Stories by: Rodney Gedda

If you saw the first Star Wars film in 1978 you would have been dazzled by the awe inspiring technology the protagonists took for granted. 30 years later and many of the film's forward-looking ideas – from videoconferencing and mobile communications to robotics and bionics – are being used in our daily lives. During the next four months Sydney's Powerhouse Museum is playing host to one of the largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia combined with real-life examples of how such technology is being applied for business and social advancement.

AS the industry prepares for the biggest mobile phone release since the iPhone with the Android-based HTC Google phone in the US this week, HTC has remained silent over when the device will be available here instead releasing the Touch Pro through carrier Three.

Microsoft Australia has launched its Students to Business (S2B) program to link students and graduate job seekers with local IT career opportunities.

Telco iPrimus has launched what it claims is Australia's first capped-price mobile broadband service that slows the connection speed when the 6GB of monthly data allowance is reached.

Telstra’s BigPond business unit has cut the price of its mobile broadband services and now charges the same rate for wireless mobile card plans as it does for wireless modem plans.

If you need wireless broadband, but don’t have a PC card to slot in a modem, Vodafone’s new USB Internet Stick mobile broadband service might be what you’re looking for.

Apple has issued a point release upgrade for its iPhone and iPhone 3G products to version 2.0.1 of the firmware, weighing in at a hefty 249MB.

Australian entrepreneurs Ryan Junee, Julian Frumar and Simon Ratner are laughing all the way to the bank as their online video start-up Omnisio was acquired by Google for $US15 million in cash.

Telstra, in conjunction with Netcomm and Sierra Wireless, has released a portable HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Ethernet router that can be used to share an Internet connection wherever there is Next G mobile network coverage.

Telco Optus has launched two mobile phone plans that allow unlimited calls on local, national and GSM networks in Australia and thrown in a bit of mobile data access.

Australian broadband ISP Internode claims to have become the first in the country to give national direct access to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) as part of its standard service.