After months of contest, this week the Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD war has finally come to an end revealing Blu-Ray as the popular winner.  The news has caused quite a stir on many blogsites including Tech Informer who indicates Toshiba’s decision to end the production of its HD-DVD players. Mike Bantick further reports on iTWire the death of HD-DVD will see an increased demand for PS3 given the game console is also a competent and reasonably priced Blu-Ray player.  You can read the full article here.

With YouTube’s ever increasing popularity,Innovate comments on an article that appeared in the Australian IT concerning Macquarie University’s decision to spend millions of dollars upgrading its computer network to manage the explosion of video content.  The article reports Macquarie University is already producing 100 audio recordings of lectures a day and is currently exploring ways to post lectures on its own YouTube channel.  We think this will definitely change a student’s approach to attending uni! Before they can continue however, Macquarie Uni has to first address certain copyright issues when lecturers show a video as part of their lecture. You can read the full article here.

Still on the topic of universities, Sheryle Moon on TalkingTechnology comments on the creation of the Council of Deans of ICT Education.  Moon indicates for the first time, an influential group of academics representing 31 universities across the nation, will be able to work with key ICT industry leaders to “ resolve the perceived disparity between the skills being taught in universities and the skills that are in demand by the industry to accelerate economic growth.”  The Council has indicated it will poll the ICT industry to determine the skills ICT companies are currently demanding in graduates.  For further information, click here.

Top five journalist bloggers of the week:  ScreenPlay, Cornered, Trends in the Living Network, Gusworld, LaGrange Point

Top five IT Professional bloggers of the week: Online Communities - Australia and Global, The Tower Blog, Talking Technology, The Spoke, How to Live Online

For more information on the week in review, or to make a comment, please contact Helen Smith at helen@espressocomms.com.au.

With the increasing popularity of blogs, Laurel Papworth - Online Communities cites an article by The ClickZ Network offering 5 tips for blogging in the corporate world.  We’ve found the last tip quite insightful as it attempts to answer the ongoing debate in proving the usefulness of blogs.  The article explains if blogs are “optimally created and maintained, with a transparent, sincere voice and a commitment to using it to build relationships as well as links”, it will assist in raising the business’ visibility.  To view other tips, read the complete article here. 

Des Walsh also discusses ways for businesses to establish positive relationships with bloggers.  He stresses the importance of not only creating a blog but posting regularly and honestly and commenting on other blogs relevant to the business industry.  Walsh cites Wal-mart as a classic example of a business that failed to follow these guidelines, creating a ‘fake blog’ written by a pro Wal-mart advocacy group.  The blog followed a fictional couple who travelled across the country staying the night in Wal-mart parking lots and commented on the kindness of its employees.  However, once the truth behind the blogger’s identity was revealed, Wal-mart’s online reputation was adversely affected. To view the full article, click here. 

Following last week’s posts on Facebook, Mark Jones on Filteredmedia senses a bit of unease with the future of social media.  Jones suggests that the proliferation of networking sites has caused us to become “social media and online content snackers… [who] browse through Facebook, YouTube, scan Digg for some interesting yarns, poke around on our local newspaper website, scan some RSS feeds, then get back to work”.  He believes the most influential development in social media however, is the number of people who use the sites to recommend products and services.  Interestingly, Jones has included an informal survey on his blog which claims 52.2% so far would recommend a product to someone via Facebook, MySpace or other networking sites.

Top five journalist bloggers of the week:  Sam Varghese- Open Sauce, Tech Blorge, Stuart Corner- Cornered, Des Walsh-Business and Blogging, Alex Zaharov-Reutt - Fuzzy Logic

 Top five IT Professional bloggers of the week: I Started Something, Laurel Papworth - Online Communities - Australia and Global, Mossyblog, The Tower Blog, Frankarr

For more information on the week in review, or to make a comment, please contact Helen Smith at helen@espressocomms.com.au.