BuzzMoo.com » news

drive

BuzzMoo — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:33:55 +0000

The invite had disappeared in the massive pile of paperwork that occupies a significant portion of my desk. Regardless, I was aware that Tye was turning 27 and that there was a party to be held in celebration of that event somewhere in Sydney. Robbie, running on a program of his own, had already booked a hotel in Glebe and was planning to drive up. It made sense to join forces. I’d been briefed a few days earlier about the condition of the vehicle we were going to be using – booked in for it’s major service and two new rear tyres in the coming week, we left a lot of the journey to faith. The Deathcab made it though despite at stages shaking and rattling as though it would come apart, adding yet another interesting car ride between the two cities. Our navigational skills are widely known and often described as “pants”. With no GPS and iPhone on low batteries and a Google map we deviated from almost immediately upon entering the city we once again left ourselves to fate and poor street signage. After driving blindly into the sun down a busy saturday-afternoon road in what may have been Newtown we then somehow we made a crossing of the harbour bridge (quite scenic at that time of day!) we actually made it to our hotel.

The party was a classic with what seemed to be more Canberrans than Sydneysiders. Sometimes things come together in space and time just how you’d like them to. “Everyone is on the same level.” described Owen who then ate a pickle dipped in gin. A large collection of (clean) jam jars were on hand to fill drinks with and the drinks were plentiful. A lot of old and familiar faces made an appearance, long lasting relationships were reaffirmed, a tree was climbed and at some stage my phone/wallet managed to end up down a storm water drain. As the night wore on, options ended up quite limited and the floor was used as a bed. The next morning Robbie’s insistence that council equipment could rightly be moved for good reasons saw the recovery of my wallet and iPhone.

Obviously at some stage I managed to find a beanie.

Low on energy and battery power, without a map and with a significant hangover to manage, we took to the streets of the big smoke on a prayer and a chance. We did actually make it out alive despite the detour through Port Botany and the airport. The outcome was a significant celebration we were pleased to be a part of, even if we didn’t use the hotel we booked and forgot to bring the rather expensive bottle of Moet to the party. I have it from reliable sources that said bottle will remained unopened until our return.

Raviloi!

BuzzMoo — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:06:02 +0000

His is partially a test from my iPhone, partially a post to let you known can make my own ravioli!

Tridge talks

BuzzMoo — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:38:45 +0000

Ever wondered why a top software developer would spend his time helping out non-profit organisations? Is it possible to be involved in a court case with Microsoft for 10 years and come away happy? Did CASE really teach a Masters level course in Free and Open Source software development at the Australian National University?

Hear what Andrew Tridgell has to say when CASE Management Committee member Sam McKeon and Darrell Burkey get together for a conversation about all of the above and more.

It’s a fairly casual podcast this time around but we quickly get to the heart of the matter.

You can listen to this podcast by heading over to our podcast page and selecting Episode 5!

short circuit

BuzzMoo — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:25:19 +0000

I don’t know about you but I think I can feel a re-design coming on..

Joomla tutorial videos

BuzzMoo — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:19:49 +0000

I keep forgetting to mention that I’m slowly producing a series of simple video tutorials for Joomla 1.5. They’re for CASE (since we’re all about Joomla these days) and all available on the CASE Youtube channel.

Joomla security update 2.1.1

BuzzMoo — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:26:51 +0000

If you’re running Joomla on any of your websites be aware that there is a major security update available. This update will protect your site from a range of exploits discovered in the current verson of Joomla. From the security mailing list:

[20090302] – Core – com_content XSS
Posted: 25 Mar 2009 10:08 AM PDT
Project: Joomla!
SubProject: com_content
Severity: Low
Versions: 1.5.9 and all previous 1.5 releases
Exploit type: XSS
Reported Date: 2009-March-12
Fixed Date: 2009-March-27
Description

A XSS vulnerability exists in the category view of com_content.

Affected Installs:

All 1.5.x installs prior to and including 1.5.9 are affected.

Solution:

Upgrade to latest Joomla! version (1.5.10 or newer).

[20090301] – Core – Multiple XSS/CSRF
Posted: 25 Mar 2009 10:02 AM PDT
Project: Joomla!
SubProject: Multiple
Severity: Moderate
Versions: 1.5.9 and all previous 1.5 releases
Exploit type: XSS and CSRV
Reported Date: 2009-February-15
Fixed Date: 2009-March-27
Description:

A series of XSS and CSRF faults exist in the administrator application. Affected administrator components include com_admin, com_media, com_search. Both com_admin and com_search contain XSS vulnerabilities, and com_media contains 2 CSRF vulnerabilities.

Affected Installs:

All 1.5.x installs prior to and including 1.5.9 are affected. The com_search XSS vulnerability requires that “Gather Search Statistics” be enabled to be exploitable (Disabled by default).

Solution:

Upgrade to latest Joomla! version (1.5.10 or newer).

New home for the network!

BuzzMoo — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:58:43 +0000

Over the past few weeks Elroy and I have been migrating our collection of sites to a new host (yet again, I labeled myself a digital bedouin last time – it still stands) and I’m happy to report that It’s now complete. The process was much much easier this time, our new host having a cool WHM plugin that let us migrate all our sites including Cpanel settings and databases with a few clicks.

So welcome to BuzzMoo.com, served from somewhere in Brisbane, Australia!

CASE Podcast 2 – Content Managment Systems

BuzzMoo — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:22:33 +0000

There’s a golden rule when it comes to content. If you’re doing a series, have a few episodes complete before going to air so that you have a buffer. That was the plan and of course we haven’t followed it. So I’m pleased to replease Computing Assistance Support & Education Podcast Episode 2!

In this episode Amanda and I talk about web Content Management Systems, specifically Joomla. This podcast gives a brief introduction to what a CMS is, what the popular ones are, and how Joomla can help you and your organisation.

Click here to go to the CASE Podcast page to listen in!

CSU gets a website

BuzzMoo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:21:55 +0000

Day of Defeat: Source has been one of the games i’ve played the longest and with most consistency. A small group of local friends have been playing under the tag “[CSU]” for, i guess, years now. Only recently have we come together to try and bring about a cohesive gaming clan. That involves a website (of course) and thanks to Frez’s designing skills we now have one. So if you’re into Day of Defeat: Source or Age of Chivalry, consider challenging us or even signing up yourself.

Visit the official [CSU] Website.

CASE Podcast – Episode 1

BuzzMoo — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:23:07 +0000

In the background I’ve been working away on a podcast series for Computing Assistance Support & Education. I’m happy to report that the first episode is now ready for download. In episode I Darrell Burkey, president of CASE, talks about the history of the organisation. We look at the ideas behind providing shared IT services to the community development sector. Real world examples of CASE’s work are cited as proof that CASE’s model has made a difference to many lives Australia wide. Head over to the CASE podcast page to listen in!

Halloween in Pakistan

BuzzMoo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:04:12 +0000

It’s amazing what gets you hits these days. Take Better Homes and Garden’s (US) tutorial on how to make a Halloween wreath. It’s a full page article that can be summed up in a single sentence. To make a pumpkin wreath, glue pumpkins to a wreath! Good advice. But not enough for poor She256:

“I REALLY LIKE IT,BUT MY BADLUCK IS THAT IN MY CITY I COULDNOT FIND PUMPKINS,I LIVE IN KARACHI,PAKISTAN.SO I SAVE YOUR PIC IN MY FILE.”

Ahhh the Internet…

back on the air

BuzzMoo — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:14 +0000

It’s kind of embarrasing really but some of you may have noticed BuzzMoo.com disappear last night, replaced with a parking page full of ads! Well, I forgot to renew the domain. Not forgot exactly, I just thought it was set to automatically renew. Nope! Thanks to Pia‘s heads up just as I was going to bed, the evil Cybersquatters didn’t have time to get their hands on my precious .com…!

We now return you to your regular programming…

Tweeting the terror: How social media reacted to Mumbai – CNN.com

BuzzMoo — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:53:28 +0000

CNN reports on how social media is playing a role in developing events, like the terrible situation in India. Haven’t heard from James yet, but he’s (in theory) on the other side of the country…

The minute news broke of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India, social media sites like Twitter were inundated with a huge volume of messages.With more than 6 million members worldwide, an estimated 80 messages, or “tweets,” were being sent to Twitter.com via SMS every five seconds, providing eyewitness accounts and updates.Many Twitter users also sent pleas for blood donors to make their way to specific hospitals in Mumbai where doctors were faced with low stocks and rising casualties.

Tweeting the terror: How social media reacted to Mumbai – CNN.com

no more need for no clean feed

BuzzMoo — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:59:18 +0000

The “No Clean Feed” movement here an attempt to raise awareness about the Australian Government’s plan to institute ISP and national level IP data filtering. I didn’t rush out and sign a petition, nor join the Facebook group because I figured the whole deal was going to be a non-starter. Not that I think you shouldn’t express yourself if you feel or know your opinion is going to prevail anyway (voter apathy, anyone?), it just so happened that the situation got better before it had the chance to get worse.

There are reports today that The Greens won’t give support to Conroy’s plan, effectively killing it. The Green vote in Canberra is strong and growing. And since I didn’t meet anyone who supported the plan, I can only surmise that our community has been appropriately represented by our elected officials. That’s a Good News item right there. This amusing article about Senators complaining about being subject to the same restrictions the public will be is the definition of irony. Talk about good timing though, it’s made some lawmakers give second thought to the idea.

Suspiciously good timing, actually! I might have to look in Hansard…

here comes eGames – 14th-16th November – Melbourne

BuzzMoo — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:16:58 +0000

The eGames Expo will be in its third year when it kicks off this friday at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Despite being fairly close to the whole process, this year will be the first year I’ve been able to attend (and even then, it was touch and go!).

eGames is packing some interesting things this year. Yahtzee Croshaw, the fast talking pom behind Zero Punctuation will be hosting a gaming trivia session, which promises to be hilarious. I’m keen to see Call of Duty World At War taken through its multiplayer paces (this is taking place at the Alienware PC Zone) and what comes out of the Retro Game Challenge. When Elroy called and said there was going to be a significant N-Gage presence, I had to think a bit. Nokia’s N-Gage? That was dead and buried years ago – but they’re trying to bring it back, apparently. I’m curious as to what their second attempt is going to look like.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, really. So starting from tomorrow I’ll begin a series of regular eGames related posts, in theory video content will be included, as I jet to Melbourne to begin what’s going to be a long couple of days. We’ll be based out of the Elroy Online Booth, where you’ll be able to check out the latest Powers Cosmic and Remote Viewing caper, and unwashed computer geeks that haven’t had enough sleep. Some extra space has been donated to the buzzmoo.com element so that I can put on some OLPC XO demonstrations.

If you live in Melbourne, consider coming along!

Show Times

14th-16th November

Friday 1pm – 7pm
Saturday 10am – 7pm
Sunday 10am – 5pm

Ticket Prices

Adult $18
Concession $13
Family $40
(2 Adults, 2 Children)
3 Day Pass $33
(Fri-Sun)
Children under 6 admitted free

Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank.

For further info check the official website:

eGames Expo @ iDEF

breaking news: OLPC XOs come to Canberra

BuzzMoo — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:51:55 +0000

I’m pleased to announce…

=====

For Immediate Release 14 October, 2008

One Laptop Per Child Open Day

Computing Assistance Support & Education (CASE) will be hosting Canberra’s first One Laptop Per Child Open Day Monday 27 October 2008 3.00pm at Volunteering ACT 55 Chandler Street (corner of Chandler and Cameron Streets) Belconnen.

Pia Waugh, open source software expert and One Laptop Per Child community member, will be speaking about the success of the OLPC project around the world and the opportunities it provides for educational projects in our region.

Following the event CASE will hold it’s 10th Annual General Meeting for members.

Come and play with the OLPC XO devices on display, and find out how this unique technology is being used in educational projects around the world.

=====

I’ll be giving a presentation on the technical aspects of the XO itself (nothing too complicated), and then we will be on hand to demonstrate some of the features and answer questions as best we can. Pia will be talking at the end (at 5, is the plan). I’ll be covering the event from this blog, so be sure to check back here!

Blue Sky Kite Festival III

BuzzMoo — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:18:37 +0000

Just received a flyer in the mail (oldschool!) and though I’d post the info here;

Cook Community Blue Sky Festival III

All welcome Saturday 11 October

Location: Cook School Oval

Build-a-kite workshop – 12:00

Mass fly-up from – 2:00

Kite bulding, saussage sizzle, drinks and prizes.

BYO Kites or make your own on the day.

I’ll see you all there!

Kororaa wraps up.

BuzzMoo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:35:19 +0000

So the script-based, make-it-easy-for you installer “Kororaa” for Gentoo Linux has come to the end of it’s days. Chris spent a lot of time working on it and managed to develop a sizable community around the software. I know he also learned a lot about open source software and everything that comes with it (Specifically those pesky video diver licenses..) and a lot of people learned with him. Since there now are more comprehensive solutions available for easily installing Gentoo, Chris and Molly have decided to stop development.

So, goodbye Kororaa, but thanks for the good (and easy!) times with Gentoo!

iDEF site goes live, CASE gets a FaceBook Page

BuzzMoo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:05:28 +0000

The latest product out of the e-Shack has been launched today: www.idef.com.au is now live and populated with information regarding the International Digital Entertainment Festival to be held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank, from 14 – 16 November.

The International Digital Entertainment Festival (iDEF) is the platform for events and activities from an industry, educational and consumer perspective, with the support of major industry members and associations. The festival will include the Digital Lifestyle Show, eGames Expo and Develop, an ICT Symposium and Careers Expo.

The eGames Expo, as I’m sure you know, will be in its third year this year and promises to be great fun. So be one of the many thousands sure to enjoy it this year and check out .

Meanwhile if you’re a fan of community support and have a FaceBook page you might be interested in joining Computer Assistance Support & Education’s (CASE) new FaceBook page. It’ll be updated regularly and used to communicate news about special events – of which there should be a few soon!

OLPC XOs at BuzzMoo.com

BuzzMoo — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:14:34 +0000

BuzzMoo.com has been off the air during the time I’ve had the opportunity to play around with OLPC Inc’ XO laptop, and I intend to make up for lost time by providing good OLPC related resources here. There’s plenty to say, but I’ll just start with some links to some bits and pieces I’ve come across recently.

If you’re interested in the recent OLPC initiatives in the Pacific region, from an Australian perspective you most definitely want to check out Pia Waugh’s recent post on her time in Niue where she helped with an XO rollout. If you’re interested in anything OLPC Australia specific, you should most definitely bookmark her blog!

Pia, OLPC and Openness advocate, has also recently published “Foundations of Openness“, a paper that attempts to provide what I guess you’d call an integrity assessment tool for anyone developing resources under the open source philosophy. It’s an interesting read and is directly relevant to core ideas behind the OLPC project.

Also, a decent short article looking at the OLPC through American eyes has just popped up here. It’s worth a read too. Stay tuned for plenty more OLPC XO news!

All systems go…

BuzzMoo — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:55:33 +0000

Lately I think the majority of the posts on this domain must be “I’m back on the air”. That’s what you get when your development area is live and public. I’d actually managed to accumulate a fair amount of content here (relative to previous inceptions of buzzmoo.com) but I’ve had to abandon it in its current format due to security concerns. As the number of domains, installs of wordpress and other plugins increase, so too does security vulnerability. Apart from vigilant patching, the only measure against it is vigilant observation of the network as a whole. That’s a roundabout way of saying we were repeatedly hacked and using a clean slate seems the only solid measure I can take at this time to keep the Viagra links at bay.

Remote Viewing

BuzzMoo — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:58:17 +0000

Elroy Online’s Remote Viewing has it’s own home now. For those not introduced, Remote Viewing is a short video produced to summarise the latest content on elroyonline.net. We’re talking about reviews of The Hulk, Iron Man, anime like Ghost In A Shell, foreign entries you never heard of like Chrysalis, all presented in 2D animated glory, streamed right to your desktop.Let’s face it. If you wanted it in text, you want it on video too.

bio knowledge node

admin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:14:38 +0000

If you head over tobio.knowledgenode.netyou’ll see the second of three pages that form what I suppose you could call a tripartite news feed. The three, solar, bio and wind, ultimately coalescing at www.knowledgenode.com to produce an overall picture of the state of renewable energies. With user input determining the more important articles, the information here is refined and collected, the process somewhat akin to skimming cream, I assume.

solar.knowledgenode.net has been running for some time now and is working nicely. For a time there were issues of display compatibility and Internet Explorer.Elroysorted it, in fact he made the whole thing. I just plug in the keywords. The third piece of the puzzle, wind.knowledgenode.net, is only just around the corner.

This not just in! (mert)

BuzzMoo — Tue, 05 Nov 2002 17:00:31 +0000

No “interesting” anecdotes for today. Just updating to a) tell you all a few things and b) cause I haven’t updated for a week.

i) If you’ve been to The Furman Machine or Elroy Online you’ve probably heard the leaked reports that buzzmoo.com (that’s right, I linked to this page) is planning a change to the site. Nothing too drastic, just a new layout and menu.

ii) There’s this dead possum sitting on the medium strip that I have to walk past to get to school. I don’t know how it got there (not many tress in the vicinity) or how it was perfectly intact despite being killed by a car (the only conclusion I could draw). Anyway I don’t know who’s responsible for removing dead animals from my travel routes but whoever it is is doing a slack job and the corpse is starting to smell.

iii) I forget what this one was meant to be but rest assured it probably wasn’t important or interesting.

Stay tuned, folks.