LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

Story in development - Where is the dotcom generation now?

I'm currently working on a project to track whatever happened to many of the dotcom high-fliers from days gone by. Companies like The Spot, dstore, K*Grind, Tribe and Wishlist became household names for a brief period in the late 1990s, but either imploded or faded into obscurity soon after. If anyone knows what any of these folk are up to now, or has suggestions for others worth looking into, please drop me a note ...

Things that I am looking for

I seem to be working on an unusually large number of projects at the moment, which has me out searching for a very wide range of companies and spokespeople. Some of the following requests have gone out on Twitter, but for those that were missed, I've gathered them all here. Please drop me an email if you have any questions or suggestions:

- Am looking for Australian green/clean technology companies that have products that are visually interesting, or operate from locations that are visually interesting. This project is video-based, hence the nature of the request.

- Am seeking Australian web technology companies that predict a significant change to their products/services should the NBN deliver 100 Mbps access to a wide slice of the population within the next five years.

- Am seeking examples of Australian technology entrepreneurs that have flamed out since 1995 - and am keen to know what they are doing now. Examples can be old or recent.

- Am continuing to seek out high-risk and high-potential early-stage Australian technology companies. Am also looking for any Australian tech companies that may be in the process (or on the verge of) raising capital or moving into foreign markets.

- Am looking for examples of technology-based innovation in the Australian book publishing industry.

- Am looking for famous Australians to tell the stories of their very first cars.

Stories in development - Asia Pacific trade and investment

Am working on a few different articles and am seeking expertise in a number of fields - so there may be a few more of these posts in the next 24 hours.

Right now however I'm looking for people with knowledge of international trade and development throughout the Asia Pacific region, specifically in the markets of Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, India and Pakistan. While the consulates and trade commissions are an obvious starting point, I am really looking for commercial organisations and chambers of commerce that may be able to offer comment on how recent developments have changed the potential of these markets as export and investment destinations.

Any assistance appreciated.

Story in development - Seeking Australia's top young entrepreneurs

I've begun work in earnest on SmartCompany's list of Australia's best entrepreneurs aged 30 or under. To be eligible, candidates must be a founding shareholder of the business they are working in, and retain significant ownership - employees and people who have sold their businesses won't be considered. We are also looking for candidates to be aged 30 or younger as of April 30. If you have any suggestions, please drop me an email this week. For last year's selection, click here.

Story in development - Media's monetary migration

So newspaper and magazine circulations, and possibly TV viewership, were declining slowly in this country before the economic crisis, and now revenue figures have plunged into freefall. Even so the traditional media here is not so badly off here as it is in the US ... but that doesn't mean it has all the answers when it comes to generating revenue from the emerging online opportunities. The simple fact appears to be that online viewers and readers are just not worth the same as their offline counterparts. How do you make up the gap when it comes to funding content creation?

In this feature I'm having another look at the monetisation issue, taking in perspectives from Europe and the US as well as Australia. If you've got something you want to ad to the mix, please let me know via email ...

Help needed on a story in development

I'm currently writing about connectivity and productivity (and the possible disconnect between the two), and am looking for someone who might have some insight into the topic. The big questions is how to ensure that increased connectivity (Blackberries, iPhones, broadband wireless, etc) contributes to increased productivity without overtaking your life. If anyone springs to mind, please ldrop me a note ASAP.

Story in development - Freedom to work?

I'm currently working on a feature looking into the positives and negatives of how technology gives us the capability to be always on. Thanks to devices such as Blackberries and advances such as high-speed cellular broadband, there are few places where we can get to now where the working world can't reach us - or where we can't reach the working world. But is all this connectivity making us any more productive, and when do we become too connected? I'm looking for speakers and case studies now, so if you have any suggestions, please drop me an email.

Story in development - Wir(eless)ing up your home

I'm writing a consumer tech piece for Men's Style magazine on how to connect up your home IT and AV equipment wireless-ly. I'm looking for tips on the technologies that work best, and the products that best suit different circumstances. If anyone has any suggestions, please email me ASAP before COB Wednesday (March 25) - I will be filing this one next Monday.

Story in development - Australia's information infrastructure

I've already blogged about this feature that I am writing which is seeking to take an inventory of Australia's information infrastructure - everything from fixed and mobile networks to the state of e-health and e-government, computers-in-schools programs and our innovation grants schemes. I'm still seeking spokespeople across a range of topics, so if you have any suggestions, please shoot me an email ASAP.

Story in development - And in a Flash, it was gone ...?

I have no doubt that Microsoft wants to see Silverlight dominate as the preferred format for online digital media, in the same that Microsoft likes to dominate everything it gets involved in. The company has a lot more muscle than its main competitor, Adobe's Flash, and is not afraid of flexing it. What it lacks however is anything close to the installed based that Adobe boasts - something like 99 percent of the world's desktop PCs have Flash installed. Microsoft didn't do itself any favours with a somewhat lacklustre Silverlight site for NBC's Olympic coverage. But history has shown that when Microsoft puts its mind to it, mountains can shift a little.

If you have any thoughts on this topic that you want to contribute, I'll be writing this feature between now and early February - please drop me a note ASAP.