Warren Seen

After having signed up for slicehost six++ months ago, I’ve finally gotten around to migrating this site from my old shared host onto my new slice, so here it is. Everything appears to have come across smoothly, although it took more than a few hours to tweak everything to my liking.

In the end, I opted not to host my own email, a strategic decision based on the time and effort required on my part to set up, configure and most importantly, secure and maintain a mail server. Instead, I spent fifteen minutes of my time setting up Google Apps. Being able to keep my personalised email address, with 6Gb of storage and full access via POP3 and IMAP (although it’s a tad quirky since GMail doesn’t support folders in the traditional sense) plus access via the GMail web UI on the go, it offers the best solution for my mail needs across multiple machines.

It’s been a busy time of year for me surprisingly, so much so that I’ve again picked up the GTD book and made another, more concerted effort to get my “things” done. It really feels like I don’t have enough hours in the day with all these different things on the go, and I’ve really noticed the relief that comes from being able to “braindump” everything that’s on my mind and start tackling it in a sensible way.

I’ve never been one for new year’s resolutions, but I definitely have started making plans to be more proactive this year, rather than just letting all this “stuff” control me. So here’s to new beginnings…

• Tassie lags nation in net take-up | Mercury – The Voice of Tasmania
  A bare 54 per cent of Tasmanian homes are connected to the internet and just 28.9 per cent of homes have a broadband connection. The state lags the national averages of 63 per cent and 43 per cent respectively.
  (tags: broadband tasmania)

• If Telstra wins the fibre fight it will be on the way back to monopoly | Business | The Australian
  THE battle to build and control the nation’s fixed fibre to the node broadband network is almost literally a battle to the death between the country’s two biggest telcos, Telstra and Optus. In a really fundamental way it is the pivot point for the competi
  (tags: fttn broadband)

• OPEL project gathers pace | Australian IT
  THE OPEL broadband consortium is galloping to bring its service to market, undertaking a raft of planning and other work before an expected flood of tenders due to be released as soon as federal funding is finalised. Elders telecommunications general mana
  (tags: opel broadband tasmania)

• Broadband spectrum stoush looms | Australian IT
  WIRELESS internet service providers are preparing to push back against the federal Government’s $1.9 billion broadband plan, as static builds over the proposal’s impact on spectrum around the country.
  (tags: opel broadband wimax)
• Top level tactics blew it in bush | Australian IT
  IN late November last year a group from Telstra’s Countrywide division, headed by well-regarded veteran executive Don Pinel, presented a proposal to the company’s senior leadership team for the Government’s Regional Connect program.
  (tags: opel broadband)
• iTWire – Opel broadband proposal: more holes than Jarlsberg cheese
  The biggest hole to appear so far has been revealed by Tasmania’s finance minister, Michael Aird. The Opel proposal, according to information released by the Federal Government, is proposing two new optic fibre links to Tasmania: one a completely new cabl
  (tags: opel broadband wimax fttn tasmania)
• Telstra riposte on ADSL | Australian IT
  TELSTRA is preparing to fight back against the Government’s $2 billion regional broadband project and protect its effective monopoly in the bush by providing faster ADSL technology on its ubiquitous copper network. The company also has the option of cutti
  (tags: broadband opel wimax)
• Labor whips up broadband anger | Australian IT
  LABOR is encouraging losing bidders for the federal Government’s now $1 billion rural and regional broadband subsidy to consider a complaint to the Auditor-General over the tenders for the grants. Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Conroy yesterd
  (tags: broadband opel)
• Mixed messages on WiMax | Australian IT
  A WEEK after the launch of its national broadband strategy, the federal Government is still at odds with the winner of the $958 million tender for regional broadband funding over the capabilities of its chosen WiMax technology. At the launch of the plan l
  (tags: opel broadband wimax)
• Coonan returns fire on Basslink | Australian IT
  THE federal Government has refuted Tasmanian claims that it has taken control of the Basslink undersea cable, saying the Australia Connected initiative will bolster broadband to the entire state. A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Senator Helen Coo
  (tags: broadband opel tasmania)
• Behind the bullying on broadband | Australian IT
  THE interesting thing about the bickering between the Government and Opposition on broadband is that they are both right.
  (tags: fttn broadband g9)

• CONFUSION OVER HOWARD GOVERNMENT BROADBAND PLANS – Michael Aird, MLC – Tasmanian Government Media Releases
  (tags: opel broadband tasmania)
• Telstra slams rival network plan – Business – Business – theage.com.au
  TELSTRA has told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that any attempt to cut into the “final mile” of its copper telephone lines to connect consumers with a rival fibre-to-the-node broadband network would be illegal and would increase the i
  (tags: fttn broadband g9)
• CommsDay | The Home of the CommsDay Family of Newsletters and Events
  WiMax is real and its one case study in Australia gives us a window into the potential for the Opel business plan. Buzz Broadband in Hervey Bay offers a genuine, bona fide WiMax service with full voice and a 2Mbps broadband service. It has already claimed
  (tags: opel wimax broadband tasmania)
• Telstra urges acceptable tender process – Breaking News – National – Breaking News
  Telstra says it will only take part in a tender to build a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) broadband network if it deems the process to be acceptable.
  (tags: fttn broadband)
• Canberra, Hobart battle on Basslink | Australian IT
  TASMANIA has raised concerns about the federal Government’s $2 billion rural broadband announcement, saying it has no right to grant access to the Basslink undersea cable.
  (tags: opel broadband tasmania)

• Wireless to set pace in broadband deal : thewest.com.au
  Australia edged closer to a wireless broadband future yesterday when the Federal Government revealed that Optus and Elders (OPEL) would get $958 million to roll out a high-speed broadband network in regional and rural areas.
  (tags: opel broadband wimax)
• No quick fix for a slow internet : thewest.com.au
  No matter who wins the battle between the Optus-led G9 consortium and Telstra over the right to build Australia’s new broadband internet network, one thing is clear: Australians are unlikely to see any real improvement in their internet speeds for many
  (tags: g9 fttn broadband)
• Howard says yes to $1b for Optus broadband, mobile upgrade : thewest.com.au
  The Federal Government will today unveil part of its long-awaited broadband package, including almost $1 billion of new funding for Telstra’s biggest rival, Optus, to improve access and speeds in regional areas.
  (tags: opel wimax broadband)
• Bloomberg.com: News
  Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s largest phone company, said it has “no knowledge” of a bid to build a network in Australia’s major cities, denying a report that the German company may take part in a government tender.
  (tags: fttn broadband)

• Rails Envy: Ruby on Rails Rake Tutorial (aka. How rake turned me into an alchoholic)
  “Did you realize that you can write your own tasks or create your own library of useful Rake files?” – why yes, yes I did. Interesting nonetheless.
  (tags: rake rails ruby programming)

• Dr Nic » 8 steps for fixing other people’s code
  Fairly obvious to anyone who’s been using open source software for any length of time, but an excellent writeup. I feel like I should use the word codify here…
  (tags: programming)
• Jay Fields Thoughts: Testing: Replace Mock with Stub
  Understanding mocks and stubs and where they fit in with testing takes a little bit of effort, but once it clicks you really start seeing the benefit in doing the least testing you can.
  (tags: ruby testing mock stub programming)

… when job ads start appearing asking for unrealistic and bordering on impossible levels of experience.

I thought we’d gotten past this back in 2000 when .Net came out… but 3 Years of Ruby on Rails experience you say?

Mathematically impossible for the average (read: non-core) rails developer, considering Ruby on Rails was only released publicly in July of 2004.

They’re obviously very picky and so are willing to pay up to a whopping US$35-US$55/hr for all those Rails rockstars who were using it before it was released to the public! I’m sure they’ll drop everything and come running to apply!