Vodafone representatives have declared that mobile advertising is on the upswing, whether users like it or not. With revenues from mobile ads set to reach $108 million dollars AUS within the next few years, you know the next level of assault on the consumer is set to begin. The companies, like Vodafone who are gearing up to bring these ads to the masses certainly don’t seem to care whether the consumer wants one more area of invasion or not.

You wouldn’t think that domain squatting was still a lucrative practice. Back when the World Wide Web first opened its portals to the public, it was common to try and buy domain names of trademarked companies, like Coca Cola or Pepsi, and then sell them back to the company for a nice chunk of change once the company finally decided to make a web page. That practice is still going on, to an extent.

The recent requirement by the Australian government for telecommunications companies to release data about their infrastructure to bidders for the new government FTTN (fiber to the node) network may have unexpected costs to Australian tax payers. The legislation calls for voluntary submission of the data. The data will be going to both the government and bidders on the FTTN spectrum for the national broadband initiative.

China has blocked the BBC web site for man years. Now the BBC is reporting that their web site is now fully viewable in China. Even more intriguing, BBC staff on location in China are saying that the full web site seems to be available, uncensored.

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Australia’s new Labor government has been planning a big roll out of a grand scale fiber to the node (FTTN) network. As part of this grand roll out the government introduced (and passed) legislation ordering telecommunications companies to give them data about their network infrastructure. The bill is known as the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment, or National Broadband Network Bill.

A show based out of Queensland called Dojo Monkey has become the first Australian show to go completely cross platform. The animated show is based on a character named Dojo Money. Dojo Monkey got his start as the ninja monkey in a video game, but the creator immediately saw the potential for a show and the ability to make that work on multiple platforms.

Broadband in schools in the subject of political mud slinging, as Liberals accuse Labor of failing to fulfill one of their election promises. Broadband in schools was intended as a compliment to the “one PC per desk” initiative, in which Labor declared that every student in years 9 through 12 would have access to a computer. Government officials have not officially responded to the allegations.

Australia has been in the news repeatedly this year as the country as a whole works to improve internet speed and quality for all of its citizens. Not only are companies all over Australia concentrating on rolling out better existing technologies, Australian companies have been willing to experiment with new technologies (like the good but flawed BPL network). Now Digital Sense is tackling Australia’s high density data centers.

ABC released a press release stating their intention to invite 5,000 lucky Australians to a public beta of their new service, ABC Playback. ABC Playback is a way to watch video at no cost over the internet. In order to be a part of the public beta you have to have a fast internet connection like ADSL2/1.1 Mbps.

Telepathy in any form has long seemed confined to science fiction books and movies. People with disabilities and problems speaking due accident or other issues seemed condemned to a life of silence, restricted to the written word, typing and TDD terminals. Thanks to a new device, that is all about to change. The first voiceless phone call has now been made.

A few years ago an idea came down the pike that was supposed to bring broadband to every corner of Australia. That idea, broadband over power lines, has now died a quiet death. The Australian utilities have abandoned the technology.

The ATM machine is everyone’s favorite place to grab a quick stash of cash for an evening out or shopping. Maybe they aren’t as foolproof and safe as everyone likes to think. Recent reports from security firms have shown that they are vulnerable to Windows based hacker attacks.

The owner of TeamTaylorMade.com web site, Timothy P Taylor, was ordered to pay back the profits he made from the venture. His web site tricked visitors into installing spyware and adware onto their machines in the guise of free videos and free screen savers. Taylor will be returning $4595.36 USD, a paltry sum compared other recent legal news, like the sentencing of two software pirates.

The Australian Federal Police and Microsoft has teamed up to track predators. Microsoft will be adding a logistics system to the Australian Federal Police’s existing online child protection unit. The system will enhance the efforts of the AFP in tracking crimes against children and their perpetrators, and will help tighten the net for capture.

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank is the only financial institution currently investigating the use of biometrics as a key to account security. It is coming under fire from people who claim the technology behind biometrics is still too new and unrefined to use. Granted biometrics is considered an emerging science, but it has already demonstrated usefulness in other fields, so why not banking?

America is looking down the precipice at a fairly severe recession right now. This means that many in the world wide technology and software industry are biting their nails to see how it may affect their sales. The creators of Open Source software are sitting pretty.

After nearly a year of beta testing, Microsoft has finally made its Windows Live SkyDrive available to Australia. What is it? It is a free online storage option that is attached to your existing Windows Live Hotmail email account.

Ten ISPs, led by Intermode, have banded together in a complaint against Telstra. In the complaint, filed with the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), the ISPs allege that Telstra is refusing to allow them access to their ADSL services. The ISP want Telstra to wholesale access to parts of the service to the ISPs.

Open Source advocates hold “installfests” all the time to help new Open Source users learn how to install and use Open Source programs on existing computer systems. Now one United States Open Source group has decided to take this helping hand to the next level by creating a combination installfest and buildfest to provide computers to schools.