Geekzone Technology Community

New Zealand businessmen propose project to build international fibre cable

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:29 +1200

Aim is unlimited high speed broadband for New Zealand and Australia.

Cisco introduces 322Tbps Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 21:33 +1200

Advanced platform designed to deliver video, mobile and data center/cloud services with high performance.

Michael Geist to keynote PublicACTA conference in New Zealand

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 21:00 +1200

PublicACTA is being held the weekend before the next round of ACTA negotiations in Wellington, 12-16 April 2010.

Skype now available for Nokia Smartphones in Ovi Store

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 23:12 +1200

More than 200 million smartphone users worldwide now have Skype at their fingertips.

Microsoft Selects Navizon for Geolocation

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 01:56 +1200

Microsoft will use Navizon's global location database to provide an enhanced experience to its mobile users.

New Zealand final four announced for Microsoft Imagine Cup 2010

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:33 +1200

Microsoft New Zealand held the preliminary finals for the Imagine Cup 2010 technology competition at its Auckland offices to determine the four teams that will advance to the next stage of competition. A field of 20 teams each pitched projects developed using Microsoft technology to a six-judge panel in hopes of securing a spot in the national final.

Elgato Launches EyeTV Netstream DTT for LAN-based digital TV

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:25 +1200

With the dual tuner, EyeTV Netstream DTT enables two people to watch and record different TV programmes at the same time on different computers in the house.

Oversi announces Slingshot as its first video cache win in Australasia

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:59 +1200

OverCache MSP enables Slingshot New Zealand to optimize users' Internet experience with accelerated delivery of P2P and streaming content.

Double-Take Software launches cloud-based Disaster Recovery using Amazon Web Services

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:03 +1200

Double-Take Software's System State replication engine creates full image of a server workload in the cloud for rapid recovery.

Symantec 2010 State of Enterprise Security study shows frequent, effective attacks on businesses

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:33 +1200

About 75 percent of organisations worldwide - and 89% in Australia and New Zealand - have suffered a cyber attack.

Sony Ericsson to launch Vivaz smartphone in New Zealand

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:23 +1200

New Symbian-based handset will be available in versions compatible with Vodafone and Telecom 3G networks.

Alcatel-Lucent announces new head of New Zealand Business

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:21 +1200

New General Manager Jyoti was formerly the general manager of Alcatel-Lucent's Next Generation Networks product unit.

Yahoo! and Microsoft to implement search alliance

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:30 +1200

Companies have received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission, and will now turn their attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal.

AMD releases new ATI Catalyst Drivers and promises Mobility Radeon updates

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:43 +1200

Consumers will be able to download Mobility Radeon driver updates directly from AMD instead of waiting for OEM releases.

Sybase 365 announces IPX Platform and signs Telecom New Zealand International

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:50 +1200

The IPX 365 IPX Voice service combines a MPLS IP global networks with call control provided by TNZI softswitch, and supported by its expertise in the international voice business.

Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Azure New Zealand launch events

MSDN — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:28 Y

If you're involved in any capacity with software development, or want to understand more about cloud computing, this is a half-day event not to be missed. Come along to the official New Zealand launch of Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Azure. Two international experts, Sam Guckenheimer and David Chappell will deliver two keynote sessions. Plus, to mark the occasion, Microsoft is producing a cool retro t-shirt for all attendees, and there are also some great prizes to be won! Best of all, the event is free to attend!

Visual Studio 2010 Keynote

The event kicks off with the official New Zealand launch of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0. The launch of Visual Studio 2010 will help accelerate everything you do, from design to development to deployment. Hear how Visual Studio 2010 helps you find nasty bugs, get better insight into how your project is running, and work better with other people on your team.

The keynote presenter is Microsoft's Sam Guckenheimer, author of Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System. Sam is the Group Product Planner for the Microsoft Visual Studio product line. In this capacity, he acts as chief customer advocate, responsible for the end-to-end external design of the next releases of these products.

Windows Azure Keynote

Cloud computing looks like the biggest change to hit our industry in many years. The advent of cheap, scalable computing power available over the Internet will affect almost everybody who works in IT. But taking advantage of this shift requires understanding this new approach and how to exploit it.

In this presentation, David Chappell looks at the Windows Azure platform and what it means for organisations that create, use, or sell software. The topics he'll cover include:

? An overview of the Windows Azure platform: Technology and business model
? Using the Windows Azure platform: Application scenarios
? The cloud platform context: Google, Amazon, Salesforce.com, and more

David Chappell is Principal of Chappell & Associates in San Francisco, California. Through his speaking, writing, and consulting, he helps software professionals around the world understand, use, and make better decisions about new technologies.

Amazing 3D from Panasonic

nate — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:00 Y

Every manufacturer boasts their product as being superior to all others. When I received an invite to see what Panasonic was bringing to 3D I was a little sceptical at all the hype, having just seen Sony's offerings. One line in the invitation email however did catch my attention:

Winner of Best in Show at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year.

Impressive. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so last Monday I visited Panasonic HQ to see what made this TV so special.

Brand new and freshly delivered from the States, we were about to start watching the Panasonic TC-P50VT25 - a 50" plasma (note it's not a LCD) screen that was marketed to give us an experience superior to that of watching Avatar at the cinemas. So, with a handful of other tech enthusiasts, the lights were dimmed in the board room, we donned our futuristic glasses and the demonstration began.

Powered by a Panasonic BluRay player (using HDMI standard v1.4) we were able to see a variety of 3D demo videos, one of which was the Beach Volleyball Tour held at Mt Maunganui. The colours were crisp and bright, and 3D made watching the volleyball a new experience; some of the shots made it seem as though the ball was passing very close as it bounced out of shot. I am looking forward to broadcasters adoption of 3D channels, as live sport in 3D is as close as you can get without actually being there.

Gaming is another application that looks much better in 3D. We watched the new Avatar game played on X-Box. It does take some getting used to, but overall it is much easier to become fully immersed in the game when there is depth to the image. Any military games looks amazing as bullets and other projectiles seem to leave the screen and head towards your.. head.

If you do get tired of 3D, you don't have to watch 3D all the time; a quick and easy change in the menu puts the TV into 2D mode.

The 3D active shutter glasses are half of the clever technology. When first turned on (yes they are battery powered) they synchronise with the TV. As you watch, each lense turns on and off rapidly, which gives you the 3D experience. Light and able to fit easily over prescription glasses, you get full 1080p to both your left and right eyes.

One way to convince your partner/better half of indulging in this plasma is it uses a lot less power than a standard plasma or LCD screen - it meets Energy Star 4.0 requirements so you will save on your power bill.

A 3D plasma is useless without 3D content, so Panasonic are also releasing this year the world's first integrated HD 3D camcorder, the Panasonic AG-3DA1. Expect to see more of these at major sporting events soon.

Overall, a very impressive offering from Panasonic, and not hard to see why it took out CES. After seeing such high definition, clear picture, it's really hard to go back to watching anything else without criticising.

To finish up, some answers to the queries I sent Panasonic following my visit, thanks to Andrew Reid, the Panasonic guru:

How does Panasonic's 3D differ from that seen in the theatres?

With the home experience the glasses are synchronised to the screen. When you turn on the glasses on they control how you see the image.

What are so special about the Panasonic 3D glasses?
To remove the possibility of crosstalk or unwanted after images, Panasonic's 3D glasses close off both eyes at the instant that the images change for the left and right eyes. They have been designed to suit many different face sizes, can be adjusted to fit and also fit over glasses.
Will there ever be 3D without needing the glasses and why?
Unsure. There are several forms of auto stereoscopic screens. Unfortunately the current technology has several major issues e.g. eye strain, severely limited viewing angle and poor resolution to name a few. If they manage to overcome these then perhaps but it doesn't seem likely any time soon.

When will broadcasters start to show 3D content?
Unsure. Overseas 3d broadcasts could be as soon as this year. Locally you would need to talk to the broadcasters.
What advantages does Panasonic have over competitors such as Sony?
Panasonic use plasma as a technology for 3D, more specifically Panasonic uses a new generation of our NEO PDP panel that has been specifically designed to handle the increased demands of 3D meaning our panel doesn't suffer from cross talk. It also offers significant improvements in terms of Contrast, colour and power consumption when in 2D mode.
Rough RRP on the glasses and TV?
Glasses will be approximately US$100, each 3D panel will come with one set of these.

European Parliament throws spanner in secret ACTA works

juha — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:07 Y

This will make the Wellington ACTA negotiations more exciting - the European Parliament has asked to have full access to ACTA documents, and wants this to be granted to the public too.

Furthermore, the ACTA talks should be limited to counterfeiting, include developing and emerging countries (and not just the rich ones), plus, and this is important, they must not be used to limit access to cheap and safe medicines. That last part is often forgotten in the furore around ACTA, and it's hugely important for people everywhere, including New Zealand.

On the Internet side of things, no "three-strikes" rules to be imposed; only the courts can order that people's Internet access is cut off, as anything else would violate their fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and privacy.

No border searches and confiscations without warrants of laptops, mobile phones and MP3 players by customs to be introduced either.

Interestingly enough, the whole ACTA circus seems to be conducted without any mandate from the European Parliament, which threatens to go to the Court of Justice unless its demands are met before the meeting in Wellington.

We'll see if the different countries involved in the ACTA talks, including New Zealand, can ignore the European Parliament, but its resolution is the strongest message so far to them that they must engage with the public and not ride rough-shod over their rights.

Link to the full text of the European Parliament resolution of 10 March 2010 on the transparency and state of play of the ACTA negotiations.

Here are the main points of the resolution, minus the preamble and background to the current text:

1. Points out that since 1 December 2009 the Commission has had a legal obligation to inform Parliament immediately and fully at all stages of international negotiations;

2. Expresses its concern over the lack of a transparent process in the conduct of the ACTA negotiations, a state of affairs at odds with the letter and spirit of the TFEU; is deeply concerned that no legal base was established before the start of the ACTA negotiations and that parliamentary approval for the negotiating mandate was not sought;

3. Calls on the Commission and the Council to grant public and parliamentary access to ACTA negotiation texts and summaries, in accordance with the Treaty and with Regulation 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents;

4. Calls on the Commission and the Council to engage proactively with ACTA negotiation partners to rule out any further negotiations which are confidential as a matter of course and to inform Parliament fully and in a timely manner about its initiatives in this regard; expects the Commission to make proposals prior to the next negotiation round in New Zealand in April 2010, to demand that the issue of transparency is put on the agenda of that meeting and to refer the outcome of the negotiation round to Parliament immediately following its conclusion;

5. Stresses that, unless Parliament is immediately and fully informed at all stages of the negotiations, it reserves its right to take suitable action, including bringing a case before the Court of Justice in order to safeguard its prerogatives;

6. Deplores the calculated choice of the parties not to negotiate through well-established international bodies, such as WIPO and WTO, which have established frameworks for public information and consultation;

7. Calls on the Commission to conduct an impact assessment of the implementation of ACTA with regard to fundamental rights and data protection, ongoing EU efforts to harmonise IPR enforcement measures, and e-commerce, prior to any EU agreement on a consolidated ACTA treaty text, and to consult with Parliament in a timely manner about the results of the assessment;

8. Welcomes affirmations by the Commission that any ACTA agreement will be limited to the enforcement of existing IPRs, with no prejudice for the development of substantive IP law in the European Union;

9. Calls on the Commission to continue the negotiations on ACTA and limit them to the existing European IPR enforcement system against counterfeiting; considers that further ACTA negotiations should include a larger number of developing and emerging countries, with a view to reaching a possible multilateral level of negotiation;

10. Urges the Commission to ensure that the enforcement of ACTA provisions - especially those on copyright enforcement procedures in the digital environment - are fully in line with the acquis communautaire ; demands that no personal searches will be conducted at EU borders and requests full clarification of any clauses that would allow for warrantless searches and confiscation of information storage devices such as laptops, cell phones and MP3 players by border and customs authorities;

11. Considers that in order to respect fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, while fully observing the principle of subsidiarity, the proposed agreement should not make it possible for any so-called "three-strikes" procedures to be imposed, in full accordance with Parliament's decision on Article 1.1b in the (amending) Directive 2009/140/EC calling for the insertion of a new paragraph 3(a) in Article 1 of Directive 2002/21/EC on the matter of the "three strikes" policy; considers that any agreement must include the stipulation that the closing-off of an individual's Internet access shall be subject to prior examination by a court;

12. Emphasises that privacy and data protection are core values of the European Union, recognised in Article 8 ECHR and Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which must be respected in all the policies and rules adopted by the EU pursuant to Article 16 of the TFEU;

13. Points out that ACTA provisions, notably measures aimed at strengthening powers for cross-border inspection and seizure of goods, should not affect global access to legitimate, affordable and safe medicinal products - including innovative and generic products - on the pretext of combating counterfeiting;

14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the states party to the ACTA negotiations.

Technorati Tags: ACTA,European Parliament,New Zealand,copyright

Apple just became an MVNO

timmyh — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:00 Y

Further details have just been released by Apple on how the 3G service will work on the iPad in the U.S. and it represents a paradigm change in mobile network usage. I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say that with the iPad Apple has effectively become a data MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), at least in the U.S. Whether they take a cut or not on the data plan they are managing the overall experience in a very elegant way from the users' perspective. The 3G service becomes part of the 'Apple' experience rather than an iPad on AT&T.

We already knew that there would not be any contracts on the data bundles meaning that AT&T will not be subsidising these devices to reduce the device cost and lock in customers. That's OK for AT&T given they are the only network supporting Apple products in the U.S.

We also knew the pricing - US$14.99 for 250MB (OK) and US$29.99 for Unlimited (awesome!). I think we are all interested to see if 'Unlimited' will have some sort of cap at say 5 or 10GB.

But what's really new is how the user interacts with their 3G service. All functions (activating, payment, changing plans, deactivating) are managed from the iPad itself using a 3G manager application. You also get usage stats on how much data you have left if you have the 250MB bundle and pro-active usage alerts - excellent!

These functions must have quite a strong tie-in to the network operator to enable payment, provision the service and extract these usage details. So what's incredible is that there does not appear to be any reference to AT&T in this 3G application - the network operator is hidden and the user doesn't need to know who it is! It is not clear who the payment is with as it looks to be via credit card (rather than your iTunes account) but is that settled through Apple or directly with AT&T?

It will be fascinating to see how this model translates outside the U.S. where almost all countries (NZ excepted) have multiple iPhone provider networks. Will every operator that wants to support the iPad need to work with Apple to provide the approved pricing plans and network integration? Will the iPad only work on such approved networks?

Pacific Fibre cable a bold initiative that the government should support

juha — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:31 Y

Will the NZ$900 million Pacific Fibre cable mooted by messieurs Drury, Morgan, Tindall, Rushworth, Humphrey and Wiggs succeed? Certainly, the list of founders is impressive with everyone on it not only having an understanding of why Big Fat Pipes with Low Latency are a good thing, but they also have real incentives for the Pacific Fibre cable to succeed - Rod Drury and Sam Morgan especially, with their Internet-based businesses depending on good networks.

John Humphrey is a satellite and cable guy of long standing that I met at the Shin Sat IPstar launch way too many years ago (and, I ended up with a huge dish on my roof as proof that it was indeed possible to deliver decent broadband via birds high up in the sky).

Mark Rushworth and Lance Wiggs get what the Internet is about, and having Stephen Tindall onboard isn't going to hurt Pacific Fibre in the slightest.

Of course, having lots of well-known names onboard doesn't equate success but Pacific Fibre is launching into a market that's difficult to satiate at the moment. It's almost as if you need to dimension networks according to the capacities of their computers' storage and interface speeds - you need to get as close as possible to those two factors to keep customers happy.

The 5.12 Terabits per second that the Pacific Fibre cable is supposed to launch with probably isn't that much over the next decade or so, and it's good to see a 12 Tbit/s upgrade has been factored in.

Having lots of bandwidth for large video, audio, and picture files is one thing but I found it interesting to talk to Rushworth today, and hearing him emphasise low latency as a competitive point of difference. Mark's right of course. NZ and Australia are a huge distance away from everywhere, so the less packet delay, the better. From memory, the best roundtrip you get over Southern Cross is 120 to 130ms to LA, which translates to 160 to 170ms for end users in Auckland. Not disastrously high, but if you can shave 20 to 30ms off that, people with real-time apps are going to be much happier.

Now, the money: $900 million's not chump change, and finding the funding will be a challenge for Pacific Fibre. Given the stated goals of Pacific Fibre, I think this is one project that the government should consider investing in. Morgan's said Pacific Fibre isn't about maximising profits, but to build infrastructure that will benefit the entire country.

Kordia, a state-owned enterprise is said to be teaming up with Pacific Net, but I think a direct investment in the system by the government may be in order, provided the business plan is sound. For starters, it would give our academic network KAREN another less expensive option to Southern Cross for international transit and maybe even get them close to the twin 10GB wavelengths that the Aussie AARnet has.

Some years ago, I spoke to a MED mandarin who said that the then government was given the option of buying a ten per cent stake of the Southern Cross Cable. If that had happened, things may have been very different now, but the government didn't take up that option. Here's a second chance, and Key's cabinet should take it.

Maybe there's a way to micro-finance the cable too, with individuals communities in NZ and Australia chipping in small amounts but in large numbers?

I'm also wondering if Southern Cross smelt something in the wind last year, when its sales director Ross Pfeffer started talking about the possibility of a new cable or upgrading the existing system. The SCCS has been a great success for Telecom, Singtel/Optus and Verizon and it'll be interesting to see how they respond to the Pacific Fibre initiative.

Price cuts on the SCCS could happen, but they won't be much use unless we see some seriously improved pricing on national delivery as well. My ISP contacts tell me that Auckland-Wellington can cost more than Auckland-LA nowadays. Maybe Pacific Fibre needs to have a think about national delivery as well?

Update some industry and academia comment that arrived via Science Media Centre:

Brett O'Riley, CEO of NZICT, comments:
"As New Zealand only has one high-capacity link into the country today, I know major global data centre operators have not considered NZ as a suitable location, despite the fact that we have lower power prices, and greener power, than most of the other countries bidding. But we haven't had redundant capacity and the low cost structures people are looking for.

We can see that international prices out of New Zealand are more expensive than our trading partners, and we've been advocating for a decrease in those prices and we see competition as being the best lever for that.

"From a science perspective, potential projects like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be generating 'astronomical' data sets - it's estimated the SKA will generate more data in a day than the whole world does in a year, currently.

"So we see this new cable and other planned initiatives as being absolutely essential if New Zealand and Australia are to make a compelling case to host the SKA, and clearly there will be many other spin-offs and opp for the science community from this.

"It will also have an extremely positive impact on the ICT sector, given the improved latency which will enable New Zealand companies to offer software as a service remotely to major economies, and will enable New Zealand to continue its growth as a development shop for other digital economies."

Dr Vladimir Mencl, e-research services and systems consultant at the University of Canterbury comments:
"The existing KAREN network has solved the problem of connections between research organisations. But because of tight data caps, universities use a cost recovery model for internet access in their commercial operations, often with costs charged back to the home department of the university. As a result off the KAREN network, I will often spend a lot of time looking for alternative ways to download a file more efficiently.

"The KAREN network has been over-built intentionally so there is a lot of capacity for video-conferencing and it offers low-latency services. So I don't think a new cable would offer much there, there isn't a great strain on the network. He have international collaborations using the BlueFern supercomputer at Canterbury with other countries including Australia and Canada as well as local research organisatons.

"But KAREN doesn't really have the model right yet. It doesn't run purely on a cost-recovery basis, it is still centrally funded by the Government. If cheaper international bandwidth means it is cheaper to run KAREN that's money that could be saved and diverted to other research projects."

Update II Google might want to put some dosh into the Pacific Fibre cable too. Probably a more likely investor than our straitened government.

Technorati Tags: Internet,Pacific Fibre,New Zealand,Australia,broadband,Trade Me,Xero

The Minister should accept the recommendation

jointhedebate — Tue, 9 Mar 2010 05:38 Y

It's all about money.

Ask any journalist how to get to the source of any story and they'll tell you: follow the money.

So, the options before the Minister of Communications are:

1: Accept the recommendation of the Commerce Commission.

2: Reject the recommendation of the Commerce Commission.

3: Send back the recommendation for more working.

The recommendation the Commission has put forward is to accept the Undertakings offered by Telecom and Vodafone. Unusually there is a comment from one of the three Commissioners objecting to the result, but that’s neither here nor there: the recommendation is to accept the offers.

Why has the Commission done that? It’s simple: follow the money.

Here are the alternatives – Undertakings kicking in October 1 this year delivering savings to the industry (more on that below) immediately of around 40% versus sending the report back for more work and hopefully getting a changed recommendation to regulate, coming into effect in about 18 months to two years’ time.

The difference between savings in the two options is negligible. Either you get savings from October or you get the old price for longer and potentially savings after both a reconsideration period (last one took eight months) and a full STD process (where the Commission and the industry gather to talk about the true cost of telecommunications etc which should last about a year).

So the Minister has a relatively simple job ahead of him. He has to look at the certain savings delivered by the Undertakings versus the possible savings delivered should regulation be recommended by the Commission after reconsideration and, given there’s very little difference, it comes down to a timing issue. Should he go in October or wait for regulation that MAY deliver a better deal in a couple of years’ time.

The Undertakings move TXT termination rates to zero (hybrid bill-and-keep) and voice termination rates from 15c/minute (on a minute plus second basis) to 6c/minute (second plus second basis).

The cost to Vodafone is not trivial – we’re expecting an $80m annual revenue hit in each of the undertaking’s 5 years. But that’s better than an uncertain outcome under regulation where the entire drop could take place overnight. At least this way we get to manage the descent and not have to deploy some of the more unpleasant things that have been discussed in this blog.

Our view is clear – the Minister should accept the Undertakings so we can get on. They’re a win for the Commission (it’s got us down into the ballpark of price it likes). They’re a win for the Minister (he gets to deliver on the promise of greater scrutiny) and they’re a win for the consumers advocates who pushed hard for regulation in this space. It’s quasi-regulation, but it’s a regulated outcome that will deliver more certain and earlier benefits for consumers.

What is wrong with TiVo in New Zealand?

freitasm — Sun, 7 Mar 2010 21:33 Y

What we suspected for some time is real: TiVo sales in New Zealand are disappointing. The New Zealand Herald reports industry sources saying only 2,000 TiVo units were sold in New Zealand since launch, about five months ago. Hybrid TV, the local distributor, of course says this figure is not accurate but won't disclose the real numbers. At launch Hybrid TV planned to sell 120,000 TiVo within five years in New Zealand.

Compare this to Sky TV, which added about 6,700 new subscribers per month for the six months to December 2009. That includes having to pay a subscribption for the services, which are free with TiVo.

Now let's see the problems:

TiVo is only available through Telecom New Zealand stores. People don't buy TV sets or content boxes at Telecom stores - there needs to be a shift of tectonic proportions for this to happen. People go there to buy phones. Until Hybrid TV sells TiVo through HB Hi-Fi, Dick Smith, Noel Leemings, Harvey Normam there will be no chance for them.

Then TiVo offers Caspa, a legal movie download service. The service gives users unmetered download of purchased content. At 1.2GB for a two hour movie the unmetered download is a great idea. But it is only available if you use Telecom New Zealand as your ISP. Hybrid TV should offer Caspa to anyone and everyone. It will use 1.2GB of one's Internet connection to download a movie. Live with it. I do this all the time with Apple iTunes. If they can offer unmetered through Telecom New Zealand, fine. But don't limit consumers to that only ISP.

Next is the lack of Prime and Maori TV EPG. I don't blame Hybrid TV too much on that, it might be the people on the other side playing dead. I mean if I don't see Prime on my EPG I don't watch Prime. As easy as that.

Then comes support. From what read on Geekzone people have very bad experience with their support being inexperienced or not having answers. I can't attest to that, since I never had to use their support.

Lastly their desktop application. What an absolute piece of software (PoS). I have a TiVo review unit here, and I couldn't get any of my own content from my desktop or Windows Home Server into TiVo - either too slow to copy or not copied at all to the box. Worst user experience ever.

The TiVo experience on the TV is quite nice and I am sure users would quickly get used to that. But the whole package is broken and until Hybrid TV fixes these things TiVo won't be a third option between Sky and myFreeview|HD.

UPDATE Another thing that's wrong with TiVo in New Zealand: just read the comments below and you will see someone who doesn't know if TiVo is HD or not, and if it's DVB-T (Terrestrial) or DVB-S (Satellite). A lot of people probably thinks TiVo is a service on its own right, without realising it requires Freeview|HD coverage.

Gadgets galore at the Sony Carnival

nate — Sun, 7 Mar 2010 21:00 Y

On Wednesday last week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Sony Carnival on behalf of Geekzone. With around 50 other journalists and bloggers from a variety of different newspapers, magazines and TV shows, I was able to preview some of the new product offerings from Sony which included LCD TVs, cameras, camcorders and laptops - basically, I got to go to a gadget geek's heaven!

It was held on the stage in The Civic theatre in central Auckland - massive runs of coloured fabric and multi-coloured lights hung high above centre stage, draped out to the half dozen odd displays they had setup. Each display focused on a different range of products, with the staff dressed up as carnival workers. Popcorn was handed out to add to the authenticity of being at the carnival - my thoughts were Sony really must have the marketing budget to go to such lengths! I have to admit though that it was a refreshing change from the very plain (and now boring) product showcases I've seen in the past.

I could write a very length post on all of the products I saw, instead I'll briefly outline some of the highlights for me from that morning:

Sony Bravia HD 3D TVs - one word: WOW! I saw a very impressive demonstration of watching 3D in your own home played off Blu-ray discs. You are still required to wear special glasses (different from those used in the theatre) which I don't feel is ideal; nevertheless, watching live Rugby or playing PS3 all in 3D is very exciting - whether this will be adopted into mainstream or purely remain as a gimmick, time will tell.
Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray player - not only a nice and tidy Blu-ray player, this device can be plugged into your home network and you can browse the BRAVIA internet video channels, show your favourite YouTube video in full screen, or watch movies shared from your computer. It has USB ports for plugging in a keyboard (much quicker typing searches in than using the remote) plus an optional wireless network dongle. Having seen the RRP, it sits at a very affordable price point, and I'm hoping to get a unit to do a full review soon.
Sony TX5 - this digital camera looks just like a standard camera, it's very slim at 16.7mm and is an respectable 10.2 megapixels. Its impressive feature is that it works underwater (up to 3m) without the need for bulky waterproof housing. The touch screen on the back of the camera also works while fully submerged.
SD card support! - Sony has (finally) realised that not everyone wants to purchase their proprietary bubblegum-stick shaped memory sticks, so now the cameras and camcorders support standard SD cards as well as the Sony memory stick.
Sony bloggie - marketed as a "snap camera", this device is a small and compact HD camera designed for quick and easy uploading of video files to social media sites (such as YouTube). It comes with a built-in USB arm, and can do up to 5 hours and 20 minutes of HD recording on a 32GB memory stick. A nifty 360? lense can also be attached to it - placed in the centre of a table at a function, it allows you to record everything going on around (would've been very handy at Saturday's Geekzone Pizza!). Sample video here.

Thanks to Melanie Pohl, from Sony PR for inviting me to this event and providing the included photos (in my rush to get to the event I forgot my camera).

Another review of the carnival, specifically the HD 3D TV is available at the NBR - Chris Keall has an article available here (subscriber only) - disclaimer: I don't have access to view this, I've sourced it from Chris' Twitter account.

What mobile device to get?

freitasm — Sun, 7 Mar 2010 09:55 Y

[ ] Apple iPhone
[ ] Symbian
[ ] Windows Mobile
[ ] Windows Phone 7
[ ] Palm Web OS
[X] Android
[ ] Maemo

Some comments:

- Windows Mobile is on its way out and nothing will really turn it around anymore;

- I haven't personally played with Windows Phone 7 but I don't like anything I've seen so far - Microsoft needs to give us a good surprise because my hopes are low;

- By the end of the year Symbian is going to power low end smartphones, or very high end feature phones;

- Palm is going to die very soon;

- Maemo gives me the impression of being is a good platform, from the little I've been playing with in the last few days - but lack of software will be a problem. MeeGo (Nokia and Intel) should get a lot of attention from the companies behind the effort (Nokia and Intel) but it will take some time to happen;

- Android is where things will be hot, but the fragmentation worries me - the platform may end up going the way of Windows Mobile with so many different models.

What do you see in the future for smart handsets? What platform you think will go up or down, and why?

Nokia Developer Day, Sydney 2 March 2010

ald — Fri, 5 Mar 2010 04:09 Y

Earlier this week our CTO, Greg Amer, attended Nokia's Sydney Developer Day. This is a great opportunity to meet other developers, hear about new initiatives that Nokia is undertaking and meet people from the Forum Nokia Asia-Pac team.

Gregs top 10 take-away's from this years Developer Day were, in no particular order:

Ovi stats show that in Australasia "fremium" is currently the most successful business model for mobile applications.
The majority of downloads from Ovi today are from touchscreen devices. Nokia's suggestion is that if handling touch and non-touch in the same app is a problem for you, just support touch.
Ovi globally averages 12 downloads per customer.
Be careful about introducing advertising into your applications. Mobile devices are intensely personal to users and they can react strongly to intrusive advertising messages. Advertising should absolutely handle orientation changes.
Eye candy trumps features and functionality. So does useability. So feel free sacrifice features and functionality. Spend money on UI and user experience.
Symbian Signing will get cheaper on June 9. We've never had a problem with Symbian Signed but it was clearly causing problems for some people and Nokia indicated it would be overhauled to become simpler still (June 9 also).
The first version of Meego will be available some time in the 2nd quarter of this year, devices will follow in the 3rd or 4th quarter. QT on Maemo/Meego has a long way to go but Nokia are working really hard on it.
Nokia are planning to bundle data plans with some devices this year (just like it already bundles music with some devices). Sounds interesting but no idea how that will work. Will I be able to buy the same device sans data plan? Presumably not or I could then just immediately work out how much the data bundle is worth to me ...
Home screen widgets are de rigueur - 80% of the time that people spend looking at a device is spent looking at the home screen. If you want their eye-balls then add a home screen widget to your application.
While the S60 UI layer (Avkon) may not ship in Symbian^4 you will be able to bundle it your applications for backwards compatibility.

All of the presentations and slides are apparently going to be made available in due course so will update you with those details when we get them. In the mean time here are a couple of static pics of the presenters and bloggers lounge:

By all reports it was a great day. A long day though since Greg hauled himself to Sydney on the redeye and then back home again on the last flight out!

To finish up, perhaps the coolest thing on the day was the video playing of the N95 power cube solving robot. Perhaps the only think cooler would have been if the robot had actually been there itself. Here's a youtube clip if your interested.

The Nokia N900 arrives in Australia, New Zealand waits

freitasm — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 21:16 Y

Earlier this week I went to Sydney to attend the Nokia Forum Developer Conference 2010, invited by Nokia Australia/New Zealand. I have to say it was my first event with Nokia and it was interesting to see 300 developers discussing the current state and future of Nokia's smartphone strategy.

Present at the event were Emile Baak, Managing Director Nokia Australia and New Zealand, Purnina Kochikar, Vice Pesident Forum Nokia and Developer Community, Jan Ole Suhr, Founder of Mobileways.de and developer of Twitter client Gravitiy for Symbian.

Being a developer conference the push was obviously about creating content and applications that get the customers to enjoy their devices - and buy those little bits of magic called software and content. Nokia says there are more than 1 million downloads every day from their Ovi software store, which is now available in 180 countries, with integrated mobile operator billing in partnership with 60 operators.

It is obvious Nokia is pushing the QT application and UI framework, seeing it's cross platform (Symbian, Maemo, desktop) which would allow developers to scale their efforts even more. The company also said their main commitments are "increase total addressable market", "commit to open source", "combine mobile and web technologies" and "lower entry barrier to developers".

Jan explained how a one man company created one of the most used Symbian software these days, #5 in the top apps in Australia. He recommended developers try their software in different handset models to get the real "feel" - which is interesting because Nokia gave one N97 Mini to a lucky developer, when I thought they should have distributed those to everyone in the room, like Google did at MWC with their Google Nexus One.

Nokia gave some numbers too. For example in the last quarter Symbian represented 44% of smartphone shipments in the world, with BlackBerry behind at 20%, Apple iPhone in third with 12.8%, Android with 7.2%, Windows Mobile 7.2% and then the rest - which I guess is Palm and other Linux-based smartphones we never hear of.

But really, the question in the back of my mind is "will Symbian turn into a entry level smartphone OS, or will it be sold as a upmarket feature phone OS?". Only time - and Nokia's efforts will tell. Nokia counts more than one million daily downloads from their online application store, but how many more people have no idea their phones are actually "smart"?

Here is an update from Nokia on this: "We have multiple platforms to serve different purposes and address different markets. Symbian is more successful than ever in bringing smartphones to the masses: it has more than 40 per cent of the global smartphone market. Symbian is our choice for smartphones and we in fact see it deploying even more widely as the technology required to run it trickles down through the portfolio."

The Nokia Forum is running the Calling All Innovators competition, now in its third year. Prizes are US$30,000 for 1st spot, US$15,000 for second and US$5,000 to third - this is for each of the four categories. So far there are 27 Australian entries and six New Zealand entries.

In the afternoon Nokia hosted a press event to introduce the press to a couple of things. First was the MeeGo initiative with Intel announced last month, that will see joint efforts from these companies to develop a product based on both Maemo and Moblin platforms. And then the Nokia N900 Maemo 5 smartphone/tablet computer release for Australia, which will see the device available in stores soon. There isn't a release date for New Zealand yet though.

Nokia couldn't say which operators would carry the device, but seeing the Nokia N900 is a 900/2100MHz 3G device it won't work on Telstra NextG network. And it won't work on Telecom New Zealand XT network either. This is a bummer because everyone at the press event received a loaner Nokia N900 and I mainly use Telecom XT. I am using the loaner device here in New Zealand with a 2degrees SIM card, and it works really well on that network.

Which also brings us to the "review" side of the thing. I got the device on Tuesday, and Nokia confirmed I have it for a couple of weeks. I can say though so far that it's a very clever device, fast and had quite some fun using it - installing new applications, finding some features, etc. It worked flawlessly with my Microsoft BPOS Exchange account and in a matter of minutes I had my emails, contacts, calendar all synchronised over-the-air.

Because I haven't had that much time with it yet, I suggest you read what other Geekzone users are talking about it - a few people in our community bought the Nokia N900 as soon as it was released in Europe and the U.S. a couple of months ago so there are some knowledge on how it works, what to expect, etc. Check this very good Nokia N900 review, and follow the discussion in our Nokia N900 users thread. I will post my own review later.

Now for the "facepalm" moment... Some "journalist" present at the press event commented after seeing the Nokia N900 is a combined touchscreen and slider device: "You [Nokia] have no presence in the smartphone market at all. It's been proven by Apple that people want touchscreen devices, so why do you enter the smartphone market with this device?"

Time for Symbian device vendors to ante up?

ald — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:50 Y

While the Symbian Foundation may still be working away on Symbian^3 (its not due for completion until the end of this month) it has released a video showcasing the look and feel of the new OS. The video is really polished, the UI it showcases looks nice.

Its just a video of course so whether the reality matches this only time will tell. The video for the most part showcases the multiple home screen and gesture support of the UI. The multiple home screens look clean with the ability to organise and manage widgets. Gestures (swipe, pinch etc) are supported throughout the UI. The video claims that enhanced multitasking and graphics support will make the OS faster and feel more responsive, addressing another long time complaint of users of the Symbian UI.

After viewing the video many commentators have complained that aspects of the Symbian^3 UI appear to be derivative of other platforms. Like being derivative is a big problem. I don't claim that my car is derivative just because it has a steering wheel for interacting with it just like every other car. So when someone comes up with a compelling paradigm for interacting with a device I would expect all other vendors implement it. Over time you would naturally expect similar devices to converge on certain core hardware/software useability and functionality paradigms and then differentiate themselves around the edges. Hence we all interact with our cars using the steering wheel but car manufacturers still manage to differentiate themselves.

The complete list of features (borrowed from this Symbian Foundation press release) announced so far are:

The Homescreen takes a big step forward with support for multiple pages of widgets and a simple flick gesture to move between them. The widget manager makes discovery and download of new widgets simple and support for multiple instances of a native widget means that consumers can monitor multiple weather forecasts, news feeds, social networking accounts or multiple email accounts simultaneously through a common interface.
Usability enhancements across the user interface include the adoption of a direct “single tap” interaction model, making it much easier to complete common tasks on a device. Multi-touch support for gestures such as “pinch-to-zoom” forms the basis of a gesture framework that can be extended and leveraged by the developer community.
One-click connectivity for all applications greatly simplifies the process of connecting to the Internet, without interrupting the user. New global settings allow the user to configure platform-wide behaviour, for example ensuring the device automatically switches from cellular to WLAN when a free WLAN network is available.
More efficient memory management due to Writeable Data Paging allows more applications to run in parallel for a faster, more complete and efficient multi-tasking experience, especially on mid-range hardware.
A new 2D and 3D graphics architecture takes full advantage of the hardware acceleration available to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Users, developers and device creators will all benefit greatly from the visual enhancements and smooth transitions that will significantly improve the look-and-feel of their applications and services. Combined with industry-standard OpenGL ES, the new architecture also provides a great platform for high performance games – all without slowing the phone down.
HDMI support enables users to plug their phone into a TV and watch a high-definition movie at 1080p quality without a Blu-ray player.
Music store integration embedded within the radio enables users to identify a song and learn more about it. The addition of a “buy now” button, which links with the user’s chosen music store, makes purchasing easy.
The industry-leading networking architecture, ready for 4G networks, provides next-generation Internet experiences on today’s devices. Consumers will benefit from the architecture's ability to seamlessly balance each individual application’s needs regarding factors such as bandwidth, latency and jitter. This improves the consumer’s experience of network-dependent applications and Internet services like VoIP and media content streaming.

Symbian says that the first Symbian^3 devices will ship in Q3. Symbian has been doing a good job of meeting or beating its targets lately and so I'd be inclined to believe them at this stage. Although once the OS leaves their labs at the end of this month how long it takes to get devices onto shelves will be up to the individual device vendors so even if the Q3 date is not met I don't think it would be reasonable to blame Symbian for that!

Aside from a crumby UI one of the long standing problems with Symbian has been the low hardware specifications used by the device vendors. These are superphones folks, and they need super processes. When you're selling something for top dollar you can't scrimp on the processor. You can talk all you want about a strategy of choosing the n-1 generation of processor for its smaller size and better power efficiency but if that results in a sluggish user experience on the device itself then it just isn't worth it. Don't know what I'm talking about? The iPhone 3GS ships with a Samsung S5PC100 ARM Cortex-A8[9] 833 MHz processor underclocked to 600 MHz. The Google Nexus One ships with a 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon ARM processor. Nokia's N97 ships with a 434 MHz ARM11 processor. So even underclocked the iPhone has a processor around 50% faster than then N97 while the Nexus One has more than double. Don't get me wrong, I understand that its not just about mhz and that other factors come into play in terms of system responsiveness. But the fact remain that competing platforms are throwing a lot more horsepower at these devices and Symbian is renowned for being sluggish. So maybe its time for Symbian device vendors to ante up as well.

ISP Filtering is happening in Australia, don't let it happen here

freitasm — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:22 Y

A friend pointed me in the direction of a little piece of code behind the official site for the Senator the Hon. Stephen Conroy, Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate.

This is a screenshot of his website today (click for a larger version):

Notice on the right hand sidebar a "tag cloud" with the most discussed topics on that site. Now let's look behind the scenes on the code used to create that "tag cloud":

Oh, look... If the topic is "ISP Filtering" then the Hon. Stephen Conroy doesn't want you to know about it. You can still click on any tag though, go to the search page and enter the term "ISP Filtering" to find the content you want, but obviously there shouldn't be any hint that such a topic exists.

Now you understand why I think we shouldn't have a national Internet filter in New Zealand. You don't know for sure if any future government would change the rules behind the scenes.

(By the way, I hope using the website as an example don't put me on a "persona non grata" list in Australia...)

Disappointing Twitter response in a serious harassment case

freitasm — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:06 Y

Some Twitter users reported the account that has been used to post notes of defamatory and sexual harassment nature (as posted here).

Those posts were very personal and abusive, including names of employees and some very sick comments.

However Twitter support failed to recognise this as a threat and replied with a canned response to those who submitted a support ticket:

What a Twitter #fail. I just hope Telecom New Zealand notify the police, and spend some of its lawyers' time to pursue this further.

Shame on you Twitter.

UPDATE: After some review, the appropriate Twitter team decided to remove that account. Thanks to all involved, and Twitter for reviewing it.

Defamation, harassement on Twitter

freitasm — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:38 Y

Folks, there's someone on Twitter who doesn't know better and is currently on a harassment campaign against Telecom employees.

The tweets are of a personal nature (including comments on female employees and of a sexual nature), highly NSFW.

While I firmly support people criticising a company, I think it's wrong to make it personal and go on employees and their personal lives. I also think it's wrong to make it behind anonymous comments.

If you are a Twitter user, could you please visit http://twitter.com/deadcaseyjohnsn and click the REPORT SPAM link?

Note I am not giving a link here because that page doesn't need Google juice. Also note all tweets are highly NSFW - even the mild ones.