Sometimes, a well-placed and well-timed letter can make all the difference. Other times, it can make no difference at all and even hurt your case. This week's missive by the Competitive Carriers' Coalition, I would suggest, falls into the latter category.
For no particular reason that I can discern, a 1979 Kenny Rogers song popped into my head as I was considering the ever more complex morass that is the national broadband network tender which Senator Stephen Conroy defended in his CeBIT keynote speech.
Say what you will about Senator Stephen Conroy, but he is clearly not a man afraid of confrontation. Well, he'd better not be, because by killing off the OPEL WiMax project he has just set himself up for a battle with Telstra of Biblical proportions or a big meal of crow washed down with a $4.7 billion gift to SingTel Optus.
Would you be happier that Google collects data about your Internet history if you knew their log data was used to fight some seriously nasty worms?
Today, Symantec released Norton 360 Version 2.0, but I wonder whether the security giant has learned from its past mistakes?
Streaker Robert Ogilvie may have learned the hard way that getting naked can be painful, but many other Australians are apparently learning the same lesson as they try to break ties with Telstra once and for all.
The council rubbish truck didn't pick up my bin last week. Instead, the garbage contractor left a big yellow sticker highlighting exactly why my old egg shells, rancid fruit, microwave pizza boxes, an ancient and smelly pair of sneakers, and the odd brick had been left to rot on my property.
What's the first thing you look at when you check into a hotel room? The bed? The view? The minibar?
You wait for some hot news on smartphone software -- well, I do -- and then several bits come along at once. This week has seen some seriously fascinating movements in the field -- but what does it all mean for your mobile?
There must be something in the water in Canberra. After years of measured inaction, the Coalition is taking long-overdue steps towards universal broadband and working around Telstra's continued domination -- after 10 years of deregulation -- of the country's telecommunications wholesale markets.
We truly live in the lucky country, what with being able to easily change our mobile ringtone to the song from the VB ad. Others are not so fortunate.
The more I think about the issues surrounding the under-representation of women in IT, the further I get from finding a solution. Overanalysis is a real drag. And that's why this year I'm going to be blogging direct from the FITT lunch.
Office 2007 continues to be the focus of discussion here at Big Deal, but the most recent crop of reactions to my postings have shifted from the possible nuisance value of interface changes to the potential upside for OpenOffice, the open-source rival to the desktop suite crown.
Every new essay by Paul Graham on startups is like a chapter of a Tolkien book, telling the long and winding story of how the powerless can change the face of the world through the simple action of believing in their own abilities.
Many Web 2.0 technologies and functions fall under the umbrella of KM: wikis for collaboration; tagging and "folksonomy", which is known to the fuddy-duddies as taxonomy; and blogging, which behind the firewall would otherwise be known as intranet publishing.
Chasing Ballmer in Sydney
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CXO's Unplugged - Real Business Insight
Phil Dobbie interviews business leaders to reveal their thoughts on various management challenges.
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Looking to buy a printer? Our superguide rates the latest printers and shines a light into the industry.
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