Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Aus. Government Abandons Internet Filter Plans

It was 'shelved' as a policy prior to the last Federal election, but now the Australian Government has finally publicly abandoned its quite stupid policy of implementing compulsory internet filtering. I have been a quite vocal opponent of the policy since its announcement in 2008, and am not surprised by this backdown.

Since Julia Gillard's toppling of Kevin Rudd, following the 2010 election the implementation of the filter was never going to happen. Poll after poll showed its unpopularity, and internet experts and technology industry insiders' continuous criticism on whether it could be practically implemented, let alone be effective … Read more →

Goodbye Faithful Clock-Radio & Loopers

Old Clock RadioIn this past week I said goodbye to my faithful clock radio that has been my bedside accompaniment for the past 17 years.

My Dad had got me the clock radio/CD player (Sony ICF-CD800) on an overseas business trip in 1995; I was 12 at the time and marvelled at the ability to play CDs in my own bedroom. Yes, CDs!! Remember those? 😛

It played its last CD quite a few years ago, and since then I've really only used it as a clock and an alarm. It's a considerably sized device because of the CD tray and speakers, … Read more →

Compulsory ISP Data Retention

Government internet spyingFor all the goodwill that this government has generated among IT people with the NBN, it always seems to have something up their sleeve that goes way too far in terms of people's "safety".

Previous plans for compulsory internet filtering have thankfully (and hopefully permanently) been shelved. Now the Government seems to be proceeding with plans to make ISPs and telecommunications providers compulsorily store and retain customer usage data for two years. Whilst it hasn't yet been revealed specifically what 'customer data' will be retained, one can presume that for ISPs it will contain customers' internet browsing histories.

This type … Read more →

The State of Firefox?

Firefox & ChromeThere's been a few articles rolling around the internet recently on the state of the Firefox web-browser. I've made no secret that since 2004, Firefox has been my browser of choice.

However in recent years, Firefox has been losing ground rather than gaining. Most commentators point to the rise of Google's own Chrome browser, and a lot of people I know have converted over from Firefox to Chrome for various reasons. A lot have been for social reasons, i.e. because it's 'cool' (something that was previously a Firefox drawcard over Internet Explorer), and other reasons people cite are practical: … Read more →

Getting Back Into Reading & Kindles Everywhere

Kindle TouchWhen we got married over 6 six years ago, I stopped reading books. I'm not totally sure why - maybe it was being more busy and more tired - but other than a select few non-fiction books, I haven't read a single fiction book in the last six years since.

Recently, after going to bed at night it has started taking me a while to get to sleep, and I've realised that previously I would have used this 'non-sleeping time' to read a book.

So I decided to get back into reading.

I bought a Kindle Touch e-reader direct from … Read more →

The Increasing Nicheness of Web Development

HTML5 CSS3 modern web designIn the past month or so I've done a little bit of web development. In addition to totally redesigning this very website, I have also recently put together a new website for my brother-in-law's cabinetry business.

Before now, it had been at least a few years since i've done a fully-fledged new design for a website, and it really struck me how things have evolved and progressed in terms of 'modern' web design and development.

Back when I first did my website in 2004 (blog post, site archive page), pretty much anybody who knew the … Read more →

Transforming Tablets

Asus Transformer PadLast week I gave in to the tablet culture and got one.

I've been increasingly using my phone to access the internet whilst watching TV for various live social and sporting events: recently I've been posting on Whirlpool while watching live Euro 2012 matches, and also used SBS's great social media effort for this year's Eurovision.

In my opinion this is where tablets or iPads really shine: as a couch-based internet access device. Where laptops are too clunky and cumbersome, and phones too small and finicky, a tablet is the perfect tool for quick internet or social media access … Read more →

LucasCosti.com Overhaul & Welcome to WordPress

Well I finally did it. Goodbye old site (pictured).

After mulling over whether or not to convert my trusty old blog to the WordPress platform for years, and recently actually thinking seriously about doing it, over the past few weeks I've spent a lot of time actually getting it done. It was about as painful as I expected it to be, which was unsurprisingly quite very.

Other than the drastic improvement in look,  the regulars will notice a lot of changes as I've simplified the whole site down to its core. Gone are the Gallery, Intros, GamesRead more →

NBN Rollout Announced & Giving DD-WRT a try

As fate would have it, there are two loosely related things to blog about today.

NBN MapFirstly, in the past week NBN Co. has announced it's schedule for stage one of the wide-scale rollout of connecting areas. I was of course clamouring to see whether I could expect fibre-based internet within the foreseeable future. Luckily for us, our area is included in this three-year plan, and is due to "commence work in your area from Jun 2014 in phases with last work scheduled to commence in Jun 2015".

The news could be better (Ipswich and north-eastern Brisbane start getting … Read more →

Windows 8 Beta: Upcoming MS Disaster

As I've done with Windows 7 and Vista previously, I like to get my hands on the public betas or release candidates of upcoming Windows releases to have a bit of a play.

Right now I'm having a play of Windows 8, and to be frank I'm still trying to comprehend what's sitting in front of me. Some would say this beta is a revolution in Windows interface design, others would say it's a catastrophe. I'm more inclined to the latter. But before I get into it, here's the obligatory screenshots.

Win 8 logon screen Win 8 Start Screen Win 8 task manager

With Windows 8, Microsoft is attempting to develop an … Read more →