A big welcome to our new listeners on 8KTR in Katherine, Northern Territory!
Libs yet to announce NBN alternative
Australians have a Federal election fast approaching. There are many issues up for discussion at the moment, but probably the most important issue for all Australians to keep-up with the 21st century is communication. Not only is it the backbone of business, it's also a vital component in providing health reforms, building better education for all Australians, and future-proofing Australia as an economically viable place to do business.
The National Broadband Network is the election promise of the current Labor government. On offer is high speed broadband from one end of the country to the other, and the best effort yet at bridging the digital divide between the city slickers and their country cousins. The incredibly frustrating thing is, that regardless of who we vote for on August 21, the NBN will be tarnished by either side of politics.
Labor has it in its sights to fulfil the previous election promise of filtering the internet from nasty sites, based on a refused classification list from the OFLC. This list is itself embroiled in controversy as Stephen Conroy has now delayed the implementation of the Net Filter, based on concerns about the list.
In the Liberal Party camp, Tony Abbott will take the axe to the $43 billion National Broadband Network:
Shadow Minister for DBCDE wrote:Clearly because the Coalition does not support Labor's reckless NBN we would not proceed with this arrangement if elected.
(Source.)
This is because the Liberal Party plans to cut Government spending by $10 billion, in an effort to pay off the debt accumulated by Kevin Rudd's government, through fiscal stimulus measures designed to keep the Australian economy out of recession during the global financial crisis.
So if communications in Australia is to remain progressive and competitive in the current world economic climate, who's going to earn your respect? Labor, who wants to build an NBN on one hand and then filter it on the other, or the Coalition who wants to kill it and is still yet to provide any form of alternative?
Well, there may be good news in the wind: as it looks like the Liberal Party's move to crush the National Broadband Network has suffered a blow with the Greens pledging to support the legislation in the Senate and block a private sell-off.
Crystal ball gazers say the Greens could hold nine of the 76 Senate seats following the election, giving them the balance of power; with some predicting the Greens could even win a Senate seat from each state. As well, for the first time in Green history, they may even win a seat in the House of Representatives. It's also worth mentioning Australia's two-party preferred electoral system at this stage, where Labor and the Greens are doing, if they haven't done already, a preferential deal.
It's early days yet, and anything may happen, but it looks more and more like the two main parties are going to have to side with the Greens should they want to achieve political supremacy. Who would have thought Bob Brown and his party of environmental do-gooders would "keep the bastards honest"?
Remember, you don't win elections, you lose them.
Also in this episode
- The Optus 2-in-1 SIM card makes upgrading to iPhone 4 easier;
- Telstra drops its price on 200Gb DSL broadband;
- Optus flaunts the Do Not Call register;
- Qantas is introducing smart Frequent Flyer cards; and
- Adam vents over ABC's move to a dedicated 24 hour news channel.
Gadget of the Week
Source, contributed by Brock.
The PARROT MKi9200 car kit
Brock says: works great with the iPhone, and he uses it to listen to Tech Talk podcasts!
The Parrot MKi9200 is a Bluetooth hands-free system with a 2.4-inch high-resolution TFT colour screen. A wireless remote control can be positioned on the steering wheel or dashboard and allows the driver to control all the functions of the MKi9200.
In addition to conventional telephony functions - pick up, hang up, dual calls - the Parrot MKi9200 boasts cutting-edge telephony functions: automatic phonebook synchronisation, training-free multi-speaker voice recognition, speech synthesis of the names in the phonebook, contact management (up to 2 000 per phone), call records, and so on.
Buy 'em new for about $400 on eBay.
Website of the Week
http://www.geoiptool.com/
See what your IP address says about YOU!
This website will provide you with an embedded Google map showing your location based on your IP address.
The accuracy of this will be reflected by whether or not the address is static or dynamic, what ISP you're connected to, and a bunch of other things.
Information includes: Host Name, IP Address, Country, Region, City, Latitude & Longitude!
Odd Spot
An "automotive technology" Odd Spot this week:
A family in Colorado will never again have to worry about the call of nature on the road after designing a twin-bowl toilet car. It took four years and three prototypes for Dave Hersch to perfect his design, which features a 6.5-horsepower motor, six toilet rolls and a magazine rack.
Dave said, "The first version was literally a toilet on top of a go cart. It didn't last past the first turn. The toilet slid off and broke into a million pieces on the road. Porcelain is very fragile I have learned.
"The second version was still a single toilet but had some features like a bolted down toilet, brakes, and a toilet seat. That version didn't make it past the first ride by my friend who flipped it and broke the toilet again."
"Finally the current model was built to be foolproof. Adults take photos and kids jump up and down with excitement. It's a great way to meet all the people in my neighbourhood without all the typical grown-up formalities."
Source.
Web Addresses mentioned in this week's episode
Links for Ardy:
http://www.nearmap.com/
and
http://cellsite.nudge.id.au/
This Week's Panelists
Andrew McColm, 
Dr Ron, and 
Graeme Callaghan.How to Listen to Tech Talk Radio
- This episode - on the pod.
- This episode - full 2-hour show.
- This episode - bandwidth-impaired version.
