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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 212

Pick your extravagance of choice. Chocolate, coffee, fruit, whatever. If I offered you a free single serving of your indulgence immediately OR a full day with free access to your preference if you went without for a week, would you wait for the great…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 211

I started selling computers in 1989. Desktop computers. It took me three years to sell my first notebook. Despite the fact that desktops only hold a market share position of 22.6 per cent now, thirty years ago it was rare to see someone use a noteboo…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 210

I attended a local Chamber of Commerce function in April 2004 and the guest speaker was Tom Potter. No, not some distant relative of Harry. Tom founded the Eagle Boys Pizza chain in 1987. During his presentation, Tom mentioned that they had expanded …
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 209

Now normally I don’t like to blow my own trumpet but…Toot Toot! This week saw the thirtieth anniversary of the mobile phone network being switched on in my home city. My business had the privilege of enabling the very first connection in…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 208

A decade ago I was privileged to have a tour through a new $18 million tiered theatre that was nearing completion. What most impressed me was the acoustic performance of the theatre. Sitting in the audience in any seat a person on stage could be hear…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 207

Way back in those crazed eighties when most kids were watching a Steven Spielberg movie on their Betamax or learning to moonwalk like Michael Jackson, I was doing my best impression of emulating the stars of BMX Bandits – although I never could…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 206

“According to most studies, people’s number-one fear is public speaking. Number two is death…Now this means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” …
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 205

It was the night before my twenty-first birthday party and I was in high spirits. For some inexplicable reason, it was decided we should test the idiom of “zìxīang máodùn” or more simply put, what happens when an uns…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 204

I was a car thief once. OK, so not actually a car thief, but I remember the day when I certainly looked like a car thief. I didn’t have a dark hoodie and gloves that seem important for car thieves in the movies but I did have the one piece of e…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 203

Way back in 2009 I was writing columns for a computer magazine and I was discussing some concepts to reduce our carbon emissions. One of my speculative ideas was to produce all of Australia’s power via solar panels. My rudimentary calculations …
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 202

As I walked through my local supermarket this week, I performed one simple action that reminded me of the incredibly opulent society we live in. I checked the time on my watch and noticed that it was a little chilly outside. I removed my phone from m…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 201

I have often mused about the lack of intellectual discourse and logical debate around election time. Three-word catchphrases and headlines seem to dominate the landscape which doesn’t leave a lot of room to demonstrate the development of an ide…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 200

16 April 2006. Chittagong. The first day of the last Test in the Australia versus Bangladesh series. Jason ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie shared the new ball with Brett Lee. After Gillespie had finished his first five overs, he had the figures of thre…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 199

It may seem like quite an easy feat in our current environment but way back in 2006 I had an interesting request from a friend. His elderly father had passed away and their family was spread far and wide around the globe. Unfortunately, it simply was…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 198

When I was young, I would sometimes sit with my hip and groovy (much) older teenage sisters and listen to their music – usually on records but sometimes just listening to the radio. I remember one night when I heard Kiki Dee’s unique soul…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 197

As humans we have a basic desire to be loved – and an innate curiosity. If you want to see fast actions from a person, mix these two ingredients and stand back! “This is a tech column,” I hear you thinking. “Why is he talking …
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 196

I walked in to a local sporting goods store many years ago to buy a sports watch. The typical sort of thing for the day. A chunky watch with a separate external armband to track GPS location and a chest band to monitor heart rate. I remember asking t…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 195

The first car I owned was a V8 253 Holden HZ Ute – although I am ignoring my brother’s VC Valiant which he accused me of borrowing so often that I thought I owned it! I had gained most of my mechanical skills working on motorbikes as I wa…
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Fairfax Tech Talk Column 194

The earliest archaeological evidence of any type of wheel was discovered in Mesopotamia dated around 5,500 years old. Those early wheels were used for pottery creation so it was left to the Ancient Greeks to develop the wheel for transportation in so…
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