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Fairfax Tech Column 12

Tech Talk Column

With a plethora of new smartphones having been released into the Australian market recently – including the iPhone 7; the Google Pixel; the Sony XZ and the ill-fated Note 7 – I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the featur…

2016

Telecommunications according to the Telstra CEO: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 20

Digitally Enhanced

It is a question I have often pondered. A person in a high-level position makes a comment and people stop and listen. The comments are used in newspaper articles and on news broadcasts and as we read or listen to the words we nod and acknowledge that…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 11

Tech Talk Column

Cloud computing is a term that is thrown around like a footy after the siren has sounded. To gain a better understanding of cloud computing, we should think of the electricity industry, in particular go back to the early days of electricity. Once it …

2016

Focus ‘N’ Commitment

Small Business Ru!e of the Month

In the battle of rock versus river, the river wins—eventually. Not through strength. Not through intelligence. Simply because the river perseveres against what seems like insurmountable odds. The Grand Canyon took five to six million years of p…

2016

Surveillance in our society: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 19

Digitally Enhanced

In terms of sales and critical acclaim, any list of the Top 100 novels of all time will feature one particular book published on 8 June 1949. As a piece of fiction, it displayed an incredible imagination by an author in his prime and I am sure he cou…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 10

Tech Talk Column

Modern technology should be like a motor car. You get in the car, push the start button, and drive away. You don’t typically think about the processes involved with the storage of electricity and the coils of copper turning inside the stator &n…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 9

Tech Talk Column

For those of us old enough to remember, cast your minds back to the eighties when we made our first visits to a video rental store to hire a VHS movie or even had the video store visit us in a mini-van. Being able to choose a movie rather than watch …

2016

Camera manufacturers: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 18

Digitally Enhanced

If I asked you to name the largest camera lens manufacturer in the world what would your answer be? Canon? Not a bad choice. The Japanese company has been making cameras since 1933 and specialises in cameras; photocopiers and printers. Nikon? Now par…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 8

Tech Talk Column

Whilst the region is excited about the advent of super-fast broadband, it is interesting to note what is happening behind the scenes to ensure the experience is what we expect it to be. Whilst the sound of downloading at speeds of 100Mbps is very exc…

2016

The next big thing in technology: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 17

Digitally Enhanced

What is the next ‘big thing’ in the world of technology? Well, to quote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you! The reality is that I don’t really know. I don’t believe that anyone truly kn…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 7

Tech Talk Column

The rise and fall of technology can happen incredibly quickly. What was the latest tech or ‘must have’ device yesterday can quickly become a footnote in history today. The latest announcement by BlackBerry is a classic example of this pro…

2016

The ongoing upgrade path: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 16

Digitally Enhanced

I know that you probably did the same thing as me on Thursday morning. I set the alarm for 2.58am. Jumped out of bed. Shook my son for thirty seconds to wake him from his deep sleep so he could share the experience with me and then sat down in the lo…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 6

Tech Talk Column

Here we are, days after a Federal election, and we still don’t know the result. The Australian Electoral Commission says that it could be a month before a result is known. Some seats that have candidates winning by a large margin have been decl…

2016

Apple Pay vs the big banks: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 15

Digitally Enhanced

It is September and Apple is in the news. There is nothing unusual about that. The Apple iPhone 4s was released on 14 October 2011 and every year after that, Apple has chosen September as the month to announce their latest iPhone. Consumers and mobil…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 5

Tech Talk Column

One of my great frustrations when travelling on commercial aircraft is the amount of drama that is seemingly created by the mobile phones and electronic equipment on-board. The situation hit the ridiculous level a couple of years ago when I was trave…

2016

The limitations of satellite: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 14

Digitally Enhanced

For a tech column it might seem a little out of place but I want to have a philosophical discussion today. Discussion is probably not the correct word as a discussion would normally involve multiple people putting forward different ideas and exchange…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 4

Tech Talk Column

Google recently hit the 2.4 million milestone. That is not a milestone in searches per second or revenue per hour but in how many kilometres their driverless cars have driven in fully autonomous mode. On 29 June 2011, Nevada was the first US State to…

2016

Latest mobile phone features: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 13

Digitally Enhanced

Watching James Bond or Mission Impossible films we have come to expect baddies in high-security campuses with the good guys trying to sneak past the security with fake fingerprints or replica eyeball signatures. It all seems a bit fanciful and while …

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 3

Tech Talk Column

I am often asked for my opinion on the biggest changes we have seen in the world around us in relation to technology. One of the areas that people will look back and laugh at in technological history is in relation to television. In the mid to late e…

2016