GLENN’S SHOWNOTES
Carbonite is no longer distributed by Avalanche
21st November 2012, Carbonite Australia Pty Ltd (Carbonite.com.au) will cease to distribute Carbonite Inc’s range of Online Backup software.
Your backup
Your files will continue to be backed up by Carbonite Inc (Carbonite.com) from Carbonite’s data centres in America.
Support
The Australian support team will cease to exist, so for all support or general enquiries, you will need to contact Carbonite’s support team in USA. Support can be accessed here.
Renewing your subscription
When your licence expires, you will be able to renew from Carbonite.com.
We understand that the lack of local support, and international location of Carbonite’s backup servers may deter some users from renewing with Carbonite. This is why we created this site which includes a list of online backup providers.
Harvey Norman hit by ACCC court action
Eleven Harvey Norman franchisees will face legal action for allegedly ripping off customers on warranties and repairs.
The ACCC today announced it had taken the stores to court for what it called misleading and deceptive conduct.
It said the Harvey Norman franchisees had told customers they had no obligation to fix damaged goods outside of their nominated return period, had refused to service goods covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, wouldn’t refund or return particular items such as large appliances or low-cost products, and told customers a fee was required for faulty product repairs and returns.
It said consumer rights under Australian Consumer Law, for the remedying of faulty goods or products that fail to comply with guarantees, can’t be modified.
The vendor allegedly told customers they could not get replacements for products until they had been repaired multiple times, and also told customers returns would only be provided at HP’s discretion.
According to the ACCC, HP also advised customers the warranty period for its products were limited to an “express” period, and asked for a fee for any repairs or replacements for faulty products after that period.
List of franchises at issue:
- Avitalb, in Albany, Western Australia
- Bunavit, in Bundall, Queensland
- Camavit, in Campbelltown, New South Wales
- Gordon Superstore, in Gordon, New South Wales
- HP Superstore, in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria
- Ipavit, in Ipswich, Queensland
- Launceston Superstore, in Launceston, Tasmania
- Mandurvit, in Mandurah, Western Australia
- Moonah Superstore, in Moonah, Tasmania
- Oxteha, in Oxley, Queensland, and
- Salecomp, in Sale, Victoria.
Google accidentally cancels Christmas
joke?
Android 4.2, the latest version of Jelly Bean found on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, is missing the month of December from its calendar.
The problem comes on the People App in Android 4.2 specifically
The issue does not affect the calendar application.
rohit naik When I pressed new event the calendar came but it was not having the option for the month December. I’m using Galaxy Nexus running on 4.2 jelly bean
High-flying company falls to earth
Since hitting a record high of $US705 ($A682) a share in September, Apple has lost about a quarter of its value
Apple on Friday afternoon was little changed, up 0.2 percent at $US526.59
“If you’ve got all these gains – which a lot of Apple investors have because it’s done very, very well – then you’re going to see selling in the likes of Apple and other companies that have had good runs,” Davidson said.
Device launched to reset your body clock
http://re-timer.com/ show
A newly-launched green light device which resets your body clock could beat jet leg and help insomniacs, say Flinders University researchers.
The device, worn like sunglasses and known as Re-Timer, was launched in Adelaide by researchers who say it’s a world-first.
Chief inventor, Professor Leon Lack, said the device emits a soft green light onto the eyes.
The light from Re-Timer stimulates the part of the brain responsible for regulating the 24-hour body clock,” he said.
Body clocks vary regularly over a 24-hour cycle, but this is often impaired by staying indoors, travelling to other time zones, working irregular hours or a lack of sunlight during winter, he said.
People wanting to fall asleep and wake earlier should wear the glasses for three days for 50 minutes each day after waking in the morning to advance the body clock
Re-Timer, which has an inbuilt rechargeable battery, costs $273.90.
Microsoft reportedly allows pirates to activate unlicensed installations of Windows 8 Pro
Users running pirated copies of Windows 8 Pro can reportedly upgrade to a fully licensed and permanently activated version of the OS by simply installing a free Windows 8 Media Center upgrade offered by Microsoft.
However, the problem is that the upgrade process doesn’t check if the existing product key is valid or not, as long as the system appears to be activated,
Users who install Windows 8 Pro without paying for a license currently activate their systems by using rogue KMS (Key Management Service) servers that accept any product key as valid.
KMS was designed to allow enterprises with a Microsoft volume license agreement to activate new Windows installations using a server located on their internal network.
KMS-based activation is temporary and has to be renewed every 180 days. However, it seems that after applying the free WMC upgrade and using the unique product key supplied by Microsoft, the temporary KMS activation, whether legitimate or rogue, becomes permanent.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What is Black Friday (shopping)
Fri 13th – ?? NO
Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 am, or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales
internet ads
eg
Best Buy apparently has Apple’s blessing to slash $50 off the price of the 32GB black and white versions of the iPad 3 (now $550) and the 64GB black version of it (now $650). This deal is good only on Wednesday, Nov. 21. Typically, retailers aren’t allowed to discount Apple devices. Though in this case, Best Buy is also tossing in a $75 gift card.
Westpac updates iPad app to include BPAY
The new version lets users pay BPAY billers and other payees who are securely confirmed with an SMS code. Also, users can view, modify and approve pending payments. Business customers can set up multiple payments and payment templates.
The update also includes a tool to locate the nearest Westpac branch or ATM
Westpac released the iPad app in July. It has been download 100,000 times and has been used for 1.2 million banking sessions and payments totalling $425 million, the bank said.
Oprah tweet praises Microsoft’s Surface tablet … from her iPad
Oprah Winfrey took to Twitter to endorse one of what she calls her favorite things, the Microsoft Surface tablet. The kicker? She made the post from her iPad.
Later a fan responded to Winfrey asking, “I have an iPad now, have been checking out the Surface… which is better?” Winfrey tweeted back, “keyboard easier for me on Surface #FavoriteThings,” which she also sent using her iPad, according to the Twitter app for iPhone, which displays what type of device a tweet is sent from.
How the world’s first webcam made a coffee pot famous
video
19 years ago at the beginning of the nineties, the fledgling world wide web had no search engines, no social networking sites, and no webcam.
The scientists credited with inventing the first webcam – thereby launching the revolution that would bring us video chats and live webcasts –
the problem for scientists was that the coffee pot was stationed in the main computer lab, known as the Trojan room, and many of the researchers worked in different labs and on different floors.
“They would often turn up to get some coffee from the pot, only to find it had all been drunk,” Dr Stafford-Fraser remembers.
To solve the problem, he and another research scientist, Dr Paul Jardetzky, rigged up a camera to monitor the Trojan room coffee pot.
The camera would grab images three times a minute, and they wrote software that would allow researchers in the department to run the images from the camera on their internal computer network.
it wasn’t until 22 November 1993 that the coffee pot cam made it onto the world wide web.
The Trojan room coffee pot was sold at auction – predictably over the internet – for £3,350.
SHAYNE’S SHOWNOTES
Samsung CEO: iPhone couldn’t exist without our patents http://www.zdnet.com/samsung-ceo-iphone-couldnt-exist-without-our-patents-7000007751/
The chief executive of Samsung Electronics has expressed confidence about the ongoing patent battle with Apple, saying that no smartpohone can exist without patents from Korea’s technology giants. “The truth never lies. Without Samsung-owned wireless patents, it’s impossible for the Cupertino-based Apple to produce its handsets,’’ said Samsung’s mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun in a brief meeting with local reporters on his way to the company’s main office in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. `As you know, Samsung is very strong in terms of portfolios of wireless patents,’’ the executive added. The remarks come after the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) decided to review an earlier ruling that Apple didn’t infringe four patents of Samsung Electronics in its mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad. When asked if Samsung plans to exhibit another Galaxy-branded smartphone, the mobile chief Shin said; “This is a secret.’’ The Korea Times was the first to report Samsung’s plan to develop Galaxy S4, which will be released in February’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in the Spanish city of Barcelona. The new Galaxy will use 5-inch OLED screen. After the story was out Samsung used its official twitter to deny the new handset development plan, though Samsung officials later admitted that it was developing the Galaxy S4.
Virgin Australia goes Wi-Fi, upgrades check-in systems
http://www.zdnet.com/au/virgin-australia-goes-wi-fi-upgrades-check-in-systems-7000007641/
Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti confirmed during the airline’s annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday that it will migrate to a new reservations system called SabreSonic CSS in January next year. Borghetti also confirmed that next month, the airline will begin rolling out the in-flight Wi-Fi system that it has been developing with Lufthansa Systems, previously dubbed “BoardConnect.” It will allow passengers to stream on-demand content from the aircraft to their personal devices.
Two-tonne Witch computer gets a reboot
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20395212
The world’s oldest original working digital computer is going on display at The National Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire. The Witch, as the machine is known, has been restored to clattering and flashing life in a three-year effort. In its heyday in the 1950s the machine was the workhorse of the UK’s atomic energy research programme. A happy accident led to its discovery in a municipal storeroom where it had languished for 15 years. The machine will make its official public debut at a special ceremony at The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) in Bletchley Park on 20 November. Attending the unveiling will be some of its creators as well as staff that used it and students who cut their programming teeth on the machine.
NBN expensive now, worse in the future?
http://www.zdnet.com/nbn-expensive-now-worse-in-the-future-7000007620/
A scan of existing fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) plans around the world shows that the NBN is already an expensive proposition, with bigger issues down the track. In the UK, BT is now offering its Infinity solution, with 160Mbps download speeds in selected areas — admittedly with a miserly 20Mbps upload speed — for just £45.75. That includes a rather curious insistence that you pay £10.75 for line rental, the telltale sign that BT was once the incumbent monopoly.
These days, £45 is worth just AU$70. That makes an iiNet AU$99.95 plan for 100Mbps on the National Broadband Network (NBN), with 1Tb of downloads, seem a little on the pricey side. 1Tb might sound like a lot, but two hours of high-definition videos per night will chew through at least two thirds of that.
Here’s the rub: High-speed connections will bring a plethora of over-the-top services, with many reliant on bandwidth-hungry video. That means paying more for the speed of the connection to the home (the access virtual circuit) and fatter connectivity circuits between the NBN and the retailer’s own network (connectivity virtual circuit). While NBN Co has announced that pricing will remain static for the next five years, consumer demand for bandwidth will see service providers wanting more capacity, with no economies of scale from the increased traffic passing between their networks and the NBN. Most telecommunications infrastructure achieves economies of scale, but this is a key component that won’t. It means that retailers will have to increase prices as demand for more bandwidth also increases.
Facebook Could Slow Down A Tiny Bit As It Starts Switching All Users To Secure HTTPS Connections
http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/18/facebook-https/
When you’re dealing with 1 billion people’s personal info, security is critical. But Facebook didn’t want to sacrifice speed. That’s why it spent the last two years making infrastructure improvements so that its transition of all its users to HTTPS which starts this week will “slow down connections only slightly.” People will be able to opt-out of HTTPS for maximum speed if that’s how they roll.
Israel says it has deflected 44 million cyber-attacks since start of Gaza offensive
http://www.news.com.au/technology/israel-says-it-has-deflected-44-million-cyber-attacks-since-start-of-gaza-offensive/story-e6frfro0-1226519224407
THE Israeli government has admitted it to being the victim of a mass cyber-warfare campaign with millions of attempts to hack state websites since the start of its Gaza offensive four days ago.
Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the government was now waging war on “a second front – of cyber-attacks against Israel”.
Mr Steinitz said in the past four days, Israel had “deflected 44 million cyber-attacks on government websites. All the attacks were thwarted except for one, which targeted a specific website that was down for six or seven minutes.”
Victim’s mother welcomes Coalition’s move on Facebook content
http://www.news.com.au/technology/tony-abbott-slams-facebooks-hands-off-approach-to-cyber-bullying/story-e6frfro0-1226518125646
THE mother of a girl who was almost driven to suicide by vicious cyber bullying has welcomed the Coalition’s proposal to make Facebook accountable for removing malicious content. Under a proposal released for public discussion, he said Facebook and other social media outlets would be required to provide an officer as a single point of contact for parents to more easily have offensive content removed from their sites. The announcement comes just days after a News Limited special investigation revealed students at almost 500 Australian schools were using Facebook pages to bully each other and post offensive messages and images.
Dropbox offers another access point to cloud storage with Chooser
http://www.zdnet.com/dropbox-offers-another-access-point-to-cloud-storage-with-chooser-7000007467/
Dropbox has unveiled a new tool for developers intended to make it simpler for adding Dropbox to their web applications. Much like the recent integration with Facebook Groups, Dropbox Chooser is set up to basically offer another way to access photos, videos, documents and other content stored with in Dropbox. Dropbox software engineer Dima Ryazanov explained in a blog post on Thursday that the inspiration for this feature came after “after seeing many developers spend precious time creating file selectors of their own.” Thus, Chooser was designed to be quick and simple as “just a few lines of HTML.” The Dropbox Chooser function can be implemented as a button or called from JavaScript. More details for developers are available on Dropbox’s site.
ERIK’S SHOWNOTES
Rumor: Apple to introduce next-gen iPhone, iPad in mid-2013
A new report from DigiTimes claims that Apple’s supply chain expects the company to introduce its next-generation iPhone and iPad “around the middle of 2013.”
However, the information is not the focal point of Monday’s story. Instead, it is focused on the fact that Apple’s suppliers are expected to have strong results in the first quarter of 2013 as Apple sees strong orders for its products.
DigiTimes has a hit-or-miss track record with respect to Apple rumors. Given that Monday’s report didn’t have enough confidence to focus on the rumored release date, we have placed it on the AppleInsider backpage in the interest of discussion.
A mid-2013 release for the next iPhone and iPad would mean an unexpectedly short product cycle for the iPhone 5 and latest iPad lineup. One report from earlier this month did claim that Apple is expected to begin trial production of a so-called “iPhone 5S” in December.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/11/19/rumor-apple-to-introduce-next-gen-iphone-ipad-in-mid-2013
Artists Being Asked to Prepare for iTunes 11 Launch in “Next Days”
According to a post on the MacRumors Forums, Apple is asking record labels to submit pictures and galleries of their artists to iTunes for use in iTunes 11‘s new Music Store layout.
This email was sent to artists by German music distribution service Feiyr. iTunes 11 was delayed at the end of last month and is supposed to ship by the end of November.
Apple Television, iPad Mini, MacBook Air Speculation for 2013
BusinessInsider relays a report from analyst Gene Munster. Munster has been one of the most vocal proponents of an Apple television set with multiple claims that Apple is indeed working on such a device.
In the latest report, Munster pushes back his own predictions for the delivery of an Apple television set to November 2013. This comes shortly after flip flopping claims that the Apple television is not launching imminently.
Business Insider outlines Munster’s other predictions for Apple releases in 2013.
– March 2013: iPad Mini with Retina display, update the little Apple TV box, allowing to do accept apps from developers, and some sort of iTunes radio product.
– June 2013: WWDC brings us previews of iOS 7, and OSX, as well as MacBook Airs with Retina displays. Look for Jony Ive’s influence over iOS to start showing up here.
– September 2013: iPhone 5S, a “modest upgrade” from the iPhone 5. The iPad Mini gets a specs bump, and we get a new iPad, which is totally redesigned to look more like the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.
– November 2013: An Apple TV comes out. It should cost $1,500-$2,000 and come in sizes from 42-inches to 55-inches
We see these predictions as simply educated guessing on Munster’s part, and don’t place much faith into the specifics, but it does serve as an interesting discussion for what Apple might offer in 2013.
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/20/apple-television-ipad-mini-macbook-air-speculation-for-2013/
Samsung looks to add iPad mini to upcoming patent infringement suit
Samsung on Wednesday filed a motion to include Apple’s iPad mini in its running list of iOS devices that allegedly infringe on certain wireless patents, tacking on even more product claims to be heard in an upcoming patent lawsuit.
First spotted by The Verge, Samsung’s motion to amend its original filing is yet another counterclaim in Apple’s upcoming Galaxy Nexus case in which both companies are asserting multiple patent claims. The suit will be heard by the same court as the Apple v. Samsung patent trial, which ended in a $1.05 billion win for Apple in August.
Much like Samsung’s successful October motion to add Apple’s newest iPhone 5 to the suit, the iPad mini request is based on the alleged infringement of two UMTS wireless technologies and a number of “feature patents” used in both the cellular-enabled and Wi-Fi only versions of the mid-size tablet.
In the filing, Samsung also sought to clarify whether it correctly asserted U.S. Patent No. 7,672,470 against three previous generations of Apple’s iPod touch, adding that it would like to do so if the original contention was improper. The patent covers volume control on a portable music player.
For its part, Apple has also augmented claims against Samsung, most recently setting its sights on the Galaxy Note 10.1 and the Galaxy-specific build of Google’s Jelly Bean operating system. Previously, Apple added Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III smartphone as well as the Galaxy Note “phablet” to the pending case.
The suit is scheduled to kick off sometime in 2014.
AC/DC Finally Available on iTunes
Lifehacker notes that AC/DC’s music has finally appeared in digital form on iTunes. [Direct Link]
Once the Beatles signed up, Australian hard rockers AC/DC were the biggest major act holding out from selling their music on iTunes (or in any other digital music store). That changed today, with AC/DC finally realising that if rock and roll ain’t noise pollution, you might as well make money while the download sun shines.
AC/DC’s selection includes the “Complete Set” for $149.99 [iTunes], Studio Collection for $99.99 [iTunes], Ringtones, Live at River Plate, as well as individual albums.
AC/DC had previously rejected iTunes distribution in an attempt to preserve the concept of the album.
AC/DC, formed by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young in 1973, is among only a handful of musicians to refuse to put their music on the popular download website in a move that Johnson defended as a bid to protect the album format from the Internet’s emphasis on buying single songs.
Apple one day shopping event
Shopping event prices are solely available on 23 November, 2012, from 2:01 a.m. to 24 November, 2012, 1:59 a.m. in AEDT, are subject to change, and include GST.
Promotional pricing cannot be combined with any other offers. Not all sale products are available in all Apple Retail Stores. Product specifications are subject to change.
Sale prices are limited to stock on hand and while supplies last. One Day Sale discount prices available for end users only. Not available to distributors, dealers or resellers.
Apple’s international online and retail stores also participate in these sales, though Apple’s discounts tend to be very modest. Last year’s discounts for Apple’s core products were as follows (in USD):
iPad 2 – $41 to $61 Off
iPod nano – $11 off
iPod Touch – $21 to $41 off
MacBook Air – $101 off
MacBook Pro – $101 off
iMac – $101 off
http://store.apple.com/au
WILL
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