Triple J 2011 Winners announced Australia Day 2012

Trend | New Music , Indie Music
Location | Australia

So the wait is over Triple J listeners have voted and Triple J announced the Top 100 on Australia Day. The poll format has been going since 1993 only allowing songs to be eligible released within the calendar year. The latest poll was for songs released in 2011.

This year saw the first duet to win the number 1 spot. Gotye with Kimbra - ( see track below). Gotye's real name is Wouter De Backer and he was born in Bruges , Belgium but emigrated to Australia at the age of 2 to Melbourne.

There is obviously a strong Australian influence to the Top 100 with bands like Powderfinger featuring highly in previous polls who in my opinion would struggle to make the Top 100 in other countries. (USA , UK , Canada). This years poll saw 7 of the top10 artists feature Australian artists.
Over the years the Poll has been operating the Foo Fighters have appeared the most with 21 songs featuring in the Top 100 over the past 20 years.



The Top 10 of the Hottest Top 100 as released on Jan 26th 2012

1. Gotye featuring Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know | Belgium, Australia
2. The Black Keys - Lonely Boy | Canada
3. Matt Corby - "Brother" | Australia
4. Boy & Bear - "Feeding Line" | Australia
5. M83 - "Midnight City" | France
6. Lana Del Rey - "Video Games" | New York USA
7. San Cisco - "Awkward" | Fremantle Australia
8. 360 Featuring Gossling - "Boys Like You" | Melbourne Australia
9. The Jezabels - "Endless Summer" | Sydney Australia
10. Hilltop Hoods Featuring Sia - "I Love It | Adelaide Australia

Canadian Band The Black Keys with Lonely Boy came in 2nd.
As You Tube user StickyJavier says...

Rent of camera: $ 500
Stage of office: $ 2000
The black guy dancing: PRICELESS!

Triple J Hottest 100 , Australia - updated Jan 28th 2012 

ACTA - Protection of Online Counterfeiting or the start of Internet Censorship?

EDRI | Against ACTA (3)

Trend | Internet Freedom
Location | Tokyo, Japan
Protests | Warsaw , Poland
ACTA | Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

Last week saw a lot of debate across the Interwebs about SOPA and PIPA but less notice has been taken particularly in the USA about ACTA the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

ACTA has to date has been signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

Poland is expected to sign the agreement in Tokyo this week. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Warsaw in protest over the proposed  agreement.

Acta shares similarities with America's Stop Online Piracy Act, which US lawmakers set aside last week after Wikipedia and Google blacked out or partially obscured their websites for a day in protest. (1)

An open letter signed by many organizations, including Consumers International, EDRi (27 European civil rights and privacy NGOs), the Free Software Foundation (FSF), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI), states that

"the current draft of ACTA would profoundly restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of European citizens, most notably the freedom of expression and communication privacy." (2)

The Free Software Foundation argues that ACTA will create a culture of surveillance and suspicion.

The European Digital Rights Group goes further.

Last week the EDRi released 5 one page bulletins with the theme - 
What's Wrong With Acta Week

Since many politicians and citizens are not yet aware of ACTA's serious implications, EDRi has launched a "What's Wrong with ACTA Week". Below are links to the five one-page briefing documents which briefly summarise the most important issues:

ACTA and its Impact on Fundamental Rights (16.01.2012)
http://www.edri.org/files/EDRI_acta_series_1_20120116.pdf
ACTA - Criminal Sanctions (17.01.2012)
http://www.edri.org/files/EDRI_acta_series_2_20120117.pdf
ACTA - Innovation and Competition (18.01.2012)
http://www.edri.org/files/EDRI_acta_series_3_20120118.pdf
ACTA and its Impact on the EU's International Relations (19.01.2012)
http://www.edri.org/files/EDRI_acta_series_4_20120119.pdf
ACTA and its Safeguards (20.01.2012)
http://www.edri.org/files/EDRI_acta_series_5_20120120.pdf


Sources - Adam Easton - (1) BBC Warsaw , Ministry of Economic Development (NZ) , FKI , Consumers International , EDRi (3)

ACTA , Japan , Poland  , Online Trends - updated Jan 26th 2012

Kim Dotcom has a sense of humour

Kim Dotcom | Arrested in Auckland

Trend | Hactivism
Follow Up to Megaupload Article
Location | New Zealand


Here is a copy of a tongue in cheek letter sent to Neighbours in Coatesville in the Auckland region. One of the most exclusive parts of New Zealand's largest City.

"Dear Neighborhood-watch

As you all know I recently moved into the Neighborhood and I am a former hacker. Well I was just hacking into a local mail server and guess what I found.

Mainstream media please get behind Ron Paul

Ron Paul | Mainstream Snub

Editor's Post | GOP Nomination , Rigged Game
Location | USA

The message boards seem to be cranking more support for Ron Paul amongst the under 30's.
I just stumbled across a You Tube comment which was worth reposting...

if you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove that you're not a racist, vote for Ron Paul in 2012 to prove that you're not an idiot.

The message is quite simple. Obama hasn't shown the real leadership qualities many expected and hoped for in such a turbulent financial time.

Largest Anonymous attack ever hits FBI , RIAA , MPAA and DOJ

Kim Dotcom's rented Coatesville's Mansion | Auckland

Trend | Hacktivism , File Sharing
Location | Germany , Coatesville - New Zealand , Hong Kong , Estonia , Holland, USA
Anonymous Targets | FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America. Copyright.gov , 
Sources RT , NZ Herald , PocketInfo , Megaupload , Gizmodo

In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have disabled the websites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America and Warner Music Group.

“It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,”

SOPA and PIPA Bills need to be pulled for global sake

Wikipedia | Blocked its site in protest for 24 hours

Trend | Internet Censorship
Location | USA
Subject | Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)

The Internet blackout by several high profile sites seems to have worked to a certain extent. Some of PocketInfo's favourite reference sites have gone offline for 24 hours in protest over the poorly thought out legislation.

Due to the increasing publicity of some of the major sites PIPA co-sponsor Florida Sen. Marco Rubio withdrew his name from the bill Wednesday, and SOPA co-sponsor Arizona Rep. Ben Quayle withdrew his name Tuesday.

Wikipedia was the highest profile site from user base and traffic size to protest against the bills directly by switching off its service to its English pages for a 24 hour period. Google also raised awareness by placing a black box over its logo to US based users using its site. Other major sites included Reddit , WordPress , Boing Boing and about 7,000 other sites. (2)

Google's Blog - Don't Censor the Internet

Cruise Ship Costa Concordia sinks off Italian Island - Isola del Giglio

Costa Concordia | Italy

Trend | Sea Accidents , Cruise Liners
Location | Porto Santo Stefano , Isola del Giglio , Italy

The Costa Concordia Cruise ship hit a sandbar on Friday evening near Isola del Giglio and listed about 20 degrees, after which passengers and crew tried to reach safety by getting in lifeboats or by swimming to nearby land.

Latest reports indicate that at least 3 people have perished and 14 have been injured in the accident.

The Costa Concordia had sailed from Civitavecchia port near Rome for a Mediterranean cruise, due to dock in Marseille, France after calling at ports in Sicily, Sardinia and Spain.

The American Capital of Culture | Cities 2000-2020

Capital of Culture 2012

Trend | Capital of Culture Focus
Location | South and Central America
Capital of Culture Countries since 2000 | Mexico (2) , Brasil (4) , Panama , Peru (2) , Chile , Panama , Argentina , Dominican Republic , Chile , Paraguay , Ecuador 




The American Capital of Culture initiative was established in 1998 and has been developed for all the countries of the Americas to participate.

It has three major objectives:

• 1) to be an instrument of Inter-American integration in the cultural sphere

• 2) to contribute to the peoples of the American continent knowing each other better, respecting its national and regional diversity, as well as highlighting their shared cultural heritage;

• 3) and to promote the cities nominated as the American Capital of Culture in the American hemisphere and in the rest of the world, at the same time as building new bridges of cooperation with the other continents which have established cultural capitals.

Sao Luis | Brasil | 2012

 Here is a list of the Capital of Culture since 2000. In 2012 Sao Luis in Brasil has the role of Culture leader for the Americas.

Brasil has had the Culture Capital more than any other country in the Americas. 
In 2012 Sao Luis will be the 4th Brasilian city to be capital of culture since 2000. 

Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan ,previously known as Formosa, is the largest island of an island group off the south east coast of mainland China. The Island is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and Mainland China is approximately 120 km away.

Taiwan is a unitary sovereign state and part of the Republic of China - not be confused with the People's Republic of China which we refer to as China today. The ROC lost its mainland territory to the communists in the Chinese Civil war and retreated to the Island of Taiwan in 1949.

The Republic of China is a thriving multi-party democracy that has a presidential system and universal suffrage. Taiwan experienced rapid economic growth, industrialization, and democratization  during the latter half of the twentieth century. Despite its controversial political status, the ROC is an industrialized advanced economy. It is one of the Four Asian Tigers and a member of the WTO and APEC.

Taiwan Key Facts and Figures 

 

Capital - Taipei

World cities 2012 
Alpha- - Taipei

Other Cities - Yonghe , Luzhou

Global City QOL Index - Taipei not in Top 100

Government - Presidential republic 

Major Airports - Taipei International Airport

Demonym - Taiwanese or Chinese (sometimes both)

Population - 23.1m

Area - 36,008 sq km

Water - 10.34%

Currency - New Taiwan $ (NTW)

Language -Mandarin

GDP - 900 bn USD (Ranked 19th)

WELT - Taiwan has the 24th highest economy

Drive on the -right

Calling Code -+886

Internet TLD -.tw

WTO - yes

APEC - yes

HDI - High (0.868)

HDR Index 2010 - Ranked 

Press Freedom Index - 48/178

Taipei Airport

Passenger volume increased dramatically at Taipei International Airport (left) Jan. 11, as Taiwanese businesspeople residing in mainland China flocked back to Taiwan to take part in the upcoming presidential elections.  Scheduled and chartered flights between Taiwan and Mainland China were almost fully booked Jan. 12-14.(1)

Taiwan News Sites
Taipei Times | 2012 Elections The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday warned of prevalent vote buying in central and southern Taiwan and the possibility of election-eve incidents today, urging authorities to step up investigations and security measures.
Taiwan Today |  The upcoming Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBF) will mark its 20th anniversary with a series of events dedicated to promoting reading and digital publishing.
The Student Post | Your English Lifestyle. A popular bilingual news site.

The Student Post

Taiwan Articles

• Chow Tai Fook keeps growing in Asia ( PocketInfo Archive)
• Taiwan has Yonghe and Luzhou as 2 of the most populated Cities (Archive)
• Taiwan represented as Chinese Taipei at 2011 APEC (Archive )

Taiwan , Taipei , Formosa , ROC, Map via Only Pictures , Taiwan Today (1) Jan 9th 2012

Ron Paul now a serious contender and the main threat to Mitt Romney

Trend | US Politics , New Hampshire Primary
Location | USA
Sources | Zimbio (pic) Yahoo , PocketInfo ,  Buzzfeed

Mainstream American media seems to be brainwashing the masses to get Mitt Romney up against Barack Obama in the next showdown between the Republicans and the Democrats.

The reality is that Ron Paul is getting a massive amount of support with little mainstream media coverage and if you look on the Yahoo coverage you will note that Ron Paul barely gets a mention and is noticed by hundreds of the Yahoo community.

The New Hampshire Result 

Romney -38%
Paul - 24%
Huntsman - 17%
Santorum - 10%
Gingrich - 10%
Perry - 1%

So to balance this up... courtesy of buzzfeed...

2012 The World is Coming to an End? You have 3 minutes to live!

Snow Patrol | Pounding Rhythms

Trend | 2012

Sources | Vevo , You Tube , eGigs(pic)

Artist | Snow Patrol

My guess is that this video will go viral in 2012. It is from a song called Chocolate written by Snow Patrol back in 2003.

The lyrics are pretty powerful but it's the video itself which punches home a good message particularly in this year when the world is supposed to end.

Mobile Asia Expo (MAE) | Shanghai China 2012

Trend | 2012 Exhibitions and Conferences , Mobile Explosion
Location | Shanghai , China
Date | 20-22 June 2012


Shanghai will be the new location for the  GSMA’s newest mobile event, Mobile Asia Expo. It is the next evolution of the successful Mobile Asia Congress event (previously held in Hong Kong), MAE will take place 20-22 June2012 and signals the start of The New Mobile Era.

Red Herring Global Top 100 list 2011

Here is the Red Herring list of the Top 100 Technology companies to watch in 2011 leading into 2012..

These are the companies that Red Herring believe will be the key ones to emerge out of the technology sector in the next 12 months. 

In the technology start up world 12 months is a very long time so watch for significant change to this list** during 2012.

Red Herring’s Global Top 100 list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Google, Skype, Baidu, Salesforce.com, YouTube, eBay and others would change the way we live and work. (1)

PocketInfo will add these companies to the individual country sections listed on the PocketInfo website. The Red Herring name reflect's the original publication's mission: providing a first look at the companies and trends that are shaping the business of technology.

PocketInfo's editor used to subscribe to the Red Herring magazine around 10 years ago and was pleased to see that the website has some reasonably fresh content with a Top 100 Asia , Europe , North America and Global Top 100 list. As PocketInfo focuses on global trends we have only listed the Global Top 100 list with links to the start up companies sites. There is a good chance that 2 or 3 of these companies will become significant companies over the next 5 years. 

2011 RED HERRING GLOBAL TOP 100
1-10 
AaramShop, New Delhi , India An Online retail platform focused on essential FMCG products.

ActivNetworks, Les Ulis , France Web Optimisation, Enterprise and Telecom Solutions.

Acumatica, USA Cloud ERP and Accounting Software

Allinea Software, United Kingdom Parallel Software Development Tools

Antenna Software, USA  Mobile Apps and Web Apps.

ASSIA , USA  Management Systems for DSL service providers.
ATEME, France Video Compression Solutions for Broadband
Axioma Inc., USA 
Beneq Oy, Finland 
Bitswoven Technologies, India

11-20 
Bubu Kreasi Perdana, Indonesia 
Centrix Software, United Kingdom 
Cetrea A/S, Denmark 
CFN Services Inc., USA 
CloudPassage, USA 
Cloudplace, Germany 
Clozette Pte Ltd , Singapore 
Clustrix , USA 
Core Security Technologies, USA 
Cybernoor Corp., USA

21-30  
Dacuda , Switzerland  
DEFTeam Solutions, India 
doxo, USA 
eBest Mobile , China 
Emptoris Inc., USA 
Envysion, USA 
Eutechnyx Limited , United Kingdom 
FiberZone networks, Israel 
FinancialForce.com , USA  
Footbalance System, Finland

31-40  
Forbes Technosys , India
Gigamon LLC, USA  
Handheld Group AB, Sweden  
Host Analytics , USA 

IceWarp , USA  
Incita , Spain  
Intelius , USA 
iovation , USA 
Ipanema Technologies , France 
IQU, Netherlands

41-50 
ividence , France 
Job and Esther Technologies , Philippines  
Kampyle , Israel  
Kiala NV , Belgium 
Koozba Technologies , India  
LanzaTech NZ Ltd , New Zealand 
Lattice Engines , USA  
Livebookings , United Kingdom 
Lotaris , Switzerland 
Marin Software , USA

51-60 
Marseille Networks , USA 
mediaFORGE , USA 
Mi5security , New Zealand 
Microtask Oy , Finland 
MicroTech , USA 
Mikro Odeme Sistemleri , Turkey 
Montage Technology , China 
Movidius , Ireland 
Moviecom.tv , United Kingdom  
Multibeam Corporation , USA

61-70 
Net Optics, Inc., USA 
Netview Technologies , China  
Netvizio , Singapore 
NX Inc., Taiwan 
Panaya Inc ,  Israel
Panopto , USA 
ParAccel , USA  
Paratek Microwave Inc., USA 
Passenger , USA

71-80 
PCN Technology , USA 
Picarro Inc., USA
Power Assure Inc., USA 
Publitas.com , Netherlands 
RiseSmart Inc , USA
SandForce Inc., USA 
Scalable Display Technologies , USA 
sedna GmbH , Germany 
SEPATON Inc , USA 
Shenzhen LEG Holdings , China 
Skrill Holdings Ltd , United Kingdom

81-90 
SmartRoam , Singapore  
Sonix Co Ltd , Japan 
Speaktoit , Russian Federation 
Spend Radar , USA 
Starhome , Switzerland 
SweetMart , China  
Tapit Media ,  Australia 
Tappin , USA 
Telogis, USA
The Now Factory , Ireland

91-100 
ThreatMetrix Inc , USA 
Toolwire , USA 
TouchDiva , United Kingdom 
TrueCar Inc USA 
TwinStrata , USA 
TynTec Ltd , Germany 
Vidyo Inc., USA  
Vineyard Networks, Canada 
Virtual Instruments , USA
Virtustream Inc., USA

101-104 
Xena Networks , Denmark 
Xerafy , China 
Zenga Media , India  
Zetta , USA

Links have been provided for all non USA Global Top 100 - For USA page go here. 

(**Note | There are actually 104 names on the list - we are not sure how the 4 extra companies got onto the list but will investigate. The Top 100 were narrowed down from over 1,100 Start Ups from around the globe.)

VC and Angel Investors around the world.

Canaan Partners - have a new $600 million fund based around seed and early stage investing. Technology and Healthcare are its major focus, recent exits include Associated Content, which Yahoo bought in 2010 for a rumored price of over $100 million, and Sandforce, a provider of enterprise hardware technology, which was acquired by LSI for $370 million in October 2011.(2) They have a total of about 3.5B USD under management. Locations Silicon Valley | New York Corridor | India | Israel

Kickstarter - is a crowd-sourced funding start-up. In 2011 it raised nearly $100m USD for projects which was a 4 fold increase from 2010. The most funded projects were films and videos. (PocketInfo will do a seperate article on this start up TBA).

Sources - PR Web (1)MarketWatch , RedHerring , Business Insider (2)PocketInfo , Wikipedia

Red Herring Global Top 100 , Red Herring , Technology Start Ups  Jan 9th 2012