Santa and his six white boomers: Rolf Harris

Australia is a hot country. Being in the southern hemisphere it is summer when Christmas rolls around. Santa's reindeer don't stand a chance, so they are replaced with six white boomers (kangaroo). Rolf Harris, an iconic Australian musician and multi-talented artist, captured the theme well in his song Six White Boomers. (thanks @trib for the video link) 

The year that was and will be: 2008 & 2009

Nothing better for a brain storm than multi-colored markers and butcher paper.

At the first annual Social Media Round-Table Christmas Party we asked those who attended to tell us about 2008 and predictions for 2009. The lists are an interesting mix of reflection, jokes, enthusiasm blurred with foggy thinking and some straight shooting. Waiting clarification for two of the scribbles on 2008. Let me know if I missed anything...

Prize/Award to the best LOL cat creation of 2008 picture (below). Post in comments.

2008 in Review

• Silicoln (sic) Beach started <- A beer to many?
• I met Christy Dena!! (yeah, me too!) :)
  
• Obama Won! WOOT!
  
• Android
  
• Pollenizer Born!
  
• Changing my life completely
  
• Resurrected Webjam! + Learn
  
• Apple store in Sydney
  
• iPhone in Australia!
  
• Rudd & Turnbull join twitter
  
• Beijing Olympics featured on mobile clips
  
• Happener was teh bomb!
  
• Barcamp Sydney 4?
  
• 3eep won awards!
  
• Publishers Love Booktagger!
  
• Radiohead releases album
  
• First visit to Perth! <- Steve Wozniak flew to Perth too!!
• Impressed with Entrepreneurs @Leading Lights
  
• Arctic ice pak grew!
  
• Elias lost his Credit Card in South America
  
• Mick surfs in Spain
  
• Rai went to the F1 night race!
  
• I met Rai!!
  
• Rediscovered Twitter <- stopped twittering.
• Yeah, me too!
  
• Rai/Tangler lives.
  
• Twitter Flies
  
• Aust. Literature Board launches guide...
  
• We had 2 Barcamps!

2009 Predictions

• 3eep/Facebook floats
  
• Orkut merges with Facebook
  
• Earth Hour Involves 1 Billion People
  
• Optus still sucks. (so do the rest)
  
• Android overtakes iPhone.
  
• Nokia launches app store -> that works
  
• Adobe Air Apps run on phones
  
• Silicon Beach acquires the valley
  
• SOE med people get off the high horse & start helping companies
  
• NYT sells about.com
  
• Msft buys Yahoo!
  
• Telstra becomes charity Drops Broadband caps
  
• Atlasian IPOs Bejing
  
• Twitter buys facebook
  
• Vince Cerf is US CTO
  
• Australia doesn’t get a CTO
  
• iphone gets copy & paste
  
• Australia doesn’t go into recession
  
• The Deadpool: plurk, friendfeed, omnidrive, Tivo Aust., channel 9, fairfax, internet filter
• Happener Remains Teh Bomb!
  
• Local VCs raise 500m worth of funds.
  

A carol from me - Merry Christmas

Several years ago I was told about Carols in the Domain, Sydney. I hated the idea. I went begrudgingly and grumbled all the way. Then sang my heart out.

This year my son and I sing Jingle Bells for you (along with a hundred thousand others). Merry Christmas!

Melbourne Tourism Advertisment (2006). The Chasers': Get Lost

First I must say this is just an excuse to say that I hope to get an I <3> Frankston Tshirt for Christmas (serious). Melbourne Australia is a lovely place. In 2006 Melbourne Tourism tell caty tourists to visit. See advertisment below with The Chasers' parody following. 

Melbourne Tourism Advertisment


The Chaser's War on Everything Parody

Good Design Technique - One Man Builds Stonehenge

Good design can solve complex problems. Here is a demonstration on how to build Stonehenge with only sticks and stones. At the end he lifts a massive block with surprising ease.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

An operating system that knows I'm not an idiot.

As seen on CodeBetter.com's blog

"I just want an operating system that knows that I'm not an idiot; that I've never gotten a virus; that I've never propagated a worm; that I don't believe that storing passwords and previous form entries is a smart thing to do; that I do like to see file extensions; that I'm aware that information is sent to the Internet when I fill out a form; and that the natural flow of a web app often means that I occasionally transition from http to https; that I don't care for clutter on my desktop - not even the trash can; that user account controls should automatically elevate without me having to adjust Local Security Policy; that I move my laptop to the other end of my workbench with the lid closed and I don't expect it to go to sleep just because I'm traveling ten feet, and a myriad of other behaviors that need to be adjusted before a Windows box is actually useful for a professional."

Transparency is not always good.

I don't know if I could handle seeing left-over meals or the odd splatter of juice.