Tech Stream
Posts Tagged ‘ sydney’
Lars from Google in the Nightlife
22 September 2009
Listen and download: MP3
Brother Lars and Jens Rasmussen are the brains behind the now ubiquitous online navigation system Google Maps. Their mapping technology company, Where 2 Technologies, was bought by Google in 2004 and they were brought into the fold to turn their ideas into what we now know as Google Maps. Soon they were thinking of new ideas to pursue, and are now following Jens’ suggestion to create a new way to communicate online. That tool, developed in Sydney, is called Google Wave. It was unveiled earlier this year and will be opened up to a select few users at the end of the month.
Lars Rasmussen joined Tony Delroy and Pall Wallbank in ABC Local Radio’s Nightlife program on Thursday last week. He fielded calls from listeners and spoke at length about the development of Google Maps and gave some fresh insights into Google Wave.
I posted on twitter that this interview was happening and got some requests to hear it. Tony and his team were kind enough to allow me to post an edited highlights of the program which you can hear via the MP3 link above.
The video Lars mentions toward the 17 minute mark is below. Be warned, it goes for over an hour and there’s some Google Kool-aid being passed around at times:
And ABC Fora featured a video with Lars Rasmussen in July which you can find here or watch below:
Tech Stream 014
22 May 2009
Listen and download: MP3

Photo from Flickr by Jose Roberto.
We’ve got our head in the clouds this week in the Tech Stream. There’s a buzz around the term “cloud computing” and I lost count how many times it was mentioned at CeBIT Australia 2009 last week in Sydney. I spoke with two local businesses on the exhibition floor about how they’re providing solutions for those wishing to work “in the cloud” and luckily they both offered to explain what the term “cloud computing” actually means.
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 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: 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!
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.
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.









