MGR IT

Earlier this month, Telstra reached a deal with NBN Co regarding its involvement in the national broadband network being rolled out by the federal government.  In a nutshell the Financial Heads of Agreement deal will see Telstra decommission their network and move their voice and broadband services to the NBN Co network as it is rolled out.  Telstra will go from being a competitor of NBN Co to being their biggest customer.

So, what does this mean to you as a Telstra customer or a customer of another telco? 

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The rise of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and the new kid on the block, Google Buzz, has huge implications for privacy for those who use them. 

Some suggest that no-one cares about privacy any more and while that may be an exaggeration, there is certainly a trend in that direction.  It is certainly not a trend that I personally subscribe to and I wonder whether those keen to put their lives online have really thought through what they are doing.

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Strangely, Microsoft’s Windows Live range of online services don’t seem to receive the attention of some of the newer entrants into the field, such as DropBox and Google Apps, but there are some very useful services to be had for free via Windows Live.  One of those is Windows Live SkyDrive, a file storage and sharing service.

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Google is going to begin phasing out support for the Internet Explorer 6 browser as of the 1st of March.  Google Docs and Google Sites will not support “older browsers” after that date, which means anything before Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3.0, Chrome 4.0 and Safari 3.0.  Presumably other Google services will follow suit.

For anyone who keeps their systems up to date, this will have no impact, as Internet Explorer 6 is old (and seriously flawed) technology.  However, there are plenty of unpatched systems out there still using IE6 – over 10% according to the w3schools browser statistics site.

If yours is one of those systems, then you should make the switch now, either by upgrading to Internet Explorer 8, or by changing to another browser, such as Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

The worst kept secret in the IT world was confirmed overnight Australian time with Apple unveiling their new tablet computer, the iPad.  You can see some video of Steve Jobs announcing the iPad here.

In short, the iPad looks more like a larger version of the iPhone or iPod Touch, rather then a tablet form iMac or MacBook.  It’s very thin and light with a 9.7 inch touch screen.

I can certainly see a market for this in the consumer area, though I wonder if the pricing will put some off (as is so often the case with Apple products).  There are three models – a 16GB model for US$499, a 32GB model for US$599 and a 64GB model for US$699.  3G mobile network access is an extra US$130 on any of the models.  I have not seen any mention of Australian prices or release dates as yet.

As an avid iPhone user, I can appreciate the convenience of being able to quickly look up a web site or check e-mail on a portable device that is effectively always on.  The larger screen on the iPad can only enhance this experience if you are happy to pay for it.

The “Ute-gate” affair* that is currently dominating Australian politics is obviously interesting from a political point of view, but it also raises issues around the reliability of e-mail evidence. 

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Every now and then some piece of malware (virus, worm, trojan, etc.) is regarded as noteworthy enough to break out of the confines of the IT media and makes news in the mainstream media.  The latest of these is the Conficker worm.  There has been a lot said about this worm and the dire effects it could have on April 1st, but anyone taking common sense precautions has nothing to fear.

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Internet Explorer 8 has been released by Microsoft in the past few days (see my previous post for info on the Release Candidate 1 version).  I haven’t yet had a chance to fully test the final release version, so at this stage, the warnings regarding upgrading still apply.  There are certainly some great useability benefits in IE8, but I found that RC1 broke some sites, even when using the IE7 Compatibility Mode. 

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Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) has been released recently, which means that the final release of Internet Explorer 8 will not be far away.  Having tested RC1 as well as the previous Internet Explorer 8 Beta, I can say there are some nice new features, but also some potential drawbacks to treat with care.

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From 1st June 2008, .au domains will be able to be marketed and sold by the current licence holder.  This has long been the case for .com domains with some high profile cases of domains being sold for big money.

However, there are some restrictions that should ensure that the .au namespace does not become that free-for-all that the .com namespace has become (to its detriment).  The existing eligiblity rules will still apply, so it will not be possible for anyone to buy up huge numbers of .au domains for the purpose of selling them on for a profit.  In fact, registration of domains for the sole of purpose of selling them to someone else will not be allowable and domains will not be transferrable within the first six months after registration.

These rules would seem to be a good safeguard against small businesses being priced out of buying domain names most appropriate to their business.  I think they also make it less likely that we will see huge numbers of domain transfers come June 1.  This relaxing of rules will simply allow businesses to sell domains that they no longer need or for which they receive an offer that they consider sufficient to make it worth their while.�