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NSW Police illegally hacks Facebook page
In a court case last week, it emerged that the NSW Police Force has had a ... less than legal relationship with the Facebook account of an individual who had been making fun of police officers online by posting extremely poorly doctored images of police Photoshopped with other images.
Facebook wants to hide its Australian earnings
It has become more or less the norm for global technology companies to minimise their Australian tax liability in a way that much of the local population finds at least mildly objectionable. Well, perhaps the most arrogant of the bunch (surprise, surprise) has turned out to be social networking giant Facebook, which has filed a form arguing it doesn’t need to disclose its Australian earnings at all.
Turnbull Facebook Q+A backfires with NBN rage
An attempt by Malcolm Turnbull to leverage a visit to Facebook's headquarters in the US to communicate with Australians about the future of the digital economy via social media has backfired, with the Communications Minister's official Facebook filling up with hundreds of comments slamming the Coalition's inferior broadband policy.
Would your company ban Facebook Home?
It’s only been two weeks since Facebook launched its home-screen replacement for Android phones, and hours since it was launched in the UK. But as privacy advocates wrestle with the ever-increasing efforts of Web giants bent on collecting and utilising personal information to line their own pockets, some in the security community are calling for companies to ban Facebook Home for the myriad and untested security vulnerabilities they fear may be hiding inside it – as well as the usual concerns over Facebook’s (often-questioned) privacy.
Danish police accidentally filter Google, Facebook, 8,000 other sites
A “human error” carried out by the police resulted in thousands of websites being completely blocked at the DNS level yesterday. Danish visitors to around 8,000 sites including Google and Facebook were informed that the sites were being blocked by the country’s High Tech Crime Unit due to them offering child pornography, a situation which persisted for several hours.
Facebook loses Aussie chief Borrud
Facebook has announced that Paul Borrud, Head of its Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) operations will be leaving the company after a six-year long stint. Borrud has decided to leave Facebook to enjoy more time with his family and to pursue personal interests.
Facebook PR chief’s first job: Quelling Queensland
We were encouraged to note that Facebook has finally decided to hire some brave soul to act as an Australian spokesperson.
Rasmussen: I’m joining Facebook and Google wasn’t “patient” on Wave
Fascinating interview here by the Sydney Morning Herald with outgoing Googler Lars Rasmussen on why he’s joining Facebook and his thoughts on the failed Google Wave project, which he was a core part of.
Facebook, iPhone mafia games, cloud computing: Enemies of the state?
There is absolutely no reason why, in 2010, Australia's police should be looking at Facebook, iPhone mafia games and even cloud computing as if these things are new, strange or hard to understand.
Telstra’s biggest rivals: Google, Apple, Facebook?
Telstra's biggest competition in future may come not from traditional telcos, but from innovative players like Google, Apple and Facebook, according to one analyst -- and the big T may not be prepared for what's coming.
Facebook Places hits Australia
Facebook has launched its 'Places' feature in the Australian market, delivering location functionality to Australian users in a similar manner as existing players Foursquare and Gowalla.
Brumby creates pro-NBN Facebook group
Victorian Premier and Labor stalwart John Brumby yesterday issued a statement noting he had created a new Facebook group where Victorians concerned about the Coalition’s broadband policy could make their feelings known.
Facebook continues to stonewall Australia
When you hold unimaginable personal details about much of the civilised world, you need to be transparent about how you use that information. Any other approach will eventually see you relegated to the dustbin of corporate history.
AFP denies Facebook tribute crackdown
The Australian Federal Police has denied reports that it was seeking to block minors from creating tribute pages on Facebook to friends who have passed away in an untimely manner.
Video: EFA talks Facebook on The Circle
In this YouTube video, Electronic Frontiers Australia chair Colin Jacobs discusses Facebook's recent privacy headaches on Channel Ten show the Circle.
Five reasons Australians should quit Facebook
Is this a company that Australia should be supporting? Not in my book.
Facebook reminds Australia: Moderate your Pages
Facebook appears to have directly contacted Australian administrators of Facebook Pages to remind them of tools available to moderate objectionable content within their sub-sections...
Dear Mark, in Australia we love “the Facebook”
I know that your team is sorting through everything, day and night. You can't post just anything on 'the Facebook" and get away with it, can you Mark? You guys notice everything. And are you on Twitter yet?
Facebook shuts down pro-R18+ game rating group
Social networking giant Facebook appears to have shut down the group on the site belonging to Grow Up Australia, a lobby organisation campaigning for a R18+ classification scheme to be implemented for video games in Australia.
Anna Bligh appeals to Facebook chief Zuckerberg
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has reportedly written to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg (pictured), appealing to the social networking supremo for help in blocking...
Vodafone UK dumps telephone line rental on broadband plans
Vodafone UK has said it is "removing" home broadband line rental charges, and is touting the claim in its latest ad campaign.
Election FactCheck Q&A: has the NBN been delayed?
Christopher Pyne’s assertion that there have been “no delays” in the implementation of the NBN is inaccurate.
Turnbull tried to kick Conroy off NBN Committee, says Palmer
Clive Palmer claimed over the weekend that in 2014, Malcolm Turnbull tried to use the Palmer United Party's votes in the Senate to get former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy removed from the Senate Select Committee into the NBN, replacing it with a joint committee.
Australian tech startup BigCommerce closes US$30m funding round
Australian e-commerce platform BigCommerce has announced the closure of a US$30 million (A$41 million) funding round.
Apple Pay no sure thing in mobile payments race
Evidence both the incumbents and disruptors face challenges in non-traditional payments.
“Pure noise”: The backlash against Slack begins
Recently I've begun to detect a wave of dissent against Slack. The platform opened up a great deal of communication and collaboration options for corporations ... but at the same time, it has also created yet another distraction into our modern workplace. It may end up creating as many problems as it solves.
TEDx tech talk takes place on Qantas flight to Silicon Valley
Passengers on a Qantas flight from Sydney to San Francisco yesterday had the novel experience of a mid-flight TEDx lecture that the organisers have called "the world’s first tech talk in the sky".
Turnbull’s Digital Transformation Office gets a new Minister
Malcolm Turnbull appears to have stripped responsibility for digital government policy from his Communications Minister Mitch Fifield and handed it to a neophye MP, in a move that appears set to give the Prime Minister's Digital Transformation Office a new overseer.
EFA kicks off digital rights campaign for election year
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has launched its digital rights campaign for 2016, which addresses issues such as privacy, censorship and net neutrality.
Heavyweight US investors meet Australian startups in Victoria
A delegation of US investors representing over a trillion dollars in investment capital met with representatives of Australian startups at the Victorian Parliament yesterday.
Governments undermining encryption will do more harm than good
Western governments, notably the UK and the US, are pushing the software industry to open “backdoors” into our encrypted communications.
Greens take aim at Government’s national facial recognition database
The Australian Greens have raised privacy concerns over the government's plans to introduce a national facial recognition scheme next year.
Telstra offers free Wi-Fi to customers over summer season
Telstra has announced it is giving millions of customers "unlimited free access" to its Wi-Fi network, Telstra Air.
AFR claims on NBN sale just plain “wrong”, says Fifield
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield today flatly rejected claims by the Financial Review newspaper that the Government was in talks to sell the bulk of the National Broadband Network to Telstra for as little as $20 billion, stating: "There are no plans to sell NBN".
Biteable attracts $1.1m seed round to grow online video tool
Tasmania-based video startup, Biteable, has announced a $1.1-million seed funding round from a group of Australian investors including Tank Stream Ventures and BridgeLane Capital.
Politicians to attend Parliament House innovation ‘boot camp’
Federal MPs and senators will learn about coding and novel uses of technology at an innovation 'boot camp' today in Parliament House organised by tech giant Intel, along with students from five Canberra schools.
Australian court holds Google responsible for linking to defamatory websites
The South Australian Supreme Court this week found that Google is legally responsible when its search results link to defamatory content on the web.
Aussie email provider FastMail says it is exempt from Data Retention law
Australian email provider FastMail has claimed it will not be subject to the Data Retention law which is shortly scheduled to come into force in Australia, due to the fact that it is not a telecommunications carrier and does not operate hosting infrastructure in Australia.
Forget it: Turnbull won’t return the NBN to a FTTP model
Prime Minister or not, there is simply no way that Malcolm Turnbull is going to reverse five years of bitter campaigning and return the National Broadband Network to its previous near-universal Fibre to the Premises model. So let’s give up hope on that misguided delusion right now and save ourselves a great deal of painful mental anguish.
Blackbird reveals whopping $200m tech startup VC fund
Australian tech-focused venture capital fund Blackbird this week announced it had raised $200 million to invest in fast-growing Australian technology startups, in the largest funding round of its kind seen in Australia.
Parliament launches cross-party ‘Friends of the Internet’ Group
Politicians from Liberal, Labor and Greens political parties yesterday banded together to launch a cross-party Friends of the Internet group within the Federal Parliament, pledging to support the development, innovation and use of the world’s most ubiquitous technology platform, despite the diverse political views their own parties hold about it.
TPG orders iiNet to dump Fetch TV
National broadband provider iiNet and its subsidiary brands have instantly dumped the Fetch TV Internet television platform following the company’s acquisition by TPG, with Fetch TV confirming the order came from TPG itself following the acquisition.
A quick update on Delimiter’s changing use of social media
When I first started publishing Delimiter back in January 2010, the Internet was quite a bit simpler. Fast forward more than five years and things are obviously drastically different. The Internet is a much more active, dynamic, fluidly updated place, and Delimiter has changed with the times.
New Greens Leader holds firm on FTTP NBN policy
New Greens Leader Richard Di Natale has confirmed he will stand firm behind the original universal Fibre to the Premises version of the National Broadband Network, rejecting what he said was the “half-measures” being implemented by the Coalition Federal Government.
Turnbull’s NBN hiring spree is pure election fodder
Like the fictional Frank Underwood’s ‘America Works’ program, the massive nbn hiring spree unveiled by Malcolm Turnbull in the wee hours of this morning is pure election fodder — a beguiling program designed to demonstrate to the electorate that the reigning Government is instantly responsible for thousands of new jobs.
nbn project to hire 4,500 more staff
nbn this morning unveiled plans to train a further 4,500 workers to join the ranks of its construction partners and the company itself, in a move which Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hailed as a victory for a project he dubbed “The Coalition’s NBN”.
Turnbull defends Geelong MP from FTTN critics
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning travelled to Geelong to spruik the benefits of its looming Fibre to the Node deployment, braving the ire of local residents and Labor politicians, who are increasingly demanding local Liberal MP Sarah Henderson support the technically superior Fibre to the Premises version of the NBN instead.
Labor unveils strong Digital Economy push with top political support
The Australian Labor Party has created a new internal policy group focused on building a “new economy” through fostering innovation, startups and entrepreneurs, in a move that appears to have support from the highest political levels within the party.
TPG claims best unlimited, Netflix ADSL plan
Cut-rate broadband provider TPG last week claimed its new $69.99 Unlimited plan was the best value option in the ADSL broadband market, additionally claiming credit as the best provider in Australia for those looking to watch television online through the popular Netflix platform.
Abbott thinks coding is a waste of time but Wyatt Roy still dragged him...
In which Tony Abbott attends Startup Weekend Brisbane, flanked by LNP MPs Wyatt Roy and Teresa Gambaro.
Palmer pushes for minimalist NBN policy
The National Broadband Network Company's Strategic Review found conclusively that under almost every model, the company's network rollout would make a long-term return on investment, ultimately costing the Federal Government nothing due to the cost being reimbursed by subscriber fees paid by millions of Australians. Despite this, Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer this week referred to the cost of the NBN and how it could be brought down further.
Web blocking technically impossible: iiNet reminds Govt of undisputed fact
National broadband provider iiNet has published a blog post reminding politicians of the fact undisputed by the global technology sector that the nature of the Internet makes it technically impossible to 'block' websites as currently being proposed by the Federal Government.
Australia’s got ICT talent: So how do we make the most of it?
AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, the Conversation is asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia now and in the future. Written by luminaries and accompanied by two expert commentaries to ensure a broader perspective, these articles run fortnightly and focus on each of the major scientific areas. This instalment takes a look at ICT’s role.
CommBank reveals Harte’s replacement
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has promoted an internal executive who joined the bank in September after a lengthy career at petroleum giant VP and IT services group Accenture to replace its outgoing chief information officer Michael Harte, who announced in early May that he would leave the bank.
Budget a harsh wake-up call for the tech sector
Listening to the shrieks and squeals of tech sector commentators over the past few weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking Joe Hockey’s first budget contained nothing for the industry. A more measured inspection of the budget entrails and you will find the Coalition has delivered a lot. A lot of pain, and a lot of lessons.
Broadcast to Chromecast – is TV being recast or cast out?
I expect more from the biggest screen in my house and, once again, traditional mass media have failed to deliver.
iiNet to blanket Canberra with free Wi-Fi
National broadband provider iiNet today revealed that it had been selected by the nation’s capital to build Australia’s largest free Wi-Fi network, blanketing 12 business districts across Canberra during the coming year.
In the Airbnb world we need a new productivity measure
Our productivity problem is a like an epidemic. It affects many businesses and threatens the prosperity of future Australians yet it is poorly understood and goes largely unnoticed, especially in a service economy. If a problem of this size and scale were to affect people’s health, money would be raised for further research to isolate the causes and cures for the malady.
Telstra creates giant national … Wi-Fi network??
The nation's largest telco Telstra has flagged plans to utilise its own and customers' infrastructure to create a giant national Wi-Fi network around Australia, in a move that comes just two years after the company shut down its existing Wi-Fi network with about 1,000 hotspots and goes against the clear Australian preference for 3G/4G mobile broadband access.
CommBank’s deep innovation is redefining our notion of what a bank is
The remarkable wave of technological innovation emanating from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is forcing Australians to redefine their fundamental concept of what a bank is, and reimagine what their basic relationship to such an institution should be.
A cashless society and the five forms of mobile payment that will get us...
Visions of a cashless society started being portrayed from the 1950’s along with other aspects of a future waiting to be transformed by technology. That future has not yet arrived but it is now possible to exist without using cash on a daily basis. In fact, in a survey released this week, 25% of Australians claim not to use cash in a given month. In the US, 50% of Americans carry less than $20 in cash at any time.
End of an era: CIO Harte leaves CommBank
The Commonwealth Bank's long-serving and highly decorated chief information officer Michael Harte has announced he will shortly leave the bank to take up a senior role at UK-based Barclays Bank, in a move that signals the end of an era for CommBank's IT operations.
ABC denies any NBN censorship deal with Turnbull
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has denied it censored the National Broadband Network issue from being discussed on its flagship panel discussion program Q&A this week due to any arrangement with Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, stating that it merely ran out of time to air a question on the topic.
ABC actively censors NBN issue on Q&A
The ABC's flagship panel discussion program Q&A last night appeared to actively censor the National Broadband Network issue from being discussed on an episode featuring Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull; ignoring a flood of questions from viewers prior to its filming, leaving the issue out of pre-show briefing documents and shutting down discussion on air.
Scrimp now, pay later: CSIRO cuts could stifle long-term research
The moment we tie short-term political, economic or social goals to science is the moment we ensure we’ll slow down finding those momentous future breakthroughs that science has brought us. It is a paradox, but one that the government needs to understand before cutting big budgets out of long-term fundamental research programs at the CSIRO.
Free to fail: Why corporates are learning to love venture capital
Opening a venture capital branch seems to be the new “thing” in the corporate world. While Telstra and Westpac are the new big national players, Google is clearly ahead of the curve, with two distinct venture capital firms: the newly launched Google Capital and the five-year-old Google Ventures. But why are so many companies, across a range of sectors, now running to open their own venture capital funds?
Crackdown: ATO targets eight major tech giants paying little tax
The Australian Taxation Office has revealed plans to investigate eight major multinational technology companies, some of which which are paying "very low or no" tax in Australia, as scrutiny on so-called 'profit-shifting' activities by the local operations of technology giants such as Apple and Google continues to ramp up.
Ludlam can actually DJ like a mad ****
Those of you who've been hanging around the tracks for a while may remember a famous piece of newspaper graffiti which was published a while back regarding Prime Minister John Howard and his musical abilities. Well, it's taken us a while, but we've now been able to find a Federal Politician who can actually DJ quite well. Or so it appears from these glamour pics of Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam, who spent some time DJ'ing at a rave held to fundraise for his WA Senate campaign this month.
Before this decade is OUT: What if the “giants of the web” designed government...
What have we learnt from the past decade of "government online"? And what could we learn from the giants of the web? This is an examination of how an understanding of complex systems, risk and common patterns can be applied in an economy-wide effort of breakthrough innovation to drive the digital transformation of government service delivery over the next decade.
Turnbull slams Twitter’s NBN “craziness”
Malcolm Turnbull has accused users of social networking site Twitter of misrepresenting his position on the Coalition's broadband policy during a stoush with a small business operator unable to get broadband in a rural area, with the Communications Minister claiming the episode could be a case study "of the volatile and sometimes distorting character of social media".
Impolite Turnbull tweet sparks NBN backlash
A flippant response by Malcolm Turnbull to broadband problems being suffered by a high-flying small business owner and executive has backfired on the Communications Minister, with a plethora of responses being published on the social networking site slamming the new Coalition Government's controversial revision of Labor's popular National Broadband Network policy.
ATO may investigate Apple, Google
Remember that year when search giant Google made revenues from its Australian operations estimated at north of $1 billion, but paid corporate taxes of just $74,000? Or the year that Apple made $6.1 billion in revenue but paid just $36 million in corporate tax? Yeah, good times, good times. Well, the good times may well be over for these technology giants, with the ABC reporting that the Australian Taxation Office has (finally) set up a dedicated task force to tackle the situation.
Don’t sue us for search: Google’s unnecessary safe harbour appeal
A brief review of the history of Australian safe harbour legislation and recent ISP-related case laws in the US shows the best way to provide legal certainty for online intermediaries would be to introduce “fair use” exceptions alone. More safe harbour rules aren’t needed at this stage.
Coalition faces internal e-safety dissent
Remember how the new Coalition Federal Government issued a detailed discussion paper in mid-January canvassing various options through which it can deal with the issue of children’s safety on the Internet, including the potential establishment of a children’s e-safety commissioner? Of course you do. Well, now Malcolm Turnbull’s Parliamentary Secretary Paul Fletcher, who is spearheading the policy, is facing opposition from a new front: Coalition MPs.
Pandora’s Box: Inquiry opens universal surveillance floodgates
A move by the Greens to set up a Senate inquiry into the potential reform of Australia's surveillance laws appears to have opened a giant Pandora's Box of debate about the issue, with Australian law enforcement agencies using the process to demand massively increased electronic surveillance rights, including data retention of users' communications.
NBN technology choice doesn’t matter, says Switkowski
NBN Co executive chairman Ziggy Switkowski has declared that the specific technology chosen by the company in its network rollout "does not matter", as long as that technology can deliver the "speeds" that Australians need today and that it can be upgraded as demand required, in a controversial statement which appears to fly against conventional wisdom in the telecommunications sector.
First-time Labor MP backs fair use copyright reform
The Australian Labor Party's silence on the Australian Law Reform Commission's propsed reforms to the Copyright Act has been broken by Tim Watts, a first-time MP who told Parliament late last month that he supported the US-style "fair use" doctrine supported by the commission, which the Coalition has not yet indicated it will support.
Aussie firms deploy corporate social network tibbr
Software giant Tibco has revealed that two sizable Australian companies, accounting group HLB Mann Judd and real estate agency Compton Green, have deployed its internal corporate social networking platform tibbr to streamline their internal communications.
“Enormous damage”: Turnbull changes tune on Snowden
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull appears to have completely changed his view on the revelations by Edward Snowden about US spying activities, telling the ABC yesterday that the NSA whistleblower had caused "enormous damage", despite having only six months ago described some of Snowden's revelations as having "very significant" implications.
No back door, Microsoft tells Parliament
Global technology giant Microsoft has definitively told Australia's Federal Parliament that it does not have a back door in its software that would allow the company to provide access to the IT infrastructure of the Parliament, which would include private files and emails held by Members of Parliament, Senators and their staff.
“A disgrace”: Palmer slams Tassie IT jobs cull
Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer has strongly criticised a decision to shift the roles of some 56 Tasmanian IT workers employed by the Department of Human Services onto the mainland, describing the decision by the Federal Government as "a disgrace and a betrayal" by the Coalition.
99designs co-founder directly siphoning Aussie IT talent to Silicon Valley
Heard the term "Australian brain-drain"? You're probably not going to see a more blatant attempt at it than this.
Govt social media policy “counterproductive”, say Web 2.0 giants
The Australian divisions of the world's largest social networking companies have criticised the new Coalition administration's approach to dealing with the issue of children's safety on the Internet as "counterproductive", in a move which signals the start of opposition to ongoing attempts by successive Australian Governments to regulate the Internet.
Govt opens debate on children’s online safety
The Federal Government has issued a detailed discussion paper canvassing various options through which it can deal with the issue of children's safety on the Internet, including the potential establishment of a children's e-safety commissioner, developing an effective complaints system to deal with offensive material on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and even the potential establishment of a new cyber-bullying offence.
Dogmatic: MPs’ tech tours merely reinforce existing prejudices
The fundamental aim of overseas study tours undertaken by Members of Parliament is to help educate and give our political leaders a broader context within which to make better policy decisions, as well as opening substantive policy discussions with high-level figures. But the latest examples this month in Silicon Valley and other trips over the past several years starkly display the fact that in practice, that they merely serve as propaganda and to reinforce existing beliefs arrayed along dogmatic political lines.
Basic Govt IT needs a fundamental rethink
Government systems could be redesigned from the ground-up to make it easy to reorganise, merge and demerge departments, so that a person's email system can be rapidly and easily moved from one agency to another, or the HR information of two departments can be consolidated in a merger at low cost.
US VC firm pumps $30m into Aussie software vendor
US-based venture capital firm Technology Crossover Ventures has invested $30 million into Australia-based company SiteMinder, which develops software that allows hotels to better monetise their inventory themselves and via more easily connecting to online platforms.
Telstra ‘not logging’ customers’ web, email history
The nation's largest telco Telstra has flatly rejected allegations that it is routinely logging all of its customers' web browsing data and email history on behalf of national security and intelligence agencies, stating that it does not "routinely" collect or store its customers' telecommunications data unless required to do so.
When will Labor get serious about supporting its NBN policy?
The independent pro-fibre National Broadband Network movement is doing a far better job of promoting Labor's Fibre to the Premises-based NBN policy than Labor itself. When is Labor going to wake from its slumber and start supporting this scrappy but energetic grassroots network of activists?
Pro-NBN National Day of Action is tomorrow
Supporters of Labor's all-fibre vision for the National Broadband Network project have organised a national day of action for Tuesday 26 November, which will see thousands of Australians physically present Members of Parliament with copies of a 270,000-strong petition on the issue.
A scent of money in the air: Australian tech IPOs are back in style
Australian technology companies have been virtually absent from the the nation's public stockmarket over the past decade as the stigma of the dot com bust took its toll on investor confidence. But a clutch of new listings planned for the closing months of 2013 shows renewed interest in the sector and that local entrepreneurs are smelling money in the air once again.
Freelancer’s IPO: A billion reasons to care
For the Australian tech company market, the success of Freelancer would be a good thing and could possibly serve to boost the likelihood of other companies receiving investment. But because tech companies listing on the ASX are relatively uncommon, they are often treated as scarce events resulting in a general temptation to attach too much significance to a company that has yet to really prove it is worthy of the attention.
Australian retailers online: Late to the party and much to do
Australian consumers are embracing digital commerce, but Australian retailers are failing to build long-term relationships with their customers online, according to new research.
Malcolm’s Blacktown visit: Silly tweets, a ridiculous video and technical inaccuracies
Malcolm Turnbull's site visit to a National Broadband Network location in Blacktown was primarily notable for the Communications Minister's silly tweets, his "ridiculous" video and technical inaccuracies in his comments, according to Shadow Assisting Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who is also an MP for the area.
Using SurveyMonkey? Be careful … if you’re an Australian Govt organisation
I've had an interesting and robust conversation online in the last day regarding how Australian councils and governments are using overseas services like SurveyMonkey to collect information from citizens and residents.
Fiery telco expert with a fibre passion: Michelle Rowland gets a licence to terminate...
With a lengthy history as a telco regulatory lawyer and a passion for the National Broadband Network bordering on an obsession, Labor MP Michelle Rowland is well-qualified indeed to be Labor's Shadow Assistant Communications Minister. But it's the Member for Greenway's penchant for taking Malcolm Turnbull down a notch or five on the floor of the House of Representatives that will have pro-fibre NBN fanbois falling in love with her.
Strong NFC push by CommBank, Coles
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has unveiled a new unified smartphone app that will operate on iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 platforms and provide NFC payments functionality, as well as a 'stick-on' NFC chip for smartphones (also launched by Coles) that don't have near-field functionality embedded in their own hardware.
The Australian public cares about privacy: Do politicians?
Two documents released this week highlight divergent views among the community and politicians.
Attorney-General briefed on PRISM months before Snowden leaks
Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws have shown that then-Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus received a secret briefing on the US National Security Agency's controversial PRISM surveillance program several months before the program was outed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
SAMSUNG ONLY: SBS limits Android IPTV app
Publicly funded broadcaster SBS today launched a highly anticipated Android version of its on-demand Internet TV viewing platform, but limited the launch to those Australians with Samsung devices, in a move stimulated by a co-development effort with the Korean manufacturer.
End of the dot com winter: How Australia’s tech startup scene bloomed again
The long winter after the failure of the dot com boom a decade ago is finally over: Australia's startup spring is here, and its energy is infectious.
Memo to Minister Turnbull: NBN dissent is “democracy”
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull needs to stop engaging in attacks on those who support a Fibre to the Premises model for the NBN and commit to an open and transparent review process for the network, according to telecommunications blogger and IT technician James Archer.
Telstra P2P throttling “unacceptable”: Pirate Party
Pirate Party Australia has labelled as "unacceptable" Telstra's plans to trial a system whereby certain Internet services, such as BitTorrent file downloading, would be de-prioritised on its network, stating that the implementation of 'net neutrality" was "essential" for the future of Australian broadband.
FTTP NBN no big loss, claims Gizmodo
According to Gizmodo, the loss of Labor's fibre to the premises National Broadband Network policy is no cause for Australian technologists to "mourn".
Bugcrowd picks up $1.6m funding
There might not be enough capital floating around in Australia’s IT startup ecosystem for it to expand at the rate some would like, but some startups, at least, are not finding much difficulty with raising capital. Crowdsourced security startup Bugcrowd today revealed it had picked up $1.6 million in funding from Australian and US investors.
“Stopping surveillance overreach”: Greens unveil digital privacy policy
The Australian Greens has unveiled a broad digital rights and privacy policy aimed at stopping what the party this week week described as "surveillance overreach" by Australian and international law enforcement initiatives, as both Labor and the Coalition continue to ignore the area, refusing to release policies to deal with digital rights.
Open deception: Albanese continually misleading public on Coalition NBN policy
Communications Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is continuing to regularly make misstatements about the Coalition's National Broadband Network policy in speeches and media releases around Australia, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to deceive the public about the policy.
Beyond Silicon Valley: Start-up hubs in Australia’s backyard
The next Atlassian could be started by a pair of Chinese students studying right now in Melbourne, or an Australian-born Vietnamese or Indian entrepreneur who can leverage transnational family connections and build a fast-growing company.
CommBank’s Kaching app: A perfect IT/business alignment case study
The collossal success of the Commonwealth Banks's Kaching mobile, social and NFC payments system demonstrates starkly what Australian chief information officers can achieve when they put their mind to it and how rapidly Australians will take up good technology and is a perfect case study for how IT can align with the business to achieve real business outcomes.
Rudd misleads the public on mobile blackspots
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today made what appeared to be an extremely inaccurate statement claiming the Federal Government was taking steps to address mobile blackspots around Australia, when in fact Labor has not taken any steps on the issue in the six years it has been in power.
$20,000 for 1Gbps: Turnbull’s Lateline lie
Malcolm Turnbull appears to have made a deliberate attempt to mislead the public about the cost of connecting to the National Broadband Network's upcoming 1Gbps fibre service, claiming on national television last night that such connections would cost "at least $20,000" a month, despite the fact that the Shadow Communications Minister is aware the cost is likely to be much less.
Albanese lies about Coalition NBN coverage
Communications Minister Anthony Albanese appears to have issued a media release deliberately misleading Newcastle residents about how the Coalition's rival NBN policy would affect the area, with the Labor MP falsely stating that the NSW city would "miss out" on upgraded broadband entirely under the Coalition's plan.
BlackBerry Q10: Review
If you're one of the minority of people who still want a hardware keyboard on a smartphone, then you very likely already know that the BlackBerry Q10 is right at the top of its class. And with the BlackBerry 10 operating system on board, the Q10 (at least on paper) comes well-equipped with modern software capabilities. But is this objectively, actually, a good smartphone? Do you need a hardware keyboard in 2013? Read on to find out.
$5 per day flat rate: Vodafone revamps global roaming options
Ever been hit with a massive global roaming bill? Vodafone's got your back. The telco this morning announced that it would be implementing a flat $5 per day fee for customers using their mobiles in popular international destinations such as the UK, US and New Zealand.
Experts agree: Labor’s NBN ads are false
A trio of Australia's most prominent telecommunications analysts have reportedly backed complaints by the Coalition that much of Labor's election campaign material about the National Broadband Network contains outright lies or otherwise misleading material.
Finally, Scobleizer comes Down Under
Giant US tech blogger Robert Scoble comes to Australia for the first time.
Locked down: Foxtel blocks non-Samsung Android, jailbroken Apple devices
Pay TV giant Foxtel this week blocked those Australians using non-Samsung Android and jailbroken Apple iOS devices from accessing its flagship mobile IPTV streaming app Go, in moves that seem destined to reinforce the company's reputation for setting strong restrictions on how customers can access its content.
US ‘choke-points’ for Australian telecoms data are no surprise
So, what can we conclude from the latest developments? There are no real surprises. We know that lawful interception has been a highly valued (if at times shockingly misused) tool of law enforcement and intelligence agencies for decades. Perhaps the most important conclusion we can draw is that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies will not surrender such access easily.
Conduct unbecoming: How NBN spite has damaged the Turnbull brand
Many Australians believe the man dubbed the Earl of Wentworth will eventually be back to take the Prime Ministership, after being ousted from the Liberal leadership in December 2009; or possibly to become Australia's first President. But three years of dogged and at times spiteful opposition to one of Australia's most popular policies have taken their toll on Malcolm Turnbull in the view of some segments of the Australian population.
AFP blocks FoI access to social media info
Some five months ago, Pirate Party Australia founder Rodney Serkowski made what many would consider to be a fairly standard Freedom of Information request with the Australian Federal Police, relating to data collected through social media channels. The request has been denied in its entirety.
This Saturday: PRISM protests spread to Australia
Global protests against the PRISM surveillance program operated by the Unites States' National Security Agency are slated to spread to Australia this Saturday, with a broad coalition of political and digital rights groups banding together to hold actions in major cities around Australia from lunchtime.
Coalition NBN completed ‘six years faster’: False claims from Liberal MP
A Queensland Liberal MP who has been described as a "Malcolm Turnbull lieutenant" and a long-time critic of Labor's popular National Broadband Network policy has written to a controversial letter to his constituents making a number of false claims about the project, including the claim that the Coalition's version could be completed "six years earlier".
‘No worries’: Carr unconcerned about NSA spying
Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr said over the weekend that he "wouldn't think" Australians had anything to be concerned about in relation to the NSA Internet spy scandal which engulfed the United States last week, despite the fact that the issue appears to exclusively relate to NSA access to foreigners' data on US cloud computing servers.
NSA spy scandal: Turnbull, Ludlam demand answers
Several of Australia's most high-profile politicians in the telecommunications portfolio have publicly demanded answers from the governments of the United States and Australia in the wake of news that the US National Security Agency had obtained open access to private data held by US technology giants such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft.
Politifact backs Turnbull: Labor’s NBN not “free”
The Australian version of pioneering US fact-checking website Politifact has given a “mostly true” rating to statement by Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that connecting to Labor’s NBN infrastructure will not be “free”, as various Labor politicians have claimed.
HP forces MicroServer fan page offline?
Some of you may be aware that local IT professional Joel Dickins has for some time been running a rather useful Facebook page dedicated to the HP MicroServer, an excellent HP line which are used by many geeks in their households for varied duties from media serving to NAS functionality and so on. The only problem? HP has had the page taken offline.
HTC One: Review
There's a new category of smartphone out there -- the super-phone. Dozens of new smartphones get released in Australia every year, but usually there's only a handful that matter and gain sales momentum. Does the HTC One do enough to make it into this class? Read on to find out.
Turnbull rejects Labor’s NBN subsidy claims
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has strongly denied claims by Labor MPs that the Coalition's rival National Broadband Network policy would see those in rural areas pay more to access NBN infrastructure, stating that the Coalition would maintain the so-called "cross-subsidy".
Ludlam to do Reddit AMA this Wednesday night
Just a very brief message to let y'all know that Greens Senator, Communications Spokesperson and William Gibson fan Scott Ludlam is planning to open up his world to all and sundry this Wednesday night -- 15 May, from 7:30 to 9PM, for a Reddit AMA ('Ask Me Anything') session.
The perfect demonstration of an NBN false dichotomy
We couldn't help but be amused by the brouhaha caused when smart cookie, self-confessed Liberal voter and Redditor James Brotchie created the very Web 2.0-ish site How Fast is the NBN, which attempts to graphically demonstrate the difference between the rival National Broadband Network policies of the two major sides of politics.
Turnbull’s NBN answers “make sense”, says Budde
Veteran telecommunications analyst Paul Budde has praised the Coalition for publishing an extensive 'frequently asked questions’ regarding its rival National Broadband Network policy unveiled last month, noting that the additional explanations of the policy "make sense" and that the Coalition is "moving forward" on the issue.
Turnbull slams “dishonest” Labor NBN propaganda
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has come out swinging against what he today described as "misleading and dishonest" material criticising the Coalition's NBN policy and promoting Labor's own, which prominent Labor MPs have started distributing to their constituents ahead of the upcoming Federal Election.
Telstra has 2.1 million 4G customers
This morning the telco’s deputy chief financial officer Mark Hall casually told Macquarie Bank’s Equities Conference that Telstra already has 2.1 million customers on its 4G network.
US ambassador begs Australians: Stop pirating Game of Thrones
US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich has published an impassioned statement appealing to Australians to stop breaching the copyright of US cable giant HBO by illegally downloading its popular Game of Thrones television show in record numbers.
How Westfield turned free Olympics WiFi into social-media gold
Forget big sales, exclusive brands, and big marketing campaigns: when it came to getting customers through the door over and over again during the 2012 London Olympics, the best marketing tool for Westfield’s Stratford City shopping centre turned out to be the promise of free Wi-Fi and a place to recharge spent mobile batteries.
Coalition rejected: 78% support Labor’s NBN
An informal online poll taken by the ABC appears to have shown that voters have already rejected the Coalition's rival National Broadband Network policy, with 78 percent of some 5,700 readers noting that they didn't support the policy revealed last week.
Coalition NBN will suffer in the long term: Experts
The federal Coalition’s new A$30 billion plan for “fast, affordable” broadband is a quick-fix strategy, which is likely to cost more and be less reliable long-term, according to experts.
Despite quick, cheap, legal option, Australia still top Games of Thrones pirating nation
Analysis by file-sharing news site TorrentFreak has shown that Australia continues to be the world's most enthusiastic nation globally in terms of illegally downloading HBO's hit TV series Game of Thrones, despite the fact that the series was made available legally, cheaply and in high quality in Australia shortly after it was broadcast in the US.
New FetchTV box + service: Review: It’s a game changer
Reviewing the FetchTV PVR/IPTV/video on demand service offered by ISPs such as iiNet and Optus is becoming a yearly tradition for Delimiter. The first two times we reviewed the service, we found it lacking. But in our opinion, the company's new set-top box and associated service launched this year puts it in a whole new ball-park and makes it the premiere such offering in Australia. Read on to find out why.
Pre-launch web startup Canva raises $3m
Australian web startup Canva this morning revealed it had picked up a $3 million seed round from a number of early stage investors and venture capitalists in Australia and Silicon Valley.
BlackBerry Z10: Review
The artist formerly known as Research in Motion has a new smartphone kid on the block; a new top-line unit which many believe will either make or break the company's fortunes forever. But does the Z10 have what it takes to get BlackBerry back on its feet? Read on to find out.
KONE staff pick Lumia over iPhone, Samsung, HTC
More than 70 percent of staff at the local division of elevator manufacturing company KONE picked a model from Nokia's Lumia handset line over other options from Apple, HTC and Samsung, when given the choice, the Finnish manufacturer claimed in a statement issued yesterday.
Telstra remediation work delaying NBN?
The Federal Government has advised Sydney residents that at least one suburb due to have been connected to the National Broadband Network's fibre rollout has had its connection delayed due to the need to wait for Telstra to conduct remediation work in its pits and conduits in the area; however, Telstra has stated that the delays could be more properly attributed to NBN Co.
Twitter must toe the troll line, says Gillard
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has singled out social network Twitter for not yet signing up to the Federal Government's new complaints handling process for major social networking sites, in a speech this morning pointing out that rival companies such as Facebook and Google had already done so.
Where’s My Jetpack? An awesomely epic rant by Australia’s new CTO
If you have even the slightest interest in government IT or technology project management, we recommend you sit down with a cup of tea and your tablet and read this epic rant by Australia's new chief technology officer John Sheridan. It's worth it.
Bishop visits Twitter HQ as Aussie office planned
Late last week Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop tweeted that she was visiting Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, and confirmed that the company was planning to open an Australian office.
Digital disruption is eroding Australia’s tax base
Estimates are that Google last year received about $1 billion in advertising revenue from Australia. Despite that, it paid little Australian income tax. John Passant looks at what could be done to rectify this situation.
Windows 8 sales disappointing in Australia
It won't come as a surprise to many, given its drastically altered user interface and mixed reviews, but the news is already bad for Microsoft's new flagship operating system Windows 8 in Australia.
When the price is not right: Technology price gouging in Australia
Since Federation, Australian consumers have suffered the indignity and the tragedy of price discrimination. From the time of imperial publishing networks, Australia has been suffered from cultural colonialism.
Apple iPhone 5: Review
In late September Apple released an iPhone with the features most people seemed to want from an iPhone: A larger screen and support for the 4G mobile networks which are springing up like weeds. But in a year where Australia appears swamped in great smartphones, does Apple’s venerable iPhone line continue to hold up against the competition? Read on to find out.
Coalition calls for kids’ e-safety commissioner
In the wake of the death of Labor’s controversial Internet filtering policy, the Opposition has proposed creating a new Federal commissioner to coordinate a national approach to protecting Australian childrens’ safety online, with powers that would include forcing social media providers such as Facebook and Twitter to take down objectionable content.
4G Galaxy Note II hits Australia next week
Want a larger version of Samsung's Galaxy S III handset? With a stylus and decent handwriting recognition? And 4G speeds to boot? You're in luck. Korean electronics giant Samsung announced last night at a Sydney event packed with ... well, hype and B-grade celebrities such as Todd Sampson.
Australia won’t get the HTC One X+
Interested in HTC’s One X+ smartphone? Prepare to be disappointed. Ausdroid has dug up this post on HTC Australia’s Facebook page, where the Taiwanese company makes it clear Australia’s not getting the handset.
#NatSecInquiry: Tracking Australians in real time
The ongoing National Security Inquiry has dislodged quite a few stones from the bottom of the paranoia well. One aspect that took my interest in particular is the relationship between data retention and mobile or cellular telephone data.
Penny Arcade Expo hits Melbourne for two years
The organisers of the popular Penny Arcade Expo ('PAX') event have announced that the popular show will be held in Melbourne in July 2013 and 2014, in an event which will mark the first international version of the expo founded by the creators of the video gaming comic.
Why data breach reporting should be mandatory
As we move forward in this era of online transactions and social media, there’s a need for security and privacy legislation to keep pace. Most importantly, there’s a need for Australians to feel confident that their personal information is being kept safe by those we entrust it to.
More Internet regulation unnecessary: Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a major speech arguing that government regulation is not the solution to societal challenges posed by the onset of new technology such as the Internet, in contrast to what he said was the Federal Government’s “command and control” approach to the medium.
IT more valuable than mining, says Gillard
news: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has hailed knowledge and the technologies used to create and share it as being the key factor determining Australia's future economic success -- even beyond the resources sector -- as she met with key figures from Australia's technology sector and set in place key 'Digital Economy' strategies for the nation's future.
Two thirds of Australians support the NBN
A new study has found that two thirds of Australians support the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network project, with most planning to connect to the network when it’s connected to their premises, as the project continues to experience high levels of popularity on a sustained basis over several years.
Twitter caves to Conroy’s troll pressure
news Global social networking site Twitter has agreed to closer cooperation with Australian law enforcement authorities, including handing over users’ IP addresses in certain...
Why I don’t regret not waiting for the iPhone 5
Delimiter editor + publisher Renai LeMay is interviewed by comparison site WhistleOut on whether he regrets switching to a HTC One XL and not waiting for the iPhone 5 to be released instead.
Trolling our way to national security
Yesterday's Daily Telegraph features a call to action – an Internet petition to stop trolling (the media definition of any offensive or deliberately hurtful behaviour online, not the traditional definition). This is both terrible journalism and falling for a trap.
GetUp! rejects Roxon’s “partisan spin”
Citizen lobbying organisation GetUp! has published a strongly worded rejection of a YouTube video published by Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon yesterday relating to the Government’s current data retention and surveillance proposal, describing Roxon’s video as “partisan spin” and highlighting what it said were inaccuracies in it.
Data retention: Roxon makes YouTube plea
Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has taken to YouTube to make an impassioned plea to Australians not to believe some of the criticism which is being spread about the Federal Government's highly controversial data retention and surveillance package, which has been widely slammed by a large number of interest groups as being over the top.
Two years on, SA Dept wants new social network
South Australia's Department of Premier and Cabinet has started examining new enterprise social networking solutions, just two years after implementing a solution which it has branded as delivering it significant benefits.
NSW Police wants huge internal social network
The New South Wales Police Force has flagged plans to deploy a sizable internal social networking platform, as it moves ahead with plans to better serve the information needs of its 17,000 police officers and 4,000 civilian administration staff.
Short-lived: Six months killed two hyped startups
Two of Australia's most hyped Internet startups have shut their doors just six months after launching or taking investment, in a sign of how quickly events move in the rapidly evolving local technology ecosystem.
What a dream home NBN setup looks like
If you’ve been following the blog of MacTalk and One More Thing founder Anthony Agius recently, like I have, you’ll know that he’s building the mother of all geek houses, from scratch. NBN connectivity, solar panels, home automation, the best construction materials; Agius’ new house is going to have it all.
If Nicola Roxon doesn’t believe in her own policy, why should we?
Contrary to utopians such as Julian Assange, there is a place for secrecy in national security. But we need to be able to trust the spooks and police. Proposals that are vague, extraordinary and unsubstantiated do not induce trust. Neither does an Attorney-General who confuses kite-flying with an own goal.
Watching the detectives: the case for restricting access to your social media data
Let’s hasten slowly in considering calls to free the state from administrative inconveniences such as warrants and rules of evidence.
Sayonara Steve: Today I ditch the iPhone
This afternoon I will march down to Telstra's store in Sydney's central business district and replace my much-loved Apple iPhone 4 with a HTC One XL. I'm leaving the cosy embrace of the Apple mobile empire and entering into a new relationship with Android. And here's why.
Salesforce needs a more anti-social approach
As it continues its mega-push into what it has described as "social enterprise" technologies, Salesforce.com risks losing its focus on its core CRM products, particularly as its software as a service model has failed to prove itself in several key markets in Australia.
Australia top Game of Thrones pirating nation
Australia is the nation which most pirates the popular HBO television series Game of Thrones, new analysis released this week has shown, with time delays and cable TV lock-in being the primary culprits believed to be behind the nation's copyright infringing habits.
Turnbull concerned by Google, Amazon tax offshoring
International technology companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon may not be paying their fair share of Australian tax, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said this week, with local tax laws not having caught up yet with the challenges of the digital environment.
Spotify finally launches in Australia
news In the realisation of one of the worst-kept secrets in Australia's new media and technology sectors, Swedish music streaming Spotify has launched locally,...
Optus launches 4G in Newcastle
National broadband provider Optus has upgraded its mobile network in the Newcastle and surrounding region to support fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband speeds, in a test deployment ahead of a wider national rollout planned for later this year.
Turnbull on iiTrial: We need ‘global copyright’
In the wake of iiNet's victory in its Internet piracy High Court case, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for the content industry to start releasing all of its content globally through on- and offline platforms simultaneously upon launch, in an effort to meet the demands of consumers and make piracy irrelevant.
Google boss: let Internet flourish to boost productivity
The annual $27-billion boost to Australia’s productivity from internet innovation is at threat from policymakers who would rather restrict online access than embrace it, Google’s Australia boss has warned.
Telstra to launch MOG music streaming service
Australian telecommunications company Telstra and subscription music service company MOG yesterday announced a partnership to provide Australians with unlimited, on-demand access to an estimated 15 million music tracks that can be streamed to their mobile, tablet, computer or net-connected TV.
Questions & answers: Zendesk Australia
Michael Hansen is the Asia-Pacific managing director of software as a service firm Zendesk, which offers a Web 2.0-style hosted helpdesk solution. Zendesk has recently expanded strongly in Australia, hiring staff and announcing that it has 1,000 Australian customers. In this interview, we ask Hansen about the company's local expansion plans.
Is the CSIRO a patent troll? US debate turns feral
An extremely harsh war of words between Australian and international technologists has erupted over a controversial new article published in the United States documenting evidence that Australia's peak research body's $430 million patent claim over 802.11 Wi-Fi technology might have been constructed on shaky ground.
Qld gets new ‘Can Do’ ICT ministers
New Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has appointed several high-profile members of his new LNP-dominated parliament to take control of the state's technology portfolio, as a new political dawn arrives in the sunshine state following his electoral route of the previous Labor Government a week ago.
Vodafone launches Android clearance sale
Vodafone has launched an online only clearance sale for select smartphones, primarily offering recent generations of Android models in the deals, but also models with different operating systems from the likes of Nokia and Research in Motion.
Startup pays local to line up for iPad
Australian startup Airtasker has used its fledgling jobs board service to advertise for someone to line up outside the Sydney Apple store to buy the new iPad when it is launched this Friday in Australia.
Passion for Human Services: DHS CIO outlines vision
New Department of Human Services chief information officer Gary Sterrenberg gives a wide-ranging interview following his appointment and shows that the IT portfolio within DHS still has a powerful voice.
Kondoot social network plans $10 million IPO
Australian video social network Kondoot has announced plans to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in a bid to raise $10 million for its marketing and expansion plans.
HTC One? Telstra will take two
The nation's largest telco Telstra has confirmed it will shortly be launching two handsets in HTC's new flagship One line-up in Australia, firming suspicions that HTC's new top-end LTE model could be headed to the big T's flagship Next G 4G mobile network.
Telstra launches Samsung 4G tablet
The nation's largest telco Telstra today started selling the first tablet able to take advantage of the dramatically heightened speeds available on its fledgling 4G/LTE network infrastructure, with the device to be a 8.9" Galaxy Tab model manufactured by Samsung.
New HTC One line-up to hit Australia
Taiwanese gadget giant HTC has confirmed that it will shortly be launching its new top-end One line-up of Android-based smartphones revealed at Mobile World Congress in Australia, and will reportedly also launch a 4G version of its Titan II Windows Phone 7 handset locally as well.
PlayStation Vita goes on sale in Australia
Gaming giant Sony's latest handheld console, the PlayStation Vita, has gone on sale in Australia and is now available in stores across the country, marking Sony's fifth major console hardware launch locally.
Australian web 2.0 start-ups raise big capital
Thereitis.com, the Adelaide start-up spun out of Flinders University has elicited a $2 million angel investment round to steer international commercialisation of its user interface technology.
Aussie startup wants us to outsource chores
Airtasker, a new online community marketplace based in Australia that lets people outsource everyday tasks and chores to ‘runners’ -- local community members looking to earn some extra money -- was launched on February 21, according to a media release issued by the company this week.
Kaching! CommBank’s mobile payment app pays off
Less than two months since its launch, downloads of the Kaching mobile payment app from Commonwealth Bank of Australia are going through the roof. With over 110,000 downloads and an app store rating of four stars, Kaching is the second most popular free finance app in the Australian App Store, after the company’s NetBank app, CommBank revealed this week.
AFL rights: Optus, Telstra in a techno-legal time warp
The danger here is that regulators go with a business-friendly commercial fix, rather than regulation in the public interest. At the heart of capitalist property law is the right to exploit: just ask Optus.
Xero raises $15m, makes acquisition
Accounting software firm Xero announced last week that it had raised a further AU$15.5 million from current strategic investors to maintain its future growth in Australia and worldwide. The New Zealand-based company also announced the acquisition of Max Solutions, a leading practice management company and developer of WorkflowMax, a job, time and invoice management solution.
Pollenizer-backed Pygg banks $600k
Another one of startup incubator Pollenizer's portfolio companies has raised a significant amount of investment capital to expand its operations, with social payments company Pygg today revealing it had taken $600k in funding.
Improving technology’s grades in Australian education
In Australian society, so much of the ongoing narrative about the current generation of students in our schools is focused around the different way that they understand and use technology; and so much of that narrative is focused around fear. But it doesn't need to be, and there's more than one side to the story.
Financial problems take down 99dresses
Pollenizer-backed startup 99dresses this week took its site down for renovation promising that it would eventually return, but revealing it was suffering from financial problems linked to its use of virtual currency.
Music service Rdio launches in Australia
Rdio, the music streaming service from the founders of Skype has launched in Australia and New Zealand this week, according to a blog post on their website. Rdio is now available on the web, iPad, iPod touch, smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Windows Phone 7, and on desktop apps. Rdio is also available for users with a Sonos wireless audio system at home.
Telstra QWERTY Touch: Review
The Telstra QWERTY Touch is one of the big T’s latest entry-level smartphones, running the Android 2.3.5 operating system and offering a not-so-common QWERTY keyboard + touchscreen form factor. For a budget smartphone just a few notes north of the hundred dollar mark, the QWERTY Touch does very well for itself.
Support Wikipedia blackout, Greens tell Labor
The Australian Greens Party has demanded that Australia's Labor Federal Government support efforts such as Wikipedia's site blackout initiative to protest the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and associated legislation currently being considered by the US Government.
Nokia Lumia 800: Review
There’s no doubt about it, the Lumia 800 is a gorgeous phone. The simplicity, elegance and fully-stocked feature set of Windows Phone 7.5 paired with the stunning hardware design of the Lumia 800 amounts to a lethal combination that will change the game for both Nokia and Microsoft.
Chekhov’s gun: Why Hackett had to fire Internode
Reality check: Simon Hackett didn't sell Internode because of the National Broadband Network. He didn't sell it to cash out. And he certainly didn't sell it to take Internode to the next stage of its development. He sold it because one man -- no matter how strong -- can only hold up a visionary ideal for so long, and twenty years of doing so is more than enough.
Motorola Defy+: Review
Not everybody needs a smartphone with a dual-core processor or a huge touchscreen. If you find portability, durability and an affordable pricetag to be more important, the ruggedised Motorola Defy+ may just be your ideal smartphone.
CommBank’s Kaching hits iOS App Store
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's 'Kaching' mobile payments app has been approved by Apple and is now available through the company's iOS App Store, the bank said this afternoon.
Kobo announces price cuts for holiday season
Kobo, the eReading service with over 2.5 million eBooks, newspapers and magazines in one of the largest eReading catalogues globally, has dropped prices for its eReaders at top-tier Australian retail partners.
Coles rolls out contactless payments
Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain Coles is set to roll out a contactless card payment service at their stores later this month. Customers will be able to pay for their purchases at Coles with a wave of their wallet over the new Ingenico pinpads, making checkout much faster than with the traditional card swipe-and-sign or PIN method.
Pirate Party opposes anti-piracy warning scheme
The Pirate Party Australia has objected strongly to the recent proposal issued by major Australian ISPs entitled “A Scheme to Address Online Copyright Infringement”.
IIA requests “streamlined” piracy controls from Govt
The main organisation representing Australian Internet service providers has strongly backed a Federal Government proposal which would make it easier for anti-piracy organisations to request details of alleged Internet pirates from ISPs; in a move which dovetails with a proposal outlined last week by ISPs to handle piracy online.
Kate Vale to head sales as Spotify plans Aussie launch
Former Google executive Kate Vale has been appointed Sales Director, ANZ of Spotify, a popular music streaming company that plans to launch its services in Australia and New Zealand.
HTC Sensation XE: Review
The first HTC Sensation was a triumph of gorgeous hardware, intuitive software and cutting edge specs, and the XE picks up where it left off by adding a faster processor, bigger battery, and built-in Beats Audio technology.
Internode slashes FetchTV prices
In an effort to draw more subscribers to Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), national broadband provider Internode late last week announced that prices for its FetchTV service have been cut by one-third.
BlackBerry Curve 9360 comes to Australia
Research In Motion (RIM) announced this week in Sydney that the BlackBerry Curve 9360 is now available in Australia.
Delicious buys Aussie startup Trunk.ly
Global social bookmarking company Delicious has bought Australian startup Trunk.ly, less than a year after the site launched in the wake of Delicious' own temporary sunset at the hands of former owner Yahoo.
Network, service upgrades kicking in, says Vodafone
Mobile carrier Vodafone yesterday gave an update yesterday on the upgrade of its mobile network and customer service initiatives, claiming that the achievement of key milestone targets was enabling an enhanced customer experience.
Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook: Review
Is this a MacBook Air ‘for the rest of us’? Not really. The Aspire S3 isn’t bad for a Windows thin-and-light, and its fast performance and response times in particular leave us eager to see what the other ultrabook vendors come up with. But the S3 falls short in a few ways that matter, namely mediocre battery life and a forgettable keyboard and trackpad.
Motorola RAZR: Review
The new-age RAZR may not be a game-changer like the original, but it’s nevertheless one of the most impressive smartphones we’ve seen yet.
CBA’s Kaching app raises privacy concerns
One of Australia's leading privacy advocates has raised concerns about the Commonwealth Bank's new mobile, social and near field communications payments application, highlighting the fact that it has the potential to eliminate much of the anonymity offered by paying for goods and services through cash.
‘Kaching’: New CBA mobile, social, NFC payments app
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has revealed plans to launch a new combination smartphone application and associated hardware accessory that allow customers to make quick payments from their mobile phone to anyone with an email address, phone number of Facebook friendship, as well as to merchants via near field communications (NFC).
Spotify hiring Australian staff
Online music streaming label Spotify is currently hiring for at least one Australian staff member, following its high-profile launch in the United States.
Nokia N9: Review
In its bombshell announcement in February that it would ditch Symbian as its primary smartphone platform, Nokia mentioned - almost as an aside - that it would also be shipping “a MeeGo-related product” later this year. That time is now, and that product is the Nokia N9. It’s the most significant device that Nokia has launched since the N95, but given that it’s running a mobile platform that’s yet to prove itself as a contender, is it enough to make a real impression?
HTC Evo 3D: Review
And now for the moment you've all been waiting for: glass-less 3D on a smartphone! Or maybe not. Consumer 3D hasn't exactly set the world on fire, and the first product that ever offered glass-less 3D, the Nintendo 3DS, was met with such lasklustre sales that it dropped a hundred bucks off the pricetag only four months after launch. Will 3D on a smartphone fare any better? If any company could pull it off, it would be smartphone trailblazer HTC.
Asus X101H netbook: Review
There may be life in this old netbook dog yet. Asus has been smart about the pricing of its latest netbook by making it cheaper than a 10" tablet. That, along with the modernised appearance and additional features it offers over a tablet (physical keyboard, multiple connectivity and peripherals options, and spacious hard drive) make the X101H an appealing mobile computing option for bargain hunters.
Jellema’s ZeroMail wins Citrix funding
One of Australia's most high-profile technology entrepreneurs has just hit the accelerate button on his latest startup ZeroMail, winning entry to a global startup accelerator program operated by virtualisation giant Citrix.
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HTC Sensation: Review
At the rate HTC's churning out smartphones, it'll run out of hyperbolic names to call them before long. But the Sensation is aptly named for what it offers. HTC has gathered together almost every high-end feature available and shoehorned them into the Sensation, the sum total of which makes the increasingly long-in-the-tooth iPhone 4 look lame by comparison. If you've been holding out all year for the iPhone 5, HTC's latest super-phone could very well persuade you to pack it in and switch to Android.
Towards a more complex NBN argument
The furious debate which took place over the weekend over National Broadband Network applications highlights the fact that the project raises fundamental questions about what the role of Government should be in our complex and multi-layered society ... and just what needs it should attempt to address.
In defence of Turnbulls’ NBN speed claims
Those blinded by Labor’s glitzy NBN vision need to rub their eyes for a second and realise that Malcolm Turnbull knows what he is talking about when he says there are few consumer applications which require the kinds of 100Mbps speeds which the fibre network will provide.
Turnbull wants Govt-funded email for all
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reportedly proposed a policy which would see every Australian allocated a limited email-like inbox to receive communications from governments, if the Coalition took power in the next election.
HP TouchPad: Review
Whether the HP TouchPad actually takes off is the question. Competition in this category is fierce, and we’re wondering whether there’s room for yet another player to the mix that doesn’t have an established contingent of users already like iOS, Android and BlackBerry.
HTC Salsa: Review
Last month, HTC launched the Salsa in Australia with Vodafone. It was launched side-by-side with the ChaCha, and both are HTC’s first “Facebook phones” featuring a dedicated post to Facebook button. But how does the Salsa's handle in practice? Read on to find out.
Sony Ericsson Xperia neo: Review
Sony Ericsson has a lot riding on the Xperio neo, which arrived in Australia late last month. It’s the company's most recent top-of-the-line handset, with a focus on an all-round great performance.
Is Google+ building a cathedral or a bazaar?
The more you control the way the information is presented and, more importantly, the links between that information (i.e. people’s identifiers), the easier that information is to collect. The last thing Google wants is the messy, anarchic environment of the Bazaar, where people can be anonymous, have multiple identities, interact with anyone they please, and remain unobserved.
BlackBerry PlayBook: Review
As the pimply-faced new kid on the block, the BlackBerry PlayBook has its work cut out for it. It’s entering a market that’s dominated by the Apple iPad and drowning in Android tablets, and it runs an operating system that has so far seen little support from the major developers. It’s the most impressive bit of hardware that RIM has delivered to date, but does it have what it takes to be more than just a blip on the iPad’s radar?
$90,000 fine: Microsoft busts Qld pirate
Software giant Microsoft yesterday revealed it had successfully prosecuted a Queensland man who was selling counterfeit copies of the company's software packages, with a judge this week ruling the defendant would have to pay Microsoft $90,000 in civil damages and the man separately pleading guilty to several dozen counts of fraud.
PCRange CEO moved suburbs to get NBN fibre
The chief executive of consumer electronics distributor PCRange, Raaj Menon, moved Adelaide suburbs earlier this year with the specific aim of being one of the first customers to be connected to the National Broadband Network, he revealed yesterday -- although his wife was happy as long as she could still get Facebook over Wi-Fi.
Planking? Gen-i CEO’s got it covered
When Delimiter issued a call on Twitter about a month back for pics of any IT industry personalities engaged in the social art of “planking”, we thought we’d get a few willing takers. But we never imagined we’d see pictures of the chief executive of one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest IT services companies, Gen-i, engaged in the practice. Hats off to Chris Quin — looks like he’s got a fairly taut six pack going on there. Nice work!
Voluntary filter: Why I’m dumping Telstra
I cannot and will not be a party to online censorship, and that is why I left Telstra.
When does technology fade into the background?
Sometimes it’s time to let things go and stop treating them as unusual just because they involve a certain type of technology.
Jellema’s ZeroMail launches paid beta
An ambitious Australian technology startup attempting to overhaul the dated email paradigm has launched a beta version of its service, charging $100 for a lifetime standard account.
I’m bored, AusCERT: Kick it up a notch
Consider us vastly amused by the storm in a tea cup currently embroiling the AusCERT security conference in Queensland this week, which -- while it is the nation's premier security confab -- has lacked a decent scandal for years. Thank God -- it's about time!
Groupon buys low-profile Melbourne site
Giant US group buying company Groupon has made what appears to be its first acquisition in Australia, picking up a Melbourne-based deals site named Crowdmass, which was founded just 12 months ago.
iiNet’s new BoB delayed to June
National broadband provider iiNet today revealed its latest integrated router, BoB2, would be released two months later than previously indicated but would be cheaper than the current model.
A review of Australian political iPhone apps
It appears that neither of Australia’s two major sides of politics – Labor and the Coaltiion -- has so far developed an iPhone app to help keep their supporters up to date on their activities. Even the Greens – known as a progressive party in touch with the younger generation – don’t have an iPhone app that we could find.
Harvey Norman launches daily deals site
Retail giant Harvey Norman today confirmed it had launched a new website to promote daily deals on products to customers, following a trend set by dozens of other companies over the past several years following the immense growth of sites like LivingSocial and GroupOn in the United States.
$100k fine: Software cops bust ad agency
A un-named Melbourne-based advertising agency has agreed to pay $100,000 in damages to an alliance representing software companies, after it admitted it didn't have licences for all of the software it was using.
Senator Mary Jo Fisher on life, the NBN and everything
A lawyer with a strong background in dealing with farmers’ workplace issues, South Australian Senator Mary Jo Fisher probably never expected to become so involved in the highly technical world of information technology and telecommunications.
eBooks in Australia – What went wrong?
This article is by Darryl Adams, a government worker and internet tragic. A former IT worker, he still pines for the days of IBM...
Huawei IDEOS X5 hits Australia
Chinese vendor Huawei today revealed it had launched its new IDEOS X5 smartphone in Australia, based on the Google Android platform popular amongst handset vendors in 2010 and 2011.
Jellema’s ZEROmail hits closed beta
It’s only been six weeks since Australian technology startup luminary Bart Jellema announced his ambitious next project: Fixing what he sees as the currently broken email paradigm. But the entrepreneur’s project has already hit private beta and is evolving fast.
SMS goes after Brits as revenues soar
SMS Management and Technology Limited (SMS) today announced it was planning to import more brains from the UK and Ireland as well as hiring locally, as its revenues and earnings headed substantially upward over the past six months.
LTE will kill the NBN, just as unicorns are real
Mobile broadband just isn’t the answer to replace our current, falling apart copper network. It’s just not. So can we just stop with saying it is?
Friday Five: Michael Wyres
Michael Wyres is that rarest of beasts; an articulate engineer. Equally adept at his day job — developing Voice over IP and unified communications solutions — as he is at analysing the telecommunications industry, Wyres is a frequent commented on his popular blog and on Delimiter, and can also be found on Twitter. Oh, and he’s also a proud Dad. He’s this week’s guest for the Friday Five.
Sydney Catholics warn against iOS confession
The Sydney Catholic Archdiocese (SCA) is warning its flock off an Apple confession application, saying the app can't do the work of a human priest.
Internet control: Conroy’s not fooling anyone
Today, Senator Conroy has was asked about the crisis in Egypt, where a desperate government cut internet access in order to hinder protestors. The minister in response declared his undying love for an Internet free of government control and assured us that such a thing could never happen in Australia.
Legal threat: Cudo warns deals aggregator site
Australian 'deal of the day' site Cudo has sent local group buying aggregation site Buyii a letter claiming it is infringing its copyright by listing its deals and logo alongside those of rivals.
Hackett exits iiNet’s Top Geek poll; appointed judge
Internode managing director Simon Hackett has made a graceful exit from a competition being held by rival broadband provider iiNet to find Australia's 'Top Geek', accepting an invitation to help judge the winner instead of potentially taking out the top prize himself.
NBN: Lawyer tells Australians to“get off the internet and go outside”
You sometimes read some crazy things in the Daily Telegraph, but this column from one Mirko Bargaric, who appears to be a Deakin University professor, takes the cake.
Yahoo!7 buys Spreets for $40m
Yahoo!7 has snapped up Australian group buying site Spreets for an amount reported to be a cool $40 million just 12 months after the site launched to provide the local market with similar functionality as multi-billion-dollar US titan Groupon.
Review: Motorola Milestone 2
With this many high-end Android and Apple handsets about to flood the Australian market throughout 2011, why would you settle for the Milestone 2, which is clearly a 2010 model? The answer is, you wouldn't. Motorola took too long to bring the Milestone 2 to Australia after it launched in August in the US. And now it will pay the price for that importation delay as the market waits for the next generation of Android smartphones.
Monday startup: Trunk.ly
Local social bookmarking startup Trunk.ly suffered a trial by fire when it soft-launched in December 2010, as rumours swirled that Yahoo would shut down its dominant Delicious site. In this profile, the company's founders Tim Bull and Alex Dong talk about the current state of their startup, and the likely future.
Knowledge database Quora lures Australians
International use of the site has exploded over the past few months as the social knowledge sharing site has gone viral, and Australians have not proven immune to its charm, as the nation slowly works out how Quora's innovative knowledge database can be used Down Under.
Money not a problem as Jellema tries to fix email
Tjoos co-founder and Australian startup luminary Bart Jellema this week revealed he's in the throes of forming his next technology startup. But don't ask the entrepreneur for its revenue model -- he says it's not an issue.
Groupon rails against Aussie ‘domain squatters’
US coupon giant Groupon has intensified its lawsuit and war of words against local rival Scoopon, publicly accusing the smaller site of “domain squatting” its Australian domain name and stealing its trademark.
iiNet enters mobile market … but you’ll need your own phone
iiNet yesterday launched a range of mobile phone plans, allowing existing customers of its broadband offerings to bundle mobile services into their bill. But there's just one catch; customers will need to bring their own phone.
Two more for cashed-up Carosa
Local web 2.0 investment house Future Capital Development Fund (FCDF) today revealed it had ploughed money into two more niche Australian websites, with chief executive Domenic Carosa billing the internet as being ready for a revolution based on real profits.
UniSA, RACV deploy NEC IP telephony
Nearly 40 thousand additional people will be serviced by NEC Australia's voice and data solutions next year, with the subsidiary of the Japanese IT giant adding two new local contracts to its portfolio over the past several weeks.
HP joins Australian private cloud race
Global technology giant HP has signalled its intention to strongly enter the Australian market for private cloud services, in the wake of prior moves by competitors Telstra, Optus, CSC and Fujitsu.
Google’s US-centricity is starting to grate
In short, if Google Australia wants to take the high road, it has to earn it and show Australia that its local presence is not just a sales and marketing office.
Which department banned Yammer?
blog Our favourite local e-government specialist Craig Thomler has a fascinating post over on his blog about a Federal Government department which has recently...
I tried to buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab … but failed
The scene: Deep in the dungeon of a Federal Government agency. Our protagonist, a mild mannered government worker by day, intrepid reporter at night, sees the Delimiter article on Vodafone releasing the Samsung Galaxy Tab on this date! Hallelujah!
Telstra follows Dell with internal IdeaStorm
Salesforce.com yesterday revealed Telstra had for the past year been using its Ideas software as a service application to bubble the best staff ideas to the top inside the telco, in a deployment similar to Dell's popular IdeaStorm global website.
Now Optus launches resistive Android tablet
Fresh on the heels of Telstra's launch of its own self-branded Android tablet device, Optus has confirmed it will launch a similar tablet at a price point $20 cheaper than Telstra.
Google has lost its startup culture … and its mojo
The departure of high-profile and long-serving senior managers Kate Vale and Lars Rasmussen from Google Australia this month represents more than just the typical losses of a couple of mid-level employees to greener pastures.
Photos: Vodafone goes Android crazy
When local mobile carrier VHA invited us last week to visit them at a special launch for the "Android man", we didn't quite know what the company was talking about. It turns out the Android man is just that -- a massive Android mascot which has been travelling around Sydney.
Google exodus: Lars Rasmussen + Kate Vale gone
Search giant Google appears to have suffered several high-profile local departures, with both its first Australian employee and current local head of YouTube Kate Vale and its engineering chief and Google Maps and Wave co-founder Lars Rasmussen signalling they had left the company.
PayPal founder invests in Xero
PayPal founder and superstar investor Peter Thiel has laid down NZ$4 million to buy into New Zealand-based web 2.0 accountancy play Xero, in a move that will also see Thiel join Xero’s US advisory board.
Forget “shareholders”, what about Telstra’s stakeholders?
Shareholders are important in the thinking of companies, because without them there would be no company. But they are not the only ones who should be important. Other parties exist and their stake in a company's future plans should also be considered.
Quit yammering and learn to love the NBN
This article is by Darryl Adams, a government worker and internet tragic. A former IT worker, he still pines for the days of IBM...
iiNet deploys a million Zimbra mailboxes
iiNet announced a deal signed with Vmware whereby Australia's second largest ISP has chosen Vmware's Zimbra Collaboration Suite for cloud based email platform and purchased a million plus Zimbra mailboxes.
ACTA hits Australia to Pirate Party derision
Depending on who you ask, a draft of the global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) released by the Federal Government in Australia today is either a welcome measure which will benefit the the nation’s creative industries — or a draconian control proposal which will cut down our civil liberties.
HTC Aria debuts on Optus
Consumer electronics giant HTC today launched its latest Android-based smartphone handset in Australia -- the Aria -- with exclusive distribution through Optus.
Dell Streak exposes itself for Optus
It's been a long courtship, but Dell has finally found a match made in Heaven for its Streak mini-tablet and combination smartphone, with Optus set to launch the device in Australia with a three month exclusive starting from October 1.
Prediction: Groupon will buy Jump On It
All of this adds up to a clear picture: If Groupon is planning to expand into Australia, acquiring Jump On It would give it an instant presence, staff on the ground and established contacts with business -- not to mention the company's not-inconsiderable revenue.
I hate you Telstra … more than Steve Jobs
This article is by Darryl Adams, a government worker and internet tragic. A former IT worker, he still pines for the days of IBM...
Tech.Ed attendees talk Windows 7
We didn’t quite get around to embedding this videos from Microsoft’s Tech.Ed conference several weeks ago on the Gold Coast, but here they are! Attendees including James Bannan, who we’ve previously profiled on Delimiter. These videos were put together by the Tech.Ed EyeForce team.
Jump On It makes founders overnight millionaires
Think Australia doesn't have what it takes to build a new Google or Facebook? Think again.
Why wasn’t Maxine McKew Labor’s Old Spice guy?
It was clear from the result that the people where not buying the messages either major party was selling. Social media as a network is the cheapest network to utilise, and by failing to tap into the social media users’ goodwill, both parties made themselves look inept and outsiders.
VHA more than doubles mobile data caps
The latest shot in Australia's mobile price war has been fired -- and it's not a good one for Telstra and Optus.
How Australia created the technology election
This election, online issues finally got the attention they deserve. And the situation is here to stay.
Kogan vs Harvey Norman: Welcome to Sitzkrieg
This article is by Darryl Adams, a government worker and internet tragic. A former IT worker, he still pines for the days of IBM...
Review: Kogan eBook reader
This article is by Darryl Adams, a government worker and internet tragic. A former IT worker, he still pines for the days of IBM...
Data#3 claims “best ever” financial result
Diversified IT products and services outfit Data#3 this morning claimed to have experienced its "best ever" financial result over the past year, with both revenues and profits increasing. However the good news hasn't resulted in extra bonuses for its top executive -- although others picked up bonuses.
Krome puts staff on notice
Local video game studio Krome this morning confirmed staff at its Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane studios have been issued a notice, with the fate of studios and staff to be decided at the conclusion.
Gillard launches Townsville as NBN debate intensifies
Prime Minister Julia Gillard today intensified Labor's election focus on the National Broadband Network through a trip to examine the start of construction of the network in Townsville, as the Coalition continues to face questions from the community about its own broadband vision.
Is an Australian Silicon Valley a realistic goal?
The question of how Australia could develop its technology startup sector to become more like California's Silicon Valley is one that has plagued the industry, politicians and financiers for some time. But is this even a realistic idea?
Customers, ISPs praise NBN Tasmania launch
Some of the first customers and ISPs to use the fledging National Broadband Network fibre rollout in Tasmania have praised the network in promotional videos distributed last week by NBN Co as part of the infrastructure's official launch.
Are online + eBook retailers killing small bookshops?
Are eBooks and cheap online imports killing small Australian bookshops?
Mana Bar expands to Sydney, Melbourne
"After only four months of being open, I can confirm that we will be expanding and opening up Mana Bars in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as internationally," said owner Guy 'Yug' Blomberg today.
Turnbull to hold anti-filter forum
Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull has revealed plans to host a forum against Labor's mandatory internet filter policy this Saturday in his electorate, dragging in an old colleague -- former OzEmail and Telstra chief Justin Milne -- to help with proceedings.