Hey Everyone.

I hope you’ve all been enjoying TechNation Australia and our efforts to keep up with the local tech scene.

I’m really happy with how the site is developing, but there’s one thing I’d really like to improve…our coverage of activity outside of Sydney.

So, if you’re anywhere that isn’t Sydney, and would like to contribute to TechNation Australia by writing about what’s happening in and around your city, then drop me an email.

We’re not looking for expert writers (though we won’t knock you back if you are All we really need are people who are passionate about the Australian tech startup industry and who can provide a story from time to time.

I’ll give you more details once I receive your email.

Now, back to the news…

E27 Singapore will be organizing their 5th Unconference on the 12th of July 2008

You can get all the details at their unconference site.

“What’s this got to do with Australia?”, I hear you ask.

Well past conferences have featured startups with Aussie ties including travel search site wego and Internet TV site active channel.

On top of that, a focus of all previous E27 unconferences has been how to expand out of Singapore and into other Asia-Pac countries, including Australia!

So - you’ve got an unconference full of tech startups, from an Asian country with English as one of their official languages, where, from all accounts, Government support both directly (funding) and indirectly (through better tax incentives for early-stage investment etc.)  is much better and the early-stage tech investment industry is more active and advanced, all sitting around for a few days planning on crushing Aussie startups in Australia and abroad.

OK - maybe that’s a little dramatic - but nothing like stirring up a bit of friendly rivalry

Seriously though, Singapore is a major tech hub and a gateway to Asia (along with HK) for English speaking startups. Definitely worth keeping an eye on this conference (or attending if you’re in Singapore), if only to keep up to date with what’s happening there.

Mint Wireless was another outfit at CeBit that caught my eye and I have been meaning to get in touch with them for a while to find out a bit more. After spending a bit of time on their website it seems like they have had plenty of press recently, so I thought I would just bring them to the attention of TNA readers.

The company was actually founded back in 2002 and they listed on the ASX last year, ok so they have been around a while….. but they are yet to reach their real potential and their share price is down significantly since they went public. That could all change in the near future with the increased popularity of smart phones and the imminent launch of the iPhone.

So what is it that Mint does? Well they offer a portable payment system that allows companies to complete transactions and print invoices on the spot. To do this you require a smart phone with a data connection and a Mint ‘pocket sized printer and card reader’ that pairs with the phone via Bluetooth. The market potential for this service is obvious, think trades people, mobile sales force, festivals and events, even the ice cream man could start accepting credit card payments if he wanted. Through partnerships with some of the bigger names in Australia, Optus and Crazy Johns, they certainly seem to be heading in the right direction to achieve their goal of being a market leader in mobile payment collection and I for one will be keeping an eye to see how they are doing.