News

Nerd Bird takes TEDx to the sky

Qantas has held the first ever aerial TED talks, in the first class cabin of a Boeing 747 (flight QF73) flying from Sydney to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon....

Govt defines a creative innovation

Malcolm Turnbull has made a big deal about innovation. His Government’s new National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA), released last December, made broad announcements about tax and other incentives...

Flatline for uni tech enrolments

Australia’s universities open their doors to a new crop of around 84,800 undergraduates from this week; demand for IT courses is proving “steady but not spectacular.” There has been...

Gov.AU targets thorny trust issues

The Digital Transformation Office capped its biggest week since being set up seven months ago with the formal acceptance of its Gov.AU Alpha prototype. The agency also started discovery...

On science, religion and the CSIRO

The head of CSIRO, Larry Marshall, has apologised for comparing the passions aroused by climate change with those sparked by religion. “The politics of climate, I think there’s a...

The Nationals and the Glass Snowy

Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash were elected to the Senate in 2004, at a time when telecommunications was a central political issue of the day – courtesy of the...

Telstra taps Green energy market

There is good news and bad for Australia’s nascent renewable energy industry. Listed companies in the sector are significantly outperforming the rest of the ASX, but renewables are still...

Oh for joy! Repeal days are repealed

The Federal Government has announced the end of its ‘Repeal Days’. The term, borrowed from US Tea Party rhetoric, referred to the ripping up thousands of pages of regulations...

Turnbull readies first China visit

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is readying to make his first visit to China since he took office – most likely in April according to talk in government and...

German STEM aims at pre-school

It will be a slow, generational effort to boost the nation’s capability in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), but the work has started with funding announced for two...

Startups caught in seed tax changes

Brass could be in short supply for cash-strapped startups as investors shy away from new investments until the federal government’s new tax breaks kick-in from July, but relief may...

Building IP: the innovation game

If intellectual property is the measure of a nation’s innovation abilities, Patricia Kelly wields the yardstick. Ms Kelly, a long time public servant, started her career in social and...

Year for Monkey business in China

During this Chinese Year of the Monkey, China is set to overhaul Japan as the second largest spender on information and communication technology after the United States. New forecasts...

CSIRO shakeout is all about data

The CSIRO will shed 350 jobs and redirect its research priorities as part of a major shake-up under new CEO Larry Marshall, that includes an organisation-wide focus on data...