 On
the Net
with Chris Goh
Australia's GDP was the envy of many Asian countries around 20 years ago, but
today we envy them. Countries like India, Malaysia and South Korea have enjoyed
a large turnaround in their fortunes. And then there's China, which has the potential
to become the premiere superpower of the next few decades.
How did Australia fall off the pace on technology? My answer is in two parts.
Firstly, it's not too late to rejoin the race. The second and most important point
is that in the Asian economies, their governments and the people have a culture
of looking at things in epochs, whilst our Western view is fixated on the short
term, particularly when it comes to governments who can't see beyond the next
election.
When you're competing against nations that work for a common goal over many
years, it's very difficult, without the support of government, to ensure that
the nation has a shared vision of how to attain economic prosperity.
The contrasts are stark. And it's why South Korea's investment in companies
like Samsung two decades ago means they can now boast as the home to the largest
consumer electronics company in the world.
Meanwhile, Australia has just posted another record trade deficit, in part
because this service economy is forced to import vast quantities of ICT. The policies
to deal with these issues are within our grasp, but they are often forgotten in
the hubbub of more politically divisive topics like trains and health. If we're
going to stop lagging behind other nations, then government needs to treat IP
(Intellectual Property) and knowledge governance as an investment in Australian
economic wealth.
Hot News
A 10th planet in our solar system has been discovered by Mike Brown from the
Californian Institute of Technology. Larger than Pluto, it orbits the sun every
560 years. Mike has temporarily nicknamed it Lilah after his daughter.
Cisco is under immense industry pressure after flaws in the routers and switches
were discovered in the Operating System, leaving machines vulnerable to remote
takeover. In making the discovery, then battling to reveal it, Michael Lyn has
become an international hero.
A recent government auction scored one lucky bidder an IBM Server from the
NSW Transit Authority. He got a lot more than he bargained for including
employee electronic pin records, employee numbers and backup tapes with payroll
information. Alas he found no secret plans to build the Ballina bypass on there.
In further proof the One Zoom digital camera range is the market leader, Fuji
has joined the race, announcing the S9000 with 10x optical, anti blur and 0.01
shutter time lag.
Repilee Q1, created by a Japanese university professor, is a life-like female
android with human features and mannerisms to boot. Move over Blade Runner.
Podcasting has revolutionised how the faithful listen to their preachers, spawning
a phenomenon known as Godcasting. Lycos reports a 355% surge in Podcasting
for religious audio.
There's an emerging battle going on between the powerhouses of DVD, BlueRay
and High Definition DVD, with 20th Century Fox recently announcing its support
for Blue Ray. Another company has developed a new medium called POP3, which
can store up to 100 Gig in an optical format. But the most important thing
for this medium is the access and transfer rate. The makers claim that POP3 uses
current production optical technology but can achieve the speeds of today's hard
drives, which is a major breakthrough.
Microsoft has successfully sued Google for poaching one of its ex-executives,
Kai-Fu Lee. They won a restraining order preventing Mr Lee from working in area
familiar during his time at Microsoft while at Google.
Hotsites
- www.ijtihad.org
- Islam has had a difficult time of late thanks to its more radical followers.
Ijtihad aims at provide a real insight into the faith by discussing the religion's
challenges and Muslim perspectives of world events.
- www.schoolexpress.com
- The name says it all. It's essentially a site for a educators and parents
looking for material to help kids improve their skills and knowledge in an array
of disciplines.
- www.mcmanweb.com
- The McMan is for people with depression and bipolar disorder. Inspired
by his own journey, McMan offers unique literature for an in-depth perspective,
as well as offering those on their own difficult journey some insight.
C.Goh@atp.com.au
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