At Google I/O earlier this month, CEO Sundar Pichai showcased an experimental Google Assistant feature called Duplex which can make routine phone calls on your behalf. In one striking demo, the digital assistant called a hair salon and scheduled an appointment with an employee at the other end in a voice punctuated with the vocal tics of a real human.

Venture capitalist Hunter Walk is an introvert in an extroverted line of work. To get the most out of big events such as conferences and industry parties, he focuses less on broadening his connections, and more on deepening. He's learned to change his goal from "meet everyone at the conference" to "have five or ten meaningful conversations". Both are useful approaches, but the latter is better suited to his personality, as he explains in a Medium post.

The OpenStack Summit is a global event that is held in a different city twice a year. In November, it comes to Sydney. The full agenda was announced today and early bird registrations are available for a couple more weeks.

Many people are required to travel as part of their job. Work-related travel might be something as simple as a short trip to see a client for an hour or two or a prolonged trip lasting several days interstate or even overseas. Some of these travel expenses can be claimed at tax time - but you need to know which rules to follow.

Microsoft's annual Build Tour will be making its last stop of the year in Sydney on June 29 and 30. The Microsoft Build Tour is for developers using Microsoft platform and tools. The event will topics across Windows, Cloud, AI and cross-platform development. It will also deliver the latest news around .NET, web apps, the Universal Windows Platform, Win32 apps, Mixed Reality, Visual Studio, Xamarin, Microsoft Azure, Cognitive services and more.

TEDx is an annual technology and lifestyle conference that's all about sharing concepts, spreading ideas and sparking conversations in the community. This year's programme included a diverse and eclectic array of speakers, ranging from quantum physicist Michael J. Biercuk to Mongolian folk singer Bukhchuluun Ganburged. Here are ten things we learned during the event.

Conferences give you a chance to learn about cool new technology, develop your skills, interact with your peers and get rat-faced drunk in a professionally acceptable way. Despite their benefits, they can also be a massive source of annoyance. Here's how to deal with the most common problems, from rubbish Wi-Fi to ludicrous taxi queues.

Conferences and conventions are great places for meeting people, but it can be a little nerve-wracking to introduce yourself to random strangers. Plugging in a power strip can make the whole process a lot easier.

I attended the main Data Center World event in Las Vegas last month and learned a lot from it. So I'm definitely planning to head to the Asia/Pacific version, which takes place in Melbourne from 1-3 September this year.

Business conferences have a reputation for being dry, stuffy and uninspiring. However, they can occasionally go too far in the opposite direction too. This Continuum Marketing Services presentation about social media includes singing, dancing and white-guy rapping. It is quite possibly the worst thing you will ever see.

Planning on starting 2014 by getting your geek on at Linux.conf.au in Perth? The schedule for mini-conferences has just been released, and as usual we're tempted by the sysadmin and developer streams.

Your boss has agreed to send you on a conference for work. How can you make the most of that opportunity? Maximise the benefits by following these 10 tips.

Videoing presentations at conferences is pretty much the norm these days, but you won't get great results if you just stick a single camera on a tripod and hope for the best. Here's the equipment you'll need to do it effectively without spending a fortune, and some tips on making the process work.

I wasn't altogether surprised to hear this announcement at the start of a conference recently -- I've been in too many public events where someone has answered their phone and started conversing loudly, even though there's someone presenting on stage. But what can we do when people are so thoughtless?

Conferences are often viewed as an excuse to skive out of the office for a few days in a sunny location, but in truth there's not much point doing that: all your regular work will still be there when you get back. In a busy working life, how can you make sure the information you gather at a conference will get used?Security expert and conference veteran Chris Joscelyne offered this useful tip at the ITSM Conference on the Gold Coast earlier this week: schedule time in your calendar to revisit conference materials and notes the week after you've been there. For maximum impact, Joscelyne advises a double-review process: "Make an appointment with yourself one month after you attend a conference and spend two hours reviewing how it was relevant to you."

I spotted a blog writeup over at Wired about a scheduling app called Sched.org which was designed to give attendees of the conference a simple to use online tool for planning their time at the conference. "The Sched.org website displays the
entire conference calendar, covering the interactive, film and music
events plus parties and unofficial galleries, on a dynamic, easily
customizable web page. The site has proven itself to be a godsend to
overwhelmed attendees trying to figure out where to go, when to get
there, what the most popular events are and who you'll see once you
arrive."Underwire describes Sched.org as the hit of SXSW, and I have to admit the web interface looks great.Sched.org was tailored for SXSW but I hope and assume that the developers will be looking at opening up this tool for use by other conferences. Even better, open source it. :)SXSW: This year's Twitter? A simple scheduling app that brings order to the masses