Featured, News - Thursday, July 29, 2010 14:53 - 0 Comments
Conroy promises “more of the same” ICT policy
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy did not outline any new significant election policies in the technology field during a speech to the cream of Australia’s technology sector in Melbourne today — promising instead “more of the same”.
“I was interviewed recently for one newspaper, and the interviewer started off by saying what are you going to be doing, more of the same? Or you got a few new ideas?” said Conroy. “And I thought — more of the same. Introduced micro-economic reform, analogue switch-off — no we’ve not been up to much.”
Other Recent Articles
- Telecom NZ sells Macquarie stake
- ninemsn searches for CTO idol
- Video: Optus customers queue for iPhone 4
- Telstra boosts iPhone, Desire + N97 mini data caps
- Virgin Mobile releases iPhone 4 plans
- First in line for a Telstra iPhone: Photo
- Oh dear: Masterchef contestants at Telstra with giant Apple tree
- Details: iPhone 4 launch parties around Sydney
- iiNet halts share trading as AAPT rumours swirl
- Conroy backs NBN opt-out model
- Fiserv to rejuvenate Westpac’s online banking
- Optus CIO quits as telco abolishes role
- Australia’s Aconex wins huge Panama Canal deal
- Pacnet joins NZ Pacific Fibre consortium
Opinion - Jul 28, 2010 15:33 - 3 Comments
iPhone 4: Is a Telstra plan worth the money?
opinion There is only one question that wannabe iPhone 4 owners need to ask themselves when gearing up to buy Apple’s hyped handset when it launches in Australia at midnight on Thursday night.
Can you afford to pay Telstra’s exorbitant prices for access to its superior network?
There is no question that if you can afford it, in July 2010, the best option for receiving reliable mobile access — especially data access — around Australia is to sign up for Telstra’s Next G network.
It’s a matter of record that then-Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo made Ericsson his whipping boy to build Next G throughout 2006 — phoning the Swedish vendor’s chief executive at odd hours and driving its engineers hard as they built out the network in record time across Australia.
But that record construction speed did not result in a record number of bugs — Next G has proven remarkably stable over the years, and Telstra has continued to invest in the network, adding base stations and upgrading wireless speeds, as well as building out fibre connections to towers to boost their overall capacity.
More In Opinion
- BigPond broadband is cheap as chips
- Not the Twitter election you were expecting
- Open government: By the people, for the people
- How can Australia build a great technology sector?
- How long can Atlassian stay Australian?
Features, Reviews - Jul 16, 2010 14:01 - 22 Comments
Amazon Kindle store + device: The Australian difference
review Amazon might have started selling its Kindle range of eBook readers in Australia late last year, but there is a world of difference between the performance of the device and range of the Kindle bookstore in Australia compared with Amazon’s home country of the US.
This article will document that difference to make it clear what readers are — and aren’t — getting when they buy a Kindle in Australia — specifically focusing on the Australian aspects of the device without going into a general review of the entire platform.
For the purposes of this review we borrowed a Kindle DX from Amazon, as well as consulting with colleagues based in the US for comparison purposes.
More In Features
- BoysTown achieves the Lotus position — without Exchange
- Virtual desktop reality: City of Cockburn’s fleet of 200
- 2010: Australia’s Android odyssey
- The day of the spill: Australia’s tech sector reacts
- Tech products I can’t live without
Profiles - Jul 23, 2010 10:05 - 0 Comments
Friday Five: Google’s Raul Vera
Every Friday we’ll profile a prominent figure from Australia’s IT, telecommunications or video gaming industries in the Friday Five.
Raul Vera is an engineering manager at Google’s Australia/NZ headquarters in Sydney, overseeing Google Maps engineering. He has been involved in digital media technology for over 25 years, as a software developer, architect, entrepreneur, and team leader. But he doesn’t spend all his time in front of a computer. Sometimes he does engineering the old fashioned way — working with his hands with more natural materials.
1. What was your first job ever?
My family was living in Switzerland, in Geneva. I worked for a summer in a shop that sold fabric and linens. I was the boy who put stuff away and cleaned up after the sales people had taken it all out to make a sale. I was 18 and had a great time. My French has a slight Swiss accent because of that summer.
More In Profiles
- Friday Five: Markinson’s Ian Whiting
- Friday Five: Happen Business’s Paul Berger
- Friday Five: IFS’s Rob Stummer
- Friday Five: Microsoft’s Phil Goldie
- Friday Five: BMC’s Gary Mitchell







