Life & Technology

This morning on Today we talked about the Webby Awards; the video clips that were notable and those that were not!

In the notable class was the ‘Obama Crush’ music video that made it’s creator an instant star, well, a web star. The video clip was not only watched by over 8 million people online but saw loads of parody clips made that helped push the hype – Watch It Here

In the not so notable mentions was the online world wide attention focused at Corey Delaney. The interview between Leila Mckinnon and Corey Delaney on A Current Affair was the video clip example used when discussing the mention. There is no official listing of the not so notable mentions in the Webbys, they do however read them out at the award’s ceremony. This clip was mentioned because of the massive amount of internet hype Corey achieved following his house party, and the ACA clip was the best example of this – Watch It Here

The Webbys, in their current form started in 1997, fast becoming an annual award event promoting excellence in the world of the Web.

Check out the winners’ list for all the nominations and winners, and let us know which were your favourites.

Webby Awards – Online Film and Video
Webby Awards – Websites
Webby Awards – Interactive Advertising
Webby Awards – Mobile

Now that Australia is confirmed to have the iPhone from July 11 it is time to save our cash and decide do we get an iPhone or an iPhone killer?

Samsung are hosting a local mobile phone roadshow today (Thursday), to show off all the different phones they are bringing to Australia this year. I’ve been reading a number of unconfirmed reports on the web about a new touch screen phone from Samsung that will do all that iPhone does and more, I look forward to seeing it – hopefully today.

Competitors for iPhone are few and far between. HTC has the ‘Touch‘ which is a great phone, but has not come close to capturing the minds of consumers like iPhone.

The hype is in the market, consumers have not yet laid down their cash – will a major CE company please stand up and show us your ‘iKiller’. If you don’t do it soon, the world will be introduced to smart phones via the iPhone, and like we learned about digital music players through the iPod, it will be tough road to walk once the horse has bolted.
So, for you is it an iPhone or an iPhone Killer?

Australia’s appetite for consumer technology seems to be never ending. Just recently a major national retailer that focuses on the sales on consumer electronics has increased it’s profit outlook for the year. In a time of doom and gloom for practically every, everyday essential from petrol to housing, consumer electronics remains on the shopping lists of Australians.

I have a couple of theories as to why this is so.

First up gadgets have a shorter life span. I remember being young and the family TV lasting for over ten years. Today TV’s may still last that long, but the technology change in a flat panel over a ten year period so much that after a few years the flat panel on the wall of the lounge is quickly moving to another room to be ‘the second’ tv set. With this in mind we’re encouraged to up-grade our gadgets more frequently to take advantage of the better features, technology and so on.

Gadgets are also used a lot more in our daily lives. We choose a gadget and do everything with it. It doesn’t matter whether it is a laptop, digital music player or mobile phone. The simple act of using our gadgets more today than yesterday means they wear out faster either through use, or being dropped, crushed or my own personal favourite – falling into water!

Gadgets are getting cheaper each year and therefore becoming more of a purchase option than a luxury item. Now before you yell at me in disagreement let me clarify. Have you seen a 42 inch flat tv costing $15000 lately, me neither. You can pick up a great 1080P flat screen for under $3000. Phones and digital music players packed with features are now far cheaper than five years ago. There are still top of the line devices that fit into the luxury pile, but overall if you want a great phone or a great digital music player $500 should see you purchasing one outright.

The big question is, “will the party continue”. Let’s check back on this one in six months.