iPhones In Australia Good for the Marketplace - Even for those not carrying it

 Telstra to benefit the most from iPhone: Not Even Carrying it ! 

Leading telecoms analysts have claimed that Telstra will probably benefit the most from the iPhone’s release in Australia and may not even carry it. Two strategists from financial advisor Merrill Lynch said, despite not carrying it. This is due to the mobile data usage and wireless data services such as web surfing and music downloads, generating sales for Telstra’s Next G network and the hype that Optus, Vodafone and Hutchison, will produce.

It is believed that 1.31 million iPhones will be shipped to Australia by 2012, a figurewhich amounts to approximately 6% of the national population. The IDC report said that Apple’s newly announced 3G iPhone is expected to take 7.38% of the converged device market by the end of 2012.

 Due to the likely shortage of stock immediately after launch it is predicted frustrated buyers will opt for some other new devices like the HTC Diamond and Blackberry Bold that will be launching around the same time as the iPhone. 

It was not widely reported that the $199 US for the 8GB iPhone and $299 (US) for the 16GB model appears to be subsidised in the US by AT&T. Optus will be offering a similar plan and Vodafone may also offer a pre-paid model (charging the full cost of the handset). But it was not clear if any handsets will be unlocked so it can be used form any carrier. This might will lead to more hacking in the Australia Market where thousands already have hacked US and UK I-phones already.  

Optus and Vodafone have said that they will sell the iPhone when released in Australia on July 11.

Patent storm: Aussie claims royalties from all websites with linked images

This story reminds be of the on where my ex-employers at British Telecom tried to enforce the patent that they (we) owned the patent on hyperlinks. Even worse I was managing the Internet Products at the time of attempted enforcement, and was a little bit high profile internally at BT. Folks thought or queried it was my doing so I earned the nick-name ‘MrInternet’ it has stuck ever since.

http://eupat.ffii.org/pikta/xrani/hyperlink/index.en.html

 Here We Go Again

 

A Queensland man has begun enforcing international patents which he believes potentially entitles him to a license fee from every website in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States that publishes a URL-linked image, graphic or banner. Ronald Neville Langford of Battery Hill, Queensland successfully filed for patents over the connection of a visual image to an Internet URL between 2001 and 2004. Now a Singapore company, Vuestar, claims to have been appointed by Langford’s RN Technologies company to enforce the patents. It has recently begun sending invoices to Singapore website operators demanding “annual license fees” of about S$5,000 in order for them to have the right to embed URL links in graphics and images on their web pages. Vuestar, unashamedly, promotes itself with the tagline “Good Ideas with Vision.” Vuestar claims “a web site which has been developed by or for a URL addressee/ owner and uses visual images to hyperlink to other pages in which any first or subsequent page provides the contact details of an organisation would in legal terms appear to use the steps and methods outlined in a claim of the patent.” A Internet domain search shows Vuestar’s website at www.vuestar.biz is registered to South Brisbane-based Goldspirit Investments, in turn registered to Langford. Vuestar began issuing the invoices this week, creating a minor storm in the Singapore Internet community who believe, rightly or wrongly, that the patent claims are a scam. One messageboard poster suggested “it seems like the Aussies cannot escape their criminal mentality yet.”

 

LEGAL WARNING: Bryan Tan, a lawyer with Singapore tech law practice Keystone, issued a note to his clients stating “According to Vuestar, any website with visual images, Internet Service providers, telcos whose phones connect to the web and anybody else contributing to the use of the patent will require the license. In addition all search engine portals and web sites that have search facilities and images will require separate licenses.” Tan added “We believe that this development would have a wide-ranging impact on the Internet

community in Singapore given the wide claims being made by Vuestar on the intellectual property covered by the patents. Parties operating websites, offering web services or developing web-based and WAP based products and services need to be especially careful.” CommsDay has sighted Langford’s claimed patents. His US patent filing, no 7065520, provides an exhaustive definition of what constitutes his “original idea”, covering an “image, video, animation, mini-image of a web page, streaming video, logo of an organization associated with the web page, and trademark of an organization associated with the web page.” Both the US and later Singapore patent also specifically mentions the results generated by image search engines. Similar patents have also been recognised by Australia and New Zealand.

Singapore’s New Paper obtained an interview with the 68-year old Langford yesterday where he said the widespread use of his patents had damaged his company “to the tune of millions of dollars.” “Ironically, we have sat back and watched our technology used to generate millions in advertising revenue.”

 

Foxtel/Sky IPTV DVR Boxes Dying in Droves

 

Hard Drives and Over Heating are the Main Cause.

As an early adopter in the UK and now Australia of Foxtel/Sky’s Very Good DVR (digital video recorder), it will not surprise many to learn that the boxes are now dying in droves.

This is mainly due to the hard drives dying after 24/7 use. Unknown to most users but even when the Sky+ (UK) or IQ (Australia & Asia), is not being used on purpose for a scheduled recording, it still records (up to 60 minutes of TV all the time), and a load of on demand TV you will not likely want. This means you can turn on your TV having missed the 1^st 5 minutes of a show and rewind it. A great feature, but one that is killing the hard drives in the hi-tech boxes. In Australia customers are now seeing more and more failed recordings, only to be told to format the drives (via Foxtel) and to turn units off when not in use. This is because the risky pricing model in Australia has users paying to ‘use’ the box but not owning it outright. A good thing for when it fails, but not so well for Foxtel that will soon have to start replacing the hard drives.

Industry wide it has been reported that due to the ever increasing number of hard drives being used in everything from PC’s, Network Servers, to DVR’s and the increased amount of heat from PC’s (CPUS), or TV components (plasmas, Xbox 360’s) etc. and you have a even worsening effect.

Users will need to be vigilant but forceful with their suppliers as they will not repair or replace this failing hardware easily.

Some useful tips to prolong the live of you DVR is a no brainer or in a worse case scenario if failed recordings start appearing. Do a reset via your instructions a hard reboot is needed sometimes and not normally in any of the instructions so a call to Sky or Foxtel will be needed (unless you track down the model and Google it for hard reset instructions). If things don’t get better you may need to do the following:

1) Turn it off – Good for the environment too I guess, if you do not use it for the instant rewind feature (it will turn itself back on when a show is due to record).

2) Erase- any failed recordings (the drive corruption if not erased encourages more failed recordings, due file corruption on the drives)

3) Breath- Increase ventilation around the DVR if possible, if next to a Xbox 360 (The oven of all consoles), make sure you turn it off when not killing baddies on Halo 3.

4) Back-UP & Reformat- If all else fails back up any shows you want to keep and with your broadcaster they can format remotely (with your help). It is easy to back up to a PC, DVD Recorder, or one of those old VCR thingys (geez has it been that long).

Apple I-phone in Australia early 2008 With NextG and TV (likely)

The original story on this was more important for what it did not say and thus is missing these big points.

1) The phone has to be NextG (beyond 3G) the only network Telstra will operate soon & not a platform the I-phone currently works.

2) This will also mean (as it is the Telstra model) it will likely get the 33 TV Stations on it from Sky/ Foxtel (at a sligthly higher price

Discussions are ongoing.

<Another Comment>

So, this will likely be Next G (sometimes called 3.5G) for Australia.
HSDPA is 3.5G. It is an extension of 3G, it uses the same network frequencies. 3G handsets can reach up to 384Kbit/sec. There are two HSDPA networks in Australia. Telstra run off the UMTS850MHz and this is HSDPA enable, they label their network NextG, since they believe its Next Generation.
Optus, Vodafone, Three (and Telstra too, as Three and Telstra co-own the 2100 Network) run off UMTS2100MHZ and this is also HSDPA enable, they just label it HSDPA.

I am not sure about other countries, but there are only a handful of countries which run off the UMTS850MHz frequency, from memory AT&T and Cordova in the States run off 850. UTMS2100 MHz is more widely used.

Note, Telstra claim their network is faster, since it is capable of 14.4Mb/sec. However there aren’t any 14.4Mb/sec devices, their current handsets (only the V6 V3xx and a few of the ZTEs) and turbocards only reach up to 3.6Mbit/secs.

Optus, Three, Vodafone don’t really state how fast the network is capable, but they too have devices which reach up to 3.6Mbit/sec, ie USB Modems and Nokia 6110 and n95, ironically phones which Telstra rejected as they were not UTMS850.

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Godzilla Takes on Google - Japan’s New Google Killer

VS

Happy Birthday Sputnik, Fear, and the Pursuit of Competition.

We owe the founding of what is now the Internet(s) to being partly a result of fear.Fear from the US of A believed was not only a risk militarily due to the then USSR but|strategically as well. It could be said that any technologically advanced country especially one like Japan,
if it believes it will be left behind by a technology like search engines of all things, they do one thing VERY well, take it head on. We saw this with many things just after world war one and that has been replaced to some extent by China as much a manufacturing superpower as anything. Japan’s government has decided to do the same thing with Google. The Japanese
Government is throwing $150m at it, and who best to enlist support to do this than power houses in Japan. The 10 powerhouses include well known names such as NEC, Sony, and Toyota. This will be a good thing for consumers and interesting to see what comes out. Hopefully one less toolbar and perhaps the first real change in searching for some time to follow. Expect Google to make a push into the region to quell techo-fears and of course competition.

Sony Introduces ‘My Life On-line’ Personal Communicator “MYLO” PICS!

Sony has introduced MYLO, Personal Communicator, as the proliferation of on-line networking and communications via the Internet increases each day, especially amongst young teens and college students, a need to provide this market with communications while on the go has emerged. Pics here http://www.sony.com/mylo

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Internet Helpdesk Training Video!

Perhaps where AOL get’s their training from?
I have used the mp3 of this for years at presentations around the world.

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Aussie ISP Netspace has bought online dvd rental company Webflicks

This is a good thing if Netspace can maintain their QoS that they have had more than a little problem with. It is a logical step to offering online movies.

Melbourne

Aussie-based Internet service provider (ISP) Netspace has bought online dvd rental company Webflicks.

In a statement issued, Netspace noted both its own customers and those of Webflicks would be offered incentives to use Netspace’ other services, through product bundling.

Webflicks allows customers to select via a Web interface a list of movie, television and music DVDs that they would like to watch. The DVDs are then delivered via post in batches when they become available.

Customers post the DVDs back when they have finished watching them.

Netspace’s entrance into online dvd rental is symptomatic of a trend in the wider ISP market.

As Internet services are gradually becoming cheaper and faster, ISPs are increasingly bundling value-added services on top of basic Internet connectivity.

For example, Telstra’s retail ISP division BigPond offers Internet customers discounts on its DVD and video-on-demand service Big Pond Movies (Telstra).

In Netspace’s statement, the ISP’s managing director Stuart Marburg said his company saw content initiatives such as Webflicks as providing an opportunity to drive demand for higher broadband speeds than the base 1.5Mbps offered by most ISPs.

Marburg said at that point Netspace would be poised to offer video content online.

Netspace also has ambitions to offer a full-service telephone solution, including an Internet telephony (also known as Voice over Internet Protocol or VOIP service.

The company will launch a full telephony offering in the third quarter of this year.

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Three Simple Steps To Dealing With a DDOS Attack !!

Someone recently asked me why is it so hard to deal with a DDOS attack. Simple trying to detect the pattern of the attack. But it all comes down to 3 things.

1. Use a product that allows Service Provider XYZ to detect and mitigates a DDoS attack.

2. Service provider XYZ then securely sends the attack “fingerprint” to the relevant upstream providers affected by the attack.

3. After securely receiving the fingerprint, the information is used by the upstream ISP to trace back, analyze and mitigate the attack, thereby identifying and removing the infected hosts as close to the source [the Internet-based ingress point] as possible.

I have only seen one product that could do this and its the Arbor Networks’ Peakflow SP. I used it on one of the largest networks in the world and it works. As do other large carriers. Keep in mind most carriers are not affected by the DDOS attack (we have the bandwdith). Its the tier2 user and the end customers.

So if you want to make sure you never get hit by a DDOS attack make sure your providers tier1 supplier has the right support in place in case you do get hit and the right preventative measures in place to begin with.

Oh What is a DDOS attack?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial_of_service

Who are Arbor?
http://www.arbornetworks.com/

Microsoft Releases Web Design Beta ( Dream Weaver beater ) !!

Not seen this anywhere so here you go there is also a
more info on www.microsoft.com/expression

Looks like 3 different versions to choose from.

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