The long-absent PC brand Gateway has been re-launched in Australia, attempting to target the fashion-conscious consumer. Acer, who acquired Gateway in 2007, has positioned the cow-patterned brand at the style-conscious, realigning the Acer brand for the tech-savvy, while its Emachines division will be targeted at the budget-oriented
user. There are no plans to bring the Packard Bell brand into Australia. Unlike in the past, Gateway machines will be found in retail stores rather than a direct sales model, with Harvey Norman listed as the major launch partner
Westpac and St George banks have joined the National Australia Bank in discounting their overdrawn fees
Dell has announced its Latitude 2100, a netbook designed specifically for school children. It is also the first Dell product in Australia to offer the Ubuntu operating system pre-installed. Dell’s US operation has been selling Ubuntu-based products since May 2007, but had said previously that its local operation had not seen enough demand to justify the Linux-based OS. The Latitude 2100, which features a rubberised exterior and an activity light to notify teachers when a student is using the wireless network, is the first product Dell has offered in the country featuring the alternative operating system
PC maker Dell has formally banned the export of broken computers, monitors and parts to developing countries amid complaints that lax enforcement of environmental and worker-safety regulations have allowed an informal and often hazardous electronic-waste recycling industry to emerge. Although Dell’s announcement does not mark a significant change in the PC maker’s behaviour, environmental groups hope that by making its standards public, Dell will raise the bar for other electronics makers
Chemist chain Terry White will use Pharmacy Direct to launch its web-based retail drug operations after its $20 million purchase of the online pioneer last week. Pharmacy Direct, which turns over $35-$40 million annually on prescription medicines and over-the-counter lines, faces a brighter future after a period in limbo. The NSW-based former mail-order pharmacy was sold by Wesfarmers for less than half the $48 million Coles paid for it in 2006, as part of Wesfarmers’ plan to shed its non-core retail assets. Coles originally bought Pharmacy Direct and its single warehouse-style store in Sydney’s Silverwater with the apparent aim of wedging the Pharmacy Guild’s campaign against locating chemists in supermarkets. The guild challenged the validity of the deal on pharmacy ownership rules, and the NSW Supreme Court ruled in its favour
iiNet is steadfastly refusing to admit that any of its users engaged in illegal downloading, despite forensic evidence presented by movie studios that apparently shows the date and time of thousands of individual copyright infringements. In the Federal Court today, where iiNet is being sued in a landmark case by seven major movie studios and the Seven Network for allegedly permitting customers to download movies illegally, iiNet’s lawyers said they would clarify their position on the issue by next Wednesday
iiNet has pulled out of the federal Government’s internet filtering trials. iiNet only agreed to participate in the trial to demonstrate that the filter was flawed and a waste of taxpayers’ money, iiNet managing director Michael Malone said. Mr Malone cited drawn-out negotiations with the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), constant changes in policy, and last week’s leak of a secret internet blacklist as reasons for pulling out
Tough economic times have triggered an upheaval in Australia’s $13 billion a year mobile sector with its number three and four players Vodafone Australia and Hutchison 3
forced into merger. The unexpected move will see hundreds of jobs cut as the two companies streamline their combined $4 billion a year businesses and take aim at SingTel Optus’s number two market position
One of the largest social networking sites in the world is based in Sydney but most Australians probably don’t even know it exists. Friendster, which has nearly 100 million registered users and, according to ComScore, more than 30 million monthly visitors worldwide, is run out of an office in The Rocks
Motorcycle sales have hit a new record as consumers abandon cars in favour of two-wheeled mode of transport. While car sales slumped last year, figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show sales of motorbikes and scooters climbed by 3.2 per cent to 134,000
Security vendors Sophos and Kaspersky Lab this week said they would block UK police attempts to hack into people’s computer systems without a warrant. The UK Home Office last week said it was working with the European Parliament on plans to extend police powers to conduct remote searches of computers. UK police already have the power to hack into suspect systems without a warrant, due to an amendment to the Computer Misuse Act, which came into force in 1995
Australia’s biggest online entertainment retailer, EzyDVD, has been put into receivership. Receiver Ferrier Hodgson says the Adelaide-based company has 70 full-time staff in South Australia and about 150 casual employees nationally
The Times of London reported on Sunday that Amazon is making its staff work seven days a week and threatening them with the sack if they take time off sick
. Seattle-based Amazon disputes the report as inaccurate. A Sunday Times reporter took a temporary seasonal job with Amazon and worked there for seven days as a packer, the Times report said
The investment community delivered a savage vote of no confidence in the management of Telstra yesterday after the telco was dramatically kicked out of the tender for the federal Government’s $15 billion national broadband network. The move, which casts doubt over Telstra’s future earnings and profit margins, came as tensions emerged between the company’s board and management, as almost $6 billion was wiped off the company’s market value yesterday
Voluntary self-regulation means that, for the foreseeable future, Google and its legal team will continue to exercise extraordinary power over global speech online. Which raises a perennial but increasingly urgent question: Can we trust a corporation to be good — even a corporation whose informal motto is Don’t be evil
?
iiNet’s managing director Michael Malone yesterday vowed to fight the action filed against it in federal court by film and television giants, which alleged iiNet had failed to prevent customers from downloading pirated content
Chrome, apparently, will not remain in an indefinite period of beta testing for the rest of its life. Speaking to The Times, Sundar Pichai, Google vice president, stated that the browser will exit beta in January. Google, meanwhile, is exploring its distribution options and examining the various ways it might improve its market share. We will probably do distribution deals,
Pinchai told The Times. We could work with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and have them ship computers with Chrome preinstalled
The Australian film and television industry has launched a major legal action against one of Australia’s largest internet service providers for allegedly allowing its users to download pirated movies and TV shows. The action against iiNet was filed in the Federal Court today by Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Disney and the Seven Network. Mark White, iiNet’s chief operating officer, said the company did not support piracy in any form but it could not disconnect customers just because the movie industry claimed they engaged in illegal downloading
Internet search engine company Google has launched a new online tool to help track the spread of influenza in the United States. The company has found that Americans falling ill search for advice about flu online using its web facilities before they seek help from a doctor. Search patterns are analysed and mapped to where flu is spreading
DHL has announced a repositioning of its US Express business. Beginning 30 January 2009, DHL’s US Express business will focus entirely on its international offerings and will discontinue its domestic-only air and ground services. However, the company will retain a strong international presence and capability in the US going forward
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