Tech Talk Column

When I first started selling mobiles phones in 1990, there was no doubt about the number one brand. Motorola. If you wanted to sell mobiles but didn’t stock Motorola, then you weren’t serious. Motorola had a proud heritage in mobiles with…

Back in my days of running my Managed Service IT business where we managed hundreds of computer networks for clients across the nation, I used to tell a story of the importance of holistic security. We would setup servers and routers behind firewalls…

In my youth growing up in Dubbo, one of my favourite pursuits was motocross racing at Morris Park – and other venues around the State. I remember one particular rider who was an exceptional racer. The story around the track was that he honed hi…

Those of you of a similar vintage to myself may remember Richard Pryor acting in Superman III. I remember Richard Pryor more for being a stand-up comedian than an actor in a series of movies starring Christopher Reeve, but I do remember his role in t…

A few years ago I was speaking at a conference near Colombo in Sri Lanka and the conference organiser had booked accommodation for me at the Taj Exotica in Bentota. This was about a thirty-minute drive from the conference centre and each day of the c…

If you have seen the comedy film, Why Him, you will remember the voice of Kaley Cuoco (famous for her role as Penny in The Big Bang Theory) as Justine, Laird’s in-home artificial intelligence. Justine is incredibly helpful – some might sa…

Trust in business is an interesting concept. Without thinking too hard about it, we inherently have different levels of trust expectations in various organisations we deal with. Often it comes down to the importance of what we are purchasing, the pri…

I did say in my column last week that you would think I would have learned by now that making predictions for the next year in the world of technology is somewhat foolhardy as the technology world changes so quickly. I also said that I expect some pe…

You would think I would be old enough to know better. I have been writing and speaking about technology for over fifteen years and this year is my thirtieth involved in the technology industry yet I still don’t seem to have learned from the pas…

For my last column of the year, I thought I would interrupt my relaxed watching of the Boxing Day Test and glance back at my previous fifty-two columns and pick the best bits from the year. It seemed simple and quick and would allow me to get back to…

I was at Dundullimal on Wednesday night this week where the local Mountain Bike (MTB) Club raced for the last time for the year. In line with our annual tradition, pizzas were ordered so the riders could sit around at the end of the race and enjoy so…

Do you remember the major discussion point in September 2015? It was all anyone could talk about. Apple announced their new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – sans headphone jack. It was the death of the iPhone. It was the beginning of the end for Ap…

On 7 June 2010, Steve Jobs launched the latest and most advanced smartphone on the market. The iPhone 4. Apart from many features it had that were the ‘best ever’, one boast particularly caught my eye (pre-pun). Jobs introduced a new disp…

I am an unabashed fan of electric cars. I also believe that if you talk the talk, you need to walk the walk. To that point, I am currently driving number seven electric or electric hybrid car since 2005. In order: Toyota Prius; Toyota Camry Hybrid; H…

Look briefly at the following transcript of a recorded telephone conversation between someone wanting to book a table at a restaurant and the restaurant. Restaurant: Good evening. Caller: Hello? Restaurant: Hello. Caller: Hi, um, I’d like to re…

When you walk around an office building, you can easily spot all the people that have watched the movie, Snowden. They are the ones with items stuck over the camera on their PC to block the NSA (or other agencies and individuals) from spying on their…

The very first phone I sold – way back in 1990 – was an NEC P3 but the most popular handheld mobile I sold around that time was the Motorola 8000. In much the same way that Apple started the smartphone revolution, the Motorola ‘bric…

When a young person with a clipboard approaches you on the street to ask a survey question, the researchers think they are obtaining the true thoughts of a randomised sample. That may well be the case – but it does depend on the question and th…

I have to get something off my chest. I believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC). Actually, that isn’t strictly correct. It is not so much that I believe in Climate Change any more than I believe in the fact our planet revolves around the …