Gawker: valleywag, australia

"Quadruple snap in an A formashun!"

Jackson West — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Sydney residents stop drinking XXXX Export and making fun of the wankers in Melbourne to wait in line for the opening of a new Apple Store, where they were greeted by the typical forced enthusiasm from employees. Can you suggest a better headline? Do so in the comments. The best one will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: "FUCK IT, WE'LL DO IT LIVE! THIS THING SUCKS!" by matto. (Photo by Catherine)

Deadly scenes prove that iPods Kill

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Australian police want pedestrians to know: trendy white iPod headphones can kill. New South Wales police commissioned several morbid posters in which slain pedestrians are outlined by the white wire of an iPod headphone instead of chalk. The odd thing is, Austrailian traffic services commander John Hartley admits there is little evidence to show Apple's iPods or any other digital music players have actually led to anyone's death. Hartley told the Sydney Morning Herald police reports only go so far as to note "pedestrian distraction."

Although we have seen no increase in pedestrian incidents over recent years, the growth and uptake of these new technologies could be a potential problem...

But don't let the fact that there is no statistical call for this public awareness campaign stop you from enjoying more scenes of gruesome iPod-wrought carnage, below.

Australian cafe bans talk of Facebook

Mary Jane Irwin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:00:32 EST

Cafe Brewhaha, a coffeehouse located in a fashionable suburb of Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, has taken a stand against Facebook hysteria: It's banned all mention of the social network within its walls. Sick of constant jabberings about friend requests and online popularity, cafe proprietor Daniel Mrocki declared such talk prohibited on the premise that people should have "normal conversations and not live behind these pseudo identities on the Internet." Yes, but where does he stand on the Scoble issue? (Photo by avlxyz)

Australia's firewall and Net libertarians' outrage both full of holes

Tim Faulkner — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:00:32 EST

The decision by the Australian government to institute filtering of the Internet at the ISP level to protect children from pornography and violent websites is being received with anger and comparisons to the Great Firewall of China. Of course, these critics are ignoring reality.

For starters, anyone can opt out of the filtering, which is simliar to what numerous European countries have mandated for years. Moreover, many ISPS already screen content. Why is this kicking up a fuss? Because of three predictable truths: Governments love to play nanny, Web-filtering software makers love to ring up sales, and bloggers love to bloviate about "freedom." (Photo by Saad)

Aussie Hoons' Rides to be Crushed Under New "YouTube Law"

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:45:00 EST

The New South Wales Government is fed up with illegal street racing and has decided to implement the "YouTube Law," wherein confiscated cars will be crushed in "crash test experiments" and then shown on YouTube for hoons to watch. Prompted by the deaths of two citizens in August in an alleged street racing accident, the police have confiscated nearly 300 cars for their little experiments.

While we kind of think watching heavily modified Falcons and Commodores plowing into each other is kind of awesome (it's sort of a big thing around here), we probably wouldn't feel the same way if we put forth the thousands of dollars for the mods. As soon as we find some of that video we'll happily share it with you. [AuBC]

Aussies allow GoogleClick to proceed

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:39:01 EDT

Leave it to a former penal colony to rush to judgment. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has already approved Google's $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition, only six months after Google announced the deal in April. The commission found the two companies were not competitors. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission is expected to approve the deal, but it's taking its time while Microsoft's lobbyists spur noisy debate in Congress. Europe's the model of propriety here. Its regulatory body has already heard the case, but wants more time to make further inquiries. The lesson in all this? Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer must not be too worried about his company's Australian prospects. Either that, or Google's right-wing Australian mouthpiece, Rob Shilkin, is actually good at his job.

Google warns Australia: You'll be bombed back to the Enlightenment Age

Nick Douglas — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:33:10 EST

Reporters with Borders may not include Australia next to Iran and Vietnam on its Enemies of the Internet list, but Google tells Australia that passing proposed copyright law changes could send the country back to "the pre-Internet era."

Google fears that these changes will force the company to stop automatically indexing sites from Australia — a huge risk for both entities (and other search engines that cache and archive web pages).

'Enemies of the internet' named [BBC News]
Google warns against changes to Australian copyright law [Yahoo News]

News Corp Loses $5 Million Over Call Center

rabruzzo — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:06:27 EDT

TechGoss is noting a slip-up by News Corp's Austrialian newspaper Telegraph misreported the Australia And New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) had outsourced its call center to India. ANZ responded with a correction stating it's call center was still Australia, only it's software development was done overseas. Telegraph editors stood by the story, so ANZ decided to make a withdrawal of AUS$5 million dollars in advertising.

[TechGoss]