That NBN thing

A lot of us in Australia are either talking up, or talking down the NBN, as you know.

But I want to talk about the other person, and I think those of you who are talking up the NBN need to get your message across to this person.

This person has only recently bought a computer,

They think Internet Explorer is the thing that turns on “The Internet”.

They have an ADSL connection but when asked about how they’re connected to the internet, They’ll say Bigpond or Google.

Speaking of Google, this person thinks it’s something ON their computers.

I think of the time before 2000 as the “black and white era” of the internet, anyone who has just got online may have no real sense that one file is larger than the other, To them a short text file is the same as a Movie, I have seen one person burn a single short text file, to a CD.

This person has never experienced the effort of downloading an mp3 file, on dialup, which took a whole hour to download.

I’ve seen a computer ruined because someone downloaded “a song” from a P2P program which was only a few hundred KB in size, a huge red-flag to me, but they thought it was the song they were after.

They have no understanding of why Apples insistence on a closed app store is a bad thing, and probably think that everything is on the app store anyway. I’ve met an apple owner who doesn’t know how to use the app store.

When I got my first computer, an Amstrad CPC 6128 for my 21st Birthday in 1986, I was very aware of the size of files, The same when I moved to my Amiga A500 and my Amiga A1200… and I learnt about the limits of my machines and it’s software.

Newbies never had that education.

And while I fully appreciate the idea of having an NBN, this person won’t understand any of it, and probably think they’re fine with what they have.

This person will accept any of the rubbish they hear from Tony Abbott, about how a wireless system would be better.

To the techie, you need to explain yourselves very clearly to this person, and fast, You need to sell the idea that an NBN is a very good thing, you need to make it sound as appealing as a new Apple gizmo… and realise that even if all the customer “gets” is that they can buy a white one, then sell them a white one.

To the person who doesn’t get it, would you like some things to think about? If so, here’s a few.

Speed.

There are three ways to send data.

1. Cable

2. Regular copper wires

3. Wireless

Now I know some of you confuse Wireless with Wi-Fi, I’ll get to that shortly.

Consider this, do you recall from school what the fastest thing of all was?

If you said light, you’re right, and deserve a gold star.

Light is the fastest thing of all, and that’s what will travel along the fiber cables of the NBN.

Now there is some talk about different cable systems being faster than others, so some people worry that perhaps all the old cable will have to be dug up again and replaced with the new technology, this is highly unlikely… instead when it’s time for an upgrade, it will be as simple as the NBN people replacing their computers with new ones, just like you would if you need a new machine.

Wireless.

Wireless is fine, and I’m not against it. But radio waves cannot ever go as fast as light can, and it doesn’t matter what politicians of either side say, the fact is that nothing in the known universe, is faster than light.

Have you ever had your mobile phone slow down when you tried to access facebook, or poor reception? or worse no reception? Well that’s what it will be like if we all had wireless internet, which would get worse in the evenings as kids tried to play games on it or do their homework, it could even stall completely.

Granted, Wireless internet can be great for accessing things on your computer while on the train, but at home it’s probably not the best.

What’s the difference between Wireless and Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi is usually the signal which comes out of your router, that box with the blinking lights on it. It’s that box which allows you to connect to your internet via a laptop, a mobile phone or iPad.

Wi-Fi will only work within range of your router, and is usually password protected so that only you and your family can make use of it.

You can access the NBN via Wi-Fi if you want.

Wireless is different.

To access wireless internet on your laptop, you need a small plastic thing which plugs into the USB port.

While an iPhone or iPad would need something like a pre-paid plan with Optus, Telstra or someone like that.

Wireless internet allows you to take a computer or phone with you and use your internet on the go, it would be useful to someone who’s an interstate truck driver, for example, or someone who regularly flies interstate.

But the down side is that it’s generally quite expensive and rather slow to use, and while it’s perfect for E-mails or Facebook, it’s no good for downloading movies, skype or playing fast moving games with.

Old copper wires.

If you have a really good phone connection, then you can connect to the internet via dial up, which is the very old method which makes odd squealing sounds through the phone,

You cannot use the phone when you’re using the computer for  dialup  internet.

Dial up is terribly slow, so slow in fact that it could take an hour to just load a youtube video.

Or you can have ADSL which is a fairly standard method used in most homes in Australia.

ADSL is for the most part, pretty reliable, it will allow most people to do pretty much everything they need to do, however the problem here is that the further away from your phone exchange you are, the slower ADSL becomes, and if you’re in a rural area, it might not work much better than dialup.

So, if you’re on a farm in the bush, your internet may suck more than your milking machines do.

What an NBN would do, is basically give everyone the chance to drive a Ferrari,

And it should cost about the same as standard ADSL internet (Generally ADSL works out to be a lot cheaper than wireless as you get a lot more data for your money).

It may surprise you to know that the internet came out of the 1960s and has slowly been advancing, always getting better.

That Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are all fairly new, and have come about as the new technology became cheaper and easier to use.

And that although things are pretty good as they are, they could be a lot better and a lot fairer to the wider community if we decide on having an NBN.

Well Like what?

People in rural areas would have the same internet experience as those of us in the city would.

It would give doctors life saving information about patients extremely quickly, or possibly allow surgeons in Melbourne to operate on a patient in Alice Springs via a robot.

It would allow anyone to upload high definition videos they’ve made themselves in just a few minutes (It once took me eight hours to do this on ADSL)

Business people could have conferences online, rather than fly interstate or overseas, allowing more time for people to remain with their families, the experience should be a lot better than todays Skype calls.

I really love to dream of possibilities, but I’m really not sure what the next step will be, and that excites me.

So far I have met the most amazing people online, people who I thought I’d never get to meet, but what tomorrow brings may be a complete knock out, for all of us.

I say push it hard and as far as it will go, and that asks for the NBN.

Wolfie!

The current, cheapest option is $50 per month, which is 30GB per month, with a speed of 12mps down, and 1mps up

(on internode)

*There was an error in my research last night, this has now been corrected.

Air Waves

The sound of radio has changed with each passing decade, not only with our tastes in music, but in what was technically possible at the time. Radio wasn’t always as clear as it often is now, and depending on your location, it still might not be.

Last year an idea occurred to me, what if we could re-create radio of the time, down to the most timy detail… the sound of the music being played, the way the announcer spoke, the hum of equipment, the static the audience would hear, the commercials and news reports of the day.

So that it’s almost like a person had somehow gone back in time, and is listening to a broadcast from a particular day.

No, this is not hits and memories, it goes deeper than that, this is a normal broadcast day by a fictional Aussie Radio Station (But it could be from the ABC).

When music is played, it’s what would have been played that week, that year of that decade… the good and the bad.

The Announcer would need to be a good actor, who understands how Australians spoke at the time, and which slang was… and wasn’t used.

The Advertisements would be genuine (Surely ABC would not worry about decades old material?).

The program would need to sound completely real, there would be no reality breaks during the two hour broadcast.

Even at News time, the reports would be from the past.

Understand this would be difficult to put together, We’d need a linguist who knows how people spoke back then (40′s to 80′s), We’d need experts on the technology who would make sure things sounded right, We’d need to go through archives and find the advertising, live interviews and anything which might surprise us and which could be used.

A script writer or two, of course!

And then, how would this be broadcast? Live on ABC once a week? On Digital? or a Podcast?

I’m sure there are things which I haven’t thought of, which would need to be addressed.

Would you be up for it?

Wolfie!

Mr. Ed (or how I almost met Frenté)

During the 90′s, when the internet was still a bit of a virgin, I had found out that the band Frenté had their own IRC channel, and would use it to chat with each other, and their fans too.

Well I hung around for ages, hoping one of the band members would eventually show up, and that we could have a nice, long, *dignified* discussion.

One day I’m waiting there, and nobody was in the channel, So I’m stuffing around at my desk for twenty minutes or so, contemplating my place in the universe when suddenly, a friend who I knew from another channel, logged in and we started having a random chat about anything that happened to come to mind.

This went on for quite some time.

Then another name popped up in the chat list, it was one of the band, who gave us a friendly hello.

I said hi back, and felt really happy because I could at last have the lovely happy chat I was hoping for.

It was just the three of us, which wasn’t surprising back then because the internet wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now. if you even owned a computer, you were pretty much considered a social cripple.

But anyway, the Frenté band person (I don’t remember who it was) asks “What are you fellas talking about?”

Which was a really really bad thing to ask, because my “Friend” types…

“Horse Cocks!”

And the guy goes “Oh” and logs out.

Thanks Mate, Thanks a lot.

Wolfie!

Night Before Christmas in Aussie land

‘Twas the night before Christmas; there wasn’t a sound.

Not a possum was stirring; no-one was around.
We’d left on the table some tucker and beer,

Hoping that Father Christmas soon would be here;

We children were snuggled up safe in our beds,

While dreams of pavlova danced ’round in our heads;
And Mum in her nightie, and Dad in his shorts,

Had just settled down to watch TV sports.

When outside the house a mad ruckus arose;

Loud squeaking and banging woke us from our doze.

We ran to the screen door, peeked cautiously out,

snuck onto the deck, then let out a shout.

Guess what had woken us up from our snooze,

But a rusty old Ute pulled by eight mighty ‘roos.

The cheerful man driving was giggling with glee,

And we both knew at once who this plump bloke must be.

Now, I’m telling the truth it’s all dinki-di,

Those eight kangaroos fairly soared through the sky.
Chris leaned out the window to pull at the reins,

And encouraged the ‘roos, by calling their names.

‘Now, Kylie! Now, Kirsty! Now, Shazza and Shane!

On Kipper! On, Skipper! On, Bazza and Wayne!

Park up on that water tank. Grab a quick drink,

I’ll scoot down the gum tree. Be back in a wink!’

So up to the tank those eight kangaroos flew,

With the Ute full of toys, and Old Chris too.

He slid down the gum tree and jumped to the ground,

Then in through the window he sprang with a bound.

He had bright sunburned cheeks and a milky white beard.

A jolly old joker was how he appeared.

He wore red stubby shorts and old thongs on his feet,

And a hat of deep crimson as shade from the heat.

His eyes – bright as opals – Oh! How they twinkled!

And, like a goanna, his skin was quite wrinkled!

His shirt was stretched over a round bulging belly

Which shook when he moved, like a plate full of jelly.

A fat stack of prezzies he flung from his back,

And he looked like a swaggie unfastening his pack.

He spoke not a word, but bent down on one knee,

To position our goodies beneath the yule tree.

Surfboard and foot-ball shapes for us two.

And for Dad, tongs to use on the new barbeque.

A mysterious package he left for our Mum,

Then he turned and he winked and he held up his thumb;

He strolled out on deck and his ‘roos came on cue;

Flung his sack in the back and prepared to shoot through.

He bellowed out loud as they swooped past the gates-

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and goodonya, MATES!’

Via Toby Flander (Slightly adjusted to make it True Blue)

Rosie’s Saturday

Today I went shopping, or yesterday, as it’s just after 1am here now, and I came home and fed Rosie who was calling me desperately for food.

I fed her and then walked Katie.

I left the cage open so that she could get out, but she didn’t budge,
and after a few hours I pulled her out and let her play in the garden.

Sometime later I decided to have a shower.

Then got into my PJs even though it was still fairly light outside, but I thought I wasn’t going out anymore so I might as well settle.

Then I went out for Rosie, and saw David, my neighbour, telling me that he’d been ringing me for an hour but couldn’t reach me, I told him I was
having a log shower.

Rosie had been on his fence, which was a worry because of his cats who are nastier than Vicky.

But she had since vanished, and although I called her, she didn’t appear
as she usually does.

But Rat Dog, on the other side was barking his head off.

I ran inside and pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, and went out, it was freezing and there was drizzle, after my nice shower, this wasn’t what
I had expected to be doing.

I went next door and the kid who lives there let me in and out to his backyard, where they have a bungalow, and rat dog was barking at something on the roof. now I didn’t see anything up there, but while I was poking around, we heard Rosie whistle.

We thought it was from my side, so I went back and called her.

David pointed, she was indeed up on the roof where rat dog was barking,
she was strutting around and flapping her wings in the breeze.

It was rainy and windy and here’s the little stinker getting around on
the top of the roof, coming over to look at me when I called her.

I tried to get her down using Davids huge window cleaning pole, which
worked when she was high in the elm tree, but she just walked back from it this time.

I was a bit annoyed, but I knew that she was just testing out her wings,
but was scared that the cats could get her as she’s still not big enough
to scare them off, and she’s a bit too trusting… she runs under Katies
legs quite happily.

Katie wasn’t sure if she should eat Rosie or not at first, but now it’s
just another animal in the yard and Katie is gentle with her.

I went inside and had a cup of tea.

Then I went out and called again, getting a bit wet from the drizzle,
but all she did was come closer and watch me, not sure if she should
jump or not and waving her wings.

I sat in the kitchen feeling a bit grumpy and cursing as I drank the tea, Katie sat under the table, helping me to eat muesli biscuits.

Then I went out again.

Rosie had had enough and tried to take off, she flew towards the neighbours sloping roof, but didn’t realise it was slippery, so
down she went like a kid at a park, and fell/flew into my grapevine
before finding a bit of fence to sit on.

I walked over to her, picked her up and shoved her back into her cage.

I can see this happening more often as it goes, we had the same troubles
with “yucky” who was our last magpie.

I do want Rosie to fly off and be a wild bird, but I hope that she still
wants to be around… I just hope I can get her over this awkward stage.

Wolfie!

Countdown Experience

I had an idea a few days ago about Countdown,
the 70s/80′s pop music show that ran in Australia on the ABC

Imagine that you could go back in time, with recent camera and sound
equipment, or better, perhaps you come from the future.

So you do this, and your objective is to make recordings, perhaps for
historic reasons, of the tv shows of the 20th century, your project
is Countdown.

Perhaps we can, in a way.

I’ve watched “Life on mars” and “Ashes to Ashes” which dealt with roughly the same time frame, and was impressed with all the details.

It would be easier to fool me with an Elizabethan setting, as I am
not that old, nor have I been to England, but I know, and I dare say
that most of us here remember the 70s very well.

What if we had a total re-creation of Countdown?

We have actors playing the parts, we have to, because none of the
stars of the show look the same as they did back in 1975.

But we have the original music, yes it would be mimed to, but then
bands always mimed their songs on the show, so it doesn’t really matter.

(guitars were often, noticeably not plugged in)

And what about behind the curtain, fly on the wall moments with agitated performers, some of them calm, some annoyed, others throwing up. I mean, there has to be tales from people who were there who saw
things and heard things.

So what I’m suggesting is that we get our heads together and come up
with a one hour, one off, experimental television program which looks
as authentic as humanly possible. a genuine labour of love.

Now, Hey Hey came back because someone started a facebook page which
encouraged people to join up and talk about the show, so I’ve done the same.

If you’re on Facebook, and the idea appeals to you, please join me
There and let’s see how far we can push this idea.

Countdown Experience on Facebook

Also, if we can get it moving, I will be tweeting the progress of the programs development via
@Air_Digital.

Wolfie!

Countdown is copyright ABC

ABC Island Open Day

You may have heard about Secondlife, The virtual world. and you may have also heard that ABC has a space there which is visited by people from every country on Earth

You may have been tempted to try it yourself, or have done so in the past and simply got lost… I will admit that coming in alone can be daunting as a new visitor needs all the help that they can get, not from an on screen menu, but directly from the mouths of real people, who have used Secondlife for years, and would be more than happy to welcome you and give you a hand.

So, This Saturday, We’ll be having an open Day on ABC Island, from 7pm, Melbourne Time.

Secondlife is an amazing way to gather together with friends and chat about anything for as long as you like, I frequently talk to friends in the US, the UK, Canada and other countries, and with friends from other states with Secondlife. it’s a brilliant social network, and the added visuals can be a lot of fun, and also really useful… you’ll be surprised by what you can do with Secondlife, you’re only limited by your imagination.

To begin, you need to sign up at the Secondlife website and download the free viewer, a kind of web browser for Secondlife. I’ll explain some of the cool things that the viewer will let you do once you arrive at ABC Island.

It comes in Windows, Mac and Linux varieties. (Click here). The browser is roughly 80megs, so be prepared for a fairly large download, however installation is quick, painless and free.

If you have a headset, make sure it’s plugged in now… However if you don’t have one, don’t fret, it’s not essential.

Once you have installed the Secondlife browser (or viewer, as it’s known), sign in with your name and password and hit the little green button. Give the viewer about a minute to log you in and you’ll find yourself on an island, probably with lots of others. Now typically these islands are slow and difficult to move around in… and the idea is to get you to ABC Island.

So the next step is to get you out of there.

This is how you do it.

At the top right of the viewer,
you’ll notice a space which looks like this ( search ) click it and seach for me, Wolfie Rankin.

Wolfie Rankin should appear in green text at the top of the list, click my name and a different box will appear with three green buttons.

“Offer Teleport”, “IM” and “Profile”

Choose “IM” (Instant Message)

And Say “Hi Wolfie, I’d like to visit you and ABC Island, Could you please send me a taxi?”
(You can cut and paste that if you like, or be creative, it’s up to you).

And I’ll respond as soon as I can, but if I don’t respond straight away, please just wait for a while…
I might be on the phone, the cat could be coughing up a furball, the cake might have exploded in the oven… you never know, things happen right when they’re not wanted.

Anyway, when I do respond, a box will appear on your screen, something to do with teleportation, accept the invitation and seconds later you’ll find yourself standing on ABC Island, Next to an orange wolf with a blue mohawk and a t-shirt with the same wolf logo as on this page… yes that’s me, Wolfie Rankin.

From there, we’ll just have a friendly chat, and I’ll help to explain how things work in Secondlife.

If you like Secondlife, then you can come back at anytime to visit us, and you’ll learn more and more about how it works, and of course you could find some real friends who you may meet at some stage, face to face, in real life as I have.

I hope that your stay in virtual space will be a good one, all the best.

Wolfie!

BTW: If you have any questions at all, please ask below and I’ll try to answer as soon as possible.
you can also ask me on twitter at @Wolfie_Rankin or use the hashtag #ABCisland.