http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/online/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Hypocrite-Harvey-goes-stormin-into-cyberspace/ If you’re in a Harvey Norman store right now preparing to buy a video game, put it down. Gerry has commanded you. The CEO of electronics chain Harvey Norman Gerry Harvey has admitted defeat and will finally be opening an online store. But he won’t be selling fridges. Oh no. Nor will he be selling fans, or air-conditioning units, or iPods, iPads, televisions or cameras. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Hypocrite-Harvey-goes-stormin-into-cyberspace/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Hypocrite-Harvey-goes-stormin-into-cyberspace/#item7437 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-22-12-2011/ We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-22-12-2011/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-22-12-2011/#item7429 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/so-what-if-mensaybadthingsaboutme/ It’s the first rule of the playground: don’t pay attention to the bullies. So what do a bunch of highly intelligent, respected women bloggers think they will achieve by creating the Twitter hashtag #mensaybadthingsaboutme? The hashtag highlights the derogatory and often violent comments female bloggers receive from anonymous online readers. They claim to be “fighting back”. According to yesterday’s Age, the hashtag is the weapon for a campaign led by leading female Australian bloggers to highlight the “abusive misogyny of anonymous posters online”.  It follows a similar movement by female British bloggers, started by Guardian journalist Laurie Penny. But more on that later. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/so-what-if-mensaybadthingsaboutme/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/so-what-if-mensaybadthingsaboutme/#item7106 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-internet-bad-stuff-must-be-blocked/ You may be surprised to learn that I’m in favour of an internet filter. I know what you’re thinking. I’m a pretty wild kind of guy - I don’t always tuck my shirt in, cross one-way streets without looking both ways and occasionally don’t bother pre-heating the oven. But despite my roguish charm, frequent viewings of Black Hawk Down and awkward attempts at skateboarding, I just can’t bring myself to support internet freedoms. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-internet-bad-stuff-must-be-blocked/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-internet-bad-stuff-must-be-blocked/#item5925 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/defence-battling-the-enemy-within/ Forget Iraq, Afghanistan and any other theatres of battle Australia has been involved in recent years. The Australian Defence Force is in the middle of a battle of its own - and the enemy is within. The latest flashpoint started just over a week ago after revelations that a young female cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy was allegedly secretly filmed having consensual sex with a male counterpart, and that he had allegedly broadcast the tryst to other soldiers via webcam. Defence Minister Stephen Smith’s forthright and outspoken condemnation of the way the incident was handled and military culture in general blew the lid off a simmering internal dispute over incidences of bastardisation, bullying and the gender divide, and opened the wider question of whether women should be allowed to fight on the front-line. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/defence-battling-the-enemy-within/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/defence-battling-the-enemy-within/#item5648 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/children-can-turn-mothers-into-monsters/ Even cute babies have ugly mothers.  That’s how it was in the Bonds Baby online beauty contest last week, when things got so nasty the police were called in. Outraged by a computer glitch which interrupted voting for their precious widdle sweedies, spurned mums turned on other chubby-cheeked cherubs in the running. “Bonds Australia not Asia” was the charming comment posted beside a photo of two-year-old contestant Lilli, who shares Asian and European heritage.  One baby copped “a child only a mother could love” and another was labelled an “ugly duckling”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/children-can-turn-mothers-into-monsters/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/children-can-turn-mothers-into-monsters/#item5305 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gerry-harvey-how-twitter-toppled-a-retail-giant/ Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey has dramatically decided to step away from a campaign to regulate the purchase of goods online from overseas. Harvey has blamed a torrent of social media abuse as prime reason for his departure. Harvey said the attacks were “vicious and hateful” and, as for the campaign, well, it was “bad timing”. However, Harvey really bells the cat when he says ‘you might have got a nasty phone call or a letter back in the old days but now anything slightly controversial, these people, whoever they might be, they go for you zealously and with hatred all over Twitter”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gerry-harvey-how-twitter-toppled-a-retail-giant/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gerry-harvey-how-twitter-toppled-a-retail-giant/#item4838 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/big-retailers-are-declaring-war-on-competition/ Rather than go in to bat for Australian consumers, local retailers are supporting a campaign to reduce competition and make us pay more. With that attitude, it’s little wonder so many of us are looking online when we go shopping.  Electronics retailer Gerry Harvey kicked off the war against consumers last November when he called on the government to remove the GST exemption for goods purchased online from overseas. He also revealed that lobbying of politicians to effect this outcome had been underway for some time.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/big-retailers-are-declaring-war-on-competition/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/big-retailers-are-declaring-war-on-competition/#item4815 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/modern-bullies-hiding-behind-a-computer-screen/ I’ve never been addicted to gambling, drugs or smoking. My drug of choice is Facebook, which I got hooked a few years ago and became obsessed. Although I still visit the social networking site for a daily hit of notifications, my addiction has slowly lessened in its intensity overtime. The breaking point for me was finally owning up to the realisation that too much of my time was wasted looking at pointless status updates and photos belonging to people I don’t ever see in real life or speak to. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/modern-bullies-hiding-behind-a-computer-screen/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/modern-bullies-hiding-behind-a-computer-screen/#item4422 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers? http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hitting-journos-where-it-really-hurts-a-handy-guide/ Dope, ignoramus, racist, communist, queen-kisser, Nazi, apologist, shill. Dunderhead, knucklebrain, fantasist, doofus, conspirator, idiot, and twit. If you recognise these as terms applied to you before you’ve had breakfast on any given working day, then I hope your blog is going well. The internet has turned insulting journalists into an art form. Now, why waste time on amateur, blunderbuss-style sprays of death threats and comparing a writer to animal genitalia, when you could make a cutting remark every time? In order to help make your sledging as effective as possible, The Punch asked some of Australia’s most widely-read online writers to share the one thing readers say in comments or feedback that makes them want to quit blogging. Their answers may surprise. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hitting-journos-where-it-really-hurts-a-handy-guide/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hitting-journos-where-it-really-hurts-a-handy-guide/#item4172 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas. You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online? This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers?