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Thursday, September 16, 2004

... a reaction?

See a few articles below, no not the Speed Triple one, but rather the one about Adam Clark, snake oil salesman. Well this came out on Tuesday:
Every reporter wants a scoop, an exclusive story about a significant event. And, on the face of it, I had one. It was October 1997, I was assistant editor of The Australian Financial Review, overseeing the coverage of technology. The story was about a young genius who had invented a piece of technology so revolutionary, it could change the world of entertainment and make him a billionaire.

The young man was Adam Clark. He was 21 at the time. According to a solicitor named Roger Velik, Clark had invented a compression algorithm so efficient, it could deliver real-time broadcast-quality 768 x 576 video and CD-quality audio streams down a standard telephone line, using a 28.8 Kbps modem.

...As the writer Ernest Hemingway said, every good journalist needs a good crap detector. After I met Clark and Velik, mine was oscillating furiously. Clark didn't impress me as the sort of young man capable of the sophisticated mathematical skills that could produce such an algorithm.

So why didn't you finish the job? Why didn't you hammer this out until the little shit fessed up or the story gained momentum?

With so much public money at stake, some fundamental questions have to be asked. Did these so-called technology experts who tested Adam's Platform ever heed The Age's warning? Do crap detectors exist in the investment world? I still can't say whether Adam's Platform works, but until I see it installed on my own equipment, I wouldn't be putting my money into it.

...and thats how it ends. "I wouldn't be putting my money into it". Spare me Charles. I am saying that simply bleating "vapourware" isn't enough. This has revealed a gaping hole in the IT journalist football team. Sure there are a few columnists and reporters etc, but where is a real investigative reporter in Australia, capable of researching and completing a long term investigative report?

The Age- Charles Wright
posted by thr at 2:56 pm

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