Tech Stream
Archive for May, 2009
CeBIT: Cool Toys
14 May 2009
Its time to get into the nitty gritty of what attracted me to CeBIT Australia 2009 in the first place: cool toys! Well, thats not exactly true. I’ve enjoyed the ideas, debates and innovation on show as well, but who can resist pocket sized projectors, 3D televisions, headphones that conduct sound through your bones instead of your ears (see photo above) and technology that lets you move a mouse on the screen with your eye! Woah.
The main parts of the conference are winding up, so I’m heading back out into it now, join me again with all these cool gadgets in the Tech Stream radio program, tomorrow afternoon across Asia and the Pacific on Radio Australia.
CeBIT: Greening Government
14 May 2009
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We’ve discussed the concept of Green IT in the Tech Stream previously, but often in reference to how you and I can make changes in the way we use the electrical appliances, like PCs in our own homes. If we all do our bit to reduce the electricity we use we can not only save money, but also significantly reduce the impact we have on the environment. Governments and business too are looking at ways to do this.
CeBIT: Investing in Innovation
14 May 2009
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One of the announcements in the Australian Government’s 2009 budget on Tuesday night was an extension to the funding for NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence. They have five laboratories around Australia and will receive AU$185million for 4 years from 2011. The CEO of NICTA, Dr David Skellern, was the moderator for a session at CeBIT Australia 2009 called Implementing Innovation and took part in a panel on how best to grow and nurture the digital economy in Australia. I spoke with him about NICTA’s presence at CeBIT, about the ideas being discussed at the conference including the future of wireless and mobile, and his reaction to the increase in NICTA’s funding. You can hear our interview via the MP3 link at the top of this story.
CeBIT at the end of Day 2
14 May 2009
Day two has wrapped at CeBIT Australia 2009 and you get the feeling that there’ll be less talking and more wheeling and dealing going on tomorrow.
CeBIT: NZ wins FullCodePress Competition
13 May 2009
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Haydn Thomsen from the NZ “Codeblacks” web development team, accepting their prize for their winning website.
The New Zealand team has beaten Australia in the second FullCodePress competition at CeBIT Australia 2009. They built a fully functional website in under 24 hours for the Rainbow Youth, a not-for-profit organisation based in Auckland. I had a chance to speak with the team, representatives from Rainbow Youth and also one of the NZ organizers Mike Brown. You can listen to with the MP3 link at the top of this story.
The best thing is that the Disability Discrimination Legal Centre in NSW also get to keep the website built for them by the Australian team. It will go online soon but you can have a look at it for a short time here and also at the winning build for Rainbow Youth. And the competition was documented online at FullCodePress.com
CeBIT: Global Opportunities
13 May 2009
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In spite of the recession prospects are still good for Australia’s information and communications technology (ICT) companies. That’s the message from Austrade, the Australian Government trade agency, who are at CeBIT to help local ICT businesses identify and develop export and investment opportunities overseas. I spoke with Austrade’s National Industry Manager for ICT, Peter Harrison, about the value of this event and also which countries are most interested in taking home some Australian technology.
CeBIT: Geek Olympics
13 May 2009
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FullCodePress is one of the more interesting things I found in the exhibition space at CeBIT Australia 2009. The idea is simple: two teams of web developers, one from New Zealand, the other from Australia, square off in a 24 hour battle to build a complete website for a not-for-profit organisation. I caught up with some members of the Australian team a couple of hours in, and also Roger Hudson who is one of the organisers of FullCodePress. Follow the MP3 link at the top of this story to listen.
The winning website will be announced at 11:30 today, Wednesday 13th of May.
CeBIT: Innovate now
12 May 2009
I’ve spent the morning at CeBIT Australia 2009, which kicked off today in Sydney with a keynote address from Stephen Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. The Minister opened the trade fair by saying that technology and innovation would play a substantial part in the recovery from the current recession.
CeBIT Australia 2009
11 May 2009
I’ll be in Sydney this week to cover the CeBIT Australia 2009 conference and exhibition. It’s the largest business technology event of its kind in the Asia Pacific and I’ll be blogging from the exhibition all week, as well as posting to twitter (you can follow me @tech_stream). I’ll also be trialling the Audio-boo service as well, which will allow me to file audio reports live to the web. Exciting stuff!
Tech Stream 012
8 May 2009
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In the Tech Stream this week we kick off with a look at the new Windows 7 “release candidate” from Microsoft which was made available for worldwide download on Tuesday. Renai Le May from IT news website ZDNet Australia has the lowdown. Simon Goodrich from Portable Content joins me for breakfast and we discuss what happens to innovation during tough economic times. We also have a story about what will happen to the popular .tv domain name should the Pacific nation of Tuvalu sink beneath the rising seas. And finally we have Bajo from Good Game with his thoughts on why some games get better with age (much like a fine wine) while others just get worse over time.
You can listen to the full Tech Stream program with the MP3 link above or the “Listen Now” link on the right. Feel free to comment on any of these stories or suggest something we can follow up in future programs. You can also subscribe to the podcast too!
