I haven’t really got much to post at the moment. As I have mentioned previously, I intend to up the quality of content on this site from basic commentary to essay-length posts. This post is a sneak-peak of a couple of technology reviews I will be doing in the coming weeks.

The sites I will be reviewing are WasabiTV.com.au and Tiinker.com. Both “Web 2.0″ type start-ups created here in Australia. I won’t go on  in detail at the moment but do check them out for yourself.

Stay tuned for the full-reviews in the coming weeks. They are great sites!

I am not a great fan of regurgitating other peoples information but David Sag over at Carbon Planet had some interesting news over at his blog today:

Social network sites have traditionally been seen as either playthings for bored office workers, dating site equivalents for lusty students, helper kits internet-stalkers or fronts for the CIA, but today I think I actually found something useful in facebook. Carpooling.

Previously, online ride-sharing was a risky and difficult endeavour for any user. Finding a ride on a website like Craigslist (currently the most popular ride-sharing site) would be fraught with uncertainty and hazard. There was simply no way to find out about a potential ride-sharing partner - your driver could be your real-estate agent or a newly released axe-murderer. He (or she?) could come pick you up on time, or leave you hanging. There was no accountability, no trust and consequently no real step-change in the culture of ride-sharing in the real world. Car owners still prefer to drive empty cars over long distances, paying hefty gas costs, and passengers still have to desperately beg for rides, rent cars or suffer a long, expensive bus/train ride. Everyone still loses.

Social-networking has changed the game. This disruptive technology has made it possible for people to establish trust in an online environment, thereby shattering the bottleneck for online-ridesharing. And Facebook Carpool, the new ride-sharing application that is embedded into the Facebook interface, is the first sophisticated utility to take advantage.

Resource use optimisation is the name of the game here. If I can find someone already going past my house to the airport (tomorrow afternoon say) then, by sharing a ride with them I will save both money and CO2, and, to be honest, might even make a new friend to play facebook scrabble with too. — DS

Thanks David. Cool post; cool find.

When does everyone think the Apple iPhone will available in Australia, or more accurately, Asia Pacific? I have my bets on late 2008/early 2009.

As most technophiles will already know, Steve Jobs - Apple’s CEO - is reluctant of a 3G model at this point due to problems with the battery-life. He doesn’t want to sacrifice any of the iPhone functionality by supplying a limited battery-life. Well, I don’t think they will release the iPhone to Asia Pacific unless it is a 3G model. What’s the point?

It has been said that people place too much importance on the ‘term’ - 3G. Most really don’t get the most out of what it offers to what can it possibly matter? Well, truth is, Asia Pacific hosts some of the worlds largest 3G networks. I believe 2.5 (GSM or EDGE) would be taking a step backward.

Who will win?

Next question, who will win the contract for the iPhone here in Australia? I have my money - not literally - on Vodafone. I believe, from a branding/marketing perspective the two companies align better than the anticipated Telstra/Apple partnership. After all, Telstra has always been rather Apple-unfriendly.

We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Yaro yesterday posted a blog on his achievements for the year over at Entrepreneur’s Journey.

Some of the highlights:

- Attending the Strategic Profits event in Florida.

- Attending the World Internet Summit in Melbourne.

- Buying his first house and a new car.

- Selling BetterEdit.com for a low-six figure sum.

- Continuing to enlighten, inspire and teach me more about online business and the opportunities it provides.

If you would like to read the blog post, and I highly recommend you do, click here.

This post is the first of three posts Yaro intends to publish on this topic. So add his blog to your RSS reader so you don’t miss out on the others.

Over and out…

P

I am number 2 for ‘australian business blogging’ on Google. Under EJ. Very happy with that result.

Bec and Lleyton Hewitt apparently have a stake in online venture, eSwap.com.au. I wonder how it goes for them.

THE surfwear and streetwear company Billabong International has snapped up the Tigerlily swimwear and clothing business from Jodhi Meares, the former wife of James Packer.

Billabong, which has a market capitalisation of $3 billion, has not revealed how much it paid for the operation but it said the acquisition would be earnings per share positive in the first year.

However, market sources said Ms Meares would be paid between $3 million and $5 million for the company she built up over the past nine years.

Continue reading about Billabong’s take-over of Tigerlily

If big names mean much in big business then online movie rental service Quickflix must be doing something right.

In just four years it has already acquired a Packer-backed rival, attracted investment from a Murdoch, emerged as Telstra’s main competition, and is playing no small part in helping the internet kill off the video store.

Started with less than half a million dollars, Quickflix now has a market capitalisation of $20 million, a subscriber base of 22,000 and strategic partnerships with some of the biggest names in the retail and entertainment industry.

Read More…

If you’d like to give Quickflix a go yourself (as I have) check out the following link. It’s really worth it; such a good, easy to use, fun service and best of all there is a 14-day FREE trial to start out with:

Get movies in the mail - Try Quickflix FREE

This advert irritates me. Liberal are again using a scare campaign to attract uneducated voters. The advert certainly tries to paint interest rates under labor in a negative light.

Firstly, we see a peak when Hawke was in control which declines 5% under Keating. Then the Liberals took over and have taken the credit for it which may well be deserved.

But prior to Whitlam who was treasurer and how high were the interests rates? Howard and 21.39%.

Also, does the advert reveal the various external influences at the time that were affecting the rates? Of course not.

This is slightly old news but it is the first I have heard about it. Accounting software firm, 2Clix that attempted to sue ISP discussion forum Whirlpool has gone into administration.

As they say, ‘what goes around, comes around’.

According to ITWire “after receiving a barrage of criticism on Whirlpool in posts from disaffected users, 2Clix, also known as Platinum One business solutions, lodged a $150,000 lawsuit against Simon Wright, founder of Whirlpool, in September. The lawsuit was subsequently withdrawn after an outcry from many quarters including online watchdog Electronic Frontiers Australia”.

Apparently wages have gone unpaid and 2Clix have appointed accounting firm (ironic) Worrells to manage the administration.