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Technology

It’s last rites for the book

Five years ago I independently published my first book. I did so largely because I like to play with new technology and publishing a book allowed me to try digital ‘print-on-demand’ technology. ‘POD’ promised to greatly simplify and reduce the cost of book production. I won’t be retiring, or even snacking, on proceeds from the [...]

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Dalliance with the iPad

Sunday. Launch plus two days. I’m walking down Bourke St in central Melbourne when I pass JB HiFi. A single handmade sign stuck onto the wall states simply: “iPad. Here now”. Now some in my family accuse me of being a nerd, but the truth is that while I was aware of the iPad’s Australian [...]

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Google Earth or Real Earth? I’m Getting Confused

One of my very favourite cartoons is Michael Leunig’s ‘TV sunrise’. The picture of a father and son watching the sunset on television while the real thing happens just outside the window seems to capture the essence of modern life. The only problem with the cartoon is that it is a bit dated. I mean, [...]

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I ♥ My Flatscreen TV

We resisted for a long time. For years I’ve been mocking everyone else for putting a big flat box out with their rubbish, signalling submission to the big flat TV trend. I was noble. The old telly still worked, so why get rid of it? And TV isn’t a big priority in our house. And [...]

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Why Technology will Never Replace the Knowledge of Elders

It was a crafty weekend at our house. I was house-painting – a job that is going to keep me going for many months. Our youngest daughter was making soap for Christmas presents. And my wife and eldest daughter were working together as said daughter had her first introduction to serious needlework. It got me [...]

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Our Love Affair with Digital: Are we Being Led Astray?

The stark realisation of just how wedded to digital technology we have become gave me a strong sense of unease recently. Am I alone in feeling a growing sense of communal vulnerability in this relationship?

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In fact, Web 2.0 is simplicity defined…

Let’s bring my previous two posts together. It occurs to me that Don Norman need only look at Web 2.0 to see that simplicity, as he defined it in his ground-breaking 1999 book The Invisible Computer, is alive and well – and hardly over-rated. In that book, Norman argues that the problem with the computer [...]

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Simplicity’s Future: The Debate Rolls On

Back in January I wrote about the future of simplicity, following a provocative article by Don Norman. Well the debate that Don started has run itself around the globe a few times now. I’ve just come across another article by Joshua Porter which is worth noting simply because he cross references a number of views [...]

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Keeping Track: Web 2.0 makes it simple, doesn’t it?

I’m a big fan of Web 2.0. The endless possibilities of all the new toys – blogs, podcasts, video, rss, etc., etc., – available to us fascinate me. The democratic nature of the ‘people power’ nature of Web 2.0 appeals to me. There are enormous possibilities for business too, though I don’t think they’ve been [...]

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In Search of a Simpler Work Experience

I made my move two years ago. At the time I didn’t tell many people. I didn’t want to be embarrassed if it didn’t work out. I didn’t want people saying, “I told you so”. But now, two years on, it’s time I told you about my shift. In the early days, the old place [...]

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