The Federal Government's National Broadband Network, announced today, has been widely welcomed by ISPs and ICT industry groups.Business Spectator - Taking aim at Telstra - Robert Gottliebsen
The Federal Government has announced it will build its own 100 Mbps fibre-to-the-home broadband network, spending $43 million in conjunction with private investors over the next eight years.
Internode has welcomed the plan subject to reading the fine print - "and there will be a lot of it", managing director Simon Hackett posted to Whirlpool.
"I'm gobsmacked," Hackett said.
"If they do what they promise, they've actually got it right, and we might just turn into a broadband front-runner country ten years from now after all."
The government has abandoned the fibre-to-the node system and is going to take fibre directly to the home which means that an estimate $10 billion in node costs have been saved. Fibre-to-the-home is a better system than fibre-to-the-node because its all fibre but it was thought to be too expensive.BBC NEWS | Business | IBM-Sun takeover talks 'collapse'
However if the plan included an eventual upgrade then all the expenditure on the nodes would have been a waste of money. So the government believed that they were creating a $10 billion credit by taking fibre all the way. They are also likely to have been forced to pay Telstra compensation if they replaced the nodes.
A fibre-to-the-home system does not involve any Telstra compensation because there is already a provision for access to the tunnels. On the government calculations $30 billion was taken as the theoretical amount of compensation which consumers would have had to pay. Telstra would have wanted a lot more because their copper wires have to be cut to connect the fibre-to-the node system.
So on government calculations around $40 billion would have been 'wasted', which made the economics behind the fibre-to-the-home network work
IBM's talks to acquire computer hardware maker Sun Microsystems $7bn (£4.7bn) takeover have broken down, media reports say.Twitter downplays Google purchase rumors - Internet - iTnews Australia
The talks were said to be in their final stages in recent days and it is not clear whether the collapse in negotiations is final.
News that the tie-up was in trouble sent Sun shares lower, to close 23% down, while IBM shares slipped 0.65%.
Buying Sun would have been IBM's biggest purchase to date.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has issued an informal response to reports that his company was about to be bought by Google.Apple seen readying huge Wi-Fi boost for iPod Touch, iPhone - Network World
In a posting to Twitter's official blog, Stone dismissed the reports of an imminent acquisition with the phrase 'sometimes we talk.'
"It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects," wrote Stone.
"Our goal is to build a profitable, independent company and we're just getting started."
Stone's update comes after reports broke late last week claiming that Stone's company was in the late stages of working out a deal with Google.
Apple seems to be laying the groundwork to introduce high-capacity, low-power 802.11n Wi-Fi to the iPod Touch, and presumably to its 3G-enabled companion, the iPhone.Evidence of video recording, hardware upgrades in iPhone beta (Updated) - Ars Technica
The change would be a huge jump in performance for users of both devices, which now use a Wi-Fi chip that supports 802.11b/g, with a throughput of less than 25Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. But the change would almost certainly mean having to buy a new Touch or iPhone with the 11n chip, and some observers say Apple also needs to upgrade the CPU to enable both handhelds to fully exploit 11n performance.
Speculation about 11n support has been rife. But programmers sifting through the recently unveiled beta code of the iPhone 3.0 operating system uncovered some radio component specifications that show a shift to a different Broadcom Wi-Fi chip, the BCM4329, for a future iPod Touch model.
The 3.0 firmware is due to be released this summer, and speculation is circulating that it may coincide with new models of the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch
The next version of the iPhone will not only have video recording capabilities, but may also include autofocus and digital compass hardware. These latest finds, as well as voice control capabilities, have cropped up in the latest iPhone OS 3.0 beta, as detailed by MacRumors.
If there was any doubt that iPhones will gain video recording capabilities, the latest evidence uncovered should quell that. Modifying the iPhone's configuration files to indicate that video recording hardware is present gives the Camera app a new interface with a toggle to switch from stills to video. There also appears to be a small preview window in the interface as well. According to MacRumors' sources, the actual video recording capability isn't yet functional.
Further digging into the various configuration files turned up references to "auto-focus camera," "magnetometer," and "Voice Control." Along with rumors of updated sensors, auto focus would certainly improve the quality of iPhone images. A magnetometer is essentially a digital compass, which would bring improvements not just to the Maps app, but also any apps for way-finding or real-time navigation. And voice control would be great for voice dialing and hands-free use, especially while in the car.
Conroy the Barbarian to crackdown on premium SMS services - Silicon Lust - Blogs - PC Authority
f you've ever been blinded by late night television ads featuring naked college girls and love match quizzes, you know what I mean by "premium" SMS.Chinese cyber spy network, Vast cyber spy plot uncovered
The technical term for it is "crap". The kind of crap that horny idiots buy late at night without reading the fine print - which says the provider will keep sending them messages, at five bucks or more a throw, until they tell them to stop.
Surely their dollars would be better spent at an adult book store. Umm, not that I'd know about that kind of thing.
Moving right along, the communications industry knew this day was coming. The Communications Alliance, a telecommunications industry lobby group, released a draft Code of Conduct late last year for premium mobile services.
The draft Code seems to contain some good points such as;
- A premium SMS or MMS service cannot be provided until the customer has sent an opt-in SMS message from the mobile phone, regardless of the mechanism that the customer originally used to request the service.
- Stricter obligations in subscription advertising requirements, including greater prominence of the word "subscription".
- For non-mobile subscription mechanisms, a requirement that, in all cases, a provider must send an SMS subscription request message to the customer's mobile phone including details of cost and frequency of services. In typical Rudd government style, Conroy says he is considering perhaps thinking about doing something about the problem.
"There is strong evidence that suggests consumers do not have confidence in their telecommunications service providers," Conroy said in a classic understatement at this week's recent CommsDay Summit.
"The protracted development of the Mobile Premium Services consumer code has highlighted clear deficiencies with the co-regulatory framework. Improving the code development process is only one piece of the puzzle and effective consumer protection should be supported by an increased emphasis on enforcement. We need to provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority with faster, more effective incentives to encourage compliance with codes and regulations."
Conroy announced an "examination of the consumer code development process and the implementation of new code enforcement powers for the Australian Communications and Media Authority".
A CYBER spy network based mainly in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organisations in 103 countries, including the computers of Tibetan exiles, according to Canadian researchers.How Windows 7 touch-support lets you ditch your mouse - News - PC Authority
The researchers, who are based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware.
They said they could not say conclusively that the Chinese Government was involved.
Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exile centres in India, Brussels, London and New York.
The researchers, who have a record of detecting computer espionage, believe the spying system, which they called GhostNet, was also focused on governments in South Asian and South-east Asian countries.
The official videos demonstrate how the iPhone-style multi-touch control is being built into Windows 7, with an emphasis on multiple finger twists and taps taking the place of left and right mouse clicks. Recently, Microsoft have also been pushing touch technology with products such as Secondlight.Windows 7 testers asked to go back to Vista - Operating Systems - iTnews Australia
Users will also be able to use their fingers to flick, hold, twist, rotate and press and hold pictures and applications within the Windows 7 desktop
In a posting to the Engineering Windows 7 blog on Tuesday, Microsoft developers said that users testing the new release candidate builds of Windows 7 would be asked to revert their machines back to Windows Vista rather than the beta releases which testers are currently running.Windows XP support runs out next week - Operating Systems - iTnews Australia
The reasoning behind the move, said the company, is that nearly everyone who buys and installs Windows 7 will be doing so from a Vista machine, rather than a beta release of Windows 7. In order to obtain correct feedback, testers will be asked to install the release candidate from Vista.
"We're just trying to be deterministic and engineer the product for the real world," the developers explained.
Windows XP will pass another milestone on the road to retirement next week when Microsoft withdraws mainstream support for the operating system.David vs Goliath: CSIRO takes on big business over wi-fi patent - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
While the company said that it will continue to provide free security fixes for XP until 2014, any future bugs found in the platform will not be fixed unless customers pay for additional support.
Mainstream support for XP will end on 14 April 2009, over seven years after the operating system originally shipped.
However, the passing of the deadline will place Microsoft in the unusual position of no longer offering mainstream support for its most widely used product.
Windows XP accounts for about 63 per cent of all internet connected computers, according to March 2009 statistics from Hitslink, while Windows Vista makes up about 24 per cent.
Windows XP also continues to be sold with low-cost mini laptops, otherwise known as netbooks, as Vista is too heavy on system resources for this level of hardware.
The key message, according to Microsoft, is that the company will continue to provide security support for XP users.
The CSIRO's legal win against Hewlett Packard over the use of its patented wireless technology could mean big bucks for the Australian science agency, says a patent attorney.BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Cinema's third attempt at 3D
The four-year lawsuit was brought by the CSIRO over the use of its Wi-Fi technology, which has been widely used as industry standard in computer products by major international corporations.
The CSIRO was granted patent for its IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g Wi-Fi products in 1996, but since has been used extensively, regardless.
The companies have agreed on an undisclosed settlement amount and Davies Collision Cave patent attorney, Neil Shoot, says it is highly likely there will be a similar outcome in the other litigation cases the CSIRO is involved in.
CSIRO spokesman Luw Morgan earlier said legal action was continuing against 13 companies: Intel, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, SMC, Accton, 3-Com, Buffalo, Microsoft and Nintendo.
In 2007, a Texan court imposed a permanent injunction on Buffalo Technologies using the wireless technology.
To the audience, the main change is aesthetic - those cheesebucket red-and-green glasses have been replaced by cool, durable Aviator-style shades.Free Software Foundation announces GNUPhone - News of the News
But the real breakthrough has been in digital projection. Cinema staff no longer have the tricky task of positioning and synchronising two projectors - one for each eye.
3D glasses
The old-style glasses (modelled by David Tennant) have been updated
Nowadays, 3D films arrive on a 500GB hard drive while a special adapter fits onto the front of a single projector to separate the left and right images.
The lack of moving parts gives the film extra clarity, and helps to eliminate migraines and motion sickness, explains Nik Blair, technical manager for Odeon Greenwich.
he Free Software Foundation (NASDAQ: RMS) has announced the Free Software alternative to the evil, DRM-infested, locked-down, defective-by-design iPhone: the GNUPhone.The 10 Worst Microsoft Product Names of All Time - Network World
The key technical innovation of the GNUPhone is that it is completely operated from the command line. “What could be more intuitive than a bash prompt?” said seventeen-year-old Debian developer Hiram Nerdboy. “The ultimate one-dimensional desktop! Just type dial voice +1-555-1212 –ntwk verizon –prot cdma2000 –ssh-version 2 -a -l -q -9 -b -k -K 14 -x and away you go! Simple and obvious!”
1996-present: Every name ever associated with handheld devices running Microsoft software. At first, they were called Handheld PCs, and ran an OS known as Windows CE. Then they morphed into Palm PCs--until the PalmPilot people complained, whereupon they became Palm-Size PCs. But only briefly: Soon, Microsoft wanted us to call them Pocket PCs, and the software they ran was renamed Windows Mobile.
That name stuck around when the OS migrated from PDAs to phones, although it bifurcated into two editions: Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Windows Mobile Smartphone. Then Microsoft declared that there were three Windows Mobile variants--Windows Mobile Classic, Windows Mobile Professional, and Windows Mobile Standard. As for the devices themselves, Steve Ballmer declared in February of this year that they'd be known henceforth as Windows Phones--scratch the "Mobile." Except for the fact that the OS is still Windows Mobile. Got that?
What they should have been called: Melvin. Or just about anything else, really, as long as it didn't keep changing.
[...] Byte Into It - Computing and new technology put an intriguing blog post on Byte Into It - 08 Apr 09Here’s a quick excerptInternet industry welcomes NBN re-think - Internet - iTnews Australia The Federal Government’s National Broadband Network, announced today, has been widely welcomed by ISPs and ICT industry groups. The Federal Government has announced it will build its own 100 Mbps fibre-to-the-home broadband network, spending $43 million in conjunction with private investors over the next eight years. Internode has welcomed the plan subject to reading the fine print - “and there will be a lot of it”, mana [...]
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ReplyDelete[...] THEBLUEBULB.COM added an interesting post today on Byte Into It - 08 Apr 09Here’s a small reading“I’m gobsmacked,” Hackett said. “If they do what they promise, they’ve actually got it right, and we might just turn into a broadband… [...]
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