FEATURE | A new era of communication at the speed of photonsWILSON da SILVA IT DOESN'T LOOK like the next Intel, nor even the next Cisco. But that’s where Redfern Photonics wants to be. And while that may be a big call, it doesn’t seem to faze the researchers-turned-businessmen behind this blossoming… Mar 19 02March 19, 2002Article at The Age
WORLD | Timorese journalists still strive for independenceBy Wilson da Silva in DILIWith the Indonesian military gone and independence looming, East Timor’s journalists can now report freely. But it’s not an easy task when your country is still a smoking ruin.Being a media baron in East Timor actually costs… Apr 22 00April 22, 2000Article at The Age
FEATURE | Big Brother is watchingYour mobile phone and credit cards may be spies, reporting your every move. As WILSON da SILVA finds, surveillance is an increasing element of the wired-up world.WE are being watched. Every day our movements are noted and catalogued, our purchases… Jul 22 97July 22, 1997Article at The Age
FEATURE | Con artists of the internetBy WILSON da SILVAIT HAD to happen. The carpetbaggers have invaded the Net. Cyberspace, it would seem, is now crawling with scam artists, swindlers, flimflam men, blacklegs, shysters and purveyors of shonky schemes.Take the case of Augustine… Dec 10 96December 10, 1996Article at The Age
FEATURE | 25: Baby, look at you now!The microchip that spawned the personal computer revolution is 25 years old this week. And the revolution isn’t over yet.By Wilson da SilvaTHE world changed forever on November 15, 1971. And hardly anyone noticed. Watergate was still seven… Nov 12 96November 12, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Cash-in-hand, and a betting machine, tooMoney flows faster with technology that brings the action to the spender. Wilson da Silva reports on the gadget that gives new meaning to cashless deals.KERRY Packer would love it. The media tycoon, known to have a flutter or two on the horses, could… Oct 29 96October 29, 1996Article at The Age
FEATURE | Overload - how too much information can killBy WILSON da SILVACELLPHONES ringing in cafes. Faxes whirring in the home. Catalogues cramming the letterbox. Voicemail beeping in the office. Parcels landing on the desk. e-mail pouring into PCs. Radios blaring in the background.Answering machines… Oct 24 96October 24, 1996Article at The Age
FEATURE | Who said libraries were dead?By WILSON da SILVALIBRARIES just aren’t what they used to be. The sense of timelessness, ofmusty books and silent aisles, has given way to the clacking of computer keys as libraries lurch into the digital age. But at what price?At the new, high-tech… Oct 15 96October 15, 1996Article at The Age
REVIEWS | Bluffer’s guide to Net coolBy WILSON da SILVAWANNA be a cyberpunk but don’t even own a modem? Have we got a book for you. It’s called The Net-Head Handbook, and it has got to be the bluffer’s guide to Internet chic. This 144-page “deadware” (i.e. paper) guide is not only… Oct 01 96October 01, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Change is the word as futures collideBy WILSON da SILVAIt’s official - the end of the world is nigh. A contagion is spreading across the planet, and it will devour all who stand in its path. It will likely spare no-one. Its victims - jobs, companies, whole industries even - will buckle… Sep 24 96September 24, 1996Article at The Age
Change Is the Word as Futures CollideBy WILSON da SILVA IT’S OFFICIAL - the end of the world is nigh. A contagion is spreading across the planet, and it will devour all who stand in its path. It will likely spare no-one. Its victims - jobs, companies, whole industries even - will… Sep 24 96September 24, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Move, and you’re a virtual art pieceBy WILSON da SILVAGARTH Paine maybe on to something here: a multimedia art installation that brings cyberspace into the real world. And the end result is, well, real and virtual at the same time.Walk into the front room of Linden Gallery, nestled in… Sep 17 96September 17, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Microsoft pitch or kiwi fruit salad, Sir?By WILSON da SILVATHE Microsoft droids were out in force, and they weren’t taking prisoners. At a swish breakfast for reporters in Sydney’s Regent Hotel, amid the croissants and eggs benedicts, Orlando Ayala was selling his company big time.On the… Sep 17 96September 17, 1996Article at The Age
REVIEWS | Deadware guide a slice of historyBy WILSON da SILVATHE problem with print is that it is ‘deadware’. Once you cut down a bunch of trees, mulch them into paper and ink-press them with words . . . well, a whole lot of things can change. On the other hand, with digital media -… Sep 17 96September 17, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Laptop phone the ringer of ‘em allBy WILSON da SILVAHANG on to your socks: the future of personal communications is here. It can be found at Pellegrini’s on a rainy day, on the sand at Bondi Beach, or on the 9.12am train to Spencer Street Station. It is Nokia’s 9000… Sep 10 96September 10, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Hang that TV, it’s gone flatBy WILSON da SILVA‘THE flat panel display will be an indispensable component in the 21st century,” says Hajime Sasaki, executive vice-president of the world’s second-largest semiconductor maker, NEC Corporation of Japan.At least that’s what… Sep 10 96September 10, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Caught in a storm of changeNicholas Negroponte is one very wired guy. A pioneer of the Internet and oracle of electronic commerce, he warns that the digital revolution is about to change the very way we do business. Radically.By WILSON da SILVA NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE is not… Sep 03 96September 03, 1996Article at The Age
FEATURE | Data Mining: Is your personal data really private?A tide of data is pouring into the world’s computer banks from sources as varied as sales inventories to credit card transactions. It is creating a wealth of personal information for eager marketeers and cautious bankers. But it can also save lives,… Aug 27 96August 27, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | In Asia, robots are on the march while the West sticks to the basicsAsian regions are ahead of the West when it comes to robotics and artificial intelligence, says Wilson da Silva.ASIA is streaking ahead in the commercial application of artificial intelligence, while the West continues to focus on basic science,… Aug 06 96August 06, 1996Article at The Age
TECHNOLOGY | Inventor blasts the automation ‘freaks’The inventor of the floppy disk turns his mind to “behavior programming” robots and talks to Wilson da Silva.DICK MORLEY reckons there’s a right way and a wrong way to automate manufacturing, and most companies do it the wrong way. The American… Aug 06 96August 06, 1996Article at The Age
