Geek Out

Well, that pretty much wraps it up for me as Nick Broughall’s stand-in while he was away the past two weeks welcoming a new child into the world. Nick is due back on Monday when all of you who have been hassling me about stuff for which I have no discretionary power will be able to find some resolution. Or not. Go easy, OK? It’s tough becoming a new parent. But before I go, here’s a few things I didn’t get around to posting earlier.

It’s good times for Black Box Network Services:

Investment in the telecommunications industry in Australia remains robust, despite the global financial crisis and a threat of reduced infrastructure spending. That’s the message from Denzil Stephenson, Managing Director of Black Box Network Services, the world’s largest technical services company. As a result, he is planning the acquisition of an existing telecommunications business in Sydney, Auckland or Brisbane.

World’s largest technical services company? I thought that might have been Cisco. Speaking of which, this just in…

Big players, big cheques
Cisco to pay $US3 billion for Tandberg. Read more over at MIS.

Safety app for iPhone
Being a parent, I like the idea that my daughter’s iPhone can be used in myriad ways to alert others to any threats to her safety. The “i am Safe” app takes personal security up a notch with four options: 1. Making your phone ring; 2. Sending a previously worded emergency text or voice message to five pre-determined contacts; 3. Sending a previously worded emergency email to the five contacts, including a link to a map showing where you are; 4. Recording audio of the incident and sending it to the i am Safe server for future reference. Check it out at the App Store by clicking here.

Windows Desktop, Full Circle
Melbourne-based 360desktop is a free Windows program for desktop utilisation that gives users almost unlimited desktop space, letting them personalise their digital workspace with interactive 360° wallpaper that they create and share by uploading their own images, or they can download from the gallery of community-generated backgrounds.

These Web-enabled, scrollable backgrounds also allow users to pick their favorite parts of the Web and put them directly on their desktop as if they were native desktop applications. For example, you could easily “widgetise” news, weather, videos or other information so it’s readily available on your desktop, independent from the browser.

OK, well that’s it. Au revoir.

Chris Oaten