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Pass
that number please
By Keith Newman,
August 2001
Do you own your telephone number? Or do the mobile or fixed phone
carriers you subscribe to control that unique set of
digits that friends, business acquaintances and customers
have programmed into their databases, address books and
memories? .
Broadband
Surfers Kneecapped (July
2001)
ISP megabit meters
are curbing the ‘big pipe’ dream just as fast Internet
hits the mainstream and the web becomes increasingly
content rich.
I recently cancelled my second phone line and changed my
ISP after experiencing three-months free access to Telecom’s
Jetstream 400 digital subscriber line service which gave
me consistent (2-4Mbit/sec) ‘always on’ access
enabling me to surf and talk on the phone at the same
time.
Information Saturation
(June
2001) I'm a recovering media magpie. For the
past 20 or so years I've been hoarding boxes of newspaper
clippings, piles of magazines and shelves full of ancient
reference books I might need one day.
Recently I undertook a ruthless inventory, ultimately
setting light to a huge mountain of paper in the backyard.
It seemed for a moment my soul soared high above the
flames as some cosmic defragmentation program released me
from the crippling power of information saturation.
Visionary
Leadership Overdue By Keith Newman
(May 2001)
An old
Hungarian proverb has been firmly etched into my mind
these past few years which, roughly translated, says:
"if you are always trying to be like someone else who’s
going to be you?"
It’s been an insightful incentive for me
as I traverse middle age and wonder whether New Zealand’s
identity crisis will ever be resolved by trying to become
another Ireland, Finland, Singapore or Silicon Valley.
Content
Crown Slips
By Keith Newman (April 2001)
If content is
supposed to be king then its crown has slipped lately
while the pretenders to the throne are removed and the
borders of the new media empire are re-surveyed.
3G
in Holding Pattern By Keith Newman
(March 2001)
Billions of dollars have been invested in licensing the
world’s airwaves for next generation wireless
communications but the mobile multimedia dream promised in
the wake of 3G spectrum auctions is turning to a
nightmare.The overly hyped scenario of m-commerce,
long messaging, interactive games, Internet browsing and
video conferencing on a single global superphone is
unlikely to be a reality for some years.
DotGovt
Hype Needs focus By Keith Newman (February 2001)
If the Government was a
business it would have been declared bankrupt a long time
ago after failing to re-engineer for current market
conditions and not returning value to its shareholders.
It has not given a clear national vision,
refused hands-on help for the commercial sector and
neglected to set in place a standardised view of the world
across its own departments.
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