Technology stories

Technology key to rebuilding Christchurch  The massive earthquake that destroyed large parts of New Zealand’s second biggest city struck at 12:51pm on an overcast Tuesday in February  killed 181 people and destroyed or badly damaged about 900 buildings in Christchurch city. The government and residents are now using a mix of high- and low-tech methods to reimagine how a rebuilt Christchurch could look and to remember what they have lost. Ad agency cribbed my lecture notes: professor Stolen photos from laptop tell a tawdry tale

Bananas, sugar growers worst hit by Tropical Cyclone Yasi

TROPICAL Cyclone Yasi has caused widespread damage and personal loss to Far North Queensland but the overall economic impact for the year is expected to be limited, experts say.

While the insurance industry says it is still too early to have an accurate picture of full impact of Yasi, Commonwealth Bank commodity strategist Luke Mathews said the economic impact was likely to be relatively contained.

Read more about the economic impact of Tropical Cyclone Yasi at news.com.au.

Earlier economic reports:

February 02, 2011: Egyptian unrest to hit petrol prices

January 7, 2011: For 2011, beware of debt and rising rates

September 22, 2010: Dollar surges to fresh 25-month high

May 13, 2010: Jobless rate increases to 5.3pc

More unemployment: April, 2010, March, 2010, February, 2010, December, 2009, November, 2009, October, 2009

April 6, 2010: Reserve Bank hikes its official cash rate to 4.25pc

More interest rates: March, 2010, February, 2010, November, 2009, October, 2009

Interactive economic charts

I’ve been working on a series of interactive economic charts for the business section of news.com.au.

Here is a screen shot of the interactive dollar chart. You can zoom in and out and highlight key events.

We also have interactive charts for  the unemployment rate, interest rates, inflation and GDP.

Sold! Aussie web-gurus hit the jackpot with retailmenot.com

WHAT started as a weekend hobby has led to a multi-million dollar payday for two Melbourne men, after a private US firm backed by a group of powerful venture capital firms purchased their coupon website.

Guy King, 32, and his business partner, Bevan Clark, 37, yesterday finalised the deal to sell their website, retailmenot.com, to WhaleShark Media, a US company that owns a portfolio of online coupon websites.

“I think there is a message that it is possible to succeed on this side of the world … in many ways being isolated ourselves from ‘the scene’ in America helped us succeed,” Mr King said.

Read more about retailmenot.com at news.com.au

October 8, 2007: Revealed: the brains behind bugmenot

It was a “slapped-together” weekend project that has helped millions view websites without having to register their details.

Now the Melbourne man behind bugmenot.com, one of the first websites to harness the power of user-generated content, is revealing himself to the world.

Read more about bugmenot.com at smh.com.au.

Wikipedia entry here.

Qantas loses fight with Falun Gong flight attendant

September 01, 2010: Qantas ‘demoted me for being Falun Gong’

A QANTAS employee says she lost her job as an international flight attendant after being deported from China for practising Falun Gong.

Counsel for Sheridan Genrich, of Lane Cove, told a workplace relations tribunal that Qantas demoted her after she was threatened by Chinese authorities during a stopover in Beijing.

She said that authorities singled her out from the crew, interrogated her over her beliefs and told her never to come back or there would be “serious consequences”.

Read more about Sheridan Genrich at news.com.au.