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...
The NBN is not about “basic voice services”
Fletcher is demeaning his technical background by focusing on such a pointless argument. You don’t debate the cost of placing a call to Dubbo when the Government is talking about technology that can enable high-definition videoconferencing to every home in Australia. It’s that simple.
Top ten tech sector leaks we’d like to see
However, at Delimiter we've got just one problem with Julian Assange's much-publicised extraction of what appears to be an everlasting pot of gold from the clutches of the United States Government: So far, almost none of the cables leaked appear to reference Australia's technology sector.
SA Attorney-General wants to dumpMA15+ games rating
We thought things were going to settle down in South Australia after the state rid itself (or did he resign? It’s such a fine line) of its crazy Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, who had for some years been a nasty thorn in the side of those who were campaigning for an R18+ classification for video games.
Don’t protect Australia’s mobile telcos, Mr Turnbull
Let's get real about this: Australia's mobile telcos can take care of themselves.
The good, the bad and the corporate information leak
Great post on the AuTechHeads user group analysing how the WikiLeaks phenomenon (that is, information leakage in large organisations) should or could be handled by IT managers.
Hire this guy and Delimiter will donate champagne
What can we say, either there's too much donated champagne floating around the Delimiter offices at the moment (more than we could drink, although we've given it a fair go) or we're just in a generous spirit because it's Christmas time.
SA to break govt public cloud drought
This is about as positive a vote of confidence as we’ve heard from a state or federal government CIO in Australia for some years on the cloud issue. Step aside, internal infrastructure chiefs. As Salesforce.com would say, it may be just about time to stop feeding the minotaur.
Gartner predicted failure of NSW GCIO role
Oh, dear. Looks like -- as the world's premiere enterprise IT analyst firm usually is -- Gartner was right when it predicted back in 2005 that there was a good probability that the then-brand new NSW whole of government chief information officer role wouldn't work.
NBN Co business plan: First information
We've just received a press release from NBN Co with the first tranche of information about the company's business plan to roll out the National Broadband Network. We're planning to post the full news following a press conference to be held this morning by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, but in the meantime you can download NBN Co's press release here (PDF).
Linton mystified by NBN business case “drivel”
Come on, we know you’ve been waiting with bated breath since yesterday to find out what Exetel chief executive John Linton thinks of the NBN Co business case released yesterday. No major NBN announcement would be complete without Linton’s point of view. And Linton doesn’t disappoint.
WA Health hearts Yammer
When it comes to internal corporate social networking tool Yammer in Australia's public sector, it looks like you either love it, or you ban it.
EMC/NetApp trench blogfare turns nasty
NetApp's Australian chief Peter O'Connor appeared a trifle defensive in late November when he told the AustralianIT he wanted to set the record straight following "rumours" being spread by unnamed rivals about a possible NetApp role in the Virgin Blue storage disaster that landed thousands of customers in a temporary no-fly zone.
TPG ads: Has the ACCC gone too far?
In this case, it has to be said that it looks like TPG is on solid ground defending the ACCC’s lawsuit.
CommBank ads to pimp core banking overhaul
Word on the street is CommBank is about to take its much-heralded, $730 million core banking modernisation project on the road, with a series of advertisements planned to go to air late on Boxing Day to inform the public about how the core overhaul will affect them, with buzzwords like "real-time banking" and a winsome lass toting an iPhone 4 to boot.
A Christmas ode to Sol Trujillo and the National Broadband Network
Former Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo might have had a bushy moustache and — on occasion — been filled with warmth and good humour, but that didn’t ever make the American executive reminiscent of Santa Claus. That is, unless you’re David Braue, who has penned a majestic and seasonally appropriate Christmas NBN poem which has mightily impressed us.
Is Australia’s “cybersecurity” really that bad?
News arrived this week of another national thinktank releasing a report warning Australia of the dangers of not paying attention to the "cybersecurity" situation in the new millennium.
Spare a thought for Telstra tech Pete Milward …
Spare a thought for Telstra tech Pete Milward ... who had to deal with this when he came into work in Queensland this morning. Maybe a new phrase should be coined this week: "Thodey's Heroes".
An Australia Day NBN joke
The following telecommunications-related joke was sent to us by a friend. It's unknown who wrote it, but we think Malcolm Turnbull, in particular, might find it amusing :)
Turnbull confirms: Libs would halt the NBN
NBN Co's business case tells us that by 2013 the NBN infrastructure will have been rolled out to some 1.7 million premises, with most of those receiving fibre directly to their door. It seems preposterous that the Coalition would simply halt the project at that point -- leaving millions of Australians with fibre, but most of the nation without. Well, now we know that's precisely what would happen.
Turnbull dumps BlackBerry for iPhone
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has achieved notoriety for constantly using his iPad -- including in parliament. But, according to tweets from the honourable Member for Wentworth yesterday, up until very recently he's been using a BlackBerry -- like most of the public service. Now that's all set to change.
Australia’s second dot com boom is here
Evidence is mounting from a variety of fronts that Australia has just entered its second dot com boom.
We’re “a laughing stock” on R18+ games, says Minister
Just when you thought it was safe to assume that politicians didn’t really understand the debate around the need for an R18+ classification for video games, one pops his head up to disabuse us of the notion. Today’s Labor hero is Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor.
New NSW Govt may reject NBN opt-out
blog We were kind of stunned when the new Coalition Government in Victoria rejected the 'opt-out' approach to rolling out the National Broadband Network....
Startmate startups featured on TechCrunch
Let’s have a round of applause for the first round of Australian technology startups to be launched through the Y Combinator-style incubator Startmate created in 2010 by a number of former and current entrepreneurs and funding types.
Gillard’s nauseating endorsement: Take 2
We couldn’t help but almost throw up in our mouth tonight as we watched the love-in in this video occur between Google, MYOB, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Communications Stephen Conroy in this orgy of self-interest and naked marketing guff.
NAB bets the farm on Oracle
We knew the National Australia Bank was keen on software from US technology giant Oracle, but until now we didn’t know just how keen.
Wireless not the NBN killer after all?
Let's say it again kids: Fixed and wireless broadband are complementary; one is not a replacement for the other.
Quigley + Beaufret must be guilty … right? Right?
In the latest issue of what we are speedily coming to refer to as the “NBN, OMG, WTF, BBQ” files, Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham has revealed that NBN Co chief Mike Quigley and CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret didn’t mention during their hiring process that their former employer Alcatel-Lucent was being investigated by the US securities regulator … for stuff they had nothing to do with.
Oh dear: Takedown fail … Ebbeck style
We have to admit to being a closet fan of the Twitter account of SAP Australia MD Tim Ebbeck ... sure, he can act a little unhinged at times, with his regular political ramblings, random inspirational quote posting and somewhat incendiary replies to other public figures who may not always know who he is. But it's all entertaining.
Simon Hackett: From Internode MD, to NBN Co blogger
Given the ferocity of the debate which Simon Hackett kicked off against NBN Co's pricing model a month or so ago, we were somewhat amused last week to see this exchange between the Internode chief (who is a highly prolific writer) and NBN Co's official Twitter account, staffed by internal PR guru Scott Rhodie.
Will NBN Co sign its Telstra deal this week?
Multiple outlets are reporting that the National Broadband Network Company is extremely close to concluding its long and convoluted negotiations with Telstra.
NBN: Will Optus shut down its HFC network?
The Financial Review reports this morning that Optus is very close to finalising a deal with NBN Co worth between $500 million and $1 billion to shut down its HFC cable network and transfer customers from that network and its ADSL network onto the NBN.
Is the Coalition’s Quigley obsession a ‘McCarthyist witch hunt’?
It’s time to let this issue lie … before the Coalition MPs and senators involved disgrace their own names any further, and Australia’s parliament starts earning itself an international reputation that it will become increasingly ashamed of.
Telstra deal: Has NBN reached “point of no return”?
With NBN Co's $11 billion deal with Telstra expected to be signed tomorrow, and much talk of a similar deal with Optus also about to be announced, is Labor's ambitious NBN policy about to reach the point of no return -- the point at which it will be impossible for the Coalition to stop the NBN juggernaut if they take office?
Will Telstra’s LTE hit price parity with the NBN?
The controversial clause in Telstra's National Broadband Network agreement prohibiting the telco from promoting its wireless solutions as a direct alternative to the NBN's fibre continues to draw interest, despite protestations from Telstra chief executive David Thodey that the clause would only have a minor impact on his company's operations.
Internode chief’s bitter NBN pill
So it appears that not everyone in Australia’s telecommunications sector was as thrilled by the news last Thursday that Telstra and Optus had signed huge deals with the National Broadband Network Company to migrate their customers onto its fibre infrastructure.
Primus deletes filter posts … but we’ve got the screenshots
National broadband provider Primus has deleted comments made on Whirlpool over the past several days to the effect that it had no current plans to follow through on its commitment last year to voluntarily implement a filter to block its customers accessing child pornography. Thankfully, we’ve got screenshots.
Troubling allegations swirl L.A. Noire
When blockbuster cross-platform video game L.A. Noire was released last month, many Australians got a wee bit patriotic and teary as we realised the game was substantially put together by Australian development house Team Bondi, as the nation's biggest ever and most successful video game project. However, since that time, a series of troubling allegations have emerged.
TPG repeats: We won’t implement voluntary filter
Well, we already knew that national broadband provider TPG wasn’t too keen on the idea of voluntarily filtering its customers’ Internet, courtesy of comments made by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in late May this year. But now the company has come out in a bit more of a concrete way against the voluntary filter.
Turnbull hits Armidale for NBN tour
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been getting down and dirty with the locals in rural NSW town Armidale, which contains is an early stage rollout zone for the National Broadband Network.
BACK OFF, Quigley tells Turnbull, media: The NBN hasn’t been hacked
NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has conducted a fiery interview with ABC Radio where he takes an axe to some of the more flagrant articles published this week after the arrest of an alleged intruder into the systems of planned NBN customer Platform Networks.
Malcolm Turnbull and the great Google conspiracy
To what extent were Turnbull’s comments yesterday about Google stimulated by the meeting he had at the search giant’s Sydney headquarters in early August?
Coalition victory could trigger Internode fibre rollout
Internode chief Simon Hackett has revealed to the Financial Review newspaper that he expects the Coalition to win the next Federal election and cancel the National Broadband Network; an event which could result in Internode becoming a public company and rolling out its own fibre.
Now You Should Listen to This, Because This Concerns You
In the movies, it's common for a new prisoner to wait until lunch, then find the biggest, baddest dude in the room and beat...
Turnbull confronts Google over NBN support
It was only several weeks ago that Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull claimed search giant Google and others were in “a conspiracy against the taxpayer” because they were supporting the NBN, because it would benefit their business and they wouldn’t have to pay for it to be built themselves. And now he’s done it again.
Meanwhile, at Linux.conf.au …
This year, Linux.conf.au is really getting stuck into the important things. We refer you to a 1,120 word blog post by the organisation on the details of how they're ordering t-shirts for attendees.
Further Liberal hypocrisy on the NBN
It seems Liberal MPs all around Australia just can't stop demanding that the National Broadband Network be rolled out in their area.
When mainstream media covers cloud startups
Hilarious video above of a segment broadcast recently on Channel 10 news about Australian cloud computing startup OrionVM.
Shocker? Conroy’s not a reader, but Lundy is
This morning we had a fair old go at the Herald Sun for attacking Greens Senator Scott Ludlam for his extensive government-funded reading habits. But what about the other side of the coin? What do other parlimentarians active in ICT-related portfolios claim as reading expenses?
CIO gives top seven tips for cloud adoption
Excellent blog post here from Altium chief information officer Alan Perkins, who gives his top seven tips for the most important things to consider when moving enterprise IT services into the cloud.
An insider’s look at Aussie app development
Australian iOS and Android app development house Shifty Jelly has published an extensive and heart-felt blog post detailing what it's really like to be an app developer in the cold, hard smartphone/tablet world.
Simon Hackett should “cash out”, sell Internode, says iiNet CEO Malone
Fascinating interview on Business Spectator today with iiNet chief executive Michael Malone, who argues that Internode founder Simon Hackett should sell the ISP -- and preferably to iiNet.
Aussie telcos not using Carrier IQ
Worried about that nasty Carrier IQ keylogging/tracking software which is causing such a ruckus in the US? You probably shouldn't be.
Novell to boost “best product” SuSe in Australia
If you're after a good belly laugh, I recommend you check out CIO Magazine's interview here with the Australian sales director for Novell's SuSe Linux distribution.
EA’s Syndicate reboot game banned in Australia
Video games giant EA has confirmed news broken by Kotaku yesterday (further reports at Ausgamers, Kotaku and Gamespot) that its reboot of the classic Syndicate game being planned for next year has been refused classification in Australia and won’t go on sale.
The theory of infinite Simon Hacketts
Over on Whirlpool, forum poster Garthy advances an interesting theory about why the iiNet buyout of Internode took place, applying mathematical rigour to the situation to come up with the terrifying (or maybe glorious, depending on which way you look at it) prospect that the event may have the practical effect of creating an infinite number of Simon Hacketts.
Turnbull’s credit card details exposed in Stratfor hack
By now many of you know that a number of Australian organisations have had their credit card numbers compromised by a major hack of the US security intelligence firm Stratfor, with Australian victims including ANZ Bank, BHP, HSBC, Westpac, Woodside and so on. But did you know that Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull's security has also been compromised?
Qld Health’s IT woes just keep coming
An interesting article published here by the Courier-Mail just before Christmas lays out yet another IT-related headache being suffered at the moment by Queensland's favourite technological minefield, Queensland Health.
HP issues waffle statement on job cuts claim
Help us decipher HP's waffle.
NBN detracts from productivity, claims Hockey
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has made some ... interesting claims about Labor's flagship National Broadband Network project.
Westpac still running IE6
iTNews has published an excellent article today detailing how almost all of Westpac's staff are still running Internet Explorer 6, and, presumably, Windows XP).
NBN pricing revisited: The ARPU argument
Grahame Lynch is a respected telecommunications commentator and a professional colleague of mine with whom I have shared many an ale. But, like other commentators on the issue of NBN pricing, he hasn't provided enough evidence to make his case that broadband prices will rise under the NBN.
New Qld Govt CIO a chance for ‘industry unity’
There is the chance for a fresh start in Queensland at the moment. And if the various CIOs, politicians and industry players can get behind that, perhaps the state can avoid having virtually every major whole of government technology project, and many others, savaged by its auditor-general in a few years' time when the next round of audits comes up.
Stephen Conroy trawls Whirlpool threads
Think your fevered rantings on Australia's technology forum of forums, Whirlpool, are private and just among mates? Think again. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has admitted he is addicted to trawling threads on the site for the latest posts about his pet project, the National Broadband Network.
Leap year outages: Nostalgia for Y2K?
Call us nostalgic, but today's news that the Health Industry Claims and Payments Service (HICAPS) system owned by the National Australia bank was taken down by faulty programming associated with today's leap year date takes us back to the good old days of Year 2000 bugs.
Buzzword bingo
This afternoon I received the following media release from NEC Australia. However, unfortunately I have no idea what it means. Can anyone tell me? The problem appears to be the sheer number of buzzwords inserted into the one press release -- I can't tell the content from the buzzwords.
Hudson reveals major virtual desktop rollout
If there is one enterprise IT trend which is taking off in Australia in a strong way right now, it's the move towards virtualisation on the desktop. Finally, enterprises are doing away with the ageing dedicated desktop PC rollout paradigm and replacing it with something which has the potential to be much more flexible and manageable.
Westpac delays shift off Lotus Notes
Remember in May 2011, when we broke the news that Westpac confirmed it would finally shift off IBM’s troubled Lotus Notes/Domino platform, in favour of an organisation wide shift to a hosted version of Microsoft Outlook/Exchange? Well, it appears that shift isn’t going too well.
Vic Govt to sack CenITex board
The Victorian Government is set to remove the board of troubled state IT shared services agency CenITex, according to a report published by Melbourne newspaper The Age late last week.
Local Govt groups abandon Yammer trials
According to a yarn by The Register this week, at least two Australian trials of corporate social networking tool Yammer in Australia have been recently abandoned.
Why do Australians pay more for Office 365?
A great analysis piece was published on local cloud computing media outlet BoxFreeIT last month on why Australians pay more for Microsoft's Office 365 software as a service suite.
Blizzard honours GAME’s Diablo III pre-orders
Pre-ordered hit Diablo III from dying Australian video game retailer GAME? Frustrated that you won’t be able to play this year’s biggest game when it launches at 5PM today, as GAME has been blocked from selling Diablo III? Worry no more. Blizzard’s got your back.
Two good Australian CIO interviews
There have been a couple of good interviews with Australian chief information officers done by various media outlets over the past couple of days -- good enough that we thought them worth highlighting to readers on Delimiter.
The marvellously destructive power of the Internet:A rant by Mark Newton
You might have noticed that at Delimiter we love an epic rant, and as we've previously written, former Internode network engineer Mark Newton has form in this area. Whether it be on the issue of the Internet filter, the National Broadband Network or other topics, Newton is wonderfully unafraid to tell it like it is, and that's one reason we love him (in a platonic sense, of course).
CSIRO still running Windows 98, NT
In an otherwise unrelated article on the organisation's adoption of Internet Protocol version 6, an article published by ZDNet.com.au yesterday revealed that Australia's peak scientific research agency was still running some copies of Windows 98 and NT4.
Amazon’s Australian datacentre gets closer
That Australian datacentre which Amazon was planning to build? It's been a while since we heard a good rumour on that one, but The Register delivers this week, with news that the US cloud computing and online retail giant's local plans are still on.
Slow Friday as we switch web hosts
Turbulence expected as Delimiter changes web hosts.
Google Nexus tablet hits Oz in July: Gizmodo
Gizmodo Australia this afternoon reported that Google will launch its own 7" Android tablet, dubbed the Nexus 7 and running version 5.0 of Android (Jelly Bean) in Australia this July, with prices ranging from US$199 to US$249.
Homeless Sydney dev “will code for latte”
I don't know whether to feel slightly dubious about her story or merely sorry for Adelle Hartley, a Sydney C#/SQL developer who says she is homeless and has featured in an extensive article published by ninemsn this week.
Microsoft Yammer buy great news, says cloud CIO
Will Microsoft’s $1.2 billion purchase of corporate social networking firm Yammer be a positive event for the future of enterprise IT? Yes, according to Alan Perkins, one of Australia’s leading IT executives when it comes to understanding cloud computing.
Govt’s new e-health platform already hacked
That shiny new e-health platform which the Federal Government sent live this week? The one you're supposed to put all of your most personal medical information in, for sharing only between your cadre of closed-lipped medical professionals? Yup. It was hacked during its development.
Aussie Google store hobbled for Nexus 7 launch
We shouldn't have to find out weeks after the Google Nexus 7 is unveiled through investigative work by bloggers that Google's latest tablet will be hobbled in Australia. Google should be more up-front about this kind of stuff.
NSW Health unleashes mammoth email consolidation
If you follow technology news relating to Australian governments, you can't help but laugh sometimes; because if you didn't, you'd cry at the irony of it all.
Aussie CIOs back Surface tablet
When it comes to tablets in the enterprise, Apple's iPad is currently the market leader. But, according to some early indications, Microsoft may be in with a winner with its new Surface tablet.
Qld Govt IT contractors face layoff massacre
Over at the blog of Queensland-based ICT analyst house Longhaus, the firm’s managing director Peter Carr has published some ruminations about the tough future facing many of the state’s ICT contractors as the new LNP State Government puts technology squarely in the layoff firing line.
The ATO’s decade-long Mac denial
The reluctance of the Australian Taxation Office to provide a working version of its e-tax lodgement software for the Apple Macintosh has been a long-time bug-bear with Mac users around Australia for a long time. But some of them may not realise just how long angry parliamentarians and others have been harassing the agency about the issue.
“Failure and incompetence”: Mark Newton on surveillance reforms
At Delimiter we love a good rant, especially if it’s about the tragically flawed understanding which our Federal Government and attendant politicans appear to have about technology. And this one, by network engineer Mark Newton (he’s got form in this area) is a cracker.
Qantas dumps BlackBerrys for iPhones
National carrier Qantas has reportedly confirmed plans to ditch some 1,300 corporate BlackBerrys and replace them with iPhones, as the ongoing corporate shift away from Research in Motion's BlackBerry ecosystem gains pace.
IT price hike inquiry: Apple gets private hearing
Apple, as per usual Cupertino style, doesn’t want the public involved, and has pressured Federal MPs into a private, closed door hearing on the matter of IT price hikes.
Ex-staffer threatened ISP director with axe
If you thought you were having a bad day, spare a thought for the company director of an un-named South Australian ISP, who was recently threatened with an axe by an angry individual who had also allegedly hacked into its servers.
Adobe bucks IT price hike inquiry
US software giant Adobe is fast emerging as one of the toughest nuts to crack when it comes to the IT price hike inquiry currently being carried out by the Federal Parliament.
Has Anonymous hacked an Aussie ISP?
A number of technology media outlets yesterday reported they had spoken to a member of the Anonymous collective of Internet activists, who stated that they had broken into a major Australian ISP and were preparing to release a vast package of internal data to prove that the Federal Government's surveillance and data retention plans weren't secure.
Enterprise will hold back on Windows 8
I recently came across a fantastic series of posts which pretty much sums up what I think about Microsoft's incoming new operating system Windows 8.
Qld wrestles with WinXP upgrade
Work in the Queensland Government and stuck on a dated desktop PC running Windows XP? Bad news.
Carbon Tax: How will it hit servers?
How much impact will the Federal Government's so-called Carbon Tax have on server hosting costs? According to Aidan Tudehope, the managing director of Macquarie Telecom's hosting division, quite a lot.
Aussie IT startup A-Team creates new VC fund
A who’s who of the Australian technology startup founder scene (you know these guys, it’s much of the same crew behind initiatives such as Startmate — the Atlassian founders, Niki Scevak and so on) has reportedly banded together to kickstart a new Australian venture capital fund dubbed ‘Blackbird Ventures’.
NBN budget doesn’t include interest, says Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has publicly claimed that there's an error in the National Broadband Network budgeting, due to Labor not counting the cost of interest on debt or equity required to fund the NBN.
Office 365 juggernaut hits ANU
Qantas, Mr Rental, Fortescue, Coles, Curtin University, a slew of local non-profits and more: The list of Australian organisations to announce that they're deploying Microsoft's Office 365 software as a service productivity suite is growing day by day. And now, according to iTNews, the Australian National University has added itself to that list.
NBN not transparent enough, says Oakeshott
Not content with repeatedly dragging NBN Co executives on a regular basis before parliamentary committees and poring over the many reports and documents the company has released, independent MP Rob Oakeshott has reportedly demanded NBN Co provide yet more information about its operations in an effort to be more transparent.
Roxon has paused data retention plans, says SMH
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the current AG Nicola Roxon may have come to see the light on the unpopularity of her department's current wide-reaching surveillance package currently before the Federal Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
Huawei chief executive lands in Australia
Buried in an article by the Financial Review this morning is the news that the global chief executive of networking equipment giant Huawei has arrived in Australia.
Turnbull slams ‘pro-NBN zealot journalists’
Specialist technology journalists are fanning a pro-NBN zealotry among tech-savvy citizens, according to Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Oh, dear.
Office 365 switch may hit BPOS die-hards
Are you a customer of Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite who hasn't yet confirmed your intention to upgrade to the new Office 365 paradigm? Well, reality check: You don't have much time to make the change before BPOS is switched off.
I’m no FTTN “zealot”, says Malcolm Turnbull
This morning's Financial Review (where else?) has published a spanking new lengthy profile of Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Among other things, the Liberal MP addresses his reputation amongst 'NBN backers', who, he believes, are treating him a little unfairly.
Mac Uni CIO on Apple, Android tablets and IT life
Local Apple forum MacTalk has just published an extensive podcast interview with Macquarie University chief information officer Marc Bailey, which we commend to your attention.
Apple win doesn’t apply to Australia: Samsung
Wondering if Apple's billion-dollar patents victory in the US against Korean consumer electronics rival Samsung will have any impact on the Australian market? Well, it was always unlikely, given the differing legal jurisdictions. But now we have an official answer from Samsung itself.
Specsavers deploys Google Apps, loves cloud
Optometry chain Specsavers has deployed Google Apps to its Australian staff and hopes to continue moving almost everything else into the fluffy happy land of cloud computing, the company's Asia-Pacific IT director Simon Baxter has told iTNews on the sidelines of the CIO Strategy Summit the week before last.
Coalition party room erupts with data retention dissent
Well, well. Looks like Coalition MPs in general are not as disinterested in the Federal Government's controversial data retention and surveillance proposal as has been previously believed.
LNP sacks 80 from CITEC
Not satisfied with terminating some 384 technology contractors already this year and running the axe over the IT department at the state's education department, Queensland's new LNP Government led by Premier Campbell Newman has now turned its attention to IT shared services unit CITEC.
NAB deploys Chatter … and Yammer?
From Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference in the US this week comes the news that the National Australia Bank has deployed the company's internal social networking tool Chatter ... as well as having an existing rollout of Yammer.
Coalition NBN policy: Costed or not costed?
Call us sticklers for the truth, but it does seem rather like Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been jumping back and forth recently over the issue of whether the Coalition's rival National Broadband Network policy has been costed.
12 months on, Victoria Police still has no CIO
12 months on from the departure of its then-chief information officer Michael Vanderheide to lead Victorian IT shared services agency CenITex, Victoria Police still has not appointed a permanent CIO to lead its extremely troubled IT operations.
Brumby wants Huawei to list on the ASX
Former Victorian Premier John Brumby's suggestion that Huawei list in Australia is mere parochialism, in my opinion.
Police want “indefinite” data retention
According to the ABC and a plethora of other media outlets reporting from parliamentary hearings yesterday Australia's friendly police want data retention laws extended to cover a period lasting ... forever.
Lotus position: ABS a “happy Notes camper”
We couldn't help but laugh when we read this excellent interview with Australian Bureau of Statistics chief information officer Patrick Hadley, describing the agency's ongoing commitment to IBM's Lotus Notes/Domino platform as part of its recently released and wide-ranging ICT strategy.
IT glitch takes down CityLink tunnels
Bad news this morning for Melbourne commuters, with a mysterious glitch at CityLink taking down the Burnley and Domain tunnels. Traffic apparently slowed to a crawl, to howls of protest.
Wikileaks’ Assange may sue PM for defamation
video Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is threatening to sue Julia Gillard for defamation, following the Prime Minister's comments in late 2010 that Wikileaks' publication of US diplomatic cables was "illegal" (the Australian Federal Police subsequently found nothing to charge him with under Australian law).
White House clears Huawei of spy claims
Well, well. Seems as though there just still isn't any evidence that Chinese networking giant Huawei is involved in espionage for the Chinese Government or military, and now some rather large players are finally coming out in public to say so.
Trainhack: Students crack ticketing system
Forget Black Hat in Las Vegas. Australia’s Ruxcon is where it’s at, complete with public transport ticketing hacks and shadow figures involved in advanced network security exercises.
#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.
You can’t actually buy Windows 8 in Australia [Update: Well, kind of]
Windows 8 has launched in Australia. But you can't actually buy fully boxed copies of it locally. No, really.
Paul Budde dumps Foxtel
Welcome to the IPTV club, Paul Budde. The well-known Australian telecommunications analyst revealed on his blog this morning that his household recently terminated its Foxtel service.
A roundup of Australian Windows 8 trials
Now that Windows 8 has launched in Australia, what do we know about enterprise trial deployments of the technology? Surprisingly, quite a lot. A lot of people might believe that Windows 8 is the new Windows Vista, but when you look around on the actual ground, it appears as though major Australian organisations are at least dabbling with Microsoft's new operating system opus.
‘Daring yet awful’: An epic Windows 8 rant
We hate Windows 8 on the desktop just as much as the next man, but we haven’t tested it as extensively as Taswegian and technologist Simon Reidy, who penned this epic rant on Google Plus this week detailing why Microsoft’s new opus is the company’s “most interesting, daring, different, ridiculous, contradictory, frustrating, and awful Windows yet”.
IBM Australia suffers disaster quarter
Things haven’t been going well at IBM Australia recently. And now, according to a juicy article in The AustralianIT, things have gone from bad to worse in terms of the company's finances.
Happy nine month birthday, Classification Review. Time for Conroy’s filter to finally die?
Today is the nine month anniversary of the publication of the Classification Review, which readers may remembers as the key document which would guide the development of Labor's infamous mandatory Internet filter policy.
Slow day today
Just as an FYI, today (Friday) will be a very slow posting day for Delimiter (maybe one or two articles). It's been a huge and very busy period over the past few months, so we're taking it easy today to step back and get some perspective on things. We'll be back at full steam next week! Thanks for reading :)
Airbnb officially launches in Australia
A quick search of accommodation crowdsourcing website Airbnb reveals that it’s been operating in Australia for a while (or at least taking bookings and accommodation advertisements from Australians), but the US-based startup hasn’t previously had an official presence Down Under. Until now.
Foxtel launches streaming iPad app
Pay TV giant Foxtel this morning launched its live streaming service Foxtel Go on the iPad. For existing Foxtel subscribers, the offering allows them to watch Foxtel channels live on their iPad.
AARNet peers with Amazon Web Services
Work for one of Australia's universities and use Amazon Web Services? Your life just got a little better. Today AARNet, the telecommunications network serving Australia's university sector, announced it would peer with AWS for fun and profit.
Optus to shut down Unwired from Feb 28
Optus has starting emailing customers on Vividwireless' Unwired network to let them know they only have a few months before their broadband goes AWOL.
Google Nexus 4 launching soon in Australia
Discouraged by Ausdroid’s reports (here, here and here) that Google’s new flagship Nexus 4 handset (manufactured by LG) isn’t going to launch through Australia’s mobile carriers? Worry no more. According to Gizmodo (we recommend you click here for the full article), the hyped Android 4.2 handset is set to launch locally through retailers anyway.
Telstra wants to buy Leighton assets
According to the Financial Review, Telstra's going after some of the telco-related assets which Leighton Holdings recently put on the block.
An iPad lover’s new Surface romance
Australian Microsoft professional Loryan Strant goes into detail about how he's switching from the Apple iPad to the Microsoft Surface.
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.
NBN Co defends business plans
NBN Co head of Product Development and Sales Jim Hassell has sent us this post in response to our analysis of NBN business broadband plans last week.
Qld may ditch $1.2bn Health payroll project, start again
Remember Queensland Health’s botched payroll systems overhaul? The project which was initially estimated to a relatively small initiative, but ballooned out in value to more than $1.2 billion and stil doesn’t quite work? Yeah. According to an article in the Courier Mail this morning, the new LNP administration in Queensland is considering ditching the whole thing and starting again.
NAB CIO gets promotion amongst reshuffle
The National Australia Bank appears to have conducted a minor reshuffle of its executive leadership team, including what appears to be a promotion for NAB chief information officer Adam Bennett.
Telstra launches 4G Lumia 920, HTC 8X on way
If you are one of those looking forward to the incoming wave of Windows Phone 8-based smartphones to Australia, you're in for a treat. Telstra yesterday revealed it had started taking orders for Nokia's incoming flagship Windows Phone 8-based device, the Lumia 920.
Budde praises Coalition NBN plan
Fans of the Coalition’s rival broadband policy can be hard to find in Australia’s technology sector, with most preferring the Labor Federal Government’s more expansive National Broadband Network policy. However, according to telecommunications analyst Paul Budde, the Coalition’s plan may be better than many people think.
CommBank CIO is major cloud fan
It hasn't been until this week that the full extent of CommBank CIO Michael Harte's enthusiasm for the cloud computing medium has been made clear.
Optus gets first dibs on 4G HTC One SV
The newest handset on the block from HTC is the One SV, which is a 4G model exclusive to Optus and its subsidiary Virgin Mobile at this point and with some pretty strong specifications -- although it's not absolutely top of the line.
NSW Govt progresses private cloud talks
Remember that private cloud computing environment that the NSW Government is planning to develop for its departments and agencies? The one it discussed in a public forum last month in front of the creme de la creme of Australia's IT industry? Well, according to Intermedium , the state is actually doing something about the plan, kicking off private talks with key vendors.
NBN contractors: No problem with rollout speed
A lengthy article published by the ABC last week (we recommend you click here for the full article) appears to blow claims of slow rollout speeds out of the water, with NBN Co’s contractors telling Aunty that getting the deployment done on time would be no problem.
NBN + climate change deniers: A rebuttal
Remember those controversial comments by telecommunications analyst Paul Budde, comparing critics of Labor’s National Broadband Network project to “climate change deniers”? Sure you do. But what you may not have known is that Robert Kenny of UK communications consultancy Communications Chambers penned a rebuttal.
A detailed report into Australia’s IT startup scene
The From Little Things blog created by Australian startup incubator Pollenizer recently has been turning up some solid content; profiles of Australian startups, interesting tidbits about the local investment and more. And today it’s gone one better, publishing a detailed report into Australia’s IT startup scene and how it compares internationally.
SAP confirms Australian datacentre
The rumours that German software giant SAP would follow rival Oracle and cloud giants Amazon and Rackspace and start providing software as a service-based services from an Australian datacentre have been flowing around Australia’s technology sector for quite a while now. They surfaced in the pages of the Financial Review in May this year, and gained strength as SAP’s SuccessFactors launched an Australian datacentre that same month. And now they’re reality, according to iTNews.
“Click Frenzy” was a marketing/PR hypno-orgy right from the start
Confused about what the hell this whole "Click Frenzy" online retail phenomenon thing that we've all been reading about over the past several weeks was all about? Join the club: I'm a paid-up member. Maybe I didn't get the original press release. Thankfully, local IT geek and Delimiter reader Dawnstar (not his real name) has posted several epic rants and deconstructions of legendary proportions on his blog to explain it to y'all, complete with SPAM Act illegality, journalist/public relations/marketing love-ins and a health dose of sarcasm.
Huawei’s quad-core D1 Android hits Australia
A quad-core smartphone with a 4.5" screen and close to stock Android, for $499 outright? Sounds like a bargain, and that's precisely what Chinese manufacturer Huawei has a reputation for delivering. The Ascend D1 quad will hit JB Hi-Fi this week, and if it's anything near as solid as the P1, we think quite a few people will be interested. Stay tuned for our review sometime soon.
Atmail picks up $2m from Starfish
Anyone who still thinks there aren't sufficient funding options in Australia for startups had better take another look at that belief, because over the past year we've seen an absolute heap of decently sized early funding rounds for fast-growing local IT companies. Now there's one more to be added to the list -- email and collaboration company Atmail, which has picked up $2 million from Starfish Ventures.
IBM adds 150 new jobs in Ballarat
Well it appears that analyst firm capioIT’s rating of the Victorian region of Ballarat as the best non-metropolitan location in Australia for IT services delivery may be accurate. Or, at least IBM thinks so. In coalition with the Victorian Government, Big Blue last week announced it was expanding its Ballarat operations by some 150 jobs.
Regulator forces ANZ off Salesforce.com
Just when you thought Australia’s banks and the banking ecosystem in general were making some headway in their acceptance of cloud computing technologies, international regulators throw a spanner in the works. iTNews reports todaythat the Monetary Authority of Singapore has forced the hand of ANZ Bank when it comes to cloud computing.
Leave Google’s tax alone, Victoria tells Federal Govt
Today Victoria's’s Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips has gone into bat for technology giants such as Google, defending the search giant against the Federal Government’s attempts to make it pay a fair level of tax in Australia.
ASG clouds Tax Practitioners Board
IT services outfit ASG has revealed it has been chosen by the Tax Practitioners Board to deliver an “all cloud solution” for its enterprise IT needs.
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.
WikiLeaks blockade based on Australia’s misinfo
VISA and Mastercard appear to still be relying on outdated comments by Australia's Federal Government to block the ability of Wikileaks to take donations.
FTTN “viable”, says Mike Quigley
NBN Co chief Mike Quigley concedes a fibre to the node rollout would be viable in Australia.
CSIRO cuts jobs in rich Wi-Fi division
In what we'd have to say was one of the more curious funding decisions of the year, it appears as though Australia's peak research agency the CSIRO has decided that the division which made it the most money over the past few years -- the one which sued many major global technology vendors over its patented wireless innovations -- has too much fat and should be trimmed down to keep costs low.
NAB starts deploying Windows 7
In 2009 the bank started investigating the next move, to Windows 7, and now that 2013 is almost here, according to iTNews (we recommend you click through to the full article), the bank is actually deploying some Windows 7 machines:
HTC Windows phones hit Telstra, Optus
We've more or less known about these launches for a while, but today HTC finally confirmed the details of its Windows Phone 8 launches in Australia. There's two new models on offer here, both looking especially spiffy.
Delimiter is slowing down for Christmas
Thanks for a great 2012, here's looking forward to a great holiday season, and let's make 2013 even bigger!
No demand: Qantas dumps in-flight Internet
It's hard to be surprised by this move, given Qantas' on-again, off-again relationship with in-flight Internet access, but one can't help but be disappointed. Australian Business Traveller reports this morning that Australia's premiere airline has exited a trial of in-flight Internet running since March this year.
Microsoft’s war on Google Apps gets nasty
Microsoft Australia produces case study scorching towards Google Apps and Gmail.
Telstra builds four new datacentres
Telstra late yesterday revealed plans to expand its cloud computing business through constructing four new datacentres located around the nation to cater for demand. Now if only the telco could announce some new cloud computing customers.
Ninemsn shifts hosting to … Amazon?
We knew Amazon Web Services had robust infrastructure — after all, the Commonwealth Bank hosts some of its services with the cloud computing giant — but we didn’t know that it was quite this robust. The AustralianIT reports today (we recommend you click here for the full article) that one of Australia’s largest web sites, Ninemsn, is actually hosted with Amazon:
Now Qld Health bungles e-health program
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given the ongoing disaster that is Queensland Health's payroll systems overhaul, but news has emerged that the department is also suffering problems with its electronic health program, with the first two tranches of the initiative being at least two years late.
Woods Bagot deploys SharePoint 2013 early
It’s only just been formally released for official use, but Australian architectural design firm Woods Bagot has been using early versions of Microsoft’s SharePoint 2013 software since early this year, a new case study published by Microsoft recently has revealed.
A govt IT insourcing success story
With all of the IT disasters that have come out of the Victorian State Government recently, sometimes it’s hard to believe that anything has gone right recently in the state with regards to government technology use. That’s why we were pleasantly surprised to read this case study detailing how utility Yarra Valley Water has successfully switched away from an outsourcing model and brought its IT support in-house.
Jim Hassell quits NBN Co
One of the most visible NBN Co executives over the past several years has been the company's Head of Product Development and Industry Relations, Jim Hassell. And now, just two and a half years after he joined the company, he's leaving.
Turnbull’s NBN media war blows back
This morning, long-time telco commentator David Braue skewers Turnbull for this ongoing war on the media, in the erudite fashion which Braue readers have become accustomed to.
Webjet adopts Office 365, Windows Azure
The latest missive to emanate from the Microsoft monolith is regarding Webjet, which has adopted both Windows Azure and Office 365, and is even dabbling in Windows 8 apps.
Vocus buys Newcastle-based Ipera
The ongoing consolidation of Australia's telecommunications sector is showing no signs of slowing down. Sometimes it seems like every time I think there can't possibly be more buyouts and mergers in the industry, another one happens. This morning it's Newcastle-based fibre and datacentre operator Ipera, which has been bought out by Vocus Communications.
LG Optimus L9 hits Australia
This week LG added another model to its Australian line-up in the form of the Optimus L9.
iiNet pulls out of anti-piracy scheme
Remember how a coalition of most of Australia’s major ISPs proposed a scheme about a year ago which would see Australians issued with warning and educational notices if they were caught pirating content online? The one which could have seen users’ details handed over to the copyright lobby with a subpoena? Well, it’s looking increasingly like the scheme is dead in the water.
Apple Maps losing Victorians in forest
We haven’t found Apple’s new mapping application in iOS 6 to be that much of a headache — in fact, it does offer some noticeable improvements in some areas over the previous Google Maps tool — but then we weren’t trying to use the platform to navigate by road to the Victorian town of Mildura. According to the Victorian Police, quite a few people have made that mistake — and ended up in the middle of nowhere.
Huge surprise (not): Telstra wins ABC telco deal
In what is not precisely the most unexpected news of the century, Telstra and the ABC have announced that they are once again planning to cosy up so that the telco can provide sweet, sweet telecommunications services to help the broadcaster, well, broadcast stuff.
Stephen Conroy wishes you Merry Christmas
Yes, the above is a Christmas card sent by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to Delimiter. It was addressed to "Ms Renai LeMay" (oops), but we choose to believe that it expressed sentiments by the Minister not to me personally, but to the Delimiter community as a whole, as the site's strength is not in one person's voice, but in the many.
US ambassador slams Australia’s “cloud protectionism”
US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich has slammed Australia's "cloud protectionism" in wanting datacentres located on-shore.
Merry Christmas from Malcolm Turnbull
Following on from yesterday’s Christmas card from the good Senator Stephen Conroy, we’ve now received a similar message of Yuletide cheer from his opposite, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Qld may hold Royal Commission into payroll bungle
It's been one of the biggest IT-related disasters in Australia's history, it's going to take $1.2 billion to fix, and it's even the subject of complex legal discussions between prime contractor IBM and the Queensland Government. Welcome to the world of Queensland Health's colossal payroll systems overhaul bungle. Today's news is that the state's LNP Premier Campbell Newman has canvassed setting up a commission of inquiry (also known as a royal commission) to get to the heart of the matter.
Nexus 7 draw: The winner revealed
Announcing the winner of Delimiter's Nexus 7 random draw.
Assange forms Wikileaks party for Senate bid
It's been in the works for a while, but Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has finally come right out and confirmed that he's definitely forming an Australian Wikileaks political party with the intention of backing his bid to run for the Senate in 2013.
Qld sets royal commission into Health payroll
It's time. One of Australia's greatest ever IT disasters is now going to have the *ahem* privilege of having a royal commission conducted into how precisely it went wrong.
Reality check: China’s not getting an “NBN”
You wouldn’t believe the number of outraged readers who’ve contacted me today encouraging me to take The Australian newspaper to town for its controversially headlined story in this morning’s edition, entitled “A billion Chinese to get an NBN for a third of the cost of ours”.
Debunking Abbott’s “server timestamp” claims
Unless you live in an area of Australia where it's impossible to get television or radio reception (an idea which has seemed attractive to your writer at times, in the current media environment), it would have been hard to escape the news that a Federal Court judge has thrown out the sexual harassment case against former Federal House of Representatives Speaker Peter Slipper. But it's one particular comment by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that has Australia's IT industry perking up its ears this morning.
802.11ac to wire up your garage datacentre? Why not?
Fascinating blog post this week from MacTalk founder and all-round geek Anthony Agius, who chronicles his attempts to use two 802.11ac routers to link his new garage-based server farm to his house network.
Server timestamps: Abbott was right after all
The Department of Parliamentary Services appears to have cleared Abbott of any wrongdoing in fudging James Ashby-related media release timestamps, admitting that its systems haven't been up to spec.
A fascinating startup brain dump from Phil Morle
If you're interested in Australia's IT startup ecosystem, you could do a lot worse than read this fascinating braindump by Morle posted amid the dying embers of 2012.
Govt delays IT startup funding decisions
According to From Little Things, the Gillard Government is currently sitting on its hands with respect to decisions about supporting Australia's IT startup sector and hasn't responded to its own review in the area.
Bill Clinton wants $50bn US NBN
Seems like it's not only Australian politicians who can get the NBN bug. We're a bit late to this party, but we thought it would be worth getting on the record that in late December, former US President and all-round good guy Bill Clinton jumped on the NBN train wholesale courtesy of a keynote speech at Dell's annual confab in Austin, Texas.
#NatSecInquiry may not land before election
The Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's report on the package of National Security Inquiry reforms has already been delayed to the extent that it is unlikely that any associated legislation will reach Parliament before the next Federal Election.
Fletcher takes a big fat swing at 4G auction
This morning, it appears, it's Liberal MP and former Optus executive Paul Fletcher's turn to whale on the Government's wireless spectrum auction, which Vodafone has already deserted and which Optus thinks is way too expensive.
Sony’s Xperia Z lands in Oz in March
Probably the most interesting announcement from CES so far for Australians is a new hero smartphone from Sony, the Xperia Z, which Gizmodo reports will land in Australia in March.
Global roaming stupidity
Like most people, when I travel overseas I make sure to avoid huge global roaming charges through the use of Wi-Fi networks, cheap local SIM cards, IP telephony and other measures. But apparently some of our nation's most venerable technologists and politicians are not capable of doing the same.
Turnbull continues to attract IT industry bile
Not since Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was strongly pushing the Internet filter project several years ago have I seen this level of frustration with a politician regarding a technology policy.
Shoes of Prey outs itself as a Google Apps fan
We thought we’d point readers to this blog post on the blog of Google Australia by Mike Knapp, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Sydney-based ecommerce startup Shoes of Prey, which has achieved notoriety over the past few years for its innovative site, which allows women to design and order their own shoes, getting around the normal retail grind. In the blog, Knapp outs Shoes of Prey (which has around 40 staff) as a long-time Google Apps user.
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.
Taxi 2.0 service Uber now in Melbourne
Following the launch of next-generation taxi service Uber in Sydney in late October last year, the US startup has now annoucned that it has launched quietly in Melbourne.
Sexism and douche-baggery in the hackersphere
Australian online technology activist Asher Wolf slams elements of the hackersphere which she says have been demonstrating sexism.
NBN originally just a “media stunt”, says IPA
Just how well-developed was the NBN policy, five or so years ago when it was first put together by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and then-PM Kevin Rudd? According to free market thinktank the Institute for Public Affairs, not very well-developed at all.
Pirate Party Australia feuds with parent
Thought it was only Australia’s major political parties which had ferocious internal political struggles? Think again. According to a lengthy blog post by Pirate Party Australia press officer Mozart Palmer, the local division of the Pirate Party is having branglings so bad with its European parent that some think it should secede altogether.
Medicare moves into Human Services IT family
It’s been a while now since the Federal Government signed into being the Department of Human Services, the new super-department formed by the merger of Medicare, Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, Australian Hearing and CRS Australia. However, DHS’ IT department, which largely consists of Centrelink’s very successful IT department with more resources, has only just now taken responsibility from long-time outsourcer for much of Medicare’s IT systems.
Optus re-opens startup funding applications
Just wanted to post a brief note that Optus has opened the second round of applications for Australian IT startups to attract seed funding under its Innov8 program.
FoI activists mock Conroy’s big red button
Some of the more high-profile members of Australia’s Internet community are currently waging something of a war against Stephen Conroy's big red cybersafety button through filing Freedom of Information requests about it, presumably to demonstrate the Government’s ineptitude in implementing the project.
Valve may re-issue Left 4 Dead 2 as R18+
Thanks to the new laws allowing R18+ video games to be sold in Australia, Valve is strongly investigating re-releasing its Left 4 Dead 2 game locally in its original gory form.
A round-up of 2012 in government IT
It's 2013 already (I know, I know, it's not yet formally 2013 in Australia until after Australia Day, but still), but as we think about the year ahead in public sector technology projects, it's worth giving ourselves a quick refresher course in what happened last year.
Oracle chief Mark Hurd hits Australia
Oracle's global co-president Mark Hurd is in Australia to meet with key clients and to catch up on his tennis.
Kim Dotcom wants Mega servers in Australia
Kim Dotcom flags plans to host some servers for his new Mega venture in Australia.
Australian commentary on Aaron Swartz
Many of you will be aware that earlier this month one of the Internet's brightest young stars, Aaron Swartz, was tragically lost. And due to his global influence, a number of Australian writers have penned pieces discussing the themes of his life.
Coalition must support FTTH, says Oakeshott
Ever the supporter of the Federal Government's National Broadband Network project, independent Rob Oakeshott has come out swinging this week to demand that the Coalition must support the fibre to the premises basis of the NBN, not the FTTN model the Coalition currently supports.
Two Sydney universities get hacked
It hasn't been a good few weeks for university IT security in Australia, with the Universities of Western Sydney and New South Wales both being broken into.
Exceed your quota … somehow it’s the NBN’s fault?
Herald Sun columnist burns through her Telstra broadband quota on the NBN and has her connected slowed as a result, then blames the National Broadband Network infrastructure. Wonderful.
Rejected: No Surface Pro for Australia, yet
Just a quick note that Microsoft has left Australia off the list of countries which will receive the Surface Pro tablet when it launches in February.
Google Nexus 4 hits Harvey Norman
Frustrated at not being able to buy Google’s Nexus 4 handset (manufactured by LG), which Delimiter recently rated as the best non-4G handset available in Australia? Worry not. LG has just announced the handset will be on sale through Harvey Norman imminently. Praise be.
Surface storage misleading? Choice files complaint
You may have noticed, if you've bought one of Microsoft's new Surface tablets, that you haven't actually gotten the storage you paid for. Consumer watchdog Choice objects to this kind of behaviour, and has referred Microsoft to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over the situation.
Debunking the “cyber-security” hype
Crikey correspondent Bernard Keane has published an extensive, highly referenced article debunking eleven recent “cyber” attacks, in response to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's spate of announcements in the area yesterday and today.
Parliament trials Windows 8 tablets
ZDNet publishes an interview with Federal Parliament chief information officer Eija Seittenranta, detailing the fact that the Parliament is conducting a trial of Windows 8 tablets.
More R18+ games approved for Australia
It was only a little over a week ago that the Classification Board approved the first R18+ video game to be launched in Australia in the form of Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, following new legislation supporting R18+ games taking effect on 1 January. And now we have word that that wasn’t an anomaly, with the news that the Classification Board has approved two more games as R18+ in Australia.
A great Aussie virtual desktop case study
Virtual desktops, bring your own device computing, integrated datacentre components. These are three of the hottest trends to hit Australia’s enterprise IT sector at the moment, and they all come together in this highly recommended article by iTNews writer Chris Jager looking at a huge virtual desktop implementation at RMIT University.
Apple Australia’s tiny tax bill “staggering”: Husic
Apple made more than a billion dollars more revenue from Australia over the year to the end of September 2012, but it paid (according to its financial statements) about $54 million less tax.
Does Telstra have a million 4G devices or not?
Does Telstra have a million 4G devices on its Next G network or not? It depends who you ask, apparently.
Thank you for the platitudes, Sir Berners-Lee
Why doesn't Australia have enough confidence in ourselves without these father figures looking on? I just don't know.
The irony, it burns: Telstra’s NBN price complaints
Wait, back up a bit. Did Telstra just argue that NBN Co’s wholesale prices would be so high that they would not allow retail ISPs to charge reasonable prices to end user customers? And that this would stop those ISPs from investing in their own products and services? And that this wouldn’t be in the long-term interest of end users?
“Stupid, quasi-religious”: Turnbull slams fibre fans
Those who believe the fibre to the node mode for Australia's National Broadband Network is a second-rate option compared to fibre to the home are just "stupid", and pursuing a "quasi-religious" approach to the technology, according to Malcolm Turnbull.
Assange’s mum confirms he will run for Senate
Julian Assange's mum has confirmed he will run for the Australian Senate in this year's Federal Election, claiming that he will be "awesome".
Samsung ATIV S for Australia in Feb?
Australian Windows Phone enthusiast site Windows Phone Down Under says it's likely Australia will see Samsung's Windows Phone 8-based ATIV S in February.
NSW Police reportedly settles with Micro Focus
Remember how NSW Police was allegedly caught red-handed pirating software from enterprise IT vendor Micro Focus? And how the whole story was the subject of an extensive and embarassing documentary report by the 7:30 Report in April 2012? Yeah. Not precisely the best look for the boys in blue. Well, it appears that NSW Police has come clean in the case.
NSW reforms ICT services contracts
Looks like the New South Wales Government is making good on its promises to reform the way the state purchases technology services, as part of its overall IT strategy. This week we received a media release on the issue from Minister for Finance and Services Greg Pearce.
New Govt tax taskforce may tackle Google, Apple
Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury has announced a government taskforce to force multinational corporations to be more transparent and accountable about how their finances and details of their taxation.
The difficulties of ordering a Surface Pro in Australia
Want to buy one of Microsoft's new Surface Pros in Australia? Well, As we covered a couple of weeks ago, you're out of luck, as Microsoft isn't shipping them locally yet. But you may not know quite how out of luck you truly are: It's probably not even worth ordering one from overseas through the usual avenues.
First interviews surface with new Defence CIO
It’s been a couple of months since the new Department of Defence chief information officer, Peter Lawrence, stepped on board to replace the now legendary Greg Farr, and the first interviews have started to surface with Lawrence.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop jets in to Australia
You may have noticed from the flurry of articles from the mainstream media this morning that Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop is in Australia at the moment checking on the progress of the Finnish smartphone manufacturer Down Under.
Not absolutely everything is the NBN’s fault
Despite what you may read in the media, not everything that goes wrong in early stage NBN rollout zones has anything to do with NBN Co. Take the problems outlined in this article published today by Computerworld, for example.
You heard it here first
Delimiter editor Renai LeMay has "jumped the shark", according to Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull
Turnbull would win if leader, says Windsor
According to Independent Tony Windsor, if Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull were to contest the upcoming September Federal Election as Leader of the Opposition, the Coalition would be a shoe-in for victory.
Get em young: Windows 8 indoctrination
Many young Australians head off to school these days with a collection of Apple paraphenalia; iPhones, iPods and now iPads are common items to see in the schoolbags of students heading off to both high school and primary school. However, for at least one young man, there won't be any Apple in his forseeable future.
“Like Sol Trujillo”: Conroy blasts Vodafone CEO
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has taken an axe to complaints by Vodafone Australia's chief executive Bill Morrow about the national telecommunications regulatory regime, comparing Morrow to outspoken former Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo.
Video games “screw up” kids’ minds: Gerry Harvey
According to Gerry Harvey, one of "the great tragedies" of our modern age is that kids spend way too much time ... you guessed it ... playing video games. Wow.
R18+ fail: Qld bans God of War: Ascension
Kotaku brings us news that the Sunshine State has has banned Kratos’ new blood-soaked romp, God of War: Ascension.
Parliament runs out of money for Win7 rollout
In an exchange in a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday (PDF transcript here), DPS secretary Carol Mills revealed the department didn’t have enough money to complete the rollout to Windows 7 it has been working on.
Assange registers Wikileaks party; targets Victorian Senate seat
Crusading Internet activist Julian Assange has delivered on his promises to run for Australian political office in the upcoming Federal Election in September, reportedly registering the WikiLeaks Party in Australia yesterday and flagging his intention to become a Senator representing Victoria.
The NSW RTA’s iMacs lasted a full decade
The NSW RTA (now the RMS) finally reveals plans to replace the 'sunflower' iMacs in its motor registries around the state, a decade after they were first deployed. Now that's what you call return on investment.
NSW may sack 610 IT support staffers
We're not happy to hear from The Register that the NSW Department of Education and Department may be about to sack some 610 technical support officers.
Qld’s new IT Minister has zero IT experience
Following the resignation of Ros Bates last week, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has appointed Ian Walker to replace Bates as the state’s Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. Did we mention that Walker appears to have no experience dealing with information technology, given his extensive background as a 35-year veteran of law firm Norton Rose?
Google CFO woos Gillard with Glasses
What would you do if you were a multinational technology vendor who the Federal Government was currently chasing over “double Dutch sandwich” tax avoidance techniques which could have cost Australia hundreds of millions of dollars? You’d probably dispatch your global chief financial officer with some hot new technology to hold private briefings with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
WA Police, FBI raid Aussie Xbox insider
Western Australian man raised by the FBI and Australian police for releasing Xbox trade secrets.
More criticism of the ACS
Well-known IT industry figure Tony Healy adds to Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie's criticism of the Australian Computer Society.
ABC hack protests anti-Islam interview
The ABC has confirmed that one of its websites has been hacked following the airing earlier this month of an interview held by Lateline with anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders.
Shock: Queensland Health to get IT review
From the department of why the hell haven't they already done this comes the news that that bastion of IT systems stability and competence Queensland Health (yup, the very same, you'd be surprised how often it pops up in Delimiter stories) will undertake a review into its IT procurement practices and IT governance arrangements.
Surface Pro for Australia in “coming months”
Just one month ago Redmond launched the supposedly flagship device in the US and in Canada, but made no mention of launches in other first-world, early technology adopter countries such as Australia. Just one month later, overnight last night in the US, the company said Australia and a number of other countries would receive the Surface Pro "in the coming months", but without giving a firm date.
Pollenizer celebrates five years with a book
Startup consultancy and incubator Pollenizer celebrates five years with a new book about the lifecycle of startups, Startup Focus.
Telstra won’t renegotiate $11bn NBN fee
David Thodey has already reportedly started playing hardball with respect to the $11 billion in payments which Telstra is set to receive as part of its deal with the Government and NBN Co.
Help us fact-check iTNews’ NBN figures
Help us fact-check iTNews' claims that NBN Co is fudging its rollout figures in an attempt to make its progress look better on paper.
Google Glass will ‘end privacy’, claims Cory Bernardi
Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi has unleashed on Google’s augmented reality Glass project, which has been getting some press in the US as it comes closer to becoming a commercial project.
As expected, Mailes to lead Vic Govt IT
As has been widely known inside the Victorian Government for a while now, former South Australian whole of government chief information officer Grantly Mailes has been appointed to a permanent role as Victoria's first chief technology advocate -- a new style of role recommended in the state's new ICT strategy which Mailes coordinated.
Kim Dotcom may list Mega on ASX
Kim Dotcom expresses an interest in listing his new Mega business on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Vodafone CEO backs Quigley NBN study
Vodafone chief executive Bill Morrow backs NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley's proposal to have the Communications Alliance carry out a study into Australia's broadband future.
Ten’s The Project whacks Turnbull with ABC article
The young presenters of Ten's The Project pointedly question Malcolm Turnbull about the Coalition's NBN plans, using information sourced directly from Nick Ross' controversial ABC article on the subject to do so.
Govt CTO explains new role; with Lego
We're pleased that John Sheridan has published the complete text of a lengthy speech he recently gave explaining his new role as Australian Government chief technology officer. Plus, he does so using a stack of cool lego pictures and a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica. Really, what else could you want?
A thoughtful digital economy speech from Australia Post
Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour gives a great speech about the Digital Economy and how it's impacting Australia Post.
NBN should abolish speed tiers, says economist
According to one economist, the NBN might actually see higher uptake if just one flat speed (presumably 100Mbps, initially) was provided.
Emperor Turnbull has no clothes
In a new scathing commentary published this afternoon, ZDNet columnist David Braue rips the recent performance of Malcolm Turnbull as a flailing Shadow Communications Minister to shreds and leaves the mangled corpse behind in the dust.
NBN on Media Watch tonight
Just a brief note to let everyone know that media coverage of the National Broadband Network is expected to be featured on Media Watch tonight, with a focus on the recent articles of ABC Technology + Games Editor Nick Ross and the controversy last week surrounding them. I would encourage all readers who have a view of this issue to contact Media Watch directly and make their opinion or analysis of the situation known.
Corrosion drastically impacts BT FTTN speed
If BT's rollout in the UK is any indication, fibre to the node may not be the perfect broadband solution it has been hyped up to be.
Media Watch weighs in on Ross NBN coverage
We were pleasantly surprised with the conclusions which Holmes drew on last night’s program regarding the National Broadband Network coverage which ABC Technology + Games Editor Nick Ross has been generating over the past year.
Shocker: Qld Health payroll tender was rushed
From Computerworld this week comes the incredible, unbelievable, amazing news that the tendering process for Queensland Health’s colossally botched payroll systems upgrade may have been just a teensy bit rushed, and that the Government may not have allocated sufficient funding for the project.
“Burning ambition”: Brisbane launches digital economy strategy
It seems virtually everyone's getting on the whole "digital economy" bandwagon these days. The latest cab off the rank is Brisbane, which has appointed a chief digital officer and this week launched its new 'digita strategy'. Nice.
Slater moved off NAB’s IT operations
NAB replaces group executive of Group Business Services Gavin Slater with Lisa Gray.
Why the NBN needs a safe pair of hands
When I think about the future of the National Broadband Network project, what mainly concerns me is that whoever is in charge of the initiative keeps it moving forward, keeps it on track and delivers better broadband to all Australians within the next decade.
Galaxy Note 8.0 lands in April, from $459
Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet set to land in Australia in April.
ATO still struggling with WinXP upgrade
Remember how in October 2011 the Australian Taxation Office revealed that it would finally ditch Microsoft’s legacy Windows XP operating system and adopt Windows 7? Yeah, not so much.
Happy Friday! And see you next week :)
hey everyone, just a quick note to let you know that I'm taking today off from writing on Delimiter.
Fast-growing M2 buys Dodo, makes Eftel offer
According to a cluster of media releases and company presentations issued to the Australian Stock Exchange this morning, fast-growing telco M2 Telecommunications has bought independent ISP Dodo for $203.9 million and has made an offer for similarly independent ISP Eftel for $44.1 million.
Crown Casino loses $32m in IT security breach
The ABC reports that a high-roller gambler has scammed Melbourne's Crown Casino of $32 million, with what looks to be the assistance of the casino's own in-house surveillance system.
SAP generates 120 new Melbourne jobs
Looks like German software giant SAP isn’t doing too poorly in Australia. According to a media release issued by Victorian Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips last week, the vendor is all set to create 120 new jobs in Victoria.
AGIMO releases Big Data discussion paper
When it comes to enterprise IT buzzwords, ‘Big Data’ is right up there at the moment, alongside cloud computing, BYOD and social networking. That’s why we’re sure a few of you will be interested to know that the Australian Government Information Management Office late last week released what it termed a Big Data strategy issues paper.
Someone’s still trying to buy ASG
Australian tier two IT services outfit ASG has raised a few eyebrows over the past few months through its admissions that it's currently being targeted by a mystery buyer. This morning ASG confirmed it was still being targeted.
ACMA blasts Groupon for spamming
It was only a matter of time. The Australian Communications and Media Authority has cottoned on the fact that online deals retailer Groupon hasn't been as ... honest and diligent about its email newsletter habits as it could have been. Last week the regulator issued a statement strongly cautioning Groupon about its behaviour.
Leaked numbers show NBN fibre rollout lagging
I've been quite optimistic about the speed at which NBN Co is rolling out its brownfields fibre infrastructure, but that optimism has been challenged today by what appears to be the inadvertent release of new statistics regarding the company's rollout progress.
Troubles mount at EnergyAustralia as CIO leaves
If you're fond of a good enterprise IT disaster story (hell, Australia seems to have more of them than it can handle these days), you'd be well advised to check out a (paywalled) story published by The AustralianIT this morning about electricity retailer EnergyAustralia.
Chromebooks finally land in Australia
Google announced on its Australian blog this morning that 2013 is the year. Finally, Chromebooks are in Australia. The only problem is … will anyone actually want to buy them? We’re not really sure.
Australia’s carriers want to sell you a Galaxy S4
In case you missed it, we thought we'd let you know that we've received fevered media releases from all of Australia's major mobile carriers over the past few days letting us know the somewhat obvious news that they will be stocking the new Galaxy S 4 model when it launches in Australia.
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.
Syntheo hands NT work back to NBN Co
So that we can all enter wholesale into yet another orgy of doubt and self-flagellation about the current status of the NBN project, here's Syntheo's (very brief) statement this morning that it's handing back work in the Northern Territory to NBN Co.
Use a Surface Pro as your desktop? It’s possible
Local Microsoft Office 365 MVP Loryan Strant has been successfully conducting an experiment in using his new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet as his full-time desktop, complete with multiple monitors.
Brickworks details ERP integration project
In a case study published by Microsoft this week, Brickworks details how it has integrated various accounts payable and invoicing systems together using a combination of SharePoint, software from smart processing company Kofax and Microsoft partner Efficiency Leaders.
Amazon wins more Aussie financial services work
Cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services has been relatively quiet about the numbers of Australian customers signing up to use its elastic infrastructure since it launched a dedicated datacentre in Australia in mid-November last year. At the moment the situation is unclear: Are Australian customers signing up to use the facility in droves, are they ignoring it, or are things somewhere in between?
An update on our iTNews fact-checking effort
I want to apologise to iTNews and to readers for not getting the time to pursue the fact-checking article I planned to.
NBN Co chair quits, says AFR
Last night the Financial Review reported that NBN Co chairman Harrison Young (pictured) was planning to quit as the company's chairman, with current board member Siobhan McKenna to step into his place.
Optus “increases focus” by sacking 290 staff
Over the past decade your writer has been a technology journalist, we've seen quite a few weasel-worded media releases, and this morning's emission from SingTel subsidiary Optus is a good example of the genre. Sacking some 290 staff? Why not apply a little of the old doublespeak treatment and label the initiative as "increasing focus"?
NBN Co has “major credibility issues”: Budde
NBN Co has "major credibility issues", according to telecommunications analyst Paul Budde, following the unexpected downgrade of its rollout schedule yesterday.
Apple’s Australian tax is mainly on iTunes
Extensive analysis on the day of Apple's appearance before the IT price hike inquiry finds that the company's Australian markups are mainly on digital products sold through its iTunes store.
Nexus 7 draw: The winner revealed
Announcing the winner of Delimiter's Nexus 7 random draw.
Fujitsu wins huge passport CRM deal
Japanese IT services giant Fujitsu revealed last last week tha it had won what it described as a "multi-million dollar deal" to revamp the customer relationship management system administering Australia's passport infrastructure.
Lockheed Martin is ASG’s mystery bidder
blog After a few months of speculation, it has emerged that the mystery bidder attempting to buy Perth-headquartered IT services firm ASG is Lockheed...
IT price hike inquiry will approach record labels
How seriously can we take Apple Australia managing director Anthony King's claim that Apple doesn't have anything to do with setting digital content prices in Australia through the company's iTunes store? I guess we're about to find out.
Further evidence Kogan’s Agora doesn’t do 850Mhz
PCWorld has tested the Kogan Agora and affirms in a new article that the smartphone doesn’t support 850MHz mobile phone networks. Bummer.
Uni of Adelaide appoints new CIO
The University of Adelaide has appointed a new chief information officer, Mark Gregory, it announced last week.
Kogan issues updated mobile usage policy
Telecommunications comparison WhistleOut has dug up the news that Kogan has issued a new acceptable usage policy for its so-called "Unlimited" plans.