Jason O'Donnell
I’m an Irish Australian located in Melbourne with an unhealthy obsession with gadgets, aviation, cult movies and my Jeep. By day I work for a movie production and theme park company.
Updates
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Moving ads from Kyle Sandilands radio show to another timeslot will not make a difference. Cease contracts with SCA/Austereo in general.
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Moonrise Kingdom, you had me at "Directed by Wes Anderson". http://t.co/7QLMIXKt2 weeks ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Last night I dreamt I won a flight in an F-16 Jet. It was hangered in the loungeroom of a lakeside house owned by @AussieGrit . Awesome.2 weeks ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Found this update for Pocket Weather AU this morning, addressed to a small group of OS-challenged users. http://t.co/Wq6VUBIL2 weeks ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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The Restart Page - Free unlimited rebooting experience from vintage operating systems http://t.co/61NOolBr #happyrestart
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E-cards are an abomination, but worse is when there's flash content on the click through. How about giving the Xmas gift of HTML5 next year?
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@BretEastonEllis Need there be another one, really? Mary's is a masterpiece.6 weeks ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Move your mouse around the login box of the iCloud website and the brushed metal shimmers. But my iPhone's battery life still sucks.6 weeks ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Beautiful Ad promoting marriage equality from @getup - this _has_ to be shown on TV! http://t.co/P33AXLck via @youtube
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Sorry Tasmania. http://t.co/D6FgtvtU
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Congrats Simon! RT @simon_odonnell Absolutely wrapped to be doing The Sunday Footy Show next season.2 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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I'm taking Stanford University's Technology Entrepreneurship online for free. Come join me! http://t.co/SVSiGNb7 http://t.co/SVSiGNb7
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Great safety message http://t.co/oTvXDjSM2 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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OMG. Apple is replacing all iPod Nanos from 2005. Unbelievable. Ordered my replacement- my Nano has been dead 2 years. http://t.co/q6nNqeD5
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I love Reeder on iOS and the Mac. This is awesome. RT @fulltimecasual clean up the good awful Google Reader redesign: http://t.co/bZRanhN62 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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@fulltimecasual There is now- the fact you were rejected will now be in your history. You should be able to get it removed thru Veda though.2 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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This, here, had me in tears. Thanks to Yelping with Cormac. http://t.co/JKO0h2512 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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2/2 ... from the sales of the show to a TV network? If so, why would a studio not want to go direct to me? (Unless they owned the network..)2 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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Wondering about Apple iTV... would the income generated by my $2.99/week subscription to a TV show be more than a studio would make 1/2...2 months ago from web | Reply, Retweet, Favorite
Photos
Posts
Thanks to Kyle Conroy’s great analysis, I’ve been able to work out what my spendings in Apple hardware would be worth now if I had have bought AAPL stock instead of their hardware (Burglars- I no longer own 99% of this kit, and what I do own, I tend to carry with me) (Muggers- no I don’t):
| Product | Release Date | Original Price | Stock Value Today |
| Apple Xserve G4/1.33 (Slot Load) | 10/02/2003 | $2,799 | $105,578 |
| Apple Power Macintosh G5 1.8 DP (PCI) | 9/06/2004 | $1,999 | $35,854 |
| Apple iMac G5/1.8 17-Inch | 31/08/2004 | $1,499 | $23,535 |
| Apple iPod photo (40/60) 40 GB, 60 GB | 26/10/2004 | $499 | $5,633 |
| Apple iPod Color Display 20 GB, 60 GB | 28/06/2005 | $299 | $2,170 |
| Apple iBook G4/1.42 14-Inch (Mid-2005 – Op) | 26/07/2005 | $1,299 | $8,063 |
| Apple iPod 5G (with Video) 30 GB, 60 GB | 12/10/2005 | $299 | $1,644 |
| Apple MacBook “Core Duo” 1.83 13″ | 16/05/2006 | $1,099 | $4,581 |
| Apple iPhone (Original/EDGE) 4, 8, 16 GB | 9/01/2007 | $499 | $1,460 |
| Apple Mac mini “Core 2 Duo” 1.83 | 7/08/2007 | $599 | $1,201 |
| Apple iPod classic (”Original”/6G) 80 GB, 160 GB | 5/09/2007 | $249 | $493 |
| Apple iPod nano (3G/Fat) 4 GB, 8 GB | 5/09/2007 | $149 | $295 |
| Apple iPhone 3G 8, 16 GB | 9/06/2008 | $199 | $297 |
| Apple iPod nano (4G) 8 GB, 16 GB* | 9/09/2008 | $149 | $266 |
| Apple iPod shuffle 3G 4 GB | 11/03/2009 | $79 | $231 |
| Apple iPhone 3GS 16, 32 GB | 8/06/2009 | $199 | $375 |
| Apple MacBook Pro “Core 2 Duo” 2.53 15″ (SD) | 8/06/2009 | $1,699 | $3,199 |
| Apple MacBook Pro “Core i5″ 2.4 15″ Mid-2010 | 13/04/2010 | $1,799 | $2,010 |
| Total | $15,412 | $196,885 |
Google have just added pretty 3D buildings into their Earth app for my home town, Melbourne. Here’s a side by side comparison of some real footage I took from my old office vs a similar view from Google Earth. I didn’t have a lot of video to chose from to do this comparison so there are some zooms in the original footage that I couldn’t replicate in Earth because their zoom tool actually changes the viewer’s location in space and zooming out is unwieldy thanks to the frustrating interface. But I think the video demonstrates how well Melbourne is modelled in the app.
A beautiful entry at the Letters Of Note website detailing a card sent to the Woomera Rocket Range in Australia, 1957, by a little boy named Denis Cox. Denis provided the rocket scientists a helping hand with future space craft design offering his concept of a Rolls Royce Jet Engined-powered two man vehicle- but beyond that, the scientists would have to “put in other details”. Turns out 52 years later he’s been tracked down (see article comments) and he’s still waiting for a reply.
The Fawcett House is one of the most beautiful examples of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work- now for sale, US$2.7m. Sitting on 80 acres of farmland at Los Banos CA, it boasts 6 bedrooms and 60’s decor unchanged by its one owner.
Fallingwater in PA is my dream home- the type of house I can imagine myself plotting my evil schemes in. But since it’s a museum now I’ll never own it. Have a look at the pics of Fawcett, it’s absolutely gorgeous.
I’ve been struggling with a broken rib that’s taken ages to heal. My Osteopath asked me about what kind of bag I carry around, and I just described it as a normal satchel bag. She asked me to think about what I might be able to take out of it. Of course, everything I thought of was ESSENTIAL, so the only way I was going to do the job properly was if I completely emptied the bag and individually justified each piece as it went back in. Here’s a pic of what came out. After the jump see the list. It’s actually a very cathartic exercise.
Leather satchel bag.
A couple of letters regarding health insurance and other stuff I need for my accountant.
St Kilda football club membership card and holder.
Movie passes. Heaps of them, more than I could ever use. I give them out to shop people/baristas who I think ROCK.
Ahem. THINGS. Yeah. I’m a responsible boy.
A few bills and stuff that I havent bothered with yet.
Chequebook. Good I hate this thing. SO 20th century.
Sanyo Xacti HD1000 video camera- it travels everywhere with me- even to the corner store. You never know when you’ll see the next big news.
Clipper Attachment.
In season pass to The Savages.
LED Lenser torch. It’s badass. It’ll blind you and not say sorry.
Medicare receipts.
Eye drops, Voltarin and panadiene forte for pain relief, Nexium to counter the indigestion from the Voltarin, and Difflam drops for sore throats.
Lotto ticket that I’ll never check.
Backup wallets. One legitimately holds cards that don’t hit in my day to day wallet, the other was just replaced but I don’t have the heart to throw it out.
Leatherman Skeletool multitool.
HSDPA wireless modem.
Just a pen.
Remote Access token.
Three, yes THREE, sets of iPod head phones. I dont know why I have this many in my bag. Oh, and a Belkin head phone adaptor for 1st Gen iPhone.
Cabcharge vouchers.
Apple Macbook Pro 15 inch.
Chapstick. ESSENTIAL.
Redskins. If you don’t know what they are, there’s no point explaining it.
Sony digital AM/FM radio.
Accessories from an Indiana Jones action figure.
iPod transfer cable, mostly used to charge my iPhone.
SD memory card adapter.
Car and house keys.
SD card adapters. No idea why they’re there, I have no need for them.
Sunglasses.
My Field Notes notebook and a pen.
Nintendo DS and a couple of stylii.
Bluetooth headset that I never use.
iPod classic.
As a teenager I got so much out of model aircraft building; it taught me one of life’s greatest lessons- that you get out of something only what you put in. Model kits do come with instructions, but they don’t come with a manual. They tell you how parts should connect together and in what order, but they don’t reveal the nuances of the work involved in making something really great. Each of my model kits were built with an increasing attention to detail as I learnt new little processes and tricks along the way. Again and again I would learn by mistakes- little shortcuts I’d make would cause big strife at the end- so I would never cut corners. For example, while they were on the sprue I would paint the entire inside of an aircraft’s fuselage and wings even if I was sure that only the cockpit would be visible, because on just one kit, one time, it was visible through a wheel well. I really believe those lessons have shaped the way I do my job now.
So anyway, I visit a hobby store the other day and the walls of model kits have been replaced with boxes of diecast models. All premade, prepainted. It was clear that the market for kits has nearly dried up.
I’m all for diecast models; to be honest, a few are in my bookcase. But where’s the thrill in the assembly? The joy of a good well done? Ok, on to my idea.
How about when you buy a diecast model, online or in a store, you get a download or a CD with an application written in Flash. It’s an app that has you assemble the model in 3D. It wouldn’t be something you could knock together in an hour or so- it should take hours to “virtually” remove each piece from the sprue, trim off flash with a virtual knife, apply paint and glue etc. When finished, not only would the builder have a great 3D model that they could spin around and view from different angles, but they could insert the model into different scenes or place them into virtual hangers with their other models. Once the application determines that a kit is complete, it would reveal a redemption code that the user would send back to the online retailer or store and their diecast model would finally ship to them or be available for pickup. Their work in assembling the kit would be rewarded with a finished model.
Looking through the NASA PR shots of the recent launch of Shuttle mission STS120 Discovery, I found this photo- a spider has been caught in the frame and is enough in focus to make it look like a giant arachnid is falling off the shuttle as it takes off. The cobweb above it adds to the illusion as it looks like it’s hanging from the tip of the fuel tank.
These giant spiders will devour us all!
I’m not sure if this video clip was done as a music video for Royksopp’s “Remind Me”, or if the clip was done on it’s own merits and then set to the music. But it’s ubercool- a workday in the life of a young British woman done in info graphics style- her entire day is quantified, labeled and expanded for detail, from the nutritional value of what she eats to floorplan views of her building as she ascends in the elevator. Dancing pie charts. It’s like Wired Magazine come alive, which is kinda funny because I found it at Bruce Sterling’s Wired blog.
I challenge anyone not to feel on top of the world after watching this video clip. Not only is Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger an awesome track, but the clip explores an office that looks fun, young, hip… somewhere we’d all love to belong but nothing like where we work. Damn you Web 2.0 somethings and your shaggy hair and youthful exuberance. You made a killer video clip.
Profile
Summary
• Outstanding communication, negotiation, project management and relationship management skills
• Proven ability to adapt written and verbal communication skills to management teams, technical groups and end users
• Ability to create a strong presence and solid relationships across business groups
• Experience with managing multiple vendors
• Effective risk management - risk planning and mitigation, risk prioritization and tracking to resolution
• Ability to identify process improvement opportunities, quantify benefits and drive outcomes
• Significant experience in operations within large corporate organizations
• Strong technical knowledge in the design of local and wide area networks, unified communications, content delivery systems and wireless networks
Experience
- Oct 2003 - PresentProject Manager / Village Roadshow Limited- Project management
- PMO
- Business strategy - Sept 1994 - Sept 2003Network Manager / Merrill Lynch & Co- Network design & management
- Security administration and auditing
- Project management - Jan 1992 - Sept 1994Support Engineer / Sedgwick Limited- 2nd level support