Whaling funding a disgrace: Sea Shepherd

Posted by . , Tuesday, December 6, 2011 10:52 PM

Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd has accused Japan of funding the killing of whales with money donated to victims of the earthquake and tsunami, a claim the Japanese consulate in Australia denies.

Japan's whaling fleet has set sail for the country's annual hunt in Antarctica, with security measures beefed up amid international protests.

Sea Shepherd is preparing to confront the whalers in the Southern Ocean, in what is expected to be one of its most intense campaigns yet.

Whaling funding a disgrace: Sea Shepherd
December 7, 2011 - 3:48PM
Ads by Google
Self Managed Super (SMSF)

www.esuperfund.com.au

Take Control of Your Super Special Offer Ends Soon. Apply Now!

Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd has accused Japan of funding the killing of whales with money donated to victims of the earthquake and tsunami, a claim the Japanese consulate in Australia denies.

Japan's whaling fleet has set sail for the country's annual hunt in Antarctica, with security measures beefed up amid international protests.

Sea Shepherd is preparing to confront the whalers in the Southern Ocean, in what is expected to be one of its most intense campaigns yet.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said it looked as if the Japanese fleet had two security vessels with security and coast guard personnel aboard.

"We are hoping to deter their operations," he said.

"I assume the security vessels will try and dislodge us. I am assuming there will be some difficult confrontations," he said today.

"That is one of the reasons I asked Australia to send a vessel down to keep the peace, but they refused."

He said about an extra $28 million that Japan had given to the campaign was most likely behind the beefed-up security.

"That money did come from the earthquake relief fund," he said.

"I think that it's totally disgraceful. People from around the world sending money to help the victims of the tsunami-earthquake were not expecting their money to be used to fund killing whales in the Southern Ocean."

Three ships from the Sea Shepherd fleet will set sail in about eight days.

The Steve Irwin and the Brigitte Bardot will leave from Albany in Western Australia and the Bob Barker will depart from Hobart.

Mr Kaz Inadome from the Japanese Consulate said no money from the disaster relief funds collected in Australia had been used. All that money had gone to the Red Cross in Japan.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/whaling-funding-a-disgrace-sea-shepherd-20111207-1oi21.html

0 comments

Nobel winner thought prize call was 'student joke'

Posted by . , Tuesday, October 4, 2011 9:29 PM

When a Swedish voice came down the line informing him he had a "very important call" Tuesday night, Australia's newest Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt assumed it was an elaborate undergraduate joke.

"My first thought was 'Geez my students have done a pretty good job on this accent'," the Australian-American astronomer said Wednesday.

"She asked me to confirm that I was Brian Schmidt and told me I had a very important call, and then the members of the panel went out and read the citation to me and congratulated me."

"I feel like when my first child was born. I'm kind of weak in the knees and a little, you know, I guess a little -- hard to describe -- almost speechless at this point."

Schmidt, 44, was named joint winner of the Nobel Physics Prize in Stockholm on Tuesday for his work on the 1998 discovery that dark energy -- gravity's repulsive opposite -- was driving an ever-increasing expansion of the universe.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the award was a testament to his "rigour and determination", congratulating Schmidt, US colleague Adam Riess and their competitor Saul Perlmutter, also from the US, on the joint Nobel prize.

"This discovery turned some of our most stable notions of the universe on its head and challenges our understanding of its very composition," said Gillard.

"They stuck with their observations and made the theory fit the facts, however revolutionary and inconvenient."

It was so groundbreaking Schmidt admitted having to overcome his own self-doubts about his findings, which went against the scientific orthodoxy of the time.

"It seemed too crazy to be right. We were a little scared," he told ABC Radio.

By his own admission Schmidt's research is "bleak" stuff: Earth's galactic neighbours hurtling away at unimaginable speeds to ultimately leave mankind's home in a cold, deserted Universe.

"Right now I look out into space and I see billions of galaxies. In the future I will look out and see an empty Universe," Schmidt told reporters Wednesday of his prizewinning work.

"All the galaxies we see now will be so far away that their light can no longer reach us... and our galaxy of stars will slowly fade away and die and we're left with a bunch of stellar embers and a dark universe."

It's a prospect some hundreds of billions of years in the future, but "that's not too long by astronomical standards", he added.

Schmidt was 27 when he moved to Australia in 1994, having obtained his PhD from Harvard, and said there were few other places in the world he could have done such world-class research at such a young age.

He formed the High-Z SN Search team, a group of 20 astronomers on five continents who used distant exploding stars, or supernovae, to trace the expansion of the universe back in time.

Schmidt said knowledge was a "funny thing" and while he was "pretty certain" his dark energy theory was correct "you're never absolutely certain".

It was also impossible to know where the discovery would lead, he added.

"I do not know whether the accelerated universe is going to give us a better toaster, but I do know that it will help us understand the universe, and what that eventually evolves into is to be determined," he said.

Australian Academy of Science president Suzanne Cory said it was the first time an Australian had won the Physics Nobel since 1915, declaring it an "absolutely wonderful day" for the nation's scientists.

A winemaker in his spare time, Schmidt said he was mostly looking forward to life going on as normal, starting with his weekly third-year cosmology lecture later Wednesday at the Australian National University.

He plans to put his share of the US$1.5 million prize money, to be awarded at a ceremony in Sweden in December, towards "some sort of public good" in consultation with his 20-person team.

"I like my life as it is, so I'm hoping that it doesn't change too much," he said.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hIf9BHVIGiiob9HxfVYuyVV5-zjQ?docId=CNG.1115db5cc2628f77f4863b0a574661ed.301

0 comments

Coral reef species may adjust to climate change

Posted by . , Friday, July 22, 2011 2:43 AM

MANY of the world's coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef, could survive the coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, a study has found.

While past research had predicted large-scale destruction from global warming was inevitable, recent studies have shown some species were more capable of adapting than others.

But the capacity for these corals to adjust could be greatly reduced by human activities such as over-fishing, pollution and habitat destruction.

As part of the study, published in the journal Science, scientists reviewed the most recent research on the effect of climate change on coral reefs, as well as evidence from the fossil record.

A marine biologist and study leader, John Pandolfi, said the response to climate change varied dramatically between regions.

''We can't say everywhere is doomed in two decades because CO2 is this level and pH is that level; it's just not that black and white,'' said Professor Pandolfi, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.

''Our expectation is that some regions are less likely to completely collapse in the next few decades than others.''

A marine biologist and co-author of the study, Sean Connolly, also from the centre, said there was good evidence to show that past global warming and ocean acidification had had devastating impacts on coral reefs.

There was also evidence that marine species coped differently to ocean warming and coral bleaching.

He warned that the findings did not mean coral reefs were out of danger.

"There is no doubt that unchecked global warming would have a devastating affect on the world’s reefs," he said.

"If we do nothing, by later this century then all bets are off," Professor Connolly said.

"There is a wide range of responses to climate change among different organisms; some are already suffering with the climate change that has happened already, while others aren’t doing so badly," he said.

There was also uncertainty around which species would be able to adapt to rising temperatures and ocean acidification in time, he said.

Ocean acidification occurs when excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean. Too much carbon dioxide reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, the building block of coral skeletons.

The rate of adaptation for many species could be increased if human activities such as fishing and runoff were managed appropriately.

To increase the ability for a species to adapt to one stress, others needed to be reduced, Professor Connolly said.

"The organisms that have an unusually good ability to cope with high temperatures and ocean acidification have to be able to survive and reproduce offspring that also have those tolerances. But if there is also a lot stress from coastal development [and] runoff then they can die out," he said.

Authorities also needed to ensure populations of marine species did not decline dramatically.

"If you reduce a population size you reduce its ability to adapt rapidly to environmental change," he said.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/coral-reef-species-may-adjust-to-climate-change-20110721-1hr08.html

1 comments

New telescope may link us to alien life

Posted by . , Wednesday, July 6, 2011 12:25 AM

If there are aliens on other planets, Australia could play a key role in making contact, the nation's leading astronomer Fred Watson says.

But it may depend on an area of Western Australia being chosen as the site for the square kilometre array (SKA), the world's most powerful radio telescope that will also reveal more about the origins of the universe.

The Murchison region in the WA outback is vying with a site in southern Africa for the SKA with a group of international scientists expected to make a final decision in 2012.

If there are aliens on other planets, Australia could play a key role in making contact, the nation's leading astronomer Fred Watson says.

But it may depend on an area of Western Australia being chosen as the site for the square kilometre array (SKA), the world's most powerful radio telescope that will also reveal more about the origins of the universe.

The Murchison region in the WA outback is vying with a site in southern Africa for the SKA with a group of international scientists expected to make a final decision in 2012.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Some clues as to the location may be revealed after a meeting in Canada this week involving what has been described as a steering group taking the project forward.

Australia is considered the best location for the SKA but there are suggestions other factors could come into play, including political considerations.

Professor Watson, astronomer in charge at the Australian Astronomical Observatory at Coonabarabran in NSW, said the SKA would be involved in "big picture" science.

"It's about asking the big questions," he told AAP.

"The SKA will be by far the most sensitive radio telescope ever built.

"It will have the potential to reveal all kinds of things ranging from the possibility of picking up signals from aliens, if they exist.

"More seriously, it will look at the early universe, trying to work out how galaxies were formed."

Professor Watson said the SKA would also investigate the "mysterious stuff" called dark matter, which permeates four-fifths of the universe, and possibly reveal how dark matter helped the formation of stars.

"Insights into that are of extreme value to scientists for all kinds of reasons," he said.

"One of which is to confirm the picture we have of the origin of the universe and its early evolution is correct.

"But more especially to tell us things we simply don't dream about at the moment.

"Always with these things the most exciting discoveries are the ones that are completely unexpected.

"So who knows what a facility like this might produce?"

Professor Watson was in Adelaide on Tuesday for the annual scientific meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

Source http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/new-telescope-may-link-us-to-alien-life-20110705-1h06o.html

0 comments

Defence to review 'risk' of social media

Posted by . , Friday, May 6, 2011 1:25 AM

Defence Minister Stephen Smith has warned the use of social media by Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel could put the military's reputation at risk.

The defence minister's warning came a day after charges were laid against a former ADF member over the setting up of a gay-hate Facebook page.

Mr Smith today announced an external consulting company would head a review into the use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, in light of ADF values.

The social media review is part of a raft of studies looking at the defence force, including the use of alcohol and leadership opportunities available to women.

Mr Smith said the review would raise awareness among ADF employees that the information they share on social media often becomes public.

"That which people [post on social media], which becomes public, particularly if they are representing Australia or representing the ADF, potentially can have seriously adverse consequences," he said.

"It's very important that members of the ADF, whether they're onshore or offshore, understand that at all times they are representing the defence force and representing the nation.

"As a consequence, inappropriate behaviour, effectively, in uniform can lead to very serious reputational damage."

A former ADF member was charged yesterday over alleged threats to a senior army officer and creating a Facebook page which encouraged violence against homosexuals.

The review, to be led by Rob Hudson from George Patterson Y & R, is due to provide an interim report by the end of July.

Meanwhile, the Independent Advisory Panel on Alcohol will examine the impact of alcohol use at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the adequacy of current policies and strategies.

"Often, inappropriate conduct and abuse of alcohol go hand in hand," he told reporters in Perth.

"The objective here is to advise ADFA on the current organisational arrangement so far as use of alcohol is concerned and whether there's anything more we can do or learn."

The panel, to be chaired by Professor Margaret Hamilton, will include drug and alcohol experts as well as the Commander Joint Health, Major General Paul Alexander, and is due to report back at the end of July.

Other reviews will examine ways to improve the leadership representation rates of women in defence and the management of complaints.

The independent Inspector General of the ADF, Geoff Earley, will head the review of how incidents and complaints are managed, focusing on the treatment of victims and the relationship between military disciplinary investigations and civil or criminal matters.

"Sometimes that inter-relationship has led to delays and lack of a timely response in those issues," Mr Smith said.

The reviews follow the Skype sex scandal, in which a male cadet allegedly use a live webcam to stream video of him having sex with a female cadet to his colleagues without her knowledge.

Police have since charged two other cadets with related offences.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick is heading a review into the treatment of women in the ADF and the ADFA following the scandal.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/defence-to-review-risk-of-social-media-20110506-1ebpp.html

0 comments

Ratting out Sydney's cane toad menace

Posted by . , Labels: , , , , , , , Tuesday, April 19, 2011 9:36 PM

A state of origin match is being played out in Sydney's drains, but unlike the real thing it is the Queenslanders being massacred.

It has been discovered that a colony of cane toads who hitched a ride from the sunshine state are being eaten by the local rodents.

Cane toads were discovered some time ago in an industrial area of Taren Point, in Sydney's south.

Since then the local council, State Government and scientists have been working to eradicate them.

University of Sydney biologist Rick Shine, a passionate toad buster, says toads have been fitted with radio transmitters to monitor their behaviour.

Professor Shine says one of the "entertaining" things to emerge from the monitoring is how rats are munching away on the toads and living to tell the tale.

"The toads quite frequently use drains as cover and the drains contain rats, which we don't normally think of as our best friends," Professor Shine said.

"But rats evolved in the northern hemisphere, in the same place that toads did, and they're capable of dealing with the toad's poison.

"So one of our telemetered toads got massacred and eaten by a rat.

"Unlike a native predator, which a toad would be a fatal meal for, for a rat a toad's just a pretty nice breakfast.

"So we may have some of the old invaders helping get rid of some of the new invaders.

Professor Shine says they have also discovered a Sydney breeding ground for the pests, a pond of tadpoles.

He says it is the "Achilles heel" of the breeding cycle.

"It's a big step in controlling the breeding of the toad as one female can produce as many as 30,000 eggs," Professor Shine.

The tadpoles are euthanised.

He says there are hundreds of the toads in the Shire and hundreds more arrive every year by hopping on trucks carrying things like building materials and mulch from Queensland.

Professor Shine says because the toads are such effective stowaways they will keep on coming.

A toad was found in Launceston in Tasmania's north last week after apparently hitching a ride in a container at Christmas time.

There are several records of toad sightings in other areas in Sydney, but Taren Point seems to be their favourite home.

Source http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/20/3196478.htm?site=sydney

1 comments

Telstra launches Elite mobile hotspots

Posted by . , Tuesday, April 5, 2011 8:37 PM

Telstra has launched a new mobile Wi-Fi broadband device aimed at business customers who have multiple devices requiring wireless internet connection.

The Telstra Elite Mobile Wi-Fi will allow up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices access to Telstra's Next G network, offering download speeds of up to 8Mbps.

Telstra's executive director of mobility products, Warwick Bray, said that the hotspots were ideal for customers who had lots of devices that needed internet connectivity.

"Our customers tell us they love the speed and reliability of Next G mobile broadband, but they've said they'd like an easier way to share it with a greater range of Wi-Fi-enabled devices including smartphones, tablets, cameras, laptops and portable games consoles," he said in a statement.

"The Telstra Elite Mobile Wi-Fi should ... prove popular with our business customers who increasingly use Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as tablets and cameras and require mobile connectivity to support fast file transfers and to work flexibly while away from the office," he added.

The device will be available from 12 April and costs $129 upfront with 5GB of data for regular prepaid mobile broadband customers, while business customers can sign up for a $29 per month plan with 1GB worth of data each month.

Source http://www.cnet.com.au/telstra-launches-elite-mobile-hotspots-339312742.htm

0 comments

That’ll be the phone, Reg: 1m+ smartphones per month sold in Oz

Posted by . , Labels: , , , , , , , , , Wednesday, March 23, 2011 9:36 PM

Australians are having a real love affair with smartphones, with IDC stats reporting over 1m sold per month last year.

With over 20 million people in Australia, that’s a new phone for half the population each year, all keen to upgrade to the latest and greatest smartphone experience, from a range of vendors.

In Q4 alone, IDC says that 4.25m smartphones shipped down under, with smartphones a stunning 62% of the mix. That compares with just 38% of handsets sold in Q4 2009 being smartphones.

Cheap Android handsets have also been part of the reason why smartphone sales have surged, what with capable Android handsets selling for less than AUD $300, and even Telstra introducing a $99 Android phone that won’t win any awards for anything except being super cheap.

Thus, predicts IDC, ye olde fashioned “feature phones” are slowly but surely on their way out, even as vendors slash prices to keep feature phone sales going to an ever smaller audience, clearer after the smarter features smartphones deliver, and not just regular the ol’ features of kinda-bland feature phones.

Although Nokia did well last in both phone categories, fall prices helped Nokia’s Symbian sales, while Microsoft’s Q4 sales of Windows Phone 7 devices equalled “all Windows Mobile devices shipped in the prior 12 months”, according to IDC’s Mark Novosel, its teclo market analyst.

Smartphone penetration should grow to more than 92% by 2015.

However over the “next few months”, IDC thinks Android will overtake Symbian to “become the number one smartphone OS in Australia” with a market share of around 40%.

Apple’s share will be close to 30%, with IDC predicting a 20% market share for Windows Phone 7 (or its successors) by… wait for it… 2015.

IDC also listed concerns that the natural disasters in Japan could see component and supply shortages that could actually push prices up in the not too distant future.

Hmm... if you want to save some smart money on a smartphone, now might well be the time to buy before prices potentially rise!

Source http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/46062-thatll-be-the-phone-reg-1m-smartphones-per-month-sold-in-oz

1 comments

Microsoft paying Nokia $1 billion to use WP7? Cheap at twice the price

Posted by . , Tuesday, March 8, 2011 7:59 PM

Bloomberg reported yesterday that Microsoft will end up paying Nokia more than $1 billion to promote and develop Windows Phone 7 handsets, citing two unnamed sources said to be knowledgable of the terms of the agreement. Nokia's commitment to the platform is also long-term: the agreement lasts more than five years, according to the sources. The people also confirmed that the final contract between the two companies still hasn't been signed. For this reason many of the details and specifics are still not public.

Microsoft will be paying some money up-front, and giving Nokia a share of advertising revenue. It will also be paying for its use of Nokia's Navteq mapping services. Offsetting this, Nokia will in turn pay Microsoft for each license it ships.

On the face of it, this sounds like a lot of money. A billion dollars just to stop Nokia plumping for Android, in a deal that isn't even exclusive—Nokia will continue to sell Symbian handsets, and even the MeeGo-powered N950 will ship later this year. Nor is a this deal going to be a quick win for Microsoft, as Nokia's Windows Phone 7 handsets aren't likely to ship in volume—or possibly even at all—until 2012.

In the short term, this deal certainly favors Nokia. The company will still be spending money on Symbian development—the company is expecting to ship 150 million of the handsets in the next couple of years—but will be able to scale back this expenditure, as its operating system development costs are increasingly pushed onto Redmond. This, plus the cash infusion, gives the company instant savings.

But longer term, this deal should prove to be a big win for Microsoft. With each license estimated to cost around $15, recouping the $1 billion will require about 60 million licenses—Nokia handsets—to be sold. And this is a five year deal: it doesn't have to be an overnight success to earn back the money. Unless Nokia implodes and the entire venture is disastrous, that level of sales should be easily achieved.

Strategically, it's even more valuable for Redmond. The Nokia deal gives Microsoft access to a brand with significant market presence around the world (except the US), valuable mapping services, and strong hardware skills. Perhaps even more importantly, the deal has ensured that the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world has gone with Microsoft's operating system, and not Android.

The sources speaking to Bloomberg said that two features were influential in swinging the deal. As already disclosed when the companies announced the agreement, Nokia felt that Windows Phone 7 offered a greater chance to stand out in the market—something that would be rather harder in the already crowded Android market. But the investment that Microsoft could make was also key, with the implication that Google was unable or unwilling to offer a simliar incentive.

For users of the platform, the length of the deal is also encouraging. Windows Phone 7's future is far from assured. Microsoft's mobile ambitions—for Windows, for tablets, and for ARM processors—are currently something of a mystery. The company brutally killed off the KIN when it was clear that it had failed to meet expectations, and there were concerns that the company would give Windows Phone 7 the same treatment if it failed to take off. But in signing up to a five year deal, it's clear that Microsoft is in this for the long haul, and will stick with the platform to ensure its success.

There are still risks to the deal. The platform could still bomb, Nokia's handsets may all flop, or Nokia may decide that MeeGo has more to offer after all. Microsoft may have made concessions to the Finns that will undermine Windows Phone 7 as a platform. And alienation of the other Windows Phone 7 partners remains a possibility.

How these risks will play out is at the moment anyone's guess: Nokia has said that they don't intend to jeopardize the platform (though they could) and devalue the other Windows Phone 7 manufacturers, so they're saying the right things—we now have to wait to see if they follow through.

A billion dollars sounds like a lot. But to solidify Windows Phone 7's position for just a billion dollars—a billion dollars that should be earned back over the life of the deal—and to prevent Nokia from going with Android, it's an absolute bargain.

Source http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/03/microsoft-paying-nokia-1-billion-to-use-wp7-cheap-at-twice-the-price.ars

0 comments

Objection! Nintendo’s 3DS Launch Line-Up

Posted by . , Tuesday, February 22, 2011 9:13 PM

This was an emergency, completely last minute Objection. Usually the Objection series focuses on discussions around more serious gaming topics – this time I just wanted to vent a little. The topic? Australia’s 3DS launch line-up. My partner in rant-related crime? Vooks, who brings you the Nintendo Store update every week.

Let’s get to it.

MARK: So. The 3DS launch titles have been announced. Thoughts?

VOOKS: As expected… apart from the huge gaping hole that is the lack of Pilotwings Resort and Steel Diver! Alright so maybe I’m over dramatizing it, there is still upwards of 15+ games to play on day one.

However this sets an unhealthy precident for Nintendo – how can they not release Pilotwings at launch? It’s silly for two reasons – Pilotwings Resort is the ‘Wii Sports’ of the 3DS lineup, a game anyone can play. Nintendogs isn’t going to sell to (most of) the male crowd. The second reason is that it’s worrying that we’re getting game delays from day one – very worrying.

We know Nintendo is trying to give third parties time to shine, but some of the third party line up can’t shine. You can’t polish a turd as they say.

MARK: I think the strange thing is that Nintendo stated on the press release that only Super Street Fighter IV and the Nintendogs SKUs would definitely make launch.

I just got off the phone to confirm, but all the third party stuff that is guaranteed for the US market, we have no real idea at the moment when some of those titles will be released here. I think there’s a bit of an issue – if you’re going to region lock a console, you should be making sure that games are coming into the country! Otherwise savvy consumers will get grouchy.

VOOKS: Is it strange – or is it actually worrying that they don’t know? It’s Nintendo… and they’re launching a new console. If anyone should know it should be them!

I don’t think we should worry about the third party situation too much, retailers have a good selection for launch day. However, that being said, I do think we’ll see some fall through the cracks. Will we have every game that the US or UK get on day one? Probably not, but it’s just so surprising to see that the games we’re missing out on are Nintendo titles.

This whole situation is very worrying, if Nintendo are delaying (or can’t get) their own games out on time from day one, it won’t give buyers any sort of confidence that choosing to buy locally is the right choice. We got lucky on the Nintendo 3DS price, but delays from day one and the inability to import (at least from the US and Japan) – it’s worrying.

MARK: I think you’re right – third party support is strong. I suppose the real story is the lack of Nintendo games. There’s no Mario game, no Pilotwings, no Zelda, no Mario Kart. In short – no real reason for traditional Nintendo fans to pick up the console day one.

Traditionally, Nintendo games have been the big driver for Nintendo consoles, but it seems that this time round, Nintendo are convinced that the tech will sell itself – which it will, to begin with, but I wonder if we’ll see a big drop off once the early adopters get their 3DS fix.

Because not only is Pilotwings missing launch, according to the press release it’s missing the launch window entirely – which means we won’t see another Nintendo game on the 3DS until after June. That’s a helluva long wait from March.

MARK: I think you’re wrong on that point Mark, there’s no way Nintendo will wait until June to release those games. No one will stand for a three month delay on launch games – those games have to be coming soon after. Nintendo wouldn’t do that to us… right?

You are right though on the other point, Nintendo usually lets Mario or some other big named character sell the console. This time with the hardware being as different as it is they WILL let the whole ’3D wow’ aspect sell it for a while. The amount of included games and trinkets in the system out of the box too will help that.

Hopefully they avoid the mistakes of the Wii, where they left it too long and everyone got sick of the ‘Wii Sports machine’. That started the whole long running joke about the Wii collecting dust. Games came – just way too late and a lot of people got sick of waiting. The same thing is happening with Kinect as well.

I read this on NeoGAF and though it was apt: this whole Steel Diver and Pilotwings Resort at launch situation is a good microcosm of how Nintendo treats its various external regions. America gets both, Europe gets one, Australia gets zero.

Source http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/02/objection-nintendos-3ds-launch-line-up/

0 comments

New meltdown at Virgin check-in

Posted by . , Tuesday, February 15, 2011 2:46 AM

Thousands of Virgin Blue passengers faced delays at airports around the country after the airline’s reservations and baggage system crashed this afternoon.

Angry passengers fired heated messages through social networking site Twitter about a failure of the check-in and boarding systems and the lack of communication from the airline about the problem.

Messages started rolling in from Virgin Blue passengers in Sydney Airport at 4.43pm, at Hobart airport at 4.46pm, at Canberra at 5.01pm, at Melbourne airport at 5.07pm and at Brisbane at 5.21pm.

The airline’s bookings functions on its website went down, too, as it feeds into the same reservations system.

The outage left passengers waiting as boarding passes and baggage had to be processed manually.

"Virgin Blue checking system down, please not 24hrs at the airport ... They’ve had plenty of practice at their manual system lately," was typical of passengers' comments.

It’s the latest embarrassing breakdown of the "Navitaire" reservations system since an 11-day outage last year, despite assurances to the airline that the problems had been fixed.

In last year's outage, Virgin Blue estimated it cost the airline $15 million to $20 million in lost earnings, and the company was finalising its negotiations with Navitaire for financial compensation.

This evening, 10 Virgin Blue flights due to depart from Melbourne were listed as "delayed", some by an hour or more.

Other peak-hour flights managed to take off up to an hour late.

Some flights were two hours late leaving Sydney late this afternoon.

One reader reported seeing planes banked up at Sydney Airport around 6pm.

"There were approximately 8-10 Virgin planes lined up on the end of the runway, with more coming in to join them," the reader said.

"I thought it must have been a publicity shot! I suspect that they were waiting to get to a boarding gate".

In Queensland, Rohan Thomas, said "all Virgin flights are delayed two hours out of the Gold Coast. No check in system but the staff are coping OK with the confusion".

Another reader, who is collecting relatives from Melbourne Airport, also spoke of delays.

"Apparently Melbourne-bound passengers departing Hobart have had to collect any luggage that had been checked in, re-line up and re-check in so it can be done again manually," John Asome said.

"The passengers I am collecting are my two and three-year-old nieces and their mother.

"I suspect all three might be a little feral once they arrive."

A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said the the system was now back up and running as normal, after initially switching over to a back-up.

"There are going to be delays tonight," she said.

"The flight schedules will continue as normal tonight with minimal delays — up to 60 minutes a flight.

"We’re currently investigating the cause of the issue with our IT provider."

However, a passenger rejected the airline's claim of minimal delays: "There is no way things are normal. My flight is showing 1 hour 45 mins late already, with another hour and a half before its new depart time," Dean Frye said.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/new-meltdown-at-virgin-checkin-20110215-1auxw.html

0 comments

Androids attack: Google Nexus S to hit Australia

Posted by . , Tuesday, February 8, 2011 2:52 AM

Launching in Australia "soon" ... Google's Nexus S.

Launching in Australia "soon" ... Google's Nexus S.

The second Google-branded smartphone is about to hit Australia as analysts predict the search giant's mobile platform will surpass iPhone sales in Australia within a few years.

The Google Nexus S, released in the US and Britain in December last year, will be sold in Australia "soon", according to Vodafone which has clinched a global distribution deal. Those interested in buying one are being asked to register their interest on Vodafone's website.

Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson confirmed it would be launching its Android-based Xperia Play - dubbed the "PlayStation Phone" - on February 13. Support for Android is exploding with new phones soon to be launched by Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG and Acer.

The "PlayStation Phone" ... Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play.

The "PlayStation Phone" ... Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play.

The Nexus S, manufactured by Samsung, is the successor to the Nexus One, which launched around the world in early 2010 but only reached Australia in small quantities in July last year.

The Nexus S is the first Android phone with a built-in near-field communication (NFC) chip, which opens up a raft of new applications such as the ability to pay for items by swiping your phone on a shop scanner. NFC, which has only been running in limited trials in Australia, has been reported as a feature of the next iPhone model.

The device is manufactured by Samsung, whereas the Nexus One was built by HTC. It runs version 2.3 of Android (dubbed Gingerbread) and offers a 4-inch super AMOLED screen, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera for photos, front-facing VGA camera for video chat, 16GB of built-in storage and 512MB of internal memory.

Vodafone Australia did not reveal pricing or a firm sale date for the Nexus S, which is based on Samsung's Galaxy S.

Foad Fadaghi, telecommunications analyst at the Australian firm Telsyte, said he expected Google's Android platform to "match or exceed" iPhone sales in Australia by 2013.

"We expect Android will have a market share of 18 per cent by the end of this year," he said.

"Nexus S represents even further improvements of the Android platform with version 2.3. It addresses the top end aspirational market and is suitable for existing Android users wanting an upgrade."

But Fadaghi said he expected most of the growth in the Android platform would come from cheaper mid-range handsets sold on pre-paid SIMs.

Mark Novosel, telco analyst at research firm IDC, said the Nexus S, being a Google-branded phone, would receive software updates faster and offer a "pure Android experience" without other vendors' custom user interfaces.

But the Android phone Novosel is most excited about is the LG Optimus 2X.

"Being the first dual-core processor smartphone, its extremely responsive and the screen has a wide viewing angle and very vibrant colours," said Novosel.

"LG's Optimus Black will also be one to watch, its slimmer, lighter and promises outstanding outdoor visibility with an extremely bright screen."

Novosel said he expected Android to become the number one smartphone operating system in Australia by the middle of this year, but in terms of a vendor-by-vendor comparison Apple would likely remain in first place.

Google has added new features to Android in recent weeks to help it catch up with iPhone, including an Android Market web store that can be accessed from PCs and in-app purchasing, allowing app developers to sell new content and upgrades from within their apps.

But this move suffered a slight setback after security firm Sophos warned that the Android Market website could be used to install malware on users' phones.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/androids-attack-google-nexus-s-to-hit-australia-20110208-1aknf.html

0 comments

NBN deal is worth $300m to DY company

Posted by . , Tuesday, January 18, 2011 11:26 PM

DEE Why company Prysmian has been awarded a contract of up to $300 million to supply fibre-optic cables for the National Broadband Network.

The new $43 billion network will provide internet speeds 100 times faster than those currently used by most households and businesses and its wireless and satellite technology will be able to deliver 12 megabits per second or more to people living in remote parts of rural Australia.

However, the contract has been awarded in an overwhelmingly Liberal Party-voting area, where the Federal Opposition has been strongly opposed to the construction of the new network.

Warringah MP and Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott has opposed the network from the outset and on Tuesday told a press conference the Federal Government cannot afford it in the wake of the Queensland floods.

“The National Broadband Network is a luxury that Australia cannot now afford,” he said.

“The one thing you don’t do is redo your bathroom when your roof has just been blown off.”

The network will provide a high-speed internet network for Australia, in line with the leading international standards such as networks in Korea and Japan.

According to the Federal Government, every person and business in Australia, no matter their location, will have access to affordable, fast broadband at their fingertips.

For the Dee Why company, the five-year contract will mean job certainty for about 125 existing staff, with up to 50 extra jobs to be created, in areas including transport, logistics and training.

Prysmian was the leading supplier of ribbon cable to the Verizon FiOS project in the US, a project of similar scale to the NBN.

Source http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/nbn-deal-is-worth-300m-to-dy-company/

0 comments

Flock to Facebook for flood updates

Posted by . , Wednesday, January 12, 2011 2:53 AM

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have brought together Queenslanders hunting for up-to-the-minute information on the devastating floods afflicting the sunshine state.

As Queensland Police work around the clock to keep the public informed on the movement of flood waters, they have also turned to these popular sites to publish updates and combat myths and rumours, as citizens post photos, updates and words of encouragement to one another.

Although Queensland is issuing information through its State Disaster Management Service website, some web services have been disrupted with Brisbane City Council's flood flag map unable to cope with the high demand for updates on road closures and evacuations.
Advertisement: Story continues below

As a consequence, Facebook and Twitter have become a crucial lifeline as Queensland Police publish regular bulletins about the flood waters, warnings of road closures, and evacuation procedures.

The official Queensland Police Service Facebook page is also serving as a noticeboard for those with local information.

On the page, desperate requests for new information on affected areas are being answered by those with firsthand knowledge, while others have offered lodgings to evacuees, and posted messages of support and advice on everything from which bridges are closed to safe locations for leaving evacuated pets.

“I have no money to give. I do have a dry house and a spare room (my 3 yr old will bunk in with us and you can have her queen bed),” wrote one on the QPS page.

The same official police updates are also being relayed via Twitter, which many private citizens and media outlets have retweeted, adding their own comments and photographs of the unfolding disaster under various hashtag categories including #qldfloods #thebigwet and #bnefloods.

Posts such as: "Been told to go home from Eagle St office," and "People going nuts swarming grocery stores to 'stock up,"' give outsiders a small glimpse into events as they unfold. Other posts caused unnecessary panic in the afternoon after relaying false information, leaving Queensland Police to undertake a mythbusting exercise.

Some of the false reports included a panicked message that Brisbane CBD was being evacuated and the public transport system closed down.

Other Twitter users also attempted to stem the panic.

“People saying 45 minutes until Brisbane CBD underwater! Please stop causing unnecessary panic,” wrote one.

"Incorrect tweets about Brisbane transport and airport closing have caused needless panic. Please be responsible", said another.

In spite of the confusion, most tweets that were posted sought to help rather than hinder with some even offering neighbours free access to their WiFi networks, according to technology website itnews.com.au.

Flooding has also affected some landline and mobile telephone services in parts of Queensland. “One of the biggest issues we're facing is the damage caused by flood water. In some cases we simply cannot gain access to sites to repair damage and will have to wait for flood waters to recede so we can safely access some parts of the network,” said Telstra on its website.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/flock-to-facebook-for-flood-updates-20110111-19mfr.html

0 comments

9,000 get on the Vodafone class action bus

Posted by . , Wednesday, January 5, 2011 12:12 AM

Local law firm Piper Alderman today claimed to have collected the details of some 9,000 customers who were interested in taking part in a class action lawsuit against mobile telco VHA over its troubled Vodafone network hiccups over the past few months.

The firm only called for registrations of interest early last week, in the wake of enduring public interest in VHA’s problems, spurred by online forums such as Vodafail.com. Since that time, the company has apologised several times over the problems and committed to upgrading its Vodafone network and targeting trouble spots.

But class action veteran Piper Alderman seems determined to push ahead.

“To date, approximately 9,000 Vodafone customers have registered their interest,” it stated in an update to its web site today. “In the next five to ten business days, we will be sending group members a request for further information relating to their specific circumstances. Upon receipt of this information, we will process it and take the matter forward.”

In addition, the firm may extend the action to customers of VHA’s ’3′ brand.

“Due to the number of enquiries we have received from 3 customers, we will investigate potential claims against 3. When we ask you for further information, we will ask you to identify yourself as either a 3 customer or a Vodafone customer,” Piper Alderman wrote.

One key issue in the firm’s prosecution of its case against VHA will be obtaining what the legal profession refers to as ‘litigation funding’. On its site, Piper Alderman noted it would need to apply for such funding, which would be used to fund the legal costs of taking a case to court. Such funds are often reimbursed by the target of a lawsuit in the case that the prosecution is awarded what the court calls “costs”.

“Usually, upon a successful outcome, the litigation funder will be entitled to reimbursement of the legal fees it has paid plus a percentage of any compensation to which group members are entitled,” wrote the firm. “This commission is usually in the range of 25 to 40 percent of that compensation If litigation funding is obtained successfully, you will be asked to enter into a litigation funding agreement with the funder.”

Ultimately, the firm noted the entire process could take between 12 to 24 months to achieve a result.

VHA has previously indicated it was aware of the potential lawsuit. “The most important thing we can do is to remain focused on improving our customers’ experience of our network, and keep working with our customers, individually, to understand their experience, resolve it and make it up to them,” a spokesperson said late last month.

“There’s no higher priority than making sure customers are happy with their service and I am very sorry that some have not been happy recently. We are also in contact with the ACCC and other consumer groups to advise them of what we are doing to improve network performance and service to our customers, and are keeping our customers across changes through our website.”

Source http://delimiter.com.au/2011/01/05/9000-get-on-the-vodafone-class-action-bus/

0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)