Tech Stream
Archive for the ‘ Social Networks’ Category
What now for Friendster?
31 July 2009
Listen and download: MP3
I had a chance this week to speak with Richard Kimber, the Australian-based CEO of one of the longest running social networking site on the web Friendster.com. We spoke about social networking trends in Asia; why Friendster made the physical move into the region and he also confirmed that the recent rumours on Tech Crunch were true: Friendster was looking for a buyer interested in purchasing the company or some of its assets. You can hear the full interview with the MP3 link at the top of this post, or read on for more.
A home grown social-network for all Cambodians
31 July 2009
Listen and download: MP3
AngkorOne.com is a new web-portal and social networking website in Cambodia which is hoping to attract Khmer language speakers from around the world, and maybe even challenge the dominance of Western services like Facebook. But unlike some of its competitors it’s also focused on social-outreach programs and supporting Cambodia’s tourism industry.
The founder and CEO of AngkorOne is Steven Path. He was born in Cambodia but moved to the United States at the age of 7. He has returned to his country of birth and is excited by the opportunities in his fast-growing, youthful nation.
Follow the MP3 link above to listen to our chat, or ‘right-click’ and ‘save link’ to download the audio. Thanks to Alex Khun from our Khmer language service at Radio Australia for organising this interview.
Tech Stream 022
17 July 2009
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The fictitious babel fish. An image form the BBC TV production of Douglas Adam’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Its a special Tech Stream program this week with a focus on language translation. We’re not quite at the stage yet where we can put a babel fish in our ears and understand every language on the planet, but we’re making some smaller breakthroughs online which are making communications across languages or access to international web content a lot easier. Listen with the MP3 link above or find out more after the jump…
Virtual Concerns in China and Australia
3 July 2009
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Inhabitants of Second Life, spending time on ABC Island. Image from Flickr by Gary Hayes.
We were augmenting our realities last week, adding layers of virtual information and computer generated objects to the real world around us. But this week we’re digging deeper on a couple of stories involving online virtual worlds – places like Second Life – and games like World of Warcraft.
It seemed that Australia’s proposed ISP-level internet filtering regime could impact upon “unclassified” virtual spaces and internet games. And some new laws were introduced in China this week aimed at stopping the flow of virtual money into the real world economy. Initial reports suggested that it might effect the practice of gold-farming in games like WoW, but it seems that’s not quite the case.
For more on both of these issues I spoke with David Holloway, editor of Metaverse Journal, a virtual worlds news site. He kicked off with his thoughts on China’s new policy toward virtual currency and you can hear our entire conversation from the MP3 link at the top of this story. There’s also more after the jump…
Tech Stream 019
26 June 2009
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QR coded jewelry – photo from Flickr by Fluid Forms.
We’re blurring the lines between the virtual and the physical this week in the Tech Stream. We’ll be speaking about augmented reality with Christy Dena, a cross-media researcher and Professor Bruce Thomas from the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia.
This leads us into a discussion on Quick Response or “QR” Codes which are being used in advertising as well as augmented reality games. Antony McGregor Dey from QMCodes and Mobile Mondays Melbourne will get us up to speed with this new way to link a physical-world object with something in an online or virtual environment.
We’ll also have a report from Connect Asia‘s David Wang on how the Chinese Government is cracking down on pornography online and accusing search engines like Google of disseminating pornographic content within China.
And finally Bajo joins us from Good Game to review the latest Ghostbusters video game.
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!
Tech Stream 018
19 June 2009
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PNG school children in Gaire, outside Port Moresby, trying out their new OLPC laptops in June last year. Photo from Flickr.
In the Tech Stream this week: Twitter connects the world to the post-election protests in Iran; the latest mobiles on display at CommunicAsia in Singapore; online vigilantes shutdown racism on Facebook; ICANN’s Dr Paul Twomey on the future of internet domain names; the One-Laptop-Per-Child scheme expands in the Pacific; and Bajo from Good Game joins us to chat about Infamous, the latest ‘open-world’ video game. Listen with the MP3 link above, full details after the jump…
Iran: Activism and Social Media
16 June 2009
ABC News Online has just launched a special feature with coverage of the political unrest in Iran and how social media tools like Flickr, Youtube and Twitter are being used to broadcast eyewitness reports of violence and protests. But internet users and activists in the country say that the government is blocking access to these kind of sites and disrupting transmission of SMS text messages. There’s more at ABC News Online, including integration of twitter and flickr streams.
Tech Stream 016
5 June 2009
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Electronic waste waiting to be recycled. Photo from Flickr by Eric Dykstra.
We’re marking World Environment Day in the Tech Stream this week. Jeff Angel, Executive Director of the Total Environment Centre tells us about Australia’s new electronic waste recycling scheme. Janet Leslie from Canon Australia explains their e-waste initiatives and ‘green’ calculators. And Elanto Wijayono from Green Map Indonesia introduces us to Open Green Maps – a set of online tools to help communities map natural, cultural and sustainable resources in their area.
But we kick off the program with the blocking of websites like Twitter and Flickr in China this week. Thursday was the 20th anniversary of the Chinese military’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Myself and Steve Holland from Connect Asia speak with a local Twitter user as well as Jeremy Goldkorn from Danwei.org and Beijing-based technology observer Kaiser Kuo. Radio Australia News Online also has a great feature on the anniversary. Lastly, technology journalist Adam Turner has the lowdown on Google Wave.
The entire program can be heard from the MP3 link at the top, and you can subscribe to the podcast with the link on the right. Feel free to leave a comment below on any of the content in the Tech Stream this week.
Tech Stream 013
15 May 2009
Listen and download: MP3
In the Tech Stream this week we’re at CeBIT Australia 2009, which is a massive information and communications technology (ICT) event in Sydney. I’ve been posting, tweeting and filing audio from the conference all week, and today we catch up with Dr David Skellern from NICTA; Peter Harrison from Austrade; Geoff McQueen from Hiive Systems; the Australian and New Zealand web development teams battling in the FullCodePress competition; and finally Christoper Hire from 2ThinkNow who sums up some of the ideas and discussions that took place at CeBIT.
We’ll have more from the conference and exhibition next week as well. Thanks to all the people who helped organise interviews for me, or gave up their time to speak with me during the week.
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!
CeBIT: Webciety and Hiive
15 May 2009
Listen and download: MP3
I spent a lot of time at CeBIT Australia 2009 in the Webciety area and met a lot of the teams whose web-based services were on display. Next week in the Tech Stream we’ll meet up with two of them, Travellr and Devnet, but the buzz this year was around Hiive Systems. The Australian startup won this year’s “Early Innovation” award for their service and client tracking software, Affinity. Their founder and Managing Director is Geoff McQueen and I somehow managed to drag him away from prospective clients to talk about Hiive Systems and the Webciety concept. You can listen to our chat with the MP3 link at the top of the story.
