GLENN’S SHOWNOTES
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AUSTRALIA’S largest privately owned broadband services provider, Internode, has been snapped up by ISP iiNet for $105 million.
The acquisition of South Australia-based Internode will add approximately 190,000 broadband subscribers to iiNet’s customer base to cement the Perth-based provider as the nation’s second largest DSL provider and the third-largest supplier of fixed-line broadband services in Australia.
IiNet expects to boost its revenues in the 2012 financial year by approximately $180m with the purchase.
The purchase is also the largest deal iiNet has executed in the past 18 months, having bought Victorian rival Netspace for $40m and AAPT’s consumer customer base for $60m.
The settlement is expected to be completed by February 29, 2012.
Faceless net giants writing own rule books
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Businesses have little recourse – or human contact – when resolving disputes with Google or Facebook
when Google or Facebook no longer wants you, it can be all but impossible to find out why
iPad passion points to an appy Christmas
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Apple, is the hottest consumer electronics brand this Christmas, sellers say
In this retail segment, consumers are showing no signs of economic jitters, and are spending generously across a range of consumer electronics categories such as gaming consoles and smartphones. Business is so good that Harvey Norman expects to run out of PlayStation 3 and Xbox game consoles by the new year.
“iPad 2s are absolutely flying off the shelves,” Harvey Norman computer and communications division general manager Ben McIntosh said. “All tablets are (doing well but) the iPad is an especially phenomenal product and it’s just selling like hot cakes.”
Top 20 general searches on Getprice for December 1-19
1- Kenwood chef mixer
2 – iPad
3- iPod Touch
4 – Kindle
5 – iPad 2
6 – iPhone 4S
7 – iPhone 4
8 – Nintendo 3DS
9 – Sodastream
10 – Slip `n’ Slide
11 – iPod
12 – Weber BBQ
13 – Jet fighter flight
14 – Tyres
15 – iPod Nano
16 – Gerni pressure washer
17 – Samsung Galaxy S2
18 – Kenwood chef mixer
19 – The renovator power tool
20 – Barbie Camper Van
THE ABC has announced that its online catch-up TV service, iview, will be available on Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform.
The long-awaited announcement will allow Xbox Live users to search, browse and select programs from the ABC’s iview library.
“We have a wonderful slate of programming for 2012, and through ABC iview, it will be the most accessible content in the country,” ABC Television director Kim Dalton said.
SBS has had its OnDemand service available on Xbox Live since October.
ACMA warns Vodafone of fines under consumer privacy code
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The Australian Communications and Media Authority said Vodafone faced penalties of up to $250,000 if it did not comply with the telecommunications consumer protections code.
An ACMA investigation found Vodafone had poor systems in place to protect the privacy of its customers’ personal details prior to the incident in January, when unauthorised users accessed details such as names, addresses and phone logs.
It also found the telco failed to properly classify and analyse complaints, and failed to provide timely information to its customers about network performance issues.
Google gives Mozilla lifeline as it renews Firefox deal
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The non-profit foundation said it had “negotiated a significant and mutually beneficial revenue agreement” with Google for the next three years.
Some analysts had predicted Google would back out of the deal as it tries to grow the market share of its Chrome browser.
In its accounts for 2010, the Mozilla Foundation said it earned $121.1m (£77m) from agreements with Google, Microsoft and others. The Google agreement was thought to make up about 85% of that amount.
Firefox 9, the Mozilla browser’s latest incarnation, was launched on Tuesday. Mozilla said it was “30% faster” than previous versions – a problem that has been cited by many users switching to Chrome.
Twitter gets $300m Saudi cash injection
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“Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact,” Prince Alwaleed said.
whats the business model?
Apple iTunes match music service launches with outage
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For a fee Apple scans users’ libraries, allowing songs to be replaced with higher quality versions. These can then be accessed from other Apple devices.
The service has been described as an “amnesty for music pirates” although it does not formally protect users against copyright infringement prosecutions.
iTunes Match is just A$34.99 a year
iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to iCloud for you to listen to anytime, on any device.
iTunes has to upload only what it can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it on any of your devices
iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality
Max 25000 songs (?)
ABC to open access to digital archives
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The NBN Education Portal, announced jointly by communications minister Senator Stephen Conroy and school education minister Peter Garrett, will offer public access to ABC’s archive and interactive content.
It would be specifically targeted at primary schools and linked to the school curriculum, allowing teachers to use the portal as a resource.
It would offer tutorials on Australian historical social issues and “self-directed interactive learning activities” such as games, quizzes and collaborative projects.
It is set to cost $19.94 million over three years for set-up funds and ongoing content additions
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Microsoft will begin automatically upgrading users of Internet Explorer to the latest version of the browser next year.
Internet Explorer 6 was the world’s second most used browser in 2010, nine years after it was launched.
Microsoft will, however, give users the option to prevent the automatic updates. A pair of blockers for users of Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9 have been made available, throwing a lifeline to companies running applications based on legacy versions of IE.
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