LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

SmartCompany - Australian start up gets funding from backers of Facebook and Skype

Dean McEvoy has been quietly plugging away as an Aussie tech entepreneur for years with his online reservation system Booking Angel. But it only took a month's worth of initial development time and less than six months in market for his latest venture to hit it big. The group shopping service Spreets has landed $2 million from two of the biggest investors in online retail, including one who was an early backer of Facebook and Skype. You can learn more in this story at SmartCompany.

ZDNet - Tracking terrorists with iOmniscient

There are a lot of research and development is being directed towards creating video cameras that can actually interpret what they are seeing. Australian company iOmniscient has been at the forefront of this work with technology that can determine what is going on in crowded locations such as airports and train stations. Its work has been recognised globally, and you can check out the full story in this storyy at ZDNet.

Applications open for AIMIA’s China Digital Content Mission + network @ Shanghai World Expo

For the past few years AIMIA has run successful trade missions for Australian digital media and ICT companies to Hong Kong and New York, and now it has added Shanghai to the list. In July AIMIA will host the inaugural digital media mission to mainlain China in conjunction with Austrade, State Governments and X|Media|Lab.

The mission includes a visit to the Shanghai World Expo and a networking event that will form part of the Australian Pavilion's business program, as well as a visit to Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi Tech Park and Zhangjiang Creative Industry Base, an Austrade China market briefing and opportunities to meet with Chinese business contacts. There is also an option to visit the 8th China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy) following the mission.

Applications close on June 4 and you can check out the full program by clicking here.

ZDNet - Microsoft Office 2010 to be its last?

I like this somewhat provocative headline because it raises an interesting issue not just for Microsoft, but for all makers of packaged software. With consumers increasingly turning to web-based applications in their personal and professional lives, and becoming accustomed to ongoing feature additions and upgrades, the idea of an integrated client suite that is updated once every three years is becoming somewhat anachronistic. This seemed especially true at the launch of Office 2010 in Australia, where much of the discussion focused on cloud computing, and most of the new features seemed to be related to online services.

It is likely that Microsoft will bring out another version Office - it is too much of a money-maker to fiddle with too profoundly - but by the time we see Office 2013 will we really still be interested? You can read more of my thoughts on the topic in this column for ZDNet Australia.

CIO Australia - The Fine Print(ing)

Printing is one of those activities that was supposed to have died out years ago. But the value that people place in actually being able to hold information in their hands (and write all over it if need be) has made the printed page tough to eliminate. Whether the Apple iPad and similar tablet devices make any impact is yet to be seen, but in the meantime many organisations are getting smarter about how they manage their printing. You can read how in this article for CIO Australia.

ZDNet: Waiting for the market to be ready

I first met Dr Richard Favero on an Austrade mission to Europe way back in 2000. Back then mobile commerce and messaging had barely moved past basic SMS, but all of the equipment makers were promising a future where mobile data would play a key role in the communications futures of many corporations. Favero's company, Soprano Design, had already built the tools those companies would need to realise that future vision. Ten years later, we can all see it. But it took a long time to get from there to here.

While other businesses gave up or flamed out, Favero and his crew toughed out the hard times and today are reaping the rewards, and you can read about Soprano's story and the virtues of patience in this article posted on ZDNet today.

Interestingly, another company from that mission, Mary Brittain-White's Retriever Communications, was also an early starter in the mobile data market, and is still going strong today. Retriever started with trying to push an email service over 2G GSM networks. Over time it evolved into being a mobile applications maker with specialisation in field worker automation and is also going from strength to strength (I've just interviewed two of its clients for CIO Australia - you'll be able to read about them soon).