LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

Don't shoot the instant messenger

Have just come back from two days up on the Sunshine Coast, where I was a guest at Phil Sim's MediaConnect Kickstart event. Twice a year Phil gathers together companies from across the industry to present to a room full of tech journalists. This was my first time in attendance.

As well as showing up, I was also asked to speak on a panel regarding electronic communication. It was a good chance to speak to many in the PR community and continue rattling the can in favour of technologies such as blogging and instant messaging. By pointing a large group of people back to this blog as the best source of knowledge for what I'm working on, I've also probably created a rod for my own back in needing to keep this constantly updated!

If anyone wants to contact me by IM, please drop me a note by e-mail (I know, but I need to keep some barriers up) and I'll add you on to my list.

Snippets

Another busy week with little time for constructive thought, but I did think it worthwhile to make mention of some of the more interesting bits of info that drifted into my inbox:

This is the week where Roy Morgan research announced that for the first time, the number of Australians who have a broadband Internet connection at exceeded the number of Australians with a pay TV connection at home. Telstra Bigpond announced that it had begun offering a video-on-demand service for PC users. And online advertising revenue was reported as growing at 60% for the year, hitting $620 million, and threatening to overtake radio and magazine advertising Download abvs_media_release_oaer_february_21_2005.pdf .

All in all, and interesting week in the development of Australia's IP-based industries!

Australian Anthill update

Apparently the link to Australian Anthill below isn't working, so please try this one instead - it goes to the flyer for edition 14. You can find my column - a description of part of Microsoft's research activities - here.

Podcasting goes pro

Apologies for the silent period - was fortunate enough to be taken off to Barcelona with Motorola to attend the annual 3GSM convention. More on that later.

In the meantime, here is a plug for my friend and colleague Bob Hughes, and an eight-hour podcasting course he has helped develop. Bob not only teaches the value of having a clear voice and good content, but also how to publicise a podcast. Information on the Podcast like a Pro course can be found at www.radioschool.biz.

Anthill #14 hits the streets

A quick note to say that the latest edition of Australian Anthill has hit the streets. If you're interested in innovation and entrepreneurship, I'd encourage you to take a look. Editor/publisher James Tuckerman and his team have done a great job of building this publication up from nothing. I've been writing a column for the mag since its inception - this edition focuses on a trip that I took as a guest of Microsoft to that company's research facilities in Silicon Valley, and subsequent discussions with executives there.