Forget naff multiple choice questions, this little animation on news.com.au’s Perth Now site is immediate, fascinating and doubtless driving lots of traffic as friends and colleagues share the link (thanks Nina!).
Look at the dancer first, then read the explanation and you’ll know what side of the brain you favour.
I’m more of a visual thinker, so no surprise to see the dancer turning clockwise. That is, until I noticed the article had a list of qualities for each side.
Some of the items listed are not that clear. Out of habit, I started to edit the list in my head and think about how it might have been better expressed, and as slipped into ‘editor mode’ I noticed the dancer now appeared to be turning anti-clockwise.
Hello left brain, so you exist after all!. Well, nice to meet you.
“I don’t understand what all the fuss is about Macs, now that Microsoft owns Apple” - a friend who (after my laughing fit subsided) asked to remain nameless.
There’s no reason to have a land line these days, if all you want is a broadband connection, but unless you can get a ‘naked dsl’ product from your telco, a land line you must have.
Such was the dilemma facing Producer Pete who, after a blissful year and a half without a land line, has had to get one reconnected in order to work from home occasionally.
“There are only two things I use this phone for now,” Pete says:
1) to call his mobile when he’s misplaced it, and
2) to call AAPT and ask them when the ADSL is actually going to be connected.
One month and still waiting… although it’s not AAPT’s fault, he adds, they’re waiting on Telstra just like everyone else.
Forget formula 1, monster trucks or anything that might be sponsored by Red Bull - our grudge match Roman toga night segway chariot races are the new extreme motor sport.
Check out the thrills, spills and general carnage from the Influence/Netcomm dinner, as captured by video journo David Hague.
Amongst the highlights of our various two-wheeled misadventures, this footage also includes journos such as John Hepworth stacking his Netcomm chariot, a bingle between Valens Quinn and Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, Einsteinz’s Pru Quinlan and her winning reflexes, and Paul Zucker giving Merri Mack a much-needed push start.
It’s been a week since we rolled off the bus to the IT Influence conference in the Hunter Valley – a pile of journos, analysts, vendors, PR folks, a professor and a futurist here and there. As technology gabfests go, there was a lot to digest.
Before I continue, however, there’s need for a quick disclaimer: I moderated nearly all of the consumer technology sessions as a favour for organiser Phil Sim of MediaConnect. The idea being that, as an independent journo, I have a reasonable chance of herding the question hogs and keeping speakers on track. (Additionally, I won a bet and also got to moderate the enterprise security session.)
Most sessions went rather smoothly, so it was light duties. Reflecting on the overall event, however, I’m left with some lingering questions. Here’s a few:
Why were participants in an enterprise session genuinely worried about the personal information that ID thieves might glean from blogs and social networks, while in consumer session such concerns were dismissed as mere paranoia?
Why, when urging consumer education, are vendors then unable to say how much they spend on genuine education campaigns (not marketing)?
Why are vendors now starting to vaguely talk about an increasing need for Mac anti-virus, with few having actually produced such a product yet?
Why do we keep asking about the future of the PC, knowing the answer will probably be ‘smaller, faster, cheaper and more shades of pink’?
Why does futurist Ross Dawson like video goggles so much?
Where was the video camera when journo Gus Kidman fell off the segway?
I just joined the ‘Ferris Bueller Appreciation Society’. No meetings, newsletters, fan fiction, or get-togethers with other 80s nerds. To ‘Save Ferris’ was as simple as a click.
In fact, joining almost any group on Facebook – no matter how seemingly obscure, narrow or specific - is usually just a click away.
I also joined the ‘People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People’ group (just perfect for an M-A-N-K-T-for-Tom-E-L-O-W). It’s a surprisingly popular group, with 163,000 members.
Then there’s the ‘If This Group Reaches 150,000 Members I Will Name My Son Batman’ group. Poor kid. There are only 62,000, so far, but Dad’s probably gonna make it. Bam. Kapow! Continue Reading »
