Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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An interesting week with the MSIA coming out early to let us know all was wonderful with e-prescriptions followed up a few days later by the ADHA saying everyone had got a bit ahead of themselves and to slow down. A good example of the in-depth experience of the real world to be found at the ADHA.
Otherwise lots of commercial activity and initiatives to try and help in these COVIDTimes.
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http://medicalrepublic.com.au/adha-pulls-brakes-on-escripts/32994
12 August 2020
ADHA pulls brakes on eScripts
The national rollout of eScripts has experienced a false start, with the Australian Digital Health Agency asking GP software companies to remove the electronic prescribing functionality that was only launched in late July.
GPs who were early adopters and already updated their software to issue eScript tokens will still be able to use the function.
But for others, the update will remain unavailable, unless your practice is one of the designated “communities of interest”.
The ADHA is also asking for general practices outside these designated areas to halt all eScripts until pharmacies are ready to receive the digital tokens.
Lorraine Pyefinch, board director of Best Practice, said that GP practice software companies had done everything required of them to deliver eScript functionality as quickly as possible.
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No new coronavirus cases in SA, as Health Minister blames test result delays on IT glitch
10 August, 2020
Some South Australians getting tested for coronavirus have had to wait up to a week for results because of an IT glitch.
Key points:
- An IT problem has been resulting in people not getting coronavirus test results
- No new positive cases have been recorded in SA
- A man has been arrested after trying to fly then drive from Victoria into SA
The Health Minister said the problem occurred for people who were being tested for coronavirus for a second or subsequent time.
It had now been solved, he said.
But ABC Radio Adelaide received several calls and messages this morning from people complaining about wait times, prompting more feedback to SA Health on social media.
Caller Claire, of Largs North, said she had her test last Tuesday but no-one had contacted her with a result. Although she found a note on her My Health Record saying her test was negative.
"My daughter and I, we're home," she said. "I no longer have symptoms, she has a bit of a cold.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/victoria-ditched-covidsafe-app-but-is-using-it-again/
Victoria ditched COVIDSafe app but is using it again
Secretary of the Department of Health Dr Brendan Murphy says the state previously saw no value in it and was under intense pressure due to the surge in cases.
Former Australian chief medical officer and now Secretary of the Department of Health, Dr Brendan Murphy, has told the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 that Victoria had previously ditched using Australia's contact-tracing COVIDSafe app.
"For a period of time, they were feeling so pressured that they decided not to use the app," Murphy said on Tuesday morning.
The former CMO reasoned that this was due to the state being under the pump, in addition to the coronavirus outbreak occurring in a community that had low download rates and where transmission was occurring at family gatherings.
"Because they were so pressured, they kept going without using the app, they have now started using the app again, and we hope to see some of the successes we've seen in New South Wales recently with identifying otherwise unidentified contacts," he said.
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https://au.news.yahoo.com/push-telehealth-extension-amid-virus-221159896--spt.html
Push for telehealth extension during virus
Rebecca Gredley
Australian Associated Press 13 August 2020
Doctors are urging the Morrison government to extend Medicare-subsidised telehealth services as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
The service is due to end September 30 but the government has said it will consider an extension on the advice of an expert medical panel.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid says the September deadline was decided when there was optimism the nation would be over the worst of coronavirus.
"We now know that the virus will be with us well past the end of September," Dr Khorshid said on Thursday.
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https://itwire.com/open-source/document-foundation-announces-release-of-libreoffice-7-0.html
Monday, 10 August 2020 11:27
Document Foundation announces release of LibreOffice 7.0
The Document Foundation, the organisation that provides an umbrella for the development of the free office-suite LibreOffice, has announced the availability of version 7.0 for all operating systems and platforms.
The release can be downloaded here. The major new features in version 7.0 are:
"Support for ODF 1.3. OpenDocument, LibreOffice's native open and standardised format for office documents, has recently been updated to version 1.3 as an OASIS Technical Committee Specification. The most important new features are digital signatures for documents and OpenPGP-based encryption of XML documents, with improvements in areas such as change tracking, and additional details in the description of elements in first pages, text, numbers and charts. The development of ODF 1.3 features has been funded by donations to The Document Foundation.
"Skia graphics engine and Vulkan GPU-based acceleration. The Skia graphics engine has been implemented thanks to sponsorship by AMD, and is now the default on Windows, for faster performance. Skia is an open source 2D graphics library which provides common APIs that work across a variety of hardware and software platforms, and can be used for drawing text, shapes and images. Vulkan is a new-generation graphics and compute API with high-efficiency and cross-platform access to modern GPUs.
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Robot helps surgeons with knee replacements at Mater
By Stuart Layt
August 11, 2020 — 12.00am
People getting knee replacements at Brisbane's Mater hospital now have the option of having the surgery done by a human or a robot.
The private hospital has recently installed a robotic surgery assistant called ROSA in its South Brisbane and Springfield hospitals to improve patient outcomes and help surgeons with the often delicate work of a complete knee replacement.
Toowoomba grandmother Patricia Murphy, one of the first people to have their procedure done using ROSA, said the results have been amazing.
Ms Murphy experienced a relatively quick degradation in her knee over the 18 months to the start of 2020.
“I knew I needed to have something done because I could barely get around it was hurting so badly,” she said.
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Wednesday, 12 August 2020 13:51
Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital selects Spectralink for communications
The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) has selected purpose-built, enterprise-grade clinical Android device Spectralink to be the forefront of its unified communications strategy.
With more than 6,000 staff, 21 wards and 350 beds, the RCH has selected Spectralink Versity to deliver a unified communication platform along with SOTI mobile device management (MDM) and the Olinqua IGNITE digital enablement platform that will let the RCH staff provide better care for the children of Victoria and their families at the point of care.
Unified communications and security distributor Wavelink - which distributes Spectralink in Australia - says Spectralink Versity is a purpose-built, enterprise-grade clinical Android device that has a consumer look and feel, offering users “the familiarity of a consumer device with the added features of ruggedised design, enterprise network connectivity, shared devices, hot swappable battery, dedicated alarm button and integrated barcode scanner, which are essential for the hospital environment”.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/7-tips-better-telehealth-consults-older-patients
7 tips for better telehealth consults with older patients
Wear a headset, speak slowly and assume older patients have some hearing loss: Checklist
14th August 2020
With many consults moving online, a group of geriatricians has created a checklist for doctors to help improve the experience for older patients.
The advice includes asking them to wear a headset, speaking slowly and assuming older patients have some hearing loss even if they aren't aware of it, the US authors write in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The checklist was devised after Dr Esther Oh, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center in Baltimore, witnessed firsthand the difficulties her older patients faced.
Alongside hearing loss, barriers to efficient telehealth use include internet speed, inadequate minutes on patients' phones and a noisy environment, the authors say.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/centrelinks-new-payments-engine-enters-build-phase-551423
Centrelink's new payments engine enters build phase
By Justin Hendry on Aug 11, 2020 6:58AM
Infosys completes proof of design, picks up $143m contract.
Infosys’ build of the country’s new Centrelink payments calculation engine has progressed to the next stage of development following a seven-month proof of design.
iTnews can reveal the entitlements calculation engine (ECE) solution, which is based on Pegasystems software, entered the build phase on time at the start of July.
Services Australia will use the engine to work out the entitlements eligibility of welfare recipients and how much to pay them through its SAP-based ‘Payments Utility’ platform from 2021.
It is the latest part of the billion-dollar Centrelink payments overhaul, otherwise known as the welfare payments infrastructure transformation program, which has now passed the halfway mark.
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https://smallcaps.com.au/respiri-partners-australian-patients-association-wheezo-study/
Respiri partners with Australian Patients Association for wheezo study
August 12, 2020
The APA is connected with 1.1 million patients and 15,000 healthcare practitioners in Australia.
eHealth Software-as-a-Service (Saas) company Respiri (ASX: RSH) has updated the market with news it has entered into a partnership with the Australian Patients Association (APA) to support asthma sufferers through its wheezo experiential program – a real-world asthma management study.
The tie-up means Respiri will encounter further opportunities to tweak its wheezo platform as part of practical testing in a clinical study environment.
Patients will participate in Respiri’s study and thereby help to “evolve” the wheezo platform to meet the needs of asthma patients and extend asthma care beyond the clinic, according to Respiri chief executive officer Marjan Mikel.
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UK's Doctor Care Anywhere joins the ASX healthtech party
Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd
Aug 13, 2020 – 9.34pm
Strong demand for new ASX-listed healthtech companies has drawn a fast growing UK-based telehealth business to gear up for an Australian sharemarket float.
Street Talk can reveal Doctor Care Anywhere (DCA) has tapped Bell Potter and boutique adviser Aurenda Partners to prepare the company for an ASX-listing, which is slated for the December quarter and expected to be worth about $200 million.
DCA's mooted listing comes after US digital health bigwigs Teladoc and Livongo Health announced a $US18.5 billion merger last week. Bloomberg
DCA is a telehealth business that offers virtual primary and secondary care consultations to clients of its large private health insurance partners, which include AXA, Aon and HCA Healthcare.
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New digital tool supports mental health assessment of people with intellectual disability
14 Aug 2020
UNSW Media
An innovative e-health tool for people with intellectual disability aims to improve their mental health care.
UNSW Sydney’s Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN) has launched a tool to support the mental health assessment of people with intellectual disability and communication difficulties.
The web application called MySigns – which is funded by NSW Health – is one of very few e-health tools for people with intellectual disability. Despite the fact that they are more likely to experience mental health issues than people without intellectual disability, mental health service access for this group is poor.
3DN’s Professor Julian Trollor, UNSW’s Chair of Intellectual Disability Mental Health, says there are many e-mental health tools available for the general population.
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Digital health delivery: Being agile & adopting the ‘can do’ attitude at South Australia
Dean Koh | 13 Aug 2020
In episode four of the HIMSS Australia Digital Dialogue Series hosted by Tim Kelsey, Senior Vice President, HIMSS Analytics International, the panel of three guest speakers reflected on some of the current developments in digital health in South Australia and shared their thoughts on some of the most important priorities in digital health.
Current developments in digital health in SA
“It has been a difficult journey in pushing digital health and recent happenings (during the COVID-19 pandemic) has exposed issues, such as telehealth that wasn’t set up for the patient, and we found out that within SA Health that the main COVID-19 hospital was not able to put discharge summaries out to GPs electronically from the EDs,” explained Dr Chris Moy, GP, Vice President of the Australian Medical Association & President AMA South Australia.
Despite some of the exposure of gaps, Dr Moy said that the flip side was the ‘can do’ attitude that emerged which has been really positive. There has been progress in areas like electronic prescribing and connecting electronically to get a discharge summary from hospital EDs to the GP immediately.
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New online platform to help young people on the spectrum plan and prepare for their working life
Published: 11 August 2020
Guest post by Cally Jackson, Amber Clarke
News from The Project Factory
myWAY Employability, Autism CRC's new smart web platform for young people on the autism spectrum, built by technology development partner The Project Factory, launched late last week by Jackie Coates, Head of Telstra Foundation.
The aim was to design, develop, and deliver a highly personalised, engaging digital platform that members of the autistic community can use to support and manage their transition into working life.
According to ABS 2018 data, more than one-third of people on the autism spectrum are unemployed. This is more than three times the rate for people with disabilities and almost eight times the rate for people without disability. The situation is likely to have worsened in today’s COVID-affected employment market.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-to-build-tasmanias-single-emergency-services-network-551503
Telstra to build Tasmania's single emergency services network
By Justin Hendry on Aug 10, 2020 12:46PM
Will replace five existing networks.
Telstra will build Tasmania’s long-awaited single government network to modernise the way emergency services, land management and electricity industry agencies communicate.
Police, fire and emergency management minister Mark Shelton revealed that the government had entered contract negotiations with the telco on Sunday, more than 18 months after the state first approached the market.
The Tasmanian Government Radio Network (TasGRN) will replace five existing radio networks currently used by as many as 10,000 employees and volunteers with a unified, P25-compliant digital network.
Such a whole-of-government network has been on the cards since 2005 to improve interoperability, though previous attempts have ultimately resulted in short-term workarounds due to disagreements over radiofrequency usage.
Emergency services agencies, including Tasmania Police, the Tasmania Fire Service, Ambulance Tasmania and the State Emergency Service, will be among eight agencies that will initially use TasGRN.
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App Review: Social Rhythms - has the pandemic messed with your circadian rhythm?
Using Fitbit data, this Apple product measures a user's sleep-wake pattern and compares it to pre-pandemic behaviour
13th August 2020
There have been plenty of COVID-19 apps around, ranging from sources of information and research projects to attempts to treat the mental health fallout of the pandemic.
Social Rhythms combines the latter two, using data from Fitbits or phone apps that use Apple’s HealthKit framework to create reports on the user’s circadian rhythm.
The suggestion is that many people could have fallen into unhealthy sleep–wake patterns, whether related to anxiety, working from home or socialising via smartphones more frequently at night.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-has-45000-premises-on-new-home-plans-accc/
NBN has 45,000 premises on new Home plans: ACCC
Over 4,600 people have signed up for a Home Ultrafast plan that might get 1Gbps.
By Chris Duckett | August 13, 2020 -- 05:28 GMT (15:28 AEST) | Topic: Networking
Since launching its new 100/20, 250/25, and 500-1,000/50Mbps speed tiers in May, in the intervening month, NBN retailers were able to get 45,000 customers onto the new plans, according to figures released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Thursday.
Over 38,000 premises took on the lowest tier of the new plans -- 100/20Mbps, dubbed as Home Fast -- which consisted of over 10,000 on HFC, over 9,400 premises having fibre to the premises (FttP), fibre to the curb (FttC) contributed over 8,330 premises, fibre to the node (FttN) accounted for 7,770 premises, and premises with fibre to the basement (FttB) made up just over 2,000.
For the higher pair of plans, only premises with FttP or HFC are eligible to make the switch. Home Superfast, which is 250/25Mbps, has just over 2,000 premises, with HFC making up 1,535 of that number. For the fastest plan, Home Ultrafast, that sees customers officially get a download speed between 500Mbps-1,000Mbps, FttP accounted for 4,427 premises with the added benefit of the technology being capable of 1Gbps. For HFC, where NBN has said the plan is only available on an initial 7% of its footprint, 220 hardy souls took the plunge.
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/union-says-nbn-co-move-to-axe-800-jobs-now-a-disgrace.html
Friday, 14 August 2020 11:08
Union says NBN Co move to axe 800 jobs now 'a disgrace'
The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia, the body that represents workers who are employed by NBN Co, the company that is rolling out the country's national broadband network, has called on the Federal Government to reconsider the axing of 800 jobs at the company in the middle of a pandemic when people are more reliant on the network than ever.
CEPU national assistant secretary James Perkins said the NBN Co's to sack people at this time was "a disgrace".
"The Federal Government's NBN Co is axing over 800 jobs at a time when Australians are relying on the service more than ever. It's a disgraceful move that will put workers, their families and the Federal Government's flagship internet project at risk," he said in a statement.
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Thursday, 13 August 2020 12:35
NBN connections climb to 7.4 million with new activations, says ACCC
More than 7.4 million consumers are now connected to the National Broadband Network after the activation of 383,257 new services in the three months to the end of June, according to the competition regulator, the ACCC.
The ACCC’s Wholesale Market Indicators Report released on Thursday shows more than 255,000 households signed up to 50Mbps NBN plan, with almost 5 million customers on higher speed plans of 50Mbps and above by the end of June.
There was also an 11.9 per cent jump in the uptake of the higher speed 100Mbps plans, with 9.1 per cent of households now subscribing to a 100Mbps plan.
“Many more households have been at home during the day during the COVID-19 pandemic and have likely chosen higher speed plans to accommodate increased broadband use whether it be for work, entertainment or even for their children to attend school during the lockdown,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/aussie-broadband-now-has-4247-up-to-gigabit-nbn-customers-551699
Aussie Broadband now has 4247 'up to gigabit' NBN customers
By Ry Crozier on Aug 13, 2020 10:25AM
Continues to dominate 250Mbps signups as well.
Aussie Broadband has increased customer numbers on NBN Co’s newly-affordable ‘up to gigabit’ speed plans to 4247, a greater than 90 percent share of all signups.
The numbers were revealed in the latest quarterly release [pdf] by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and are current to June 30 - which means the company’s base is likely to be even higher by now.
The up to gigabit residential plan is called ‘Home Ultrafast’ by NBN Co and has a nominal speed profile of up to 1000/50Mbps, depending on access technology.
It is presently known to be offered by Aussie Broadband, Superloop and Launtel; the ACCC does not break out numbers for the latter two.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-calls-profitability-of-nbn-services-negligible-at-best-551698
Telstra calls profitability of NBN services 'negligible at best'
By Ry Crozier on Aug 13, 2020 9:43AM
Revives long-running “unsustainable” claims.
Telstra boss Andy Penn has renewed long-running calls for NBN Co to alter its wholesale pricing, saying the profitability of selling NBN services “is negligible at best”.
Telstra said it still had 46 percent of the NBN market excluding satellite. In real terms, this covered 3.2 million NBN connections, an increase of 620,000 over the year.
But this customer base still isn’t particularly profitable, according to Penn
“NBN wholesale pricing remains the largest negative impact on our fixed business,” he said.
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Government sets limits for super-fast 5G spectrum
James Fernyhough Reporter
Aug 13, 2020 – 12.01am
Telstra, Optus and TPG will be allowed to bid for up to 40 per cent of the super-fast 5G millimetre wave spectrum when the long-anticipated auction takes place in March next year, the federal government has revealed.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the cap – which he conceded was a "sizeable chunk" – would prevent any one player becoming dominant while also allowing them adequate access to this "finite public resource".
While 5G mobile technology is already functioning on lower bands, the truly revolutionary uses of 5G, such as in competing with the NBN, vehicle automation, robotics, Internet of Things, and all the technologies associated with futuristic "smart cities", rely on the much higher frequency millimetre band, which is not yet in use.
That will change in March 2021, when the government will put 2.4 gigahertz of spectrum either side of the 26 GHz mark under the hammer. Any individual bidder can bid for a maximum of 1 GHz, or around 42 per cent, of that.
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Wednesday, 12 August 2020 11:37
NBN migration pushes SD-WAN take up in Australian market ahead of other markets, says analyst
By Peter Dinham
Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) has taken off quicker in Australia than some other markets partly due to the migration of “last-mile access” to the National Broadband Network (NBN), according to a new analyst report.
Research by analytics company GlobalData reveals that nearly 60% of IT enterprises in Australia with more than 200 employees have already deployed SD-WAN and one in three are considering implementing it in the next 12 months.
But, GlobalData says that as the market is highly competitive companies need to have a long-term network strategy to adapt swiftly to the evolving traffic patterns.
Siow Meng Soh, Senior Technology Analyst at GlobalData, says: “While cost saving has been part of the motivation to adopt SD-WAN, better security and network management is also a key benefit.”
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After 10 years of angst, NBN's big milestone has come in the nick of time
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Senior business columnist
August 11, 2020 — 11.50am
Ten years after the first customer was connected and a decade of fierce debate, the build of the national broadband network is effectively complete. Just in time.
When NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue unveiled the group’s results for the year to June on Tuesday he also announced that 11.73 million premises – about 99 per cent of the nation’s premises – are now ready to connect, with 7.4 million of them already using the network.
It is a definitive milestone in the NBN’s chequered history, formally marking its transition from being primarily a construction company to being primarily a services business.
After 10 years about 99 per cent of the nation's premises are able to connect to the NBN.
That doesn’t mean it won’t continue to add to the network or continue to upgrade its existing infrastructure but that its primary focus will shift from building to operating, with major implications for the scale and nature of its workforce, its management priorities and its finances.
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Stephen Rue lays ground for NBN upgrade blitz
James Fernyhough Reporter
Aug 11, 2020 – 11.44am
Disgruntled NBN customers may be in for a pleasant surprise after cryptic comments by chief executive Stephen Rue fuelled speculation he was preparing to bring forward network upgrades.
Announcing NBN Co's full year results on Tuesday, which included better than expected annual revenue but an overall loss of $3.8 billion, Mr Rue chose his words carefully when asked whether he would exceed NBN's peak funding of $51 billion.
“What we said we would deliver for $51 billion in the corporate plan, we will deliver for $51 billion," Mr Rue said, after initially refusing to answer the question.
The ambiguous comments raised speculation that he may bring forward plans to upgrade the underperforming copper segment of the network, in a move to encourage more customers to buy high speed plans, and so boost NBN Co's revenue.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-used-extra-700m-capex-in-final-year-of-initial-build-551573
NBN Co used extra $700m CapEx in final year of 'initial build'
By Ry Crozier on Aug 11, 2020 12:14PM
Says spend is a 'timing' issue.
NBN Co’s capital expenditure for the past year came in $700 million above forecasts, money the company said it brought forward from future years to perform network upgrades and connect up more premises during COVID.
The network operator produced revenues of $3.8 billion, slightly above the $3.7 billion forecast.
NBN Co also “surpassed activation forecasts by more than 250,000 premises and exceeded premises ready to connect forecast by more than 230,000 at 30 June 2020," it said in a statement.
But the larger premises count led NBN Co to exceed CapEx forecasts by some $700 million, clocking in at $5 billion instead of the forecast $4.3 billion.
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Tuesday, 11 August 2020 09:01
NBN Co's annual losses fall by half to $648m as rollout officially ends
The annual losses incurred by NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, have been halved in 2019-20 year-on-year, according to the company's results which were announced on Tuesday.
Losses came in at $648 million for the financial year, compared to $1.3 billion for the 2018-19 financial year.
The company said the forecast growth in its customer base and revenues, combined with lower subscriber payments to Telstra and Optus in the future, would help to support its forecast to become cash-flow positive in 2022-23.
The NBN Co was unable to lower the cost of installation per premise, apart from very marginally in the case of installation at FttP brownfields and greenfields premises. In the case of the former, the cost fell from $4398 in 2018-19 to $4395 in 2019-20, while in the case of the latter, the change was from $2178 (2018-19) to $2130 (2019-20).
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NBN posts bumper loss, but project remains ‘on track’
NBN Co has posted another bumper loss, recording a deficit of $3.78bn, from $3.89bn a year earlier, as the decade-long infrastructure project nears completion.
The government-owned company posted its full year results on Tuesday, lifting revenue by 36 per cent year-on-year to $3.8bn, and active premises to 7.3 million for the year ending June 30, 2020.
The company posted another significant loss however, with $2.4bn in subscriber costs to Telstra and Optus weighing on its numbers.
Its key performance metric, the monthly residential average revenue per user (ARPU), was up just $1 to $45, from $44 in FY19.
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NBN Co revenue up 36pc despite hit from free COVID-19 offer to telcos
By Zoe Samios
August 11, 2020 — 9.51am
NBN Co's revenue climbed 36 per cent last financial year despite an $80 million hit caused by a free six-month bandwidth boost for telco providers and a backflip on its decision to sign on business customers directly.
The national broadband network provided 40 per cent more bandwidth to telcos free of charge in early March as social distancing restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic caused a spike in network usage. The national broadband network's annual revenue climbed to $3.8 billion despite the offer, which has been in place for six months and expires on September 19.
The connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) charge, which covers the amount of bandwidth telcos can make available to customers, is part of the wholesale prices telcos pay to the NBN. The amount of CVC a telco buys affects the internet speed, particularly at peak usage times from 7pm to 11pm.
NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said the offer was only ever intended to be short term, but telco providers are putting pressure on the national broadband network to review the fees they pay. Pricing has been a consistent source of tension between NBN Co and telcos, which view the charge as too expensive and a barrier to buying adequate bandwidth.
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https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/how-to-make-nbn-consumer-friendly-20200810-p55kfa
How to make NBN consumer friendly
Chanticleer is Australia's pre-eminent business column.
Aug 11, 2020 – 9.00am
It is fraught writing anything positive about NBN Co because of the vicious backlash from those who hate anything to do with a wholesale broadband network that does not provide fibre to every home.
The zealots will never be happy until the NBN is forced to provide fibre to each and every one of the country's 8 million premises no matter what it cost or how long it takes. Challenging the zealots risks extreme personal abuse on social media.
Nevertheless, Chanticleer believes it is worthwhile giving the NBN credit where it is due.
Chief executive Stephen Rue and his team have delivered what was promised in a corporate plan published many years ago. They fixed a basket case.
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Why the black hole picture was worth infinite words
Michael Bailey Rich List editor
Aug 15, 2020 – 12.00am
The first-ever picture of a black hole caused a global sensation last year, but few realised the image was as much art as science.
"It's the modern equivalent of taking a picture of a unicorn," says science communicator Margaret Wertheim of the image produced by the Event Horizon Telescope project.
Assembled from astronomical radio sources, which were gathered by a global network of telescopes, the black hole image might seem an unlikely subject for an art symposium.
However, that's exactly the topic being discussed this week at an event organised by the University of Melbourne's Art+Australia magazine. The Event Horizon image's depiction of bent space and time, in a galaxy 55 million light years away, resonates as the greatest art does says the magazine's editor, Edward Colless.
"For all its technical grandeur, the image has the eeriness of the very first analogue photographs or X-ray images, as if this, too, may be the start of a new way of seeing things," he says.
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Enjoy!
David.
