June 11, 2010 Posted by alan jones

Sell the armed forces and do something constructive with the money

“I say cut defence. I dont mean nibble at it or slice it. I mean cut it, all £45bn of it. George Osborne yesterday asked the nation “for once in a generation” to think the unthinkable, to offer not just percentage cuts but “whether government needs to provide certain public services at all”.What do we really get from the army, the navy and the air force beyond soldiers dying in distant wars... read more

June 11, 2010 Posted by alan jones

Hard to design products for people who aren’t paying attention

“I think most consumers use a search engine the same way they brush their teeth — with 90% of their attention on something else, with impatience, boredom and frustration with the whole category of search. They begin with unreasonable expectations about the quality of the result and with minimal patience for any request to contribute to the input. As search product designers we find it very hard to... read more

June 8, 2010 Posted by alan jones

Last tickets: Lower North Shore Coffee Morning tomorrow

What do you do when you know you should be attending a weekly industry meetup but just can’t seem to get there, week after week? As the crow flies, the nearest industry meetup to my home is North Shore Coffee Morning (#nscm) held each Thursday morning in Mosman, on Sydney’s leafy lower north shore. It’s a great meetup: small, interesting, diverse group of people, good coffee, and great... read more

June 3, 2010 Posted by alan jones

Israel’s indefensible act: censoring Gaza flotilla journalists

I wasn’t going to write about the tragic incident between Israeli forces and the Gaza relief flotilla — this is usually a blog about my work and the issues facing my profession. And so much of it seemed inevitable from the moment the flotilla was first organised — a motley collection of dodgy vessels carrying people representing a broad spectrum of issues would limp towards the Gaza coast, it... read more

February 3, 2010 Posted by alan jones

Does watching a movie on a plane make you cry?

It does for me. I have to be really careful with my movie choices when I’m flying internationally, for fear of looking like a big sook in front of complete strangers. (This post started out as a comment on fatpaddler.com, where Sean mentions crying while watching The Cove. But me, I’ll cried in anything with a sad moment. Well, anything except romantic comedies starring Sandra Bullock or... read more

December 14, 2009 Posted by alan jones

Have a cool Yule

I’m away to Byron Bay for the remainder of 2009. The house, dog and chooks are all to be minded by friends and family, the car is packed, and once I’ve finished this blog post, I’m done for the year. While I’ll have a laptop, iPhone and camera with me on the North Coast, I don’t expect to be blogging much, so this is probably it for 2009. So I’ll take this opportunity... read more