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1. Australia's 45 fastest growing telcos

The SmartCompany Dun & Bradstreet Telco Industry Growth List shows which companies are booming thanks to growing demand for online content, faster internet speeds, VOIP, and new consumer trends. By MIKE PRESTON By Mike Preston

2. Netregistry founder Larry Bloch tells – why I’ve joined

The Retail Coalition that is campaigning to have the Government abolish the GST exemption on purchases made overseas has an unlikely new member – domain name reseller and web hosting firm Netregistry. While Coalition spokesmen Gerry Harvey and Solomon Lew have been slammed for suggesting that consumers who purchase goods from overseas websites under the $1,000 GST threshold should lose the GST exemption, Netresigtry founder Larry Bloch s...

3. Sextoys.com.au sells for $25,500 as domain name trading take

Australia's fledgling domain name trading sector has scored its highest ever sale, with sextoys.com.au sold for $25,500 on exchange site Netfleet.com.au. The domain name trading market has been in existence for just over a year, since the Australian Domain Name Administrator allowed the buying and selling of domain names. There are two main companies providing an exchange for domain names: Netfleet and Domain Market Place. David Lye, chief executive of Netfleet, which currently ha...

4. What price a domain name?

The wholesale price for a domain name is $22.55 for two years. The retail price is another matter. Who to go with?      Yesterday my friend Ray wanted to register a domain name (a com.au name) and asked me who we should do it with.   I looked up the auDa website to find out who the authorised resellers are and was surprised to find that the wholesale price for a com.au domain is published at $22.55 for two years, but the price it resold at va...

5. NetRegistry buys Distribute.IT assets, chief says hacking at

Domain name reseller and web hosting firm NetRegistry has purchased the assets of crippled hosting company Distribute.IT, saying the company’s assets will integrate well with its core business and provide opportunities for expansion. But company founder and chief executive Larry Bloch also says some of the derogatory comments being directed at Distribution.IT are undeserved, saying the cyber-attack that crippled the Melbourne-based firm nearly a week ago was one of the worst he ha...

6. Is social media advertising really worth the time and money?

A growing army of Australian business owners are dipping their collective toe in the waters of Facebook and LinkedIn advertising. But do the returns make it worthwhile? There’s no denying that marketing your business via social media is one of the most affordable, targeted and measureable tools around. So it’s not surprisin...

7. Retail Coalition set to register as a company as it fights a

The Retail Coalition is set to ramp up its lobbying activities this week, with the group preparing to lodge as a company with ASIC in order to hire a chief executive and board of directors in preparation with a fight centred on Canberra. The move comes as the Furnishing Industry Association of Australia has also thrown its support behind the campaign, saying local manufacturers are at risk. "The furniture industry faces a constant battle against uneven and unfair policies that b...

8. A benchmark for ISPs

Website hosting providers are a mixed bag for quality of service. Here is a benchmark that may be handy for your own comparisons.   On occasion I have a tendency to slag off website hosting providers that give crappy service. It occurred to me that this is a piecemeal approach and it would be worthwhile noting what I get for my money as a benchmark for you to think about.   Note I have two providers; one in the USA, and one in Australia. The US-base...

9. How I integrated Distribute.IT after it was taken down by ha

The hacking attack that took down Victorian hosting and domain reseller Distribute.IT was one of the most fascinating tech stories of 2011. But even more fascinating was that NetRegistry bought out the company and attempted to get things under control. It’s been over six months since that catastrophe, and SmartCompany...

10. TPG set to buy SME cloud provider IntraPower for $12.8 milli

Telco TPG has made a bid for listed cloud provider IntraPower, offering $12.8 million for the company to help TPG broaden its product range and help to gain new customers in the business and public sectors. Ovum research director and telco analyst David Kennedy has said the acquisition is an example of how telcos are responding to the National Broadband Network as providers start to consolidate businesses and add new features in order to stand out when the NBN is built. The ...

11. The top 10 questions you should be asking your IT manager

For many business owners, the IT department is just an annoyance. It’s something there to get the job done. That usually means a business owner will set up an IT department, hire a manager, and then keep them out of the loop. This is a mistake. Given the amount of IT support needed for a business to run, it’s not enough to...

12. The biggest tech trends coming in 2013

If 2013 is to be anything like the last 12 months, small businesses will face a huge variety of information technology problems – leaks, website outages and security threats included. But with...

13. AFL applies for .afl top-level domain

The AFL has become one of Australia’s first organisations to apply for a new top-level domain name, a move the organisation believes will help customers find more trustworthy information and expand its brand. That application comes at the same time the cities of Sydney and Melbourne are believed to choose a new operator for their respective generic domains within days. The AFL is the one of the first major organisations in Australia to reveal it has been pursuing a new top...

14. SMEs warned to constantly update security after police charg

SMEs have been warned by the Federal Police and security experts to keep up-to-date with new hacking attempts and then bolster their security systems in response, as the number of hacks against small and medium businesses continues to increase. The warning comes after the Federal Police have arrested a New South Wales man over hacking into the servers of National Broadband Network testing company Platform Networks, in an attempt the AFP have said could have crippled the company's entire ...

15. Government mulls over making data providers liable for hacki

New laws may be introduced that could allow victims of hacking attacks to sue their data providers if they aren't taking enough steps to shore up their security and improve data protection standards, the Government has hinted. The move comes after a number of small and medium businesses have suffered hacking attacks, along with large corporates such as Sony, which have seen private details and credit card numbers exposed to hackers. However, some in the business community have be...

16. Businesses prefer Facebook

Small and medium sized businesses are more likely to have a presence on Facebook than any other online social network, according to a poll conducted by web company Netregistry.Small and medium sized businesses are more likely to have a presence on Facebook than any other online social network, according to a poll conducted by web company Netregistry.Almost 30% of the 1200 small business respondents polled said they use Facebook, ahead of 13% who use LinkedIn and 12% who use MySpac...

17. com.au.com trickery

A US company has registered the “.com.au.com” domain name in an attempt to catch traffic from people who incorrectly enter web addresses when browsing online, ZDNet Australia reports.The move means that if you add an extra “.com” to any “.com.au” address, you will be sent to a site owned by the company. For example, typin...

18. Your website’s hidden treasure

I really appreciate what you're saying. Tradies and consultants are lone business operators. They don't have much time for websites; some don't even know what SEO is let alone how much they need to have it right. Then there are others who have half the picture... they implement eNewsletters, but they don't really look at if they are being opened, they don't put time into writing a good headline, and they are no...