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
It’s no secret that red light cameras are often used to generate more ticket revenue for the cities that implement them, but a scam has been uncovered in Italy that has led to one arrest and 108 investigations over traffic systems being rigged to stop sooner for the sole purpose of ticketing more motorists
After several false starts, the first Google-powered mobile phone — HTC’s Dream — will go on sale in Australia on Optus post-paid plans from the middle of this month. But the Dream, sold overseas as the G1, could be rendered obsolete before it even arrives as a US telco executive has said a successor would be launched overseas in the coming weeks and months
Consumer electronics manufacturers, usually quick to adopt standards that make their devices interoperable, have balked at switching to a universal power supply. Green Plug, a startup that makes components for a USB-based single power source system, drew a favourable response from readers when the Standard wrote about the technology last summer. But gadget makers seem to have no compelling financial incentive to adopt Green Plug’s technology. It would require them to add Green Plug’s chip, or similar hardware and software, into every phone, camera, or music player they build, making them more expensive and more complicated to build
Google Book Search has been ported to the mobile world for Apple’s iPhone and Google Android-powered devices. Mobile users will be able to access public-domain books formatted for the iPhone and Android-powered devices. An analyst said the trend boosts mobile devices, although the Google content can only be read online
Steve Wozniak, a cofounder of Apple, is joining solid-state storage company Fuzion-io as chief scientist. The Woz developed Apple’s first computers and founded Apple with CEO Steve Jobs. He called Fusion-io’s products extremely useful
. Fuzion-io focuses on performance storage and its products include the ioDrive
2009 will force New Zealand’s ISPs to come to grips with an amended Copyright Act, which includes a provision forcing them to disconnect customers who have allegedly infringed copyright
Hackers have discovered a new way of duping users onto fraudulent web sites: fake parking tickets. Cars in the US had traffic violation tickets placed on the windscreen, which then directed users to a web site. The web site claimed to have photos of the alleged parking violation, but then tricks users into downloading a virus
A self-described vampire
and former fringe political candidate is facing charges for threatening a teenage girl who tried to break off their online relationship by telling him she was a vampire hunter
The latest version of Google Maps for Mobile adds a new feature that lets you share your location with friends and see their locations in real-time. Google Latitude is the first step for adding more social features to Google Maps and to other Google services
Windows 7 will come in six versions, although Microsoft recommends only Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Home Professional. Microsoft will continue to offer other versions, including Home Basic, Starter, Enterprise and Ultimate. Windows Enterprise will offer IT tools, while Windows Ultimate will offer everything in Windows 7
The Linux Defenders Network is a new organisation sponsored by the Open Invention Network, the Software Freedom Law Center, and The Linux Foundation to help the community defend itself against patent trolls. Three models, or IP rights management tools
, are offered: Peer to Patent, Post-Issue Peer to Patent, and Defensive Publications — via Slashdot
A new university is sprouting up in the Bay Area this summer with quite an ambitious charter: solving the world’s biggest problems. Singularity University, which will be housed on the NASA Ames base near Mountain View and begin classes in June, is the brainchild of Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis
Taking a leaf from the beauty industry, scientists have devised a way to make solar panels cheaper and more efficient — by spraying them on. Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra, solar company Spark Solar Australia, and Finnish materials company Braggone Oy are collaborating on a three-year project that could transform the production of solar cells
Freeview will be coming to a television near you from March this year, but the organisation’s head has said that you may need to buy a new TV to get the most out of it. Freeview CEO Robin Parkes said that the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) due to launch at the end of 2009 would not work with existing televisions: It’s not backwards compatible
Despite numerous warnings from industry experts, the Rudd Labor Government continues to push ahead with its plan to censor Australia’s internet
Google launched a new service to allow internet users to explore the depths of the world’s oceans from the comfort of their homes on dry land. The Ocean in Google Earth
feature will allow users to dive beneath the water surface, explore 3D underwater terrain and browse ocean-related content contributed by marine scientists
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
Facebook intends to capitalise on the wealth of information it has about its users by offering its 150 million-strong customer base to corporations as a market research tool. The appearance, later this year, of corporate polls targeted at certain parts of the Facebook audience because of the information they have posted on their pages, is likely to infuriate privacy campaigners
The Pyrenean ibex, a form of wild mountain goat, was officially declared extinct in 2000 when the last-known animal of its kind was found dead in northern Spain. Shortly before its death, scientists preserved skin samples of the goat, a subspecies of the Spanish ibex that live in mountain ranges across the country, in liquid nitrogen. Using DNA taken from these skin samples, the scientists were able to replace the genetic material in eggs from domestic goats, to clone a female Pyrenean ibex, or bucardo as they are known. It is the first time an extinct animal has been cloned
RSS – Posts