David Swan
David Swan covers the fault lines where technology, regulation and corporate decisions collide, with particular attention to telecommunications failures, online safety regimes and the economic impact of artificial intelligence. He is Technology Editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and is regarded as one of the country’s leading technology reporters and editors, with more than a decade of experience on the tech beat. His coverage ranges from national network outages and data breaches to platform regulation, AI policy and shifts in the tech investment and start-up landscape. He previously held senior technology editor roles at a national newspaper and specialist IT outlets, which underpins his blend of breaking news, investigations and longer-form analysis.
Telecommunications outages and critical infrastructure
Swan repeatedly reports on the fragility of major telecommunications networks and the consequences when they fail. He has chronicled mass phone outages that leave customers without service, using those incidents to expose structural weaknesses in network design and crisis response. His coverage of an Optus nationwide outage tracked internal turmoil at the company and the ripple effects for businesses, hospitals and government agencies. These stories treat telco infrastructure as critical national plumbing, examining outages not only as technical faults but as events that test corporate accountability and public resilience.
The consistency of this work positions him as a primary reporter on telecommunications disruptions and their broader economic and social impact.
Online safety, data privacy and platform accountability
Online safety and consumer data protection form another recurring strand of Swan’s work. He has reported on social media platforms harvesting users’ private data without consent, including TikTok’s collection of Australians’ information and the regulatory scrutiny that followed.
His coverage of Musk’s X breaking Australian child safety law and being fined, along with analysis of proposed rules for the handling of children’s data by services such as Roblox and YouTube, highlights how enforcement and legislation are struggling to keep pace with global platforms. Across these pieces he treats online safety as a hard regulatory issue, focusing on laws, fines and compliance obligations rather than product launches or promotional narratives.
His technology beat therefore extends from consumer apps into the realm of privacy regulation and child protection, with a focus on how governments and platforms respond when rules are breached.
Artificial intelligence, corporates and the changing tech economy
Artificial intelligence and its impact on established technology companies and start-ups is a major focus for Swan. He has covered layoffs at Atlassian where thousands of jobs were cut as the company restructured around AI, framing the story around both corporate strategy and the experience of affected staff.
In features on tech unicorns and AI-driven market uncertainty, he charts how fears around AI and shifting investor sentiment have slammed the window for initial public offerings and pushed valuations lower. He is currently reporting a series on the real-world effects of generative AI on workplaces, local communities and the wider economy, signalling an interest in how abstract technological shifts play out in day-to-day life.
Public discussions of his work also place him in conversations about AI and big tech as central forces in the evolving technology landscape. These pieces treat AI not as an abstract future promise but as a present force reshaping jobs, capital flows and competitive dynamics.
Cybersecurity, corporate tech and people-centred reporting
Swan’s beat extends across cybersecurity incidents, corporate technology decisions and the human stories behind them. His reporting on hospital cyberattacks that exposed patient data demonstrates a focus on the operational and privacy consequences of breaches rather than technical minutiae. Industry recognition has singled out his work on telecommunications and cybersecurity, with awards for overall technology journalism and specialist categories that reflect the depth of his coverage.
In public appearances he emphasises the “people” side of technology stories, often anchoring coverage of AI, big tech and regulatory change in the experiences of employees, customers and affected communities. His remit includes artificial intelligence, core technology systems and wider computing topics, reinforcing a broad but consistently issues-driven approach to the sector.
The result is a body of work that marries detailed corporate and policy reporting with narrative accounts of how technology intersects with work, health and everyday life.
4 more technology journalists.
Adam Conway
Adam Conway stands out for treating consumer tech as systems to experiment with rather than products to set and forget. He is a journalist at XDA who covers phones, networks, and DIY-friendly hardware with a tinkerer’s mindset. His work focuses on hands-on testing, clear explanations, and practical ways to push devices further. He writes in depth about enthusiast hardware such as ESP32-based touchscreens, mesh networking projects, and off-grid communication tools, emphasizing setup, usability, and trade-offs. On the mobile team, he covers Android phones, software updates, and ecosystem changes, digging into network performance, battery behavior, and connectivity features. He also writes detailed how-tos on modding, customization, and configuration, with a focus on risks, prerequisites, and real-world use. His coverage is analytical, enthusiast-focused, and aimed at readers who act on his reporting.
Adnan Farooqui
Adnan Farooqui is a technology journalist at SamMobile whose work centers on Samsung’s hardware, software and strategy, with a focus on what its moves mean for the company’s future. He treats foldable phones as a strategic inflection point, using devices like the Galaxy Z Flip line to examine portfolio strategy, demand, cost and competition, and to track how long Samsung sustains product lines. He also covers the everyday Galaxy ecosystem of phones, tablets, wearables and the software that connects them, following One UI and Android updates, security patches and new features. His reporting ties product news to business decisions, pricing, launch strategy, software support windows and subscription pushes. He blends fast news with analysis, separates confirmed facts from his own reading of events, and uses plain language to frame why Samsung’s choices matter to different buyers.
Alex Heath
Alex Heath covers the AI race and the tech industry’s inside conversation through scoops, internal documents, product roadmaps, and interviews with leaders. He founded Sources in 2025, an independent newsletter and podcast about artificial intelligence, platform strategy, AI talent, compute, search, agent-based interfaces, and experimental hardware. His reporting examines companies including Meta, Google, OpenAI, Apple, Amazon, and X, and explains how their internal decisions affect products, talent, users, and the broader tech ecosystem. He has interviewed Mark Zuckerberg, Demis Hassabis, Sam Altman, and Daniel Ek. Before Sources, he spent more than a decade at Business Insider, The Information, and The Verge. He covered Facebook, Snap, Twitter, apps, and streaming services, then led reporting on major technology companies. His Command Line newsletter developed the inside-conversation approach he now uses at Sources. He also co-hosts ACCESS and uses AI tools to support drafting and editing.
Alexander Haro
Alexander Haro stands out for surf and ocean culture coverage that focuses on how people really use gear and technology in the water. He writes for surf readers who care about feel, not specs, and he often uses specific surfers, sessions, and waves to show how new equipment, design ideas, and board-building trends change the ride. He writes regularly about surf equipment, especially foiling, and he covers surf craft, foils, and the practical effects of new gear on paddling, speed, and wave connection. His work is short, session-driven, and video-led, with measured, conversational reporting that avoids hype while respecting surf history and newer ideas.