Author Archives: Michael Wyres

Moorabool Council Double Standard on NBN Towers

With construction of the wireless component of the National Broadband Network (NBN) getting underway in some regional areas of Australia, the inevitable squabbles over where transmission towers should and should not be built are in full swing. The process calls for calm, consultation with councils and residents, and transparent information flow. Rural councils need to [...]

Tough Button Dilemma?

The lifts in the building I work in are currently under refurbishment. Take a look at the sign that was in the lift lobby on my floor on Friday afternoon: The button on the other side? Really? Which button was I going to use on THIS side?

NBN Wireless Towers Will Not Kill You

With areas around the Ballarat region to become some of the first areas in Australia to receive NBN Co’s wireless solution, there has been a lot of hullabaloo about the erection of the towers to actually deliver the service. I respect that people have the right to choose whether they have the towers on their [...]

RF Interference From HFC

I’ll start off by saying I am by no means an RF engineer, so I may be completely wrong about what I am about to write about. I am however, quite confident in my empirical observations over time. I got into an interesting conversation about RF interference generated by HFC systems – (often touted as [...]

Max Headroom and Remembering the Eighties

We’ve all seen the signs on bridges and other low structures under which a roadway passes. “Low Clearance”, “Maximum Height”, etc, etc. In the midst of completing a work-related errand this morning in West Melbourne, I saw this sign over the garage entrance of a block of apartments. Clearly someone with a sense of humour [...]

Photo Cropping Fail

Loving the photo cropping fail currently currently on display on the Geelong Advertiser website: The caption reads: “Harry Taylor at Geelong training yesterday.” Harry must be a dentist now, because we can’t show you his face.

Metro Trains Melbourne: Live from 1995!

Melbourne’s suburban train operator Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) has copped a lot of flack in recent days over its decision to drop sending service updates on Twitter for anything other than “major delays” – which they are defining as “20 or more minutes”. They are telling customers to “regularly check their website” for details of [...]

Idea: Show Current Affairs on Current Affairs Shows

It really irks me that the two leading current affairs programs in Australia – Nine’s A Current Affair (ACA), and Seven’s Today Tonight (TT) – never seem to actually show any actual current affairs stories. They generally show what often don’t seem like much more than paid advertorials. Incidentally, these two programs finished fifth and [...]