LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

Next - It's all beer and nappies and so much more

About a decade ago several database and analytics companies began promoting the concepts of data warehousing and data mining. Without going into a full description here, the technologies involved gathering and sifting through large volumes of data to determine otherwise undiscovered patterns, leading to knowledge that could assist the business. Numerous examples of the benefits were described, such as trawling through financial databases to uncover patterns that might indicate fraud. But by far the one that gained the most traction was of how a retailer had managed to analyse sales patterns to drive up the sales of beer by placing it near nappies ... It was a weird example - and one that is most likely apocryphal - but it kick-started an industry that is now reshaping the way that Australian retailers deal with their customers. You can check out the full story here.

Portable Content to hold LonelyGirl15 symposium

I've been talking to the guys at Portable Content on and off for the last year, mostly around their Portable Film Festival, so I thought I'd pass on word that they've managed to lure the creative team behind the online video hit LonelyGirl15 to Australia next week. For full details, check out the flyer below.

Melbourne Domain event now online

For anyone who cares to see what all the fuss was about regarding the recent Melbourne Domain event ... you can look at the pictures here watch and listen to the action here. Have to say, it was one of the easiest interviews I have ever done - you just wind Peter Williams (from Deloitte) up, then sit back and be entertained and enlightened.

AFR Boss - Time warp

Ever wondered why time seems to move faster as we get older? Don't worry, you are not alone, and the phenomenon has puzzled a bunch of researchers enough to look further into it. Turns out that a fast-paced life is a representation of a healthy and happy mind - although it's uncertain whether good mental health is a cause or an effect of accelerating time. Anyway, it is something that has had me wondering for many years, so I was grateful for the change to finally explore the topic in this article for Boss magazine - you can check out the uncorrected draft version here: Download timelords_breakout.rtf

B&T - Luck, logic and the Loop

Martin Hoffman rose to fame in the new media industry initially with roles at Fairfax's online division in the late 1990s, and then as the second CEO of PBL and Microsoft joint venture ninemsn. But it was during a brief-ish time as publisher (I think that was his role) at my old employer Fairfax Business Media that I first got to know Martin - especially after he closed the magazine I was editing - BusinessOnline. In retrospect it was the smart thing to do, and I went back to my old job on BRW. Now Hoffman is the CEO of Loop Mobile, an Australian-born developer of mobile social networking applications that listed on the ASX earlier this year. Some might have thought the opportunity to profile Hoffman for B&T might have warranted some good-natured revenge .... but with the final version hidden behind the B&T pay-wall, you can make up your own mind by reading the uncorrected draft version of the story here: Download martin_hoffman_draft.rtf

AFR Boss - My work space

The October edition of Boss magazine popped up recently in The Australian Financial Review. This time around I got to explore my interest in social networking sites one more time, with an article that attempted to provide an overview of the value these sites present to business. Hard to do the topic justice in just 1300 words. The final story is behind the pay-wall, but if you want to read the uncorrected notes, click here: Download social_networks_draft.rtf  This version differs quite a bit from the one that was published.

Blog Action Day on the environment

Today is the day when more than 9500 bloggers worldwide are supposed to be taking part in the first Blog Action Day, to write about (and raise awareness of) the environment. I'm yet to scout around to see what other bloggers are up to, but given it's a cause that I agree with strongly anyway, I thought I'd chip in. For anyone who missed it, pasted below are the four pages from my recent feature on climate change for GQ Australia. It says more than I ever could in a blog post ... and who says CSIRO scientists aren't part of the GQ constituency ...?

AIMIA Best Emerging Exporter Award

I've had a long-running interest in the path taken by Australian tech companies when selling their goods and services offshore. Hence I thought it might be worth giving this award an extra plug. The criteria for AIMIA's Best Emerging Exporter Award has been rewritten this year to make it easier for some emerging exporters to participate. The full criteria is pasted below, or click here for more info:

14^th Annual AIMIA Awards

Celebrating the very best in digital content innovation across all genres and interactive media platforms, the AIMIA Awards recognise and showcase

Australia’s leading digital content developers, providers and application developers. Entries for the 14^th Annual AIMIA Awards are now open and there are a total of 24 Awards categories, including Best Emerging Exporter. Entries are invited from Australian companies exporting software, digital content or interactive media products and services and submission deadline is 5pm AEST on Friday, 9 November, 2007. Visit www.aimia.com.au/awards for more information.

This category is open to eligible AIMIA members who have successfully completed an export transaction but have not been exporting for over 3 years. Entries are invited from Australian companies exporting software, digital content or interactive media products and services and these exports are important to your enterprise and are demonstrably growing.

Next - Bendigo repaid with interest

One lesson that i have learned from over a decade writing about IT implementations is that throwing money at a problem rarely solves it. For most companies, the response to declining network performance would be to buy a faster network. For Bendigo Bank, cleaning up and prioritising its traffic flow proved to be a more realistic and affordable solution. You can read the full story here.

Story in development: Sunday Magazine – 20 of the best gadgets

Sunday Magazine (in the Herald-Sun and Sunday Telegraph) has asked me to put together a list of the 20 greatest gadgets and services to hit the country this year. I’ve gathered a pretty strong list already, but am aware that sometimes the obvious can be neglected … If anyone has suggestions as to what to include in the categories of 'talk', 'listen', 'watch' (as in images/video) and ‘beyond, please contact me by e-mail.