Work stuff on Bruff.me

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 08:20:49 +1000

I cannot understand why anyone would willingly choose to use the Divi editor in Wordpress. It’s such a convoluted mess of a user interface. Makes doing even the simplest thing three steps harder than it should be.

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:11:25 +1000

Ughhhh. Tried to send out a campaign email today to encourage referrals for BTTR. Test email worked fine, but the actual email did the broken %SUBSCRIBER_FIRST_NAME%%recipient.% thing.

So embarrassed. I hate when this shit happens.

Thu, 28 May 2026 14:10:12 +1000

Rocked up to an event 35 minutes early. Thought it started at 2pm, when it’s 2:30pm… Not my finest moment.

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:10:05 +1000

Aussie Broadband just increased the cost of my NBN plan. After almost five years, I think it’s time to shop around again.

MyGov is awful, and the people who designed it suck

Wed, 27 May 2026 15:00:35 +1000

I realised today that even though my wife received her tax return weeks ago, I hadn’t received any notification that my bill was due (independent media business wasn’t earning enough for PAYG - long story).

Anyway, my wife suggested I log into My.Gov to check if the bill was there.

Cue an hour of pain and frustration I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. My Gov is awful, and everyone involved in creating it should feel awful about themselves.

To start with, I tried to log in with my email. Nothing. Password reset with my email received nothing.

So I did a “forget username” request, even though it clearly states you can sign in with either your email or username.

Sure enough, I get a string of numbers that represents my username. So I try to log in with that.

Nope! No entry for you!

So I reset password with my username. Sure enough, the 2-factor alerts come through… to the email I had entered in the first place. I work through the process, reset my password and return to the login screen to login.

Only, My Gov tells me I have the incorrect password. I just reset it, but sure, maybe I missed a character when I copy/pasted.

I reset my password again. This time I am doubly careful to make sure I copy and paste everything.

Once again, it doesn’t work.

I’m frustrated, to be sure. But also stubborn. So I decide to revisit MyID.

Ugh.

Because I was using a different phone to the last time I logged in to MyID, I had to do the whole process again. Enter my passport number. My Medicare Card. My personal information. The date of birth selector pops up at the bottom of the screen, so that when you try to scroll through, you inevitably kick open the app switcher function. You have to enter your date of birth three times.

Eventually – eventually! – I managed to get in. Only, it opens up a quasi-browser window pop up overlaying the MyGov app, so even the slightest touch at the top of the screen closes the window.

It’s truly awful.

But sure enough, my tax notice was there. And now I am noticeably poorer, not just in money, but in spirit.

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:34:01 +1000

I finally hit the payment threshold for Google Adsense on BTTR, so I have switched it off. It’s a rubbish product that breaks the site way too frequently.

Ads are definitely going to be a part of monetisation moving forward, but I haven’t quite worked out how just yet.

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 09:30:14 +1000

I probably should have thought about just how uninspired i would feel about working today after taking last week off and with Xmas this coming Thursday.

No amount of coffee can help me focus today.

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 14:31:24 +1000

I’m writing about Ghost’s ActivityPub integration, and I realised that deep down I really just want it to be more like Micro.Blog.

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 15:25:24 +1000

I just spent (checks watch) an hour trying to setup a Windows review laptop.

One hour. Just to get to log in and use the device.

Maybe I should start charging an hourly rate to review Windows laptops. Such a ridiculous waste of time.

I'm not the target he thinks I am...

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 11:23:48 +1000

I just received a message on LinkedIn:

“I wanted to introduce [redacted], an exclusive members club for entrepreneurs with $1M+ in revenue, and our Early Stage Business Community for those with $200K–$1M. I’d love to schedule a quick call to learn more about your business and see if either community might be a good fit.

Lol.

If I was making anywhere near that much money, I wouldn’t be spending any time on LinkedIn.

I experimented with AI to help customise my portfolio site, and I didn't have fun

Wed, 28 May 2025 10:18:36 +1000

I will probably end up writing it up for BTTR more comprehensively, but the past few days I decided to try and use Gemini to add features and update my portfolio site: nick.broughall.com.au.

I built that site earlier this year for a job application. I liked the idea of creating something I didn’t have to pay for hosting for, lol.

But originally it was just customising a template. I can’t code, have no understanding of node.js or React or anything that actually went into the site’s build.

As such, it was pretty stark. It lacked any customisation at all. So I tried to use AI to give me that versatility.

And it worked. The site now has things like an RSS feed on BTTR, and a subscribe box for the BTTR newsletter built in.

But the process? It was like pulling teeth. Every single instruction AI gave me created errors. I had to go over and over the process to systematically fix those errors.

Did it allow me to do things I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own previously? Yes, absolutely.

Did it do it well? Not at all.

If I had budget to hire someone to do the work, it probably would have taken them an hour. I spent hours working through the process of updating and fixing errors. It was exhausting.

Thu, 22 May 2025 11:36:54 +1000

Things that are driving me crazy this week: People opining Apple is failing with its AI initiatives, when everyone else’s AI solutions are terrible for the quality of the Internet, small business and the environment.

Give me a shit Siri over the crap Google plans to unleash every day of the week.

Wed, 21 May 2025 09:47:00 +1000

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and depressed by Google’s I/O announcements overnight. It’s so hard to see a way to succeed as an individual publisher in the face of Google’s strategy to vacuum up all the content and repurposing it to keep people on Google.

Thu, 15 May 2025 20:43:09 +1000

I made bread today while testing the Ankarsrum mixer. It was incredible.

on awards

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 10:41:35 +1000

Yesterday when this news was announced I was feeling a bit down, and couldn’t bring myself to celebrate it.

But I’m feeling a bit better today, and I am stoked to be a finalist for three individual awards at the 2025 IT Journo Awards. Plus, BTTR is up for the Best Independent Media award too.

It’s all self-nominated, so there is a small amount of hubris that goes into these things. But where last year I only nominated for Best technology reviewer, this year I applied for everything I could.

So the fact I’m a finalist for Best Telecommunications Journalist and Best Short Form Content, but not Best Consumer Technology Journalist or Best News Journalist or whatever else I nominated for means that there is some level of filtering to become a finalist.

Realistically, I don’t believe I really stand a chance of winning in any category – 2024 was a rough year, and while I’m proud of what I accomplished last year, I feel all the distractions would have had a big impact on the overall quality of my work.

But it’s still reassuring to be a finalist for these categories, among such esteemed journalists and writers and publications.

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:51:28 +1000

Real first world problem here, I know, but it’s still frustrating that after two years of doing BTTR (not to mention the 15 years of tech journalism before that), there are still so many PR companies not communicating with me. Makes it hard to write about those products…

Job hunting lament

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:43:09 +1000

I feel very much over it all today.

Had a phone call from a recruiter last week about a role. She was lovely and suggested I make a number of edits to my CV to better suit the role.

3 hours of updates later, I sent it off and received good feedback.

This morning she called to say that the client wasn’t interested.

Three hours of work for a job I’m well qualified for, all for nothing.

It’s been relentless. I’ve applied for around 100 roles in the past 7-8 months, and I can’t seem to land anything. It’s exhausting. It drains my motivation for everything – I’ve stopped exercising, have no energy to build BTTR, and feel like shit all the time.

Our savings are mostly gone now, so there’s a huge amount of financial pressure starting to apply as well.

Something has to give, and honestly, I think my mental health is about to crack.

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 12:06:03 +1000

I am all over the place this week. It’s Friday and I haven’t done any planning for the weekly BTTR newsletter, which sends this afternoon.

What should I write about?

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 14:07:31 +1000

The other day I thought I’d try to create a single-page portfolio site to help with the job hunt/freelancing. Got version 1 up and running by leveraging a free template.

I didn’t realise I was going to have to learn React and Javascript to make any meaningful changes, though.

Ugh

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:43:49 +1000

The past few years has been like real life Rainbow Road. I keep thinking I’m doing well, then I fall off the track. I get picked and I keep going, somehow still out in front.

2024 has been like getting hit by a blue shell every single jump. Again and again, blue shell after blue shell.

Today I got two rejections for jobs I interviewed for this week.

Blue shell. Blue shell.

I wasn’t even in first place, but still getting hit by blue shells.

I don’t really want to play anymore.

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:39:54 +1000

I don’t have a deep understanding of code, but I know enough to mess around. That makes it really easy to mess things up.

Today, I was messing things up in a big way, but then I worked out why. I felt good for solving the problem, but bad that I’d made such a basic, basic error.

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 12:30:50 +1000

Last full working week before Xmas, so all the HR teams are closing the loop and sending job application rejection letters today.

My inbox is brutal.

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:49:54 +1000

Today I fell right down a rabbit hole of settings and emails and optimisations and subscription tiers and managed to achieve very little, though hopefully setting things up well for the future...

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 18:44:31 +1000

Today as I was pulling together my entries for the ITJourno Awards, I discovered that across TikTok and YouTube I’ve had over 100,000 views.

Obvs the numbers don’t reflect people actually watching my vids, but it was still cool to realise that I’ve passed that milestone.

Hey Bing, could you _be_ any worse?

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 21:20:46 +1000

Since I migrated domains to BTTR.reviews, I haven’t been indexed by Bing. I’ve read the webmaster guidelines, but can’t see anything that would exclude it from Bing aside from (at a stretch) the membership gate. But a lot of stuff isn’t gated at all, and nothing is appearing in Bing results.

So, I ended up reaching out to support this week to try and work out what the issue is.

Support responded today to tell me that the site “still didn’t meet the standards” and to “check the guideliness for more information”.

My support ticket was literally: “I’ve read the guidelines and don’t understand how I don’t meet the standards, please help”

Honestly, I’m exhausted trying to deal with big companies and their completely useless customer service.

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:01:45 +1000

I’ve been stewing on this piece for months. Trying to find the right approach to talk about how I feel about Gizmodo Australia disappearing. Because it is such a personal thing for me: I put so much of myself into that website, and now it’s gone. https://www.bttr.reviews/gizmodo-australia-eulogy/

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 08:57:55 +1000

I’m looking for a privacy-friendly (no cookies, at the very least) alternative to Adsense that I don’t have to pay for as a publisher.

I can’t find anything that fits the description… Anyone have any ideas?

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 11:07:15 +1000

I am currently testing a robot vacuum that heavily promotes its “AI” features. It has just spent 10 minutes in a carpeted bedroom while on the “mop” setting.

My cheap old entry-level robot vacuum never tried to mop carpeted bedrooms. Is “AI” making robot vacuums stupider? I think it might be.

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 10:12:01 +1000

One of the fallouts from the Google shenanigans this year is that, for me at least, affiliate revenue isn’t really there in any sustainable way.

This means I am putting very little effort into Black Friday this year, and will likely stop covering deals/shopping stuff entirely moving forward.

Two rejections in one day

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 14:24:40 +1000

Today I received two rejection notices for jobs I’d interviewed for last week. The first was a phone call I wasn’t really surprised to receive - I knew it was a bit of a stretch during the interview stage. The second was a heads up from a former colleague who had referred me for the job. I couldn’t even get a call from HR to tell me they didn’t want me.

I’m so fucking exhausted by this.

I want to focus on BTTR, but can’t because it doesn’t pay me anything. So instead I focus on job hunting, doing whatever I can for the site in my spare time.

So far, since June, I’ve had dozens of interviews. I’ve spent literal days working on applications.

And nothing. Not a single job offer. It drains you of motivation for pretty much everything.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:03:46 +1000

The worst thing about job hunting at the moment is the fact you have to answer the phone, even if you’re 99% sure it’s a scam call… just in case it’s potential work.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:25:12 +1000

I’ve spent a lot of today on calls for work, but not actually achieved much at all, and it’s very frustrating…

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:49:59 +1000

So here’s something fun: I took the data I collected from my massive SIM mobile plans comparison table and pivoted the info to look at some different angles.

Factoring in current discounts, this is the average price per day across all plans, by provider.

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 10:33:04 +1000

I really like robot vacuums, but sometimes the mapping software makes me want to go on a rampage.

What do you mean I can’t split the room because it’s “too small”? That’s my ensuite, you bastard, and I want it separate so you don’t go mopping its floor before you clean the rest of my house.

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 08:26:52 +1000

I am 95% confident that my own personal hell would just be the devil forcing me to repack robot vacuum review units.

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 17:41:03 +1000

I’ve been getting more and more frustrated with AI-generated slop recently, but these images produced by the OPPO Reno12 for my review have just pushed me over the edge.

Why does this crap exist? Who wants it? I can’t understand why companies are pushing it.

Here’s the source image:

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:46:27 +1000

Does anybody understand Bing?

Since I’ve moved to Ghost, I get no traffic from Bing. Sitemaps are all setup in Webmaster tools and everything seems fine, except that I haven’t figured out a way to setup IndexNow on Ghost (Pro).

I know Bing is rubbish and small, but I would love to solve this.

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 08:35:40 +1000

Wow. This is an entirely unsurprising, yet still depressing read on Google and its search results.

Google is so, so broken.

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 16:36:37 +1000

I have hit the point that I need to start applying for “real” jobs, and for all the technology in the process, recruitment is so broken.

I just uploaded my CV, then had to spend 30 minutes retyping it into the “previous experience” section of a site’s recruitment page because it did such a bad job of automatically pulling out that information.

Like, can’t you just read my CV? Is that so hard, recruiters? Why make me waste my time on something so incredibly stupid.

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 08:18:20 +1000

I don’t like to spend a lot of time looking back wondering “what if?”, but in year 10 my career survey said I was best suited to be a Maths teacher and I often wonder if I didn’t fuck up my life by pursuing a career in the media instead.

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 22:05:32 +1000

I finally bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago and started creating video content for YouTube, TikTok and instagram. I don’t love it - I’m not very good I don’t think. But it’s not as terrible an experience as I thought it would be.

I’m enjoying Ghost a month after migration

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 18:58:48 +1000

So it has been about a month since I began migrating BTTR from Wordpress to Ghost. I’m still fixing things and tidying up errors and SEO issues I keep finding from the migration.

Despite the fact it’s still not performing as well as the old site before Google penalised it, I’m feeling pretty good about it.

Membership has pretty much doubled in the past month or so. It was starting at a low base, so it’s nothing to get too excited by yet, but I’m seeing people I don’t know subscribe, and that’s incredibly exciting.

My third newsletter went out a couple of hours ago, and open rate is at 43%. I’m pretty stoked with that too.

I’d love to speed up growth, but I also don’t want to hack it. I want it to be natural, so I can discover a natural audience for my work.

That said, would appreciate anyone sharing my work, if they wanted to.

How L.A. Noire Conquered The Uncanny Valley With Aussie Technology Depth Analysis (Gizmodo Republish)

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 15:12:08 +1000

With the shuttering of Gizmodo Australia, I’m pulling a few of my favourite articles over here for safekeeping. Hopefully this won’t upset any of the Copyright Gods, as I don’t own the Copyright. But given the current owners are shuttering the publication I want to make sure this stuff isn’t lost forever.

Originally Published: December 17, 2010 at 8:00 am

From the moment Rockstar unveiled their trailer for upcoming detective thriller, L.A. Noire from Aussie developers Team Bondi, we’ve known that the bar for motion capture in video games has not only been raised, but sent through the roof. Animators have been flirting with the edge of the uncanny valley for years, but now using some incredibly intelligent and advanced technology, the guys from Team Bondi have created the 21st century version of Pinocchio, turning digital game characters into realistic, animated people. A few weeks ago, we got to see the technology behind this amazing step forward up close.

“Match me, Sydney”

– Sweet Smell of Success, 1957

You’d never know it from the outside of the nondescript building in Culver City in Los Angeles, but the US home of Australian company Depth Analysis houses some of the world’s most advanced motion capture technology. Dubbed “MotionScan”, the technology is a combination of high definition facial scanning and intelligent algorithms that can capture high definition video of an actor’s face in stunning, true-to-life detail, and then convert it to a virtual three-dimensional head for placement within the game.

The story of how this Australian technology came to be is almost as impressive as the end result. The brainchild of Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara, Depth Analysis began its life back in 2004 as a small research project. According to Rockstar VP of Development Jeronimo Barrera, it was born from a longing to capture more detail in the motion capture studio.

“Brendan had a lot of experience with motion capture and he wanted to be able to capture performances, meaning the face. Doing traditional motion capture you’re capturing the bones, and he didn’t want to capture what was on the inside, he wanted to capture what was on the outside. So they came up with a plan and he and Oliver Bao developed MotionScan, which is now called Depth Analysis.”

The road from research project to functional technology has been a long one. Despite the fact Team Bondi and Depth Analysis have been developing the Motionscan technology since 2004, it was only this year that they actually began filming actors in the studio for L.A. Noire. Since January, more than 400 actors have been put through the Depth Analysis capture room and more than 2200 pages of script have been acted out for the game. Aaron Staton, who plays the game’s lead protagonist, Cole Phelps, has put in more than 80 hours of MotionScan filming himself.

“Louie, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

– Casablanca, 1942

At the centre of the seemingly magical setup that makes the entire scanning process possible is a soundproof and lightproof room, kitted out with a very precisely aligned 32 camera rig in a 360 degree arrangement around the actor’s central chair. Like a scene from Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the room is uniformly lit in a bright, sterile white light, to ensure that there are absolutely no dark spots on the actor’s face. Having a well lit subject is essential to the technology working.

The 32 Machine Vision cameras are very precisely positioned in pairs around the chair, like numbers around a roulette wheel. Even the slightest bump of the rig could offset the alignment, and fixing it can take up to four hours for each pair. The setup – which was moved from Sydney to LA over the Christmas holiday period last year – took Head of Research and Development at Depth Analysis Oliver Bao over ten 16-20 hour days to install the 1000-plus pieces in the rig. Each $6,000 camera is capable of sending 1080p video at 30 frames per second directly to the server room simultaneously, which can then be turned into a status scan in as little as 15 minutes. Bao tells us they’re the same cameras NASA uses during space shuttle launches to give them a few seconds of footage before melting away.

Each camera is fixed focused on the actor, who has to sit extremely still and act with their face – there’s only about 50cm worth of leeway for head movement during the acting process – which makes it a tough proposition for the actors involved. One of the main reasons the studio was moved from Sydney to LA was because many of the Australian actors being used in the early days struggled to manage the US accent while sitting extremely still. While on the chair, the actors have to wear an orange shirt with three green balls attached, which act as reference points for the development team back in Sydney when they add the Depth Analysis footage to the motion captured acting done at a separate facility.

“It’s very streamlined. We get geometry, colour, plus body orientation and voice, and it’s all recorded in one go. [The dots]are to track where your vertebrae is, so you know where the neck join is in animation, we use those three points to deduct it, And once it’s found, we just plunk the head onto an animation like a Lego head” explains Bao.

In addition to the 32 camera setup, there’s a 33rd camera that connects directly to an adjacent room for the director to watch the performance in real time and a screen which can display the script for the actor, play back footage or allow the actor to see the director in the next room. A lapel microphone and reference mic makes sure the actor’s voice is properly captured without any popping or background noise.

Considering the amount of data coming in from 32 FullHD cameras, the server setup in Depth Analysis is breathtaking. Nine servers, each capable of 300MB/s speeds, are used for the video recording (although the ninth server is redundant), while a 45TB buffer sits alongside the server tower, working away at 650MB/s. Footage is captured to the video server, then moved to the buffer after it’s been edited, before being copied to tape and sent back to Sydney to be processed.

“Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one’s all right, he turns legit”

– The Asphalt Jungle, 1950

The Depth Analysis setup is capable of capturing 50 minutes worth of footage in a day. That may not sound like a lot, but compared to a traditional motion capture setup’s 10 to 15 minutes, it suddenly becomes a much more efficient venture. It also completely does away with the need to animate a character’s face.

“We basically just select the processing configurations, the presets, and just let it go. So there’s no character artists or animators touching up the face. We just hand it over to them to put onto the body and do the head orientation adjustments. So basically we just cut out traditional animation – it’s a lot faster this way,” explains Bao.

The end result is not just faster – it’s also breathtakingly detailed. The team from Rockstar showed us a level from L.A. Noire called “The Fallen Idol”, a case about a B-Grade actress and her 15 year old niece surviving an attempted murder at the hands of a movie producer. Just like every crime show you’ve ever watched on television, as the evidence comes to hand it becomes clear that there is more at play than just an attempted murder… There’s blackmail, rape, underground pornography and organised crime all mixed up in the case.

But what’s most striking about the mission as it was played out – and what makes LA Noire the ideal launch vehicle for a technology like MotionScan – is that the act of interrogating witnesses and suspects relies so much on the performance of the actors, and how that is shown on screen. The subtlest shift of the eyes from the actress; the slightest twitch in the character’s voice or the smug tip of a curved lip all influence your decision as a player as to whether or not you are being lied to. Unlike any video game that has ever come before it, using these facial cues is a necessary part of the gameplay, and it feels natural because the expressions are so natural.

Through either fortuitous timing or a part of some Rockstar masterplan, the Depth Analysis studio was actually reshooting scenes from The Fallen Idol mission on the day of the tour. Sitting in the reception area waiting to be shown the technology that makes the whole operation possible, an attractive young girl with a cut across her right eye walked past. The immediate thought was that she looked familiar. It took a few seconds, but eventually we realised that it was the actress who played the teenage girl, Jessica Hamilton, in The Fallen Idol mission of the game. In a city like LA you expect to see some celebrities, but you don’t necessarily expect to recognise video game characters. As the tour progressed and we watched her refilm her lines from that episode, it was an amazing just how lifelike the in-game character actually was.

An even better indication of the detail captured by the Motionscan process was watching a scene from the game being acted by a floating head – captured from an actor in the Depth Analysis chair and rendered on a screen. One scene in particular, where the character seems unsure about whether or not he actually killed someone the previous evening shows the true power of the technology. By capturing a real actor’s performance, you can see every nuanced expression, from the confused sadness in his eyes, to the quivering voice and trembling lips as he considered the weight of what he may have done, played out on a computer monitor by a floating head that could be manipulated in real time.

Thanks to Depth Analysis, L.A. Noire is already blurring the lines between video games and cinema, which is far from an easy task, as Jeronimo Barrera explains:

“We’re trying something new that’s never been done. We’re not just releasing a game – everybody looks at this who hasn’t seen it in person, even from the screenshots you look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s GTA with Fedoras on’. But the reality is that it’s a whole new different concept, it’s a whole new way of looking at interactive entertainment. I think we’re starting to blur the lines between a television program and a video game.”

“I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom.”

– Murder, My Sweet, 1944

One surprising aspect of the Depth Analysis scans in L.A. Noire is that they are pretty heavily compressed. After showing a line played out by the floating head of Aaron Staton, Oliver Bao explains:

“The raw image is actually much better quality. It’s suitable for film and post-production use. So it’s not limited to just games – This actually started as a capture for cutscenes, but we ended up using it for full game face. At the time, nobody thought this was actually possible, and nobody knew how to use it. So once it was working, people started thinking how they could actually make use of it and that became part of the core gameplay”.

Given that the technology used for L.A. Noire is so advanced and offers such a new level of immersion to gameplay, you may want to assume that it is the future direction of all games from Rockstar. Not so, according to Barrerra:

“Are we going to use MotionScan in every game? Probably not. But where it fits we will definitely use it.

“It’s kind of a hard thing to do because you look at this thing and you instantly go, ‘Oh, they’ve got this new tech, so they’re gonna do some gimmicky tech demo game’, and it’s not at all what this is. It helps, and it’s there, but it’s also the amazing writing by Brendan, it’s [Head of Production and Design at Team Bondi, Simon Wood] ’s amazing eye for detail, it’s all the artists, all the animators… It’s been a huge collaborative effort to make this thing.”

But given that LA Noire is just the first practical implementation of MotionScan, the future looks pretty bright for the small Australian company.

“We’ve only got two senior programmers and one junior programmer at this stage – it’s a very tiny team. Basically the three of us pretty much created the whole lot,” explains Bao.

“[We’re] all Australian… for now. We’re looking at setting up a permanent state studio here, and we’re also looking at doing more R&D work [in the US] as well, because we need to work more closely with clients, they need to have someone here that’s technical to work with them.”

Yet despite spending six years creating the technology and watching it slowly move from research project to a potentially game-changing motion capture technology, Bao still hasn’t subjected himself to the process.

“I refuse to. There’s nowhere to hide. Reality can be cruel and it’s not DA’s fault… That’s what I say”.

Yet for Rockstar and Team Bondi, the fact that there’s nowhere to hide will prove to be their greatest strength.

Red Dead Redemption Hands On: So I Want To Be A Cowboy (Gizmodo republish)

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:31:13 +1000

With the shuttering of Gizmodo Australia, I’m pulling a few of my favourite articles over here for safekeeping. Hopefully this won’t upset any of the Copyright Gods, as I don’t own the Copyright. But given the current owners are shuttering the publication I want to make sure this stuff isn’t lost forever.

Originally published: April 13, 2010 at 10:45 am

My eyes squinting as the sun rises over the harsh desert landscape, it’s time to pack up the campsite and mount up. I kick dust over the smouldering fire, holster my six shooter and get ready to take on the Wild West. I’m playing some early code of Red Dead Redemption, and I’m wishing I were a real cowboy…

##It’s all the same, only the names will change

Set in the early 1900s as America goes through a time of huge social upheaval, Rockstar’s upcoming open world game Red Dead Redemption is spectacularly gripping. It was a time when the good guys were bad guys and the bad guys could be good guys, when government was beginning to take greater control in regulating the frontier and the world was changing as industry began to revolutionise daily life.

As you gaze out, mounted on your horse and observe the dusty world as it stretches out before you, you realise this is not just Grand Theft Auto set in the Wild West. After all, there are no real cities – just shanty towns, remote houses and miles of wilderness in between. The sun rises and sets as you make your way through a world of fictional characters and fictional towns, as the weather dynamically changes from a beautiful sunset to vicious storms that leave you desperately wanting to find shelter. The level of detail – even in the early code of the game the guys at Rockstar let me have a play with – gave the impression that the game world and early 1900s frontier America wouldn’t be too different.

##Everyday, it seems we’re wasting away

There’s only so much time you can ride your horse along dusty trails, watching the spectacular vista of rock formations and tumbleweeds drifting past a field of cactus. Being an open world game where most of the landscape is, well, open, could be a sure-fire recipe to boredom. Fortunately, Red Dead Redemption is full of really clever ways to keep you interested.

The biggest, and probably most important, are the NPC interactions. As you ride along the path, you’ll encounter random situations, like a criminal about to be shot, or a woman being chased by a herd of wolves, or simply some cowboys galloping past. And you can choose to interact with them or not in any way you see fit. You can save the criminal by killing the lawmen, or you can save the cops a bullet by doing their work for them. Each action (or sometimes inaction) plays a part in your characters progression.

##Another place where the faces are so cold

The way your character is viewed by non-playing characters is managed through a combination of honour and fame, with your actions throughout the game influencing both metrics. Take down a wanted criminal by using your lasso and capturing him alive and your honour and fame meters will both grow in the positive. Kill a coach full of innocent civilians, and your honour will decrease, but your fame might rise.

As your character grows, NPCs will interact with you differently, perhaps offering discounts in stores, or challenging you to a dual.

##I’d drive all night just to get back home

Imagine every Western ever made, and what do you see? Dusty towns, wide open spaces, gunslingers drinking and gambling at a local bar. Ladies travelling around in stage coaches. Steam trains. Red Dead has got them all, and they all look spectacular. And you can enjoy them all. One action sequence shown by Rockstar has you driving a stage coach full of TNT into a fort controlled by the Mexican army. Another has you drinking in a bar. You can generally bust your way into buildings, making it a truly “open” open-world game.

##I’m a cowboy

You play as John Marston, an outlaw trying to make a proper life for himself after a heist gone wrong. You have a wife and child, and have left the criminal life behind you… At least until a couple of real nasty guys working for the government take your family hostage until such times you hunt down the other members of your old gang.

The story is still a pretty close kept secret in terms of details, but one thing that stands out is the voice acting – even in the early versions I saw and played, John Marston has the perfect cowboy voice. It also sounds insanely familiar, but I can’t place it and Rockstar won’t tell me…

##On a steel horse I ride

It wouldn’t be a western if it didn’t involve horses, and lots of them. At any time, you can whistle for your horse and have it come running to your side, ready for you to jump on and ride away. Although horses are just another animal in the RDR universe, which means they can be killed from underneath you. Just like GTA, you can hijack a man’s horse – and sometimes they’ll even be hijacked from under you. Sometimes, you’ll need a new steed, and all that will be available is a donkey.

But you can also upgrade your horse by capturing and breaking a wild horse, herds of which roam the wild. Sure, they’ll try and kick you off, but successfully breaking in a superior horse means better stamina and speed, which can mean life and death in some situations.

##I’m Wanted: Dead or Alive

Break the law, and the law will break you. Or try to, in any case. If you’re caught committing a felony, you’ll get a wanted level. It won’t go away either, and the more crimes you commit, the higher the bounty on your head. Get it high enough, and gangs of vigilantes will come hunting you, day and night, until you either pay off your debt to society or you gain a full pardon for doing something really good.

If you do develop a wanted level and gangs are hunting you, you can escape them temporarily by running. You can also aide your criminal intentions by buying and wearing a bandanna during your criminal activities, which decreases the chances of being caught significantly.

Other nice touches include only getting a wanted level for crime if you’re witnessed – after accidentally shooting an innocent horserider, his partner rode to the nearest town to inform the authorities. Had I shot his partner down, nobody would have known I was a cold blooded murderer.

##Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it’s not for days

Multiplayer free mode is a sure-fire recipe for long, sleepless nights. As the in game clock cycles from day to night and back again, you and your friends will be able to roam throughout the entire game world, either shooting each other to smithereens, or forming posses, and travelling the world to hunt, take down gang hideouts or search for rare herbs to access new areas of the map.

Each of your actions in free mode earn you XP, which helps you level up like an RPG, the benefits of which include being able to upgrade your horse and weapons as well as unlocking new challenges.

##And the people I meet always go their separate ways

Red Dead Redemption is the game Rockstar made their impressive Rage physics engine for. While it was impressive in GTA IV, the company has tweaked, fiddled and improved its performance for Red Dead. And coupled with the Euphoria character engine, the end result is realistic reactions from characters both physically and virtually. The combination means that the same scene will always be ever so slightly different, no matter how many times you play it.

It also allows for some pretty awesome sharp shooting challenges and reactions – shooting a pistol out of an enemy’s hand is the Red Dead equivalent to saying “Pwned”.

##Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink

While still a far cry from being an RPG, Red Dead does place a lot more importance on the use of items. Bandanas for improving your criminal activities, upgraded campsites and booze are all purchasable, while you can sell items you come across during your travels, either from your hunting escapades, treasure hunting experiences or stuff you just happen to stumble across.

##And times when you’re alone all you do is think

After a shootout, look up at the sky and watch as the vultures start circling above, shoot one down and it’ll launch into a sharp shooter mode, which will help your character level up.

##I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back

The weapons in the game are actually modelled on the weapons from the early 1900s, which adds that extra level of authenticity Rockstar does so well. There’s a huge variety of firearms, including pistols, rifles, early sniper rifles, sawn-off shotguns (and regular shotguns), plus your trusty lasso and hunting knife. Not that you’ll notice the intricacies of early 20th Century ballistics as you’re blowing the head off an outlaw to collect the bounty…

##I play for keeps, ’cause I might not make it back

One of the key differentiators for Red Dead is the use of Dead Eye, a skill that slows down time and allows you to target enemies a lot more accurately. As you progress through the game, the skill develops – originally you can just slow down time, but eventually you paint targets on your enemies, allowing you to empty your pistol into a bad guy or headshot three approaching enemies effortlessly.

The best part about Dead Eye is that it works in multiplayer too, giving you that extra second or two to steal a kill from under an opponent’s nose.

##I’ve been everywhere, and I’m standing tall

Hunting down wanted criminals is a great way to earn some extra cash and fame. At police stations in various towns, the local constabulary will place wanted posters on their walls. If you want to be a bounty hunter, wander over to the wall and grab the poster – you’ll pop it in your pocket and a waypoint will be placed on your map.

You get a lot more fame and honour if you capture the leader of the gang alive with your lasso, so make sure you don’t kill him. Try shooting him in the leg and watch him try and crawl away, before you hogtie him and throw him on the back of your horse.

##I’ve seen a million faces an I’ve rocked them all

If you’re after a more competitive multiplayer experience, Red Dead also has a whole series of game modes to keep you entertained. Typical shootouts, deathmatches, team deathmatches and capture the flag match types are all available, done in true western style. As each match loads, you’re given the opportunity to gain a slight advantage over your competitors in a “last man standing” shootout.

As all the players stand around in a circle, or in two lineups opposite each other, you must try and survive a bloody shootout where every player is told that they will probably die.

On top of that, there’s also western-specific matches, like a free for all goldrush match where you have to collect as many bags of gold as you can and drop them off at the nearest collection point while preventing other players from doing the same.

##Wanted: Dead or Alive

Despite the fact that I’ve only had a limited hands on session with small sections of the game, it’s impossible not to be smitten with the massive scope of Red Dead Redemption. The game launches on May 21, and without a doubt is going to be one of the biggest games of the year. And it’s definitely sitting comfortably at the top of my Wanted list.

Thoughts on the end of Gizmodo Australia

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 17:43:21 +1000

I wrote a thing on Linked about Pedestrian’s decision to shutter Gizmodo (and other titles). Because I don’t trust the algorithm, I’m going to post it here as well:

Some memories fade with time. Others stand out, clear despite the intervening years.

I remember my 28th birthday vividly, because it was the day I got the Editor’s job at Gizmodo Australia.

I had reached out to Chris Janz, and we had a morning coffee to discuss whether or not I might be a good fit for the role. We had a great conversation, and before I left Chris had offered me the job.

It was, without a doubt, my easiest job interview ever, because it felt less like an interview and more like a coffee with an old friend, even though I’d never met Chris before.

It was a birthday present that gave me some fantastic experiences, some huge career learnings, and so many future opportunities.

I was at Gizmodo when I got married (three months after I started. I was there when my son was born.

Even after I left the role, Allure Media was an important part of my life - I guest-edited the site from Westmead hospital when my daughter was born months before she was due. Another father with a baby in NICU recognised me from Gizmodo as I wrote about the latest gadgets and tech culture in the waiting room.

For years, Gizmodo was not just my career, it was also how I identified myself. I was Gizmodo, and Giz was me. And while that part of my life and career is past, today’s news is a massive blow. I feel like I’ve lost a close friend or a family member.

I hope all those more directly impacted by this land on their feet. I’m a fair way removed from the current teams over there, but my DMs are open if I can help in any way.

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 16:03:12 +1000

I just published my 100th product review on BTTR. Gonna have a little party on my own tonight to celebrate.

Google Search is shit

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:23:43 +1000

I have to admit that the inspiration for this post is anger. Pure unadulterated rage.

As many would know, last year I launched my own product review site, bttr.com.au. I’ve been working hard at trying to make it great, I’ve experimented with some things (including AI content), and have seen a reasonable level of growth.

Nothing worth getting too excited about, but enough to make me feel like I was moving in the right direction.

But this month, Google rolled out its core update, and has effectively wiped BTTR from its search results.

For the sole writer/proprietor of a small business, that’s pretty shit. Here’s a quick pic of what search impressions looked like over the past 3 months:

The end result is a very real question of whether I should bother to keep pushing with the site. I have to say that for a few days I was sorely tempted to give up.

But the thing is, I know that this isn’t my problem. It’s Google’s problem.

I’ve been doing some level of SEO work for the past 10 years, overlapping with journalism and writing. I’ve been using Google since 2002 at Uni when my tutor suggested its results were better than AltaVista.

And I can say with absolute confidence that the results that Google recommends are far, far worse than they used to be.

An example: I reviewed the Oppo A18 budget smartphone. I was one of the first Australian sites to publish a review.

If you search for “Oppo A18 review”, the first result is a review from Cybershack. This is a good result – I don’t particularly enjoy the Cybershack review style, but at least it’s an expert analysis based on first-hand experience.

The second and third results are news articles announcing the phone from Gadgetguy and Reviews.org.

Now, if there were no other actual reviews, that would maybe be okay. But if you scroll another 3 slots, you have Gadgetguy’s actual review of the phone.

So Google is somehow ranking a news article from a publisher above the review for that phone when someone searches for the phone’s “review”.

There are dozens of other random shit overseas sites with “specs” and “benchmarks” articles, plus retailers, before you get to another proper review.

And for the sake of completeness, right now, at P35, there is a link to my LinkedIn post sharing the BTTR review!

Like, in what universe is that good for users, Google?

(I understand that this really looks like BTTR has been penalised in some way shape or form. Fucked if I know what for or how to fix it though.)

Because I’m feeling especially ranty on this, here’s another example:

The search term “best phones Australia”.

Now this one is special to me because I’ve been chasing it for 10 years. I owned it at TechRadar, and I got to P2 at Finder. BTTR got as high as P8, which I thought was pretty good for a new site.

If you look at this result now, P3 is Finder Shopping, which is the page I created about 7 years ago and got to P2, before handing responsibility to my editor of the time, Alex, whose byline stills sits on the page.

The title of the page is “The 10 best phones in Australia in 2024”. The date in the SERP is February 2024.

But if you open it up, the first subheading states clearly in big bold writing: “Best Phones in Australia (February 2023 update).

That’s right, friends. Thanks to understaffing and cost cutting, nobody has actually updated that article for over a year.

The phones recommended here are at least 12 months old, pushing as high as 2 years in some cases.

Yet Google’s algorithm has deemed this page as the third best result for the query…

Even worse, if you scroll just four results lower, Finder appears again with its “11 best budget phones in Australia” page. This one isn’t as clear in disclosing when it was actually last updated, but it features phones well over a year old as well.

Go a little bit further down and you get articles like “What we liked and didn’t Like about the phones of 2022” from Gizmodo…

Now, no shade on the team at Giz, but please tell me, who the fuck wants to know about phones from two years ago when they are searching for the “best phones”? Current availability is implied!

What upsets me about this though is that I have literally reviewed dozens of phones and run research across ten leading review sites every single month since I launched BTTR to come up with a robust method to rank the best phones.

It takes me about an hour every month to rerun the research, plus dozens of hours reviewing, and yet BTTR no longer appears in search results…

So yeah, Google is shit.

But what makes Google’s shittiness stand apart is that in the fallout of this, most of my (meagre) traffic is now coming from DuckDuckGo and Bing,

And I have to say that DuckDuckGo’s results are much, much, much better.

For those two queries above: Oppo A18 review - you get Gadgetguy’s review, GSMarena user reviews and Cybershack’s review followed by my BTTR review.

For best phone australia, you get PC Mag, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, Reviews.org, Choice, PC Mag again (for Android phones), T3 then BTTR.

It’s still not perfect though. The Reviews.org result in there is from January 2023, so doesn’t include 2 generations of Galaxy S phones.

But I feel like the result set is a better match for the intent, and not just because I’m in the top 10.

A quick look at Bing shows that on the Oppo A18 review term, the results match DuckDuckGo’s. On the best phones, there’s a metric shit-tonne of ads - only 3 actual results on page 1 – but at least those three results are current (TechRadar, Tom’s Guide and PCMag)

I know this has been a long and windy rant, and I kind of feel better getting it out of my system.

I know it’s not going to change anything. Google is too big and too successful to even consider the rants of a small business owner.

But I’ve decided to make DuckDuckGo my default search engine. Hopefully some of you may do the same.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep plugging away, writing reviews and news and best guides and hope that eventually something will change.

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 11:09:54 +1000

Google’s March Core update is looking like it has hit BTTR hard. I’ll wait and see how things play out, but it’s pretty exhausting.

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 10:22:27 +1000

Published my review of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra yesterday afternoon on BTTR. It is an exceptional device, though not because of its AI functionality.

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:55:50 +1000

Making Beef Jerky for the first time in the Ninja Woodfire I’m pretty excited.

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:51:38 +1000

Somebody in Canada has come to BTTR, viewed 24 pages and clicked on 88 different affiliate links in one session. Because they are Canadian, they aren’t going to convert. They have, however, stuffed up my performance metrics for the week.

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 13:45:21 +1000

I have so much work to do, but feel completely shattered today. Productivity is a struggle.

Words cannot express my disdain for Facebook.

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:29:37 +1000

I deleted my Facebook account back in 2019 or so, and have not regretted the decision at all. The feed was always full of crap I didn’t care about, I never posted and any connection with my “friends” wasn’t actually meaningful.

But, in order to try to push BTTR along, I set up a new account last week and created a page for BTTR.

Because I had no interest in using Facebook for personal reasons, I did the bare minimum to fill it. But I spent a bit of time trying to build out the BTTR page, and connected it to an auto-posting plugin to share my content automatically.

Within a week, I was temporarily disabled. Apparently I didn’t “follow the community guidelines”, though I can’t see how - I used my real name at least. I didn’t provide a huge amount of extra info voluntarily, but I supplied everything I was required to accurately.

In order to unlock the account, I had to provide my mobile number. So I did, begrudgingly.

Things seemed to be travelling ok until today, when my account was disabled again. Again, no reason given aside from a general “community guidelines” excuse.

This time I had to upload a selfie, which I did. Apparently though, that’s not enough. The account has been permanently disabled, and I have no idea why. There is apparently no recourse to appeal again, and not even a way to find out what was wrong in the first place.

Now realistically, I couldn’t give a shit about my personal account. But it also means I’ve lost the BTTR account too. And that’s frustrating.

So from the bottom of my heart, fuck you Facebook. You’re a blight on the world, and I hate you.

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 14:57:43 +1000

Went to set up a bunch of home security cameras for review and one of them requires professional installation. Not sure I’ll be getting that one done any time soon, unfortunately.

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 14:37:24 +1000

This CMS is potentially the most frustrating piece of crap I have ever worked with. It was clearly designed with absolutely zero input from anyone who would have to use it.

I am literally wasting hours to do what should be the most basic of tasks.

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 14:58:04 +1000

Yesterday I was reviewing the espresso monitor for BTTR and drew a picture.

My daughter was at Nanna’s, so I thought I’d send it to her. She loves that kind of thing.

I searched for her in messages on the computer, pasted it in, wrote a quick message:

“Hey beautiful, I drew you a picture”

And hit send.

Then I realised I had sent it to the cleaning company we use.

I tried to delete it, and thought I had succeeded. Until I got a message today.

“That’s lovely Nick but not sure if it was meant for Licence to Clean”.

I am officially dead.

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 17:21:12 +1000

I’ve been on quite the SEO roller coaster the past month. August core update saw me reach record heights on BTTR, new Helpful Content update seems to have dropped it back down to previous levels.

I’ll just keep plugging away making the site as good as I can. But Google, you’re making things harder than they need to be (for me, anyway).

Feeling frustrated

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 14:11:19 +1000

There’s this one PR agency with a few big tech clients that I’ve been chasing to get on the media lists since the start of the year. Different people, different clients, but I am yet to receive a release without having to chase them.

They promise they have added my details (again, different people, multiple times), but I still don’t receive the information.

I can’t decide if they just don’t want to send me the info, or if they are just truly and utterly incompetent.

If it was the former, I’d understand. BTTR is a young brand without significant traffic or reach yet. They could just straight up say that they’ll add me when I hit a certain size, and I’d respect that (wouldn’t like it though…)

But ultimately, I think it’s the latter. It’s just pure incompetence.

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 09:00:35 +1000

It has been about a month since I started at Compare Broadband, and I’ve slipped into a habit of doing an extra half day’s work on BTTR after I clock off from CB.

So far it’s okay. My energy levels are good and I’m enjoying the work on my own site.

But I need to watch it. This time last year, I was almost completely burnt out, and had little motivation for anything at all.

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 08:51:31 +1000

Words cannot capture my disdain for GA4. It’s ridiculous how shitty the experience is.

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 07:30:12 +1000

First flight since about 2019. Heading down to Melbourne for the new job.

My first big BTTR hurdle

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 10:17:54 +1000

I had my first big setback on BTTR over the weekend. Amazon decided to close my Associates account.

There were a couple of reasons given. The first was that my links weren’t clear, which I disagree with and am not sure what they meant.

The second was that they saw purchases from family, friends and employees, which isn’t allowed. That one was true, I admit… but I still feel cancelling the entire account over $10 worth of toothpaste (about 50c in affiliate revenue) was probably overkill.

It stressed me out all day Saturday. I tried to appeal but got a generic response that didn’t offer any help whatsoever, which stressed me out some more.

In the end I slept on it, and woke up feeling better It’s still a massive pain, but I can manage.

Because my account was closed, I lost about $90 in revenue. It’s not that much in the scheme of things. I can reapply (or so I was told), so I’ve done that, but I need to swap over links. It would be easy if I had API access, but that was closed off as well, and I have to wait until I get it reapproved before doing it that way.

But it’s also highlighted some errors in my setup. I had manually synced my product database with Amazon for most products, which means things are broken when I switched off Amazon. If I hadn’t done that manual connection, things would have been okay.

So fixing that is my day today.

It also forced me to prioritise other partners like ebay.

So hopefully what was a stressful weekend will turn out to be better for me in the long run.

BTTR Weekly update 12 April

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 17:11:16 +1000

And so, it is that at 5pm on Wednesday afternoon I pick myself up, dust myself off, and try to remember the week that was.

School holidays really take it out of me. Even though the kids typically take care of themselves for the most part, finding motivation for anything is tough.

But, all things considered, last week was a pretty good week. I got out to an event (for the first time in probably 5 years). I knocked over a few reviews. It was a short week thanks to Easter, too.

Traffic was good (not a record but close), revenue was weak (can’t wait for that to change) but my traffic from Search is definitely on the way up. I achieved the 600 and 700 clicks achievements last week.

Content highlights from last week

Updated the best Bluetooth headphones guide – It’s still Sony
Updated the best mobile phones guide – It’s still Samsung
Updated the best Android phones guide – Pixel 6a sits on top right now.
Updated the best earphones guide – It’s also still Sony
I reviewed the Belkin Soundform Immerse earbuds. They won’t make the best list any time soon.
Updated the best cheap phones guide – Looks like this is one of my best pages so far from a performance standpoint.
Updated the best gaming headphones guide – I really need a new pair of these.
Updated best Bluetooth speakers – Not a huge amount of movement in this category either.
Spotted this epic deal on the Galaxy Z Flip 4 on Amazon. It’s over now, but it was epic.

BTTR weekly update 5 April

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 17:59:51 +1000

This week’s has already been one of those weeks that obliterate the previous week from your memory.

Overall, search performance is growing nicely. I love the achievements Google gives you, and watching those little trophies come in every few days warms my heart. Here’s what my clicks from Search looks like:

Looks pretty good, right?

Which means traffic is growing nicely too. Revenue is still too slow for my liking. But it will come.

It will come.

Last week’s content highlights

I finally got around to reviewing the BackBone One PS Edition. I love this thing. It doesn’t really make me better at Rocket League Sideswipe, though…
The Amazon Big Smile Sale happened, so I decided to try to take advantage. I pumped out a bunch of deal posts to see what might happen.
I continued the best blenders initiative with this best portable blender guide
I wrote my review of the Samsung Bespoke Jet Elite Extra– it was a great vacuum, but you may need to renovate your laundry to find a home for it.
And finally, I updated our best headphones guide with new data.

BTTR weekly update 29 March

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 09:48:35 +1000

By the end of last week I was just about cooked, I have to be honest with you. I ended up spending Friday playing video games to reset my brain a bit.

It worked, though. This week has been much better for me, despite some illness floating around the house.

A couple of noteworthy developments over the past week are that I created a LinkedIn page for BTTR. I am currently the only follower. I haven’t pushed it to my LinkedIn because I want to add more content before I do, so if I know you on LinkedIn, forgive the future spam message.

The other is that last week I hit the 200 clicks from Search milestone in Search console. I was so happy I shared it on LinkedIn.

I checked this morning, and I’m currently at 396 clicks in the past 28 days. I really wanted to share the “400 clicks” achievement here to highlight the rapid growth of search performance, but it obviously wasn’t meant to be.

Last week’s content highlights

Last week, I was focused on the categories highlighted as opportunities through the previous week’s keyword research.

Like the best dehumidifiers. Did you know you can use them to dry your laundry inside? I do now!
While my best electric toothbrush page has been kicking on quite well, there’s demand for best Oral-B electric toothbrushes as well. So I wrote that.
I feel like I need to spend a lot more time in the kitchen. Last week I wrote about the best blenders in Australia. Plus the best stick blenders. Plus, just for good measure, the best blenders for smoothies. (FWIW, that last one always did remarkably well at Finder for some reason.
I also got around to writing up my review of the Pixel Buds Pro. TLDR: Sounds fine, but really hard to get a good fit.

BTTR weekly update 22 March

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 13:18:18 +1000

So, last week was a bit of a struggle. After having a bit of an existential crisis around the decision to work on BTTR, I took a step back and decided I needed to reprioritise.

The catalyst was revenue, unsurprisingly. I was halfway through prepping a page on the best projectors in Australia, when I realised that I wouldn’t be able to earn any money from the page.

One day, maybe, but not now. And I kind of need a bit of cash flow at the moment.

And so, I decided: I needed to go back to what I’m good at.

I dove into some keyword research and spreadsheets to identify the areas I could focus on that would (hopefully) lead to a sharper upturn of revenue.

It meant a couple of days of not much writing, unfortunately. It was an epic spreadsheet.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks to see if it makes much of a difference to my wallet…

Last week’s content highlights

Best gaming keyboards. There’s lots to understand in this little category, but it’s definitely worth it if you enjoy gaming. Or typing.
I updated the guide to the Best Samsung smartphones. I was a little surprised that the S23 Ultra didn’t go straight to the top.
I admit it felt a little weird to write the best Wi-Fi extenders page before doing the best routers page, but that’s what the keyword research told me to do!
I watched a lot of dash cam footage while preparing the guide to the best dash cams in Australia. Some of the stuff they capture is crazy!

BTTR Weekly update 15 March

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 15:49:03 +1000

I have to tell you, I was struggling at the start of this week.

I’ve been pumping out pages for this site for about 2 months now, and while I’m starting to get into the swing of publishing content, I’m also conscious that things aren’t moving very fast.

I knew it would take time.

I knew it would be hard work.

But the results (while really encouraging) have also been minimal. Particularly on the revenue front.

Again — I knew this before I started. But this week it hit me, and I was feeling rather discouraged.

Working it out, I’m less than 10% of the way through my target number of evergreen guides. And the whole business plan relies on me making little bits of money from many guides, not the other way around.

Then, in my hour of need, someone bought a phone through the site.

It was a small action. It wasn’t enough money to pay for a year of hosting, even.

But it showed me that the idea is sound. Small amounts of revenue over plenty of pages.

And so, I am kicking on. I still have hundreds of guides to write, after all.

Last week’s content highlights

Updated the guide to the best true wireless earbuds
Updated our page on the best noise-cancelling headphones
I reviewed the Kindle Scribe. It’s really interesting!! The pencil works well, and it’s great as a journal or notebook, but it doesn’t do sharing or productivity overly well. The kids are obsessed with it, though, and I keep finding them drawing on it or doing their maths homework on it.
A brief look at where you can pre-order the Velocity Green Xbox wireless controller (hint, it’s Microsoft directly)
I updated the list of the best smartwatches in Australia
I gave the best cheap phones in Australia page a bit of a refresh as well.
And I ran down the list of the best VR headsets you can buy in Australia

BTTR Weekly update 7 March

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 20:50:10 +1000

I’m definitely running late on publishing the weekly update this week. It’s been a crazy few days, including my daughter getting prepped for high school and a realisation of a major challenge with the site’s setup that I’ll detail in another post.

As for last week… well, it was okay. I got thrown out of whack with Jury Duty on Monday last week, and I think that set the tone for my (month) week.

From a stats' perspective, traffic was down week on week for the second consecutive week. Rev was about the same, though (which is to say nowhere near enough).

Last week’s highlights

I kicked off the week reviewing the LG CS OLED TV. It has since been collected, and I miss it now that it’s gone.
I followed that up with a run down of the best TVs in Australia. Pretty stoked that this one landed at P13.
I was getting hungry, so I wrote about the best air fryers. No such luck with the rankings, though.
Best gaming mice – There’s a gap in reviews of these on the site, so I’ll have to fix that soon.
Finally, I managed an update to both the best phones and best Android phones. I’m pretty happy with the improvements.

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 13:48:10 +1000

I am really going to miss this TV when it gets collected.

BTTR weekly update 27 Feb

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 13:15:46 +1000

I hit a big milestone this past week on BTTR. For the first time, Search Console is telling me that it has indexed more pages than not.

Given you can’t get traffic from search to a page that Google hasn’t indexed, this is a pretty big deal. There are still more than 500 pages (mostly index pages) for the search giant to make its way through, though, so I won’t celebrate too hard. But it’s still an exciting milestone.

Another big milestone is my first clicks for Google Discover. I’m pretty excited by this, though I have no idea what pages are currently getting Discover traffic. Search console is showing me impressions and clicks, but has no info on what it was for. Yet.

On the weekly metrics, traffic was down, but revenue was up. Not that we’re talking big numbers at all, but having some revenue is reassuring.

Last week’s content highlights

Last week, I spent a bit of time focused on reviewing the Google Pixel 6a and the Google Pixel 7. I liked both, a lot, but the bang for buck on the 6a is hard to beat. Probably why it’s on the list of best cheap phones.
I also looked at the best air purifiers in Australia. There wasn’t as much consensus here as I would like, but it’s still good to know where there is agreement.
I had a brief look at where you could buy the new PSVR2
I also saw that Microsoft had stock of the Xbox One X again, so wrote up where you can buy the current-gen Xbox consoles.

BTTR Weekly update

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 11:20:24 +1000

BTTR enjoyed its second record traffic week in a row last week. Over 600 pageviews for the week, which is still nowhere near where I want it to be, but also pretty good for how young the site is.

The downside was that there was almost no revenue. Obviously, that’s to be expected some days, but I’d gotten used to pulling in a handful of dollars at least, and last week just didn’t make cents.

Boom-tish.

Still, pretty happy. I managed to sign up for a few more affiliate programs, and have been slowly getting them implemented on the site.

It wasn’t all good news though. My best vacuum cleaners post dropped from P16 - which I was extremely happy with - to somewhere beyond P100. I’ll try and work out what caused that disaster soon.

Last week’s content highlights

I looked at the best cheap phones in Australia. Interestingly, the common devices are all somewhere closer to mid-range devices in my opinion. Once I’ve tested more in this space for BTTR I’ll change methodology, but for now, this one is out there, currently ranking at P37. It needs some love.
While I was pushing out phone content, I decided to push Best Samsung phones out the door as well. It landed at P56, which I think reflects the fact I haven’t gone hands on with any Samsung phones on the site yet. That, my friends, is on the Todo list.
Breaking away from phones, I started looking at appliances again. Best coffee machines Australia went live, and while it’s not ranking yet, it’s definitely going to get better as I start testing out coffee machines. Which I am definitely going to be doing.
On the reviews front, I reviewed the TCL NXTPAPER 10s tablet. It’s an interesting take on a budget tablet, and the screen is certainly unique. I probably wouldn’t buy now though.

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 09:48:30 +1000

This morning has been a roller coaster of affiliate network approvals, rejections, technical challenges and implementations.

Don’t even get me started on the tax forms. Ugh.

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:32:36 +1000

Last week was a pretty good week for BTTR with a couple of good milestones achieved.

Over 500 pageviews in the week, an obvious record for me given the site is so new. Also managed to achieve my first $100 in revenue.

There is still a really long way to go, but it’s good to hit some milestones to help you stay inspired.

Last week’s highlights

These are Australia’s best robot vacuum cleaners
The list of best phones in Australia got an update for February. I expect big changes next month as the Galaxy S23 Ultra starts appearing in more best guides.
Similarly, the best Android phones got an update. No real movements though.
I looked into the best earphones in Australia and was somewhat surprised that they were all true wireless.
If you’ve been looking for a 2-in-1 laptop, then these are some of the best in Australia
I also reviewed the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Plus. Side note - my house has rarely been cleaner.

Deal alert

Spend $100 on Lego, get a $10 Amazon gift card. Given I spend five times that (at least) for the kids at Christmas, it’s a good chance to get in early and get a little something for myself

The iMac really should have a touchscreen

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 08:47:55 +1000

Yesterday I went to see Apple PR to tell them all about the new website.

When I arrived, I was asked to sign in on a gorgeous 24-inch iMac. They have a custom screen with two big boxes so you can sign in as a guest or as a courier, and I walked over and obnoxiously tapped on the box that said “Guest” with my finger.

Nothing happened. So I did it again.

It was at this point that I realised I was using an iMac.

iMacs have never had a touchscreen.

Embarrassed, I used the mouse and entered my details. It told me I would get a badge when my contact came to officially sign me in.

So I waited, and eventually the Apple team member I was meeting came out, walked me over to the iMac, and then touched the same sign-in box on the screen I had pressed.

We laughed about it.

But yeah, the iMac should probably have a touchscreen.

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 10:56:48 +1000

Yesterday I officially unveiled my new work site, and shortly afterwards was interviewed by Phil at Influencing about it.

Not sure how easy it is to access, but it was a fun little interview.

(And also maybe check out BTTR)

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 13:44:21 +1000

I updated LinkedIn today so it must make it official.

I’ve launched a new product review site for Australians. It’s still really early days, so there’s still a long way to go.

But I’m quite happy with it so far.

BTTR

(Feedback welcome)

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 19:46:11 +1000

Now that the kids are back at school, I’ve been more focused on trying to work.

And now that I’m more focused on trying to work, I’m less focused on writing stuff here.

I need to consciously remember to write here.

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 18:48:00 +1000

Read about ASIC deciding to sue Finder over the crypto Finder Earn product and I have so many opinions that I think I might just bottle them up inside and use that pent up energy to fly to the moon.

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 17:36:30 +1000

I like to try and work things out when I can, but I think it is time for me to just accept I will never be a web developer. Or any other type of developer. This old dog is not learning those new tricks.

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 14:01:08 +1000

I just realised that because I linked my work MacBook to my iCloud account, I have a lot of personal stuff on the computer I need to return to work tomorrow.

(Heads to Google to work out how to erase everything for his own safety.)

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 20:55:16 +1000

It appears that the trend of decreasing search demand in Australia for “Black Friday” we saw over the past two years has turned around. The data is currently incomplete so it’s hard to be 100% certain though.

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 13:46:11 +1000

I only have one more week of work left at my current job. Today I sent out the “new email address” update email, and it felt really good. I’m thinking 2023 is going to be a great, but challenging year.

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 14:48:52 +1000

I still have three weeks of work before I finish up. Time is dragging along, every day slower than the one before. But with every passing day, I am becoming more and more certain that moving on was the right move. I am ready for something new.

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 09:43:05 +1000

I am watching a conversation on Slack between the editorial and sales teams. It’s already 100 messages long and they don’t seem close to reaching a consensus. I should weigh in, but I’m feeling pretty sick today and don’t know if I have the energy.

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 11:44:40 +1000

Last week a colleague told me she was pregnant.

While congratulating her, I had an insight: Now that my own kids are a bit older and more self-sufficient, I feel like I need them more than they need me.

I wish I could have given them more of my time when they really needed it.

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 13:11:26 +1000

Ironic enough for Alanis: My freelancer ABN - the licence that allowed me to operate a small business - was cancelled from lack of use two months ago. Now, for the first time in 6.5 years, I need it for potential freelance work.

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 13:03:13 +1000

I’m trying to figure out what the next chapter of my life should be about. My 20s were about discovery, 30s were about family, but my 40s seem a bit lost. All I’ve come up with is that I need a change… and so I handed in my resignation. Let’s see what happens next.

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:30:39 +1000

It absolutely blew my mind last week when I randomly had my work Mac and my personal Mac running side by side and my mouse cursor just travelled from one screen to the next. Related: I now have a 3-screen setup.

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 15:38:58 +1000

Thanks to a combo of public holidays, annual leave and illness, I haven’t worked a full week in a while. Which is probably why this week is taking forever to end…

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 08:05:23 +1000

Colleague pointed out I’d made the homepage of news.com.au yesterday. I’m the guy standing in the background of the main pic. 🤣 Show me the money!

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 16:53:33 +1000

Watching a presentation where the slides have green buttons on a blue background and it offends my sensibilities.

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 19:46:58 +1000

I feel that the 4 day work week outlined here will be inevitable for some businesses, eventually. Though it won’t happen any time soon for most of us. ia.acs.org.au

SMH links to Giz, but at what cost?

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:42:55 +1000

Doncha love it how newspapers are always bitching about how blogs steal their content, yet have no issue with stealing it from blogs themselves?

Of course, Giz US is creative commons, so it’s not quite the same, but anyway, I digress…

The SMH has an agencies story that ACTUALLY LINKS OUT! Stop the presses! That’s gotta be a first. The problem is that the sub editor completely failed, and the link is to the “Gizmodo Tech new site”. Obviously meant to be news, but whatever…

[SMH]

The Ubuntu Expedition

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:48:40 +1000

This week, I found myself without a decent working loaner laptop for the first time in a long time. And I needed to head into the office. And I needed to work on the train. So, I was left with no option but to pull out my old Dell Inspiron from 2002… Yes that hideous thing you see above.

Considering that it was slower than a sloth on Sunday, I decided to give Ubuntu a good old college try as my OS of choice. I downloaded the ISO file last night, burnt it to disk this morning, and tried to install it before I left for work. That didn’t work…

So I booted up XP, worked painfully slowly on the train, got to the office and tried again. And despite how long it took, I actually got it working - and the process was relatively pain free.

I haven’t tested it out fully yet - the battery went dead by the time I was on the train home to use it – but it seems to actually be not only functional, but comparatively speedy and efficient. I’m not that surprised – I had heard good things beforehand. It’s just nice to have a decent experience with a “PC”…

The problem now is that I have another loaner, and I doubt I’ll pull out the Inspiron again any time son, even to play with Ubuntu. I mean, I can play with Windows 7 now, and that’s the more exciting of the two, right? Right?

Thoughts From The Big Day Out 2009

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:56:36 +1000

Yesterday Lauren and I headed over to the Big Day Out, courtesy of HP (who had a stand at the event). The only way to describe the experience come from the immortal words of Danny Glover: “I’m getting too old for this shit”.

For a start, it was bloody hot. Even though I had sunscreen on every conceivable part of exposed skin, it seems that wasn’t enough - my scalp feels well and truly sunburnt… I guess my hair is thinning faster than Amazonian rainforest at the moment.

Secondly, the event is clearly for young people. I reckon that at 29, I dragged up the average age something shocking. Not only that, but 90% of the people there were relatively attractive, a surprisingly high percentage had tattoos, and an equally high number for completely off their nut.

We ended up leaving after a few hours - I’d been sick the night before and Lauren was feeling ill from the heat, but we both left Homebush thinking the same thing: this so isn’t our scene.

On the upside, we did get to see Birds of Tokyo again, and they rocked.

Another Giz Milestone

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:30:40 +1000

So this week marked my one year anniversary at the helm of Gizmodo… and what a year it has been!

Here are some figures to mull over: Monthly unique browsers in December 2007 – 220,240 Monthly unique browsers in December 2008 - 678,311 (and keep in mind that December is a slightly quieter month thanks to Christmas/New Years. November 2008 had over 800,000 uniques).

Monthly pageviews in December 2007 - 967,297 Monthly pageviews in December 2008 - 2,964,645

So, as you can see, it’s been a good year for Giz. And a good year for me. Here’s hoping we can maintain the growth for the next 12 months…

Finally, A New Study Worth Working In

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:14:03 +1000

We spent the better part of the past week painting the study. While it’s still not the perfect home office – I still need some decent shelving and we haven’t moved 90% of what we took out back in yet – it’s so much nicer. It’s actually a workspace, rather than a child’s bedroom.

I didn’t take any photos of the room prior to painting, but I do have some pics from when I made a short film for a story in T3 which should give you an idea of just how horrible an office environment it was to work in.

Last Week...

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:30:29 +1000

… I past the 1000 post mark on Gizmodo Australia. It was such a momentus occasion that I didn’t realise until 2 days after it happened.

How I Organised My Workload And Emptied My Inbox

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:33:08 +1000

Time management is not my strong point. Organisation is not my strong point. Keeping my inbox under control is definitely not my strong point… I guess you could say that I’m a bit chaotic when it comes to managing my workload.

But that’s not where I want to be. I want to be organised. I want to manage my time effectively. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to partake in a time management seminar last week put on by the guys from BlackBerry for freelance journalists and technology bloggers like myself. It was run by a gentleman named Dermott Crowley from Adapt Training Solutions, and all I can say is that I walked away a changed man. A changed, organised man.

The seminar lasted for a couple of hours - but in those two hours I learnt enough to completely restructure my work systems so that now I can manage my time much more effectively and improve my productivity tenfold. Here’s how I did it:

But I Use a Mac…

The biggest problem I faced was the fact that Dermott’s presentation, as eye-opening as it was, focussed on two keys parts: Using Outlook and a Blackberry. I use an iMac and an iPhone. And even though there are many convenient aspects to working from Outlook, I’m not prepared to switch to either a PC-based work solution or Entourage. So my solution isn’t as perfect as the one put forward to me last week, which used Outlook to manage all of your digital life – Email, Calendar and Tasks.

The first thing I had to do though was empty my inbox. Your inbox is one of several ways of getting new work (along with phone calls, your in tray, ideas you have etc) and it’s important to deal with all new work by cataloguing it as either Fixed work (like an appointment) or flexible work (pretty much everything I do). Once you’ve assigned an email to your calendar or To Do list, you should file it. To do this, I created two new folders on my Exchange Account (not on My Mac) called Filed emails and Press Releases. I find that because I get a lot of press releases, keeping them seperate is easiest – I can delete them easily 3 months down the track. I also dislike deleting emails in case I need to reference them at a later date, so I move everything into the Filed Email folder once it’s dealt with.

It took two days to sort through the 5,000 emails littering my inbox, but now I feel like a changed man.

iCal and Mail

iCal and Mail already play together nicely. One of the best things about Leopard is the ability to select a date in text and create an event in your calendar straight away. Before I sorted through my inbox, I’d always look at an invite or a meeting request and put off adding it to iCal (I’m very lazy), but now that I have to move the email out of my inbox, I never miss a thing. And because my iPhone syncs with iCal as well, I don’t have any concerns about not having an appointment scheduled anymore.

Where the whole Mail / iCal relatoinship falls down though is in Task management. Outlook lets you sort your Tasks by day or by preference or by pretty much any way you want. iCal just offers you a big scary list of ToDo items, that may or may not disappear once completed. And considering how most of my work falls into the “Flexible” work basket, I really needed a solid Task management app to look after me - and it needed to work with both Mail and iCal as well. I found Things.

Things isn’t complete. It hasn’t launched yet. It’s scheduled to launch at MacWorld in January 2009. When it does, it will set you back $US50. At the moment though, it’s free as a trial. And it’s really good.

Things

What I like about Things is that you can drag pretty much anything down onto the icon in your Dock and it will add it as a new task. Websites, emails, RSS posts from my reader, songs… For someone who’s job is to write about the latest tech, it makes life easy. Everything initially starts in your inbox. You can setup projects, which are bigger jobs involving more than one step, plus areas of responsibilty, like work and home. Like a lot of Mac software, it’s just drag and drop.It also grabs ToDo items straight from Mail, although it grabs them twice for some reason.

Once you’ve added your tasks and sorted them out, you can view what you have due Today. If you get through that, you can head onto Next. Or Someday.

My typical day’s work now consists of the following:

Refeed US content
Read through emails, sorting relevant potential posts into ToDo items in Things, as well as emails I need to follow up on
Write a post or two and cross it off the ToDo list.
As more work comes in, add it to Things
Check other sources for stories (news websites, RSS reader) and add to Things
Work through ToDo list and do the work
Etc and so forth

The iPhone

Oh yeah, Things has an iPhone app. $12.99. Lets you take your tasks with you. It’s good, but it will only sync with your desktop client if you’re running both at the same time on the same wireless network. opefully when Apple get around to launching their push notification service, we’ll see more functionality (like wireless syncing).

I know that’s all fairly top-level, but if I went into too much detail, poor old Dermott would be out of a job. And considering how much of an impact he made on my work life, I’d hate for that to happen.

I have no idea how much he costs, but if you feel like you get overwhelmed by the amount of email coming in and struggle to manage your time effectively, I’d thoroughly recommend visting his website to try and get some training. It’s well worth it.

Stephen Conroy Wants To Kill The Internet. We Can't Let Him

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:04:10 +1000

I finally managed to get my thoughts together long enough to write a post on the Rudd Government’s planned internet filter. It’s up on Giz AU now – check it out, link to it, Digg it… spread the word. Because no matter what Conroy tells us, filtering the internet will do absolutely nothing to stop illegal material – it will just slow down the Internet and make regular business owners suffer.

I wanted to use the image above to introduce the Giz post, but thought I should probably hold off in case we upset advertisers. For my personal blog, however, it’s fair game…

StreetView's Privacy Concerns Blatantly Overstated In The Media

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:38:00 +1000

I had a rant the other day on Giz about Google’s new StreetView service. Basically it was in response to an SMH article that claimed that a guy named “Bill” (not his real name) was photographed passed out on his mother’s lawn after a big night on the drink mourning his recently deceased best mate. The SMH claimed it was an invasion of privacy. I disagree.

But, perhaps worse, there are now millions of people who have seen the photo as a direct result of the SMH article, as opposed to the dozens who might have seen it on StreetView.

Anyway, for my entire argument look at the Giz article. What I wanted to mention here is the two different responses I’ve gotten. In response to the Giz post, the vast majority of readers agree with me – that StreetView is a service and that Google’s privacy measures are adequate. Yet when discussing the issue on the ITJourno forum (a discussion point for IT journalists in Australia), individuals there are quite vocal in there opposition to StreetView.

Why is that? Is it because they feel that they need to fight for the right of the lesser people? Or is it because through the controversy they can create engaging editorial?

But even more importantly – Why am I so opinionated on this matter? I generally don’t care one way or the other about what other people write. But for some reason, this whole controversy reeked of sensationalism to me.

Oh well. At least I have the Olympics to distract me when I get too worked up…

I'm SO Excited!

Tue, 06 May 2008 21:25:00 +1000

Oh. My. God. It’s about time. Today, Vodafone announced that they’re launching the iPhone in Australia. While that may not mean much to most people, I almost peed my pants when I read that email, I can tell you.

Even though there’s precious little information, the fact that it’s with Vodafone means I don’t have to sign up with a new carrier. Unless they keep their ridiculous data pricing the same, and I have to look at moving to 3. No point in having an iPhone if you don’t use it, after all.

Now we sit back and wait - I reckon Optus will announce they have the iPhone as well in the next week or so - my guess is that Vodafone just wanted to say “First!”

I can’t wait.

Well, So much for daily...

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:37:00 +1000

I discovered last week that although I “blog” for a living these days, trying to find something interesting every day in my own life was a struggle. There’s only so many times that you can say, “I woke up, did the feed for Gizmodo, wrote some local stories, cooked dinner and went to bed”, and even fewer times that it’s actually interesting. So, this will probably become more like a real diary, where I chronicle the exciting events in my life.

The weekend was one such event. It started on Friday with the IT Journalism awards. An. Absolute. Farce.

I’m not saying it wasn’t a good night, but the fact that neither Giz or Kotaku was a finalist for “Best New publication”, when the award went to Gamespot AU (which was relaunched last year) and Playstation Magazine (which was just Playstation 2 magazine rebranded) was a finalist justifies my opinion. I mean, I know they lost our entry, but we resubmitted, so they should have counted us. It’s not like they can rule us out because we use licensed content – so does Gamespot AU. I’d say it’s more that they lost our entry, but by the time they let us know, they’d already judged. I won’t deny I’m disappointed – I don’t think I deserve any accolades myself, but the site is doing so well that I don’t think people can ignore us anymore.

Anyway, after a few drinks and a late train home, I got over it (no really, I did. That last paragraph was written by someone else). Saturday was a nicer day, with Kristie and Ben’s wedding.

It was a beautiful ceremony down at Cronulla (not on the beach). The light was fantastic – if their photographer is as good as I thought he was, then they are going to have some fantastic photos, plus some shots from me, like the one above. The reception was beautiful – they did a ceremony like the candle ceremonyt we did, except instead of candles they poured sand from their home towns into a single vase. It was very much them, and very touching.

The reception was equally fun, although I was a designated driver and I was surrounded by drinkers. I’m so jealous of the fact that they’re having a 3 week honeymoon as well – I would have killed for 3 weeks in Fiji!

Sunday, understandably, was a write-off. Even though I didn’t drink, two late nights in a row really took it out of me I must be getting old.

I’ll post some more pics from Kristie and Ben’s wedding soon.

What a fun day!

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:11:00 +1000

I saw the new work office today – it’s got three balconies and an awesome view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. If they don’t have a New Year’s Party there this year I’ll have to eat Simba.

Speaking of the dog, I do have a few concerns about the little bugger. He’s been a bit off since we got home from Fiji. Not that that’s too much to worry about – we did leave him for roughly two weeks, after all. But he does have a circular sore on his side that is a bit worrying, and he hasn’t really been eating either. We’ll give it to the weekend to see how he pulls up.

Going through the wedding photos – there are so many good shots. Lauren’s a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to some of the locations we were hoping for down at Crystal Creek, but the hard truth of it is that we just didn’t have enough time. And I love the photos down at Hampden Bridge.

Going to a Canon event tonight - hopefully it will be awesome!

The death of Fiji Time...

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:08:00 +1000

I’ve been back at work for two days now, and am longing for Fiji Time. It’s hard to believe that only 5 days ago, I was lazing away in a hammock, enjoying the pristine (but humid) Fijian tropical weather. I miss it. I miss everything about Fiji. Although I probably miss the fact that I could relax most of all.

Lauren and I received the wedding photos yesterday, and they’re totally awesome. Peter did a fantastic job. Over the next week or so we’ll probably try and organise them a bit (there were about 550 photos), then print some, organise thankyou cards and all that jazz. As much as we thought the wedding was over, it really isn’t.

I know this is a bit of a random thought post - not a good start for a blog, I know. But I’m planning on making it semi-regular. Hell, I might even link it in my signature. And I might even get Lauren to post a thing or two… she’s a Broughall now, so she should share the workload :)