GLENN’S SHOWNOTES

Tim Cook speaks about iOS 7 and Apple apps on Android

during an interview at AllThingsD’s D11 conference Cook confirmed that Sir Jony Ive has been key, inthe redesign of ios7. confirming rumours of a major UI makeover which we expect to be unveiled at WWDC on June 10th.

The most drastic response however was regarding the opening up of Apple to allow users to change core components of iOS like the home screen or keyboard. “I think you will see us open up more in the future. But not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience. But will we open up more? Yes”.

the possibility of Apple making an app for Android wasn’t ruled out either – “If we thought it made sense to do that then we would do it”.

Apple Maps – We screwed up… it’s greatly improved, but not there yet. We have more to do”. cook said

QuickTime dirty dozen flaws closed

Apple has pushed out an update to its QuickTime software to close a dozen vulnerabilities.

Version 7.7.4 for Windows 7, Vista, and XP SP2fixes flaws memory corruption and buffer overflow flaws that could lead to arbitrary code execution or denial-of-service conditions, according to an Apple support document.

Tablets overtake PC shipments

Global personal computer shipments face a deeper-than-expected 7.8 percent slump this year as tablets overtake laptops for the first time, according to a report from market research company IDC.

By 2015, tablets will outship not just laptops, but all PCs, according to IDC

PC shipments are expected to fall an additional 1.2 percent next year, according to IDC.

****only because old computers are running latest OS – Dell laptops eg old old old doesnt mean people are not using desktops or they are turfing their desktops*****

Bill Gates welcomes IT company tax debate

Speaking at the National Press Club today, Gates was asked about the amount of tax global tech giants, including Microsoft, pay, and whether countries might be able to contribute more money to foreign aid if they received their “fair share” of tax from such organsations.

“It’s the business of government to collect tax. I don’t know what the term ‘fair share’ means,” Gates told journalists.

“As far as I know the whole discussion is about whether the current set of laws are structured the way they should be.”

Gates said he hadn’t seen anything suggesting the global tech giants had done something illegal.

Gates discussed two technology projects being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, including an improved toilet that can work in slums and a “super thermos” that keeps vaccines cold without the need for electricity.

Gates was also on a special Q&A – catch it on iview

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-28/national-press-club-bill-gates/4718244

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/vodcast/qanda_2013_ep99.mp4

Party over for Apple tax haven?

According to a report in the Irish business newspaper The Sunday Business Post, the steadily increased pressure being exerted on both the tech companies, and the Irish government, is prompting the move.

Hackers steal ASIO blueprints

Chinese hackers have stolen the blueprints for the new $630 million ASIO building in Canberra and siphoned reams of emails from the Department of Defence.

The ABC’s Four Corners program revealed the compromised blueprints included details on the building’s security systems, communications networks and server room locations.

ASIO now faces a decision to either gut and redesign the building, or continue at a heightened state of caution, according to the program.

In another attack, troves of unclassified Department of Defence emails and reports were stolen, also allegedly by Chinese hackers.

A Four Corners source said the documents stolen over years from the military-wide Defence Restricted network amounted to ten times the total size of the database.

A highly classified document was also stolen from Defence after it was sent off the corporate network to an officer’s home computer.

Malware, previously installed on the officer’s machine via a spear-phishing attack, grabbed the document and sent it to China where it was later discovered by a US intelligence agency that tipped off Defence.

Microsoft reinstates the Start button (on a mouse)

Microsoft has restored the Start button toWindows 8 – but you’ll need a new mouse to use it.

The company has launched the Sculpt Comfort Mouse at $US40 for Windows 8 PCs and tablets, featuring a prominent blue Windows button on the left side.

Pressing the button returns you to the Windows 8 start screen, much like pressing the Windows button on a keyboard

“These are the first mice from Microsoft to include a Windows button on them, giving you quick and easy access to specific features in Windows – and, in the case of the Sculpt Comfort Mouse, more advanced functionality in Windows 8,”said Microsoft.

It isn’t clear yet whether Microsoft will restore themuch-missed Start button in its next Windows refresh. While reports have suggestedthe desktop Start button, but not the Start menu, will return, Microsoft has only said that“key changes” will arrive in theWindows Blue update.

Aussie ISP to add unlimited NBN plans

ISP AusBBS today unveiledthree unlimited plans — “up to 25/5 Mbps” for $90 a month, “up to 50/20 Mbps” at $100 a month, and “up to 100/40 Mbps” at $110 a month.

CEO Rob Appel told iTnews the company was aiming to attract “family users” onto the plans.

“A household with multiple devices is our target market,” he said.

The unlimited plan comes with an acceptable use policy that Appel said is “industry standard”. The policy is based on “behaviours” and there is no specific cut-in in terms of a user reaching a certain level of gigabyte usage.

“Obviously we don’t mind having heavy users. We just don’t want users that are abusing the connection.”

Perth’s Xbox hacker charged

A Perth teenager whose home was raided by authorities after he listed a prototype of Microsoft’s Xbox on eBay has been charged.

WA Police have confirmed the 17-year-old was charged with several offences on Monday.

The charges come months after the search of a property he resides at in February, which resulted in the seizure of his computers, hard drives, phones and bank cards.

But in an unusual move, local authorities cannot reveal what he has been charged with

The self-professed Perth ‘hacker’ claims he was visited by a Microsoft representative after he attempted to sell a prototype of the next-generation Xbox console on eBay as a joke.

It was shortly after this visit that he received a knock at his door.

Although police confirmed the raid, they would not confirm, as claimed by the teenager, whether an FBI officer was present.

Months later, on May 22, he tweeted that police had contacted him again and were considering pressing charges.

Caterpillar backs eye-tracker to combat driver fatigue

Caterpillar is to sell a package of sensors, alarms and software which detect when a truck driver is about to fall asleep.

BHP Billiton and gold producer Newmont Mining have already carried out trials.

The firms believe it out-performs earlier systems that needed workers to wear special equipment.

The product was developed by Australian firm, Seeing Machines, which secured the tie-up with Caterpillar after a panel of experts selected it over 21 rival technologies.

It will cost up to $20,000 (£13,260) to install on each vehicle, although a discount applies if it is bought in bulk.

Apple 1 from 1976 signed by Wozniak sells for $650,000

An original Apple 1 computer from 1976 – one of only six still in working order – has sold at auction in Germany for more than 500,000 euros ($650,000).

The Apple 1 was one of the first 50 built by Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Jobs’ parents’ garage.

The computer – consisting only of a motherboard, signed by Mr Wozniak – went to an anonymous buyer from Asia.

SHAYNE’S SHOWNOTES

Google Glass gets test run by Aussie health and safety firm

http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-glass-being-tested-by-aussie-health-and-safety-firm/story-e6frfro0-1226649992627

GOOGLE’S breakthrough internet-connected spectacles, Google Glass, have finally arrived in Australia, with one workplace health and safety firm testing the glasses in cities around the country.

Google Glasses sit on the nose like regular spectacles, but rather than lenses they feature a tiny computer and head-up display on their right arm. The spectacles feature an internet connection, five-megapixel camera, and 16GB storage, and accept commands by either voice, a phone app, and a built-in touchpad.

The technology’s first confirmed Australian users, ‘Safety Culture Australia’ workers, say they have been “swamped” every time they’ve worn the glasses in public, and they have proven safe to use when driving.

Safety Culture Australia managing director Luke Anear said the company imported a pair of the spectacles through Google’s developer program when it was announced last year.

While the company is using Google’s gadget to develop hands-free health and safety apps, Mr Anear said the glasses had also proven safe to use in everyday life in spite of widespread privacy concerns.

Taking Google Glasses into public bathrooms, he said, was not something he’d do, but users would need to be staring at other bathroom users to capture photographs.

Internet messaging outnumbers SMS messages for the first time

http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/internet-messaging-outnumbers-sms-messages-for-the-first-time/story-fn6vihic-1226650844946

THE DEATH of the SMS message is creeping ever closer, with even more free instant message services launching and internet messages outnumbering SMS messages for the first time in its 20-year history.

BlackBerry’s flagship messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger, will soon become the latest app to let Google and Apple smartphone users send messages over an internet connection and avoid SMS fees charged by telephone carriers.

The arrival of BlackBerry Messenger could be another nail in the coffin of the once ubiquitous communication channel, as research firm Informa reports instant messages were more popular than SMS messages for the first time last year, and are likely to more than double this year.

Short Message Service missives, better known as SMS messages, have been the standard method of sending text between mobile phones for 20 years.

Though the concept behind SMS was developed in 1984, the first message, “Merry Christmas”, was not sent until December 1992. The service was added to Nokia phones in 1993 and quickly took off.

But SMS has met a serious challenge recently from free instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Apple iMessage.

FIVE TOP MESSAGING APPS CHALLENGING SMS

BlackBerry Messenger

Platform: BlackBerry, Apple iOS, Google Android
Price: Free
Services: Text messages, group messaging and video chat.

Platform: Google Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia Symbian.
Price: Free for the first year, US99c annually (99c one-off fee for Apple users).
Services: Text, video, photo and voice messaging. Group chats and location sharing.

Apple iMessage

Platform: Apple iOS
Price: Free
Services: Text, video or photo messaging. Integrated with text messages.

Facebook Messenger

Platform: Apple iOS, Google Android
Price: Free
Services: Text, photo or voice messaging. Group chats and pop-up alerts.

Skype

Platform: Google Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone.
Price: Free
Services: Free instant messaging to other users, as well as internet voice calls.

Sold! Antique Apple-1 brings a record $671K

http://m.computerworld.com/s/article/9239541/Sold_Antique_Apple_1_brings_a_record_671K?mm_ref=http://www.mahaweb.com/iphone_aus.php?newsone=207&premium=0&version=300&user=iphone&iphone_id=09f3eba72a0b1f18ae66598d972fbdaa63ff6f1e&page=custom

One of only a handful of 37-year-old, still-working Apple-1 computers sold for a record two-thirds of a million dollars Saturday at an auction in Germany.

The record price was paid by an anonymous bidder. In an interview with the New York Times, Auction Team Breker of Cologne, which sold the Apple-1, said the buyer was a “wealthy entrepreneur from the Far East.”

According to the auctioneer’s website, the Apple-1’s sales price was €420,000, or $542,000 at current exchange rates. The total, including a 22.3% commission as well as taxes, was $671,400.

That eclipsed the $640,000 record for an Apple-1 established last November at an auction also conducted by Breker, and was nearly double the upper estimate of approximately $390,000 set by the auctioneer earlier this month.

The two Apple-1s sold by Breker in November and on Saturday were in working condition, a rarity for the nearly-four-decade-old computer. Experts believe that there are only six operational Apple-1 computers remaining, and just an estimated 50 or so that have survived in all.

The Apple-1 that sold yesterday, like each of the approximately 200 made, was a simple circuit board hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1976. Buyers had to provide their own power supply, keyboard and monitor. At the time, an Apple-1 sold for $666.66, equivalent to $2,724 in today’s dollars, or almost as much as a current 15-in. MacBook Pro with a Retina-quality display.

Included with the Apple-1 was the original manual and a Jan. 19, 1978 letter signed by co-founder Steve Jobs. In the letter, written to the Apple-1’s original owner, Fred Hatfield, a retired electrical engineer who now lives in Louisiana, Jobs offered to exchange Hatfield’s Apple-1 for an Apple II 4K motherboard if Hatfield ponied up another $400. Hatfield declined.

The Apple-1 circuit board had also been signed by Wozniak.

Microsoft files complaint to acquire Xbox One websites

http://www.news.com.au/technology/ign-microsoft-files-complaint-to-acquire-xbox-one-websites/story-e6frfro0-1226651096004

MICROSOFT has filed a complaint over XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net in hopes of taking control of the domains.

According to Fusible, Microsoft’s dispute is filed with the National Arbitration Forum (case number 1501205, currently listed as “pending” on the NAF database), and the company is seeking to acquire the websites from a single UK resident who owns both. The WHOIS info for both domains suggests that they were registered on December 29, 2011 by a Krasimir Hristov Ivanov who resides in London.

We reached out to Microsoft and a representative provided the following statement to IGN:

“Microsoft’s domain name portfolio is a part of its ongoing business strategy, but beyond that we have no comment.”

Microsoft previously registered a handful of domain names for rumored Xbox codenames including Xbox 8 and Xbox Fusion. It’s worth noting that Microsoft also does not appear to own the Xbox One Twitter account.

Be sure to check out all of the information about Xbox One on IGN’s Xbox One Wiki:

JASON OAKLEY

YouTube has just added a new “slowmo” tool to its YouTube Editor enhancements, which does pretty much exactly what it sounds like. “You’ll get a smooth, slomo video that makes it look like it was filmed with a high-speed camera,” the site states on the YouTube creator’s blog.

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Apple is now selling a new 16GB iPod touch model in its online store. When the 5th generation iPod touch went on sale last year, it was only available in 32GB and 64GB models; Apple continued to sell 16GB and 32GB variants of the 4th generation model.

That older iPod now appears to have been discontinued in favor of the new 16GB model, which features a 4-inch Retina display, dual-core A5 processor, and front-facing FaceTime HD camera in the same 6.1mm-thick case as the 5th generation variant.

There is no rear-facing camera at all, however, and Apple has also omitted the “loop” lanyard hook. The new 16GB iPod touch is available to order now for $229 in a single black and silver design — Apple says it will ship within 24 hours.

It had been reported that Facebook was looking to acquire social navigation company Waze for between $800 million and $1 billion. The talks were said to have hit a major roadblock in recent weeks, however, as Facebook was reportedly interested in shutting down Waze’sresearch and development center in Israel and transferring employees to the United States.According to AllThingsD, the talks have dissolved in recent days and the billion-dollar deal may no longer be on the table. The latest report reiterates earlier claims that Waze was uncomfortable having its employees transferred to work at Facebook’s headquarters in the United States.

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Apple has hired at least a dozen former AMD graphics engineers for its Orlando offices in recent months, according to a MacRumors review of employees’ LinkedIn profiles.

The majority of hires, which include a graphics architect, hardware engineer and others, occurred in January of this year.

AMD laid off a number of employees last year in a corporate reorganization, and fired more in January. It seems likely that Apple hired a number of the laid off Orlando AMD engineers for a new team it’s building in the region.

Episode 343 – Aussie Tech Heads Shownotes