Well.

Where do I start?

I’ve been joking recently about having three full-time jobs. I’ve been employed by the Victorian Government in my current role for nearly seven years. This has been hugely rewarding and I have enjoyed the job immensely. It’s a job which involves shift work, overtime, on-call duties, and accounts for a large portion of my life. It also pays the bills, lets me buy clothes, food, that sort of stuff. I will refer to this as Full Time Job #1.

Also about seven years ago, I caught-up with a long-time friend who I had known since high school (let’s call him Andrew). Andrew has worked in the television production industry for many years. We’d been chatting over coffee about computers, mobile telephones and the state-of-the-fledgling internet. We marvelled at Pentium-powered desktops, the brilliance of Microsoft Office 2003, and how you could access email from your mobile telephone using a technology called GPRS, without making a phone call.

Andrew had, at the time, been speaking about technology on Melbourne radio station 3AK with Brett de Hoedt. Andrew suggested we continue our coffee-talk in front of microphones at a community radio station. I thought that sounded like fun, and on the 29th of November 2004, Tech Talk Radio was born. Tech Talk Radio is a lot of fun, but it’s very time-consuming. It’s akin to a full-time job, which for the purposes of the exercise, I shall call Full Time Job #2.

I’ve always wanted to do a lot more with Tech Talk Radio, in terms of production, interviews, sponsorship, syndication, guests and research. I think we all do as much as we possibly can at the moment, but tempered (and rightly so) with a view to maintaining our sanity, our families, our other full-time jobs, a healthy amount of fibre in our diets, and so on.

Recently, the opportunity arose to help Andrew with a small television project*.

“But,” I said, “This sounds like another full-time job. I already have a full-time job. I’ve got two, in fact.” I shall call this fledgling proposal Full Time Job #3.

So a decision needed to be made.

After much soul-searching, spousal negotiation and visits to the accountant, I’ve devised a cunning plan; just how cunning, only time will tell.

FTJ #1 has been good enough to let me take leave without pay, while keeping open my existing position. The leave period is effectively until the end of this year. I started leave at FTJ #1 yesterday, which was Friday the 27th of May. I will have to go back in for a few days here and there, but that’s part of the deal. I am effectively now on leave from FTJ #1 for seven months.

FTJ #2 will now combine with FTJ #3. I have registered a new company, and will be working until the end of the year doing full-time Tech Talk.

The mind boggles. Am I serious? Yes. Am I insane? Probably. I’ll be doing some freelance I.T. and telecommunications consulting as well, to keep the bills paid and food on the table.

It’s a nervous and exciting time. I’m in an extraordinarily fortunate position of being able to return to FTJ #1 if things don’t work out. But I’m feeling very optimistic about things, and I’m looking forward to the next seven months with copious quantities of zeal.

As one learned colleague said to me last night, “You don’t want to die wondering.”

Words of wisdom indeed. Stay tuned.

*to be continued....

social media · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

Over the Christmas / New Year break, Tech Talk panelists are taking time away from the studio.

During this time, we’re running a “best of” series which showcases highlights from the last few years.

So far, we’ve heard from:

Georgia Simmons, representing the Telstra Foundation;

Graham Henley from GetData;

Michael Crimean, a professional audio engineer;

Adam Turner attending the launch of the HTC Magic in Sydney, as well as the launch of Apple’s iPad and the opening of Apple’s Bondi store in Sydney;

George Pongas, the COO of ISP Domain Central;

Dr James Chon, representing Swinburne University;

Alan Eade from St John Ambulance (Victoria);

Mark Mayer, retired QANTAS airline pilot;

Jeff Alexander and David Glover from Microsoft;

Closet Tech Geek Sally Cockburn (aka “Dr Feelgood“);

Sandrina Branton from BMC Software;

European Correspondent Matthew Robinson;

Gaming expert Leena van Deventer;

Luke Durham from Switch Media, and Adrian Britton from HostWorks;

Independent technology journalist Anthony Caruana;

…as well as select Panel discussions, websites, gadgets and Odd Spots, and entertaining and informative Views from the Couch.

Next week we’ll re-visit the last episode of 2010, and Tech Talk’s inaugural Outside Broadcast, which went to-air live from the Sofia Family Restaurant in December.

We’ll all be back live in the studio on the 14th of February.  Rumours that former Tech Talk panelist Mark Diggins is back in the country are largely founded… stay tuned!

adam turner · apple · Microsoft · Outside Broadcast · social media · Social Networking · Summer Series · Tech Talk Radio · telstra · TTR · Twitter · windows 7

And they said it’d never happen!

After much speculation, rumour and conjecture, it all become a reality on Monday the 6th of December.  The first Tech Talk Radio Outside Broadcast took place at Sofia Family Restaurant in Burwood East.

We were all blown away by the massive turnout.  It was a lot of work, but heaps of fun.  For the first time we could put faces to names, and had a chance to meet “the regulars” who lurk in the chat, post on the forum and send email contributions on a weekly basis.

View from The Panel. OMG... who *are* all these people?!

Importantly, the O.B. was a successful proof-of-concept for us, from a technical standpoint.  We were using traditional audio equipment (a mixing desk, headset microphones, wireless microphones, effects microphones, speakers, amplifiers, compressors and limiters) as well as new linking equipment that we tested for the first time on the 22nd of November in Episode 47.  We used professional STL software called AudioTX Communicator.  This software provides bi-directional high quality audio over any IP-based network.  A laptop in Sofia was our “transmitter” and this connected to a computer in the radio studio at 3WBC via the Telstra NextG network.  The entire 2-hour programme used about 200 MB of data each way.

Graeme's mixing desk, microphone switch and CD players

Long-time friend of Tech Talk radio, and US correspondent Lidija Davis was hooked-up via Skype on Andrew’s laptop.

We even installed some impromptu lighting to brighten-up The Panel:

DIY studio lighting, the Tech Talk Radio way!

Thankyou

There are many people that need to be thanked, and without whose help the O.B. would not have been the success that it was:

• Stephanie Stewart, at NetComm Australia, for donating the magnificent MyZone Hot Spot door prize, as well as truck-loads of pens and jelly beans;
• Microsoft’s Michael Kordahi, from popular technology podcast Frankly Speaking, for donating a copy of Microsoft Office 2010; and
• 2K Games for the massive swag including copies of Mafia 2, as well as keyrings, pens, matching cufflinks;  Bioshock; copies of The Bigs 2 Baseball; copies of Carnival Games; Sid Meier’s Pirates; Super Game Day; Civilization V; NBA 2K11; and much, much more!

The Swag - thankyou to all our sponsors for their support and generosity

Thankyou also to Phil at the 3WBC studio, for pushing faders and pressing buttons, and making sure the programme went live-to-air.

And, of course, everyone that rolled-up to make the evening what it was.  Without you, there would be no programme.

We’ll be back in 2011.  In the meantime, enjoy the Summer Series, which showcases highlights from this year’s episodes.

OB · Outside Broadcast · Social Networking · Sofia · Sponsors · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

It’s horrible.

In Episode 47, which went to air on Monday this week, we were testing some new audio equipment and linking software.  We’ll be using this equipment for the Outside Broadcast at Sofia Family Restaurant on the 6th of December.

There were two main issues.

(1) To-air: the quality of Graeme’s microphone audio.  Graeme was trialling a new headset-microphone, using a portable pre-amplifier.  The Panelists will be using a very similar model of headset at the OB.  It sounded a bit hissy, but we’re confident we can fix this with some diligent EQ’ing on the night.

(2) Recording / podcast version:  we always record two independent outputs from the studio’s mixing desk.  One is a recording of the programme that goes to-air (the “A” bus), while the other is a clean recording of panelists’ microphones (the “B” bus).  We use M-Audio MicroTrack II recorders, which write to compact flash cards, to record the show each week. Graeme then edits these recordings to make the podcast and syndication versions of the shows.

Unfortunately, because I was pre-occupied with setting up the new linking equipment, I made the cardinal error of not checking input levels to the recorders.  As a result the input settings for the “A” bus recorder were just completely wrong, and the “B” bus recorders were horribly clipped and over-driven.

Graeme did an excellent job of recovering what he could, but the audio quality is not up to our usual high standard.  This is extremely frustrating for all of us, because we pride ourselves on Tech Talk’s production quality.

Ironically, the actual linking equipment worked very well indeed.  This was the main reason that Graeme started the show from Sofia on Monday night: to test the new link hardware and software.

Next week’s Tech Talk will be back to our usual high standard; and the OB on the 6th of December will be even better!

audio · awkward moments · podcast · production · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

It would appear, prima facie, that we’ve all lost our minds.

Notwithstanding:-

We will attempt to broadcast the final Tech Talk Radio for 2010 LIVE from Sofia’s Family Restaurant, in the leafy Melbourne suburb of Burwood East.

Everyone’s invited! Join us for Sofia’s world-famous pizza/pasta; meet the panelists; heckle the panelists; meet like-minded listeners; and be part of the final Tech Talk Radio for 2010.

You can point and laugh at our attempts to run a 2-hour radio programme, built on nothing but a few extension leads, a Sony Walkman, a Bluetooth headset and a pile of pizza boxes.

BOOK NOW! by calling Sofia on (03) 9803 5299 and asking to reserve a place for the Tech Talk Christmas Special on Monday the 6th of December 2010. Get there around 7:00 P.M. and we’ll aim to start the show at 8:00 P.M..

It’s okay, we told Sofia that we’re lobbing on the front doorstep.  They were pretty good about it, actually. (Just wait until they find out we’re turning their restaurant into a radio studio for a few hours.)

Cost is just $17.50 per person for the set menu. Entertainment, as always, will be courtesy of The Panel.

Andrew has put the details on the website here.

See you at the Christmas bash!

awkward moments · Christmas Special · Outside Broadcast · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

Dear Microsoft,

Please don’t send ninjas to Adam Turner’s house, to abduct and torture him in some secret facility.

On Tech Talk Radio tonight I said something akin to, “Adam was in here a few weeks back, and had Windows Phone 7 and it was really cool.”

What I meant to say was, “My brain is switched off, and I’m talking on live radio, and what Adam actually had was a WinMo 6.5 device running HTC’s Sense UI.”

These are the show notes for the episode I was thinking of, which went to air on 2nd August 2010.

And this is a photo of Adam’s menagerie, taken by me on the night:

See… no Phone 7!!

Apologies to Microsoft, and to Adam. I’ve rechecked my medication, it’s all good.

As you were.  Carry on.

adam turner · awkward moments · conspiracy · Google Phone · HTC · Microsoft · Phone 7 · Tech Talk Radio · TTR · WinMo 6.5

What’s happening?

Andrew’s arrived home after a productive trip to the United States, and Tech Talk Radio’s executive producer is back at the wheel.

According to our historical archives, Andrew has only missed 5 episodes, out of a total 282.  What an appalling track record.

Actually, I wish mine was that good.

The last two episodes can be downloaded here (Ep 15/2010 – with special guest Anthony Caruana) and here (Ep 16/2010 – with special guest Matthew Robinson).

Matthew Robinson, Tech Talk Radio's European correspondent

I’ve listened back to these episodes, and The Panel certainly has a different “feel”. Not sure if it’s for better or worse, but very different.

We’re all looking forward to hearing Andrew’s war stories tomorrow night, though.

More soon.  Over & out.

3WBC · Matthew Robinson · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

Susan McLean (Cyber Safety Solutions) and Andrew McColm (Evolving Communications) spoke about internet safety and cyber-bullying this afternoon, with Carole Whitelock on ABC Adelaide.

Susan now works in the corporate arena and provides advice and assistance to organisations like schools, sporting bodies, psychologists, child protection agencies and medical practitioners.

Susan on Tech Talk Radio, 23/03/2009

You can download today’s audio segment here.
(Right-click / Save As… to save the file to your computer.  Approx 8MB file size.)

abc · abc adelaide · andrew mccolm · carole whitelock · child safety · cyber bullying · cyber safety · susan mclean · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

On Tech Talk Radio this week we spoke about the current onslaught of “Commonwealth Bank” hoax emails, requesting or “phishing” for account details or personal information.

Source: Commonwealth Bank

Normally I wouldn”t give these schemes the time of day, but the size of this current campaign bombarding our mail servers is enormous.

The ‘real’ Commonwealth Bank site says:

“The Commonwealth Bank does not send emails requesting you to confirm, update or disclose your confidential banking information.”

Well that sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

The problem is that unscrupulous spammers are riding the wave of the Commonwealth’s success, registering similar or deceptive domain names and sending hundreds of thousands of spam messages, in an effort to elicit a response from unwary Commonwealth customers.

Messages purporting to be from the following domains have all tried relaying through my mail server in the last 24 hours:

commbiz.commbank.com.au
commonwealths.com
commbank.au.com
bankofthecommonwealth.com
thecommonwealth.org
commbnk.com
commbank.net.au

…and the list goes on.

Fortunately SpamAssassin seems to be knocking them all on the head, by my server at least.

But not all mail servers run real-time anti-spam software, and lots of servers are delivering these messages.

Technology journalist Angus Kidman, writing for APC Magazine, says that the sheer variety of messages means that many anti-spam services are finding it impossible to identify all the problem emails, even if their text sounds familiar and seems easy to detect; also that according to email security vendor MessageLabs (a division of Symantec), in the first week of the campaign more than 22 different core messages were being sent out en masse, with more than 11 variants.

Read the APC article here.

So what can you do to combat the problem?

• Make sure you’re running anti-spam software, and a good email software (like Mozilla Thunderbird, NOT like Microsoft Outlook Express) that detects and quarantines spam;
• DON’T CLICK ON or RESPOND TO spam emails – doing so just verifies to the spammer that your email address is legitimate and active, and invites a thousand-fold increase in spam to your email address;
• Never disclose personal information or credit card details online, unless you’re 100% confident about the security of the website you’re visiting.  Always double-check SSL certificates and the website address in your web browser’s title bar.

If in doubt, don’t click!

apc · apc magazine · commonwealth · commonwealth bank · commonwealth bank spam · email · email scam · hoax email · junk · phishing · spam · Tech Talk Radio · thunderbird · TTR

Wow.

It’s only taken us six months.

Have a look.

Photo: Robert Broomhead (Monday night's guest)

Tech Talk Radio · TTR · ustream · ustream.tv · webcam