Megabits.com.au

2011-12-15T23:47:00.000-08:00

Conroy comes out swinging on Broadband

Communications minister Senator Stephen Conroy has laid the opposition’s broadband plans to ridicule in a fiery televised speech.

Though marked as an update to NBN construction progress, Conroy used his address before the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday to target opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull and what the Government claims is a negative and inconsistent approach from the coalition.

Accompanied by new adviser and telco expert, David Havyatt, Senator Conroy's speech marked a significant change in tone for the communications minister who has, to date, made small criticisms of the Turnbull's alternative policy but neglected to address it head-on.

Click here for Full Article

2011-10-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

Windows XP turns 10

Ten years ago today Windows XP first hit retail shelves, and it was still the most popular operating system in the world until the beginning of this month.

However the sun is finally setting on the stalwart OS that has powered countless home and business PCs (it crossed the 400 million mark way back in 2006), as it recently slipped to number two -- right behind it's youngest brother Windows 7.

And it's about time too; XP was, and still is a great OS. But as the title states, it is now beyond ancient (2 years is typically a dinosaur in the tech world). It's time to move on and upgrade to Windows 7 now (trust me you will not regret it).

Click here to read the full story

2011-10-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Asus Transform Prime Tablet Is Coming

Asus' Transformer Prime, the company's next-generation Transformer tablet.

It was practically a given that the company would bust out a second edition, and now the particulars are starting to take shape. It'll be based on NVIDIA's next-gen quad-core Tegra 3 chip, and will share the same lid design as the Zenbook.

In laymans terms. It's beautiful to look at. And should easily outperform any other tablet currently on the market.

Click here to read the full story

2011-10-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

Microsoft no received royalties on half of all android sales

Microsoft's general counsel and deputy general counsel (Brad Smith and Horacio Gutierrez) have co-written a new blog entry detailing Microsoft's latest licensing achievement. Yesterday's broad cross-licensing agreement with Compal Electronics means that Microsoft has now negotiated licensing terms with the ODMs (original Device Manufacturers) that build over half the Android devices on the market.

Click here to read the full story.

2011-10-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

NBN Co names 28 new fibre locations

NBN Co has laid out its network construction plans for the next year, planning fibre rollouts to 28 new cities and towns across Australia.

Unfortunately no joy for the Sunshine Coast just yet.

Click here to read the full story (includes full list of locations)

2011-09-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

Microsoft nabs Samsung Android Royalties

Microsoft’s chief legal counsel has used a patent royalty deal it struck with smartphone giant Samsung to shoot down Google’s claim that patent enforcement will kill innovation.

The agreement will see Samsung pay royalties to Microsoft for its smartphones and tablets running Android, which should avoid the need for Samsung to alter its devices to escape similar litigation battles to those it faces with Apple.

Click here to read more

2011-09-29T00:34:00.000-07:00

Apple Confirms October 4 iPhone Event

The October 4 iPhone event date has been confirmed by Apple, as has the rumored location of Apple's Cupertino campus. There's no question what the star of the event will be: the event is called, "Let's Talk iPhone."

Although it's expected that Apple will launch other products on October 4, in particular, it's the iPhone that will be the focus for consumers, tech gurus, and analysts.

Click here to read more

2011-07-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

Kinect's New Trick To Be In The Operating Room?

The next proving ground for Microsoft's Kinect? It might not be where you expect. After taking over the living room and exciting gamers across the world, the Kinect has made the move to all sorts of other categories. Everything from making music videos to PC-based hacks have been seen, but for the most part, nothing on a professional level has surfaced. That's all changing now, as the Kinect slides over into the operating room. Doctor's at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, Canada are hoping that the Kinect could soon help them out during sophisticated surgeries.

Click here to read more

2011-07-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

The Breaking the Rules on Google+ Gets you Google -

Google+ may be a brand-new service, but there has already been at least one case of a user breaking the rules and getting the banhammer.

Google, in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, requires its users to be at least 13 years old. Last week, Alex, a 10-year-old boy from the Netherlands, created an account on the Google+ social network. Google promptly responded with a punishment after he entered his date of birth.

In return for violating the terms of service for the social network, the boy was kicked off of all Google services, and, as his father wrote in a blog post, will have his account across all services deleted within a month unless he can provide some proof of being old enough to use the services.

Click here to read more

2011-07-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

1000 days left for Windows XP Support

Microsoft has begun counting down the last 1000 days of support remainining for aging stalwart Windows XP as it urges companies to upgrade.

The software giant would stop supplying security patches and hotfixes for all versions of 11-year-old operating system on April 8, 2014, potentially making it vulnerable to issues that may arise after that time.

Click here to read more

2011-07-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Analysts Cast Doubt on Turnbull's NBN

Telco analysts have expressed caution on the Coalition's latest claims that it could provide a national broadband network faster than Labor's $35.9 billion project.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull talked up the Coalition's broadband proposal at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) lunch this week.

The Coalition's plan would include immediate cessation of the NBN build pending a six-month cost-benefit analysis of the network and possible alternatives.

Click here to read more

2011-07-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Vint Cerf calls for clarity in NBN cost data

Google chief internet evangelist Vint Cerf, credited in some quarters as the “founder of the internet”, has called on the Australian Government to provide a full and frank breakdown of the costs of building the National Broadband Network.

A detailed report on the costs, provided at the conclusion of the project, could greatly aid and inform attempts by other countries to build national network, Cerf said in a new interview.

Click here to read more

2011-07-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

Facebook launches video chat with Skype

Facebook will integrate Skype video chat into its social networking service, striking a deal to cement its role as a hub for communications.

The agreement, announced by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg at the company's Palo Alto, California, headquarters on Wednesday, deepens its cooperation with Microsoft, which is in the process of acquiring Skype for US$8.5 billion.

Zuckerberg said Facebook now has 750 million users. The new service, rolling out from on Wednesday, could be a huge boost for Skype, which currently has about 145 million regular users.

Click here to read more

2011-07-10T23:21:00.001-07:00

Chrome lands 20% market share

According to new reports on web usage, one in five browsing sessions now happens with Chrome, with Microsoft's long-dominant Internet Explorer finally slipping before 50%. The information is provided by StatCounter, which is known for doing these sorts of reports every so often.

Click here to read more

2011-06-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

FBI rack raid knocks 'tens' offline

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is staying mum on why it ripped out entire server racks from a US datacentre used by Swiss-based web host, DigitalOne.

The host emailed affected customers on Tuesday to advise that the disruption was due to the FBI confiscating three enclosures, according to the New York Times.

It claimed the FBI had seized servers relied on by “tens of clients” during its hunt for just one.

The FBI has not said who it was targeting in the raid, but a government official told the Times that the bureau had teamed up with the CIA and European cybercrime bureaus in pursuit of the Lulz Security group, responsible for a dozens of recent high profile attacks on corporations and government.

Click here to read more

2011-06-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

Telstra seal $11b NBN Co deal

Telstra has finalised an $11 billion agreement with NBN Co and the Federal Government that would see the incumbent telco decommission its copper network and move fixed line broadband customers to the National Broadband Network as it is rolled out.

The agreement, finalised in an ASX announcement from Telstra this morning, comes a year after initially announced and following several delays in negotiations between the two broadband companies

Read more at www.itnews.com.au

2011-06-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

No support for ISP filter in Cyber-Safety report

Plans by the Australian Government to introduce a mandatory ISP-level internet filter have suffered another blow with the release of the interim report of the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety.

After reviewing arguments from both proponents of the cyber-safety measure and those opposed, the Committee declined to make any recommendations or endorse the policy in a chapter dedicated to discussion of the proposal.

Read more at www.itenews.com.au

2011-06-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

Google Wins Race to 1 Billion Unique Visitors

According to Internet market research company comScore, Google websites welcomed more than a billion unique visitors around the globe in the month of May 2011, becoming the first Web property in the history of the Internet to reach such a milestone.

"In the past year, Google Sites has seen its audience grow 8 percent to eclipse the 1 billion threshold," comScore said in a blog post. "Microsoft Sites was the second largest Web property in May to reach more than 905 million visitors, followed by Facebook.com with 713.6 million visitors."

Read more at www.hothardware.com

2011-05-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

NBN Could deliver 10 Gbps in five years

Australians connected to the National Broadband Network could receive peak speeds of up to 10 Gbps within five years through upgrades to the gigabit passive optical network (GPON) network, according to NBN Co.

Gary McLaren, chief technology officer at the government-owned network builder said that new wave division multiplexing (WDM) technology would increase the network's GPON capacity from 2.5Gbps available today to 40 Gbps.

Users could feasibly receive peak speeds of 10 Gbps – 100 times those promised today – depending on the load on their shared 32-premise GPON link, he said.

Click here to read more

2011-05-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Scientists break data transfer record

A newly developed data decoding technique has allowed German scientists to transmit a record 26 terabits of data on a single laser beam in one second.

Although it was only a quarter the record 109Tbps demonstrated on multi-core fibre connections in March, the new, single-source technique was expected to deliver efficiency and capacity gains.

Click here to read more

2011-05-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Web is a job creator, not killer

Consulting group McKinsey has released a study that attempts to dispel the notion that internet services have an adverse impact on employment levels.

McKinsey's Global Institute report was produced for release at the “e-G8” summit in Paris, where internet big wigs met with political leaders to discuss the future of the web on Wednesday.

According to a McKinsey, the internet today accounts for 3.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) across G8 member countries, but will account for 21 percent in five years.

Click here to read more

2011-05-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Google, Facebook warn on Internet rules at e-G8

Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg warned governments to tread lightly on Internet regulation because moves to tame its rough edges risked hurting its virtues.

Despite a glittering guest list, the event dubbed the eG8 ended up with few concrete policy recommendations and mostly vague conclusions that the delegation of six technology chief executives, including Schmidt and Zuckerberg, will present to leaders in Deauville on Thursday.

The outcome highlights the difficulty of finding a way to regulate the Internet that is acceptable to both governments and industry.

Click here to read more

2011-05-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

New, More Dangerous Mac Defender Variant Arises

Apple has finally responded to the Mac Defender malware that has infected a number of Mac users, but while Apple took considerable before it took any action, the malware writer did not: he already has a new variant available that is more dangerous than the original.

The new malware has a new name for its fake antivirus component: MacGuard. Previously, two variants of Mac Defender were dubbed Mac Security and Mac Protector.

Click here to read more

2011-05-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

Netflix now the largest Single Source of Internet Traffic in the US

Netflix video streaming is now the single largest source of peak downstream Internet traffic in the U.S., according to a new report by Sandvine. The streaming video service now accounts for 29.7 percent of peak downstream traffic, up from 21 percent last fall.

Click here to read more

2011-05-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Report Details Continuing Foxconn Abuse

Foxconn, the company that builds both the iPhone and the iPad, came under fire last year after a string of suicides led to an investigation of the company's conditions. Both Apple and Foxconn promised to make certain that reforms were enacted to improve working conditions. A new report, released today, is the first detailed investigation on how things have changed at the company. Improvements, thus far, have been sporadic at the least.

Click here to read more

2011-04-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

Inside an NBN fibre access node

Today iTnews reveals the innards of Australia’s future communications exchange – with the industry’s first look inside an NBN Co fibre access node.

Click here to read more

2011-04-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

Samsung Caught in Apple's war on Android

Samsung is caught in the cross fire of Apple’s “all-out war” on “anything Android”, according to an intellectual property lawyer.

Samsung, a key iPad and iPhone components supplier, has confirmed it will fight Apple's accusation that Samsung copied the iPad and iPhone to build its Galaxy and Nexus S, which run on Google’s Gingerbread Android operating system.

Click here to read more

2011-04-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Researches show off DLC projector screen viewable in bright light.

One of the knocks against projectors has always been that they're not able to perform to their fullest unless the room is completely dark, but that may finally change if some researchers from Japan's Tohoku University have their way. They've developed a projector screen based on Diffused Light Control (or DLC), which allows only the light from the projector to be diffused towards those looking at the screen, while all other ambient light is either absorbed or reflected away.

Click here to read more

2011-04-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Broadband Enthusiasts keep the NBN faith

The majority of Australia’s broadband enthusiasts remain buoyant on the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network project, according to a survey released overnight.

Over half of the 23,500 web users surveyed by Australian broadband forum Whirlpool expressed positive sentiments about the project, with a further one in five preferring to remain ‘neutral’.

Only 18.9 percent of respondents were disappointed with the project to date.

Click here to read more

2011-04-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

Whole of APAC put in IPv4 rations

The Asia Pacific's regional internet registry APNIC has placed its members on stringent IPv4 address rations, conceding it was now unable to meet IPv4 demands in the region.

Director General Paul Wilson said today that "unprecedented fixed and mobile network growth" in the region meant that today "effectively represents IPv4 exhaustion for many of the current operators in the Asia Pacific".

Click here to read more

2011-04-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 Ousts XP for Top Spot in the U.S.

With the warm reception following the release of Windows 7, however, XP users had to think long and hard about whether to stick with their legacy OS or forgive Microsoft for Vista and make the jump to its latest and greatest.

Many have chosen the latter. According to analytics firm StatCounter, Windows XP is no longer the most used desktop OS in the U.S. For the first time, that distinction belongs to Windows 7.

Click here to read more

2011-04-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Acer Iconia Touchbook Dual-Screen Tablet Presales Begin

Starting today, you'll be able to preorder Acer's highly anticipated Iconia dual-touchscreen 6120 Touchbook. As the world's first and only tablet to feature two touch-enabled 14-inch high-definition widescreen LED backlit displays, the Iconia Touchbook gives you a whole new way to interact with digital content. Each LCD is a full touchscreen that can be customized to your liking and used for navigation

Click here to read more

2011-04-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

Lenovo LePad Goes on Sale in China, Elsewhere In June

The LePad is an Android-based tablet that was launched on Monday in an exclusive Chinese media-only event, and while no one is publicly saying that this is Lenovo's attack on the iPad, it's pretty clear that the company doesn't want to lose out on the tablet bandwagon.

The company is still planning to sell the LePad outside of China by June, but specifics weren't given.

The LePad launch is significant in a lot of ways. For one, it's a crazy new product design, but also, it's the first product to be launched by this particular segment of the company

Click here to read more

2011-04-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Carbon nanotubes used to more easily detect cancer cells, HIV

Cancer'snot slowing its march to ruining as many lives as it possibly can, so it's always pleasing to hear of any new developments that act as hurdles. The latest in the world of disease-prevention comes from Harvard University, where researches have created a dime-sized carbon-nanotube forest that can be used to trap cancer cells when blood passes through.

Click here to read more

2011-04-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

NBN Co chief promises no volume discounts

NBN Co chief Mike Quigley has today promised the Government-owned telco has no intention of offering volume discounts to Telstra or any other service provider connected to the national broadband network.

Several service providers had raised concerns over the potential for NBN Co to grant volume discounts to large players in return for an "efficiency gain".

That possibility had been struck out of the NBN bills in the Senate last week.

Click here to read more

2011-04-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

Record Labels Claim Limewire Liable for $75 Trillion in Damages

It's been nearly a decade since the music industry declared war against file sharers via its controversial policy of suing individuals supposedly identified via their IP addresses. After all this time one would expect the various companies to present a consistent, united front. As a recent court filing against Limewire shows this is absolutely not the case.

Limewire, the plaintiffs allege, owes them between $400 billion and 75 trillion. The latter, written out, comes to 75,000,000,000,000.

Click here to read more

2011-03-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Firefox 4 has Already Eclipsed Internet Explorer 9

Mozilla has just release Firefox 4, and in less than a day clocked more than twice the downloads Microsoft boasted about after the release of Internet Explorer 9.

Now website analytics company StatCounter says Mozilla’s new browser has already taken 1.95 percent of the worldwide Internet browser market.

In contrast, StatCounter adds, Internet Explorer 9 has taken only 0.87 percent of the worldwide browser market a week after its debut.

Click here to read more

2011-03-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Auditor calls for Government ban on Gmail, Hotmail

The Australian National Audit Office has called on all government agencies to block free web-based email services like Gmail and Hotmail to mitigate security and information integrity risks.

An audit of electronic security at four Federal departments and agencies found one department - Prime Minister and Cabinet - allowed staff to access the free unsecured email services for business reasons

The auditor also called on agencies to review log-in credentials after administrator or service account passwords were compromised at three of the four agencies examined in the report.

Click here to read more

2011-03-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Apple to sell iPad 2 in Australia from $579

Apple has revealed prices for its iPad 2 tablet will start at $579 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model when the device goes on sale this Friday.

The second-generation tablet – which contained front and rear-facing cameras, a new chip and new operating system version – was released to US customers about a fortnight ago.

Click here to read more

2011-03-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Wireless: What a Difference a Decade Makes

The year is 2001. Alas, videoconferencing hasn't replaced the home phone (and neither Dave nor Hal have embarked on a manned mission to Jupiter). Instead 2G wireless networks, running at 0.006 MB/second, are the best Earth has to offer.

Fast forward one decade and 4G LTE networks are the rage, promising speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

Internet Authority allocates final IPv4 blocks

Asia Pacific received its final IPv4 address block today, as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) issued the world's last unallocated addresses to regional internet registries.

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

FamilyVoice call to expand ISP filters

Christian lobby FamilyVoice Australia has called for the Government's delayed internet filter proposal to be introduced as soon as possible with even more restrictions than first planned.

At a Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety hearing in Adelaide yesterday, FamilyVoice argued that mandatory filtering was essential to assisting parents and kids cope with harmful content on the net.

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

NBN Co mulls user-pays upgrade to fiber

NBN Co has flagged the potential for the “last 7 percent” of Australian premises slated to receive wireless or satellite services under the National Broadband Network plan an opportunity to “pay the difference” to upgrade to a fibre connection.

Chief executive Mike Quigley said today the network builder faced some “pressures in first release sites from people who are outside that fibre release boundary who want to get the fibre.”

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

No Townsville NBN delays from Yasi

Communications minister Senator Stephen Conroy has rejected suggestions that Cyclone Yasi will have a major impact on the NBN testbed project in Townsville, saying that the nature of the project meant it would not suffer major delays.

Townsville is one of five mainland centres which is serving as an early testbed site for the National Broadband Network.

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Google turns your Android Phone into an On-the-Fly Conversation Interpreter

The latest version of Google Translate for Android comes with a few updates to celebrate the one-year anniversary. Most of these are to the user interface. But there’s also one new feature they’re previewing in alpha mode. And it’s awesome: Conversation Mode.

Essentially, this allows you to speak in one language into your phone and the app will read it out loud translated into the language of the person you’re speaking with. That person can then respond and it will translate it back into your language. Yes, amazing.

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

Amnesia Razorfish Connect lets your smartphone share your surface

It's practicality may be a bit questionable until folks actually start using Surfaces in their homes, but Amnesia Razorfish has now produced a rather unique way to share content between your smartphone and Microsoft's would be household device.

The basic idea is fairly simple: just place your smartphone (or tablet) on the Surface, and then simply drag photos and other documents directly onto the device (where you can also, incidentally, preview them instantly).

Click here to read more

2011-02-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

Nobody Predicted The iPad's Growth

Apple sold almost 15 million iPads last year. It is outselling Macs in units, and closing in on revenues.

The 7.3 million iPads sold just in the December quarter represented a 75 percent increase from the September quarter, and the $4.6 billion in revenue represented a 65 percent sequential jump. (The iPad launched in April). By any measure, this is an incredible ramp for an entirely new computing product. It is so startling that nobody predicted it—not bullish Wall Street analysts, or even wild-eyed bloggers

Click here to read more

2011-01-10T21:22:00.001-08:00

Brisbane's techies shine during flood crisis

Queensland's IT community is doing its level best to keep communications flowing during the State's flood crisis today – with one man mirroring flood information from a faltering Brisbane City Council website, and others opening WiFi channels in their neighbourhood whilst mobile signal gets choked.

The State's official online resources have taken a battering during the flood crisis. Brisbane City Council's website was intermittently offline for most of today and yesterday as residents sought updated projections for flooding in the Queensland capital.

Click here to read more

2011-01-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

Flood relief tests Queensland shared services strategy

The Queensland Government has apologised after its shared call centre systems were overloaded during a flood relief telethon on Sunday night, which by consequence delayed emergency SES calls from actual flood victims.

A Channel Nine telethon – which raised over $10 million for victims of Queensland's enormous flood damage - directed calls using the same communications infrastructure flood victims use to make emergency calls to the SES (State Emergency Service).

Click here to read more.

2010-11-30T22:02:00.000-08:00

Telstra Split Bill Approved

The Government has achieved passage of the Telstra split bill with Senate amendments in the lower house after the Opposition decided not to dispute a final vote.

The passing of the bill capped a mornign of failed attempts by the Coalition to by seeking a suspension of standing orders and introducing new sections to the bill to force a cost-benefit analysis on the NBN.

Both were turned down in divisions – where members were separated on either side of the chamber to vote on the motions.

Click here to read more

2010-11-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

DDoS attack on WikiLeaks exceeds 10Gbps

Cyber attacks on WikiLeaks were intensifying as world leaders continued to grapple with the fallout of the whistleblower site's initial release of what will become hundreds of thousands of confidential US diplomatic cables.

On Tuesday WikiLeaks came under a second, much more powerful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack launched against both ith Cablegate page and its home page, Wikileaks.org.

Click here to read more

2010-10-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

NBN Wins Fans and Critics in TV Debate

The National Broadband Network last night received votes of confidence from a school, university, pediatrician, patient and rural resident in a televised debate - but the reaction of a resident in a Tasmanian first-release site showed how far the Government has to go to bridge dividing public opinion on the network.

After a relatively dark couple of weeks for the National Broadband Network - turned into a political football by the Opposition and hounded by sections of the press - the network positively basked in the lights cast by apparent supporters who could see applications that would benefit from a high-speed national internet infrastructure.

Click here to read more

2010-10-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

Apple warranty stand-off to drive up iPhone prices

The price of mobile plans bundled with the Apple iPhone appear destined to rise, as Apple steadfastly refuses to bow to industry pressure to allow its telco partners to offer repair services for the device.

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) announced late last week that it had struck an agreement with Telstra to ensure that devices sold on 24-month plans included warranties for 24-months - 12 months more than the standard warranty offered by most device manufacturers.

But, like the undertaking struck with VHA in May, the ACCC's deal with Telstra applied to all handsets except the Apple iPhone.

Click here to read more

2010-10-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

NBN Co finalises three-year rollout plan

NBN Co plans to hand a revised three-year rollout plan that incorporates long-awaited wholesale pricing to the Federal Government by the end of the month, according to chief executive Mike Quigley.

Speaking at the "CommsDay" Summit in Melbourne to a standing room-only crowd, Quigley said that the costs of the revamped plan were no higher than had been originally envisaged for the NBN and that the Government enterprise was funded at least "until the end of the year and beyond".

Click here to read more

2010-10-12T21:29:00.001-07:00

Tasmania to ask residents to "opt-out" of NBN

Tasmania plans to create laws that would put the onus on residents to "opt out" of receiving a fibre-to-the-premises connection under the Federal Government's National Broadband Network (NBN) plan.

To date, the Tasmanian NBN roll-out used the "opt-in" model used by NBN Co in other areas of Australia, where residents had to sign and return consent forms for a fibre connection into their house.

Click here to read more

2010-10-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Optus targets NBN wireless fans and fibre critics

Optus took aim at months of "ill-informed debate" over wireless and fibre infrastructure, criticising policy makers and sections of the telecommunications industry alike for their "collective amnesia" when shaping Australia's broadband future.

In a significant deviation from the CommsDay Summit script - which had so far steered clear of controversy and focused mostly on future applications - Optus director of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai took aim at NBN critics who he accused of failing to learn from the past.

Click here to read more

2010-10-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

IE Finally Drops Below 50 Percent Browser Share

It was just two years ago that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser controlled 67 percent of the worldwide market, according to data from web analytics company "StatCounter". It has been all downhill from there.

According to the the latest data from the company, last month, September 2010, marked the first time IE fell below the 50 percent share mark in the past decade. Of course, this data only counts what StatCounter collects, but they claim that it’s a huge dataset worldwide — billions of visits from millions of sites. And the trend is clear: two years ago, two-thirds of those people were browsing the web with IE, now less than half of them are.

Click here to read more

2010-10-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

Telstra Trials Retails Broadband on Tassie NBN

Telstra will trial a retail broadband service on the Tasmanian NBN for three months starting next month.

The incumbent was seeking about 100 existing Telstra customers living in Midway Point, Scottsdale and Smithton to participate.

Click here to read more

2010-10-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

Quantum Computing Within Reach.

A team from the UK’s Centre for Quantum Photonics may have stumbled onto something remarkable. Something that may transform quantum computing from a pipe dream into reality.

Jeremy O’Brien, who is the Centre's director, recently led a project that ended with the creation of a new photonic chip that "works on light rather than electricity.

Click here to read more

2010-07-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

The only real solution to Apple's antenna problem

Leading up to Apple's press conference’s tomorrow, there’s been endless speculation about the iPhone 4 antenna issue. Amidst all the wrangling, both sides have been pretty bipolar about the solution—suggesting either a complete recall, or a hand-waiving session, free bumpers, and a general denial of the hardware issue.

The best solution lies in between both of those extremes: a full admission of the hardware issue, together with a voluntary recall and an immediate manufacturing fix.

Click here to read more

2010-07-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Apple knew of the iPhone 4 issues before launch

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was made aware of possible problems with the antenna on the new iPhone 4 before its launch, according to reports.

The company's senior antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, told Jobs during design testing for the device that there could be issues with the antenna that might cause calls to be dropped, said a Bloomberg report citing "a person familiar with the matter".

The report also claimed that a carrier partner had raised concerns about the antenna before the release, according to another person "familiar with the situation".

V3.co.uk contacted Apple for comment on the reports, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.

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2010-07-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

China confirms renewal of Google's license

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has renewed the Chinese operating licence of U.S. Internet giant Google.

Guxiang, a company that operates Google's websites in China, was included in a list of more than 200 companies that had their licences renewed, which was posted on the ministry's website (www.miit.gov.cn).

The document said that the company received approval after "making improvements", but gave no further details.

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2010-07-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

Finland make 1Mbps Internet a "Basic Right"

You may assume that you have no real reason to thank Finland today, but you do. If you're an avid Internet user, you owe the first nation to make broadband service a basic right a great deal of gratitude, because without them being first, there's no telling how long it would've taken for some other country to finally pull the trigger.

That's right: while Countries around the world try to figure out how to get broadband into rural areas, Finland is moving forward with a far bolder plan that involves giving broadband access to every single citizen.

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2010-07-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Researchers build Quantum Signal Repeater

Researchers at the Australian National University claim to have slowed light "all the way to a stop" in a cooled, rare-earth crystal that could serve as data storage in future quantum communications.

Using the crystal, which was surrounded in a magnetic field and cooled to -270 degrees Celsius, the researchers "stored" laser light for up to three microseconds with 69 percent efficiency.

This was no small feat, according to lead researcher Morgan Hedges, who noted that light normally would have traveled almost a kilometer in that time.

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2010-06-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

Google's China site hangs by a thread

Google is tweaking its China website in a last-ditch effort to save its search business in the world's largest Internet market after butting heads with Beijing over Web censorship.

The move comes ahead of a Wednesday deadline for China to renew Google's operating license. Google said Beijing had made it clear it was unhappy with the company's three-month old system of re-routing Chinese Web surfers to google.com.hk.

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2010-06-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Conroy retains Comms portfolio

Senator Stephen Conroy has survived a cabinet reshuffle from newly crowned Prime Minister Julia Gillard, retaining his role as the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Gillard revealed details of her new ministry at a lunchtime press conference today, noting that she had made "limited changes" in order to achieve "maximum stability in the team".

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2010-06-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

When Social Media becomes The Message : The Gulf Oil Spill and @BPGlobalPR

Nearly everyone has something to say about BP’s oil spill, and from a public relations perspective, the company is floundering. Both its stock price and brand value have taken a deepwater dive, and it is struggling to make its own voice heard.

When you Google "BP PR" or "BP public relations the top organic result is @BPGlobalPR, a parody account on Twitter with more than 175,000 followers.

In contrast, BP’s official account, @BP_America, has only 15,000 followers. The satirical @BPGlobalPR is dominating the online conversation. It is an object lesson in how social media can shape and control a company’s message during a crisis...

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2010-06-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Did Secrecy Hide the iPhone 4's Antenna Problems?

Did Apple really not know about the problems with the iPhone 4's Antenna system which, particularly when the device is held with skin touching the bottom left of the steel antenna surrounding its case, can cause signal degradation and even dropped calls?

It's possible, and it's possible that its own paranoia, as well as its BFF, AT&T, are at fault.

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2010-06-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

YouTube Weighs in on Flash vs. HTML 5 Video

Between the iPad’s blocking of Flash earlier this year and the huge wave of ad campaigns, open letters, and debates that followed, it seems that everyone has an opinion on the merits (or lack thereof) of Flash on the modern web.

YouTube software engineer John Harding took to the site’s official blog to weigh on the current status of HTML5 video support. The gist of it: while HTML5 is great, it can’t do everything YouTube (or most mainstream video sites) need.

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2010-06-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

YouTube Launches Web-Based Video Editor

This morning, news broke of a spiffy, and very powerful new feature on YouTube: a built-in video editor.

The JavaScript-based YouTube editor isn’t loaded with bells and whistles, but it can handle the basics just fine: it’s easy to trim and splice together the video clips that you’ve uploaded, and you can replace your video’s audio with any of YouTube’s library of 40,000 approved songs (you can’t upload your own audio yet, but YouTube is working on deals to make that happen).

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2010-06-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

iPhope 4 Pre-Orders Exceed Supply

The media coverage surrounding Apple iPhone 4 pre-order inventory levels has been almost as crazed as, well, the whole pre-order frenzy. Not unpredictable for a new Apple product release -- and particularly a new iPhone design -- it didn't take long for the Cupertino company to exhaust its supply of devices for day-of-release shipments.

It's true that both AT&T and Apple have depleted their pre-order allotment, but according to Apple's website, new orders for both the 16GB and 32GB models will ship by July 2nd. That's a week and one day longer than the original ship date, which was previously listed as June 24.

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2010-06-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Conroy touts 50 percent uptake for NBN pilot

Almost half of all Tasmanian premises in NBN's stage one zones have signed up to fibre services that will launch in "a few short weeks", according to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

Addressing the Senate this afternoon, Conroy described a "huge amount of enthusiasm" in the community for stage one NBN services.

"The rollout in Tasmania is now well underway," Conroy told Parliament. "We are on track to deliver the first of these [NBN] services in a few short weeks."

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2010-06-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Conroy cries foul over 'Dishonest' filter foes

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has lashed out at opposition to the Federal Government's bid to filter the internet, and labelled those promoting the dissent as "dishonest".

He described claims the internet speeds would be slowed by as much as 87 per cent were "wild" and said the government's intentions were misrepresented by opponents.

"This has been a campaign quite dishonest in the way that it has talked about how speeds will be impacted," Mr Conroy said.

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2010-06-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

Pakistan lifts Facebook ban after 'blasphemous' competition

A Pakistani court on Monday lifted a ban on social networking website Facebook which had carried a competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad, but access to any "blasphemous" material will remain blocked, officials said.

Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims, which constitute the overwhelming majority in Pakistan, and Facebook was blocked two weeks ago because of the online caricature contest.

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2010-06-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

JooJoo Creator Lashes Out At iPad, Makes A Few Decent Points

According to a new report, Chandra Rathakrishna (creator of the JooJoo), recently had a few choice words about the iPad, and while sales would obviously say otherwise, there's nothing like a little bitterness to chuckle over on a holiday.

Here's his quotes on Apple's first tablet:

"JooJoo delivers the entire Internet - including Flash-based websites. That means you can play full versions of games, watch full-screen HD video and not have to be constrained within the 'walled garden' of the iPad environment. [The iPad is just] another storage device with web capabilities."

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2010-06-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

iiNet, Primus split on filter

ISP iiNet issued a press release late yesterday to reassure customers and the industry that it does not support Senator Conroy's plans to filter the internet, refuting comments the Senator made in a Sydney Morning Herald article.

Senator Conroy had claimed his policy has been "approved by 85 per cent of Australian internet service providers, who have said they would welcome the filter, including Telstra, Optus, iPrimus and iiNet."

Michael Malone, CEO of iiNet, was outraged.

"Any claim that our participation in that consultation process is support for the Government's policy is an outright lie," he said in a statement.

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2010-06-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Rash of Suicides Prompt Foxconn to Raise Worker Wages

Foxconn thinks they have a solution to the mounting suicides that have rocked the company's China operations: pay the workers more money. According to reports, Foxconn plans to raise wages by 30 percent, which still isn't all that much, but it's a start. One report has the basic salary at Foxconn's China plants at about 900 yuan a month, or just over $130

Foxconn is the biggest supplier of OEM products in the world and builds a number of high-end products, including Apple's iPhones and iPads. But the company has come under heavy fire lately for frequent suicide attempts, most of which were 'successful.'

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2010-06-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Google Reportedly Phasing Out Windows In Favour Of OS X/Linux

As with most major corporations, Google's employees used Windows-based machines almost exclusively. It's sort of a given when major companies select Windows machines for their staff, so no one really paid it any mind.

But now, Google is reportedly "phasing out internal use of rival Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system because of security concerns following a Chinese hacking incident."

You're all well aware of the Chinese hacking incident from earlier in the year, which led to Google taking a stand and refusing to filter search results in mainland China. Now, Google is looking to Apple and Linux-based machines to replace their workstations.

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2010-05-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Google Goggles Adds Language Translation

As the world continues to become more global in scope, knowing various languages is becoming more and more important. That's far easier said than done, and Google knows it. They're on a mission to bridge the language gap as quickly as possible, and while their online translation services works wonders on web pages, adding the service to Goggles is one of the most impressive things yet for mobile.

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2010-05-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

iPhone Gets Special Treatment on Handset Warranties

A court undertaking between Australia's competition watchdog and VHA, which formed the basis of new rules for mobile carriers around the length of phone warranties, featured one glaring exemption: Apple's iPhone.

The ACCC announced late last month that carriers offering handsets bundled with 24-month service plans would have to provide a warranty for the handset for the full 24-months.

But what was not revealed at the announcement late last month was that VHA had specifically requested Apple's iPhone be made exempt from its enforceable undertaking.

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2010-05-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Apple Gets Upset With Ellen's iPhone Spoof Commercial

The Mac vs. PC debate has been raging for as long as the two have existed in the same market, but if there's one thing you can say for certain about Apple, it's that the company hates to see their image tarnished.

So when Ellen, a famed comedian and talk show host in the U.S., decided to create her own iPhone 3GS spoof commercial and show it on national television, it didn't take long for Apple's team to contact Ellen's team.

Shortly after the spot aired, Apple contacted Ellen's show with a gripe: her spoof made it seem as if the iPhone were difficult to use, which is exactly what Apple doesn't want anyone to think.

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2010-05-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

Net filter Circumvention: it's completely legal.

The Federal Government's $23.8m ISP-level internet filtering initiative will not block encrypted content or web applications and can be circumvented legally, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has admitted.

In an official response to parliamentary questions on notice released yesterday, Senator Conroy said he had attended an hour-long demonstration of filter circumvention on 5 June 2009.

He was shown how to get around the ISP-level filter using free proxy network TOR and Virtual Private Network (VPN) techniques at the Enex Text Lab in Victoria

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2010-05-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

Facebook flaw exposes private information

A major security flaw in Facebook has allowed users to see other people's personal information, and once again opened the social networking site to accusations of not securing user data effectively.

The fault meant that users editing their privacy settings and then using Facebook's 'See how my profile looks to friends' feature were able to see friends' chat boxes and friend requests.

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2010-05-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer Continues To Bleed Market Share

My, how the mighty have fallen. It wasn't long ago that Internet Explorer simply dominated the Internet. Everyone used it be default, and no other browser came close in terms of market share. IE was so powerful that the European Union banded together and forced Microsoft to insert a Browser Selection Screen on all new copies of Windows 7, and we wouldn't be surprised if other nations followed suit.

Since then, a number of worthy competitors have not only hit the market, but gained serious steam. Mozilla's Firefox has become a huge player, and Google's Chrome has grown faster than pretty much any other unconventional Web browser in the history of the space

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2010-05-05T21:17:00.001-07:00

Apple/Adobe Kerfuffle Goes Federal; FTC to Investigate

A few weeks after Apple announced its revised programming rules for iPhad devices, Adobe dropped the bombshell that it was abandoning Apple's platform. Up until late April, Adobe had tirelessly pledged Flash support for the iPhone, but certain changes to the developer license made it too risky for the company to continue development.

Apple and Adobe have publicly sparred in the last week and the Flash developer may have deliberately upped the ante. Sources at the FTC revealed today that the regulatory agency is preparing to investigate Apple's developer license to see if it unfairly restricts competition—purportedly at Adobe's request.

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2010-05-03T22:57:00.000-07:00

AFACT Seeks 60/40 Split on iiNet Trial Cost

AFACT is seeking to be exempted from 40 per cent of costs in its trial brought against iiNet, despite Justice Cowdroy's original judgement ordering AFACT to pay all costs.

While iiNet was awarded the case, AFACT is citing four separate issues within the trial it claims to have won over iiNet, therefore relinquishing its accountability for these specific costs.

Specifically, the issues cover iiNet's failed Telecommunications Act defence, and its unsuccessful claim that it was protected under section 112E of the Copyright Act.

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2010-05-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

US Mulling Antitrust look at Apple

U.S. regulators are considering an inquiry into whether Apple violates antitrust law by requiring that its programming tools be used to write applications for the iPad and iPhone, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The news comes amidst a high-profile dustup between Apple and Adobe Systems, which makes the widely used Flash software to provide video and build games.

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2010-05-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Conroy Promises Filter Review At 10,000 URL's

The Federal Government plans to undertake a technical review of its Refused Classification (RC) Content blacklist if and when it reaches 10,000 web addresses.

In an official response to parliamentary questions on notice yesterday, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said ISP-level filtering of 10,000 URLs would have no discernable impact on network speeds.

He addressed suggestions noted in Enex TestLabs's 2009 Content Filtering Trial Report that 10,000 URLs may be a tipping point for load/performance degradation. At the time of the Enex study, the blacklist contained little over 1,000 URLs.

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2010-05-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's Take On Flash: HTML 5 Is The Future, But We'll Support Adobe

The debate surrounding Adobe's Flash has never been hotter, and as the he-said-she-said rages on, more and more companies are stepping forward to make public their own take. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs got things started by publicly slamming Flash, and then Adobe's CEO stepped up to insist that the future of Web technology was Flash. Now, Microsoft is stepping in to give their two cents as well.

Dean Hachamovitch, the general manager of Internet Explorer, posted a new write-up this weekend claiming to share Microsoft's point of view on the whole Flash/No-Flash debate. Their take is pretty clear: "The future of the web is HTML5," he says, with Microsoft being deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C.

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2010-05-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Apple's Steve Jobs Rails On Flash, Adobe's CEO Hits Right Back

Sound the alarm. Wake the neighbors. Grab your guns. It's Adobe versus Apple, and the war is officially under way. As if Apple didn't enough have fighting going on in their backyard already, the company has seemingly picked another one this week with Adobe.

The company responsible for Flash, Photoshop and Premiere has apparently got on Steve Jobs' (Apple CEO) bad side, causing him to lash out in a public note posted today on Apple.com's homepage.

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2010-04-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

One Button Is One Too Many: Apple Applies for Patent on "Invisible" Controls

Steve Jobs has been on a quest to rid the world of buttons since the original Macintosh debuted sans numeric keypad. In later years, we've seen the G4 Cube (with its touch-sensitive power-on area, as opposed to a physical button), the Apple Pro Mouse (sometimes known as the zero-button mouse), and most recently the iPhone/iPad with their single button.

If you thought one button was as low as any practical device could go, you were wrong. Apple has filed a patent application, 20100103116, for a "Disappearing Button or slider."

It's an artistic vision that lends itself well to the conceptualisation of some really futuristic gadgets, but fine-tuning the practical function of such an interface could be a nightmare.

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2010-04-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Sells 100 Million Copies of Windows 7

Same story, new week. But this time, Microsoft has some pretty big numbers to back up the boasting . And by "pretty big," we really mean "huge." There was already little doubt that Windows 7 was on track to become bigger than Vista could ever dream of becoming, and while the OS was already the company's best selling of all time, no one knew exactly how long it would take to cross the magical 100 million mark.

This week, the Redmond-based software giant has proudly announced that the mark has been surpassed, with Windows 7 now installed in one of every 10 PCs in the entire world!

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2010-04-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

Google threatens wrath over booze Startup Groggle

Google has taken issue with the name of Queensland liquor comparison startup Groggle, threatening legal action if the company doesn't change its name and withdraw a trademark application.

The startup has also been told to transfer its web domains to Google and provide "written acknowledgement" that Groggle infringed Google's own registered trademarks.

Groggle founder Cameron Collie told iTnews the company received a cease-and-desist letter from Google lawyers last Thursday.

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2010-04-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

Relic of a Bygone Era: Sony to Cease Producing Floppy Drives

Sony has announced it will cease producing 1.44" drives in March, 2011. Demand for 3.5" drives and disks is larger than you might think—some 12 million disks sold in 2009—but it's time to pull the plug on the ancient standard.

Once the workhorse of the computer industry, the floppy disk evolved significantly through the 70s and 80s. When CD-ROM drives and multimedia capabilities arrived in the early 90s, however, pundits began busily predicting the imminent demise of the 3.5" standard while manufacturers poured millions into disk-based product R&D.

As for the 3.5" disk drive, it told both the pundits and the techies to get bent and set about surviving for another twenty years. The humble standard has proven to be a flat, rectangular, and tiny Jason Voorhees

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2010-04-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Backdoor Malware Targets Apple iPad

Apple iPad users are being warned of an email-borne threat which could give hackers unauthorised access to the device.

Sabina Datcu, technology writer for anti-virus firm BitDefender, wrote in a blog post today that the threat arrives via an unsolicited email urging the recipient to download the latest version of iTunes as a prelude to updating their iPad software.

"A direct link to the download location is conveniently provided. As a proof of cyber crime finesse, the web page the users are directed to is a perfect imitation of the one they would use for legitimate iTunes software downloads," Datcu said.

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2010-04-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Police Raid Gizmodo Edit Over iPhone Leak

On April 25, editor Jason Chen arrived home to discover police in the process of executing a search warrant. Chen demanded to see the warrant, which authorized police to seize every computing or computer-related device in his home including keyboards, mice, floppy disks, and anything that could possibly have anything to do with a device manufactured after 1865.

When the details of the iPhone 4G went live online, it was immediately a question of when Apple would respond, not if. In the recent past, Apple forced the closure of the longtime Apple enthusiast website ThinkSecret over the websites' (accurate) claim that the Cupertino-based company would reveal iWork and the Mac Mini. In 2006, Apple fought to discover the identity of individuals who had leaked information to AppleInsider and PowerPage

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2010-04-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Google Makes Government Censorship Requests Public Knowledge

Net Neutrality. Censorship. Freedom of speech. Global search. All of these items are becoming more and more visible in an interconnected world, and we suspect that these issues will become even more important as the Internet spreads. Recently,Google brought some of these matters into the mainstream light by taking on Chine in a way that no search engine ever had: Google refuses to continue censoring results, and redirected searches to their Hong Kong portal in order to achieve their goal while maintaining within China.

This week, Google has opened another can of worms. The new Government Requests Tool is quite the eye-opener, giving mere citizens the ability to see how many times a given government has requested information and how often they have asked the company to remove content from their sites or search index for reasons outside of copyright violations.

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2010-04-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

New iPhone Model left behind in Redwood Bar

You can bet that someone, somewhere, is a very unhappy ex-Apple employee now that one of the company's prototype next-generation iPhones was lost (and found) in a Redwood City bar.

Whoever found the device (they're understandably laying low) turned it over to Gizmodo, which has spent a significant chunk of time disassembling the device, snapping photos, comparing its internal components to current-generation Apple iPhones, and documenting the various changes

Unfortunately, Apple killed the iPhone with a remote update, but Gizmodo has videos and a number of comparison photos available.

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2010-04-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

School District Admits Taking Inappropriate Photos in Laptop Spying Case

Investigative reports now indicate that the school either lied through its teeth about the degree to which cameras were activated or was negligent—possibly criminally negligent—in exercising appropriate oversight of how the system was being used by the staff who had access.

Late last week, the Robbins' attourney filed a brief claiming that the school district snapped thousands of photos that documented all aspects of their lives, including the chat rooms and websites they frequented, their IM conversations, etc..

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2010-04-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

ABC fingers China over cyber attacks

The ABC's Four Corners program has aired an investigation in which it claimed that the IT systems of Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals were all hacked in attacks originating in China in the lead up to the sentencing of former Rio Tinto mining executive, Stern Hu.

In a documentary titled 'Chinese Whispers' - aired last night by journalist Marian Wilkinson - sources from within all three iron ore companies claimed that their IT systems were hacked, none willing to go on the record.

All three companies were alleged to have upgraded IT security in response to the attacks.

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