Friday, December 28, 2007

Tony and Anthony's new Food blog launched

Hey there, just a quick post to let you know I have started a new "food blog" - focussing on all things food, coffee and cafe culture in Sydney predominantly, with other regions covered from time to time. Hop on over to The Food Zeitgeist to read all about it.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

$US200 "Network Computer" available

I remember years ago (as far back as 1995 apparently) Larry Ellison touted the "Network Computer" as the way of the future. Well it seems to have arrived now albeit without Oracle's involvement in the form of the gPC (or "Green PC"), available through Walmart stores in the US (and currently sold out). Matt Cutts, a respected blogger from Google, describes the gPC in more detail here. It seems to be an incredibly cheap way to get online, runs an open-source operating system called gOS, and encourages the use of purely web-based applications from Google. Check out some of the press coverage here. I am not sure if it would work in Australia but I don't see why not. I am fascinated with Google's web-based applications, particularly Docs and Gmail, and have been using them for a while. For example, I recently put together a spreadsheet of a budget gaming computer (with thanks to Sharky Extreme's excellent guides) I am interesed in custom-building.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Sydney - a treasure trove of food options

Near my office is a bakery offering Vietnamese-style Chicken Rolls for $3.20 ! This is excellent value and reminded me how fantastic Sydney is for its food culture. A couple of years ago the SMH ran an article about some of the best options for food around Sydney - here it is here.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Did Facebook bring about legal and cultural change in Sydney this week?

In an earlier post I questioned the value of Facebook. Well it seems the social networking tool may have had a hand in changing the liquor laws in Sydney Apparently thousands of Facebook activists...bombarded politicians with "e-drinks" emails So there's an application of Facebook right there - rasing awareness of an issue and causing a change to the law. It's certainly a contentious issue as many are unhappy with the prospect of more venues serving alcohol as this response to an article from The Bulletin demonstrates. Oh, the original article is here.

Friday, November 02, 2007

The Sopranos is over

Just a brief note this week to recognise the end of The Sopranos Although the final episode aired in the USA back in June, I was pleased that I managed to avoid most spoilers. I try not to watch too much TV however this is the greatest show I have ever seen. Brilliant, intelligent writing, fine acting, high production values, great music. If you can relate to the feeling a really great drop of wine can bring, along with a really great meal, then that is how it feels to watch an episode of perhaps the greatest pop-culture masterpiece of its day credited for bringing a greater level of artistry to the television medium and paving the way for many successful drama series that followed.

Monday, October 22, 2007

The fuss about Facebook

Evening all, I'm still on the topic of social networking tonight. Now who can help me understand about the value of Facebook? I only joined a few months ago (I know, not exactly an early adopter, but I believe in work/family/life balance people!) and to be honest I haven't really been back since. So I am researching it tonight and want to point you in the direction of an Economist article (here) - what grabbed my attention initially:

- the founder is only 23
- since May 2007 when outside programmers were invited to build "widgets" - they've created over 5000 of them
- estimated revenues in 2007 of $US100m (advertising-only, tiny profits)
- a Facebook conference panellist says the firm is the new Google and may be worth US$100billion (note this was met with derision by others)

Well, this is extremley interesting to say the least, and coupled with recent media reports that Australian business is losing productivity due to the addictive nature of Facebook, I will be taking a closer look at Facebook over the coming weeks.
Good night,
Tony.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Lovely old family photo

From our family photo archives comes this lovely photo of my wife Megan her brother Mark with their mother Nancy, in the early 1970's. Those Elton John glasses and terry towelling tracksuit are back in fashion again today!

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