Blog

Sign Up for Monthly Newsletters

Featured In

Welcome to the Cloud: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 12

Digitally Enhanced

The modern IT and telecommunications employee speaks about the ‘cloud’ more than your early morning weatherman but what does it actually mean? When you hear this ubiquitous reference to something in the sky, how does it relate to the aver…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 2

Tech Talk Column

One of the more common first-world problems that I encounter in the world of technology is the issue of travelling internationally and using a mobile phone. Last year there were 9.2 million Australians who left our shores for a short stay overseas. W…

2016

The importance of keeping your data backed up: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 11

Digitally Enhanced

Imagine this. I am sitting at a café catching up on a few e-mails on my phone while enjoying my morning latte. As I pick up the glass, I forgot to read the warning that the glass may be hot so I instinctively let go of the hot glass and coffee…

2016

Fairfax Tech Column 1

Tech Talk Column

I sold Dubbo’s first ever mobile phone on 26 July 1990 and, as you can imagine, phones have changed somewhat since then. Regardless of whether the phone was one of the handbag-style bag-phones or a car-phone or a super-sleek handheld phone (ini…

2016

The death of VHS: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 10

Digitally Enhanced

In just two days we will see a significant chapter in the technology world closed. Less than two months shy of the fortieth anniversary of the introduction of VHS video recorders, Sanyo has announced that the last VHS unit in the world will roll off …

2016

NBN increases pressure on all Internet infrastructure: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 9

Digitally Enhanced

The 93.1 per cent of people in our region that use the Internet are mostly very excited about the current roll-out of the NBN (National Broadband Network). With promises of cheaper connections that are more reliable it does sound fantastic. Speed is …

2016

The blurred lines of social media and advertising: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 8

Digitally Enhanced

Thursday 22 March 2012 is the day that a light bulb was switched on for me. As I sat at the breakfast table on that morning, my fourteen-year-old daughter joined me for our cereal and toast. She asked if I had heard the big news. Having just returned…

2016

Electronic Voting at Elections: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 7

Digitally Enhanced

When it comes to personal issues, surveys show that people are extremely sensitive about their finances and their health records being exposed to the public. There was an outrage in April this year when medical files belonging to patients from a Melb…

2016

Mobile Phones on Planes: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 6

Digitally Enhanced

A couple of years ago I was sitting on QF12 travelling comfortably back from Los Angeles to Sydney. I had spent some time catching up on some work and taking care of a few e-mails. After sleeping for a few hours I woke up to see the sun rising from 3…

2016

Driverless cars: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 5

Digitally Enhanced

This week we trawl back through history to 1768 when Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first automobile – a steam-powered tricycle with a top speed of 3.6 km/h and able to carry four people. He went onto construct two steam tractors for the Frenc…

2016

The explosion of On Demand TV: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 4

Digitally Enhanced

Remembering back to the eighties always brings a flood of contrasting imagery. From a B-Grade actor playing his biggest role as POTUS through to an Australian Prime Minister making world headlines for wearing a terrible jacket whilst celebrating an A…

2016

International Mobile Roaming: Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 3

Digitally Enhanced

I took my wife for a romantic trip to Paris at the beginning of last year to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary and as we walked the streets of the City of Love, my wife would look for quaint cafes to eat at and interesting shopping location…

2016

Mobile phone radiation. Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 2

Digitally Enhanced

The mention of the acronym SARS strikes fear into anyone old enough to remember back to November 2002 when there was a worldwide outbreak of the disease. There were 8,096 cases reported and 774 deaths across 37 countries as a direct result of Severe …

2016

The Amalgamation Lament by Mathew Dickerson

Poetry

Can someone please tell me why we need this ham-fisted amalgamation? All the State Government rhetoric seems an oversimplification. “There will be more money,” we hear them exclaim, perhaps in desperation; But at best the figures are rubb…

2016

How can we use the NBN? Weekender Digitally Enhanced Column 1

Digitally Enhanced

For my first Digitally Enhanced column it would make sense to gaze into my crystal ball and call on years of experience and analyse the current technology environment to make some bold predictions on what the world of IT will look like in the near fu…

2016

The respect for democracy: Dubbo Photo News

Helicopter View

This was an opinion piece published in Dubbo Photo News on Thursday 26 May. . . I received a phone call last week. Actually I received a lot of calls and texts and e-mails and messages and…you get the idea. One phone call stood out though. I s…

2016

EOI for Council Advisory Board

Mayoral Column

In March 2016, Expressions of Interest were invited by Councillors who wanted to be a part of any Council going forward. I completed the form and sent in my application including the written information below: . . I have been representing the views o…

2016

The day democracy died in NSW: Final Weekender Column (107)

Helicopter View

Democracy. It is a simple enough word. Kids learn how to say and spell it from a young age. There are very few words in the English language that can stir up such emotion and motivate mankind to commit acts which would otherwise never be considered. …

2016

Daily Liberal Farewell and Thanks Column: 19 May 2016

Mayoral Column

It was 1708 days from the time that I first had the honour of leading this city to when my time was cut short last Thursday. In that time the numbers scare me. I wrote 200,000 words in columns; sat in 200 hours of radio interviews; spent 120 hours in…

2016