Tuesday has brought a perfect trio of tech stories to feature. A mix of good news on the economic horizon, Australia’s exotic travel for blogging trade, and a new appointee to the FCC from the incoming President elect. Check out these top three glorious stories:
1. Hang on till 2010. Despite analysts’ predictions that tech spending will decline in 2009 (and that the earth will implode and we’ll all be living in Hoovervilles–do check out Scott Brown’s “Guided Tour of the Most Awesome Depression Ever” in this month’s Wired), things are looking brighter for those of us who can hold on for a year. By 2010 Forrester Research says spending could increase again…by as much as nine percent. So hang on to your hats, hunker down and let the fowl winds pass ya by, matey. There’s fair weather round the corner.
2. Best blogging job, ever. A state in Australia has offered up the world’s best blogging job, as reported by AFP on Yahoo and other sites (the official site is down, likely from the plethora of traffic, so I can’t confirm this independently). The country is willing to pay $150,000 Australian dollars (about $105k in U.S. dollars) for their victorious candidate to live in a multi-million dollar residence on Hamilton island of the Great Barrier Reef for a six month contract. The “employee” will snorkel, stroll the beaches, and oh yes, blog and vlog about the experience to encourage tourism to the area. Applications are being accepted until February 22, and 11 final candidates will be flown to the Great Barrier Reef in May to compete for the post. Check back here to see if their site is up again after likely crashing from the positive response.
3. White House Tech. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Elect Barack Obama has tapped his technology advisor, Julius Genachowski to head the FCC. Genachowski is not new to the FCC, he served there during the Clinton administration, but there is hope he may bring a more progressive approach to the position than his forebearers. After all, Genachowski is the man who drew up Obama’s election attle plans on Facebook and helped create the first “Internet Presidency.” Hopefully, Obama’s pick means the President Elect is serious about the democratization of technology–starting with expansion of broadband across the U.S., and increased focus on protecting and promoting net neutrality. Genachowski will also have to handle the increasingly messy issue of whether or not to delay the digital television switch scheduled for February 19.
