words

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Julie Starr faced an interesting problem recently: how to explain RSS, aggregators, even Twitter to a room full of journalism students ... without slides or a net connection. In attempting this, as she says, she "found a new respect for teachers this week". As a recovering teacher (or, ...

Font Geeks in New Zealand

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

I often joke that Foo Camp ("Friends of O'Reilly") should be Font Camp (Friends of Nat Torkington) in New Zealand. I love typography and was delighted to find "The Font Scene in New Zealand", a list of typographers and fonts made by New Zealanders or by New Zealand companies. ...