disruptive thought - Latest Comments

Re: Protected: The Ponton’s Christmas Letter

Phil — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:30:04 -0000

Pontons,
thanks for the newsletter. Great to hear how your family is going.
I will e-mail you a substantive update on my clan later in January.
Lots of love,
Phil & Beryl.
www.31therocks.com

Re: ‘A Rose by any other name’

Todd of Bert — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:49:44 -0000

Ahh yes I'll never forget the "that's not how THE BOOK said you should do it" argument

Re: What the Internet Filter means to you

peterkoevari — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:56:45 -0000

Well argued, and nicely won! I have no rebuttal. I stand corrected!

Re: What the Internet Filter means to you

Tony P — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:36:04 -0000

Welcome Peter ,
Interesting comments , let's examine them shall we?
Your first comments have changed a little since you first posted them hmmm interesting?
The thrust of this post is two fold and your very comments show that you didn't get it?
The first was to educate people on why the filter is not the right solution and I can confidently say I am not an island on this opinion . Even the very institutions that strive to protect our children recognise that this is not the solution. Not to mention industry professionals world wide , google , yahoo, the opposition ,members of the incumbent government and the American government are they all wrong? I don't believe so!
The second was to explain the domino effect of introducing such a ludicrous solution.

In answer to the point that I don't explain "How it should be done" guilty as charged. Not the aim of the post and most likely the topic for another post . Also if you had selected the links to Google and Yahoo in this post you would have found they make a number of submissions better solutions.

In reply to your points about the filter being immoral and un-australian,
No where in my post have I said we should open the door to corrupting children,I am a father myself and am totally opposed to any type of child exploitation. Again Peter I reiterate this filter will not resolve these issues in anyway , the solution is incapable of it , the government is unable to resource it. In terms of Un-Australian , I refer to the fact that giving any government the right to censor you only leads to issues, need I point out freedom of information, news and human rights issues that are well documented the counties I have mentioned. Is that where we want Australia to go ?
I wold also like to point out China's filter is not successful from, the point of view of limiting pornography and the like as it suffers the same issues that I have described.

I now draw focus to the statement "Adults who are hardcore users can still access the LEGAL material by other means." I rest my case I couldn't have put it better , this is why it won't work.

The statistics that you have listed only serve to enforce the fact that trying to filter this at the ISP level won't work , it's reliant on a blacklist that our Government would have to keep updated... not going to happen to big to fast to much for them. I also not that you quote mechanisms such as peer to peer in your stats.... the filter does not include them so again you stats reinforce my point.

Without getting into the whole solution phase Peter , I must disagree with you that parents are responsible for filtering their children. Yes they are , and yes they should and yes I believe it is at that level is should where the responsibility lies.

I do like your naivety children's capability to circumvent this type of mechanism, it is record that a week after the government implemented their school filter , it was hacked by a year seven student.

Now I respect your right to support the filter ,however for you to come out an state that you will exercise the right to use other methods of delivery. You will be breaching the legislation in doing so ... therefore you have given up your democratic right of choice.

I would suggest that perhaps you need read and review the actual legislation as it negates much of your argument.

Re: What the Internet Filter means to you

peterkoevari — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:24:36 -0000

There are many sides to this filter, but the side i'm going to debate this on is what good it can do for protection of the wrong stuff, reaching the wrong people.

Obviously, they really need to refine the filter and add protections where it's lacking, but your post is completely anti-filter, not "how it should be done"

I completely disagree with the immoral and unaustralian thing about the filter. Is it Australian to give an open door to corrupting children? I think not. Do we want a society without respect and decency? I think not. Is it related to each other? Absolutely.

I think what is immoral is the ease of access for children to content that quite literally, should never even be on the internet. In comparison to China, I actually strongly support the chinese filtering as a whole, without the exceptions of political views... it is incredibly effective in eliminating illegal material from the webs. Adults who are hardcore users can still access the LEGAL material by other means.

Some stats for thought:
Pornography Time Statistics

* Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography.

* Every second - 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography.

* Every second - 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines.

* Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States.

Some more internet statistics to take into consideration

Pornographic websites 4.2 million (12% of total websites)
Pornographic pages 420 million
Daily pornographic search engine requests 68 million (25% of total search engine requests)
Daily pornographic emails 2.5 billion (8% of total emails)
Internet users who view porn 42.7%
Received unwanted exposure to sexual material 34%
Average daily pornographic emails/user 4.5 per Internet user
Monthly Pornographic downloads (Peer-to-peer) 1.5 billion (35% of all downloads)
Daily Gnutella "child pornography" requests 116,000
Websites offering illegal child pornography 100,000
Sexual solicitations of youth made in chat rooms 89%
Youths who received sexual solicitation 1 in 7 (down from 2003 stat of 1 in 3)
Worldwide visitors to pornographic web sites 72 million visitors to pornography: Monthly
Internet Pornography Sales $4.9 billion

What does this tell us? (Knowing that some of those trends are not covered in the current filter proposal) That there is a justified case for the government to introduce filtering on an ISP level. And let's not get into the good parent/bad parent dilemma... No matter how good of a parent you are, if your kid wants to find something, even by accident... chances is they will. If you have a filter at home, their mate down the road may show them something they shouldn't see.

What the filter does NOT do:

It does not stop the hardcore internet users from sharing, downloading, and accessing LEGAL, but also unfortunately illegal material. However, criminal agencies and specialists are cracking down on those other channels, and quite frankly... they should be cracking down harder.

Some more disturbing facts:

Children Internet Pornography Statistics

Access to pornography is available from early on. The average age of a child’s first exposure to pornography is 11. A total of 90 percent of children ages 8-16 have viewed pornography online. Pornographers use many character names that appeal to children such as “Pokemon.”

Children Internet Pornography Statistics
Average age of first Internet exposure to pornography 11 years old
Largest consumer of Internet pornography 35 - 49 age group
15-17 year olds having multiple hard-core exposures 80%
8-16 year olds having viewed porn online 90% (most while doing homework)
7-17 year olds who would freely give out home address 29%
7-17 year olds who would freely give out email address 14%
Children's character names linked to thousands of porn links 26 (Including Pokemon and Action Man)

Now, children "generally" do NOT have the ability to use hardcore technical methods of obtaining such evil material.

But considering the statistics in the real world, and as a parent... I completely support the introduction of a filter, but they should make it stronger, refined, and working on all levels, and would gladly sacrifice some browsing speed for it to be enforced. If I want to view LEGAL material that is suitable to my age group, I can go down to my local adult store that is going to check my age and enforce common sense.

Or I can use many other methods of delivery, but the point is... I can still exercise that choice regardless of the filter. I would seriously doubt that a child is able to do that.

Am I happy to "give up my democratic rights" for an internet filter? I dont believe I would be giving up very much at all. Information can still be obtained and is not killed off by an internet filter.

That is my 2c.

Re: Diary of a Train Traveller – 16 March

Tony P — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:24:12 -0000

I can totally understand your distress Jan. Keep commenting and pass it on, my intention is to get a litany of posts together and bring it to the attention of the papers and social websites.
Cheers

Re: Diary of a Train Traveller – 16 March

janfirth — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:03:49 -0000

I had to travel on the 8.02 express from Caboolture on 17th March. This train has come from Nambour as well, but the twist is that it is the old countrylink train - very comfortable for long trips but only 2 seats wide on one side and 1 seat on the other. This train was already full so I got to sit on the floor all the way to Bowen Hills (with having just stopped using a walking stick full time there was no way I was standing). Considered getting out the fold up walking stick in my bag for some sympathy but looking at the commuters I felt that there was no-one who would give up their seat anyway - the pregnant lady won!

Re: Diary of a Train Traveller – 16 March

Tony P — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:01:24 -0000

Thanks Tony ,
Your insight is great as well. I do admit the diary of a train traveler is a bit indulgent on my part. A simple intention to show how bad the trip can be. I do hope you read some of the Tech Thought and soap box posts as you will hopefully find they live up to the intention. By the way ,the very fact that you did post means I disrupted your thoughts enough to make you think about posting. Who would have thought?
Cheers mate and see you on the train

Re: Diary of a Train Traveller – 16 March

Tony Asoled — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:06:40 -0000

This is truly disruptive thinking.. I would not be surprised if such insights are not picked up by a major news organisation and syndicated.. w.o.w.. this is thrilling stuff!

Re: Diary of a Train Traveller – 15 March

momentarydivision — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:26:41 -0000

Oh the dejavu..

I have been catching trains full-time in Brisbane for 16 years and overall, they have been ok. Whilst trains have their obligatory breakdowns and random twilight zone 'idle time' at stations for no apparent reason, after catching buses FT for 12 months now..they at least give the illusion you're covering ground over a blue, yellow and white crawl to work.

Compared to driving and buses, in all fairness QR have always provided a 'reasonable' amount on on-time service. What annoys me that If I still had my 1994 city-train timetable I got when I started catching trains to school...the timetable has barely changed since then in terms of new services.

So the population growth of Brisvegas from 1994-2010? I'd hate to think but one would of thought the available services would have doubled.

Moving out to Richlands soon where the new station is (and the first major new railway project from QR in nearly 15 years) I hope they put enough services to accommodate the mass onslaught of people that will use it out there who have been left dry for trains and buses for all these years.

Maybe a topic to decide what mass-technology would assist in killing time for commuters? setting up a WLAN for each train to allow for carriage speed dating?...

Re: Diary of a Train Traveller – 15 March

peterkoevari — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:52:11 -0000

Master Tony... entertaining article :)

In all honesty, the trains are no better than buses. Luckily, you don't also have traffic congestion, accidents on the road (on a regular basis these days), horridly late buses (also regular now), and generally no aircon on most of the trips to forest lake.

QR and the bus services all need a solid boot up the butt. Increase the amount we pay for transport to the point where it's ridiculously high, and for what? I look forward to seeing the changes they keep promising us. I still see the same packed buses, at the same time... so what's changing? Aside from us being ripped off!

Re: Device Convergence

Tony P — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:44:39 -0000

Welcome to the fray momentary if not a little late,
You make some great points , a happy medium would be a good result ,will this happen? not so sure. Typically our industry goes one dramatically one way or the other.

Interesting points raised on the longevity of the Iphone apps ,being an open source champion I believe that the best result for all ,would be for an adoption of a standard that allows all apps to be built for cross platform scalability. Did I just say that ...ahh ! as Martin Luther once said ....."I have a dream"

Re: Device Convergence

momentarydivision — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:03:50 -0000

I think there simply needs to be a happy medium. People want a great UX on a mobile device but they also want the enterprise ability to perform all of their usual PC functions which..combined is usually difficult.

I think netpads will eventually become more mainstream as they are a good balance of a robust device, multi-tasking and connectivity options.

The whole world is building for iPhones but how long will it last? Will developers become sick of continually having to convert PC apps for ever-changing touch devices? Should they just embrace the change and challenge? Apart from developers - can users handle ever changing UX and UI which throws out the KISS approach of PC app development?

My concern on O/S is the architecture, iPhones apps are being churned out by the millions but can users effectively manage all their apps and be able to access them without information overload. Whilst we bag windows, at the end of the day, it provides a familiar and simple platform to access your tools which for time-poor users which is really all an O/S should do.

Whilst I'm ultimately a fence sitter of mobile devices versus. netbooks, I just question the scalability of mobile devices and operating systems and whether relying on firmware over hardware may hinder the futureproofing of these devices being the source of truth for the busy nerd.

Re: Business Process Mapping the real saviour?

Tony P — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:26:40 -0000

As always OJ good points , I have to agree with your disclaimer of bias as a dev. The BA is as usual the meat in the sandwich and blamed for bad analysis . In my experience more often than not BA's are aware of the bad business process and have raised this as an issue. The result is that the business owner has made the call to move forward and deal with it from a technological point of view rather than re-engineering the process.( In the long run I have found this comes back to bite them in the wallet ).

I must say that I am a fan of devs who wish to be involved with the BA's and business partners. From my point of view I will always encourage this as I believe the better informed a dev is of the problem and process that is trying to be solved the better the end solution.

I return to the comment that there is no excuse for BA's/Dev's to get this wrong , it was poorly worded . I should have expanded on that the in the terms that if they are provided with the right specs and the right mapping they should get it right.

Re: Device Convergence

Tony P — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:33:12 -0000

Thanks all for the spirited debate , however I think we've reached an impasse. Only the ensuing months will provide the truth . I will revisit this later in the year to compare the state of play with my predictions.

Re: Device Convergence

peterkoevari — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:47:23 -0000

Interesting reply Tony, and I understand your points. But allow me to retort :)

OJ said that they will "in some way be embraced", while you're saying that they will be embraced full stop. Many people bought the Nokia N-Gage, but they're pretty much extinct now. Many people bought the Sega Saturn, I think you're getting the picture.

If I were to put my money on a netpad that will be successful to a decent level, i'd back Microsoft instead of Apple. But i'm not a fanboy of any technology, I just buy what suits my needs, and sorry to say it... but it has to look aesthetic.

I may have a negative approach to netpads, I concede to that point... but it's only because I just don't see where the innovation lies in netpads. Functionally, new netbooks with touchscreen functionality do the same thing + keyboard. So Tony, may I ask why you bag Microsoft negatively all the time, continually campaign how linux is the best OS out there and how MS OS's are terrible, but praise their netpad? :) A foot in both camps? LOL

I remember back to when the iphone came out, and I don't remember geeks only being the cry. I remember "mac fans only" to start with, then it became a fashion symbol, albeit an expensive one... and now it's widely dominating the phone industry. Why? Innovation + design + cool features + ease of use = success.

I still like having a real book in my hands vs an ebook, but for ebooks... you need a good screen and ease of reading/use.

I just really don't see netpads as the way forward, it may be a phase, it may lead to better innovation of devices most people will continue to use... like laptops and netbooks.

I am happy to be proven wrong later, and hopefully that will be me proven wrong because computers have been taken to such a new level that i'm glad to be alive to see that kind of evolution of technology.

Re: Device Convergence

Tony P — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:39:27 -0000

I of course agree with OJ , Netpads will be embraced and I believe much more widely than expected. Yes I agree that they will need to mature and the early versions may not be taken on board as the punters wait and see.

I take your point OJ that you don't like devices that try to cover devices that try to cover functionality that they form-factor isn't really designed to accommodate. However is your view that of the general populace only time will tell?

Pete I have to say that I am disappointed by your negative approach given that you are involved in the development life cycle. Also in one breath you say that it's great they are developing them and then in the other they won't be embraced and not cool. A foot in both camps ? Which is it?

I think you need to step back and think about when the iphone came out , geeks only was the cry , now every second person owns one. Don't under estimate the marketing power of the big boys. They have invested far to much for them to fail.

I do agree the ebook capability will be good and in this case size does matter, the size of the application will make the difference. Have you ever tried reading book on a smartphone , very tedious experience.

Re: Device Convergence

peterkoevari — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:43:02 -0000

I think you have a very good point there OJ... it doesn't matter who invented/manufactured sliced bread, computers, electric guitars, push up bras, the point is we're glad to have it.

I don't know why... but every time I hear netpad, i feel like i'm listening to an ad on TV like... "Now available, the netpad with wings! for extra support when you really need it" LOL

Seriously, it's great they're developing them... but will the end users embrace? My vote is on NOT, aside from geeks who just want it because they can. There's nothing "cool" about netpads, trendy, let alone a fashion statement.

Of course, any device that can read ebooks is great as a delivery system for books, magazines, etc... but you can do that on iphone and most new devices already.

Re: Device Convergence

Tony P — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:27:09 -0000

Ahh Pete ,
Spoken like a true Mac Fanboy :)
Was I right about netpads taking off, hmmm,believe I said that the year 2010 would be the year of the netpad. I guess that still leaves me 10 or so months to see if I am right , a little to early to call yet.

As I said before I believe he IPad falls short of the mark ( it will sell big though) however it's disruptive affect on the market will mean serious development and marketing will be applied by the other players.

The net affect (scuse the pun ) will be the beginning of convergence . Also authors like yourself will embrace the platform as a serious avenue for ebook sales.

On the gaming platform side I am not so sure and will investigate further as I am aware of some cutting edge work being done in the QUT and RMIT universities .

Re: Device Convergence

peterkoevari — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:10:23 -0000

Interesting point of view. Were you right that netpads are "taking off"? yes and no. So far, there is a lot of development, but whether or not it will actually take off depends on customers adopting it and sales of the devices.

I agree with OJ, the iPad looks like a well designed device but it's HUGE and impractical. And if they keep developing it to make it smaller and add a phone, what do you end up with? the iPhone! Reverse development in action.

Would I buy a pad/tablet/sleet/thingy? nope... no idea why I need one. If I want to use one to write my next book, no way i'm touching glass screens to punch keys for up to 200,000 words, I want a keyboard!

And i'm not wanting to use a pretend pen ALA Nintendo DSi, as i'll feel like i'm 12 years of age, or 60 years of age using it.

My iphone really does everything I would use the iPad or tablet devices for... so in my mind, those devices are still a fail.

But when the 6th sense devices come out, THAT will excite me.

But that's just my 2c

OJ, good point about games machines. I use my xbox360 for almost everything, from streaming video, viewing pictures, watching dvds, kareoke, and games!

Re: Device Convergence

Tony P — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:25:19 -0000

As always OJ astute commentary ,
Your right it was a clunky prototype , however I can assure you the end product would be a far cry from this. Miniaturisation is at stage where the device could be imbedded in watches and sunglasses and the like. The controllers could be rings on your fingers, the avenues are countless. If I had sais to you in 1980 that we would be carrying phones around everywhere we go you would have told me I was “puffin muffins”.

Agree with your Apple comments , I think they have fallen short of the mark, however they as usual have a great disruptive affect on the market . This will expedite the other companies into hitting the market to compete. As much as it hurts me to say it , from what I have seen the Microsoft Courier which looks like a compendium , dual screens and a camera in the back really hit’s the mark in usability and portability.

Point taken and agreed that there will be many misses when it comes to hitting the mark however that’s part of the evolutionary development path.

Re: Business Process Mapping the real saviour?

Tony P — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:25:30 -0000

Very well spotted OJ ,
You also mention that you have seen business processes that are a dogs breakfast and the business don't even understand their own process , let alone recognise the flaws.
In a way you have answered your own question, you see as a BPM practitioner I often see after a mapping process that the business are startled by the flaws that are evident. You see most business processes have evolved over many years and have had so many layers added to them that it is impossible for them to see the flaws until the mapping peels back the layers of the onion.
In terms of your second scenario , in my experience if the mapping is done in the first place then there is no excuse for the dev's and BA's not get it right .

Re: Simplicity

Tony P — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:08:31 -0000

Your singing my tune momentary , those simple rules can't be ignored no matter how much you would like to. Remember more than three clicks and there gone!

Re: Simplicity

momentarydivision — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:24:20 -0000

It is interesting that there are still people out there that try to design and develop using the old kitchen sink methodology of throw it all into a web app and assume users will love it.

Note that a certain big pillar bank added the usual ajax and flex wizardry to their online banking platform only to have users go 'um its nice but doesn't really help me in doing anything quickly and easily' and have the bank remove all the functionality.

It still rings true that sure, you can utilise technology to assist UX such as ajax etc. to assist/enhance validation and many other toys such as drag and drop UI but if it distracts the user or if the user can't 'get' your app or website IA/design....users will bail.

To the dissapointment of most web designers and developments, simple, intuitive and predictable UI wins everytime...why?.. web users have nooooo patience.

Re: Simplicity

Tony P — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:16:38 -0000

Some good points OJ,
1) I agree with your first point , especially in big companies and government agencies . Job security by obscurity is in the most part a survival mechanism that allows those types of persons to create a web of dependence ensures their role. The negative impact however is obvious,poor and complicated solutions wound around the web of dependence.
2) This can be very true and I have experienced this myself , however if you have a BA worth their salt this should be controlled and resolved.( who says BA's aren't useful?)
3) This is where I think you hit the nail on the head , I have often seen the curtailing of the analysis phase in favour of time to market . To borrow from an old carpenters saying -: Check twice cut once , this works for solution building in our world as well.
4) In our business the mark of good technologists is to admit when you need help and send out the flare for help before you end up in the water.

I agree and disagree with your last comment. It may not change anytime soon , but for those of us who do give a shit there is a duty of care to encourage and to educate others to.