Sponsor's Message

After all, it's not that Kiwis come up short in the innovation or technology development stakes.

There are some real world-leaders amongst the ranks of our local tech companies. Who supplies ion implantation technology to Intel? Who sells hi-tech RF communications gear to countries around the globe? Who developed the Virtual Spectator system?

Yep, all Kiwi companies quietly churning out world-class products.

We're also told that nearly two million Kiwis are now "connected", and we've been identified as early adopters of almost all new technologies, so surely there must he a huge number of techno-junkies out there who are just dying for an onscreen "fix".

As far as I can see however, the only free-to-air technology programming on our local screens is the short segment once a week on TV1's Breakfast programme and a programme screened on Triangle TV which is obviously made on a shoestring budget.

So why this dearth of technology programming on TV?

Readers Say (updated irregularly) Beyond 2000... - Alden Tech shows... - Daniel From Yesterday... Pay for email... - Lindsay Spam and how to... - Philip Fee Based Email... - Oliver paying for e-mail... - Grant Impossible!... - Daniel Have Your Say

Maybe it's just that talking about technology is nowhere near as much fun or as entertaining as actually using it.

From memory, none of the locally produced technology programmes that have screened here on FTA TV in the past have attracted much of an audience and that must make it difficult to mount a business case for their production.

However, given the emphasis on TVNZ's charter, maybe we'll see something come from that direction at some point in the future.

From my perspective however, the biggest problem with TV as a medium for delivering information is that it's not asynchronous. That means I either have to be sitting down to watch a programme when it broadcasts, or I have to remember to record it.

Given that every month I seem to watch less and less TV, it is becoming a less convenient method for staying up to date with things. I suspect there are many others, like myself, who have far better things to do with their time than veg out on the sofa all evening.

But would you watch a locally produced TV programme about technology and, if one were produced, what would you want to see it cover?

Wired Agrees, Newzealand.com Was Overpriced
This story running today on the wired.com site certainly adds weight to the claims that the NZ taxpayer was ripped off by a government which still has a pre-dot-com-bust perspective on domain name values.

This leads me to ask... who (as in what are their names) was responsible for making the newzealand.com decision and what other "experts" does the government call on to help out with decisions in this area?

Since we're all paying their wages and their performance is certainly less than impressive, surely we have a right to question who appoints these people and how such appointments are determined.

If any Aardvark readers have an opinion on today's column or want to add something you're also invited to chip in and have your say.

Contacting Aardvark
As always, readers are invited to submit their comments on material covered in this column. If you'd like your comments published here then please be sure to use this form and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!