Episode 108

posted in: Show Notes
GLENN’S SHOWNOTES
 
Microsoft plans big patch Tuesday: News – Security – ZDNet Australia
Microsoft plans big patch Tuesday

 Microsoft has announced 11 security bulletins for next Tuesday when the monthly patch cycle hits, with four considered critical.

Of the important patches, all six affect Windows, and could enable remote code execution or elevation of privilege if exploited.

The lone moderate patch affects Windows Office and could enable information disclosure if exploited.

Australian Govt funds IT start-ups: Blogs – bootstrappr – ZDNet Australia
Australian Govt funds IT start-ups

 This week Australia’s Federal Government announced it had allocated $3.6 million in funding to 57 local research projects so that they could be commercialised

Myspider: Website-crawling and aggregation software integrated with search functionality
Faulkner Technologies: Elastic-Apps, a web-based software as a service solution for development of business applications software
Travellr: A sophisticated and user-centric web 2.0 service
Ozmiz: The ScrollMiz software provides easy reading of text and viewing of images on mobile phones or portable pocket PCs
Bizexpress: Software for management of the rehabilitation value chain
EatingSafe: Database management technology covering nutritional ingredient and allergy information for supermarket products
Lucia Publishing Systems: Print on demand software for publishing books
Everyday Hero: Online fundraising management system for not-for-profit companies
Research it Online/The Sadkowsky Family Trust: Open source software applications for medical research
Duxtel: Duxtel Internet Commander solution
Histology Online: Image-intensive online course-ware for medical and health science disciplines
Escalated Advertising: Visual media technology for advertising on escalator handrails
Creative Ad Technology: Video ad-serving platform
Longreach Group: Broadband wireless transmission system
Edcube: E-learning software for student digital portfolios
Choiceengine: Consumer product search engine based on economic utility optimisation
Depth Analysis: Multi-view camera scanning system for reconstruction of 3D animation
Keep in Touch Australia: Novel communication platform for aged care
G Learning: Online interactive training and education system
Dimoto: Hardware for plastic optical fibre Ethernet-based data networking
Clear Falls: Hardware/software coupling application for high computing performance, minimising power consumption
Know Ballyhoo: System of algorithms to organise documents by relevance for any profession
Toast Technology: Improved provisioning and subscription platform for SaaS delivery
Employment Agencysystem Intelligence: Outsourced back-office system for small to medium enterprise employment agencies
Ayrb: Web-based solution for occupational health and safety, injury and claims management
Exit Info: A web-based tool for conducting, analysing and managing employee interviews
Questmetrics: QuestML XML-based mark-up language as a formal definition system for market research surveys

PC World – Microsoft Sues DHL After Train Dumps 21,600 Xboxes
Microsoft Sues DHL After Train Dumps 21,600 Xboxes

 

Microsoft is suing U.S.-based cargo-delivery service DHL Express for allegedly losing 21,600 Xbox game consoles because of a train derailment in Texas, according to court documents.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, Microsoft said it is seeking more than US$2 million in damages from DHL for two containers of Xbox consoles that sustained “impact damage, wetting, pilfering and shortage” after a derailment near Duke, Texas.

Microsoft’s Xbox game consoles also were the center of a recent controversy in Colorado, where a man was indicted on Sept. 23 for illegally reselling both Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation consoles, and returning inoperable consoles to retail and online outlets for money as if he had purchased them legally.

According to the U.S. State Attorney’s Office in the District of Colorado, 27-year-old Yewchoo Ng of Boulder purchased the consoles at Target, Amazon.com, Buy.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears and Wal-mart using several credit cards. He took the consoles out of the boxes, removed the serial numbers, put those numbers on older, inoperable consoles, and returned those consoles to the retail outlets, according to the state attorney’s office.

The retail and online outlets lost $182,001 as a result of the scam, the office said. Ng also sold the new consoles online via e-Bay and other auction and shopping sites for his own personal profit.

 

Google adds computer games to online advertising | Australian IT
Google adds computer games to online advertising

 AdSense for Games software that lets website operators weave video, text, or picture advertisements into online games is being tested in the United States.

Industry statistics indicate that more than a quarter of Internet users, approximately 200 million people, play games online and that their ranks are growing at a rate of 17 per cent annually.
Google said it is working with games from Konami, Playfish, Zynga and Mochi Media and lists advertisers including Esurance, Sprint, and Sony Pictures.

Telstra launches 24-hour mobile video news | Australian IT
Telstra launches 24-hour mobile video news

 

TELSTRA has launched a 24-hour streaming video news channel for Next G mobile customers in an attempt to stand out in the mobile news market.

BigPond Live TV News will stream hourly news bulletins and stories on politics, sport, finance, business, entertainment and technology drawn from Sky NewsUsers can subscribe for $4.95 per month or they can access the channel for $1.95 per day.
Not available on the iPhone

Channel Ten guilty of subliminal ads – Business – iTnews Australia
Channel Ten guilty of subliminal ads

 The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on Thursday announced that Network Ten had breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice during its 2007 ARIA Music Awards broadcast last October 28th.

During introductions of artists nominated for awards, the network briefly displayed images of sponsors’ logos in sub-second flashes. Sponsor logos flashed on viewers’ screens included those of Big W, Chupa Chips, KFC, Olay, Telstra Bigpond and Toyota.

ACMA reviewed the broadcast and found that “rapid-cut graphics used in the program was a technique that attempted to convey information to viewers below or near the threshold of normal awareness.”

It said Network Ten argued that the adverts were meant to be creatively consistent with the fast-paced look and feel of the music presentations.

Boffins prove subliminal web ads work
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/47495,boffins-prove-subliminal-web-ads-work.aspx

research suggests that techniques such as subliminal advertising, banned in the UK but still legal in the US, can actually have an effect.

The scientists found that an image which reached the retina still had an impact on brain activity even when the subject was not conscious of having seen the image.

Microsoft gets off of its Cloud – Internet – iTnews Australia
Microsoft gets off of its Cloud

 the web site for Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference was listing several cloud computing sessions under the subject heading “Windows Strata.”

Microsoft has since deleted the Strata references but not before a number of blogs noted the listing.

The US Patent and Trademark Office Web site didn’t have anything under the heading “Windows Strata” which might be one of the reasons that Microsoft wanted people to stop talking about the name.

If someone gets in quick there could be hell to pay.

SBS upgrades digital TV technology – Hardware – iTnews Australia
SBS upgrades digital TV technology

 

SBS is said to be the first digital broadcaster in Australia to upgrade to a new IP head-end architecture created by Tandberg Television.

The new centralised head-end will generate DVB-T transport streams for 12 separate regions.

The upgrade is also said to include the first deployment worldwide of dense SFN adaptation as part of the Tandberg MX8400 IP multiplexer.

Bogus Telstra deals too good to be true – BizTech – Technology
Bogus Telstra deals too good to be true

 

A call centre accused of harassing and lying to people in order to convince them to switch to Telstra has admitted some staff might have behaved unethically, following a barrage of new complaints and damaging claims made by former staff members.

Last week this publication reported the concerns of many Australians who had been contacted incessantly – often many times a week – by TSA Telco Group staff despite being on the Do Not Call register.

TSA, which pays its staff on a commission basis, is contracted by Telstra to try to win back customers who have switched to a new telco. Sales staff identify themselves as Telstra employees to prospective customers.

Microsoft extends Windows XP to mid-2009
Microsoft extends Windows XP to mid-2009

 Last week the company announced the third reprieve for Windows XP, which was originally due to hit ‘end of life’ status at the end of 2007.

Microsoft will continue boxing and selling XP, and allowing XP to be installed as a ‘factory downgrade’ (as long as the PC still ships with a Vista licence) until July 31, 2009 – eighteen months after XP was first supposed to expire.

Touch-Screen Eee PCs Coming Early Next Year | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
Touch-Screen Eee PCs Coming Early Next Year

 the company plans to release a Touch Screen Eee early next year,

Philips 42″ 3DWOW – WOWvx Technology from Inition –
Philips 42″ 3DWOW – WOWvx Technology

 Market-leading no-glasses 3D display. The Philips display represents a break-through in performance and ease of content creation for autostereo (no-glasses) displays. Both real-time and video playback are possible on this display. Most suited to digitial signage applications. The Philips 3D Solutions display is the best choice when it comes to attracting attention in a retail, exhibition, museum or corporate environments.

Content creation is possible with standard 3D modelling/animation tools. Is is also possible to convert existing 2D video in to 3D using Inition’s conversion services.

Available for demo at Inition’s London and Melbourne Demo Studios.

  

System Overview

Philips 3D Solutions offers a 42″ autostereoscopic 3D display family, for professional applications, that provides today’s best 3D viewing experiences. The slanted multi-view lenticular lens technology affords full brightness and full contrast and allows multiple users to view 3D content at the same time, within a large comfort zone. Moreover, a true colour representation is ensured by the lenticular lens technology.

Philips 42 inch autostereoscopic 3D displayPhilips 42 inch autostereoscopic 3D display

The display is based on a High Definition panel and thus enables great picture quality in 2D and 3D mode. Integrated advanced display signal-processing offers content creators and end-users full control over the quality and depth-effect characteristics of the picture. Furthermore, a flexible 3D data interface, in the form of 2D-plus-depth, allows easy creation or adaptation of applications and content for the display.

 

The 42-3D6W01 3DWOW uses WOWvx technology for enhanced depth performance with exciting out-of-screen effects.

simulated image of 3D on the 42 inch Philips Wow Display

simulated image of 3D on the 42″ Philips Wow Display

Windows XP downgrade deadline extended to July 31, 2009 – Engadget

 Windows XP downgrade deadline extended to July 31, 2009a spokesperson for the company reportedly confirming in an email to InformationWeek that it is indeed pushing the cut-off date back six months, all the way to July 31st, 2009. According to the spokesperson, that’s being done to ensure that customers moving to Vista are “making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible,” adding that, “providing downgrade media for a few more months is part of that commitment.”

About Telstra – Media Centre – Announcement – Name Telstra’s ‘Big Cable’ and win
Name Telstra’s ‘Big Cable’ and win

 

Now we have a very big state-of-the-art fibre optic cable – stretching 9,000 kilometres across the bottom of the ocean between Sydney and Hawaii – which is connecting Australia with the U.S and Telstra has launched a competition to name it.

There’s no prize for calling it the “Big Cable” but anything a bit more creative will be in the running to win a pre-paid mobile phone and a $100 pre-paid wireless broadband kit.

high-speed cable which is only 17 millimetres wide and capable of carrying 1.28 Terabits* of traffic per second from Australia to the US – the equivalent of 160,000 simultaneous high definition television channels.

Telstra’s Name the Cable competition starts on Tuesday, 7 October and runs for two weeks. Entry forms will be available on Telstra’s Now We Are Talking website (www.nowwearetalking.com.au/name-the-cable-competition)

MARKS SHOWNOTES

 
Current – Panasonic Australia confirms it will maintain prices
Panasonic Australia confirms it will maintain prices

By Martin Vedris

SYDNEY: Panasonic is the second major consumer electronics supplier to confirm today that it will not increase prices in the lead up to Christmas, despite the falling dollar.

Panasonic Australia’s managing director, Steve Rust has reassured retailers that it will not need to raise prices of its imported consumer electronics goods at this stage.

Current – Toshiba takes on Sony in a new format war
Toshiba takes on Sony in a new format war

By Patrick Avenell

Toshiba, still fresh from losing the HD-DVD/Blu-ray war, has today released a DVD player that automatically upscales DVDs to full high definition (1080p).

The new XD-E500 DVD Upscaler can convert 480p, or DVD quality, to 720p, 1080i and 1080p, dependent on the specifications of the television being used. This model is designed to capture the consumers that are hesitant to invest in Blu-ray, which is still an unknown quantity with many users. DVD, on the other hand, has become the industry standard, with the format totally replacing VHS soon after the price became less prohibitive.

“Consumers have embraced the DVD format and have invested in large libraries of their favourite movies. Now, the Toshiba XD-E500 allows them to experience their existing DVD library and the tens of thousands of DVD titles in enhanced detail and richer colour at near HD picture quality with the Toshiba price and quality promise,” said Toshiba Australia AV product manager – DVD, Francois Spina.

This move to capture the consumers currently using a DVD player on a high definition TV comes as Sony has launched a multi-million advertising campaign promoting exactly the same ideal. Sony is focusing on new technology at a new price point, the $450 mark, whereas Toshiba is focusing on an improved version of old technology at an entry level price point – the RRP for this model is $199.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Music fans back legal downloads

Music fans back legal downloads

Man using computer, PA

More people are turning to legal downloads suggests research

Music pirates can be deterred by warnings from their internet service provider (ISP), suggests a survey.

Almost 75% of music pirates would stop if told to by their ISP, the survey of 1,500 UK consumers found.

The research looked at the digital habits of consumers and found that the abundance of online music services was convincing many to go straight.

Just over half of those questioned said they got music from legal subscription sites, or those supported by ads.

Older fans

Conducted by Entertainment Media Research (EMR) the survey aimed to find out what kinds of digital media consumers like and also how media sellers can make it more palatable.

The research revealed the effect of the campaign against persistent pirates conducted by the music industry.

Acting on information supplied by music industry groups many ISPs have contacted customers to tell them they are suspected of illegally downloading music.

“It is quite evident that an ISP-led strategy has bite, because illegal downloaders are fairly convinced that ISPs are currently monitoring their activities and are more likely to act against them than the courts,” said Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research in a statement.

YouTube homepage, Google

YouTube has become an important destination for music lovers

The research found that younger net users tended to be the most persistent pirates. In the 13-17 age bracket, 58% said they had downloaded illegally. It also found that 61% of those questioned who admitted to being illegal downloaders were convinced that their activities were being monitored by net firms.

Fierce competition among online music stores meant that few needed to illegally download in order to listen to the music they wanted.

For the first time in the five years the EMR survey has been produced, a majority of respondents – 51% – received their music via legal downloads.

 

After years of snail’s-pace innovation by the music industry, consumers suddenly have an embarrassment of choices when it comes to legal digital services

Rory Cellan-Jones

BBC technology correspondent

In the last month firms such as Nokia, MySpace and Play have unveiled digital music stores.

But, noted the survey, much of that growth was coming from older music lovers with more than 40% of over-35s buying downloads at least once per month.

 

Leave a Reply