Queensland may put up $180 million for National Broadband Network

June 30th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: $180 million, anna bligh, chief information officer, cio, national broadband network, queensland

I scored a great story that Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the state might put $180 million of its telecommunications spend towards the planned National Broadband Network. The role of Queensland state chief information officer is also up for review. You can read the full story on the MISAustralia.com web site here.

Queensland eTender website hacked

June 27th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: afr, etender, government, hack, hackers, queensland

Scoop! I broke the news in this morning’s Australian Financial Review that the Queensland state government’s electronic procurement website had been hacked. You can read the full story here on MISAustralia.com.

Twitter, PubCamp and Australia

June 24th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: afr, Apple, linkedin, pubcamp, twitter

In this morning’s Australian Financial Review newspaper I had a fairly long story about how Australians are using Twitter and LinkedIn to connect. The phenomenon was particularly evident in several conferences last week, including PubCamp, and also in the opening of Apple’s first retail store in Sydney. This story caused a flurry of discussion online, including on TechNation Australia, which dubbed me “the tech industry’s mainstream media hero”.

Not quite sure I’m that — just a normal journalist :)

You can read the full story here.

I'm on Linkedin

June 17th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: linkedin, profile

For anyone who is interested in connecting with me, you can find my Linkedin profile here.

Northern Territory gets government CIO

June 10th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: chief information officer, cio, government, northern territory

This morning I had a scoop in The Australian Financial Review that the Northern Territory’s director of information, communications and technology policy and strategy, Maryann Jamieson, had left her role.

In the wake of her departure the Northern Territory has replaced her role with a whole of government chief information officer position, similar to other states such as Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.

You can find the full story here on the MIS Australia web site.

NSW government's People First project halfway through

June 10th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: afr, emmanuel rodriguez, nsw, paul edgecumbe, people first, roozendaal

This morning my story about the New South Wales state government’s People First technology consolidation project led The Australian Financial Review’s large Tuesday IT section. The story dealt with concerns that project lacks transparency and is yet to deliver on key targets.

It’s basically a report card about the project halfway through its four-year timeframe. You can read the story on the MIS Australia web site here.

Appointed News Editor of ZDNet Australia

June 10th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: about, afr, cnet, mis magazine, news editor, zdnet

I am extremely proud and happy to say that I was recently appointed to be ZDNet Australia’s new News Editor, to start in early July.

It’s been a fantastic job working at The Australian Financial Review and MIS Magazine as a technology reporter for the last year, and I can’t speak highly enough of these publications and Fairfax Business Media in general.

I have especially enjoyed working with great colleagues like Josh Gliddon, Ben Woodhead, Emma Connors, Paul Smith, John Davidson, Julian Bajkowski, Chris Jenkins, Michael Crawford and many more. These guys are some of the best technology journalists in Australia and it’s been a privilege to be working with and learning from them.

However when the ZDNet position came up shortly after I came back from my honeymoon this year, I knew it was the right move for me to make. I haven’t been an editor in the Australian technology media yet, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to oversee my own technology news team and move back into the dynamic online environment.

Of course, I came from ZDNet before I joined the Financial Review, and I am looking forward to working with great journalists there again such as Munir Kotadia, the Editor of ZDNet Australia. In addition, it’ll be good to catch up with the whole CNET Networks Australia team.

CNET Networks is one of the leaders in the online media space in Australia and internationally, and their sites just keep on breaking new ground. Of course, ZDNet Australia is one of the premier business technology titles in Australia, with a long history.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me in my career!

The Australian Web 2.0 startup scene

June 5th, 2008 • Uncategorized
Tags: 2web, australia, ben barren, startups, twitter, web 2.0

This week in a rather lengthy piece in The Australian Financial Review I examine the Australian Web 2.0 startup scene. In the article (which can be found online here) I asked for input from about ten of Australia’s most well-known internet startups and come to some broad conclusions.

Yes, there isn’t much funding around, but people are getting on with the job and pulling in revenues anyway.

This article generated a lot of discussion within the local startup scene, including on the 2Web podcast, on the TechNation Australia web site, and on Feedcorp co-founder Ben Barren’s blog. I’m sure it is being discussed on other sites I don’t know about, and in addition there has been a health discussion on Plurk Twitter.

Thanks for your help everyone, and I look forward to working with you in the future.