Category Archives: General

(In response to an opinion piece on the NY Times: The Google Algorithm).

Old media reaches over 90% of the world’s population. Analysts reckon that most people still rely on old media for half of their daily news intake. When journalist, editors, or presenters tweak (skew) their supersecret algorithm, as they do hundreds of times a week – they can out a gay member of parliament or help elect a country’s first black, female president.

When there was competition in old media, it was easy to be agnostic about news, with no reason to play favourite with one candidate over another. But as old media has become more concentrated, with fewer competitors owning newspapers, radio and TV stations in the same market, it has acquired pecuniary incentives to favour one party over another.

Old media argues that it’s only the messenger and it does not bias the message. With declining circulation and the people spending less time spent in front of the tube, their grip on serving news the way they want to is waning. Competitors are a click away and old media is concerned that the premonitions of the new media gurus are finally coming true. The situation has become so dire that a case is now building for government handouts to help ensure that yesterday’s old media remain the gatekeepers of tomorrow’s news.

In the past few months, the old media rallying cry has intensified. Traditional journalism, they claim is under siege by bloggers and copy cats like the Huffington Post. They argue, “how can the people rely on the trustworthiness of today’s online news if they (the old oligarchs) are not serving it.” Rivals in new media have accused old media of sour grapes, especially now that their grip is slipping and they are no longer able to control the message even with their insanely high concentration of media ownership. Old media though says it still expects the government to bail them out, especially if said government expects to be re-elected.

Their accusations may or may not have merit. Old media says there is no bias. They only report what their people want to see or hear. Some old media pundits refuse to change and continue to claim that sites such as Mahalo are nothing more than a collection of links with next to no original content of their own, precisely the kind of information the people should be protected from. Antitrust regulators in the United States could well let old media buy 100% of all media assets in multiple markets because they are no longer as relevant as they once claimed to be.

Still, the potential impact of old media’s bias on news is such that it is still worth preventing further concentration of ownership to ensure ‘the editorial algorithm of news’ is free from a single entity’s faltering grip over all media (especially in Australia).

Some early suggestions for how to accomplish this include putting old media out of their misery with some specified level of accountability in their editorial policy that guides its bias. Another would be to ignore their whinging all together as their dominance is truly coming to an end.

Old media still provides an incredibly valuable service, and the government must be careful not to rely on social media to spread its message to the masses, at least not yet. Remembering that old media can still help fill party coffers, paying gazillions in old media buys to help sway public opinion is a small price to pay (by taxpayers), so government must tread lightly and protect its investment in the old guard.

With these caveats in mind, if old media continues to see itself as the map to the daily news, it concerns us all that it delivers the message to us without tweaking the news algorithm.

The satirical views expressed in this article are the sole views of the writer.

Further reading:

Note: This position has been filled.

Amplify is looking for an intelligent and motivated junior PHP developer who is looking to prove their potential and join the ranks of a highly skilled and good looking team team.

You should have a broad range of skills in PHP, CSS, JavaScript and strong standards based HTML coding (at the very least you should know what they mean). A good eye for design will be a distinct advantage, as would knowledge of PHP frameworks like symfony (tickets to the opera are not included).

Amplify is a fast growing and profitable company that focuses on providing an integrated approach to developing our clients online business. We combine solid web development skills with search marketing and digital media expertise to achieve our client’s goals. You will be working on large scale projects for a wide variety of brand name clients like Webjet, Board Room Radio and others.

Amplify also offers a flexible, fun and relaxed atmosphere to work in.

Mandatory skills required:

• Computer Science degree (or similar) or 2+ years development experience
• Experience in PHP development
• Excellent English language skills

Bonus skills:

• Familiarity with (or a willingness to learn) the symfony PHP Framework (or similar such as Cake or Zend)
• Experience with MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery, HTML, HTML5, CSS and W3C compliant web development/design
• Web design skills and experience with design software such as Photoshop an advantage

Other Requirements:

• Highly motivated, efficient and well organised
• You must work well in a team environment but also be able to work independently
• An ability to work within project deadlines
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Must be an Australian Permanent Resident

Salary is contingent on experience.

When submitting your resume please include some examples of your work including information on your role in the project.

No agencies, thank you.

With the launch of the Apple’s iPad this week, small laptops, netbooks, e-readers and tablet notebooks are likely to be top of mind for many working Australians. And the question for many will be: Is smaller necessarily better? Enter Amplify friend and tech guru Joel Montgomery from Powerbuy.com.au with his two cents on what to consider if you’re thinking of going small for business and getting a netbook. Enjoy!

A netbook is a much smaller and cheaper version of a laptop. Netbooks (short for “Internet Notebooks“), also known as “mini laptops” and “mini notebooks”, are ideal for travelling and for home but what about for the office? Does it make sense to shrink your I.T. budget and our screen size? We look at whether netbooks are really worth your while.

1. Price

Netbooks are ultra-cheap. You can pick up a decent netbook for under $600, less than half what you’d pay for a laptop. However if you plan to use a netbook regularly in the office then you may want an external (bigger) monitor & keyboard which will set you back another $200 – $300.

2. Mobility

A typical laptop weighs between 2kg and 3kg and with a 15″ screen they can be difficult to use when you’re travelling. Netbooks, however, weigh less than 1kg and with screen sizes ranging from 7″ to 10″ are ideal for use “on the go”. Netbooks also have a lower power draw so their batteries can last 2 – 3 times longer. You can buy netbooks with built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or 3G cards which makes connecting to the Internet easy no matter where you are.

TIP: Look for netbooks with SSD (Solid State Drives). These are better than the traditional hard drive models because there are no moving parts so they’re less prone to damage if (and when) they get knocked about.

3. Performance

Netbooks are much slower than your typical laptop. They use low voltage processors usually with 1GB memory (RAM). You’ll find that you can simultaneously run multiple Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc), accounting software and a web browser without any issues. However, when you start to run graphics applications, videos or websites with lots of Flash your netbook may grind to a halt.

TIP: You’ll get the best performance if you run Windows 7 (starter edition) or Linux. You may also need to schedule your anti-virus software to run the scheduled scan of your hard drive after hours.

4. Screen size

The netbook’s small screen (7″ to 10″) can give you eye strain if you’re on it all day. Popular netbook models allow for a maximum screen resolution of 1024×600 but anything below this doesn’t let you to view the whole width of a web page at any one time (so you have to scroll the page back and forth to read a full line of text, which can get very frustrating).

TIP: Make sure your netbook has a VGA connection so you can connect it to an external monitor.

5. Other considerations

Netbooks usually don’t have CD or DVD drives. Small keyboards can also make it difficult to type so you may need an external keyboard when you’re in the office.

The Bottom Line

If you need a second computer for the home or a travelling companion then the price, weight, mobility and battery life of a netbook make them hard to go by. If you’re in the market for a Dell or Samsung netbook then make sure you grab an extra saving from PowerBuy first. However, if you spend most of your working day in the office in front of your computer, then we suggest you spend extra to get a laptop, because even the slightest performance degradation can add up to hours of lost productivity for you and your staff.

While debating whether I’d throw my hat into the prediction pool and risk being wrong again about this being “the year of the mobile” (I’ll save that for another post), I thought I would instead put together a wishlist for the coming year. With inspiration from Brian Halligan, the CEO of Hubspot, I’ve put together my own list of desires for 2010.

PS: I would really like to see Brian’s point on PR transformation come true but I have no faith in Australian PR companies getting their act together just yet.

1. Traditional marketers finally realise that they’re overpaying for print and tv media (the eyeballs have mysteriously gone elsewhere) and immediately begin to appropriate more money to digital media.

2. Anyone other than Google gains market share in search. Google, we still love you (and would love you even more if you released the Nexus One here at the same time as you did elsewhere), but with a 90% market share we love competition even more.

3. Social media hype subsides and businesses realise that there’s a great opportunity to listen to their audience and have a real two-way conversation with their customers. After all, it’s not about technology, it’s about communication.

4. Australian companies stop bitching that they’re not making as much money from Google Adwords doing the same thing they were three years ago and start investing more in SEO where there’s better ROI.

5. Multinationals come to the realisation that markets are local and that managing all aspects of the digitial marketing message and technology from a foreign country is not the best option for success. “Think Global, Act Local” becomes the catch phrase for global business.

6. I figure out a real business use for Google Wave, write a book, join the speaking circuit and retire to a beach side, golf resort.

7. Australians see new innovative tools and businesses created from the government’s $40 billion broadband implementation which leads to a faster rollout to all major cities across the country.

8. Online retailing crosses the chasm thanks to a few foreign retailers (Best Buy, Amazon, & Costco) invading our shores. Combined with strong experience and great technology, their immediate impact forces local retailers such as Harvey Norman, Myer and David Jones to get their act together just in time for the 2010 Christmas shopping season.

9. Entertainment companies realise that they can make more money by releasing their movies to DVD and online services such as Tivo & iTunes at the same time rather than pretending that there is still a chance to save the DVD.

10. More companies realise that there’s no advantage to paying extra (up to 18%) for the privilege to use mediocre technology to manage their SEM campaigns. A great strategy and strong people will win out for most advertisers.

11. Matt Cutts is finally persuaded to visit Australia for SMX Sydney in April, falls in love with this great country and decides to move down under.

Do you have any wishes you’d like to share?

Thinking about upgrading to Windows 7 for your business? We asked Joel Montgomery from Powerbuy, online home of I.T. coupons and cashbacks, to give us a quick overview of what to expect with Windows 7.

7 Things About Windows 7

Here are 7 things we think all Australian small businesses should know about Windows 7:

1. Windows 7 is a lot faster than XP and Vista. Our partner, Correct Solutions, estimates a saving of 20-30 mins per person per day because everything works that bit quicker.
2. You don’t need to buy a new PC to run it. Windows 7 is less “resource hungry” than Vista and requires a minimum 1GHz processor, 1GB memory (RAM) & 16GB hard disk space. If you’re running 512MB RAM then a Computer Troubleshooters engineer can come on-site and install it for cheap.
3. Three  versions of Windows 7 will be available at launch – Home Premium, Professional & Ultimate. Vista Business and XP Professional users should upgrade to the equivalent Windows 7 Professional Edition.
4. Vista  and XP compatible programs will also work on Windows 7, but, if you plan to run your XP compatible software on Windows 7 then make sure you buy the Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate Editions because the Home Premium edition does not support XP backwards compatibility.
5. Upgrading to Windows 7 from XP is not that easy. All of your files, settings and folder structures will be lost when you do a fresh install. Make sure you have the original CDs for your XP-compatible software and back-up all of your files first. The whole process will take hours to complete.
6. Take  advantage of the introductory upgrade pricing. If you’re running XP or Vista you can upgrade for between A$200 and A$400 per computer (except home version upgrades). Earlier models will pay full price for Windows 7. Better pricing is available for companies with Microsoft volume license agreements.
7. If you purchased a laptop or desktop after June 26 2009 then it’s likely you’ll be entitled to a cheap or free upgrade. You’ll need to register with your manufacturer first, so check with Microsoft to see if you’re entitled.

What do you think? Is there anything else Australian small businesses should consider before upgrading to Windows 7?