Very clever episode of “Will it Blend?” where a selection of Olympus kit gets smoothified. Check it out.

Redux to be posted in the next week. You can get the minimalistic Twitter version here.

I will be part of a panel discussion on Corporate Blogging tomorrow at Online Banking Review’s - Enterprise @ Web 2.0 for Financial Services conference.

Other topics include:

• The business benefits of Enterprise 2.0
• Building a collaborative culture inside a conservative corporation
• Enterprise investment in Web 2.0 technologies
• How to make your Enterprise 2.0 project a success
• Peer-to-peer lending: friend or foe?
• Enabling effective video communications

More details at Online Banking Review.

In the last couple of days you may have received an email that reads something like this:

Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 16:09:36 +0800
From: Sarah
To: benn@example.com
Subject: question about your photo

I’ve accidently found _your photo_ at a flickr and i’m very interested in it.
Can you tell me what place i can see in the background of it?

—
wbr, Jean

Being a Flickr user, it was the first time I’d seen a phishing attempt via Flickr, so I decided to investigate it further. The link in the email takes you to http://www.cyper.netiro.pl/flickr.html - type it in if you must visit it. The page itself is a poor imitation of a Flickr page and will attempt to download and install malware on your computer.

So, be informed. Unsolicited e-mail should always be treated with suspicion. Find out more at AusCERT.

I’m currently seeking an Online Producer for a full time role in Sydney.

Must have 2+ years experience in the online space. The job is a hybrid role in a small team requiring a combination of interface coding skills, alongside mid-level creative execution and a head for piecing together campaigns elements.

[Read more]

I’m currently seeking an Online Producer for a full time role in Sydney.

Must have 2+ years experience in the online space. The job is a hybrid role in a small team requiring HTML, XHTML and CSS skills, alongside mid-level creative execution and a head for piecing together campaigns elements. If this sounds like you, please contact me for further details.

Punctuation marks that look like smiley faces express happiness on a new communication tool known as “Internet”. The computer network is already being used by 15 million people worldwide to chat or do important research. Communication may be anonymous and isolated, but there’s always someone to talk to about sports, recipes or politics.

“In this world there’s a table with a big sign on it saying football,” explains a computer expert in this CBC Television clip below.

There is a specific sense of community and fellowship on Internet, television reporter Bill Cameron demonstrates in a “real-time chatroom.”

From October 8, 1993.

The following video clip is further affirmation as to why I am yet to purchase an iPod. The shoddy battery, the ‘one service call’ even if the problem is caused by an Apple software upgrade. The all-too-easy to crack screens and so on… Have we got to a point where we have the ultimate in disposable technology. Is it acceptable for a manufacturer to develop an item that doesn’t last more than 18 months? Is this timeframe acceptable because in 18 months they consider that you should be moving up to the latest model?

Whilst Apple may have built the ultimate brand and device that has effectively killed off the Sony Walkman - the question is, how long is it until Apple is usurped by someone else?

Anyway, here’s one person displaying their anti-Apple sentiments with some street spray stencil anti-advertising action.

So, you’ve got some frustration with your iPod eh? You could flush it down the toilet I guess, but there are some people that just do stupid things because they think ‘Jackass’ is cool. Whilst this iPod might be defective, I have to wonder if this is kid and his associated grey matter are also defective. In sticking a drill into his mp3 player, he almost drills his own hand. Further, sticking a drill into a battery unit isn’t overly clever either. Check the opening credits too, because they think they are ‘cool’ which is quite evident. Replace one letter in ‘cool’ and you get something often found in a garage.

I’m just starting to investigate the world of mobile phones once again, or is that PDAs? Perhaps, a camera, and a web browser too? These days it truly is a handset, as the unit has well surpassed the ‘talk only’ capability of years gone by.

I’ve been using the Nokia 6100 for more than three years now and it’s been a fantastic handset with very few issues. However, with all the new capabilities that have come on to the market since I picked this phone up, a handset now allows you to take photos, play games, get online and more.

Perhaps it’s the only area where I haven’t been an earlier adopter in the online space, but I prefer my phone to be a phone, a small one at that. Text is useful, MMS isn’t. I’ve got a proper camera to take photos, and probably the only capability my current phone doesn’t have is the ability to get online. That said, I can’t see myself surfing eBay on my phone, rather using to check my diary and perhaps to check and respond to emails whilst sitting in a taxi.

I love my 6100 as it’s a tiny 102mm x44 mm and only 17.2mm thick, weighing in at a miserly 78g. Perfect to fit into a suit breast pocket, which is where I carry my phone most of the time.

The question, do they still make phones of this dimension? I’m not too concerned if it’s another 10mm longer or wider, but the thickness is the key.

What’s important:

• Size does matter - clam-shells tend to be larger than the candybar style
• Tri-band and automatic switching

What isn’t:

• Camera
• Radio
• MP3 Player

Optional extras:

• Nokia software - I’m yet to be convinced by the GUI and general capability of the application software from Sony Ericsson, Motorola and especially the terrible UI from Samsung.
• Email and mobile messaging
• Security - if I’m going to be using it for email, it will need some strong device locking and support for third-party apps.

Any suggestions? If it were to be the all-in-one handset, then I’m thinking the BlackBerry 8707v wouldn’t be a bad option - but when will we see these available to the local market, if at all is the question? If not, then Nokia E60 is definitely a possibility - the features on this phone pack a punch and its small size (115mm x 49mm x 16.9mm) certainly adds a great deal of attraction.

From the Skrufff mailout:

British police are backing a new anti-teenage delinquent device which torments young people by emitting high frequency screeches which are inaudible to almost everyone older than 20.

The ‘Sonic Teenager Deterrent’ broadcasts 80-decibel bursts of sounds at 16khz and is being tested at locations where teenagers loiter, forcing them to scatter while leaving adults entirely unaffected, said the Daily Telegraph.

“The frequency at which it operates is at the very limits of our hearing and will be heard only by youngsters. It is like when people are young they can hear the noise of bats but not when they are older,” said Angela King, an audiologist from the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

“Over the years, cells in the inner ear die or are damaged and the ones that go first are the ones that hear higher frequencies.”

The fiendishly clever device, which costs £622 (AU$1470), is being used in Rochdale and Manchester while in London, tube station operators are about to start broadcasting classical music to ‘reduce stress levels’ on the system, or to ‘reduce antisocial behaviour’ as the Guardian saw it.

“The bits of the brain below the cerebral cortex that are hot-wired to our senses detect potentially threatening stimuli and ready the body for action. That’s why if you hear a loud sound, you jump,” Cambridge University music don Dr Ian Cross told the paper.

“Classical music generally - but not always - has a continuous, organised sound level and so is less likely to activate that part of the brain in that way.”