Last day for Telstra’s older 3G network
Tomorrow at 10am Telstra will commence the carefully planned closure of services on our earlier 3G network operating on the 2100MHz band—known as 3GIS—which has been superseded by the more advanced Telstra Next G Network which offers both 3G and 4G technology,
Customers with devices built for the old network can still access 2G service,
The network only covers 9000 square kilometres of the country and the telco hasn’t sold a device on the network since 2010.
Start8 beta restores Start button to Windows 8, sidesteps Start menu
Stardock declined to name Start8’s price when the tool reaches final form, but said that it will launch “before or with Windows 8.”
Start8 restores a Start button and Windows 7-style Start menu to the Windows 8 desktop.
Microsoft will start selling Windows 8, and its hardware partners will begin selling Windows 8-powered PCs and tablets, on Oct. 26.
The Start8 beta can be downloaded from Stardock’s website; users must provide an email address to receive a link to the 2.3MB download.
Quadrotors: These aerial robots fly to a different drummer
VIDEO
Vijay Kumar, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, impressed this week with a TED2012 conference show-and-tell presentation featuring quadrotors, flying robots that swarm and work together as first responders, to transport cargo, to do construction jobs, to survey disasters and more. Kumar says because the aerial robots from his lab are so small, they can be much more agile than typically large unmanned aircraft.
They can even play the James Bond theme on musical instruments, as shown in one of the stranger music videos you’ll ever see — and that’s saying a lot given some of the music videos out there.
Inoperable Apple 1 may fetch $126K at Christie’s auction
The Apple-1 — which consisted of a circuit board hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak — first went on sale in July 1976 for $666.66. About 200 units were produced. According to Christie’s, there are about 50 surviving Apple-1 computers.
the 1977 Apple II, the Apple-1 was sold as a fully-assembled circuit board, but minus a case, power supply, keyboard or monitor.
8 Samsung phones Apple wants banned (pictures)
After a three-day period of deliberations, the jury in the landmark patent suit found that Samsung had infringed on Apple’s patents in a number of cases, awarding Apple $1 billion in damages. Samsung has vowed to appeal,
Sony takes wraps off new James Bond smartphone
Sony has revealed the Xperia T dual-core Android phone is set to feature in the new James Bond film, Skyfall.
1.5 GHz Qualcomm Krait dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 1850 mAh battery, and will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
16GB of onboard memory plus up to 32GB of microSD storage should mean you have plenty of room for films, music and your own snaps.
With an adapter, you’ll also be able to mirror the screen on an HDTV.
Available in black, silver and white, the Xperia T will launch later in the year. Pricing is yet to be announced.
Apple’s retail strategy laid bare
Tech site Gizmodo reported receiving a leaked copy of Apple’s famed Genius Training Manual.
Among the more intriguing revelations, would-be Apple geniuses are required to undergo a 14 day bootcamp involving a mix of technical and customer training, with such programs as “the power of empathy” and “component isolation”.
The bootcamp allows the workers to attain genius actions and characteristics, including the ability to ‘educate gracefully’, ‘take ownership empathetically’, and ‘recommend persuasively’.
Apple teaches its retail staff the key to selling involves following the five-word APPLE acronym – approach, probe, present, listen, end. Empathy is key to selling, Apple says in the manual, imploring staff to understand the problems of their customer but never apologise for issues involving the technology or the business.
Staff are also banned from certain words deemed negative. Retail staff are prohibited from saying a computer ‘crashed’ – they must say ‘stopped responding’. The word ‘bug’ is banned; ‘issue’ or situation must be used instead. ‘Disaster’ is substituted for ‘error’.
Microsoft debuts new logo
Microsoft has unveiled a new logo for the first time in 25 years, as part of an effort to unify its branding as it prepares to launch a new range of products.
The new company-wide logo resembles the Windows symbol, introducing four squares of colour next to a new, plainly-represented Microsoft name. The red, blue, yellow and green tiles used in the Windows flag-style branding sit square rather than in a curve in the new design.
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