Stories by Rohan Pearce

Privacy agency taps open source CMS for new website

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which oversees freedom of information and privacy for the federal government, is seeking to migrate to a new website based on the open source Joomla CMS.

Gender issues to take centre stage at Wikimania

The Ada Initiative, an organisation that works to increase women's participation in open source and open culture, will be in the spotlight at the July Wikimania conference in Washington DC, with one of the organisation's co-founders, Mary Gardiner, keynoting the international Wikimedia conference.

Replicant developer interview: Building a truly free Android

Android has made massive strides forward since its debut in 2008, and in Q3 2011 more than half of all smartphones sold worldwide ran Google's mobile platform. In one sense it represents a massive validation for open source, and proof that free software is not condemned to a future of 'merely' running servers.

Hadoop: How open source can whittle Big Data down to size

In 2011 'Big Data' was, next to ‘Cloud’, the most dropped buzzword of the year. In 2012 Big Data is set to become a serious issue that many IT organisations across the public and private sectors will need to come to grips with.

WhatSpace: New Sydney co-working space tests waters in Marrickville

After searching for a co-working space that suited her and not finding one that was an ideal fit, Lucy Chen, a Sydney-based user experience designer, did what any good entrepreneur would and started her own. WhatSpace is a warehouse that Chen has fitted out to host startups, IT and creative professionals, as well as events such as exhibitions.

UNSW team creates single-atom transistor

Australian researchers at the University of NSW's ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology have successfully created a single-atom transistor with implications for both classical and quantum computing.

R18+ games legislation hits parliament

Minister for home affairs, Jason Clare, has introduced legislation into parliament that will pave the way for an R18+ classification for video games. The state and territory governments will also have to introduce legislation to allow adults only games.

AGIMO issues Cloud guides for government departments

The Department of Finance and Deregulation's Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) has issued a series of 'better practices' guides for government departments and other federal bodies to help them navigate the legal, privacy and financial issues of Cloud computing.

Windows 8 to boost tablet adoption in the enterprise

Analyst firm Telstye is predicting that Windows 8 will give tablets a stronger foothold in conservative enterprises that until now have been wary of the form factor, at the same time as it gives Microsoft an in in the tablet market.

Breaking down the gender divide in open source and open culture

The tipping point for Linux kernel developer Valerie Aurora was when one of her friends was groped for the third time in a single year at a conference. "As I heard about it I knew I'd remember all the times I'd been groped as well, and insulted and harassed -- and that was just too much," Aurora says.

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