4 ms·

What's with the popped collars? The problem with the Australian tech industry is most of the big players are just copy cats.

ryanackley 15y ago
What's with the popped collars? I'm an American living in Australia and I snickered when I first saw Australians wearing their collars popped. I eventually found myself doing it outdoors in the summer because the sun is so freaking intense here.
- damncabbage 15y ago
  I'm an Australian living in Australia and I snickered when I first saw anybody wearing their collars popped. I haven't stopped.
- boyter 15y ago
  Having traveled around the world (Sydney based) I will admit the Australian sun does seem to be much hotter and intense then any other place I have been to. Its also one of the reasons tourists get such bad sunburns here as they hit the beach without any protection.
  - brc 15y ago
    It's actually the lack of air pollution that makes the difference. LA has a SPF 30 sitting above it for most of the year. For most of the time, Australia does not.
    - fungi 15y ago
      closer to ozone hole, more uv
      - brc 15y ago
        ozone hole LOL that's an old one. Ozone relative thickness deficiency doesn't explain the head-cracking sunshine in Cairns, which is closer to the equator than the south pole.
    - boyter 15y ago
      Interesting. Do you have a source for that? I have wondered what the actual reason is for a while.
jacques_chester 15y ago
> What's with the popped collars? It's a Sydney thing, I think. They've been suffering a long-term shortage of hats and/or common sense. > The problem with the Australian tech industry is most of the big players are just copy cats. Yes and no. There's a lot of small and medium firms doing cool stuff, and several of the giants have offices doing important things. IBM's got a mainframe OS lab in Perth and runs a major Linux lab in Canberra. Google are in Sydney of course. Recently I saw a mob in Adelaide (I know, I know) doing cool things with computational intelligence. But as for consumer-facing stuff, yes, it's mostly copycat. See a foreigner do it and launch something here before they turn up; ideally to sell to them. It's a proven, repeatable business model and investors like that.
- nl 15y ago
  Recently I saw a mob in Adelaide (I know, I know) doing cool things with computational intelligence Curious minds would like to know more. I know of two companies in Adelaide doing stuff that could be called this and I'm interested which you saw (or other). Email's fine if it isn't appropriate here.
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    These guys: http://www.solveitsoftware.com/ http://www.solveitsoftware.com/ They do stuff with all the cool toys. Fuzzy logic, neural nets, evolutionary algorithms ... They have a competition for students (edit: actually it looks like anyone can enter) at the moment. First prize is ostensibly $5,000 but what they're really looking for is potential employees. http://www.solveitsoftware.com/competition.jsp http://www.solveitsoftware.com/competition.jsp
    - nl 15y ago
      Yep, I guessed it must be them. They aren't exactly a startup though - been around quite a while I think. I was with these guys for a while, who played in an adjacent space: http://www.intelligentsoftware.com.au/ http://www.intelligentsoftware.com.au/
teflonhook 15y ago
It's not a popped collar. It's a high collar.

ryanackley 15y ago

What's with the popped collars? I'm an American living in Australia and I snickered when I first saw Australians wearing their collars popped. I eventually found myself doing it outdoors in the summer because the sun is so freaking intense here.

damncabbage 15y ago
I'm an Australian living in Australia and I snickered when I first saw anybody wearing their collars popped. I haven't stopped.
boyter 15y ago
Having traveled around the world (Sydney based) I will admit the Australian sun does seem to be much hotter and intense then any other place I have been to. Its also one of the reasons tourists get such bad sunburns here as they hit the beach without any protection.
- brc 15y ago
  It's actually the lack of air pollution that makes the difference. LA has a SPF 30 sitting above it for most of the year. For most of the time, Australia does not.
  - fungi 15y ago
    closer to ozone hole, more uv
    - brc 15y ago
      ozone hole LOL that's an old one. Ozone relative thickness deficiency doesn't explain the head-cracking sunshine in Cairns, which is closer to the equator than the south pole.
  - boyter 15y ago
    Interesting. Do you have a source for that? I have wondered what the actual reason is for a while.

jacques_chester 15y ago

> What's with the popped collars? It's a Sydney thing, I think. They've been suffering a long-term shortage of hats and/or common sense. > The problem with the Australian tech industry is most of the big players are just copy cats. Yes and no. There's a lot of small and medium firms doing cool stuff, and several of the giants have offices doing important things. IBM's got a mainframe OS lab in Perth and runs a major Linux lab in Canberra. Google are in Sydney of course. Recently I saw a mob in Adelaide (I know, I know) doing cool things with computational intelligence. But as for consumer-facing stuff, yes, it's mostly copycat. See a foreigner do it and launch something here before they turn up; ideally to sell to them. It's a proven, repeatable business model and investors like that.

nl 15y ago
Recently I saw a mob in Adelaide (I know, I know) doing cool things with computational intelligence Curious minds would like to know more. I know of two companies in Adelaide doing stuff that could be called this and I'm interested which you saw (or other). Email's fine if it isn't appropriate here.
- jacques_chester 15y ago
  These guys: http://www.solveitsoftware.com/ http://www.solveitsoftware.com/ They do stuff with all the cool toys. Fuzzy logic, neural nets, evolutionary algorithms ... They have a competition for students (edit: actually it looks like anyone can enter) at the moment. First prize is ostensibly $5,000 but what they're really looking for is potential employees. http://www.solveitsoftware.com/competition.jsp http://www.solveitsoftware.com/competition.jsp
  - nl 15y ago
    Yep, I guessed it must be them. They aren't exactly a startup though - been around quite a while I think. I was with these guys for a while, who played in an adjacent space: http://www.intelligentsoftware.com.au/ http://www.intelligentsoftware.com.au/

teflonhook 15y ago

It's not a popped collar. It's a high collar.