Tech Stream
Archive for March, 2009
Australia’s internet filter blacklist leaked
19 March 2009
ABC News Online reports that Wikileaks, an organisation that aims to reveal secret information, today published what it claims to be the ACMA blacklist. The Australian Government is planning to introduce a mandatory internet filter that will block access to a list of dangerous websites. Today’s leak has prompted an internet advocacy group to accuse the Government of making it easy to access child pornography. The full story is on ABC News Online and ZDNet Australia is also covering the story and the response on Twitter.
UPDATE: ABC News Online reports that Senator Stephen Conroy has denied that the official list was leaked.
Censorship and the Internet in Australia
17 March 2009
In the name of protecting children, the Australian government will decree we’ll be forbidden to see ‘unwanted’ and ‘inappropriate’ things on the web. But exactly what that means is a secret, and the thin end of the censorship wedge. ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing investigated the implications of the Federal Government’s proposed mandatory internet filtering scheme. You can listen to Wendy Carlisle’s excellent report from this MP3 link.
And the Sydney Morning Herald today reports that Australia’s communications regular, the ACMA, will fine people who post links to its website blacklist. Read the full article online.
A Gift of Robots
17 March 2009
Japanese student Tomohiro Aka donated his bipedal robot, nicknamed T-Rex, which won the ROBOCON 2008 Robo-Evolution competition. (ABC News: Damien Larkins)
From ABC News Online:
The Japanese Government has delivered a collection of warrior robots as a birthday present to Canberra’s Questacon Science and Technology Centre – which it co-founded 20 years ago. The robots were built by Japanese university students and were the winners of a national competition. The gift is to mark the 20th anniversary of Questacon which was built in partnership by Australia and Japan.
You can read more and also watch the video of this story, and ABC News also has footage of a “fembot” strutting a supposed Japanese catwalk. Weird.
Australia’s Queen of Youtube
17 March 2009
What does it take to be an online celebrity? In the case of Sydney’s Natalie Tran good looks certainly help, but a keen sense of comedic timing and the ability to build a tribe of followers is just as important. The 22 year old’s Community Channel is the most subscribed to on Youtube in Australia with over 200,000 signed up for her updates. She ranks 37th worldwide for subscribers and her videos have amassed 64 million views. Some of her videos have over 10,000 comments.
A quick flick through the videos doesn’t show her doing anything out of the ordinary – but she certainly has a quirky and cheeky take on everyday observations – like what a wink means, or why people don’t say goodbye at the end of a phone call. Her videos are well scripted, well cut, presented, filmed and paced. She plays all the parts and has an inclusive, inviting manner – she also doesn’t take herself or her success too seriously. Natalie Tran spoke with the Breakfast Club about her rise to the top of the Youtube pile. You can listen to the interview with this MP3 link.
Debate continues over Aussie video games ratings
16 March 2009
An interesting debate is taking place around the video game classifications system in Australia. It heated up today on the back of an opinion piece by Ron Curry, CEO of the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia. Writing on ABC News Online he argues that:
“with interactive entertainment now closely mirroring the film industry and given the majority of game players are adults, it would come as a surprise to many that Australia is the only developed country not to have a video game classification category that allows these adults to enjoy content which is age appropriate”
The lack of an R18+ rating for video games has frustrated gamers for many years and forced the banning in Australia of adult oriented video games like Fallout 3 (which was released after modifications were made). Ron Curry argues in his article today that:
“The introduction of a consistent and content-specific classification system will offer consumers the information they need to confidently make choices of the entertainment content which is appropriate for them and their families. Moving forward, a decision to approve the introduction of an R18+ rating for games must be made unanimously by attorneys general across the country.”
You can contribute your thoughts and participate in the debate on ABC News Online. The gaming website Kotaku has consistently run articles related to Australia’s video-game rating system. In March Kotaku disagreed with South Australia’s Attorney-General Michael Atkinson’s ongoing opposition to the R18+ classification. The Attorny-General made his case in response to comments on Kotaku today as well. The debate seems to be heating up.
And this is a story we’ll be keeping our eye on this year with our gaming segments and we would be keen to hear about how video games ratings are managed, or even if they exist, in your country. You can email me your thoughts via techstream (at) radioaustralia.net or leave a comment below.
ABC Mobile
16 March 2009
The ABC (of which Radio Australia is a part) has officially launched its online mobile presence. ABC Mobile is a new website built for use on mobile phones, which had been available in beta form for some months. Only image and text is available at the moment but future versions of the site will allow audio and video streaming.
The ABC also launched new applications for iPhone and Android mobile operating systems. The apps are free but only the Android version is available to users outside Australia. I just downloaded the iPhone application which looks quite nice and you can watch vodcasts with it, including Good Game, which tonight has a special on zombies… zomg! Hopefully down the track it will be available internationally.
The ABC mobile website for your phone is at m.abc.net.au (and yes it does work internationally) and more information is online. You can also have your say and share your thoughts on the service in the forums.
Battery Breakthroughs
16 March 2009
ABC News Online reported late last week that researchers in the US have developed a new lithium ion battery that is smaller and lighter than those used today and can recharge in seconds. This could be especially important for electric cars where, rather than waiting hours for the car battery to recharge, it could take as long as filling the tank with petrol. The full story is online and PM on ABC Radio also covered the breakthrough, which you can listen to as well.
Tech Stream 004
13 March 2009
Listen and download: MP3
In the Tech Stream radio and podcast program this week we chat about digital cameras and the megapixel race; download content for our gaming consoles with Bajo from Good Game; delve into the tricky subject of licensing music content online; the even trickier task of laying thousands of kilometres of cable under the sea to carry our internets; and Steve Wozniak dances up a light rainshower in our Epic Fail segment. Use the MP3 link in this story or to the right to hear the full program.
Aerospace Technology on show
13 March 2009
Australia’s F1-11 aircraft are on show before their retirement.
It isn’t just jetpacks on display this weekend at The Australian International Airshow and Aerospace Defence Exposition in Avalon, near Melbourne. The expo is a hub of high-tech aircraft, from the US F-16 Falcon through to gigantic C-5 Galaxy transports and the Russian-made Mig-26 which can just about stand on its tail in mid-air. But the airshow is also very much about Australia’s role in providing military technology to Asia’s burgeoning demand for arms. My colleague Bruce Hill from Pacific Beat went out to Avalon and produced a special feature for Radio Australia News Online.
Internet cables under the sea
13 March 2009
Listen and download: MP3
I was checking out Gizmodo last week when the video above caught my eye. The men are loading cable onto a boat in Japan called the Tyco Durable. It is one of two vessels heading to sea very soon to create a new undersea fibre-optic connection between Guam and Sydney. Pipe International is behind the project, which is due for completion in August, and is set to benefit internet users in Australia as well as the Pacific. I spoke with their CEO Bevan Slattery and you can listen to our chat by using the MP3 link at the top of this story. You can also follow the PPC-1 progress at Pipe International’s blog.
