Well I got a job at iTnews.

I’ve been doing a lot of stories for them and creating some fun videos with Munir Kotadia since I started there full-time in September.

I’ve embedded one of the latest videos as it’s the last one (before bloopers) for 2009.

My presenting skills have come a long way since the first episode in October. I cringe every time I watch that episode. Let me know what you think!

The first episode was recorded when I was sitting at the local work pub with Munir and he said something like ‘I’m going to make you a celebrity’ … well not exactly like that. It was more like ‘we need to do something with video, something nice and short, every week’.

And so it began.

We’ve recorded shows in the Atomic gaming room, in the office, in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and at the park across the rode.

Video has been shot in Canberra at the launch of Australia’s most powerful supercomputer at the Australian National University and I’ve had the pleasure of stalking Telstra CEO David Thodey.

It has been fun and I’m hoping to get it all up on iTunes shortly so people can subscribe.

So that’s what I’ve been doing.

P.S I’ve spoken to Brett Pudney (briefly) about getting the podcast going again.

I am hoping to sort myself out over Christmas and get that going. No promises, yet.

Telstra preemted the outcome of a court case it had today and said it was going to plea guilty when in fact it didn’t.

Bigpondnews.com reported this morning that Telstra, its sister company, would likely plead guilty to allegations by the ACCC that is was misleading and deceptive in telling wholesale customers that several telephone exchanges were full when they weren’t.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 » 08:33am

Telstra is likely to admit to allegations brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that could lead to a $300 million fine.

Telstra is accused of misleading and deceptive conduct by telling its wholesale customers that seven telephone exchanges were full when they were not.

Analysts say Telstra’s competitors are likely to use the admission to argue that it should be separated up to prevent such conduct.

The irony in all of this is that Bigpond has an interest in Telstra as it is apart of the one company.

A Telstra spokesperson indicated to Tech Wired that it had either accidentally syndicated the article or based it off of a report in the Australian Financial Review that Telstra would admit it was guilty of wrongdoing.

The article has since been removed.

Large organisations urged to donate

Not-for-profit organisation WorkVentures has celebrated the delivery of its 20,000th low-cost computer.

WorkVentures, an organisation that specialises in refurbishing redundant workplace PCs, celebrated the delivery of its 20,000th PC to Sydney resident Mrs Jennifer Arnold last week.

The organisation provides refurbished PCs to disadvantaged people from $250 a pop and made it clear it can only continue to do so if PCs continue to be donated.

“Our challenge with a program like this is really balancing supply and demand,” said Arsenio Alegre, CEO of WorkVentures.

“Supply, at times, comes in drips and drops,” he said. “You’ll have one big supply in one period and then suddenly there isn’t as much.”

“Our role in managing it to make sure that there is an even flow so that we can work with organisations like Centrelink who have been very vital in promoting this program as well as housing New South Wales.”

Westpac have donated more than 14,000 PCs to WorkVentures since it kick-started the program in 2002.

It plans to deliver even more now that it has merged with other banks.

“We’ve just recommitted our support into the future…and now that we’re part of a larger group since we merged with St George and Bank SA in December, we’re looking at ways we can increase our support,” said Samantha Brown, Head of Community Engagement at the Westpac Group.

Brown added that the role of WorkVentures had helped Westpac find a solution for the disposal of old computers.

“One of the things we love most about this program is that it…solves a business problem for us,” she said. “We dispose of our PCs safely and securely and it ensures nothing goes to landfill,” she said.

“It also provides a really practical way for us to…make a positive contribution to employment and training of young people as well as looking at how we can improve the accessibility of technology to people.”

Other organisations recognised included Toll Priority and Microsoft.

Toll Priority delivers the computers at cost which Alegre said “enables them (purchasers) to make a significant saving in their acquisition of computers.”

Microsoft has also helped out by giving WorkVentures its software for free.

“The computers, when we refurbish them, they don’t (initially) work, there isn’t any software,” Alegre said.

“This is where Microsoft comes in with their On My Way program,” he said. “They provide the software for these computers for free.”

Alegre added that without “the collaboration amongst the various sectors” their project would not be possible.

Also at the celebration was Federal Minister for Human Services, Chris Bowen, who said that WorkVentures had helped close the gap on “social inclusion”.

“We all think of poverty and we think of money,” he said. “Poverty is about much more than that, It’s about being restricted from full involvement in our wonderful society,” he said.

“To be fully engaged in our society you need to be computer literate and have access to a computer.”

Tech Wired Australia episode 109.

Hosts: Ben Grubb and Brent Pudney.

Topics discussed:

McAfee sends out customer details in email

Optus shocked over ACCC court action

Libraries object to internet filtering

Conroy vows to tackle illegal file sharing

Specialised windows 7 version for Europe with no browser

MELBOURNE-BASED Ruslan Kogan, the founder of the Australian-based consumer electronics company Kogan Technologies, is branching out to the US market and says his buying power will increase by over 1000 per cent in doing so.

At a press briefing last week Mr Kogan showed off some of his latest products and announced that he was ready to open a warehouse in the US State of Kentucky.

There’s some good news for his Australian customers too, he says.

Analysis done by Kogan Technologies in regards to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) indicates that any search term in Australia like LCD TV or Blu-ray, for example, the US are searching 25 per cent more.

“As soon as we go to the UK our US and Aussie customers will benefit,” he said.

One issue Kogan will face with getting into the US market is getting his SEO and branding right.

As Kogan doesn’t own the domain name Kogan.com it’s likely he’s going to have to purchase it from its owner Tucows Inc, an internet services company.

However, Tucows owned the domain name ten years prior to Kogan and have refused to hand it over even though Kogan says they are breaching his trademark.

“Our lawyers are onto it,” he said. “It was secured ten years before we came into the marketplace and we’ve had some interesting conversations with them recently because they are actually passing off on the Kogan trademark,” he added. “If you go to Kogan.com they’re advertising LCD TVs, GPS’s and Digital photo frames.”

Kogan remains confident in getting the domain name.

“We’re trying, but we’ll get there,” he said

The young entrepreneur has been undercutting the Australian market for quite some time now and says he can do it by taking out the middleman.

“The fact that containers (are) direct to here, straight to customers, none of the overheads the other companies have (and) an efficient business model, a paperless office, things like that,” are all things Mr Kogan says are the reasons he can keep his prices lower than other big name brands.

Kogan will do anything in his power to keep prices at bare minimum, including the removal of paper manuals from products.

“Sony will spend $2 printing each one of their manuals,” he said. “You’re probably not even going to read it.”

“We’ll put it online.”

When asked why he chose Kentucky he said it was mathematically the right choice.

“There’s been a lot of maths done and that’s the central point…because it’s cheaper to distribute to the rest of America.”

When commenting on his launch in America he said it was much more easier than launching in Australia because of “stupid” Australian Government standards.

“Launching into America is even easier than Australia because our government was stupid enough to select a digital TV standard that none of the world uses,” he added.

“Our TVs are more expensive to manufacture already because the manufacturing process can only be used for Australia.”

The launch of the US warehouse will also see the launch of his pro-range of LCD TVs.

“The ones with (a) built-in DVD player, USB drive and SD card,” Kogan said.

Kogan re-affirmed that once he secures the US market it’ll have a great impact on Australian prices.

“When our buying power grows to that magnitude, our Aussie customers are going to benefit because that is going to drop our prices.”

• BarCamp Sydney this Saturday June 27th (tomorrow).
• Listen to an interview from the last Sydney BarCamp.
• Register.
• Directions.

Tomorrow is Saturday June 27th and it’s time for another Sydney BarCamp to be held at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern, Sydney.

So what’s a BarCamp?

“BarCamp is an intense community event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees,” It’s community members say.

“Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to participate.”

Usual discussions at the event:

The usual discussions at the event include:

• Comparing startups in San Fransisco to Australia and whether startups should accept funding;
• Coding and hacking;
• The latest internet technology; and
• The most randomness thing you won’t even think will be talked about.

Almost 200 people have registered for the latest Sydney BarCamp, with previous ones seeing more than 100 people show up; sponsors even put in some money for food and drink.

“There’s something for everyone,” said un-organiser Jean-Jacques Halans at the last one.

“The things we talk about here touch on everyone’s life; everyone uses the internet”

Microsoft Australia have announced Windows 7 pricing for Australia:

From the media release:

Windows 7 Upgrade Option
Customers who purchase a new Windows Home Premium, Business or Ultimate PC from today (26 June 2009) will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 for little or no cost when it launches on 22 October this year. This means that consumers can purchase and use a new Windows PC now, while being assured they are investing in the latest technology.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Option will run until 31 January 2010, and people can redeem the offer until the end of February 2010.

In addition, from now until the end of the financial year (30 June 2009) eligible Australian families can take advantage of the Education Tax Refund (ETR) on offer from the Australian Federal Government. The ETR allows eligible parents of school-age children to claim up to 50 percent back on expenses related to their kids’ education, including Windows PCs.

This incentive, combined with Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Option, makes for a very attractive opportunity for eligible Australian families who have a window of opportunity from 26-30 June 2009 to take advantage of both offers by buying a Windows PC with a guaranteed upgrade to Windows 7 and getting up to 50% of the cost back from the Federal Government through the ETR.

Consumers can check if the Windows PC they are purchasing is part of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option by:
1.       Checking in-store stickers on the PC they are looking to purchase
2.       Visiting the Microsoft website www.windows.com/upgradeoffer
3.       Asking in-store if the PC they’re buying is eligible for the Windows 7 Upgrade

For more information on Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Option go to:
http://www.windows.com/upgradeoffer

For more information on the Australian Government’s Education Tax Refund go to:
http://www.educationtaxrefund.gov.au/home/

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy want you to change your password.

Checkout http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/ for more info or watch the video below.

Yesterday Google launched an Australian version of its successful flu tracker that authorities believe reveals evidence of ‘Swine flu hype’.

IN HOPE of predicting and informing the severeness and scale of flu virus’ similar to the Swine Flu, Google announced yesterday an Australian version of Google Flu Trends in conjunction with health authorities’ data.

The Australian and New Zealand release follows the launch of the service Google have already deployed in Mexico and the United States.

Heath Kelly, the head of the Epidemiology Unit at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) told Tech Wired that he believed the data revealed that the current Australian flu season appeared similar to previous years when compared with Google’s results.

“It appears as though the Swine Flu is no greater than any other flu season from previous years,” he said.

“It may be able to put out the swine flu hype.”

Mr Kelly also said that multiple sources of information gathered would help provide better understanding of the flu virus, and that Google Flu Trends provided one aspect of value that could identify trends in influenza activity.

“Having additional sources of data will be even more important than usual in the current influenza season, with the circulation of novel influenza A (H1N1), commonly known as swine flu, already established in Victoria,” he said.

“It’s providing interesting data because our surveillance says there is a high rise in the flu.”

With the help of the VIDRL, Google Australia hopes to inform the general public and authorities of any threats in an outbreak of the influenza virus.

The search giant found, by analysing certain anonymous search terms, that queries related to the flu tended to be very common during the flu season each year, as you’d expect.

“Upon building this model, we found that our historical Google search data correlated well with the VIDRL’s historical data in terms of flu activity in past years,” Google said in a statement.

“As the season unfolds this year, we’ll be watching to see how well our flu model performs compared with these existing surveillance systems.”

Google’s Flu Trend tracker has already shown how powerful its aggregated results can be when it predicted the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico; but it was all too late.

It was only after inquiries were made to Google by public health officials until it lead them to create an experimental graph that showed an increase in flu-related search terms just before the Swine Flu spread.

By using its Geolocation knowledge, Google can then pinpoint locations in terms of which state those search queries were made from and display them on a map. This can then allow authorities to pinpoint locations for quarantine of future outbreaks.

The VIDRL’s Heath Kelly said he would be watching Google’s Flu Trend tracker to “…keep a keen eye on”.

The Australian version of the website is available at:

http://www.google.org/flutrends/intl/en_au/

IN A WORLD where you could stay a fan boy of a brand such as Apple for life, could you live without your preferred laptop, phone and entertainment system for a week?

Crazy man Anthony Agius, aka @Decryption and co-founder of MacTalk.com.au, is embarking on a 5-day week without Apple to see if he can cope.

“For a full working week, beginning as of 12:01am Monday the 1st of June, I will abandon my Apple products, casting them to the fortress that is my mother’s house,” he said

Can he do it?

Anthony will be giving up the following items:

• 15″ MacBook Pro (Early 2008) – 2.4Ghz CPU, 4GB RAM, 200GB 7200RPM HDD
• 16GB iPhone 3G
• AirPort Express
• AppleTV 40GB

To replace these items he will use:

• HP Pavilion dv6-1143tx – 2.4Ghz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 5400RPM HDD
• RIM Blackberry Bold
• Linksys WRT610N
• TiVo

If he doesn’t co crazy, Anthony hopes to document his day by day journey of equivalent products @ http://www.mactalk.com.au/tag/noapple/

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away then I think Anthony is going to be at the doctor every day this week.