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.
Can agency-led innovation help transcend failing Whole of Government ICT strategies?
According to Ovum research director Steve Hodgkinson, there are lessons to be learnt from the poor outcomes of whole of government ICT strategies in Australia; revolving around the need for innovation to be pushed through individual departments.
Australia’s second dot com boom is here
If you've been paying attention to Australia's technology startup sector recently, you might have noticed that it's absolutely booming. Tens of millions of dollars are being ploughed into new startups, incubators and co-working spaces are popping up all over the place, and successful startups like Freelancer.com are considering massive stock market listings.
Why NBN Co should finish Tassie FTTP rollout
If you've been reading Australia's technology media recently, you will not have been able to escape the fact that quite a few people in Tasmania are more than a little bit unhappy about the fact that they may not get the Fibre to the Premises-based National Broadband Network they were promised. Well, as I argue on Delimiter 2.0 this afternoon, the FTTP-based NBN rollout should proceed as planned, due to the specific situation in the state.
iPad mini giveaway: The winner revealed
You may remember that in March Delimiter kicked off a reader giveaway. To enter to get a chance to win an Apple iPad mini tablet, you had to sign up to our new weekly newsletter before the beginning of May. Today, we’re happy to announce the winner! An iPad mini is currently on its way to Alan Heydon, a project manager in Western Australia. Congrats Alan! Enjoy your new iPad mini :)
Gen-i Australia may completely shut down
You couldn’t exactly say that the Australian division of IT services company Gen-i was in rude health, with the company revealing in mid-March that it would sack most of its staff and stop competing for most local contracts, as it shifted focus to only serving Trans-Tasman contracts as per the instructions of its parent Telecom New Zealand. However, according to CRN, things may be even more dire
HP brings SAP’s hosted HANA on-shore
SAP and HP announced this morning that they would be provided HANA as a service, and (for once), Australia is the first location globally to be able to access it.
Putting NBN words in Cisco’s mouth
Alright, admit it. Who’s been feeding News Ltd commentator Andrew Bolt stats published by global networking giant Cisco (PDF)? Fess up. We know it was one of you anti-NBN guys.
A few tips for Labor’s new Comms Ministers
So you’re a new Labor Shadow Minister in the Communications Portfolio, and you’re considering how best to push Labor’s all-fibre NBN policy and stick it to Liberal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Or perhaps you’re a techno-savvy Labor backbencher who wants to get in on the action. What angle should you be taking to take on the Viscount of Vaucluse?
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.
Is this Mike Quigley’s car?
This little gem was spotted by Twitterer Wade Roberts, cruising around Castle Hill, Sydney. We’re not sure at this point whether it belongs to NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley (actually, we’re pretty sure it doesn’t, but one can dream!), although after all, Castle Hill isn’t that far from Quigley’s place in Mosman.
What would Turnbull need to do in his first 100 days as Communications Minister?
Turnbull has made a very strident argument over the past several years that Labor needs to drastically rework its National Broadband Network policy. Well, it looks like the Viscount of Vaucluse is about to get his chance to make that argument reality. Will Turnbull fold or fly in his first 100 days in office, if the Coalition takes power next week?
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.
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.
Dual-mode LG G2 heading to Optus
Optus reveals it will be bringing a dual-mode FDD-LTE/TD-LTE version of LG's new G2 announced this week to 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.
“Pig ignorant dummies” and A “sour-faced woman”: Linton rounds out the year
Every time we take one of our periodic glimpses into the seething mass of pure mind blast that is the blog of Exetel chief John Linton, we find ourselves highly entertained by this precocious but highly talented individual (hey — did you start your own multi-million dollar ISP? Enough said).
Hitting the pause button on Delimiter 2.0
Delimiter 2.0's model is proven, and it's a viable slice of the Delimiter business which is expanding. In an age where media outlets have struggled with revenue models, it represents a little bright spot, and I may come back to it one day, at the right time. However, as with all businesses, I have to face facts and invest my time where the greatest return on investment is to be found. Right now, and in the short to medium-term, that's definitely Delimiter 1.0.
Delimiter is giving away another Apple Watch!
Just a quick post to let you know that Delimiter is about to hold a new reader giveaway. Our previous Apple Watch giveaway was quite popular, so it feels like the right thing to do to do another :)
Postponement
In which Renai unfortunately calls in sick just days after Delimiter re-launches.
NBN politics stems from missed targets
It is the delays with Labor's National Broadband Network project which has opened the door for the Coalition to attack the project.
NZ Govt pushes hard into cloud
New Zealand's national Government announced a whole of government contract this morning for what it terms 'Office Productivity as a Service' services. This includes email and calendaring services, as well as file-sharing, mobility, instant messaging and collaboration services. The contract complements two existing contracts -- Desktop as a Service and Enterprise Content Management as a Service.
Australia’s emissary to Blizzard: Simon Hackett
You’ve got to love Simon Hackett’s constant Whirlpool posts. They’re a fount of information, controversy and entertainment. Over the years I’ve greatly enjoyed watching the principled and ethical leader of broadband rebel splinter group Internode tussle with the denizens of the nation’s most famous online forum.
iiNet threatens to ditch NBN altogether
In one of the more outlandish statements we've seen regarding the at-times fraught relationship between NBN Co and its bevy of retail ISPs (RSPs), the nation's number three fixed line telco iiNet has publicly threatened to walk away from its relationship with NBN Co, in a move which would mean NBN services would no longer be available through the telco.
Cloud: It’s about opportunities, not obstacles
One of the key messages that is coming out of the cloud computing camp at the moment is the concept that those who are thinking about this new paradigm of IT infrastructure purely through the lens of the old are missing out on the opportunities that it offers. A good piece on the issue comes from Rackspace Asia-Pacific chief technology officer Alan Perkins, formerly an influential chief information officer who had been an early cloud pioneer in Australia.
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.
Samsung skips Exynos CPU for Aussie Galaxy S4’s
Most of you probably already suspected this, but just to put it on the record: Korean smartphone giant Samsung has confirmed that its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone will ship in Australia in the lesser quad-core version of its processor rather than the top of the range eight-core Exynos processor which many people have been looking forward to.
Telstra now has 10,000 offshore staff
Wondering how many staff the nation’s biggest telco Telstra has located overseas, following its decision over the past several years to end its previous moratorium on offshore support? Wonder no more, for, through the magic of journalism, the Sydney Morning Herald has discovered the full extent of the big T’s offshoring efforts.
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.
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”.
Keane peels ‘Chinese cybersecurity attack’ apart
Crikey columnist Bernard Keane has developed a nasty habit for pouring cold water all over ‘cybersecurity’ experts and government spin-doctors, who have constantly hyped-up perceived IT security dangers and Internet attacks into the kind of “cyberwar scenario that IT security vendors have wet dreams over. We’re sure ASIO, the Defence Signals Directorate and a bunch of other G-Men in black will be over shortly to arrange Keane’s compulsory education campaign.
Australian datacentre? You’re dreaming, says Microsoft
It looks like those hoping Microsoft will build an Australian datacentre to host Windows Azure applications or Office 365 services might be hoping in vain.
Telstra may sue Voda over 4G speed claims
Telstra threatens legal action against Vodafone over the claimed speeds of its 4G network.
Microsoft bans Stilgherrian from TechEd
Opinionated Australian technology writer Stilgherrian has been banned from Microsoft's TechEd conference this year, after a bunch of caustic tweets caught the attention of the company during last year's event.
Defence kicks off mammoth ERP transformation program
Those of you who got too deep, too early into the silly season around Christmas time may have missed the fact that the Department of Defence has taken a strong step forward in the mammoth ERP consolidation program known as "Defence Insight".
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.
Classification Board allows State of Decay through
According to Gizmodo, quoting the Classification Board, drug references have been removed from the Australian version of openworld zombie survival game State of Decay, allowing it to be classified under the new R18+ rating.
Rumours of Aussie Netflix launch
Despite a successful launch in other major first-world nations such as the UK, as well as throughout Latin America, US IPTV giant Netflix has constantly signalled over the past few years its lack of interest in launching its service in Australia. However, all that may be about to change.
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.
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.
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.
Shock: Qld Govt succeeds in IT project
Police Minister Jack Dempsey announced yesterday that the Queensland Police Service had successfully delivered a new Online Crime Statistics Crime Portal that allows residents to access crime statistics for any area in the state, all through an interactive web portal.
Nexus 5 draw: The winner revealed
You may remember that in March Delimiter kicked off a reader giveaway. To enter to get a chance to win a new Google Nexus 5 smartphone, you had to sign up to our new weekly newsletter before the end of April. Today, we’re happy to announce the winner! A new Nexus 5 will shortly be on its way to Justin Corfield, a systems engineer/admin based in Queensland. Congrats Justin! Enjoy your new Nexus 5 :) And thanks to everyone else who signed up to enter the competition.
Dutton kicks off e-health review
New Health Minister Peter Dutton is moving ahead with a review of Labor's troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record Scheme.
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.
32 years later, CGU replaces insurance IT platform
Think core banking platforms last a long time? Check out the gray hairs and wrinkles on the positively ancient insurance IT system which CGU is still running. This thing is so old it should be code-named 'Methuselah'.
Lockheed Martin spin-off to create new IT services firm with giant Defence, ATO contracts
From The Wall St Journal earlier this month comes confirmation that military equipment specialist Lockheed Martin still expects to sell or spin off the IT services business which the company has long had tacked on to its manufacturing operations.
‘Severe impact’: Rival FTTB plans worry NBN Co
If the Coalition had stuck with Labor's largely Fibre to the Premises NBN policy, of course, all this wouldn't be an issue. Talk about unintended consequences. Setting regulatory frameworks can often be like this; you need to think through several steps ahead, especially when it comes to a long-term project such as building a national broadband network.
NSW, SA lose Health CIOs
From Intermedium this morning comes news that health departments in both South Australia and New South Wales are looking for new chief information officers, with their long-time incumbents departing and making way for new public servants in their roles.
Quickflix lets users buy TV shows, including Game of Thrones
One of the disadvantages of an online IPTV service such as Quickflix is that up until now, you haven't been able to buy distinct television shows through the service to own permanently; users have only been able to get access to the shows they want if they're paying a monthly subscription. However, all this is set to change, according to a media release issued by Quickflix today.
Don’t worry, Paul Graham, Australians aren’t all stupid
Over on Hacker News, the official new century media organ of double plus fine seed funding giant Y Combinator, founder Paul Graham muses about a little nation we like to call ‘Oz’.
Salesforce.com is making in-roads into Australia’s banking sector again
Cloud computing vendors such as Salesforce.com have had a bit of a difficult relationship with Australia's banking and financial services sector. This week from the company's Dreamforce conference in the US comes news that Salesforce.com is yet again making some headway.
Apple ready to talk Australian prices
blog Remember when Labor MP Ed Husic went on that epic rant in Federal Parliament several months ago about what he saw as the...
Microsoft jacks up Aussie Azure cloud prices by 26 percent
Personally, I'd suggest that 10 percent is a figure chief financial officers can understand in this context. But 26 percent is likely enough to raise more than a few eyebrows.
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.
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.
Solar Movie is the content industry’s first site blocking target
As revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald and a number of other media this morning, the content industry's first target will be Solar Movie.
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.
Australia isn’t feeling the love from Big Content
Sabiene Heindl might be about to leave her role as the general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations and spokesperson for the Australian Content Industry Groupfor a high-flying career at the National Broadband Network Company, but the anti-piracy campaigner just can't stop enthusing about content protection.
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.
Low Orbit Ion Cannon, my ass
From the Sydney Morning Herald comes news of a new weapon which the angry hordes (including one Sydneysider) are deploying to make war on the infidel websites of PayPal, Visa and Mastercard for dumping support for rogue internet agent WikiLeaks.
When academics perpetuate NBN ignorance
Professor Zumbo, we humbly submit that it might be wise for you take another look at the fundamental premises contained in your NBN article in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning. We humbly suggest that the degree of academic rigour contained within is sadly ... inferior.
Ludlam wants Senate to question Assange, Snowden
Greens senator Scott Ludlam is reportedly trying to have Edward Snowden and Julian Assange called before a parliamentary committee to give evidence into what they might know about mass surveillance of Australian citizens.
Australia trains more fitness than IT professionals
From the thought-provoking blog of REA Group chief information officer Nigel Dalton and his consulting colleague James Pierce comes the news that Australia is currently training many more fitness instructors than IT professionals.
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.
IBM and Queensland squabble in court over Health payroll disaster
Remember that massive, billion-dollar payroll IT systems disaster at Queensland Health? Remember how the prime contractor IBM disavowed all responsibility for it? And how the Queensland Government subsequently sued the company and banned IBM from any further work with its departments and agencies? Yeah, good times.
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.
NBN a “horrible hoax”, says Turnbull
The claim by Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that Labor’s National Broadband Network project will take 20 years and up to $100 billion has been pretty comprehensively debunked at this point, NBN Co’s latest rollout speed downgrades notwithstanding. However, the Earl of Wentworth continues to trot it out during his visits to small community meetings.
New charging options for Delimiter 2.0
New yearly subscription and once-off individual article pricing launch for Delimiter 2.0.
Qld towns build their own goddamn NBN
They weren't getting much joy from the Federal Government's National Broadband Network and were only slated to receive satellite services under the plan, so half a dozen Queensland towns have reportedly decided to build their own fibre backhaul network connecting the region to the main NBN infrastructure.
Could Telstra buy Telecom NZ?
Speculation has started floating around Australia's blogosphere from senior sources that the nation's number one telco could find it opportunistic to be positioning itself for a buyout of New Zealand's incumbent telco Telecom New Zealand.
iHype: Welcome to the iPhone 5 hypno-orgy
Apparently, the iPhone 5 is already a success, before it even launches.
NBN Strategic Review shows FTTP still very viable
If you believe NBN Co executive chairman Ziggy Switkowski and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the NBN Strategic Review released last week is all about re-using HFC cable, implementing Fibre to the Node and minimising the use of Fibre to the Premises. However, a close reading of the document shows that it also finds that Labor’s original FTTP vision can still be delivered very affordably and in a timely manner.
Oracle CEO jets into Australia to reassure customers on support offshoring, flag huge sales...
Fresh off the back of claims that Oracle has just dumped its entire Australian support operation, news has arrived from the Financial Review this week that global Oracle co-chief executive Mark Hurd has landed in Australia.
Wyatt Roy’s innovation policy hack day will be Saturday week in Sydney
Remember how Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy publicly discussed the possibility of holding an innovation policy ‘hackathon’ to generate new policy ideas to help develop Australia’s economy into an innovation powerhouse? Well it’s already organised, and it’ll be Saturday week in Sydney, with tech accelerator BlueChilli doing much of the organising.
An epic rant about Apple patents
Another day always brings another Apple rumour, but not every day do you get as epic a rant in reaction as we saw last week from MacTalk founder Anthony Agius.
Will Dropbox’s security hole boost Aussie rivals?
In terms of security disasters, this is a big one. For four hours yesterday, you could use any (yes, that means any) password to log in to any Dropbox account.
NAB/IBM outsourcing is going ahead
It's the industry's worst-kept secret, but it looks as if the National Australia Bank's IT outsourcing initiative with IBM is finally official and going ahead, with some 425 staff reportedly shifting out of the bank and to IBM.
Qld Health payroll gets another $384 million
Those of you who thought that the Queensland Health payroll debacle had gone away, think again. The LNP State Government landed its annual budget this week, and included in it is a massive dollop of change for the ailing project, which continues to bedevil the department and the State Government at large, as well as the politicians and partners involved.
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.
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.
Microsoft cuts Surface RT price by $170
File this in the category of predictable price cuts for poorly performing products. Microsoft, it was revealed overnight, has cut the price of its Surface RT tablet, which runs a cut-down version of Windows 8.
$530m telco deal: ANZ Bank re-signs Optus
Those of you with long memories will recall that one of Optus’s most significant corporate telecommunications deals in Australia was signed back in May 2009 with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. Well, it looks as though ANZ must be at least a little happy with Optus, as yesterday morning the bank issued a joint media release with the telco noting it had resigned the deal for another five years, in a contract worth $530 million.
Gasp … Qld will fuel electric vehicle charging stations with solar
It seems like it was only yesterday that a rebel Queensland resident was committing the heinous sin of charging his Tesla Model S electric vehicle (EV) using a windfarm up north. Well, today’s news is even more shocking — the Queensland Government itself has announced it plans to start deploying new EV fast-charging stations around the state, powered by solar energy. That’s right. Blasphemous. How dare they!
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.
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.
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.
Worst of the worst: Send us all your FTTN node photos
Right around Australia, right now, the NBN company and its contractor are deploying thousands upon thousands of brand Fibre to the Node cabinets and micronodes. But sometimes it stuffs up and places them in terrible locations. So send us all your node photos and we'll publish the "worst of the worst".
Comcare goes cloud for DR
Cloud computing projects in the Federal Government are a little thin on the water these days, despite the fact that the previous Labor administration tried to push for further adoption in the public sector, and despite the fact that cloud is all the rage in state governments at the moment. That's why we're particularly interested in this little gem posted by Australian Government chief technology officer John Sheridan on his blog today.
Copper network in shocking state: Union
Telstra's main union says its copper network is full of plastic bags to keep water out, amid other 'band-aid' solutions.
Australia’s 4G mobile services more reliable than 3G: J.D. Power
Emerging 4G networks are proving to be more reliable and deliver a better wireless experience than established 3G networks, a J.D. Power and Associates study has found. The 2013 Australia Wireless Network Quality Study measured problems per 100 (PP100) based on ten common problems that impact overall network performance, including dropped calls, calls not connected, audio issues, failed or lost voicemails, and more.
Adobe harmonises Aussie Creative Cloud prices
Hot on the heels of news of Federal Parliament’s decision to summon Adobe (alongside Apple and Microsoft) to answer questions about its Australian pricing habits, the recalcitrant vendor has this afternoon revealed plans to harmonise the local prices of at least one of its product lines, Creative Cloud, with its US prices.
More mainframe workloads moved to Oracle
Over the past several years we’ve begun to see a bit of a trend in Australia of major organisations shifting server workloads away from traditional mainframes and onto Oracle platforms, especially its integrated Exadata and Exalogic systems. The key driver of continued mainframe use has always been the legacy platform’s efficiency, stability and (to a certain extent) flexibility (such as in its virtualisation ability), but it’s also had numerous disadvantages, which we need not go into here. As time has gone on, it appears the performance levels inherent in Oracle’s systems are starting to lure CIOs away from the mainframe environment where appropriate. We saw this in Westpac in January 2013, and now, according to iTNews, we’re starting to see it also at another major financial institution — ASIC.
New $50m fund to target Aussie IT startups
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: Now is a fantastic time to be involved in an Australian IT startup. It used to be that it was tough to find finding for great new ideas in the Australian technology sector, but the plethora of sizable investment deals over the past several years proven that the local funding environment has changed substantially.
Fix Apple in the enterprise, goddamnit: MQ CIO rants
Chief information officers are a gentle, politely spoken bunch by nature; intelligent, well-educated, diplomatic. That’s why when one of them really lets loose at a vendor you have to stand back a little bit — or get burnt by the fireworks taking place.
“Grow a spine” and get off Windows XP: An epic “intervention”
Perhaps one of the most irritating pieces of legacy software that is still kicking around is Microsoft's most famous operating system, Windows XP.
Victorian agency reports schoolboy to police for informing it of IT security hole
Public Transport Victoria has reportedly reported a 16-year-old Melbourne schoolboy to Victoria Police for merely informing it of substantial security holes in its IT infrastructure.
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.
Yes, the AFR’s Lenovo story is still accurate
Right now, without saying where we have obtained our information, it seems clear that the Financial Review's report on this issue is broadly accurate. In short, although the specifics of the ban are unclear, the newspaper is correct that Lenovo machines are not used in certain areas of Defence.
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.
Conflict of interest: Milne’s $1.5m in Telstra shares
If you had spent a decade in a high-profile role at Telstra that netted you $1.5 million worth of shares in the telco, would you consider it a good idea to sell those shares before taking a similarly high-profile role at NBN Co, which is engaged in billion-dollar negotiations with Telstra that could significantly affect Telstra's share price?
Symantec dumps Aussie support staff
According to iTNews, security vendor Symantec has dumped what little Australian technical support presence it had, offshoring the jobs overseas.
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.
They served the public interest
I have one message to the NBN whistleblowers: You're not alone. We're with you. I, many Delimiter readers, many of your fellow NBN employees (past and present) and many Australians in general, are with you. Because you have honour. You have integrity. In a time of great darkness, you stood up for what was right and good. So remember this, and stay strong. Hold your head up high.
Dogecoin co-founder an interesting Sydney chap
If you follow the crypto-currency scene (think Bitcoin and its many imitators), you might have noticed that the co-founder of one of the more outlandish currencies, Dogecoin, is an Australian. Jackson Palmer is a product marketing manager at Adobe, is based in Sydney, and is one of the key figures in the development of the good Doge. And, if you read this excellent online interview with Palmer produced by new Australian tech media outlet Techly, you'll find that he's also a man of many interesting opinions.
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!
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.
Super funds botch major technology project
Sometimes it appears as though Australia's Federal and State Governments are the only ones botching major IT projects. And that makes sense, given the frequency of IT project failure in the public sector, and the public nature of the audit reports which examine them. But the private sector also has its failures, as the Financial Review chronicles this week with respect to a number of major superannuation funds.
SA e-Health system could cause fatalities
It used to be pretty rare that Australia would see an IT system implemented or maintained so poorly that it had the potential to cause fatalities or serious injury. But not any more. This year we’ve seen three such cases in Victoria alone, linked separately to failing IT systems at Victoria Police (which actually did result in several deaths), a Victorian hospital and, most worryingly, with relation to children’s safety under the care of the Department of Human Services. Well, last week South Australia got its own potentially fatal IT system.
iPad minis replace Windows Mobile at Arnott’s
From iTNews earlier this month comes a rather interesting story about how food giant Campbell Arnott’s has deployed a fleet of several hundred iPad mini tablets to replace legacy Windows Mobile devices being used by its field staff.
Senate Estimates: Some things never change
The Coalition hasn’t exactly been covering itself in glory in the recent Senate Estimates hearings into the National Broadband Network, with many labelling its constant line of attack on NBN Co Mike Quigley’s past history at Alcatel-Lucent little more than a farce.
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.
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.
No Android ABC iView? “Outrageous”, says Huawei
Chinese device manufacturer Huawei severely criticises the ABC for not developing an Android version of its popular iView iOS app.
Nokia 1520 lands in Australia
If you are looking to buy a new Nokia, you'd probably be interested to know that the company announced this morning that it would have one more stab at a major local launch, with its new model, the Lumia 1520. The selling point of the 1520 is that it features a 6" full HD 1080p screen, placing it in Galaxy Note range.
Will a Coalition Govt pump IT outsourcing?
Those of you will long memories will recall that it was the Howard administration which first kicked the Federal Government into gear back in 1997 in terms of the now-common practice of outsourcing key IT services to the private sector. And now there are fears an Abbott administration could push down that road strongly again.
Budget 2014: Govt doesn’t grok ICT, says Atlassian
I have to say, it’s hard to disagree with the Atlassian gurus on this one. Comprehensively, if there was a measure which was aimed at assisting Australia’s ICT sector (particularly fast-growing startups), it appears as though the new Coalition Government was determined to cut it. Regular Delimiter readers will be aware that I didn’t find some of these programs very effective, but there is at the least no doubt that the Coalition certainly didn’t replace them with anything either. Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and company appear to believe that the sector — responsible for huge ecoomic outcomes in other countries — has little relevance to the land Down Under. Strange stuff. Why wouldn’t you want to have a bevy of high-powered tech firms like Atlassian calling Australia home?
Huge Chrome OS success for Fire + Rescue NSW
Those among you with longish memories will recall the slight hullaballoo which emergency services agency Fire and Rescue NSW caused in November 2012 when it revealed it had dumped plans to deploy new traditional PCs throughout its operations in New South Wales, opting instead for a widespread deployment of 400 units of Google's Chromebox cloud-based desktop platform. Well, according to to the group's IT director Richard Host, the rollout has been a huge success.
Defence has 200 Australian ‘datacentres’
A new revelation by the Department of Defence this week, as it gets ready to changeover its massive centralised processing contract, shows that some departments just have more legacy than others.
Nexus 7 draw: The winner revealed
Announcing the winner of Delimiter's Nexus 7 random draw.
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.
Will Samsung try to block iPhone 5 sales in Australia?
If you read between the lines of a number of articles about Samsung's ongoing legal action against Apple on the patent front, it starts to appear increasingly possible that the company will try to block sales of Apple's iPhone 5 when the device launches in Australia -- expected to be before the end of this year.
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.
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.
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.
The first pictures of our new Communications Minister gloriously holding a fibre cable have...
All glory to the Fibre to the Node cabinet.
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.
Dallas Buyers Club won’t appeal piracy ruling, but may still seek large damages
In essence, what we’re seeing here is that Dallas Buyers Club and Marque Lawyers have decided to more or less accept Justice Perram’s ruling, but may be seeking to reword their approach to alleged copyright infringers to still target them for facilitating uploading of content online (as occurs in a BitTorrent situation, for example), rather than merely targeting them for downloading material.
Judge sides with IBM in Qld Health payroll lawsuit
This week it appears as though Queensland's actions have blown up in its face again with respect to its botched payroll systems upgrade at Queensland Health.
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.
Delimiter Membership Election special: 15% off (limited stock of 50)
We've just launched a 15% discount Election Special on Delimiter Memberships, to make sure people don't miss out on all the great content we've got coming in over the next three weeks until the Federal Election.
Will Netflix launch in Australia, or not?
Over the past week several fascinating articles have been published speculating about the possibility of US-based IPTV giant Netflix launching in Australia.
iPhone 4: Are Telstra & Optus price gouging?
A long-held rule of the global capitalist system has been that any given commodity will gradually go down in price over time, due to wider availability and improved manufacturing processes which drive scale. But now, according to MacTalk, Australia’s beloved top two telcos, Telstra and Optus, have decided that — despite the presumed imminent launch of Apple’s next mobile Jesus, the price of the iPhone 4 should instead go up.
A solid overview of Australian startup funding
Mark Greig, the commercial director of Pollenizer Global (and chairman of Pollenizer’s Investment Council) has published an extremely common sense blog post outlining some the basic things you need to know about investing in Australian IT startups.
Govt updates on ICT strategy progress
This morning AGIMO’s Andrew McGalliard, from the agency’s governance and policy branch, published an update on the Government’s progress on delivering on the strategy, and contrary to my initial expectations, it appears as though there are in fact quite a few initiatives getting under way.
Samsung Galaxy S4 hits Australia, but will it match the S3’s success?
If there was any question whether Samsung has become a superstar of the smartphone market, it was put to rest with last night’s Sydney Opera House launch of its flagship Galaxy S4 phone – in which the mobile giant pulled out all the stops to show the world the device that it hopes will consolidate its market lead over rival Apple’s iPhone 5.
NBN staff nickname for HFC upgrade is “Operation Clusterfuck”, says Conroy
According to Labor Senator Stephen Conroy, even the NBN company's own staff have their doubts about the upgrade project.
Lenovo’s IBM server + Motorola buys will raise new security questions
Remember when the Financial Review reported in August that devices manufactured by Chinese vendor Lenovo (including its extremely popular ThinkPad line) had been banned from use in the “secret” and “top secret” networks of the intelligence and defence services of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, because of similar espionage concerns as have been leveled at Chinese networking vendor Huawei? Well, Australian government agencies just got a whole new kettle of fish to worry about, with two key acquisitions by Lenovo which have taken place over the past week or so.
Pushed for Coalition contingency plan, NBN Co reveals rollout costs
A growing amount of information on the costs of NBN Co’s fibre-to-the-premise (FttP) rollout may have brought some long-wanted clarity to the national broadband network (NBN) debate, but calls by NBN joint parliamentary committee chair Rob Oakeshott for a revised NBN Co corporate plan – to account for potential changes due to the election of a Coalition government and implementation of that party’s alternative NBN – confirm the government is facing increased scrutiny as observers push for further transparency in the pre-election NBN debate.
VCs want Govt help getting super funds into the water
Should the Federal Government consider underwriting the management fees of venture capital firms to attract large-scale institutional investors like the superannuation funds?
MacTalk founder’s Love Letter to the Mac
As you might have noticed, Apple is currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of the birth of the Macintosh. Anthony Agius, the founder of Australian Apple forum MacTalk and long-time Mac lover, has posted what he bills as "a love letter for the Mac" on his blog.
Bulletproof poaches Rackspace MD
Australian hosting company Bulletproof poaches the local country manager of international hosting giant Rackspace.
Sources claim Oracle has completely dumped its Australian support centre
Delimiter has been contacted by several sources who have stated that The Register's report is accurate, and that Oracle has indeed completely offshored its Australian support centre in the past month.
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.
Conroy is a massive Dr Who fan
Former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy used his ministerial powers to keep Dr Who on the air, the ABC has revealed.
WikiLeaks Party implodes, candidates quit
WikiLeaks Senate candidate Leslie Cannold quits the party, alleging impropriety in its internal processes.
Coalition to spend $100m on mobile blackspots
Did you know there were other telecommunications-related issues being discussed in the Federal Election campaign than the National Broadband Network? No? Neither did I. But there apparently are.
Australia’s copper broadband infrastructure: The reality
What I want to do with this article is encourage people to send any similar shots you have of awful sections of Australia's copper telecommunications infrastructure in so we can publish a huge collection. Broken cables, cables poking out, patch panels with wires everywhere, street-side cabinets open to the elements, we want them all.
Team Conroy clocks off … Dalek and all
At least we now know where Conroy has drawn his 'take no prisoners' approach from. "EXTERMINATE!" might just be the right attitude to take into Australian politics these days.
IT in the budget? Move along, not much to see
Curious about what technology-related iniatives came out last night's Federal Budget? So were we, given that the release of the budget had been being hyped for weeks (months?) by much of the mainstream media as part of its continual fixation on the fraught battle between the various sides of politics. However, unlike previous years, this yaer there wasn't much in the 2013 Federal Budget to interest technologists.
Andrew Stevens: The challenges ahead
For the chief executives of HP and IBM Australia, hiding in the bat cave should not be an option.
Do Optus iPhones “constantly drop out”?
The Daily Telegraph has launched what appears to be an all-out attack on SingTel subsidiary Optus, claiming the telco's mobile coverage is the pits.
Parliament opens up to non-BlackBerry smartphones
The Federal Parliament allows a selection of politicans and staff access to smartphones from Apple, Samsung and Nokia, in addition to existing BlackBerry options.
“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.
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.
AngelCube opens 2014 startup intake
I just wanted to post a quick note to let readers know that AngelCube, the Melbourne-based startup accelerator, has opened the doors for applications for its 2014 intake. If you don't know about AngelCube but you are interested in starting your own IT startup, you had better familiarise yourself quickly, because you only have a few days to file your entry.
It’s IT upgrade time at Australia’s universities
Yup, it's that time of year again -- that brief window of opportunity where Australia's universities, many of which are working off three semesters a year now, get a couple of weeks around Christmas to upgrade their IT systems.
The many gestures of David Thodey
We had some amusing responses last time, but these further photos just mystify us. What precisely is David Thodey holding here between his clawed fingers? An imaginary ball of yarn? Has he been playing too much Nintendo Wii? It seems like something he's practiced to get it right. Anyway, let us know what you think he's doing in the comments.
Toshiba Chromebooks hit Australia
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba has announced its Chromebook laptops are available in Australia. Announced at CES 2014 in Las Vegas earlier this month, the devices ship with a 13.3" display and run Google's Chrome OS operating system. Australian recommended retail price will be $399.
Australia’s universities hacked on a regular basis
Not all of the hype around IT security can be believed at the moment — several times when your writer has investigated so-called ‘hacking’ attacks in recent months, we’ve found only low-level script-kiddie-type of behaviour at the bottom of the situation. However, there definitely are some serious break-ins around, as chronicled in this somewhat disturbing article published in late April by citizen journalism site The Citizen.
Qld eHealth agency reportedly stands down CIO after just one month
In mid-December 2015, the Department promoted the fact that it had appointed a new chief executive and chief information officer of eHealth Queensland -- the agency within the Department which is responsible for resolving the state's ongoing eHealth mess. Less than one month later, the executive has reportedly been stood down as part of an internal investigation.
NBN questions needed for Q&A
I thought I would do a quick post noting that Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be appearing on the ABC's Q&A program tonight. If you have questions that you would like to see the Earl of Wentworth respond to, on any issue, but especially the hot button topic of broadband policy, then I recommend you submit those questions as soon as possible online here.
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.
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.
Optus loses networks chief Ottendorfer
Optus revealed last week that it's losing its highly regarded networks chief Günther Ottendorfer, who's been the driving force between the rapid rollout of its 4G network. To put it mildly, this is a huge loss for Optus
Delimiter has shut down
Delimiter has now gone into cold storage.
Blizzard changes its tune … was it Telstra, or Optus?
Jeez, Blizzard, way to win everyone back. First you give Australia a spurious reason why you can't set up a dedicated local hub in Australia for World of Warcraft and StarCraft II players, claiming that the nation's "number one ISP" can't correctly route the fat traffic your legions of loyal fans are able to dish out.
Huston calls for active FTTP NBN
There are actually few Australians who your writer considers to be actual, verifiable experts on the current class of broadband technologies being debated as part of the National Broadband Network discussion. However, Geoff Huston is one of them.
Granularity enters APRA’s cloud computing stance
As I wrote a few weeks back, the debate around cloud computing in Australia is becoming more granular and tactical -- as organisations gradually shift to a more mature understanding of this new class of technologies. In some ways, this is not a revolution; but an evolution; not a black and white scenario, but one of shades of gray. It's good to see some recognition from APRA of this fact.
This is what happens with vertically integrated monopolies
If you were under any illusions about Telstra's nature as a vertically integrated telecommunications monopoly being wholly intact in Australia, just case your eye over what's happening with the ongoing attempts by Foxtel to launch its own broadband service in Australia.
Telstra 4G trials hit 300Mbps
Just how fast can 4G mobile broadband go? Very fast, according to Telstra, which has been conducting trials of LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation technology.
Oops … Tesla enthusiast charges car on Qld windfarm
Headline says it all, really. The future is here.
Deakin Uni first in Australia to get Cisco’s new SDN gear
I'm attending Cisco Live in Melbourne this week, and I have to say that while there is a lot of marketing hype out there about software-defined networking and the kinds of complex network/app/processing integration that Cisco is hyping up, there is also a lot of real-world activity building out there with respect to this new paradigm.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
US doesn’t want Assange, says ambassador
Remember those high-handed statements and protests which erupted last week in Australia about the possibility of Australian citizen Julian Assange being extradited from Sweden to the US? Well, it turns out the US actually has no interest in extraditing the Wikileaks founder.
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:
Govt cloud use to require Ministers’ approval
A policy which stipulates that only one individual in the whole Federal Government can approve the use of IT assets in a certain manner is, by definition, asinine and irrational.
Judge overturns Galaxy Tab sale ban
Multiple media outlets are reporting this afternoon that the Federal Court of Australia has overturned Apple;s preliminary injunction against the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet in Australia.
PayPal chief hits Australia, wants POS payments
It appears as if PayPal global president Scott Thompson (pictured) has landed in Australia briefly. We’re not sure why he’s here, at this point, but he did stop in for a brief interview with Business Spectator supremo Alan Kohler as a guest on Kohler’s Inside Business slot on the ABC.
“Maddening, dispiriting, radically unbalanced”: A full legal analysis of the TPP leaks
In Australian intellectual property circles, there are few names which are more respected than that of Kimberlee Weatherall. That’s why we were personally thrilled to learn that Weatherall has recently published a mammoth blow by blow analysis of the enforcement provisions contained in the recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership IP chapter.
TPG’s PIPE Networks anti-competitive? Who would have thought?
If you didn’t laugh, you’d have to cry. Your writer has watched with great amusement over the past week as Megaport chief executive Bevan Slattery has been bitterly complaining about the fact that TPG Telecom has blocked certain types of third-party access to PIPE Networks’ datacentres. You can find Slattery’s problems outlined here on the blog of Megaport, which aims to build an interconnection fabric between various carriers and cloud computing providers.
Customs foregoes standalone CIO role in IT shakeup
The status of the title of Chief Information Officer continues to wax and wane as Australia’s Customs and Border Protection Service eliminates the role’s standing as a separate concern during a shakeup of its IT operations that began earlier this month and is expected to be complete by 1 July.
Forget it, Australia: No Amazon Fire TV for you
Global content Amazon giant overnight unveiled Fire TV, an Apple TV-like set-top device which is designed to stream movies, TV shows to consumers' televisions, as well as providing video game functionality. However, as with many of Amazon's product launches in the past, there appear to be no immediate plans to ship the device to Australia.
How to get around Australian geo-blocking
Frustrated that you can't watch Netflix because you've got an Australian IP address? Can't log into Hulu? It's a common problem, and one that many Australians find frustrating. However, due to the magic goodness of the Internet, there are ways around these kinds of headaches.
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.
Bill Gates backs away from NBN debate
Bill Gates admits he doesn't know enough to comment on the National Broadband Network.
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.
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.
Global sites still slow, says NBN early adopter
Menon's point is a good one -- Australia's international internet links still aren't the greatest, and much will depend on the quality of your ISP's links, as well as the general load of internet traffic on the day to particular sites, their database configuration, how many network hops there are between your PC and their server, and so on.
2,000 Qld IT staff to be outsourced, says union
Some 2,000 Queensland Government IT staff are set to be outsourced in the wake of the state's disastrous ICT Audit, according to one of the Government's main unions.
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.
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.
Virgin wants in on Australian IPTV scene
It seems that no matter where you look, someone is trying to fix the Australian Internet television market. Attorney-General George Brandis, as his Labor predecessor Mark Dreyfus did before him, is trying to block Internet piracy. Quickflix and FetchTV are still trying to create viable competitors to Foxtel's pay TV operation. And Foxtel itself is obviously trying to make as much hay as possible while its sun still shines. Into this fraught situation comes Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
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.
‘Digital dividend’ spectrum battle will be over quickly: analysts
Australia’s long-awaited ‘digital dividend’ auction kicks off today, but may be a relative non-event with the reserve set relatively high and Telstra expected to dominate proceedings as it rushes to snap up as much spectrum for its 4G LTE services as possible.
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.
$752m: NSW Education Dept’s SAP-based LMBR system doubles in cost
Those of us who've been around the traps for a while know that it's extremely common for major IT projects to go over budget. 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent ... these are all normal amounts for a project's costs to blow out by, and of course delays to projects' delivery schedule are also common. However, what would you think of a project which doubled in cost over its lifetime?
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.
Infrastructure Dept signs ASG for ICT services again
If you were working in Federal Government ICT circles back in 2008, you may recall that the then-Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government signed a $30 million deal (PDF) with local IT services group ASP for a comprehensive range of services ranging from desktop support to servers, laptops, printers and more. Well, news arrived this week that the Department is so happy with ASG — after seven years — that it has re-signed the contract.
2014 will be a great year for the NBN … pity it’s the last
By all accounts, 2014 is shaping up as a pretty good year for the actual National Broadband Network rollout. As I write on Delimiter 2.0 today (paywalled), the project has a solid amount of Fibre to the Premises construction work set to deliver this year, and there are other reasons to be optimistic about how the next 12 months will pan out. But from 2015, it's all downhill.
CommBank CIO rich enough to buy own island
Just how rich is Commonwealth Bank chief information officer Michael Harte? Rich enough to buy his own mediterranean island, according to Ninemsn, which today detailed the executive's attempt to buy the island of Budelli off the coast of Italy.
BPOS holdouts have “head in the sand”, says MVP
Office 365 MVP Loryan Strant has some pretty harsh words today for those Australian customers who have proven unwilling to migrate off Microsoft's defunct Business Productivity Online Suite platform (which is being essentially shut down) and onto Office 365.
Telstra pumps $18m into US startup Kony
Telstra has been talking up its investment arm for a while now, and it's good to see the company start to make some strategic investments. It's just a pity that it's not focusing more on Australia.
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.
Kogan drags ISPOne into court over mobile
blog Remember how Kogan issued a strenuous denial that it was its fault that high-usage customers were being dumped from its fladgling "unlimited" mobile...
Optus a “disgusting” company, says AFL chief
AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has reportedly blown his stack over Optus' appeal in the ongoing legal drama over the telco's TV Now Internet TV recording system, labelling the company "a disgusting organisation" which was undermining the rights of sports companies.
“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.
Brisbane City Council plans IT offshoring
All the cool kids are conducting IT outsourcing initiatives this year. Boral’s doing it, Woolworths is doing it; it’s basically par for the course if you’re a major corporation or government department. But that hasn’t stopped one of the Brisbane City Council’s main unions from jumping up and down over Brisbane City Council’s plans to shift up to 50 IT roles offshore.
Chinese spy concerns: Key Australian defence agencies ban Lenovo
According to the Financial Review, PCs made by Lenovo have been banned from the “secret” and ‘‘top secret” networks of the intelligence and defence services of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, due to similar spying concerns as have been published about Chinese networking vendor Huawei.
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.
Telstra 3G performance dropping, claims mag
Now we've got some further evidence that despite the constant #badoptus claims, Australia's number two telco might be catching up when it comes to 3G mobile broadband -- although not, perhaps, through anything Optus has done.
Qld loses IT renewal chief after just nine months
The Queensland Government appears to have suffered a substantial blow to its attempts to reform its technology infrastructure, with the news reported late last week that the executive in charge of that renewal program, Glenn Walker, had resigned for a position in the private sector.
Abbott, Turnbull: No NBN talks with Murdoch
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull both deny they've held discussions with News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch over the National Broadband Network.
NAB loses CIO Denis McGee
As reported by half a dozen media outlets over the past 24 hours, long-time National Australia Bank senior IT executive Denis McGee, who has most recently held the post of chief information officer, has resigned.
Turnbull outlines Govt ICT vision
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has published an extensive article arguing that the Federal Government needed to do a better job of connecting with Australians via digital channels and that public sector IT projects needn't cost the huge amounts that some have in the past.
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.
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.
Qld’s Grant joins analyst firm IBRS
This week it emerged that Peter Grant, the two-time former Queensland Whole of Government CIO (pictured), has joined well-regarded analyst firm Intelligent Business Research Services (IBRS). We’ve long had a high regard for IBRS, and so it’s fantastic to see such an experienced executive join its ranks.
Assistant Minister Roy pitches innovation policy ‘hackathon’
If you follow Australia's technology startup scene at all, you are probably aware of the 'Startup Weekend' or 'hackathon' events that are regularly held across the country. It's a lot of fun and a great way to get involved in the tech startup community. So much fun, apparently, that the newly minted Assistant Minister for Innovation, Wyatt Roy, wants to bring the concept to the public policy debate over innovation.
Video: Quigley hits the 7:30 Report
We encourage you to check out this excellent interview 7:30 (previously the 7:30 Report) conducted with NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley, in the wake of the company’s problems negotiations with contractors to roll out fibre around the nation and the questions raised about any role Quigley and NBN Co CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret may have had in Alcatel-Lucent’s bribery allegations.
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.
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.
‘The filter is back’: Blocked site tells its story
In a lengthy piece on the ABC’s The Drum website this afternoon, the convenors of the Melbourne Free University site tell their story and argue that the situation with Australian Government website blocking is just not good enough.
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.
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".
Senior editor for The Australian backs data retention
We don’t pretend to know what goes on in the minds of journalists who work for News Ltd, but sometimes some really quite unexpected views appear in their articles. A perfect example is this (paywalled) article by Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor of News Ltd newspaper The Australian backing Labor’s extremely controversial data retention scheme.
Federal Govt releases big data strategy
The Federal Government has this afternoon released the formal version of its whole of government big data strategy, which whole of government chief information officer Glenn Archer and others in the Canberra public sector have been working on for some time.
Blizzard finally starts adding Australian servers
Those of you who've been long-term fans of the excellent video games produced by Blizzard Entertainment (StarCraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo) will recall that Australians have been fighting for many years to get the company to set up local servers to service the multi-player aspects of its games. Well, Blizzard has finally cracked, and Diablo III is the first cab off the rank to get the local seal of approval.
Announcing the winner of Delimiter’s Apple Watch draw!
Today I'm pleased to announce that the winner is Allan, who works in supply chain and IT. The Apple Watch will be dispatched shortly. Congrats!
Bronny Copter is here to save us from Bishop’s Choppergate
Tired of reading article after article about how Speaker of the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop should resign? Bored at work on a Thursday afternoon and need some diversion while the boss isn’t looking at your screen? Bronny Copter — an online game in the style of Flappy Bird from Melbourne developer Ricky Sullivan — is here to save you.
Don’t protect Australia’s mobile telcos, Mr Turnbull
Let's get real about this: Australia's mobile telcos can take care of themselves.
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.
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.
3G ASUS 7″ Fonepad lands Down Under
ASUS announces that its 3G, 7" Fonepad has landed in Australia, at prices starting from $329.
Good guy Gates on the NBN
Good guy Gates on the National Broadband Network.
Wanted: Delimiter 2.0 columnists
I am currently seeking regular columnists for Delimiter 2.0. You'll need to be able to write opinion/analysis pieces of a minimum of 1,500 words, on hot topics in Australia's technology scene. You'll need to use references to argue your case and have a broad understanding of the current dynamics of the industry.
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.
Reality check: Tasmanian overhead FTTP trials have already been done
As the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union argues today in an extremely valid point, there's no real need for more overhead FTTP trials in Tasmania -- those have already been done. I'd like to hear an answer from the Minister as to why we need more trials of overhead FTTP infrastructure in the Apple isle, when so much work along these lines has already been done.
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.
NSW Govt consults on ICT policy
The New South Wales Government, which has already been making waves in the IT industry for its comprehensive and forward-thinking ICT policy, has kicked off consultation on the next iteration of the strategy.
Tony Abbott still clinging onto the hallowed Blackberry
For many politicians, the Blackberry would have been their first real experience of a smartphone that did much more than telephone calls and SMS. Times have changed, but some offices in Parliament House change slower than others.
Australia gets “deluge” of data from PRISM, claims Fairfax
For those of you wondering just how much access the Australian Government has access to from the US Government's controversial PRISM spying program? Wonder no more. According to The Age, it's bucketloads -- enough that the Government has had to build a new datacentre to contain it.
Wollongong club group ditches email
Matt O’Hara, a club owner in Wollongong, has largely gotten rid of email for good, and is reportedly happier for it.
Senate contempt order: Could Conroy face gaol?
Frankly, I agree 100 percent with David. Labor is onto a winner with its National Broadband Network policy. There's a critical mass here. All it needs to do is eat a bit of humble pie and release one or two documents that the public, after all, has already paid for. Why is this too much to ask? It's a flaming democracy, after all.
Google publishes book on Aussie innovation
Google Australia has published a new 47 page book. Dubbed 'Australia's Innovation Generation' and part of the search giant's Start with Code campaign, the book chronicles the stories of ten innovative Australian entrepreneurs, including high-fliers such as Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes and entrepreneur-turned-investor Niki Scevak.
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.
CommBank’s MacBook Airs run Windows XP
The CommonWealth Bank of Australia is currently deploying thousands of MacBooks (Airs and Pros) to staff at its flagship new headquarters in Sydney's Darling Park complex ... but with Windows XP configured to boot by default.
US ambassador slams Australia’s “cloud protectionism”
US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich has slammed Australia's "cloud protectionism" in wanting datacentres located on-shore.
Advancing up the geek ladder …
The story of how iiNet tech Dean Bailey is gradually moving up the IT career path will be familiar to many of us. After starting with the ISP in its call centre three and a half years ago, Bailey writes on the company’s blog, he’s recently been promoted to associate programmer.
Ministers’ cloud approval lasted just a year
Remember how twelve months ago, the Federal Government released a new cloud computing security and privacy directive which required departments and agencies to explicitly acquire the approval of the Attorney-General and the relevant portfolio minister before government data containing private information could be stored in offshore facilities? Remember how the policy was strongly criticised by Microsoft, Government CIOs and Delimiter? Well, it looks like the policy is about to be reversed.
Qld Education Dept buys 14k Win8 tablets
If you were the chief information officer of a major education department and wanted to deploy a mass tablet rollout to thousands of students, would you pick Apple’s dominant iPad platform, which owns the majority of the tablet market? Or perhaps you’d go with the fastest-growing competitor and pick Android? That’s probably what we’d do. However, Queensland’s Department of Education has ignored both these options and gone for a Windows 8 model from Acer.
Even major banks still use archaic Excel spreadsheets for complex tasks
I hope this Suncorp example can serve as a stimulus for other organisations to shift off Excel for these kinds of complex tasks as well.
Delivery drones: Approach with caution
As many people will be aware, yesterday an Australian startup named Flirtey announced that it in March next year, it would launch a commercial drone package delivery service, using "fully automated drones" to deliver packages in inner Sydney through short flights. But can this claim be believed?
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.
IT management: Stepping away from the tools
Fascinating rumination here from Sydney-based Doug Rathbone, a long-time IT professional and current technical director at advertising agency BMF.
Telstra set for massive internal restructure
Telstra tends to go through at least one to two major or minor restructuring rounds per year, and the cuts that the telco has announced internally appear to help align Telstra's costs to the more profitable and growing areas of its business, while taking resources away from areas where its losses are accelerating.
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.
NT gives every police officer an iPad
The Northern Territory has reportedly confirmed plans to deploy Apple iPads to all of its frontline officers, in the latest local wide-scale deployment of tablet technology in a police force.
Switkowski worried about “heroic” effort needed to meet NBN targets
Some of you may recall that then-Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull was fond of using the word "heroic" with reference to the NBN company's rollout targets and revenue assumptions under the previous Labor Government, indicating that he did not believe they were realistic. With this in mind, we were surprised this week to read in the pages of the Financial Review that the NBN company's chair Ziggy Switkowski has chosen the same word to apply to the NBN's rollout plans for the next five years.
Simon Hackett is selling his original Tesla Roadster for a cool $150,000
But don't worry, Hackett's not short of speed, even though he's selling his original ride. He actually has another Roadster still in Australia and one in California, as well as a Tesla Model S. The Carsales ad for the car states: "Owner has too many Roadsters; this one is surplus to requirements." It's a hard life for a multi-multi-millionaire.
Pay protest: NBN contractor rips out new pipes
According to The Australian newspaper, a sub-contractor for NBN construction firm Syntheo has taken a rather unusual step after Syntheo didn't come through with his annointed pay packet.
SA Govt under constant cyberattack, claims CIO
South Australia's outgoing whole of government chief information officer Andrew Mills, who this month took up the same role in Queensland, has dramatically revealed the extent to which the state's IT infrastructure is being targeted by online attacks against.
Google starts demoing Glass in Australia
Google has shipped a couple of Glass units to Australia and has started demonstrating them with local media.
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.
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.
China concerned by Huawei NBN ban, says Bob Carr
Foreign Minister Bob Carr hit up the ABC's flagship current affairs program 7:30 last night and was quizzed by host Chris Uhlmann on, among other things, the attitude of Chinese officials to the Federal Government's move to block Chinese networking gear supplier Huawei from participating in National Broadband Network contracts.
Coca-Cola Amatil takes SAP project to Asia
For those wondering where Coca Cola Amatil is at with its comprehensive SAP-based internal enterprise IT applications overhaul project, wonder no more.
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.
Those Chinese mining hackers are back
Those of you with long memories will recall that some 12 months ago, Four Corners aired a controversial report claiming that several of Australia’s largest mining companies were under attack by Chinese hackers, with a view to siphoning off sensitive corporate information. This morning, that claim resurfaced again.
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.
Congrats to retiring UWS CIO Mick Houlahan
blog Great piece over at CIO, where journalist James Hutchinson chronicles the story of one of the old warhorses of Australia's chief information officer...
AUSTRAC tracks every AUD-Bitcoin conversion
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) admitted in a Senate Estimates session in Canberra this week that it is literally tracking every conversion between Bitcoins and Australian dollars. Wow. Talk about privacy-invasive.
Turnbull should welcome Quigley review: Budde
We were a little bit surprised when Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbul abjectly rejected a move by NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley last week to back an independent industry investigation into the merits of various high-speed broadband technologies. And, it appears we're not the only ones to think that way.
Westpac loses McKinnon deputy Sarv Girn
The fallout from the reshuffle at Westpac continued today, with the Financial Review breaking the news that senior IT executive Sarv Girn would quit the bank in search of a chief information officer role elsewhere.
Announcing the winner: Delimiter’s iPad giveaway
We award an iPad to a lucky Delimiter reader.
‘Thriving’ Aussie tech incubator scene a ‘mirage’
If you've been involved in Australia's technology startup community over the past several years, you will be aware that there have been multiple incubator programs that have been made available to entrepreneurs. Programs such as Startmate, PushStart, Telstra's Muru-D and so on have made early stage seed funding, mentorship and even physical work facilities available. However, according to one business consultant, the 'scene' is actually a lot more undeveloped than it seems.
Unhappy dragon: Westpac IBM outsourcing spreads to St George
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that up to 200 jobs at Westpac subsidiary St George may be outsourced to IBM.
Great example of how politics can destroy necessary IT projects
To my mind, this situation reflects the perfect example of politics interfering with sensible IT project delivery.
Spend-less Shoes replaces dated ERP platform
Speaking of ERP platforms, as we were earlier this morning, news arrived last week that local footwear retailer Spend-less Shoes will deploy a new platform. The company has picked Microsoft’s Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail platform, as detailed in a statement issued by Redmond.
Metronode launches NSW Govt datacentre
Those of you who’ve been paying attention to the developing situation with respect to IT inside the NSW Government will be aware that the state is currently attempting to consolidate its far-flung IT infrastructure down to just two datacentres, operated by Leighton subsidiary Metronode. This morning, Metronode tells us in a media release, one of those facilities launched to great pomp and ceremony.
Great article series on Australian DevOps/agile
If you've spent any time working in the global technology industry over the past five years, it would have been pretty hard to miss the growing importance of the 'DevOps' movement -- in short, the increasingly powerful attempt to break down the traditional disconnect between 'development' and 'operations' activity within IT shops, particularly associated with agile development techniques. So what's happening in Australia in this area? iTNews has this morning published several excellent feature articles on this topic, and we recommend you spend this morning reading them instead of actually doing work.
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.
Kogan loses licence in high-speed police chase
We know we’ve pinned Ruslan Kogan for a certain degree of … arrogance, previously, but we really didn’t expect the maverick online retail and consumer electronics guru to go quite this far in proving our point.
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.
Did Apple shift $9bn of profits out of Australia?
The Financial Review newspaper reports that Apple has shifted some $9 billion in profits out of Australia, avoiding a normal tax situation being applied to them.
Leighton confirms telco business sale
You may recall that diversified contract and industrial group Leighton Holdings has been looking to sell its NextGen, Metronode and Infoplex telecommunications and technology businesses for some time. At one stage interested bidders apparently included Telstra, but as it turns out, a somewhat different organisation has bought them.
Watch Delimiter’s article on Turnbull read out in Parliament
As you may remember, when Malcolm Turnbull seized the Prime Ministership from Tony Abbott two weeks ago, I took the chance to publish an examination of the Member for Wentworth’s history leading the Communications Portfolio over the past five years for the Coalition. What you may not have known is that it was also mentioned on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Surprise! PlayStation Now delayed for Australia
From the Department of No Surprises comes the news that Sony’s cloud-based PlayStation Now service — which allows users of its gaming consoles to play games online without having to download the content — will not initially be available to Australians when it launches in the middle of this year.
IBM Australia jobs going across the Tasman? Great, says New Zealand
We can’t help but be amused by this article in New Zealand’s premiere business newspaper, the National Business Review. In it, veteran technology reporter Chris Keall lampoons an email received by subscribers of the Australian Financial Review, in which the paper’s editor in chief Michael Stutchbury laments IBM Australia’s decision to send jobs offshore, including to New Zealand.
Huge surprise: FTTN trials already delayed
Well, we knew it was coming. The extensive delays suffered by NBN Co during its rollout under the previous Labor administration are starting to hit the project under the Coalition as well. Last week it was revealed that NBN Co's new deal with Telstra may not be inked until the end of 2014. And later on in the week ZDNet confirmed that NBN Co's trials of the Coalition's preferred Fibre to the Node technology have also been delayed. Surprise!
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.
Is this man Australia’s top geek?
Oh, dear. There exists a possibility that Internode chief Simon Hackett could win iiNet’s ‘Top Geek’ competition. He’s got our vote :)
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.
Telstra trialling 450Mbps 4G, says AFR
It’s only been a couple of months since mobile carrier Vodafone started claiming it’s got Australia’s fastest mobile broadband network, and although our tests show it has some basis to the claim, it appears it’s not a claim Telstra is going to take sitting down. The Financial Review newspaper reports this morning that the big T is testing mobile broadband speeds up to 450Mbps.
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.
HTC’s Android better than iOS, says Choice
We've said before that HTC's Sense UI is just beautiful ... it's hard to put one of the Korean manufacturer's new Android-based smartphones down once you pick it up and see the subtle motions taking place across its screen. But is the combination of Google's Android operating system with HTC Sense enough to outclass Apple's iOS?
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).