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06 December 2006

Proximity technology acquired by Apple.

Proximity Emmy
A short blurb on the Proximity web page says that "all Proximity technology and intellectual property was recently acquired by Apple." I used to work for Proximity until the company started experiencing cash flow issues. I certainly hope that the Apple involvement is a way to inject resources into the excellent work that was being done at Proximity. The development team we had at Proximity here in Sydney was a very talented bunch and work was very enjoyable. Proximity was the first (and possibly remains the only) Australian company to win an Emmy award.

This is not the first time that something like this has happened. Back in the 1990's I worked on embedding video streaming technology and building two way interactive systems, including VOD. The company that was originally involved in the R&D of these technologies run out of money (due to law suits on an unrelated project) and the technology ended up being acquired through a string of takeovers by Real Networks. These days, the technology I developed for embedding video content is everywhere. Unlike the guys at You Tube, I didn't get filthy rich.

Perhaps I should have patented all the work I have done - even 0.1% of a few hundred million dollars here and there would come in handy!

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