Tech Talk Column

Christmas is almost upon us and I know you are still running around looking for those last-minute gifts. Where better to look than the world of technology. I have compiled a few items that will have your inner geek drooling. To start with the future,…

In building my home over seventeen years ago, I had it wired specifically to a home automation standard that Clipsal had designed. It was in the very early days of home automation so the programming of the devices was quite clumsy and the interface l…

Just sit back for a minute and think of the process involved to deliver you the computer sitting on your desk or the phone sitting in your hand (I am assuming you are reading this column in an electronic form of course). As electronics companies grow…

In 1858 the first inter-colony telegraph links were built when Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney were linked together with Brisbane being connected three years later. To emphasise the simplicity of the early networks, the Overland Telegraph Line was mad…

The term ‘Big Brother’ has entered our lexicon and is widely used throughout society today. As I am sure you are aware, the term comes from the title of George Orwell’s 1949 fictional novel by the same name where the residents of th…

In 2004 Nokia introduced the 7610 and the world of camera manufacturers started to change forever. It was the first megapixel camera and introduced the world to the concept of reasonable quality cameras in phones. It was only a short period of time b…

I constantly read a variety of Web sites and subscribe to various organisations to try and stay in touch with where the technological world is heading and I see new products every day. Some of them I shake my head at wonder how they received financia…

Over the last two months we have seen a plethora of new mobile phones hit the market from the biggest names in the business. The Sony Xperia X Performance; the ill-fated Samsung Note 7; the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus; the Google Pixel and Pixel XL and the S…

We are in the midst of an ongoing technology battle. You might think I am talking about Google V Samsung V Sony V Apple but this is a slightly different battle. The current battle we are witnessing in the Australian consumer market is between Apple a…

My issue today is about equity of access to technology. We live in a vast nation. Roughly 7.692 million square kilometres. Our population is not evenly spread across this vast nation with 66 per cent of Aussies living in our capital cities. The chall…

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…

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 …

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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…