Mauricio Freitas: My window to the world

Broadband in New Zealand according to OECD

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:56:00 PST

Here are some data collected from the OECD Broadband portal. How is New Zealand doing?

1. Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (June 2011):

Rank DSLCableFibre/LAN Other TotalTotal subscriptions1Netherlands21.216.01.... (more in the full post)

Did Twitter really take in consideration these DMCA notices?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:28:00 PST

Incredible reading the "reasons" for DMCA notices sent to Twitter, asking for tweets to be removed. Here are some: [quote] Where does this Tweet link to: The Tweet links to another website where the infringing material is made available. Where is th... (more in the full post)

Bill Gates changing the world

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:50:00 PST

While some have changed the world by creating design products and pushing for better user experiences, Bill and Melinda Gates are changing the world by saving lives. Yes, I agree that saying "3.4 million lives saved from Hepatitis B" would be assumi... (more in the full post)

This is evil: Google employees accessing competitor’s database to poach customers

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:39:00 PST

This is evil. A business trying to poach customers by accessing data from a competitor, and cold calling - even saying they are working with said competitor? [quote] Since October, Google's GKBO appears to have been systematically accessing Mocality'... (more in the full post)

Microsoft has just killed the Windows Phone ecosystem

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:39:00 PST

Microsoft has just made official Windows Phone update 8107, with this gem: [quote] The update, available to all carriers that request it... [/quote] We all know what happens when we let mobile operators decide which updates come or not to our handset... (more in the full post)

The New Zealand DIA Internet filter status

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:07:00 PST

Remember back in 2009 there was some discussion about New Zealand government giving the DIA powers to maintain an Internet and Website Filter (Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System) containing a list of pages that should not be accessed by New ... (more in the full post)

Thanks NBR for the laugh (on BlackBerry, RIM and its execs)

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:20:00 PST

Seriously having a laugh at the coincidence today on NBR's technology RSS feed: [quote] (1) Drunken BlackBerry execs chewed through restraints (2) 'Best BlackBerry ever' gains local release [/quote] The first story refers to a couple of drunken RIM ... (more in the full post)

Government to subsidise Igloo set top boxes?

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:15:00 PST

If reports are true, the New Zealand government have plans to subsidise Igloo set top boxes when the old analogue TV signals are turned off next year. According to the New Zealand Herald: [quote] The move is aimed at easing the transition to digital ... (more in the full post)

Law Commission to regulate new media: submissions open now

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:22:00 PST

Just received this press release today, and it affects New Zealand-based media companies in general and bloggers in particular. I strongly suggest you go to the Law Commission website, download the document Review of Regulatory Gaps and the New Media... (more in the full post)

Igloo FAQ

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:45:00 PST

Just received the press release about Igloo, the new TV service coming to New Zealand in early 2012, results of a partnership between Sky Television (51%) and TVNZ (49%). Here is the FAQ for this service:

What is Igloo?Igloo is an excit... (more in the full post)

The TelstraClear unmetered weekend, and asking you for ideas

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:51:00 PST

TelstraClear "unleashed" an unmetered weekend. And what a weekend it has been (still Sunday morning here). If you are not in New Zealand you should know most ISP plans are "metered", i.e. customers have a usage allowance measured in GB, with overage ... (more in the full post)

But TelstraClear redeems...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:59:00 PST

Sorry folks if my previous post was a bit harsh. Trying to get things done here, taking advantage of an exceptional offer of free data. Then things die after only 30 minutes.

But thanks to some dedicated people, who joined in the hunt for a ... (more in the full post)

Unbelievable TelstraClear...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:41:00 PST

A couple of weeks ago I was battling with some small outages on my Telstraclear cable service. The connection would drop for 20 to 30 minutes and come back, once every evening. Then one evening it was down and I decided to "rest". Next morning, almos... (more in the full post)

Plan for Geekzone Freeview Pizza 2012!

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:30:00 PST

We have just started talks for our annual Geekzone pizza evenings, and for the third year in a row Freeview has confirmed its support to the event. We very grateful for this (make sure you visit their site to check what/how/why).

Dates are n... (more in the full post)

The SKA Big Data infographic

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:34:00 PST

I am told IBM has completed the software research project for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Global Telecospe. While we wait for a decision where the SKA is actually being built (contenders are Australia/New Zealand and South Africa), here's an inf... (more in the full post)

Who is using Microsoft cloud services?

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:28:00 PST

New Zealand datacentres on Computerworld (and a quote from yours)

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:48:00 PST

A couple of months ago I was contacted by Computerworld to give some information about our use of a New Zealand-based datacentre. The story "The rise of the local datacentre" is now live on Computerworld. [quote] Having a local datacentre provider is... (more in the full post)

The Future of Trustworthy Computing with Brendon Lynch, Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft Corp

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:37:00 PST

Found this from Nathan's blog: [quote] The internet of things, big data and virtually limitless inexpensive storage will transform the online environment. Huge volumes of data from new sources such as sensors, biometric devices and smartgrids will cr... (more in the full post)

Mobile browser users are a sorry group...

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 02:00:00 PST

I like reading some aggregators site (www.fark.com for example) or RSS readers on my smartphone. The sites/readers link to some news sites that are getting very clever about mobile devices. But still dumb. Here is the thing: if I want to read an arti... (more in the full post)

New Zealand Internet speed, from a content provider point of view

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:52:00 PST

I am doing what I think is probably a first in New Zealand (please point us to other sources in the comments below if they exist) by publishing page load speed for Geekzone, as reported by Google Analytics. I'm doing this because I started thinking ... (more in the full post)

Want a cheap phone with Skinny? It will be locked...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:24:00 PST

It looks like we will see Telecom New Zealand trying to introduce SIM lock in New Zealand again, through its yet to be launched "skinny" mobile brand - after Vodafone's failed attempt back in 2008. The information comes courtesy of Google cache: Tha... (more in the full post)

The real costs of cyber crime

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:30:00 PST

Hot off the... designer's bench? Unisys Security Index has released an infographic showing the costs of cyber crime. The full image is 4MB and you can download by clicking the small version below: ... (more in the full post)

Buying second hand mobile phones in New Zealand?

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:38:00 PST

In the last couple of days I've noticed a few people asking why their new second hand mobile phones (oxymoron not intended) is not working on Vodafone. Here is a tip if you are buying second hand phone from auction sites (or from a "friend of a frien... (more in the full post)

New home: freitasm.com

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:51:00 PST

For a few years now we have been running a blog platform on Geekzone, for some of our trusted users. The standard URL is www.geekzone.co.nz/<username>. Since the beginning I have had freitasm.com redirecting to my to my Geekzone blog. Also for ... (more in the full post)

I swear. Sometimes. On Twitter.

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:40:00 PST

This blog post about dirty words is brilliant. It's about passion. It is also true all the way. When I talk to people after they leave the stage, that's when I get the true story. And yes, I swear, on Twitter.... (more in the full post)