Tech Stream

Tech Stream 020

3 July 2009

Listen and download: MP3

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.

First up we speak with David Holloway from Metaverse Journal about new laws in China aimed at limiting the flow of virtual gold, coins and credits into their real economy.

Universal mobile phone chargers are coming to Europe, with the major mobile manufacturers there committing to adopting the micro-USB format on all phones from 2012.  We speak with Chris Althaus, CEO for AMTA, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, about why this idea has taken so long to implement.

Desmond Ong from Connect Asia files a report on software developed by the Falun Gong which is being used in Iran to get around the internet censorship there. Radio Australia News has more online as well.  And Meredith Griffiths looks at the delayed rollout of China’s Green Dam Youth Portal filtering software.  A full transcript from The World Today is here.

And finally Ramona Koval from Radio National’s Book Show speaks about changes in book publishing with Ivor Noble from DNMAL, an Australian company making inroads into the overseas e-book market… and David Taylor, President of Lightning Source, a print-on-demand company based in the United States and the UK.

We also meet author and historian Dr Ann Kirschner, who experiments with reading the same book across four different technologies: a paperback, an audio book, a Kindle e-book reader and a mobile phone.  There’s more on the Book Show website.

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!