by cameron | Feb 10, 2007 | media 2.0, Podcast
This article on the new Samsung “iPhone killer” F700 has this interesting paragraph:
… the F700 offers 7.2 Mbps download capabilities through High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connections. Once the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network is completely deployed around the country, F700 users will be able to download a 4-MB MP3 song in roughly four seconds, according to Samsung.
So by my reckoning, a 20Mb podcast would download in about 20 seconds. Radio is DEAD.
by cameron | Feb 10, 2007 | Australian politics, Iraq, US politics
If any of you are still sitting there thinking “well, they didn’t have any WMD, they weren’t connected to al Qaeda, so why *did* we have to invade Iraq” – one of the reasons has emerged in a memorandum prepared for the meeting of the U.S. House committee on oversight and government reform which is examining Iraqi reconstruction.
In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover. The memorandum details the casual manner in which the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority disbursed the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food programme and seized Iraqi assets.
(link)
Yep – money. Shitloads of money, funneled from the pockets of Iraqi citizens (via U.S. Congress) into the pockets of…. nobody knows. But it isn’t hard to guess. Just follow the hype. Who wanted the war? Who campaigned for it hardest? Who manipulated the perceptions of the public in order to justify it?
The report continues:
The memorandum concludes: “Many of the funds appear to have been lost to corruption and waste … thousands of ‘ghost employees’ were receiving pay cheques from Iraqi ministries under the CPA’s control. Some of the funds could have enriched both criminals and insurgents fighting the United States.”
According to Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, the $8.8bn funds to Iraqi ministries were disbursed “without assurance the monies were properly used or accounted for”. But, according to the memorandum, “he now believes that the lack of accountability and transparency extended to the entire $20bn expended by the CPA”.
This is what “Operation Shock And Awe” was mostly about – the cynical redistribution of wealth from the hands of the Iraqi people into the hands of foreign countries with larger armies. It’s like the countries we live in are primary school bullies taking lunch off of the Year One kids at lunchtime. If the kids report our bullying to the teacher (the UN Security Council) it doesn’t matter a damn because we OWN the teachers. They are part of the system of corruption and control.
Welcome to democracy.
by cameron | Feb 9, 2007 | Uncategorized
When I was in SF in November I attended Kevin Maney’s tech industry jam session. When I got up on stage to sing a few numbers it marked the first time I’ve sung on stage since about 1990. Since then I’ve found myself playing a lot more guitar and thinking a lot more about putting together a band.
Here’s what I’m thinking. Instead of a few geeks getting together just to drink and eat pizza, why don’t we start a regular jam session? I’ll find a venue (a bar) and once a month we can book it out, and get together for a jam session with guests. Private invite only. Have some fun, network with other geeks, and keep our chops up at the same time. Might even release an album on the TPN record label.
If you play an instrument or sing and would like to jam with me once a month, fill in the form below and put “G’Day World Band” in the comments section (so I can sift through the comment spam).
by cameron | Feb 9, 2007 | Podcast
Every year, the editors of Harvard Business Review find twenty essays on provocative and important new ideas.
Here is my review of the 2007 list.
They are:
1. The Accidental Influentials
2. Entrepreneurial Japan
3. Brand Magic: Harry Potter Marketing
4. Algorithms in the Attic
5. The Leader from Hope
6. An Emerging Hotbed of User-Centered Innovation
7. Living with Continuous Partial Attention
8. Borrowing from the PE Playbook
9. When to Sleep on It
10. Here Comes XBRL
11. Innovation and Growth: Size Matters
12. Conflicted Consumers
13. What Sells When Father Knows Best
14. Business in the Nanocosm
15. Act Globally, Think Locally
16. Seeing Is Treating
17. The Best Networks Are Really Worknets
18. Why U.S. Health Care Costs Aren’t Too High
19. In Defense of “Ready, Fire, Aimâ€
20. The Folly of Accountabalism
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.
Technorati Tags:ideas, harvard, futurism
by cameron | Feb 7, 2007 | Uncategorized
Due to Molly’s incessant nagging (like I don’t already have a wife), I’ve turned on the Mobatalk comments system! Here’s how you use it.
1. Go to leave a comment in the normal fashion.
2. Click record a comment. Wait for the small flash app to load.
3. Record your message telling me how great I am.
4. Hit attach.
5. SUBMIT the comment in the normal fashion.
Should be some fun!
