Tech Stream

Tech Stream 047

9 April 2010

Listen and download: MP3

A prototype Mesh Potato, developed as part of the Village Telco Project. (Flickr: Shuttleworth Foundation.)

In the Tech Stream this week we go hands-on with the new Apple iPad; learn about a low cost, community operated phone system, built on wi-fi networks, which is being trialled in East Timor; And we join Kratos on his ultra-violent rampage through mythical Ancient Greece in God of War 3.  Follow the MP3 link above to hear the program or read on for more details.

We start with the technology news of the week, including a story about AOL’s plans to either sell or shutdown the social networking website Bebo.  America Online bought the company for $850 million just two years ago, but it’s been struggling to compete against the world conquering Facebook.  Bebo had around 40 million users at time of sale, most of them in the UK.  But many young people in New Zealand and the Pacific also embraced the platform. The number of people using Bebo has now dropped to around 12 million, versus Facebook’s 460 million.  Stuff.co.nz covered the story from a NZ perspective, and Pete Cashmore from Mashable wrote for CNN about how to create an $850 million fad, like Bebo.

Our first guest in the Tech Stream is David Rowe, who joins us to share his experience in East Timor with the Village Telco Project. It is “an initiative to assemble and/or develop the cheapest, easiest-to-setup, easiest-to-manage, scalable, standards-based, wireless local do-it-yourself telephone company toolkit in the world”.  There’s more information about it on their website: http://www.villagetelco.org/

Technology journalist Adam Turner got his Apple iPad this week, and so we got him in to review the device.   He has also reviewed it on his Gadgets On The Go blog for The Age.   In other local coverage this week the ABC’s Media Watch program asks Will The Tablet Cure Newspapers’ Ills?  Jennifer Dudley Nicholson gives her Top 10 iPad disappointments and magical moments.   And Apple has announced details about the 4.0 firmware for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad which adds functionality like multitasking but could limit the way apps are made by third party developers. News.com.au covers the changes well today.

We finish with Bajo from ABC TV’s Good Game, and a review of God of War 3 for the PS3.

Are you a Bebo user? What would you do if it was shutdown?  Would you buy an iPad, or are you sick of hearing about it?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on the program, so leave a comment below.