LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

Project Andromeda

Most organisations that decide to become carbon neutral undertake a relatively lengthy process, starting with a an assessment process, then working through reducing emissions, before seeking an appropriate offset scheme. Project Andromeda however has a method that gives willing businesses a mechanism that can get them better than carbon neutral from day one, with improving returns over time. I met with the founder, Robert Clarke, earlier this week, and you can find out more about his company here.

Before Web 2.0 was trendy ...

Caught up with Neil and Jay from The Sound Alliance this week. For the past seven or so years they have been building one of the strongest online communities in Australia, Inthemix.com.au, dedicated to dance music and related culture in Australia. Over the years they've taken that experience in running online communities and expanded it into different fields, including rock music (Faster Louder) and gay culture (SameSame). With around 180,000 members, many of whom are regular posters to its forums,The  Sound Alliance is an good example of a Web 2.0 company that kind of became one by default. And if you want to see something funny, check out this viral campaign they created for SameSame, taking a few liberties with the words of Australia's Prime Minister.

Making a Greenbang

I met the English journalist Dan Illet on a trip to South Africa last year. Since then we've stayed in touch, and it's great to see that he has taken his interest in the environment and mobilised it, with the creation of Greenbang, a blog that explores environmental issues, with a slightly tech slant.

You might also be interested in the results quoted in Hitwise's latest newsletter (Download hitwise_australia_newsletter_june_2007.htm ), highlighting the search terms that are the favourites of Australians right now when it comes to researching environmental issues.

B&T - Wake up, the future's here

A few weeks back I mentioned that I had the pleasure of speaking to Advertising Age columnist and industry maverick Bob Garfield, in anticipation of his gig speaking at the ADMA conference as a guest of the interactive development group HotHouse Interactive. That story made it into the most recent edition of B&T, and while it didn't make it onto the website, I've posted the draft version of the story here: Download bob_garfield_draft.rtf

Bob is very probably one of the most articulate people I have ever spoken to regarding the changes that are (and will continue) sweeping the global marketing industry, as web-driven fragmentation continues to pull apart existing models. It is that thinking that I hope I've captured at least in part in this profile.

Beware podcasters carrying audio recorders ...

Am currently down in Melbourne as a guest of Microsoft at its Remix event for developers and designers. Has been an interesting couple of days, and a good chance to stick my head back into the more technical aspects of the industry.  Am also here to host a panel  session with Cameron Reilly, Ben Barren, Richard MacManus, and Michael Kordahi, to discuss all things Web 2.0.

Have already had an interesting session with Cameron at the speakers dinner on Sunday night, when he  ambushed me (ok, so I was a willing victim...) to ask me about the recent 'people ready' Microsoft blogger campaign, but which somehow moved along to a more general discussion about journalistic ethics. The session starts with a conversation with Richard and then Microsoft technical evangelist Frank Arrigo . You can check out the full stream here.

Global Warming sweeps People's Choice awards

A few days back I wrote about Chris Simon's global warming themed mobile clips and how they were performing in the Sydney Film Festival's People's Choice awards. It's great then to see that his clip Snow took out the award this weekend. With rumours of a made-for-mobile movie starring Australian actor Hugo Weaving, and possible involvement in the global Live Earth concerts, it will be interesting to see where Chris takes this. For the full release, click here: Download global_warming_sweeps_peoples_choice_awards.rtf

B&T - How to make the right call on mobile ads

I've been following the development of Australia's mobile content industry for some time. Unfortunately, there hasn't always been that much to write about. High data rates and restrictive content hosting policies from the telcos have held back the development of services, while advertisers have been reticent to leap into using the mobile phone as a media channel. That means that it's been up to the consumer to pay for content. Unfortunately, it's been a case of consumers mostly being unaware of what they are missing out on.

In other media, such as television and radio, consumers had the chance to get used to the service before advertising ever appeared. Usually the commercial models evolved only after a government subsidised content channel had been established. This isn't the case with mobile phones, where consumers have to get used to the concept of receiving content over their phone at the same time as seeing it subsidised by advertising revenue.

Hence, the development of mobile advertising in Australia has been a slow burn. But there are signs that things are turning around, which was the subject of this feature from B&T. The full story is not up on the web site, but you can check out the un-subbed draft version here: Download mobile_ad_draft.rtf

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Web 2.0 in Australia video now available

If anyone is interested in checking out a video of Ross Dawson's recent Web 2.0 in Australia event, check out this link. The video is fully indexed, so viewers can go straight to the individual presentation or panel.

Tony Faure Domain podcast

If you (like me) missed Mike Walsh's most recent Domain interview with ninemsn CEO Tony Faure , the lads at Viocorp have posted a podcast of the event here. Alternately, you can also check out the draft version of my profile of Tony Faure from B&T here: Download tony_faure_draft.rtf .

Web Directions South earlybird pricing ending

Just a quick note on behalf of  John Allsopp to say that for anyone wanting to attend the Web Directions South conference in Sydney on September 25-29, the early-bird pricing ends on June 30. Get in fast and save yourself $200.