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Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.
Bill Bennett - Latest News [Page 20]
5G cell towers in the front line
Friday, 17 April 2020, 3:50 pm | Digitl
This morning’s CommsDay reports on the dangerous and destructive turn Covid–19 conspiracy theories have taken in the UK: “BT has revealed that 39 engineers have been verbally or physically assaulted – including threats to kill – over conspiracy ... More >>
COBOL back from the dead... again
Friday, 17 April 2020, 3:43 pm | Digitl
Many US systems that process unemployment claims still run on COBOL, a 60-year-old programming language that relatively few coders understand. More >>
Why you need your own domain name
Saturday, 14 March 2020, 12:51 pm | Digitl
"Some storytellers and influencers are also migrating from personal sites toward individual channels on Medium, Blogger, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube. But there's a risk here — those creating and sharing unique content on these channels can lose ... More >>
DuckDuckGo is good enough... most of the time
Saturday, 14 March 2020, 12:44 pm | Digitl
Jake Voytko posted a long, considered and comprehensive post about his experiment comparing DuckDuckGo and Google Search. It's a subject that has fascinated me for years. More >>
Microsoft Word stickiness
Saturday, 14 March 2020, 12:43 pm | Digitl
I rarely use Word to write stories or blog posts. Yet, I never hesitate to renew my Office 365 subscription. More >>
Gamers behind biggest data surge since Rugby World Cup
Saturday, 14 March 2020, 12:32 pm | Digitl
Chorus' biggest data traffic surge since the Rugby World Cup took Kurt Rodgers, the company's network strategy manager by surprise. Yesterday we had the biggest surge of traffic on the @ChorusNZ network since the RWC. Thought it might be people working ... More >>
Gamers behind biggest data surge since Rugby World Cup
Saturday, 14 March 2020, 12:27 pm | Digitl
Chorus' biggest data traffic surge since the Rugby World Cup took Kurt Rodgers, the company's network strategy manager by surprise. Yesterday we had the biggest surge of traffic on the @ChorusNZ network since the RWC. Thought it might be people working ... More >>
Y2K bug has a 2020 echo
Tuesday, 25 February 2020, 1:44 pm | Digitl
The millennium bug is back with a vengeance, after programmers in the 1990s simply pushed the problem back by 20 years. Source: A lazy fix 20 years ago means the Y2K bug is taking down computers now | New Scientist More >>
What Spark thinks about its fixed wireless broadband
Tuesday, 25 February 2020, 1:38 pm | Digitl
Last week Spark announced its first half results for the six months to December 31. It is a solid report showing strong revenue growth. More >>
Galaxy Z Flip brings notification relief
Tuesday, 25 February 2020, 1:25 pm | Digitl
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip is a another take on the emerging foldable phone format. More >>
Galaxy Z Flip brings notification relief
Tuesday, 25 February 2020, 1:25 pm | Digitl
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip is a another take on the emerging foldable phone format. More >>
Galaxy Z Flip brings notification relief
Tuesday, 25 February 2020, 1:25 pm | Digitl
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip is a another take on the emerging foldable phone format. More >>
New Zealand's game developers exporting photons, not atoms
Tuesday, 25 February 2020, 1:19 pm | Digitl
New Zealand interactive game developers earned $203.4 million dollars during the 2019 financial year – double the $99.9m earned only two years earlier in 2017. The success comes from targeting audiences around the world and 96% of the industry’s ... More >>
AI winter is another turn of the hype cycle
Monday, 17 February 2020, 11:03 am | Digitl
Are we on the cusp of an ‘AI winter’? Source: Researchers: Are we on the cusp of an ‘AI winter’? - BBC News More >>
Why Microsoft’s ritzy Surface Laptop 3 costs a fortune
Saturday, 15 February 2020, 12:32 pm | Digitl
Mike Riversdale has a problem with the price of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 . He responded to my review of the Laptop on Twitter: "Official Microsoft price is NZ$3100, but shop around, retailers have better deals." That is a disgusting ... More >>
Stop worrying about kids and phones
Thursday, 13 February 2020, 1:52 pm | Digitl
Not everyone thinks phones have a negative effect on youngsters. At the New York Times Nathaniel Popper writes: More >>
Foldable phones impressive, useful, but hold off on buying
Thursday, 13 February 2020, 1:47 pm | Digitl
Samsung is on its second generation of foldable phones. Motorola and Huawei are a step behind, but remain in the game. Will your next phone be one you can fold? More >>
Surface Laptop 3 15-inch review
Sunday, 9 February 2020, 8:29 pm | Digitl
The 15-inch version of Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 is big, beautiful and nicely put together. While it is less powerful than most other laptops of this size and price, it meets a real need. At a glance: For: Large screen with 3:2 ratio for ... More >>
Android after Huawei: No winners
Sunday, 9 February 2020, 8:25 pm | Digitl
Huawei may need Google more than Google needs Huawei, but the ban still threatens Android’s dominance. More >>
