by cameron | Aug 8, 2007 | Melbourne, Uncategorized
Some research outfit called VSS are claiming that “Internet advertising is expected to reach US$61.98 billion and become the largest ad segment in 2011, surpassing newspapers“. Sounds good to me. Hopefully a chunk of that will go to podcasting. I’ll be happy to settle for 1% of it.
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“”We are moving from a speech to a conversation.” – News Ltd Chairman John Hartigan
Welcome John. Hope your stay with us is nice.
(source)
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This has to be the next step in my career. It’s in the guidebook for aspiring media giants.

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So I finally got the new Dopod, went out and bought a battery, and I’m back on the air. In addition to forking out for the new battery, I had to buy a new screen protector and, I just found out, this Dopod takes miniSD cards. The other one took MICRO SD cards. And the two don’t fit in each other’s slots. GODDAMN!!!!!
Did I mention? 3 suck.
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This is the link to the online version of the Anthill article. Anthill have just launched the new version of their site. Now the guys have the full text of their articles online and for free! Way to go gents.

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I got a call tonight from Roy Morgan Research. Guy asks me if I will answer a survey. I ask “What’s in it for me?” He says… “well we’re Roy Morgan.” I say “Yeah, you going to pay me for my time?” He says “no”. I say “So you’re going to take my answers, sell them for money, but you won’t pay me for the content?” He says “No”. I say “Then no”. He says “well what about just two questions?” I say “ok”. The two questions are about the upcoming federal election, who I’m going to vote for, and whether or not I think the Libs are taking the country in the right direction. I bite. Get all political on his ass. Then I say “okay, you can ask me the rest.” He asks another ten questions, then I get “Did you know there is a ship which travels from Melbourne to Tasmania?”
I say “What’s that got to do with the election???” He says “nothing”. So I say “yeah I did know that”. He asks “do you know the name of it?” I say “No. What happened to the election?” He says “It’s called the Spirit of Tasmania. Had you heard that name before?” I tell him to stick the Spirit of Tasmania up his cheeky ass….
by cameron | Aug 6, 2007 | Podcast
Richard Giles and I chat about some things that have been on my mind lately, including:
How Christians who justify Yahweh’s kill count in the Old Testament just prove my point that they are crazy and dangerous.
Some history on the Bhagavad Gita
WIRED: How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life
Some history on Fidel Castro If you want a quick overview on why the US hates Castro, watch this video.
Rich is going to be on the Boing Boing “Rule The Web” podcast this week
And “G’Day World” is on the first page of Google results for the search term “G’Day”! Thanks for the tipoff Molly! I knew you’d come in useful for something someday!
Become part of the G’Day World conversation.
I’ve created a couple of groups inside Second Life. You can now add yourself to the following groups:
Friends Of G’Day World
MODM
The Podcast Network
If I knew how to link directly to those groups from here, I would. But I don’t. So for now you just need to search for them in-world. Or you can add “Cameron Switchblade” to your friends and check out the groups I belong to.
If you’re a member of Facebook, you can ADD ME AS A FRIEND and then ADD YOURSELF TO THE G’DAY WORLD GROUP.
Add me to your Twitter account.
Do me a solid and digg the show.
Get the TPN version of Particls.
Don’t forget to make use of my new comments line – +613 9016 9699.
You can now buy transcripts of this podcast from Pods In Print.
If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you don’t miss future episodes by subscribing to our feed and leave us a voice comment!
The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.

by cameron | Aug 3, 2007 | Melbourne, Podcast
Geoffrey Bowll is the MD of Melbourne-based ad agency Starship. I chatted with him yesterday about the demise of TV, the rise of the creative class and the fragmentation of media. It was great to find someone in the Aussie advertising industry who is excited about social networking, Second Life and Twitter.
Speaking of which…
Become part of the G’Day World conversation.
I’ve created a couple of groups inside Second Life. You can now add yourself to the following groups:
Friends Of G’Day World
MODM
The Podcast Network
If I knew how to link directly to those groups from here, I would. But I don’t. So for now you just need to search for them in-world. Or you can add “Cameron Switchblade” to your friends and check out the groups I belong to.
If you’re a member of Facebook, you can ADD ME AS A FRIEND and then ADD YOURSELF TO THE G’DAY WORLD GROUP.
Add me to your Twitter account.
Do me a solid and digg the show.
Get the TPN version of Particls.
Don’t forget to make use of my new comments line – +613 9016 9699.
You can now buy transcripts of this podcast from Pods In Print.
If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you don’t miss future episodes by subscribing to our feed and leave us a voice comment!
The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.

by cameron | Aug 2, 2007 | Iran, Iraq, Uncategorized
Paul Spoerry has some great visual aids to help us understand the motivations behind the US’s middle east policies. Like this:

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Meanwhile, you have to love the pure frakking BALLS on the Bush administration. Who else could spin the sale of $70 Billion of weapons to the Middle East as “ensuring peace”?!!! Rice sez:
“We are helping to strengthen the defensive capabilities of our partners,” Rice said in a statement. “We plan to initiate discussions with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states on a proposed package of military technologies that will help support their ability to secure peace and stability in the Gulf region.”
Let’s look at the track record of the countries they have sold weapons to over the last 20 years… Iraq. Afghanistan. Iran. Israel. Saudi Arabia. How’s the peace strategy working so far, Condi?
The amount of money that the US itself spends on weapons every year is just insane.
The world spends US$780 billion every year on maintaining its military and buying new weapons —that’s $2.1 billion every day. Dr Oscar Arias estimates that if just 5% ($40 billion) of that annual $780 billion were channeled into anti-poverty programmes over the next decade, the whole world could have basic social services. A further 5% over ten years could provide everybody on the planet with an income above the poverty line. UNICEF estimates that spending just $7 billion a year for the next decade could educate every child on Earth.
(source)
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Laurel Papworth accuses my 2Web colleagues and myself of being sexist because there aren’t any women in our 2Web group!
Hey I, for one, am a HUGE supporter of the meme that we need more women in tech/web. Lots and lots. I’m sick to death of going to tech events and being surrounded by blokes. AFAIK, the 2Web group has never turned down an application for membership from a lady. If there is passive sexism involved here, it’s you girls being too passive about getting involved! Hike up your skirts girls! 🙂
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Telstra put GPS trackers into the cars of their technicians then informed them that if they had a problem with it, “they would face a review of employment.” Classy. According to The Age:
Victoria’s Workplace Rights Advocate Tony Lawrence investigated initial reports of the tracking devices and told The Australian newspaper he had referred what he believed to be a criminal matter to police.
It puts turning off Facebook into perspective.
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The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is back on and TPN’s man on the scene, Ewan Spence, is spending the next month chatting with the performers, audience and promoters! Catch it almost-live on TPN’s EFF show!
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Just for something a little bit different, I’m a guest today on Rod’s Atomic Show. He wanted to talk to me about how the nuclear industry might be able to use new media to change the perception of nuclear with the general public, bypassing the not-always-independent mainstream media. Did anyone else see that show on Frontline last night about the nuclear industry in France and Canada? I saw some of it. Fascinating.
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John Howard and his government never cease to amaze me with how much they have become the white, straight, Christian party. Today Howard announced legislation which will overturn State legislation which allows gay couples to adopt children from overseas. We need a Bill of Rights in this country. Badly.
by cameron | Aug 1, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
From the Washington Post:
… The key to boosting the image and effectiveness of U.S. military operations around the world involves “shaping” both the product and the marketplace, and then establishing a brand identity that places what you are selling in a positive light, said clinical psychologist Todd C. Helmus, the author of “Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation.” The 211-page study, for which the U.S. Joint Forces Command paid the Rand Corp. $400,000, was released this week.
Helmus and his co-authors concluded that the “force” brand, which the United States peddled for the first few years of the occupation, was doomed from the start and lost ground to enemies’ competing brands. While not abandoning the more aggressive elements of warfare, the report suggested, a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been “We will help you.” …
Since I know you will want to read the whole study, it is here.
More:
… In an urban insurgency, for example, civilians can help identify enemy infiltrators and otherwise assist U.S. forces. They are less likely to help, the study says, when they become “collateral damage” in U.S. attacks, have their doors broken down or are shot at checkpoints because they do not speak English. …
(via Marc Andreessen)
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Richard Giles is on BoingBoing! Well done mate! With friends in high places, who needs Cam???
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More from the RAND report:
Public opinion polls suggest that much of the anti-Americanism observed in the Muslim world today is attributable to U.S. policies rather than to U.S. culture, values, or people. In a 2004 poll, for example, Zogby International found that residents of most Arab countries had positive opinions about “American services and technology,†“American freedom and democracy,†“American people,†“American education,†“American products,†and the like. But many of those same respondents held negative opinions about U.S. policies toward the Palestinian conflict and Iraq.
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Anil Dash links to a fascinating 1995 doco by Brian Springer called SPIN, about how the media was used for, and itself used, spin during the 1992 US Presidential elections. The most fascinating part for me was about 18 minutes in where they discuss a Demoractic candidate Larry Agran. For some reason Agran, although running third in the early polling, was totally ignored by the media. He was cut out of photos carried in newspapers and refused access to televised debates involving the other candidates. He was eventually imprisoned for interrupting a televised debate demanding he be heard, and was released from jail after the Democratic National Congress had already started. Another example of how you need to have access to media in order to participate in the political process and how the mainstream media interferes with politics when they want to. To suggest they just “report the facts” is a joke and a bad one at that.