Watts Up

Australia's NBN: Conroy's digital economy roadmap

Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy released the government's roadmap for Australia's participation in the digital economy last night at an event at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. The report is now available from the government website.

This ZDNet article outlines some of the reactions from Industry at the launch.
iiNet regulatory officer Steve Dalby raised the important point that we need applications that make use of the 100MBPS speeds, not just the speed itself. Brad Howarth expanded on this on his blog. A couple of his points:

• "Enterprise Connect, the digital literacy programs and small business online programs will assist with takeup of the NBN, but there seems to be no cohesive strategy for developing broadband-enabled services themselves.
• "The work needs to be done now to equip businesses and business associations with the skills - and potentially the seed funding - to begin developing next-generation broadband services today, so that they will be ready when the network begins to go live. Failure to do so means that the benefits from the network will not be realised until quite some time later, meaning our investment in infrastructure may be quickly leapfrogged in economies where the focus has been on infrastructure and services, as opposed to just infrastructure."

IBM has ideas in this area, communicated in their Smarter Planet campaign.

I really hope we don't end up with more obtrusive rich online advertising and increased piracy (has the RIAA started lobbying against NBN / putting together a case to sue the Australian Federal Government yet?!!)

Is 100MBPS enough to support human teleportation services? Now that would be cool...

The AFR Broadband Conference

I was invited to attend the AFR Broadband Conference in Sydney last Tuesday on behalf of IBM Australia. The event attracted a variety of interesting speakers.

In short, the situation in Australia:

• Broadband speeds are currently slow in comparison to the US, Europe, Japan, Korea etc. (Average download speed in Australia is 710.6 Kbps, based on 12469 tests from download-speed.org)
• Broadband coverage is patchy. The cities have reasonable coverage, but there are holes (e.g. Balmain in Sydney). Most of the country (geographically speaking) cannot access ADSL2+ broadband. See the map.
• Telstra owns the existing copper wire network. In the cities, there is competition, with companies like iiNet having set up their own. Unsurprisingly, where Telstra is the only provider, prices are much higher (Telstra was privatised and therefore acts in the best interests of its shareholders - not the public, or the country).

The Australian Federal Government recognises that digital information and communication is becoming increasingly important to businesses / the Australian economy, culture and society and that Australia will be significantly disadvantaged if the lack of broadband speed and coverage is not addressed.

The Australian Federal Government has committed to create a National Broadband Network (NBN), which will be the single largest infrastructure project in Australian history. The details are still being ironed out. This is what we know so far:

• The NBN will be a wholesale only fibre network (i.e. not allowing for retail conflict as with Telstra in the past)

• The NBN will deliver 100-1,000MB connection speeds via direct fibre.

• The NBN will connect at least 90% of homes/premises in Australia (actually, the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy indicated during his speech that he was not interested in leaving out any % of the population).

• Wireless networks will be supplementary to the direct fibre NBN.

• The NBN is estimated to take approx 8-10 years to roll out (2017-2019 completion).

• The NBN is expected to have a 50+ year life.

• The NBN will be future proofed. (Professor Douglas Van Houweling said he expects packet info transfers will always be used via Internet Protocol but that the way those connections occur will evolve.)

• The NBN is expected to cost 43 billion AUD (mostly labour cost) and create 25,000 jobs.

The main discussion points at the conference:

1. Is structural reform a necessary precursor to the NBN?

• The consensus was ‘yes’, a regulatory reform package is required to get the structure of the sector right.

• Professor Allan Fels suggested rules governing broadcasting should be reviewed by the Productivity Commission (they performed the 2000 review).

• An agreement must be reached to separate Telstra’s existing assets (their copper wire network will become obsolete with the rollout of NBN). Government may need to compensate Telstra?

• The NBN must be a wholesale network, separate from retail. (This means the retail ISP’s would not be able to differentiate on product. Some are already starting to focus on customer service!)

• Since the NBN project is actually a 40-50yr investment (taking adoption into account) – in order to see the project through to completion, the Labour Government would need to be re-elected three times! Because of this, it would make sense to have laws put in place to protect the build of and investments in the NBN.

2. Where will the 43 billion come from?

• Firstly, the estimate of 43 billion is now considered to be on the high side. Phil Campbell from Citi Investment Research estimated, during the panel discussion that it would cost 30 billion.
  

• The Federal Government recently committed 5 billion (the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy confirmed during his speech that they would foot the whole bill if necessary, though they don't expect to have to do that). Suggestions were: 10 billion vended assets, 20 billion via infrastructure bonds (tax free investment opportunity).

3. What will the NBN mean for the broadband industry in Australia?

• In the next 8-10 years (the gap prior to NBN), steps must be taken to ensure existing broadband services continue to expand and competition continues in order to keep prices down.

• Once NBN is in place, the ISP’s will need to differentiate based on service (as the product will be ubiquitous). This is the situation in Korea, where the broadband network is a wholesale monopoly with the retailers playing on top of it.

4. How will the NBN change things for business, society and the country?

Rohan Lund from Yahoo!7 spoke about the media revolution we’re already seeing as audiences use the internet to communicate, discover and be entertained. He outlined how Australians have adapted their internet behaviour to the speed currently available:

• Yahoo!7 (which aims to be a guide to content on the internet) holds proportionately less market share to Google in Australia than in other countries. Google’s cleaner, faster search experience has been embraced by 90% of the Australian market.

• Video is consumed, but in low quality, bite sized chunks.

• The lighter social networking sites are most popular.

Clearly the NBN would be a good thing for Rohan and Yahoo!7 !

Abigail Thomas from the ABC talked about some of the innovative projects she’s undertaking. ABC iView (internet television) is, I gather, currently only feasible due to agreements with several ISP’s whereby the content download charges are not ‘metered’ for their customers.

Projects being undertaken overseas, such as digital health record systems (England, Denmark, Chicago), or traffic management systems (Stockholm, London), are reliant upon the creation of the NBN. See my earlier post ‘"Towards a smarter economy" with a National Broadband Network’.

Professor Douglas Van Houweling (in the US) joked via phone hook-up (after his video speech had been played) that it was a shame he couldn’t yet see us – his audience – via real-time video hook-up. Real-time video upload will be possible with the NBN.

Related points:

• Professor Douglas Van Houweling said the rest of world will be watching as Australia rolls out the NBN and becomes a leader in this area. He suggested the US needs to think about ensuring 100MB connectivity within 3 years, with at least 10MB upload speeds. (It’s important to remember users will contribute, not just consume. Example is medical centres uploading x-rays.) This point re. upload capacity will hopefully be considered for the Australian NBN.
• NBN will ‘float the boats’ in that many internet based applications that will be created by the business community and government will be reliant / sit upon it.
• Korea currently has the broadband speeds in the world and is investing 24 billion to increase to 1GIG connectivity by 2012!

Videos of some speeches from the conference:

• Marianne King, first assistant secretary for Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy.
• "Pipe Network's Bevan Slattery, Nextgen's Malcolm Roe, Ericsson's Tony Malligeorgos and TransACT's Gordon Dunsford discuss what the federal government's national broadband network will actually deliver". (Source: misaustralia.com)
• The Hon Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

For more info, check out 'The Scoop' by Mark Jones.

Mobile phone recycling

Following my mobile's disastrous adventure in the washing machine, I found my blog post from Dec 2007 and followed my own advice. The pre-paid postbag arrived from the Spastic Centre within 10 days and my (very clean) mobile is now off to be reincarnated in developing countries.

One blog post gets more response than 24 returned letters

I'm very pleased to report that I have been contacted by some very nice people at Vodafone and the matter of the mail has been resolved.

It seems (in this instance anyway) that one blog post got more response than 24 returned letters.

"Towards a smarter economy" with a National Broadband Network

Glen Boreham addressed the National Press Club last month. His speech 'Towards a smarter economy' described how sensors in the form of transistors and computer chips (that are already built into most aspects of our lives*), combined with a high-speed, high coverage broadband connection (i.e. the National Broadband Network) could report information that would allow us - individuals, corporations and government - to make smarter decisions. 

Synopsis of Glen Boreham's speech from ibm.com/au:

"When people have more information, they make smarter decisions.

In Germany, 6 million households are reducing their electricity bills, because an intelligent energy grid gives them enough information to do so. In Sweden, an intelligent road system gives Stockholm’s commuters enough information to reduce traffic congestion by 25% and carbon emissions by 40%.

If Australians had more information about the impact of their decisions – on their pocket, on the environment, on their quality of life, on GDP – they would act very differently.

Glen Boreham contends that – as we invest billions in building infrastructure through the stimulus package – Australia has a unique opportunity to embed intelligence into every road, building, city and utility grid. In his view, the information this would generate would empower our citizens, businesses and governments to get behind the issues that affect us all.

Mr Boreham looks to a future where the sum of millions of smarter decisions help us to use less energy, make far more efficient use of our water resources, unclog our congested cities and boost our GDP – creating a smarter, sustainable economy."

You can download Glen Boreham's full speech here. I thought it was visionary. What do you think?

I attended the AFR Broadband Conference yesterday, during which the National Broadband Network (NBN) was discussed. If we don't get the NFN, I fear Australia will suffer greatly. Glen Boreham's vision, for one, is dependent upon the NBN.

*Interesting snippet: The new Mercedes contains as many control units as the new Airbus A380. That's just a car. The same thing is happening in almost every commercial sector.

The house that tweets

IBMer Andy Stanford-Clark will be on BBC News tonight talking about how he set up his 16th century cottage on the Isle of Wight to tweet.

Andy is an innovator - creating solutions that are likely to be adopted for monitoring business processes, factories, healthcare systems etc moving forward.

Watch the video on BBC.

Govt unleashes web 2.0 taskforce

Today, the Australian Federal Government launched a taskforce to investigate web 2.0's ability to make government more transparent and increase community engagement.

Sounds like they've taken note of Obama's great success in the digital arena.
Download Social Pulpit - Barack Obamas Social Media Toolkit 1.09

I think this is fascinating! How will 'governing' evolve? Will ideas / solutions to national problems be brainstormed, collaborated upon and strengthened by massive online communities of suitably qualified experts? Will algorithms be created to help define policies based on online feedback loops?

Read the full article on the new Aussie taskforce at ZDNet.

Vodafone, are you listening?

Hi Vodafone.

Thanks for all the mail you continue to send to the previous owner of our house. Unfortunately I seem to be having as much trouble reaching you as you're having reaching them.

It started out ok. I would write a polite request on the Vodafone envelope asking for the letter to be returned to sender. Then I'd take a short detour while walking the dog to place it in the mail box.

A few months went by and my requests to return to sender became less polite. CAPITAL LETTERS and some exclamation marks started to appear, e.g. PLEASE REMOVE THIS ADDRESS FROM YOUR DATABASE!! Some months I would comment on my sadness and frustration that, (far more importantly than wasting their own money) they were wasting precious forests as they continued to use non-recycled paper on envelopes to people who they knew no longer lived at that address.

It has now been two years and I can no longer count how many polite, frustrated and recently downright rude return to sender requests I have written on those envelopes, or how many times the dog and I have taken the detour to the mail box.

Today I finally resorted to other methods of trying to get through to them. I spent five minutes writing a nice, neutrally worded piece of feedback on their site, only to find I had to enter my email address at the end to send it. Based on my experiences thus far, I'm not interested in giving them another address! So I tweeted about my problem. Vodafone has several Twitter ID's so hopefully they, (or someone at one of their agencies) also actually listens to/monitors Tweets containing their company name. Perhaps they also monitor mentions of 'Vodafone' on blogs?

Lets see what happens. I'll keep you posted (pardon the pun).

Email, Social Media Merged To Create Marketing Channel

"StrongMail Systems Monday unveiled a strategy and a set of tools intended to link email marketing with social media campaigns on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Digg, among others. Its "framework" turns static email programs viral.

"StrongMail developed the tools in response to requests by retail customers. The survey conducted by StrongMail reveals that email marketing linked to social media has become an important initiative, with 66% of marketers planning to integrate the two channels in 2009, and 48% who have already formulated a strategy for achieving this initiative.

"Of those marketers planning to increase budgets in 2009, 83% will increase amounts in email marketing, followed by 62% in social media."

Interesting. Makes sense for retail. I guess the other email tool providers will be playing catch up!

Read the full article on mediapost.com

Will Twitter transform recruitment?

If you're in touch with hundreds (or thousands) of professionals in your field via Twitter, why would you go to a recruiter to list an opening in your company? Why wouldn't you just Tweet the position and await the response?

'Mad Avenue Blues' - Song parody

I just came across this song parody on advertising, marketing and new media. Hilarious!

Obama's speech in Egypt

The more I see of Obama (and that's a lot with social media), the more impressed I am.

It took me a while to get around to watching his speech in Egypt. If you haven't watched it yet, please do. This man is mind-bogglingly brilliant.

The crux of it for me was this section:
"Human history has often been a record of nations and tribes -- and, yes, religions -- subjugating one another in pursuit of their own interests.  Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating.  Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail.  So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners to it.  Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; our progress must be shared."

Please take the time to listen to the whole speech.

10 Things Bing Must Do To Catch Google

Interesting article: 10 Things Bing Must Do To Catch Google by Aaron Goldman

An extract:

"So here's what the Bing launch means to the search world...

"My prediction is that, in five years, the search engine query share rankings will look nothing like they do today. Bing has proven that Microsoft is serious about search. Ballmer has placed his bet and backed it with a stack of $100 mil. in advertising. Bing will either propel Microsoft to a 30%-40% share of the search universe or flame out completely, leaving Google with 90%+. For what it's worth, my money's on the former."

I'm not convinced, my money's on Google. Google's core utilities are better (esp advanced features) and I believe that counts more than any amount of advertising dollars.

The great firewall of China

The great firewall of China has blocked twitter, hotmail, YouTube, Flickr, bing... Read the Guardian article.

Imagine trying to 'control' social media. Now that'd be a big job!

IBM's grand plan to save the planet

IBM's CEO Sam Palmisano has outlined a new formula for changing the world: Find problems, throw in billions of dollars in R&D, add consultants and an earnest ad campaign - and watch the profits roll in. Read about it in this CNN article. 

The ad campaign is called Smarter Planet, keep an eye out for it. I'd love to hear what you think.

Music industry mining some revenue from YouTube

For the other ex-Kazaa peeps out there, thought you'd be interested in this article from LA Times: Music industry mining some revenue from YouTube

Seems they are starting to work out how to monetize it. Though "Pete Waterman, who wrote the Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up," complains that after his song was streamed tens of millions of times during the heyday of the Rickrolling phenomenon, he only made about $15."

23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster

Today, 26th April is the 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster.

This Kofi Annan quote (April 2000) expresses why we must remember what happened and learn from it:

"Chornobyl is a word we would all like to erase from our memory. It [opened] a Pandora's box of invisible enemies and nameless anxieties in people's minds, but which most of us probably now think of as safely relegated to the past. Yet there are two compelling reasons why this tragedy must not be forgotten. First, if we forget Chornobyl, we increase the risk of more such technological and environmental disasters in the future. Second, more than seven million of our fellow human beings do not have the luxury of forgetting. They are still suffering, every day, as a result of what happened 14 years ago. Indeed, the legacy of Chornobyl will be with us, and with our descendants, for generations to come."

If anyone reading this thinks Nuclear Power in the hands of humans is a good idea, please shelf that opinion until you:

1. Watch this excellent video: 'The True Battle of Chernobyl' (please take the time).
2. Read pages 8-10 of The Greenpeace 2006 Health Report.
3. Consider that there are plenty of renewable power options; solar, hydro, wind etc. Nuclear Power is absolutely not necessary in order for us to stop using fossil fuels.
4. Understand that hundreds of millions of people received radiation exposure from ONE reactor and that the worst health impacts of the Chernobyl disaster are yet to be realised.

• Early estimates (Anspaugh et al. 1988) predicted 17,400 excess cancer deaths over a 50-year period, with 63% of these occurring outside the USSR, mostly in Europe.
• Based on Belarusian health statistics published by Malko in 2006, he estimated the Chernobyl accident could result in an additional 137,000 thyroid cancers and 123,000 solid tumours other than thyroid between 1986 and 2056.
• According to the British governments Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 359 farms in Wales with 180,000 sheep are still under restrictions. In restricted areas, sheep have to be monitored with a Geiger counter before they can be sold to prevent contaminated meat from entering the foodchain.

Note: there is not a lot of research available into the health effects of the Chernobyl disaster. Youri Bandazhevski tried to conduct a study in 1996 on medical effects of the radiation in cities outside Russia, including genetic defects. He was jailed for five years.

Today, let us think of all the people who lost their lives, all who are still battling health problems and all who will be affected in the decades and centuries to come.

Things you can do:

• Join the Facebook group 'Dedicated to the victims of the 1986 Chornobyl Nuclear Disaster'.
• Demonstrate, protest and lobby against Nuclear Power. Join groups like: 'No Nuclear Power'.
• Support any campaigns to fund the re-build of the sarcophagus (current temporary shelter around the highly toxic disaster site).
• Please let me know about any internet based research projects into the health consequences of Chernobyl disaster that you're aware of.

I'm an Aussie!

I became an Australian Citizen on Thursday night. The Ceremony was conducted at Randwick Town Hall. Ben's mum and sister, Ben and five of my friends came to watch. They stood up and cheered when my name was called out and I went up to collect my certificate from the Mayor (who commented on the quality of my cheering squad)!

The ceremony was really well run and a special experience.

We went out for dinner at Banjo Patterson's Cottage Restaurant in Gladesville afterwards (you can't get more Aussie than that). I got some very special gifts and felt like a very very happy and loved little Australian Vegemite!

Thank you very much to everyone who came, and to everyone who has, over the years, made me feel at home in this wonderful land of Aus :-)

Basil and Rowan's first event

I took Basil to Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC) for the two day event over the weekend. We competed at Introductory (the second lowest) level. We came 18th out of 30, so have something to improve on for next time!

Ben, Nefley, Emma and Suzanne came along to cheer me on and take pics.

The rest of the pics from the day are up here.

Snowy Mountains

I took some time off around Australia Day. I left Ben and Quilla at home, put Basil out in the fields for a holiday and headed down to the Snowy Mountains for a real Aussie adventure. I'd always wanted to trek through the Snowys and sleep in a swag and this seemed the perfect way to celebrate my citizenship having just been approved.

The five other people on the trek were delightful and interesting. Australia Day was the highlight. We tracked several mobs of brumbies across the mountains and plains. We crossed bogs, galloped up hills, drank sweet pure stream water, had 'billie tea' (the old metal kettle heated in a little fire built next to the stream). I lay back on the grass, Akubra hat over face, digesting a delicious lunch of sandwich, cake and fruit (carried, along with the kettle, on the packhorse). In the evening we sat around the campfire at Wares Yards. There were dramatic renditions of Banjo Patterson poems. The stars lit up the sky. The group (all true blue Aussies) decided I didn't need a Mayor to conduct my formal citizenship ceremony - they created their own to induct me. We all stood around the fire under the big southern sky and sang the National Anthem. It was very sweet and thoughtful of them. (Then in the morning they wanted to know how it felt to be a new Aussie!)

I can now say I've ridden the old drovers tracks - and feel I can legitimately claim this great big wild and beautiful country as my own.

All the pics are here.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

Our goal this year is to train Quilla to dance like this. Maybe a little ambitious?!

Reporter's Shoe Thrown at President Bush

To say a few people were amused by the journo throwing his shoes at Bush might be an understatement. The online games that have of course sprung up are receiving significant traffic.

But this was news to me: Reporter's Shoe Thrown at President Bush (Replica). Someone is actually making money on eBay selling the oldest scruffiest shoes they can find??!!

I wonder how much the actual reporters shoes would sell for??!!! (if anyone has any money left, thanks to the US)...

I'm a Mrs!

It was a blustery day for an outdoor wedding but I didn't get blown away. I made it all the way up the aisle without tripping over the front of my long dress and the dog (ring bearer) didn't poop at an inopportune moment. Ben & I had a magical day. Lots and lots of pics here.

We went down the coast to Bannisters Point Lodge in Mollymook for our honeymoon. A nice spot and very relaxing. We played golf. Ben surfed. We saw the latest Bond movie. We ate lots of great food and drank lots of nice wine and yummy cocktails. We tried not to stare at the celebrities who were staying at the same place and kept being seated next to us at dinner. We watched two whales play together in the bay and I think freaked out those celebrities by getting our camera out to take photos of the whales. All in all a fun time. Some pics here. It's hard being back at work!

The human flesh search engine

If you haven't seen this yet it's worth a read: The Human Flesh Search Engine (from Forbes.com)

Long weekend in Coffs

Ben, Quilla the dog and I went up to Coffs Harbour on the long weekend to hang out with my old friends Foti & Scotty. Had a lovely (and much needed) break from the renovations, wedding planning etc.

I just uploaded the photos to this photo album and realised how totally obsessed we are with our 'baby', Quilla. She's in EVERY photo!

Thanks Scotty and Foti for an awesome relaxing and inspirational weekend (and sorry if we drove you nuts talking about - and to - the dog :-)