Convergence Crisis

Technology has wrought huge change in media content, consumption and access. It's changed business models, viewing patterns, and now - in the words of the Australian government - "the NBN will transform the delivery of content in Australia, allowing viewers to access virtually limitless content from all over the world."

And so the government is planning a major review of its media policy, the "Convergence Review". A big challenge with convergence is the increasing irrelevance of national borders and the futility of national governments attempting to regulate and restrict what is now an international - and internationally accessible - media.

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On the Burning Deck

Just a day after writing this blog post about Nokia, it seems Question 5 has finally been answered:

5. Why the OS schizophrenia?

Nokia has been venturing into various different operating systems (MeeGo, Maemo) when Symbian's dominance has long been shrinking. Given Android has clear dominance among Linux-based mobile OSes, why not bring out an Android device? Or even Windows Mobile. Interestingly, new CEO Stephen Elop previously headed Microsoft's business division.

Looks like Nokia plans to do both:

Nokia has joined forces with Microsoft in an attempt to regain ground lost to the iPhone and Android-based devices.

The deal will see Nokia use the Windows phone operating system for its smartphones, the company said.

It means that Nokia's existing operating systems will be sidelined.

[...]

"We reserve the right to introduce tablets using other platforms, including ones we may be working on internally," [Nokia CEO Stephen Elop] said.

Why bricks should lose to clicks

eBay ran a particularly clever campaign this year: "Browse at Westfield, buy on eBay." It's a 180-degree turn from a few years ago, when the internet served more as a catalogue for shopping that actually took place offline.

Retailers predicted a gloomy festive season: they claim one of the key reasons, other than rising interest rates, is a rush by Australian consumers to overseas shopping sites. The strong Australian dollar means that buying items from the US - even when international shipping costs are included - often works out cheaper than buying goods here.

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Wikileaks: Winning the War

What's the point of trying to shut down Wikileaks? If this past week has shown anything, it's that cutting off the hydra's head only results in a hundred more growing in its place.

Thousands of people are now mirroring Wikileaks' content, both officially and unofficially. Tens of thousands are downloading and sharing gigabytes of data from Wikileaks. One file - insurance.aes256 - is a "poison pill" that will automatically be encrypted and released on the djavascript:void(0)isappearance or death of its figurehead, Julian Assange. Not even US authorities have been able to crack it.


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Eternal September

"Eternal September" was first coined in 1993, to describe millions of AOL internet users that came online, disrupting Usenet's previously small, intimate community.

It's now a term used to describe any ongoing influx of newbies who discover a service, and overwhelm it, often ignoring its conventions and etiquette and changing it beyond recognition. Which is understandably resented by original users and early adopters.

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Interviewing Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin was a fascinating interviewee when he visited Sydney this year. Even though he must have sat through tens of thousands of interviews in his life, he still sounded as though he was answering questions for the first time.

Here's an excerpt from his interview with Sky News Business, where he discusses moon dust. The question was: what most surprised or amazed you about the moon?

BROADBAND BREAKTHROUGH?

Is the tide turning on NBN sentiment?

Despite a concerted disinformation campaign by the Opposition, it seems that mainlanders are scrabbling to get connected to the fast, fibre network.

According to NBN Co, 90 per cent of households in some regional cities have already signed up. That compares with around 51 per cent of Tasmanians.

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