Category: Blog

Interesting story out of the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. A marketing company, The Marketing Store, was suffering nightly break-ins to its Ultimo offices in Sydney. Initially, the head honcho thought it was a staff member who was getting stuck into the company’s breakfast cereal and using the shower, and leaving the place in a mess.

It soon became apparent that it was a third party, so they set about trying to find out who it was, but to no avail. Then somebody cottoned onto the idea of putting a motion sensor camera in the box of cereal, and voila! The culprit was caught on tape.

Reminds me of a similar situation not so long ago in the Cybershack offices. I accidentally left a motion sensor camera on overnight, and came in the next day and noticed it had been activated. Curious as to what had activated it, I checked out the content only to find that our cleaner had come in and done his job – in about three minutes! That’s right, he came in, vacuumed for about 2-3 minutes and then left. It was an educational experience for us.

What this brings up though is how technology is everywhere, even when we think we’re alone, maybe we aren’t. Most modern cities have strings of security cameras, as do apartment blocks. Gone are the days you could cause mischief at one o’clock in the morning after downing a few alcoholic beverages and hope to get away with it. Whenever a crime is committed in a built-up area, one of the first things the police do is look around to see if there is any camera footage.

What do you think? Is technology becoming more and more intrusive?

With Mother’s Day just around the corner I thought this would be an opportune moment to bring up something I have been mulling over for some time.

No, I am not going to try and sell you the latest gadgets – although in saying that, there are a plethora of wonderful gadgets and gizmos that Mum would love

as a gift.

What I am talking about is giving Mum a techie break. What is a techie break? Well, it goes something like this: over the past 10 years I have been doing my radio and television spots, there are a couple of things that seem to come up time and time again with Mums –

1) They want to know what their kids are up to on the Internet. And I’m not talking cyber safety here, I’m talking about genuine interest in what kids are doing. What interests and hobbies do the kids have online and of those which ones would like to try? They want to be involved with what kids are doing, but by their very nature, computers aren’t conducive to inclusion, which means sometimes Mum gets left behind. So get Mum involved in the kids’ online life on this day.

2) Help Mum with her technology! Kids these days have grown up on a diet of technology. They will never know what it was like NOT to have a DVD player, plasma TVs, mobile phone, iPod, GPS, laptop computer and a whole range of other gear. Kids grow up with this stuff and it’s second nature to them on how stuff works. Not so, for some of our Mum’s. Some they don’t get the best benefits out of their iPods or mobile phones and hate asking for help because the kids are too busy.

So kids, this Sunday, as well as giving Mum breakfast in bed, how about giving her the benefit of your wisdom when it comes to all things tech, and give her a helping hand? I am sure it will be an even better day with you spending some time, showing her how to get more involved in the wonderful world of technology.

For those who managed to get through on air yesterday on the Steve Price Show on 2UE, thanks for questions – it’s one of my favourite parts of the show. For those who didn’t get a chance to get on air, leave a question on the blog! I love getting questions, so don’t hesitate to send one through to me on any problems you are having in the tech space. If I don’t know the answer straight away, I’ll find out for you. If I can’t find the answer quickly, I’m more than happy to bring in the company that makes the product to find a solution. If they can’t do so immediately, then I’m sure they will do research to fix the problem ASAP.

If you want my opinion, I’m more than happy to offer one up. Check out these questions and comments from listeners and blog visitors.