LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

Next - Mains mainly safe

I first came across the idea for this story when I received a note from Typepad to say that its blogging service (and this blog) had gone down due to a power failure at its datacentre. Given the various options available for ensuring high-availability of websites, such an occurrence, at such a high-profile service, was somewhat incongruous. But i wasn't until Next editor Nick Miller dropped me a note asking me to looking into the issue further - due in part because other high profile sites such as Technorati had also been affected - that I began looking at this as a news story. You can read the results here.

Next - The states or bust

One of the big topics of interest for me in the tech sector is the path taken by small Australian start-up tech companies into global markets. I've seen dozens of smart, capable Aussie tech innovators launch themselves into various countries and have enjoyed tracking their results (although at times the results have been disappointing). Hence it was great to have the opportunity to again tackle to topic for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald tech section. Companies in the spotlight this time were Booking Angel, Austhink, Seertech and Aruspex, although thanks must also go to Viki Forrest at the ANZA Tech Net, David Cannington at Traction-USA, Andrew Dyer at Invest Victoria, Andrew Roberts at Ephox and Peter Lewis at Gramercy Venture Advisors. You can read the full story here.

Article in development - Seeking ITIL users

Am neck deep in a feature looking at the latest iteration of the ITIL professional management framework. If anyone knows of any IT users out there have taken a look at the new version, I'd love to hear from you by e-mail ...

B&T - How agencies solve the digital puzzle

A good part of the start of this month was spent calling around to a range of marketing agencies to ask the basic question of how they have responded to the challenge of digital marketing. Most so-called 'offline' or 'traditional' agencies clearly pre-date the rise of the internet and interactive marketing, but with so much of total advertising spend moving through this channel, the internet has become something that no agency can ignore (although it can be argued that a few have been trying for a while). While I've made no judgement call as to how well the agencies surveyed in this article are adapting the online challenge, what was impressive was the number of people that are now dedicated to online activity within their ranks. The average complement of digital staff seems to average to around 10 percent of the total workforce - up in most cases from less than 5 percent 12 months ago. Which does beg the question of where are they all coming from.

Unfortunately the text of the article is not up on the website, but you can have a look at the uncorrected draft version here: Download doing_digital_draft.rtf

SmartCompany Awards 2007

SmartCompany has announced that its SmartCompany Awards 2007 are now open, presenting a new opportunity for Australian SMEs to showcase their skills and talents. Winners will be announced on September 14. For more information, click here, or check out the PDF:  Download smartcompany.com.au Awards 2007.pdf

Second thoughts on Second Life - and perhaps a second chance

I've written about Second Life a few times now and remain intrigued by the concept - although I have to say that the experiences I've had in virtual world have not compelled me to spend much time there. Of course my experience is not reflective of the many thousands of folk who spend a great deal of time in there, and in a few cases, make a living while doing so. Much has been written about Second Life - and about the hype that has surrounded it - and it now seems that the mood is moving to one of sober reflection, as indicated by this article in on the LA Times website.

Unfortunately, with so much attention on Second Life itself, little has been written about the potential that it represents.

I've been banging on for some time about how the internet today is essentially 'broken' in terms of servicing many of our needs. I'll cite my own recent example in looking for a new health insurance provider. It seems the designers of website in this sector have made it near-impossible to determine what the products actually include, and downright impossible to do any form of comparisons. In most cases all I needed to make a decision was some simple answers - 'does it include XXX' - but of course on the web it's not so easy to ask a question like this. My course of action in the end was simply to call the providers that interested me, wait on hold as long as was required, and then ask the questions of a human being.

My view of the internet of the future is of one that melds the 3D immersive experience of Second Life into a truly responsive medium. Imagine how much easier things would be if you could simply 'walk' your avatar into a virtual shop front and then engage in a conversation with a representative of the company you are seeking information on. The representative could just as easily be a call centre worker or a software-based response system - tools such as MyCyberTwin are pointing the way to how these interactions might take place. You could simply ask your question, get the information you need, then move on to the next company that you wish to query.

Today's internet, of static pages and inaccurate and irrelevant search results, is essentially an unsatisfying experience in many ways. Some of us are willing to put up with it, but the basic failure of the web to provide a more useful experience for consumers will stop it becoming the universal communication tool that it can be.

And while I doubt that Second Life will be the answer, I'm pretty much convinced that Second Life represents only the leading edge of wave of virtual realms. Wait until Microsoft and Google get in on the act - or perhaps there'll be an open source project that springs up offering an open alternative. Whatever the case, there is much greater scope for the internet to not only mirror, but improve, the way that we are interacting today

Telstra pulls the plug on i-mode

It was reported today what many in the mobile content industry in Australia have known for a year or more - i-mode, the great Japanese-born mobile technology platform that was going to revolutionise the mobile internet - has had its plug pulled in Australia. Chris Jenkins broke the story in The Australian, but it should come as no surprise to anyone interested, as Telstra has steadfastly refused to show any real support for i-mode well over a year. A runaway success in its hey-day in Japan, i-mode was picked up by network operators all around the world - none of whom were able to replicate the success of the Japanese model. This same week the UK operator O2 announced that it too was killing of i-mode, less that two years after launching. In Australia now i-mode will be remembered as one of a string of poorly-executed mobile content strategies from Australia's largest telco (anyone remember Telstra Mobile Loop?).

Coincidentally, one of the recurring themes of today's Future of Media Summit 2007 was that models that work in one market will not necessarily work in any other. In Japan, where fixed-line internet connection adoption had lagged many other parts of the developed world, i-mode essentially became the internet on mobiles. In Australia, where internet penetration was already high, the need from consumers was not as great. One industry source once told me that the main reason people were buying the i-mode handsets is that at the time of its launch the i-mode devices were among the few (perhaps only) flip phones that Telstra was selling. i-mode itself had nothing to do with it.

Mobile content in Australia is in a pretty sorry state, thanks to a combination of high data charges and handset compatibility issues. i-mode was supposed to help fix this problem, but introduced yet another proprietary platform into the mix that consumers were less than enthusiastic about. What it will take to get consumers onto the mobile internet is still open to debate.

Live from Future of Media Summit 2007

Am currently sitting in The Future Exploration Network's Future of Media Summit 2007. The current session involves Loop Mobile's Martin Hoffman, Future St's Mark Pesce and Channel 10's general manager of digital, Damian Smith, talking about mobile, shifting and new media channels. Previous speakers have included ad man Harold Mitchell, Vquence founder Chris Gilbey, Gabe Rivera from Techmeme and Jeremy Liew, partner with Silicon Valley VC Lightspeed Partners. I also hosted a panel this morning focusing on the intersection between user generated content and mainstream media, with Prime Digital Works' Tony Surtees, the ABC's  Dan Fill and Scott-Bradley Pearce from Cnet. It's been a great day with a lot of lively discussion about how digital technologies are evolving current media models and strategies. It's also refreshing to be reminded that no one really has all the answers as to how things will develop.

Digital Media - An agent for change

A few weeks ago now I interviewed the quiet man of Australian internet media - News Limited's head of News Digital Media, Richard Freudenstein, for a feature that appeared in the latest edition of B&T's  Digital Media magazine. It falls to Freudenstein to reinvigorate what is arguably the lagging company in digital media in Australia - one that was recently criticised by its peers in the Australian Financial Review. Freudenstein came into the role after a long history in pay TV in the UK and Australia, and has brought a strong focus on video with him, including re-skilling many News employees in the video production realm. With competitors such as Yahoo!7 and ninemsn following similar agendas, it will be interesting to see whether Freudenstein can make significant headway in a highly competitive - thought relatively undeveloped - market. Interestingly, it was Freudenstein who drove British Sky Broadcasting's decision to go carbon neutral in the UK, and is leading a similar initiative at News Digital Media. The story is not up on the B&T site, but you can download the draft version here: Download richard_freudenstein_edit.rtf

Australian broadband - at least it's faster than the Slovakians ...

As if we needed any more confirmation that we are living in a broadband backwater ... but this story from today's Australian seems to confirm it. At least we beat the Slovakians.

Having spent a lot of time talking to web content and application developers or late, I've no doubt that the development of the Australian internet industry is being hampered by the ridiculous state of broadband. It doesn't help that folk I know who have been visiting here from the US seem to want to keep pointing out the poor levels of service here also.