Category Archives: Internet Happenings

Victorian Coalition Government Still Supporting NBN

Despite the fervent opposition to the National Broadband Network (NBN) from the Federal Coalition, in recent weeks the Victorian Coalition Government has repeatedly voiced support for the project. At a recent announcement of an $85m plan to promote ICT within Victoria, Minister for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips stated that the plan sought to “advocate the expedient [...]

Nice Start Google – But Not Enough

Many people will remember the “storm in a teacup” that was the inadvertent possible collection by Google of data from wireless networks, when performing photographic and geo-spatial data collection for their Street View product early last year. Even our good friend Senator Stephen Conroy got in on the act, labelling it the “single biggest privacy [...]

NBN: Myths Debunked

This video from Macquarie University has been around since August – but with recent announcements from the Federal Opposition regarding policy towards the National Broadband Network (NBN), and their ill-conceived, badly under engineered and ultimately more expensive Fibre to the Node (FTTN) plan, I thought it pertinent to spread this one out more widely. As [...]

Media Tripe and How Not To Use Facebook

I often get frustrated with how technology problems are portrayed in the mainstream media. Invariably, a nameless staff writer gets tapped to write a quick story about a tiny snippet that has appeared on a wire service somewhere, generally without any real knowledge or understanding of what they are trying to write about. This example [...]

Opposition “NBN” Plan To Cost More?

Opposition communications spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull has long argued that the government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) plan is far too expensive, with $26b to come from the public purse to build it. Information today that his alternative plan has been priced at approximately $17b fronts up some interesting questions. Although this number is $9b “less” than [...]

NBN: Some Massaging Ahead

Over the last week, NBN Co have been running the latest round of industry forums across the country, as the build of the National Broadband Network (NBN) prepares to ramp up to full scale over the next two years. Yesterday, the road show hit Melbourne, and continuing on from the last major forum in February, [...]

Trending Topics on Facebook Now?

Midst the unfolding drama that is the sudden grounding of Qantas, I noticed that Facebook appears to be analysing posts for trending topics now: “…and 4 other friends posted about Qantas.” Another move towards being Twitter?

NBN: What Will IPTV Look Like?

Over recent months, much of the debate surrounding the National Broadband Network (NBN) has revolved around what it will be used for. What will it provide to Australians, that current broadband infrastructure cannot? That depends very much on how you look at it – on a macro and/or micro level. Can the current systems deliver [...]