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sIn Playlist: 28/08/2010

Posted by Matthew Jones on

sIn Oldschool Night

This actually became an “Old School (pre 2000) vs. New (post 2000)” night, with yours truly representing the old. Huge attendance (I’d be surprised if we didn’t hit our magic “300 through the door” target), but an odd vibe until around 11:30 where things amped up and stayed on a high right through to closing.

M@

Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion

Kraftwerk – The Robots

The Galen Pixs – Use The Flashlight

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult – Daisy Chain For Satan

Xymox

Neuroticfish – They’re Coming To Take Me Away

Terrorfakt – No Mercy

Absurd Minds – Masterbuilder (Rough Mix)

VNV Nation – Chrome

And One – Military Fashion Show

Apoptygma Berzerk – Cambodia

Diary of Dreams – The Curse Continue reading →

If Internet Trolls Ran Australia…

Posted by Matthew Jones on

There’s been a lot in the news about Internet trolling recently. From the Jessi Slaughter (You Done Goofed) fiasco to Jessica Cook’s conviction for defacing a Facebook page dedicated to Justine Jones.

A discussion with Sam of Lowebrau’s Words fame on Facebook regarding the upcoming election when combined with these recent articles rapidly escalated (degenerated?) into a  list of what would happen if Internet trolls ran Australia:

  • The Union Jack to be replaced with Alf Stewart decking Rick Astley.
  • Internet filter to be replaced with Internet Hate Machine.
  • Parents no longer permitted to name children, names to be determined by Internet meme generator.
  • “TITS OR GTFO” to become default foreign policy and basis for immigration policy.
  • Cabinet disputes to be settled by 1v1 game of Starcraft 2.
  • “Never Gonna Give You Up” to become Australian national anthem, but only after the introduction of “Advance Australia Fair” is tacked on to the start.
  • Constitution amended so as to contain “I got in one little fight and my Moms got scared… etc”
  • Australian Flag to have Master Chief one one side with “Doesn’t Afraid Of Anything” underneath, with Goatse on the reverse.
  • New coat of arms displaying “We Accidentally The Whole Country” in Latin.
  • Speaker of the House to be replaced with Courage Wolf.
  • “The honourable member for <seat>” phraseology used in Parliament to be replaced with “That f****t from <seat>”.
  • When wishing to lodge an objection to a statement in Parliament, one must preamble one’s objection with “NO U”
  • ‎”NO U” to be considered an acceptable rebuttal to any statement made during parliamentary proceedings
  • Toxx clauses to apply during election campaigns.
  • State Govt. Lower House representatives must introduce themselves by first yelling out the post code of their electorate followed by “CHECKING IN”
  • “Holding a forum on <subject>” to literally mean creating a forum on the internet to discuss it. (‎… and by discuss it I mean sit around casting dispersions on each other’s sexuality all day, which really isn’t that different to current question time)
  • Giant image of John Howard DJing Like A Mad C**t to be hung in the senate chamber
  • Every bill you introduce gives you a negative post count
  • Each time you are banned from Parliament you must pay :10bux: to return
  • Minister for Transport renamed Minister for Automotive Insanity.
  • Modsassing to attract the death penalty. Threadshitting to attract the death penalty – unless it is established in a court of lulz that the shitting was lulzworthy.
  • “The Rod” used in Parliament to be replaced by a giant dong.
  • A minister may silence a backbencher’s speech at any time by telling them to “lurk moar”
  • A minister may imply that another is dragging his statement out by yelling YAMSYAMSYAMSYAMS
  • Head of State no longer the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Republic of Dongs created, all new position created for head of state. Position entitled “Top C**t”.
  • “Pics or it didn’t happen” to become ironclad defense in Australian courts of law unless expert testimony is provided to attest that it is ‘shopped from someone who has seen a lot of ‘shops in their time.
  • tl;dr

… sadly I don’t think we’d be that much worse off than we are at present.

Your Opinion Needed – Twitter & Links To Services

Posted by Matthew Jones on

Please note: This post is purely the opinion of Matthew Jones, and not does not represent official iiNet policy in any way, shape or form.

Part of my present job role at iiNet involves coming up with ways that iiNet can better utilise social networking environments. During a weekly discussion with one of iiNet’s programming gurus, I threw the idea out there about allowing users to associate their Twitter account with their iiNet account.

I’m fortunate to have a fairly diverse spread of followers on Twitter – social media gurus, iinet customers, real life friends, tech journalists and lawyers. What I’m hoping to do here is draw on your experience, expertise and opinions to refine, reshape or even completely rubbish this idea. Continue reading →

iPhone4 vs. HTC Evo

Posted by Matthew Jones on

After all the recent controversy concerning the recent iPhone 4 release (aka. “You’re Holding It Wrong”gate.) as well as the number of horror stories from developers on getting their apps approved for release on the iTunes store, you’d have thought that I’d be well on my way to investigating alternatives for development options.

Who would have thought that a single amateur comedic video would tip me over the edge and have me scouring for Android compatible phones with which to replace my iPhone 3G later this year…

I want the one with the bigger gee-bees

Worst-Case Thinking Makes Us Nuts – Not Safe.

Posted by Matthew Jones on

Bruce Schneier writes a fantastic article for CNN on why worst-case scenario thinking isn’t always a good idea…

There’s a certain blindness that comes from worst-case thinking. An extension of the precautionary principle, it involves imagining the worst possible outcome and then acting as if it were a certainty. It substitutes imagination for thinking, speculation for risk analysis and fear for reason. It fosters powerlessness and vulnerability and magnifies social paralysis.

I maintain that everything’s about balance. Have a contigency plan in place, yes. That’s just sensible. But by acting like the worst is going to happen all the time, we often do nothing at all.

Will Wright – Person, Product, Process and Press.

Posted by Matthew Jones on

It’s that time of semester. The below is my submission for my FDN101 – Creativity and Innovation unit. This paper was required to draw on the four P’s of creativity […] and analyse a significant creative and innovative thinker in terms of their individual characteristics, products, inventions and their processes and environment.

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Mention the name Will Wright and you’re not likely to notice an immediate impact on anyone who doesn’t have an inherent interest in game design, or sound knowledge of the history of video games in general. However, mention the names of his creative works (such as The Sims or SimCity) and it’s highly likely that the person you’re speaking to has either played them, seen them or heard of them. In analysing a creative thinker, the question “What is creativity?” needs to be asked. Mel Rhodes states in An Analysis of Creativity (1961, 305)  that:

“The word creativity is a noun naming the phenomenon in which a person communicates a new concept (which is the product). Mental activity (or mental process) is implicit in the definition, and of course no one could conceive of a person living or operating in a vacuum, so the term press is also implicit.”

This definition forms the core of Rhodes’ “Four P’s” model of creativity – consisting of Person, Product, Process, and Press. I assert that Will Wright’s upbringing and educational opportunities, personality traits, products and way of thinking conforms with Rhodes’ model of creative thinkers, qualifying Wright as significant creative and innovative thinker.

Continue reading →

On Privacy & Social Networking

Posted by Matthew Jones on

The text below is my essay submission for ICT108 – Introduction to Multimedia & The Internet. The essay addresses the following request: “Describe the issues surrounding privacy in social networking sites, and comment on how this may impact on the future of these sites.”.

Usual disclaimers apply. Views expressed here do not represent those of my various employers, this essay remains the intellectual property of Matthew Jones (www.proceduralcreativity.com) and may not be reproduced without express written permission from the author.

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The availability of personal information on social networking sites has given rise to a number of privacy related issues including an increase in cybercrime, passing of data to third parties and blurring the distinction between individuals personal and work lives. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace need to adapt and change as these issues come to light in order to remain sustainable as businesses.

There can be little doubt that online Social Networking has become part and parcel of Internet users’ lives. For the week ending March 13 2010, Facebook surpassed Google to become the most visited website in the United Sates (Dougherty, H. 2010), with a membership of over 400 million active users. A recent study by Network Box showed that more business traffic goes to Facebook than to any other Internet site – clocking in at 6.8% of all business Internet traffic (Nizam. 2010).

Continue reading →