News today that the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) has won a legal battle against Buffalo Technology which confirms a patent from 1996 which apparently forms the basis to 802.11a/g wifi technology.

"The patent, granted to CSIRO in 1996, encompasses elements of the 802.11a/g wireless technology that is now an industry standard.

It stems from a system developed by CSIRO in the early '90s, "to exchange large amounts of information wirelessly at high speed, within environments such as offices and homes", said a CSIRO spokeswoman."
CSIRO wins landmark legal battle - Wireless & BroadBand - Connectivity

Following this court case, the CSIRO have to back up and face the same challenges against Intel, Dell, Microsoft, HP and Netgear but could end up scoring a royalty against any wifi device that utilises 802.11a/g.

I guess it will give them more money to develop things like the "Air Guitar Shirt" - yep - it's true... a shirt that reacts to your air strumming to "create" the music associated with your "freakin' flicks"!

Friday night of last week Laurette and myself (well.. Laurette, myself, and babyRynne on the way) joined a couple of friends and went to the first U2 concert in Sydney for something like nine years.

and here's a picture ... U2 - live from Sydney - November 2006

It was my third U2 concert - two in Sydney, one in London - each has been very different, but each has been quite fantastic... In a nutshell - this one rocked - as good as a U2 concert should be - after the massiveness of the PopMart tour it was interesting to see them downsize the use of technology so that it was really all about the music and the message rather than the awesome sight of a 50 foot mirrorball lemon making it's way across the front of the stage with the band inside (which was my highlight from PopMart).... yeah.. this one was less of that, and full of just great music - big screens were utilised to give a better view of the band, and also to show some mini-filmclips during the sets but it was essentially all about the music.

We had some rain at the start of the session, which quickly dissipated once the magic of "Beautiful Day" made it's way around the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. During 2 hours of music the guys played some new stuff, some old stuff, some stuff I'd forgotten about, some stuff which made me leap out of my seat and some stuff that brought back memories of floating through the 90's - all in all it was a great night.

This is my third U2 concert - each has been very different from the last but each was fulfilling - I've enjoyed every one in a different way.