Why Australia’s technologically illiterate politicians and emotionally fragile sportsmen, with their calls for tough new laws to police social media, need to have a good lie down.
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Apple’s new JesusPhone arrives — but it’s all about the software
The iPhone 5’s technical specifications and the early reactions to same are signs the smartphone hardware market is maturing. Apple’s fan base and tech media cheer squad are not.
READ MOREBusiness is drunk if it thinks it doesn’t have to police Facebook
The Advertising Standards Board says that all the stuff on a brand’s Facebook page is advertising and has to follow the rules for same. And so they should.
READ MOREAn Anonymous attack in search of a purpose
The problem with Anonymous is that it’s like a bloke with a hammer forever wandering around looking for nails. Last week’s hack of telco AAPT is a case in point.
READ MORETwitter is humanity, warts and all. Where’s the story in that?
Mocking the weak and stupid is universal human behaviour. So why is it global news when a young woman is ridiculed for asking an ill-informed question on Twitter?
READ MORE‘It’s how we connect’: Telstra and the spy sites mystery
Telstra has been tracking the websites visited by Next G mobile customers and sending the data overseas to a Canadian company that supplies censorship systems to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
READ MORENew revenue stream is kids’ play for Facebook
Children need to learn to interact and socialise, whether online or offline.
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America opens new front against Iran … online
Stock up on the ketamine and brace yourselves for a relentless new assault of PR-driven cyberwar scare stories. Barack Obama has been ramping up attacks on Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities.
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In Iran, Flame heats up the cold war online
Flame, one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software ever seen, has been loose inside Iran and elsewhere, undetected, for at least two years.
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Twitter mapping and how we choose our own adventure
Lessons from the latest map of the Australian Twittersphere: #auspol is driven by hardline conservatives, evangelical Christians don’t talk to outsiders, and the South Australian tourism, food and wine fraternity have formed their own little enclave on Planet Adelaide.
READ MOREIT: the opportunities, some lost, from a low-tech budget
Looked at through the tech industry’s glasses — note that “tech” these days means only information technology — the budget seems benign. But there is some opportunity.
READ MOREFacebook is profitable, but $86 billion is still speculation
Facebook’s IPO Roadshow, 30 minutes of video Kool-Aid that you can’t fast forward, contains all the usual elements of Silicon Valley hype.
READ MOREStreet View Wi-Fi: is it Google’s News of the World moment?
Google is, at its heart, a software research, development and engineering company that’s built and operates one of the biggest and most complex set of computer systems on the planet.
READ MOREAFACT’s appeal against iiNet decision dismissed
Internet service provider iiNet just won its long-running legal battle against the massed forces of Hollywood, but there’s some gotchas buried in the High Court decision.
READ MOREFacebook buys Instagram’s buzz in lead-up to share float
Facebook’s billion-dollar purchase of Instagram may look extravagant, but it makes sense if you consider scale, strategy, timing and the not-talked-about streams of personal data.
READ MOREApple in court: ACCC iPad fight tests dodgy 4G claims
4G is a dog’s breakfast, and Apple may end up eating it, served on an iPad. The ACCC says describing the new iPad as “iPad with WiFi + 4G” is misleading. They’ve got a point.
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The .xxx domain is here to stay, but Conroy could still block it
There was a legitimate reason for my attendance at the launch party for S-xpo, the “s-xuality lifestyle expo”, in Sydney Wednesday night: the sponsor of this bacchanalia was the company behind the new .xxx internet domain for adult sites.
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The tweets must flow, except when they risk revenue
Twitter’s announcement that it will censor tweets on a country-by-country basis has triggered an immediate global outrage about free speech.
READ MOREAh, the tech-soap that is Apple will run and run
Just in case you stayed under your rock longer than usual this morning, there’s been two huge stories about the world’s richest technology company overnight.
READ MOREThe snake oil that is domain registries’ big fat new revenue stream
The amount of bullshit reportage being published over this massive change to the internet’s domain name system is breathtaking.
READ MOREStilgherrian: still mid-game in the digital year that was
Well, the conversion of all human existence into digital form continues to make steady progress. Few real obstacles were encountered this year, despite repeated attempts to frighten us off.
READ MORETurnbull overstating the uncommercial NBN case … mostly
Malcolm Turnbull is portraying Thursday’s Productivity Commission report on the NBN Co’s greenfield fibre rollouts as proof the National Broadband Network is anti-competitive and uncommercial. He’s massively overstating the case. Mostly.
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Turnbull’s NBN twilight zone — give the man a cigar (Cuban of course)
“Cuba”? What the heck do any of us know about broadband policy in Cuba, Mr Turnbull? Oh wait. I get it. Communism. Well played, sir.
READ MORESteve Jobs deserved his cult — you don’t even know how he influenced you
Steven “Steve” Paul Jobs is dead. He certainly influenced my life. And yours too. Even if you’ve never bought an Apple product.
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iPhone release: no bunch of fives to the fore, but it’s OK
So yeah, the compulsory iPhone story. They made me do it
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