Nokia have announced today that they have selected Windows Phone 7 as their primary smartphone platform. They are going to phase out Symbian, Nokia's existing primary smartphone platform. In addition to delivering handsets -
A sleek, black, 14 x 25cm QWERTY keyboard, the Webbox uses standard RCA connectors to plug into the television. With no set-up required, the plug and play keyboard converts any standard domestic television into an internet portal.
The Department of Internal Affairs' Anti-Spam Compliance Unit has introduced a web page recording enforcement action under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.
We all knew it would happen. Just like that, after moving from being Vodafone Head of Communications to TUANZ CEO, Paul Brislen changed sides and declared:
"Let's look at that baggage - Vodafone's coverage in the rural sector has always been less than optimal. The company says it covers 97% of where New Zealanders live work and play - but that's people, not geography and in rural and remote areas you can leave the township and immediately lose coverage."
Now this is nothing new, and we all knew it. The discussion about "people" and "geography" is a long one. And it's not only on Vodafone, but Telecom as well. With all the economic implications.
Under the emergency powers provisions of the Telecoms Act, the Egyptian authorities can instruct the mobile networks of Mobinil, Etisalat and Vodafone to send messages to the people of Egypt.
The Vodafone Egypt contact centre is one of Vodafone New Zealand's four contact centres and handles customer service calls relating to consumer on-account and prepay mobile customers.
Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix.
An interesting chart from Arbor Networks showing the drop in Internet traffic to and from Egypt on 27th January 2011. At 5:20pm EST the Egyptian government started blocking communications traffic. The chart is based on data from 80 Internet providers from around the world using Arbor Networks Atlas technology:
For you folks interested in application development, management the New Zealand ALM Conference 2011 should be interesting. It's happening 6th & 7th April 2011, at The Duxton Hotel, Wellington.
Some of the sessions being presented:
Building reliable software with .NET 4 Code Contracts
Building and Deploying Cloud Apps with Windows Azure and VS2010
SharePoint Tools Tailor made to suit your development scenarios
MVVM based Silverlight development with VS2010
Continuous Integration for SharePoint Development
Enhancing your testing capability using Coded UI tests in VS 2010
Panel Discussion: Real world benefits using ALM tools and practices
Breaking the Dev/Test Barrier with Visual Studio 2010
Turbo charging TFS with things not in the box
Team Foundation Server 2010 for Successful Project Management
Windows Phone 7 Development with VS2010 and Expression Blend
Building Business Programming Toolkits with VS2010
The global market for mobile broadband will continue to grow rapidly, and by 2015 one billion people will use it as their only form of internet access, according to new research from independent analyst house Ovum.
What's the Southern Cross Cable? It's a submarine cable linking New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and the U.S. (Hawaii and mainland). It's owned by Telecom New Zealand (50%), SingTel (40%) and Verizon Business (10%).
So, I've been notified that the 100mb trial that TelstraClear has running in Wellington is due to finish at the end of January 2011, and I have given some feedback around what I thought the service was good for:
1. iTunes 2. YouTube HD Video 3. The ever-present Microsoft and Apple patchs, regular and clockwork and flippin enormous every time 4. Virtual working (Citrix, VMWare and so on), due to the need for LOW latency.
I also found a useful extra which I thought were quite good:
Plays For Sure content. Over xmas, my kids got some DVD's they wanted to watch on dad's iPod. These DVD's came with the option to get a digital version that works across a number of widgets.
Each DVD has a unique 500-number key, but once entered correctly you get to DOWNLOAD a new file that gets deposited in your library (iTunes in my case). Each movie is high-qual, scales from iPod to 24" monitor without artifacting. and is 1.25GB in size.
In my previous article, I discussed 'Always On' - the concept whereby you can always get what you want, with blistering speed (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/antoniosk/7513). This was one of those times that speed mattered - and the movies just flew down. I have also downloaded a few hefty album CD's, which come replete with Video Singles - fantastic, beautifally encoded content that looks the biz. And boy does it burn the GB's.
I don't really care that this doesn't have 'GEEK' appeal; I am well capable of finding filched content like most people, but I choose not to, because the experience is just so poor - and to what end? I've got friends that try to get the latest movies which have been camcorded from the theatre and sent out on the torrents
Sure Signal (standard)After a somewhat problematic process I now have a Vodafone NZ 'Sure Signal' branded Femto cell (micro cell site) gadget up and running. And I'm pleased to say it delivers. If you have problems with 3G mobile cover
This short documentary is worth thirty minutes of your time. Lots of insights from people who worked in one of the most iconic technology company ever, IBM.
The IBM Centennial video video shows people who participated in the shaping of the company, and the shaping of our future.
One bad thing about the low quality newspapers we have here in New Zealand, trying to inflate the number of pages available online is that some of the articles are just a syndication of their Australian counterparts, without bothering to adapt those articles to local reality.
The following headlines are all taken from Stuff, republishing Sydney Morning Herald (can't be bothered giving link love, same policy as theirs):
- "Vodafone dealers pose as customers" - "Vodafail submits damning Vodafone report" - "I hate going to work: Vodafone dealer" - "Vodafone sacks staff over database breaches" - "Vodafone probes privacy breach" - "Customers in Vodafone legal action"
Note that none of these headlines point out these are all about Vodafone Australia and Vodafone New Zealand is not implicated in this debacle at all. But if you are reading these headlines here in New Zealand then you'd automatically think of the local Vodafone subsidiary
A technology which has been offered in many other places around the world has finally been launched in NZ. Femto Cells are available immediately from Vodafone NZ and allow those in homes or regions lacking in cellular coverage to link a mini cellular
At a press conference held in Las Vegas in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 Microsoft have just announced that the next version of Windows will support 'System on a Chip' architectures from Intel, AMD, and ARM. The big news a
I normally take little notice of viral videos, but this one is inspiring.
Ted Williams is homeless, and he stands on the side of Interstate 71 in Columbus, Ohio to beg for money, with a sign that reads:
I have a God given gift of voice, I'm an ex-radio announcer who has fallen on hard times. Please! Any help will be gratefully appreciated. Thank you and God bless you. Happy Holidays.
Being in the right place at the right time, a video of him was posted on YouTube by a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch:
New Zealand company Information Leadership has become the world's second Microsoft partner to achieve SharePoint Elite status, and the first to receive this accreditation on the 2010 version of the software, which is used to develop information and knowledge management systems.
Today I spent 45 minutes waiting in line at NZ Post Sylvia Park, which is part of Paper Plus. The 25 people standing with me was initially the biggest shock, with most people doing banking. I just wanted to post my CourierPost package and be on my merry way.
What I witnessed today was a circus of poor training, customer frustration and bad PR. I am not a Kiwibank customer, though I'll admit, I was thinking about swapping to them before today's performance. I acknowledge that it's not fair to judge Kiwibank on one branch, and one encounter, though this was so poor it's hard not to leave without a bitter taste in my mouth.
What I saw today included:
Three stations with three staff to serve a queue of 25. It was a long time before I got served, and most of us were pretty fed up by the time we got to the counter. Obviously this was known as they had allowed plenty of space for us to queue.
One Kiwibank customer had a question that his attendant couldn't answer. She jumped on the phone, was on hold for some time, then the customer stormed out after it took too long for her to get an answer.
Another customer was trying to refinance his mortgage. He had the forms, the first staff member had no idea what to do, so asked him to rejoin the queue. After waiting again, the second staff member was also unsure, so she tried her hardest to complete the parts of the form he had been posted. He (and rightly so) gave her a piece of his mind.
Another customer was left waiting with a sizeable amount of cash in her hand, after making a withdrawal while the staff member left to get another form. The customer was very nervous and wanted to leave quickly as she was a target with so much cash.
My suggestion: Kiwibank, build some dedicated branches. NZ Post staff are not banking staff, they don't have the expertise. I'm sure you've lost some customers today, and rightly so - they were being served as part of a circus, not a reputable bank. Dedicated banking staff will learn who your customers are, and treat them well. You've done everything else so well, but dropped the ball so badly here.
The best quote has to go to the customer queuing behind me: maybe the other banks charge more as they get you out the door faster.
Knowledge is everything - so they say. And knowing where your energy usage is going is half way through savings. We look at Current Cost devices, a way to connect to Google Powermeter in New Zealand.
Customers with BlackBerry Smartphone, iPhone or iPod touch and the Starbucks Card Mobile App can now pay at Starbucks stores with their mobile handsets.
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I've decided to compile a list of free anti-malware software you can use now on your PC, to have a safer 2011
