samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jul 28 2008 | australia, drinking, alcohol, tax
"The distilled liquor industry has been told to "go jump" by federal Treasurer Wayne Swan after it suggested the government's controversial alcopops tax was not tackling binge drinking."
The dirty war has begun, with the government still with its head in the sand. "It does indicate that tax in itself can be a blunt instrument to deal with a social problem," is the sanest thing said so far; the same can't be said about the rest of them in power.
- samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Mar 09 2009 | australia, internship, web apps
"As part of our annual internship program, an intern will often start working on an internal app to get familiar with our development environment, coding practices, etc. This year, star intern Andrew Canby was given the task of overhauling our current lunch ordering system. This is no easy task either, hell hath no fury like 12 hungry nerds so bugs or downtime are no an option!"
That's the kind of internship I'm looking for :)
- samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Feb 19 2009 | australia, freedom, internet, censorship
"Tech Wired today learned that the Australian Government will release its secret National Broadband Network Report if paid fees of up to $3,631.99. Just yesterday we reported on the progress of a Freedom of Information application put forward by Tech Wired to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE). "
Check out this series of posts - 3k+ for an already prepared document? And what are they really hiding. So many questions, but at least hopefully the document is finally coming - but possibly too late...
- samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Nov 02 2008 | internet, schools, government, filtering, australia
"The NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) plans to limit internet access on the laptops given to NSW's senior students under the 'digital education revolution' to a pre-approved list of websites... "Our internet filtering is unbreakable. We have a huge proxy array that does all the filtering..." said Wilson."
Unbreakable eh? Not sure you really want to be making that claim so soon. It's sad that the so-called 'digital education revolution' seems to be limited to what the government wants. Not that this hasn't been going on for a while already...
ShareViewed: 2 Times - samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jul 24 2008 | tv, internet, australia
"After a year in the making, the ABC tonight unveiled iView in Sydney. The internet site has six channels which allow people to watch a variety of ABC TV programs on demand. Among the channels are a children's channel, documentary, ABC shop, a news channel, arts and Catch-up where people can view popular shows from the last few weeks. The children's channel includes unique content not available on TV."
This is cool - could make PVRs useless if more other channels do it too (and if our internet quotas are fairer). Sucks that you can only download shows within a certain period though... and the fact that the shows on ABC that are worth watching are already available for download anyway :)
- samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jul 10 2008 | australia, microsoft, software, students, environment
"Team SOAK (Smart Operational Agriculture Kit) from Australia have been announced as the winners of the 2008 Imagine Cup!!! This is simply an amazing achievement, SOAK members Long Zheng, David Burela, Ed Hooper and Dimaz Pramudya have all come together from different Universities across Australia to create and complete their fantastic project, SOAK ."
Awesome work guys!
ShareViewed: 2 Times - samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jul 07 2008 | software, microsoft, australia, students
"A group of Australian University students, including one of Australia’s most well-known technology bloggers, has progressed to the finals of the Microsoft-sponsored Imagine Cup software development competition in Paris. Students David Burela, Long Zheng, Edward Hooper and Dimaz Pramudya, collectively called Team SOAK, showcased a solution that helps farmers moderate the use of water on their crops."
Pretty cool... all the best guys!
- samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jul 04 2008 | education, australia
"It’s obvious that Australia’s Digital Education Revolution(s) has massive potential for changing the face of education as we’ve known it for the past 50 or so years. But it also has the potential to be the biggest, most-expensive flop ever undertaken by any education system in the world... The real problems are not technical problems at all - they are all social problems."
Our education system needs a serious revamp, and a technical wizardry just isn't going to be enough. The facilities, teachers, methodology, syllabus... everything.
P.S. anyone find it funny Rudd's holding up a laptop from last century?
- samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jun 12 2008 | apple, australia, sydney
"Catch the opening of the first Apple Retail Store in Australia on 19 June, at 5:00 p.m. Be among the first to experience three bustling, glass-enclosed floors of everything Apple. We’ll be giving away limited-edition T-shirts to the first 2,500 customers... Come early and be among the first in Australia to experience the Apple Retail Store, Sydney — located on George Street in the heart of downtown."
A t-shirt? Come on, you can do better than that Apple... oh, maybe not after the iPhone margins were slashed :)
ShareViewed: 2 Times - samuel337 | Shared With: Everyone - Jun 03 2008 | apple, australia, store
"Apple's first official store in the southern hemisphere is coming to Sydney, with a giant banner announcing the store uncovered on George Street today. Apple said that the store, located on the corner of George Street between King and Market Streets, cost over AU$23 million to build, and there have been rumours the store is modelled on Apple's flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue."
Why does Sydney always get the cool things first? Grrr... You'd think someone as cool as Apple would know Melbourne's the cooler than Sydney :)
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