Geekzone Technology Community

New Zealand game developers conference expects big audience

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:21:00 PDT

Over 200 game developers from around New Zealand will descend on AUT University next Friday 28 June for The New Zealand Game Developers Conference.

Vodafone launches 4G in Queenstown ahead of Winter Festival

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:52:00 PDT

Queenstown is the first South Island provincial town and the third in New Zealand to have superfast access to content and information on the move.

AVG Technologies launches AVG CloudCare in Australia and New Zealand

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:42:00 PDT

Company introduces free cloud-based security and IT management platform, with services that make it simpler and more cost-effective for resellers to manage and protect their small and medium business (SMB) customers.

Investor Rowan Simpson backs Timely

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:36:00 PDT

Simpson, who brings a wealth of experience with fast growing businesses, including Trade Me, Xero and Vend, will also work closely with the business as an advisor.

Orcon Genius Go app set home lines free

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:26:00 PDT

Orcon Genius Go is New Zealand’s first ISP developed smartphone app to fully integrate landlines and smartphones and enables Orcon customers to make full use of their Genius home phone bundles.

New Slingshot "Global Mode" gives access to world of content

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:00:00 PDT

Slingshot is launching a new product called Global Mode, aimed at providing overseas visitors with similar internet accessibility as they would have in their home country.

Symantec 2013 Global SMB IT Confidence Index shows top ANZ challenge is keeping up with IT trends

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:37:00 PDT

Symantec’s 2013 Global SMB IT Confidence Index is a result of research conducted by ReRez in February-March 2013. The full study represents 2,452 organisations from 20 countries. Responses came from companies with a range of 10 to 250 employees.

Major update to Adobe Creative Cloud now available

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:15:00 PDT

Next generation of “CC” desktop applications including Adobe Photoshop CC available in New Zealand, with new community and publishing capabilities.

Geeksphere TV: Episode 23.1

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:45:00 PDT

In this special episode Brad, Craig and Skip look in depth at the two big reveals at E3 2013: Xbox One and Sony Playstation 4. They look at the two launch events, games revealed the devices and the controversy surrounding these launches.

Geeksphere TV: Episode 22.1

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:44:00 PDT

In this episode Brad Borrows, Craig Brock and Skip Parker discuss Prism and the impact for New Zealanders, Virtuix Omni and of course the awesome keynote from Apple at WWDC 2013.

IBM supports business success with Unitec scholarships

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:47:00 PDT

New scholarships provide financial support and business mentoring for Unitec students.

Dell simplifies delivery and implementation of end-to-end desktop virtualization solutions

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:12:00 PDT

Organizations with Microsoft-based IT environments benefit from a broad choice of end-to-end desktop virtualization solutions.

2degrees secures finance with BNZ and plans for 4G network in 2014

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:06:00 PDT

2degrees has secured a $165m credit facility from the Bank of New Zealand and reached agreement with Huawei to deploy 4G network in early 2014.

New Zealanders hold organisations and government responsible for securing data collected by mobile apps

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:39:00 PDT

Unisys Security Index reveals that Kiwis are not taking individual responsibility for data being collected by their mobile apps.

Wellington City Council taps Snapper for contactless payment for parking (with video)

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:00:00 PDT

Wellington is the only city in the country where you can pay for your parking with a contactless card, and also one of the first places in the world where you can pay with your smartphonne if you have a 2degrees Touch2Pay smartphone with Snapper Mobile.

NZ Tech Podcast 136: Google Loon, E3, MacBook Air and Fitbit Flex hands on

paulspain — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:10:00 PDT

Kicking off this NZ Tech Podcast episode we have first-hand reports on Google Loon and E3. Other topics include the end of three Fairfax tech publications in NZ, new Apple device hands on, Facebook Hashtags, Google acquisition of Waze and news of 2d... (more in the full post)

EMET v4.0 Released - Secure your Windows System.

muppet — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:05:00 PDT

Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit v4.0 is now available for free download.EMET is a program that enables many advanced security features for Windows Applications, some of them similiar to the sort of features found in the Linux grse... (more in the full post)

Disrupting WhatsApp worries mobile operators

freitasm — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:35:00 PDT

WhatsApp, the messaging app available for pretty much all smartphone and feature phone platforms around these days (Android, BlackBerry, iOS, S40, Symbian, Windows Phone) is the disrupting app that worries mobile operators most.

At least this is what I�ve heard around.

And it may be justified. Exactly one year ago (June 2012) Forrester said �SMS usage remains strong in the US: 6 billion SMS messages are sent each day.�

Today, almost one year to the date from that report we see the news WhatsApp is delivering 27 billion messages daily. This comes only six months after WhatsApp disclosed they were delivering 11 billion messages a day (December 2012) worldwide.

Some people will say �mobile operators are happy because they charge mobile data�. Remember though that mobile data costs the operator while SMS is a by-product of the platform.

NZ Tech Podcast 135: E3 and the best of Intel’s 4th Gen Core launch with Sony and Acer

paulspain — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:45:00 PDT

Recorded in Sydney, this episode looks at some technologies you are likely to be using in the future - from the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at E3, to some ground breaking new products using Intel's 4th Generation Core (Haswell) processors. The stand... (more in the full post)

Brad’s root guide for the HTC One

TelecomTech — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:30:00 PDT

Since this is a blog on a tech site and a lot of the people reading it will be interested in rooting their device for a number of reasons I have put together a guide to unlocking and rooting the HTC One.

What is root you ask? Well I’ll let Wikipedia answer that

Android rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets, and other devices running the Android mobile operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's subsystem.

Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. On Android, rooting can also facilitate the complete removal and replacement of the device's operating system, usually with a more recent release of its current operating system.

Now why would you want to root your expensive new device? Well as above, there are many reasons like:

keeping your stock ROM but gain root for certain apps or mods i.e Titanium Backup.
flashing a custom kernel
flashing a custom ROM

Important:Before you begin this process, ensure that you have backed up any important data as the phone will formatted during this process.

If you need ADB/Fastboot drivers see this thread on XDA.

Step 1: Unlock Bootloader

Warning: Unlocking the bootloader will format your phone and may in some cases lead to voiding your warranty. This process cannot be undone with flashing a firmware RUU.

Go on http://www.htcdev.com and create yourself an account on HTCDEV.
Download these adb/fastboot files
Make a new folder on your C: drive called Fastboot for example and extract the ZIP to it.
Go to http://www.htcdev.com/bootloader and select "All Other Supported Models" and then “Begin Unlock Bootloader"
Yes, Tick both Boxes, Proceed
Skip up to step 8 as we have all we need for the first 7 steps
Reboot your phone into the bootloader by holding the power and volume down buttons for 10 seconds
Highlight Fastboot With Volume + or - then press power
Plug your phone into your PC and open a Command Prompt at the folder you extracted the fastboot tools to (shift + right click the folder > open command windw here).
Type this into your command prompt window “fastboot oem get_identifier_token”
Select & copy the text as per step 9 on the HTCDev website
Paste your identifier token into the box at the bottom and submit
You Will Very Shortly Receive an email from HTCDev with a link to the second part of the instructions and your "Unlock_code.bin" attached
Download the "Unlock_code.bin" from the email and save it to the folder you extracted the files to earlier
Type this into your command prompt window “fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin”
The Display Will change on your phone, press Vol + to accept and power to confirm.

Step 2: Custom Recovery

Download the recovery of your choice, here a couple of choices:
- ClockworkMod Recovery (make sure to select the touch or non-touch version for HTC One, and not the Sprint version) - recommended.
- TWRP
Place the recovery .img file you downloaded into the fastboot directory and open the command window again
Now type:
fastboot flash recovery name_of_the_recovery.img
For example:
fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.3.1-m7.img

Now your recovery is installed.

If you are planning on flashing a custom ROM which is pre-rooted like CyanogenMod or a modified Sense ROM you can skip Step 3.
Step 3: Root

Now we will proceed to root your phone with SuperUser by Koush. You will need to reboot your device and go through the device setup process at this point so you able able to copy the SuperUser zip to your phone.

Download SuperUser and copy it to your phone
Flash it with the Recovery:
Power off your device and then hold the VOL DOWN + Power to boot into the Bootloader
Navigate with VOL and Power to Recovery
Now flash the .zip by selecting the following options
- install zip from sdcard
- choose zip from sdcard
- select the downloaded SuperUser zip file and flash it
Reboot

Now you are able to flash any Custom ROM.
Step 4: Custom ROM

· Download the ROM you want to flash (if you are downloading an AOSP based ROM you will also need to download the Google Apps package).

Copy the ROM to your sdcard
Now boot into bootloader again (explained above) and choose recovery with your volume keys and power button
In recovery wipe data and cache aka fullwipe before flashing your ROM if you are moving to a new base (for example to CyanogenMod/AOSP from a Sense ROM).
Now flash the ROM zip by selecting the following options
- install zip from sdcard
- choose zip from sdcard
- select the downloaded ROM zip file and flash it
- Flash Google Apps package if necessary.
Reboot

Choosing a Custom ROM

There are many different ROMs to choose from for the HTC One.

The first is the ever popular CyanogenMod. This is based on the Android Open Source Project (stock Android). There are many who prefer the stock look of that CM provides but you will lose many of the HTC/Sense features like BlinkFeed, Zoe and Beats Audio.

More information about CM on the HTC One can be found here and build downloads are here. If you use CyanogenMod you will also need to download the GApps package for 4.2.2.

If you prefer the look of Sense there are a number of Sense based ROMs to pick from. These have the advantage of always being based on the latest version from HTC (no more waiting for the Telco to push out an update) and have many various improvements and tweaks.

I am currently using TrickDroid which retains the stock look but adds in functionality like quick toggles in the notification drawer, some bug fixes and general speed and stability improvements. It also has optional flashable theme and tweak packages.

More Custom ROMs can be found in the Android Development forum for the HTC One over at XDA-Developers.

I am also using a custom kernel which allows the HTC logo on the bottom front of the phone to be mapped as a menu button as well as sleep/wake the phone (long press). This also removes the black menu softbar. Useful root apps

One of the benefits of having root access is being able to install apps that unlock functionality that would not otherwise be available to you or simply enable further features within apps you may already use.

Titanium Backup

This great little app allows you to back up not just your entire device but also specific apps and their app data. Titanium Backup is especially useful when you install a new ROM and don't feel like reinstalling each app you had previously. You can also automatically schedule backups, move apps to the SD Card to make more room on the internal storage, and sync app data with DropBox or Google Drive. So if you lose your device, you can still get your apps back once you replace it.

Other root enhanced backup apps include Helium and G Cloud Backup

Greenify

Greenify can help you increase your performance and battery life by identifying apps and tasks that are running in the background, and using up system resources for no reason. You can also use it to make sure these apps remain in hibernation when not in active use. Greenify also helps you recognize possible malware and remove it.

Cerberus anti theft

Cerberus is a complete anti-theft application, which can help you to recover your misplaced, lost or stolen Android device. It has three ways to protect your device:

Remote control through the website www.cerberusapp.com
Remote control via text messages
SIM Checker (for devices that have a SIM card): you will automatically receive alerts if someone uses your phone with an unauthorized SIM card

While Root is not required, it does allow for the following features:

Complete uninstall protection (a thief will be able to delete Cerberus only by flashing another ROM)
GPS auto-enabling

ES File Explorer

ES File Explorer is a free, full-featured file and application manager. It functions as all of these apps in one: file manager, application manager, task killer, cloud storage client (compatible with Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box.net, Sugarsync, Yandex, Amazon S3, and Ubuntu One), FTP client, and LAN Samba client.

The app provides access to pictures, music, video, documents, and other files on both your Android devices and your computers.

ES File Explorer Root Explorer-- the ultimate set of file management tools for root users. Provides access to the entire file system and all data directories, and allows the user to change permissions.

What you are able to do with your device after unlocking and rooting it is not limited to what I have written here.

There are many other mods and apps out there that will allow you to further customise your One. You could even go as far as to replace Android with Firefox OS or Ubuntu Touch. Someone is even working on a WP8 port.

Disclaimer: I nor Geekzone or Telecom New Zealand take any responsibility for what may happen to your phone by rooting it. Generally it is a safe process and so long as you take care not to flash a recovery, kernel or ROM that was not intended for your phone you cannot go wrong.

The act of bootloader unlocking or rooting will not void the hardware warranty of your phone. Obviously you will not be able to return to your network provider about software issues you may run into. But if you have a hardware fault, unless it can be proved it was caused by rooting then you will still be covered.

About the author

My name is Brad and I’ve been a member of the Geekzone community for nearly nine years including three as a moderator. I was a long time Windows Mobile (yes Windows Mobile, not Windows Phone) user before deciding to try out Android a couple of years ago. I quickly fell in love with the openness and freedom that Android provides and have built and customised my own ROMs from source. I am a web developer, gamer and all round gadget junkie. I hope that my TelecomTech posts will be informative for potential HTC One owners.

NZ Tech Podcast 134: America’s PRISM surveillance dilemma, iOS 7, iTunes Radio, E3

paulspain — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:45:00 PDT

In this latest episode of the NZ Tech Podcast we discuss the USA's PRISM surveillance scandal, Apple's WWDC news (iOS 7, new MacBook Air, iTunes Radio, new Mac Pro), the E3 Gaming Conference and a look at HP's Envy 15 and Envy 17. This episode prod... (more in the full post)

Xbox One to launch November for NZ$749

paulspain — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:23:00 PDT

In Los Angeles this morning Microsoft shared launch details, pricing, a reserve program, a special commemorative bundle and accessories for the upcomign Xbox One gaming console and home entertainment hub. The Xbox One will become available in New Ze... (more in the full post)

Apple iOS 7 revealed

paulspain — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:48:00 PDT

Apple has this morning revealed it's latest mobile operating system, iOS 7. With it comes a slew of new features and a redesign to various aspects of the user interface. The new operating system for iPhone and iPod Touch device is due to launch in t... (more in the full post)

iTunes Radio announced by Apple

paulspain — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:35:00 PDT

This morning in San Francisco Apple have announced iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring offering some 200 stations which draw from the music catalogue of the iTunes Store. The service launches initially in the US fall season. iTunes ... (more in the full post)

Brad’s HTC One reviews: camera

TelecomTech — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:48:00 PDT

Much has been made of camera in the HTC One, its quality and performance especially in low light or situations with less than optimal lighting.

I need to start this post off however by saying that when it comes to cameras and photography, I know very little beyond the basics. So with the HTC One I really will be reviewing the camera from the point of view of your average person.

I’ve never really taken a great many pictures with my phones as the quality of the cameras really has not made it worthwhile. The pictures I did take rarely turned out to be worth keeping as they were often slightly blurry or grainy or the exposure was all wrong. I was very keen to see what the One could do as it would mean I might just be able to finally use my phone to take some of those spur of the moment shots and happily share them.

The morning I received the One, I had to go down to the Telecom store to pick up a compatible micro SIM. While I was out I thought I would take a couple of quick pics since it was a nice day and see how the One lived up to its hype.

The first is of the Dunedin Railway Station (click for larger image)

This picture was actually taken through the windscreen of my car, I was really very impressed by what I saw. While viewed at fullsize the clarity is not amazing, it does look really good when resized to resolution that would shared via email or social media or even printed.

My next stop was the Mornington lookout which looks right across Dunedin City (click for larger image):

With this shot I was impressed by the colour and clarity especially of objects in the distance. The Forsyth Barr Stadium at middle rear of the photo is 3020m in a straight line (according to DDC GIS information) while the far side of the harbour to the right is further again.

One of the areas that the One really shines in is lowlight images. Often a lot of pictures that you would want to share are indoors with a lot of people and till now phone cameras simply haven’t been up to the task in those situations.

I took the following images from the same lookout as before but a month closer to winter and at 4.30pm when the light was fading fast.

The image on the left was taken in normal mode while the right one was taken using the low light mode (no Photoshop work here). The difference to me really was incredible, the brightness and colours felt as close to natural as they could be.

While I have not included any images of social settings which also turned out great for obvious privacy reasons, I did get another chance recently to show off the ability of the One to take great lowlight photos.

The first is showing part of my backyard in the middle of a snowstorm at 3.30am with only an exterior light and no flash for illumination:

The second photo is of my poor car after somebody backed into the side of it, this time with the flash activated.

Once again I was very impressed by the quality, far exceeding anything I’ve seen from a phone camera before.

While viewed at max resolution the shortcomings of having only a 4MP are evident, I honestly can’t say it is a real issue. From the feel of the rest of the One experience, HTC seem to have designed everything about this phone around having an excellent social media experience.

When shared to Facebook or via other social media services the images from the One look outstanding. The One is not going to win any competitions with a standalone camera but it does exactly what it should; it takes excellent quality pictures on the go that you can share to Facebook and people will say “Wow”. They are also high enough quality to make excellent HD wallpapers.

Something which has come up in discussions about the camera is how well it compares to the Samsung Galaxy S4. There is one area in which the S4 comes out ahead and that is simply by having a much higher pixel count (13mp vs 4mp). When zooming in on images, everything is a bit sharper. But in places that don’t have even lighting or in low light the HTC One comes out way ahead, with everything sharper and clearer and far more natural colours. HTC Zoe

One feature I will single out is HTC Zoe. It has been reviewed to death by other sites but I would like to mention it briefly.

When Zoe mode is enabled the camera is constantly recording and when a photo is captured it is saved into essentially a three second video clip made up of about twenty individual images.

You can then playback as a video clip and select the frame you want use you. I found this to be a great feature when taking group photos. So often you get a great shot ruined by having a single person move just at the wrong moment.

Zoe will highlight parts of your selected frame that have changed compared with other frames and allow to remove them. That person who turned their head or closed their eyes at the last second will have their head replaced with one from a different frame.

Zoe also includes features like sequence shot which allows you to combine the selected frames from the Zoe image to make an action composite, this is very similar to the S4’s Drama Shot.

I am very impressed by what HTC have done with the One’s camera. It isn’t perfect, its low pixel count is a slight drawback in some situations. But overall it far exceeds anything I have seen in photo capabilities in a phone before. It gets some stiff competition from the Galaxy S4 but from my use of both I have to say the One comes out on top as the best all-round camera.

For the first time I feel I can go places without the need to take a separate camera with me. The One is more than able to do a great job of capturing all the pictures I will ever take without me worrying that I won’t be happy with the result.

About the author

My name is Brad and I’ve been a member of the Geekzone community for nearly nine years including three as a moderator. I was a long time Windows Mobile (yes Windows Mobile, not Windows Phone) user before deciding to try out Android a couple of years ago. I quickly fell in love with the openness and freedom that Android provides and have built and customised my own ROMs from source. I am a web developer, gamer and all round gadget junkie. I hope that my TelecomTech posts will be informative for potential HTC One owners.

NZ Tech Podcast: Better Wi-Fi, Smaller Windows, New Blackberry

paulspain — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:47:00 PDT

We discuss the first 8" Windows tablet (Acer Iconia W3), Windows 8.1 and it's many new features, the future of Wi-Fi as it cosies up to 3G/4G mobile connectivity, Blackberry Z10 in NZ, Sony NEX6 camera, Fitbit Flex fitness gadget, Microsoft Surface ... (more in the full post)

Technofreak’s HTC One: music, weather, browsers

TelecomTech — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 21:42:00 PDT

I’ve had the HTC One for just over four weeks now. Last week I got a chance to put the music player to use while I was flying to a meeting. It works very well and my Blackbox C20 noise cancelling ear buds did an excellent job of removing the background drone. I put the Beats Audio feature to the test but in the end I found the music sounded better with Beats Audio switched off.

Loading the music onto the phone as very straight forward, it’s just a matter of connecting the phone to your PC via a USB cable and opening up the file manager, locate the HTC Internal storage and copy the music files across. The music can also be copied using HTC Sync Manager except that won’t run on my laptop for some reason. Please note I’m not suggesting copying music you don’t own the original copy of.

You can choose songs by artist, album, genre etc. The music player app automatically sorts the genre for you and also finds the album art for each album. One cool feature is being able to follow the lyrics on the screen (using the Grace Note Media database - data connection required) along with a “screen saver” pulsing away to the music. The words are not displayed for all songs so I guess they’re not all in the database. The screensaver and words only display in landscape mode. As you might expect the screen stays live for the duration you have this feature active and there is a high battery drain as a result.

Above is a screen shot from the music player showing the words to a song, with each line highlighted as these words are sung.

The sound that comes from the stereo speakers is very good and certainly better than any other phone I’ve used, the next best being the Nokia 5800XM which was sold as a media phone and also has stereo speakers too.

Looking at the calendar now, the standard calendar app lacks some of the features I’ve become used to. The main one being the agenda preview pane in month or week view. There is an agenda view, but you have to open it for each day and if you want to see what’s happening on another day you have go back and select either week or month view to select the day then go back to agenda. You can swipe across the screen (left to right to go forward, right to left to go back) to select the next month, week, day or agenda view, which is fine to get to an agenda view for a day or two either way from the day you’re on otherwise it’s a bit cumbersome. Having a preview pane would be much better.

One major problem I’ve had is being able to sync directly with Outlook on my PC. With the issues I’ve had with HTC Sync Manager I’ve gone to using Exchange Active sync and Outlook.com. This has had pluses and minuses. The major minus is there is no syncing of Outlook Notes, something I use quite a bit. However the up side is the virtually real time syncing of all the calendars on my various devices which is really nice, there being no need to actively carry out a sync as the sync happens automatically. However I suspect I’ll go back to syncing directly with Outlook on my PC as soon as I am able so I can keep Outlook Notes synced.

Weather

The OEM weather app, AccuWeather, works well using the GPS to provide the weather forecast for you current location and integrates well with the various widgets. The best widget supplied with the phone is the weather clock.

However the version of AccuWeather on the HTC One lacks the features and panache of other OEM versions of AccuWeather. One thing I’m noticing with the HTC One is that you get the base version of an app and if you want anything more you need to purchase the upgraded version or buy another app to get the experience you get as standard on other devices. I don’t know if this is just an HTC thing or a Google thing.

Above is an example comparing the HTC One (left) with the N9 (right). For the daily view the HTC only gives temperature and cloud/sun info on a black and white screen whereas the N9 also gives wind direction and strength and rainfall, and dragging thre orange dot across the screen displays all the data at the chosen time of day. The dial with the red pointer shows wind direction. Also there is a weather radar screen on the N9 AccuWeather app which isn’t present on the HTC One version. Overall the HTC version is pretty basic in comparison.

Web Browsers

I’ve tried out various browsers on the HTC One. Surprisingly to me at least, with the HTC One being an Android device, Chrome is not the default browser. I have almost never used the default browser on any device I have owned, and while default browser on the HTC One does a pretty good job, I promptly installed Opera Mobile since it and its predecessors have been my browser of choice for many years now. Since installing Opera Mobile a new version of for Android has been put on the Play Store, it just called Opera. It incorporates all of the features of Opera Mobile. I’m impressed so far with the new version though it had a few syncing problems for the first few days after release last week.

The main reason why I have used Opera Mobile for so long, and now Opera on the HTC One, is that you have always been able to sync your bookmarks and favourites with your Opera account. This was the first or one of the first browsers offering this feature. This means every time you get a new device or do a factory reset it’s very simple to get all of you favourites onto the device.

A couple of other features I like with Opera is the data compression function that you can enable to save 3G data, it’s called “Off-Road mode” in the new version, it used to be called Opera Turbo. One other feature I use a lot is saving a page onto the device for viewing off line later. Also Opera provides the option of text wrapping something that not all other browsers do. For me at least it is a well featured browser which provides fast rendition of web pages.

The other browsers I’ve tried are;

Default HTC browser – as I’ve already said it does a pretty good job but lacks some features of Opera, certainly good enough as a stock standard browser. It reminds me as bit of Chrome, but at least it does allow text wrapping.
Chrome – It is nice to use and has good features but there is no test wrapping which for my eyes is a must as I do need to zoom the text on many web pages.
Dolphin Beta - I found it to be very jerky and not nice to use at all, I certainly wouldn’t recommend it
Boat Browser- I found to be a very good browser though I haven’t used it extensively. My impressions of it though it is a well featured browser and I would certainly consider it as my first choice browser if I wasn’t using Opera. Needless to say it supports text wrapping.

The next blog post will be my wrap up giving a summary of my experience with the HTC One over the past few weeks.

About the author

My name is Alan. I’ve been a Geekzone member for almost eight years (as Technofreak) and have enjoyed contributing and helping people on the site and have also gained a lot of help here myself at the same time. My involvement with technology goes back to another life when I was a Technician for NZPO/Telecom. I still remember the first cellphone I used, a Panasonic, which was the size of a handbag. I was an avid user of Palm handhelds for many years, having owned a 515, a T5 and a TX, all fantastic devices, I only recently pensioned off the TX. These days I find smartphones extremely useful devices for keeping me in touch, especially being out and about with my job. The HTC One is the first real foray into the world of Android for me, it going to be an interesting and learning experience.

The mysterious Dynamic Line Management on VDSL2

juha — Wed, 29 May 2013 23:08:00 PDT

After a long run on Profile 17a, my VDSL2 connection was dropped down a few weeks ago to Profile 8b by the Dynamic Line Management that Chorus uses. What this means is that the connection, which on 17a would sync at 65Mbps or so down, now syncs at 42Mbps on 8b which uses less spectrum.

Why this happened isn't clear though - you don't get any warning of the profile downgrade, and the connection is terminated and then restarted by the DLM. In my case it happened twice and took about twenty minutes. Prior to the profile downgrade, the connection had been rock-solid with no outages for months.

However, DLM had dropped down the connection before, after power outages in area causing the modem to reboot even though the monitoring system isn't meant to be that aggressive apparently - at the time, Chorus switched off the DLM on my line, but somehow it got turned back on again.

According to the documentation, DLM is a module that is part of Alcatel-Lucent's 5530 NA-C network analyser. It's automated and monitors the phone line to apparently maximise the data rate while "respecting quality and stability needs of a group lines, called a service class."

DLM can clearly shift user connections to lower VDSL2 profiles and also enable interleaving on the line (ugh). I'm not sure it works as intended though and my ISP, Snap says the same. They have customers asking why when their connection appears to be stable it all of a sudden shifts into a much lower gear, causing helpdesk loading.

The problem from a user point of view is that the shift to a lower VDSL2 profile results in a drastic drop in performance, which isn't what anyone would like to see happening. Adding interleaving to the line bumps up the latency too, which also means lowered performance. This is not how you expect the service to behave.

Now, although DLM is meant to be able to adjust the line speed upwards when it figures the connection is stable again, that doesn't seem to happen. According to the documentation, the two bandplan profiles used by Chorus, 8b and 17a, have sixteen service templates or profile hierarchies that guide the transition - presumably between lower and higher speeds - so it is a bit odd that the only thing DLM appears able to do is to drop your connection downwards by a huge jump, and not move it upwards.

I'd be interested to hear more about this. My VDSL2 connection has gone from "awesome" to "pretty good" which is a shame, and there doesn't appear to be any reason why. Does DLM work, or does it need more work - or be turned off completely?

Yeah, I know the answer is a fibre-optic connection. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the UFB will come to my part of Auckland this decade so am interested in getting the best possible performance out of Ye Olde Copper line.

Before anyone suggests otherwise, yes the line is in very good nick, with a new one expertly installed to the house by a Chorus/Visionstream technician.

Motorola: Would you swallow a microchip pill or wear the ‘Mark of the Beast’?

paulspain — Wed, 29 May 2013 16:58:00 PDT

If you've been following coverage of the D11 event in California you were probably expecting interesting things due to an incredible line-up of CEO guests. But this took me by surprise as I was reading AllThingsD - Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside and R... (more in the full post)

DIA filter causing problems accessing Google services in New Zealand?

freitasm — Tue, 28 May 2013 17:00:00 PDT

Someone reported on Geekzone about problems accessing Google+ Photos and Picasa albums from New Zealand.

An industry person involved in the discussion commented:

�Hi guys - thanks for the heads up on this. Something odd is going on but I can't be specific about what it is I'm afraid. We are working towards a resolution. This isn't affecting all ISPs but is affecting several in NZ.�

When asked if a Telecom solution would need to be implemented on Vodafone (another ISP who joined the DIA filter initiative):

�I'll tell John [Vodafone person] what's up. I'm not sure whether this specific issue will turn out to require an ISP specific solution or not. I would expect VF was affected as well - thanks for confirming.�

The next thing we know someone tells us that there�s a rumour about the New Zealand DIA Filter being configured to block an IP address belonging to Google, affecting not only the previously mentioned services but also GMail.

Remember, the DIA filter is optional for ISPs, but once an ISP sign up for it, then it will filter all traffic, for all its customers. From TechLiberty:

�The filter works by creating alternative routes to particular network IP addresses and passing them onto the participating ISPs. Traffic to those IP addresses is then passed to the DIA and checked by the filter to see whether it is going to the blocked site or another site on the same IP address. If it is going to a blocked site, the user is redirected to www.dce.net.nz, or else it allowed through the DIA's ISP and out onto the Internet.�

There is more commentary from Techliberty here.

I have contacted both Telecom and Vodafone about this issue. A Vodafone spokesperson responded �Thanks for your email, but we don�t have anything to add to the comments.� Telecom�s comments were �We have no specific comment to make. We understand that Google are looking into it, and we are happy for them to resolve.�

The DIA did not respond for requests for comments.