Merry Christmas if you're in Australia, Happy Holidays if you're elsewhere in the world and wishing everyone, everywhere a fantastic New Years.

Thought provokers

A superb article about the disruption of print by digital and the thought processes necessary to tackle it. Many of the points are highly relevant to digital product development in general. It's quite long but well worth the read.

• Subcompact Publishing - Craig Mod

A great presentation about the state of the Internet and mobile technology.

• Internet Trends @ Stanford - Bases - Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (thanks to @matthewsinclair)

Another great, graph-heavy pack showing the growth of digital.

• The Future of Digital - Business Insider

A thought provoking piece on combining the strengths of the web and app worlds.

• Making a Mullet-Platform Multiplatform App - Anil Dash

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Australia

The pressure is mounting on Google to play fair and pay their share of taxes on earnings in Australia.

• Forget Low-Value GST – Google is Playing the Cheeky Monkey - Power Retail

Australia Post is still at it with Digital Post Australia.

• Australia Post in fight for letterbox of the future - Sydney Morning Herald

Mobile data congestion in Australia is growing. Vodafone felt the pain a couple of years ago, now Telstra is feeling the same problem on its NextG 3G network.

• Mobile traffic jams set to continue as users soar - Sydney Morning Herald

Around the world

Get your business Android apps into your own Google Play store for your business?

• Google Play now lets businesses host their own app stores - Computer World

Did you know that smaller tablets increase your online sociability?

• Tablet Size Can Shape Its Use - eMarketer

The big spenders online in 2012. Notable inclusion of Chile in a group of the big population countries.

• The Big Five E-Commerce Countries of 2012 - Power Retail

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Australia

The National Australia Bank joins the infographic craze with a report on the state of e-Commerce in Australia.

• Infographic – NAB Reports $12.3 Billion in Online Retail Sales - Power Retail

A song (and animated filmclip) to deliver a message about train safety by the Melbourne Metro has become an overnight hit. It's selling on iTunes!

• Being dumb is almost cool with surprise advertising hit - Sydney Morning Herald

Around the world

Sobering thought that freedom of speech can be impacted by an Internet Kill Switch in Syria.

• Kill switch thrown on Internet in Syria - Computer World

The Microsft Surface Pro gets a price.

• Windows 8 Update: Microsoft Surface Pro tablets start at $899, no keyboard

Print takes the loss as Mobile rises. Some stats from the US.

• Trends for 2013: Making Mobile-First a Priority - eMarketer

Rats and Mice

I don't know what to say about this. The ambition. The arrogance. Nuking the moon?

• US planned to nuke the moon - Sydney Morning Herald.

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Australia

iiNet keeps at it with providing access to great (legit) digital content. Internode and iiNet (ISPs) are streaming a South Australian music festival live and in HD.

• Internode, iiNet to live stream selected Gorgeous Festival performances - ComputerWorld

AC/DC (or Columbia Records) catch up with the Beatles and get online. Well, they get on iTunes.

• AC/DC Now on iTunes - Payments

An attempt at an Australian "Black Friday" type online retail event faced a few problems. What's the worst thing that could happen? In a world with zero switching costs (online retail) I can think of a few. Some good learnings here.

• Positive spin put on a virtual disaster - Sydney Morning Herald

Around the world

The Barnes & Noble Nook e-book reader (what a mouthful) has gone on sale in the UK.

• Barnes & Noble NOOK® HD and NOOK® HD+ Now on Sale in the UK - Payments

"Evil Genius Designs makes history again today with the national launch of the world’s first mobile video game that harnesses real-time payments data using the battery-powered Dynamics ePlate™ credit card device."

If someone could explain what this is I'd be grateful.

• Evil Genius Designs First to Gamify Payments – Launches Black Friday™: The Game - Payments

Facebook introduces carrier mobile payments in France.

• Facebook goes live with Bango mobile carrier billing in France - Finextra

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Australia

I'm dreaming of a Mobile christmas. Google thinks it's going to be big.

• Google Predicts Biggest Online Christmas Yet in Australia - Power Retail

Can digital shape a city?

• Reshaping the city in our digital image - Sydney Morning Herald

Around the world

Who would have guessed how popular "craft" would have been on the Interwebs.

• Etsy Memberships Exceed 20 Million - Power Retail

"A touchscreen you don't have to touch, which sounds like a bit of an oxymoron but you understand what I mean, makes a heck of a lot of sense," - Nope, not really. I think weigh of evidence suggest people like something tangible. Something to touch.

• The TV is the new tablet: How gesture-based computing is evolving - ComputerWorld

... and Bank of America joins the mobile payments space.

• Bank of America to challenge Square, Verifone in mobile payments - ComputerWorld

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Australia

An interesting anomoly that came my way this week. Nova, a radio station owned by DMG released a location-based offers app for the iPhone in May - ShopperNova. An interesting play for a radio station. I don't know what success it has seen but I like it because it shows some lateral thought.

• Our new ShopperNova app - NovaFM
• DMG's ShopperNova mobile app aims to link shoppers to outlets - mUmBRELLA

Australia tops the world in digital advertising spend per user.

• Australia Tops World in Digital, Total Ad Spend Per User - eMarketer

The state of online retailing in Australia? It's actually an article on whether companies are spending on smartphone and tablet initiatives.

• State of Retailing Online Report Released - Power Retail

Infographic alert. The state of e-commerce in Australia.

• INFOGRAPHIC: Australian E-Commerce Statistics - Power Retail

Around the world

In case you haven't noticed the iPhone 5 was released by Apple this week. There's not really much to say. It's more of the same. Of particular note, the Near Field Communications (NFC) that was widely believed to be released didn't make and entrance.

• The Best Of Apple's iPhone 5 Announcement - Fast Company

These guys were probably upset by the announcement. They plan to allow you to use NFC in smartphones as hotel keys, saving some of the Hotel checkin pain.

• Assa Abloy turns smartphones into keys with new system - Computerworld

You thought bitcoins were dead? Think again. Bitpay is on the case.

• Interest in BitCoin, fledgling electronic currency, grows - CIO

Some interesting numbers on the companion screen in the US.

• Most TV, Tablet Interactions Involve Another Screen - eMarketer

So twitter is making some money?

• Twitter Increases Share of Social Ad Revenues - eMarketer

But there's growing opinion that Twitter and Facebook are on the slide. How fickle we are.

• Opinion: Facebook and Twitter and their long, slow slide into irrelevance - Computerworld

Is the cash register dead?

• Death of the Cash Register: Mobile and Tablet the Future of Retail? - Power Retail

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Australia

Westpac has added support for Microsoft's Windows Phone to it's mobile banking platform. Windows Phone is on the rise?

• Windows Phone users can now access Westpac mobile banking - Computerworld

Buying online? Live in Sydney or Melbourne? Want it now? 3 hour deliveries are in the offing.

• Australian Online Retailers Turn the Last Mile into a Golden Opportunity with Innovative Delivery Options - Power Retail

Around the world

$7 billion in mobile payments through Paypal in 2012? 700,000 new android smartphone subscribers a day? Must be another mobile state of play infographic.

• Infographic: 2012 Mobile Growth Statistics - Digital Buzz Blog

There's lots of talk about digital wallets. Hopefully digital wallets aren't hiding somewhere with the paperless office.

• When Will The Smartphone Really Replace Your Wallet? - Fast Company

There seems an obvious play to put point of sale solutions into the smartphone arena. Walmart are giving it a go.

• Walmart Testing iPhone-Based Self-Checkout System for Retail Stores - Mac Rumors

Zara in the UK are in on the act as well. They're working on an Android app that includes a barcode scanner.

• Zara Launches Samsung-Exclusive App | - Mobile Marketing

An interesting article on the state of e-commerce checkout design.

• The State Of E-Commerce Checkout Design 2012 - Smashing Magazine (Thanks @matthewsinclair)

Square have up'ed the ante when it comes to merchant fees for credit card payments. Flat rate $275 a month for smaller merchants? There's some magic going on here somewhere.

• Square adds $275 per month flat-rate option for small businesses - The Verge

The biggest social networking sites are also the source of the most fear risk to businesses. No shock there really. Informed fear or fear due to misunderstanding?

• Which Are the Riskiest Social Media Sites for Brands? - eMarketer

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Thanks Dilbert.

Thanks to those who submitted stories. If you've got a story, feedback or just wish to get in touch you can send us an email, tweet us, or leave us a message on Facebook.

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Australia

A good "state of play" article in relation to mobile banking in Australia.

• Phones ring in banks' future - Sydney Morning Herald (thanks to @matthewsinclair)

St George Bank, a brand of Westpac Bank have released a new mobile property app.

• St George launches new property app - Banking Review

After all the blustering about e-commerce and surrounding issues by Gerry Harvey, Harvey Norman are moving fast. They've now got a mobile version of their website.

• Harvey Norman Website is Now Optimised for Mobile - Power Retail

Books, a co-op, Paypal and QR codes. A healthy mix.

• Co-op Bookshop Embraces QR Codes for Queue Busting - Power Retail

Around the world

What's the future of education in an Internet age? There's a quiet revolution going on.

• Free courses from world's top unis a swipe away in online revolution - Sydney Morning Herald

An interesting piece on the future of native mobile apps.

• Mobile Apps Must Die - DesignTAXI.com

Now that the Olympics is over let the analysis begin.

• A Look at the Games Through Graphics - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

Twitter also released a recap of some of the tweeting statistics during the games. TPM anyone?

• Olympic (and Twitter) records - Twitter

Rats and Mice

Hard to describe - it's a printer, but it's also a household helper.

• It's Finally Out: A Little Printer That Delivers A Tiny, Custom Newspaper - Fast Company

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Australia

One of the good things about the Commonwealth Bank of Australia trumpeting their successes from the rooftops is that it tends to make the other players take notice. Or even bring them along on their coat tails. Westpac are getting in on the game with a trial for contactless phone payments.

• Westpac trials contactless mobile payments - ITNews

Just to add some perspective to the apparently rosy state of banking technology in Australia, let's get an alternative view. Some of the complaints in this Lifehacker article appear accurate. Others maybe a little naive? Judge for yourself.

• Five Ways Banks Screw Up Their Mobile Apps - Lifehacker Australia

Around the world

Google's Android smartphone platform continues to grow. US centric but interesting nonetheless.

• Android Grabs Ever-Greater Share of Smartphone Market - eMarketer

There has been a lot of speculation about how Facebook will make money in a mobile world. This article has some interesting research on the placement of Facebook ads on mobile platforms.

• Will Mobile Ads Make a Mark for Facebook? - eMarketer

Very interesting. Survey says - shoppers prefer mobile sites over apps when shopping from their mobile phones. I wonder if this transfers to other categories like classifieds and listings sites.

• A Store in Your Pocket: Retailer Mobile Websites Beat Apps among US Smartphone Owners - Nielsen Wire

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Australia

CBA is apparently getting some traction with developers for Pi, the new app platform that forms part of its new point of sale offering.

• CommBank signs up Pi developers - ITWire

Paypal Here is, well, here in Australia. At least it will be next month.

• PayPal Here in Australia next month - Banking Review

To be taken with a grain of salt. Paypal have sponsored a survey that indicates that getting online earlier means greater growth for small to medium businesses.

• Online Adopters Have a Higher Chance of Success - Power Retail

Around the world

IBM has released something that sounds vaguely similar to the Flow iPhone application powered by Amazon. It recognises a product from its image and provides review information. Take a look.

• IBM Unveils AR Shopping App - Mobile Marketing Magazine (thanks @matthewsinclair)

M-commerce is rising, rising, rising.

• M-Commerce to Reach a Quarter of Global E-Commerce by 2017 - Power Retail

Nothing like a rip-roaring divide between old and new media. What good is TV (in this case America's NBC) when you can get it all in real time in the Internet Age?

• (Un)Olympic Spirit - Digital Strategy

The US Red Cross has released a Hurricane App to help people track hurricanes and stay in touch during emergencies.

• Hurricane app debuts for free from American Red Cross - Computerworld

The next big thing. Social Gifting. If you simply put "Social" in front of any verb or noun - Voila, the next big thing. Social Social anyone?

• Wrapp Launches on Australian Shores - Power Retail

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Australia

Great news for Sydney, Australia. Sydneysiders can now get all the public transport goodness their heart desires - right in Google Maps.

• Google Maps boost to Sydney public transport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

This is the same premise I use when discussing NFC with excited people. NFC is a technology. Not an applied solution.

• NFC may not be what customers really want - Banking Review

Excluding the Retail vs Automotive talk, there's something to the idea of helping businesses get online savvy. I guess it depends on whether you think that the government should help or it's survival of the fittest.

• A Proposal for the Government to Invest in Retail - Power Retail

It appears Paypal are getting closer to releasing their "omni-channel" payments solution for Australia retailers.

• PayPal's Continues Offline Expansion in Australia - Power Retail

Around the world

Augmented reality has risen to the news again with Ikea applying some grey matter to come up with an interactive catalogue. Very cool, but another gimmicky rather than practical use for Augmented Reality.

• Ikea's augmented reality catalogue takes you inside cabinets - CNET UK

Not to be all anti-NFC, but here's some sobering information about NFC security.

• Researcher wows Black Hat with NFC-based smartphone hacking demo - Computerworld

Rats and mice

More fun with Post-It notes than you can poke a stick at.

• Mario recreated with 7,000 Post-it notes - Digital Spy

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Australia

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) wants you to say hello to "Albert", its new take on the merchant terminal / point of sale device. It's based on Google's Android and it means that CBA is now a hardware builder. It's another example of why I'm impressed at the efforts CBA is making to improve the banking customer experience with technology.

• CommBank fights rivals with Andrid payment station - Computerworld

Around the world

Missed this one a couple of weeks ago - British Airways are planning to "Google" passengers so they can tailor services and the flight experience. BA staff might end up getting a whole lot of useless info, or a shock. I suspect this wont extend to cattle class.

• British Airways to Google passengers - CNET News

Apparently more than half of consumers in this Capgemeni study think that bricks and mortar retail will be showrooms (i.e. just pick and order) by 2020. I'm not so convinced given the opinion is at odds with the rise of instant gratification.

• Is the future of retail showrooming? - GigaOM (thanks to @matthewsinclair)

The London Olympics are looming. The BBC is on the job and has released apps for both the iPhone and Android.

• BBC releases Olympics app, streams the glorious Games straight to your iOS or Android device - Engadget

Is your online business recommending different products (or in some cases charging different prices) to customers based on web surfing history and other information gathered about your site's visitor? Some are. Dangerous path.

• Personalising online prices: How deep are your pockets? - The Economist

Rats and mice

Another flagship Kickstarter project. And another interesting use of Google's Android mobile platform.

• After Kickstarting $2.5M In 1 Day, Can OUYA Disrupt Gaming? - Fast Company

Arguably this news in the wrong section. Marissa Mayer, Google employee number 20 and one of the driving forces behind Google's search product has jumped ship. To Yahoo! She's taken on the CEO role and she'll definitely have her work cut out for her to turn that ship around.

• Marissa Mayer Is The New CEO Of Yahoo - Business Insider

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Australia

Aussie Banks have talked about the possibilities of big data. Big data isn't much use if you forget what you know about your customers though.

• Banks know all about you - and forget - Sydney Morning Herald

Apple release self-service point of sale at their Australian apple stores. Walk in, scan, pay with your iTunes account and leave. Sounds like a joke I heard once.

• Apple moves forward with mobile payments - ITNews

I don't know about "true social banking", but the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is definitely leading the retail banking technology revolution in Australia.

• CBA leads way to true online social banking - Banking Review

Big W are scaling up online while most of the market is heading down.

• Big W Ramps Up Online Store - Power Retail

Around the world

The mobile payments landscape further heats up. LevelUp look like they're sticking to their goal of "Interchange Zero". At least from the perspective of not charging merchants for it. (great pic on that Interchange Zero article)

• LevelUp declares payment war, kills interchange fee for merchants - GigaOM

It's not exactly the retina-scanning, identity-knowing, offer-tailoring, skin-creeping, targeted-marketing of the Minority Report, but it's a start. Interesting interview with the CEO of Placecast, a location-based marketing company.

• With Mobile Payments, Placecast Sees Location-Based Marketing's Future - eMarketer

Survey Says - The majority of people in the States think traditional media is the most trustworthy source.

• Traditional Media Still Most Trusted Sources of Info - eMarketer

Yahoo joins the recent spate of password breaches. Good on them. No sympathy for the stupidity of unencrypted passwords. They should know better.

• Yahoo confirms theft of 450,000 unencrypted passwords - Computerworld

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I'm very interested in where touch interfaces can lead us when considering collaboration between multiple people and much larger surfaces.

I recently became aware of Collusion, an app and a dongle that allows you to collaborate in real-time on the same canvas using iPad.

It looks very impressive and gives an indication of the possibilities touch screen interfaces might bring to collaboration. In the end it is ultimately limited by the size of the iPad screen. I don't know about you but I'm much better at processing information, seeing patterns and understanding the interactions to do with the problem at hand if I can see a wide range of information in my visual field.

That's why the following product video caught my attention. It shows a group of "doctors" analysing information about a patient using a large touch screen surface.

/via Visualizing Data

While it looks a little staged and very use-case specific, the general idea is interesting. I'd be happy with something like Omnigraffle on a digital canvas that size than many people could work on at once.

I would think that the next frontier will be scaling touch interfaces to a size where multiple people can work together - multi-touch, multi-person.

Australia

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has released it's Kaching mobile banking and payments app for Android in the Google Play store.

• CommBank releases Kaching for Android - Banking Review

And while they're at it, CBA are going to let customers do some basic banking through Facebook before the year is out. Interesting.

• CommBank Kaching joins Facebook - Banking Review

Recent online shoe sales entrant Shooii is already in volunteer administration. A case of going to far to fast? Maybe some lean startup principles wouldn't have gone astray here? Still, there might be a saving grace.

• Shooii in Administration Just Months Since Launch - Power Retail

Telstra have hit another privacy issue by sending URL's, allegedly sanitised, visited by its NextG network customers to a third party. Is that right? Do they own the data about your activities?

• Telstra accused of Next G web 'stalking' - Sydney Morning Herald

Around the world

Microsoft has bought Yammer, the enterprise social network tool, for a cool US$1.2b. Theories abound given the high price. Is corporate social networking a winner?

• With $1.2 Billion Yammer Buy, Microsoft's Social Enterprise Strategy Takes Shape - TechCrunch

Flexigroup joins Square and Paypal Here in the mobile card reader play.

• Flexigroup turns smartphones into POS terminal - Banking Review

Apparently the EU parliament thinks cars should let authorities know if there's been an accident automatically. Within 3 years. An interesting idea in principle but the timing would seem a bit ambitious.

• Cars should automatically call for help after crashes, EU parliament says - Computerworld

Are you keeping abreast of the mobile and social media marketing tidal wave?

• Marketers Challenged to Keep Pace with Mobile, Social - eMarketer

How are people going to get their Olympic Games fix? Strangely low (or not!) results on what percentage or respondents intent to discuss the games on Social Media. The answer might be in the sample group.

• How Digital Will the London Olympics Be? - eMarketer

A pretty basic use of QR codes to drive traffic online from hardcopy books. An interesting idea nonetheless.

• Simon & Schuster Introduce QR Codes to Books - Power Retail

Bricks and Mortar retailers and Amazon are far from BFF (best friends forever). Amazon isn't doing that relationship any favours by ramping up their price comparison tools with the "Flow" app coming to Android.

• Amazon Plans In-store Invasion - Power Retail

Those bricks and mortar stores that have an online presence are trying to provide a great experience by combining the online and real world.

• Luring Online Shoppers Offline - NYTimes.com

Rats and mice

I'm not sure this qualifies as a rats and mice article but there's nowhere else to put it. The "god particle", the hicks boson, has been found. That particle that gives everything mass. Big news.

• Confirmed: the Higgs boson does exist - Sydney Morning Herald

Wikileaks has been quiet for a while. They're returned to the headlines with a whole bunch of Syrian government communications.

• Wikileaks releases Syria Files, 2.4 million government related emails - Computerworld

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Australia

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) a large proportion of Aussie businesses are missing out on the opportunities from being web.

• ABS Reveals the Great Australian Business Online Fail - Power Retail

Apparently unstructured big data excites Australian banks. Are they doing anything with that excitement?

• Unstructured big data excites the big banks - Banking Review

While the afore-mentioned banks are getting excited about big data, the "little guys" are eating their lunch in innovative services. Maybe the banks just expect buy their way in later? (Credit to CBA and ANZ for putting their toe in the water with such efforts as Kaching and goMoney)

• Connected consumers go where banks haven't - Sydney Morning Herald

CBA aren't keeping quiet about their mobile efforts either. They're expecting big things for mobile banking this silly season.

• CommBank predicts mobile banking will dominate by Christmas 2012 - Banking Review

Not to be outdone, St George (Westpac) are now getting into the mobile payments game with "Pay To Mobile".

• Bank battle of the apps hots up - Australian Financial Review

Around the world

Some interesting numbers on usage and engagement with Mobile apps and the Mobile web. The Top 50 Apps take about 50% of usage time.

• Apps Proliferate, but How Do Users Engage? - eMarketer

Google have take a step towards seamless cloud apps. Google Docs will allow you to edit offline in the not too distant future.

• Google gives Google Docs offline capabilities - Computerworld

Google trying to reinvigorate its competition with Amazon's cloud services.

• Google launches IaaS Compute Engine - Computerworld

If you're after some more Google I/O news, check out the article here.

Something to consider when you're looking at which mobile platforms to support. Is there writing on the wall? What does it say?

• RIM delays BlackBerry 10, reports plummeting sales - Computerworld

It's definitely taking a long time to get reasonable (price and speed!) data access when you're in the air. Let alone some clarity about the actual, if any, effects of electronic devices on planes.

• Japan's two main airlines to launch Wi-Fi services on international flights - Computerworld

Rats and mice

Create a user interface from anything (that conducts a little bit of electricity)! Fun.

• Create UIs Out of Anything, With This Kit From MIT - Fast Company

Are you a pixel addict with your digital camera? Or maybe a conspiracy theorist? Either way, check out the resolution on this 1 gigapixel photo.

• Smile, because there's nowhere to hide - Sydney Morning Herald

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Australia

What if you could stitch the many videos of any event together to show multiple viewpoints? Some aussies are trying it. How long till the first viral marketing attempt?

• How two Aussies threw the switch on power to the people - Sydney Morning Herald

TV. The lurking digital channel? Depending on what you think "TV" in the future will be. Is it a device, content or experience?

• A Majority of Households in Asia-Pacific to Have Digital TV by 2016 - eMarketer

Around the world

Facebook has taken another step toward providing payment services. We recently noted their efforts for mobile payments (Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments). This time they're replacing their virtual currency "Credits" with real currency.

• Facebook's payment platform changes its currency - CNET News (via @matthewsinclair)
• Facebook Shifts Its Approach to Payments - NYTimes.com

Square, the small business payments provider in the US, starts offering loyalty services. Obviously not a response to Apple's Passbook.

• Square Launches Support for Customer Loyalty Programs - PCWorld (via @matthewsinclair)

Microsoft have finally put their hat in the ring and released their new take on the Tablet computer sporting a "multi-touch keyboard case".

• Microsoft “Surface” tablet launches in LA - ITWire
• First look: Microsoft Surface tablets - CIO

Looks like Microsoft isn't to be outdone on the mobile wallet front either.

• Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Comes With Built-in Mobile Wallet - MyBankTracker.com

Worried about where your staff are? Google can help by tracking the location of their smartphones. This doesn't help their burgeoning Big Brother image.

• Google Maps Where Your Workers Are - NYTimes.com

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The Roundup is digital, mobile, online and emerging technology news from Australia and around the world.

Australia

More press about Australia Post's woes. It's refreshing to see the candour of Australia Post's CEO Ahmed Fahour but we're still not convinced they're not barking up the wrong tree with this digital mailbox thing. Don't look at us at the moment thought, we don't have an answer...

• How the internet blew up Aussie Post - Sydney Morning Herald

Here's a way to grab a headline. Charge people using an outdated Internet browser a tax. Smart idea but walks a fine line (depending of which camp you sit in with alienating some of your customers).

• Kogan to Tax IE7 Users - Power Retail

Around the world

No rocket science here. Faster communications networks will definitely bring new ideas on how to apply communications technology. Nice to hear it from a government though. Australia's political parties seem to get it but the jury's out as to whether they can get the National Broadband Network (NBN) off the ground.

• Fast networks key to new apps, says White House - Computerworld

Twitter to show previews of links. A la Google Instant Preview? Minor usability update or opportunity? Page designs to support thumbnails? No...

• Twitter brings more media content into tweets - Computerworld

Thanks to those who submitted stories. If you've got a story, feedback or just wish to get in touch you can send us an email, tweet us, or leave us a message on Facebook.

If you're enjoying the Roundup, you can get it shrink-wrapped and delivered automatically to your favourite rss/news reader by subscribing.

The Roundup is digital, mobile, online and emerging technology news from Australia and around the world.

Australia

The downsides of cloud computing felt this week by Google, Linkedin and Australia's own eHarmony.

• Gmail outage likely hit several million on Thursday - Computerworld
• FAQ: LinkedIn breach: What members (and others) need to know - Computerworld
• Dating site eHarmony confirms password breach - Computerworld

Fulfilment. The most important piece of e-commerce.

• Making the Last Mile Your First Priority - Power Retail

Give. It. A. Go! The big boys of Australian retail should really just get moving.

• Online Should be Saving Australian Retail, Not Killing It - Power Retail

Around the world

Facebook is mobilised for mobile. Instagram purchase, Instagram clone, apps for specific functions. And now a mobile payments solution. They've teamed with Telcos to do the billing.

• Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments - Read Write Web

And while we're on Facebook they've release a new offering to help with Apps developed for the Facebook platform. "App Center"

• Facebook launches App Center - Computerworld

Mobile wallets to hurt banks? Do you think so?

• Mobile wallet systems could hurt brick-and-mortar banks, survey suggests - Computerworld

Multi-device consumption technology from Microsoft. What would your content strategy look like?

• Xbox SmartGlass: Microsoft's multiscreen strategy - Computerworld

Do you need to change your business use of Foursquare now that it's redesigned?

• Foursquare launches major redesign - Computerworld

Finally? NFC and "Frictionless" mobile marketing is far from ready.

• Finally, Here's A Way To Make Serious Money In Mobile Publishing - Business Insider

Thanks to those who submitted stories. If you've got a story, feedback or just wish to get in touch you can send us an email, tweet us, or leave us a message on Facebook.

If you're enjoying the Roundup, you can get it shrink-wrapped and delivered automatically to your favourite rss/news reader by subscribing.

The Roundup is digital, mobile, online and emerging technology news from Australia and around the world.