Tech Stream
Posts Tagged ‘ Mobile’
Tech Stream 023
24 July 2009
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Mobile money, Google vs Microsoft and gaming in the Wild West. Its a mixed bag in the Tech Stream this week. You can listen to the full program with the MP3 link above or read more after the jump…
Tech Stream 020
3 July 2009
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Micro-USB connectors, already in use for charging some mobile phones, are set to become a standard for all.
We heard back in February that the worldwide mobile industry had at last decided on the connection format for a universal charger compatible with all mobile phones. Its good news for you and me because we don’t have to keep an assortment of chargers on hand, or get a new type when we upgrade our phone. But its even better news for the environment, with less of this kind of electronic waste finding its way into landfill.
That’s coming up in the Tech Stream today, plus the future of e-books and publishing in the digital age… and the intersection between virtual and real economies. Full details after the jump.
Augmented Reality
26 June 2009
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We caught a glimpse this week of some mobile applications that allow you to look at the world around you and see an overlay of virtual information. Point the phone’s camera at a building and a dialog box pops up on the screen with what it is, when it was built, how far away it is from you etc. You can still see the physical world but now virtual content has been added on top. This is an example of augmented reality. More after the jump…
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…
Broadband growth driven by Asia
18 June 2009
The ICT expo CommunicAsia is taking place in Singapore this week and their daily newsbrief (pdf link) has some interesting stats on the growth of broadband take up in the region. Their figures indicate that broadband lines topped 429.2 million globally as of the end of the first quarter of 2009 with most of that growth being driven by Asia.
Tech Stream 017
12 June 2009
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A WiMAX USB dongle. Photo from Flickr by Hirotomo Oi
In the Tech Stream this week we get serious about our games. The Good Game team return from the E3 games expo with news of motion sensor technology which could allow us to throw away our controllers; and we’re joined by “Serious Games” experts Noah Falstein and Dr Ian Bogost who are in Australia for a conference on Serious Games in Sydney. You can listen to their full interview on a previous post.
We also look at the rollout of WiMAX wireless broadband in Fiji and Papua new Guinea… and tech-journo Danny Gorog join us with the lowdown on the new iPhone 3Gs and OS3.0 mobile operating system which was announced at Apple’s WWDC on Monday.
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 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.
Tech Stream 011
1 May 2009
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Voxopop’s audio message boards are popular with people learning English.
In the Tech Stream this week, Firemint’s Robert Murray talks about their mobile game Flight Control which is a #1 worldwide hit; discover a social-networking discussion site Voxopop.com which allows people to start audio-based forums and has been taken up by English language learners across the world; Danny Gorog takes us under the hood of the Kindle 2 eBook reader; we learn how to reduce the impact our PCs have on the environment; and the increasing popularity of shanzhai phones in China.
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!
A runway hit
30 April 2009
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They got game: the Firemint team in their Richmond studio.
An Australian game developer has an unexpected hit on its hands. The company, Firemint, is based in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, and has been producing games for mobiles and other platforms for the past decade. But it was while on a Christmas break from the office that their CEO Robert Murray and his wife Alexandra hit on the idea for Flight Control, a simple but very addictive game for the iPhone and iPod-Touch.
It’s become a worldwide hit and some in the media have speculated that around half a million people have downloaded the game. Firemint are keeping the exact figure under wraps but Rob was happy to talk more about the success of Flight Control and share his thoughts on the future of mobile gaming.
You can listen to our chat via the MP3 link above or have this and all the audio in the Tech Stream delivered straight to your computer or portable media player by subscribing to our podcast.
Shanzhai Phones
28 April 2009
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Counterfeit mobile phones are big business in China, with research firm Gartner suggesting they already account for more than 20 percent of sales in the world’s biggest mobile phone market. The New York Times reports today on the boom in blackmarket “Shanzhai” phones, which often sell for as little as US$35 each, far less than the devices they are ripping off. And while these devices have been available for years, the drop in price for components and the ability to tap into the supply chains of the bigger brands has made it possible for a small company to mimic anything from an iPhone to the latest Nokia or Motorola.
