Macquarie IT Society News

Intel Microarchitecture Demo

2006-05-30T23:27:00.000+10:00

Take a look inside the technology that drives Intel Duo and Intel Duo 2 CPUs with a great multimedia presentation from Intel.

Early in 2007 Intel will be launching QUAD core CPUs for servers!

New movie services arrive on Internet

2006-04-12T13:17:00.000+10:00

Apr 10, 2006 3:29 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter

Six major Hollywood studios started selling digital versions of movies on the Internet last week � the first time they have allowed U.S. consumers to buy films online and store them indefinitely with no viewing expiration date.

Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and MGM are offering films for sale on a co-owned Website called Movielink.com. Prices range from $10 and $30 per film, with the average being about $20.

In a separate announcement, Sony and Lionsgate said they would sell films through the CinemaNow site. Films from the Walt Disney Co. were not available. Both groups said they are negotiating with Disney for rights.

Both CinemaNow, which began by offering nearly 300 films this week, and Movielink, which offered about 75, will offer films the same day they are released for sale on DVD.
Many have noted that the studio's sales through iTunes have been much greater than he expected. Moreover, Universal's research showed that the majority of those downloads were watched on computer screens, not video iPods, indicating that people are willing to watch video on their PCs.

The New York Times said Apple, Amazon.com and other online retailers are also busily trying to cut deals with Hollywood to sell downloads. In general, the studios want to make downloads available on largely the same terms, in as many places as possible.

For now, these movie downloads are a bit cumbersome and the studios have limited the way they can be watched. A movie will need about one gigabyte of hard-drive space and will take an hour or two to download using a high-speed Internet connection.

CinemaNow will allow the movies to be played only on a single computer. It prevents users from burning a DVD. Movielink will allow the movie to be copied onto a DVD, from which the movie can be downloaded to two other computers, but it cannot be played on a conventional DVD player.

The movies also cannot be copied to Apple's video iPod or the handheld video players that use software from Microsoft. The studios are expected to permit downloads to portable devices later this year.

Mitsubishi unveils new HDTV technology

2006-04-12T13:15:00.000+10:00

Apr 10, 2006 4:04 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter

Mitsubishi has developed a new commercial television technology that uses colored lasers to display images on large, thin, lightweight screens-surpassing images seen on film, the New York Times reported.

The television sets are expected to reach stores sometime late next year.

At the heart of the new television is an existing rear-projection technology called digital light processing. In the past, this technology, developed by Texas Instruments, used white-light mercury lamps as the television's light source.

With laser technology, separate red, green and blue lasers are used in conjunction with an HDTV chip, Frank DeMartin, vice president for marketing and product development at Mitsubishi, told the Times.

In terms of performance, DeMartin said the laser television promises a greater range and intensity of colors. He said the new sets would be made with compact, sculptured cabinets and remain relatively light because the screens would be advanced plastics rather than the glass common in plasma television flat-panel units.

Solid-state lasers, DeMartin said, will greatly outlast lamps. As a light source, he said, they are practically permanent, meaning that the lasers should last for the set's lifetime."

IBM to inject devices with security

2006-04-12T09:55:00.000+10:00

Apr 11, 2006 11:16 AM

In an effort to boost the level of data security on portable computers, cell phones and other gadgets, IBM Corp. is unveiling a method for injecting encryption capabilities into the heart of the machines' circuitry, The Associated Press reports.

There are ways to achieve encryption. Specialized software can do the trick, as can hard-wired chips inside computers.
But IBM researchers contend that unless the encryption function is performed by a computer's central processing unit, a supremely savvy hacker can tap into the pathway between the machine's brain and the encryption engine. [Ed - For more infomation on how to break into this side channel visit the RUXCON security conference]

To guard against that, IBM has developed 'SecureBlue,' encryption circuitry that can be integrated into any processor, regardless of its maker.
'This thing is trying to be one of the most paranoid devices on the planet,' Charles Palmer, IBM's head security researcher, tells The AP.

IBM is not the first to seek to integrate encryption into central processing functions. Intel Corp.'s upcoming 'LaGrande' essentially does that, though it requires interaction with a separate chip. The IBM researchers say they know how to skip that step.

Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group, said SecureBlue's design appears flexible enough to bring strong encryption to such settings as cell phones.
That could mean enhanced security not only for users who keep data on portable devices, but also for owners who can use encryption to lock down copyrighted material."

Security Articles

2006-03-01T15:04:00.000+11:00

A bunch of interesting PDF articles on a variety of security issues including rootkits, spyware and viruses.

iPod nano - What's Inside

2006-01-26T17:03:00.000+11:00

Ever thought your iPod nano looked a bit fragile? Think again after you read this review.

Also have a look inside to see what makes an iPod nano tick.

EVENT DETAIL - Make 2006 Your Best Year Yet

2006-01-04T01:03:00.000+11:00

Hope you had a great Xmas and holiday break, welcome to 2006!

Made any New Year Resolutions yet? How did your 2005 ones go? Study harder, Save more money, Get fit, Spend more time with loved ones, etc. Did they kinda disappear by the start of Feb 05? :)

It's probably because they were actually dreams - things that would be "nice" to have and not concrete things you were determined to achieve. It's time you turned new year resolutions into achievable GOALS.

My friend Dale Beaumont is presenting a fantastic goal setting seminar and workshop this Sat (7th Jan) afternoon from 6pm to 10:30pm at a Sydney CBD venue (Wesley Centre, 220 Pitt Street) just 10 min walk from Town Hall station.

The seminar is open to everyone and is great value at only $20 to cover venue costs, and you even get a free book!. A commercial seminar like this would cost in the $hundreds$. I can highly recommend this seminar and would suggest you make the effort to come along and bring some friends to kick start 2006 and make some great achievements this year.

Download the brochure and let me know if you can make it and i'll grab a ticket for you.

Kevin

Ziff Davis eSeminars - Information Technology Web Cast Seminars, Live Webcasts

2005-10-29T15:03:00.000+10:00

Another Ziff Davis offering - free online webcasts of industry sponsored seminars to get you up to date with different technologies and trends in IT.

Have a look today and register to listen to a few eseminars!

Ziff Davis Email Newsletters

2005-10-29T15:01:00.000+10:00

A giant list of newsletters that ZDNet publishes for all areas of IT including management, security, consumer, software, trends, and news.

The newsletters are usually headlines and summaries that link to ZDNet websites for the full article.

Some of the newsletters are from:
::PCMag :: ExtremeTech :: eWEEK :: CIO Insight :: Baseline :: eSeminars :: The Channel Insider :: Dev Source :: ExtremeiPod :: PDFZone :: Publish :: Sync :: DeviceForge.com :: Extreme WiMax :: Extreme Nano :: Extreme UWB :: Ziff Davis Internet

Sign up for some today and get UP TO DATE with what's happening in YOUR industry. Or maybe sign up for some CIO newsletters and start thinking like an IT manager.

Remember to uncheck the last two boxes on the form so you don't get spam.

Outside Looking In: The BSD Operating Systems

2005-10-04T13:21:00.000+10:00

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

A while back, someone asked me why the open-source BSD operating systems aren't as popular as Linux. It's a good question. Technically speaking, the BSDs are often every bit as good as Linux. Indeed, when it comes to security, OpenBSD is the best of breed.

Indeed, you can argue that BSD is actually more successful than Linux on the desktop. I'm referring, of course, to MacOS X, which is based on Darwin. Darwin, in turn, is built on top of Mach 3.0 operating-system services, which runs on top of the 4.4 BSD operating system.

However, developers usually see Darwin simply as the foundation for MacOS X and its Cocoa and Carbon toolkit-based application. Apple says it would like Darwin to become an operating system in its own right for both its native PowerPC and Intel's architectures. In practice, though, Darwin has made little progress as an independent operating system.

So why hasn't mainstream BSD become widely popular? The answer is that there is no mainstream BSD. Like the many Unixes of the past, it shot itself in the foot long ago by dividing into several different variants: SunOS, Wind River's BSD/OS, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. With five major forks, not counting Darwin, only SunOS, which became part of Solaris, has had great commercial success.

Click the heading to read the 3-page article

See you at RUXCON!

2005-10-01T00:47:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone!

RUXCON is on today, doors open 8:30am, entry is $50 for both days.

Remember you can get $$ rebated for going along because you're a MITS member, just remember to get a receipt for us!

Hope to meet some of you this weekend.

Kind Regards,
Kevin Wong
MITS Founder

DEF CON 2005 Calendar of Events

2005-09-30T00:51:00.000+10:00

You can get a quick look to see what is going on in hackerdom.

EVENT DETAIL - RUXCON 2005

2005-09-19T00:13:00.000+10:00

Update on RUXCON 2005

What is it: RUXCON is a conference organised by and for the Australian computer security community. It is an attempt to bring together the individual talents of the Australian scene, through live presentations, activities, and demonstrations.

When is it: Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd of October 2005!

Where is it: The venue will be UTS once again.

2005 Presentations: http://www.ruxcon.org.au/2005-presentations.shtml
Here are a few (check out above link for all presentations)

Breaking Mac OSX
Binary protection schemes
Black Box Web Application Penetration Testing
Computer Forensics: Practise and Procedure
Poker Paranoia
Moving towards the Artificial Hacker
VoIPhreaking: How to make free phone calls and influence people
Electronic Evidence - a Law Enforcement Perspective
Crypto Rodeo
Trust Transience: Post Intrusion SSH Hijacking
Attacking WiFi with traffic injection
Securing Modern Web Applications

Cost: $50 for the 2 day weekend
(MITS will be subsidising all members who wish to attend this event. The subsidy is to be determined but may vary from $5-$25 depending on the funding we have available.)

MITS Reimbursement Procedure:

Inform MITS (via email) that you are going to attend Ruxcon.
ASK Ruxcon for a receipt when you pay them.
Inform MITS that you have attended and have a receipt.
Schedule a time to meet with someone from MITS to receive your reimbursement.
Give us the receipt.

More Information:
Link: http://www.ruxcon.org.au

EVENT DETAIL - LAN Competitions

2005-09-18T23:47:00.000+10:00

Here is the update on LAN competitions. (you have to register with SGL before you can attend the event, see their website for more info)

Details:
Location - MacUni
Size - 300 to 370
Date - Regos Open
01 October - 27 September (10:00 pm)
29 October - 25 October (10:00 pm)
19 November - 15 November (10:00 pm)
17 December - 13 December (10:00 pm)

Cost:
$25
(MITS members will be subsidised a portion of the cost, this will be determined by the number of people interested in the event.)

MITS Reimbursement Procedure:

Inform MITS (via email) that you are going to attend the LAN and you have registered with SGL.
ASK SGL for a receipt when you pay them.
Inform MITS that you have attended and have a receipt.
Schedule a time to meet with someone from MITS to receive your reimbursement.
Give us the receipt.

More information:
http://www.sgl.org.au/

EVENT DETAIL - Linux Seminar: Software Freedom Day

2005-08-30T16:47:00.000+10:00

September 10 is Software Freedom Day! Since that's a Saturday we decided to hold something during the week so we can all attend.

Come and join us on Wednesday the 7th of September in C5C.T2 at 1pm for a talk by special guest Jeff Waugh from Canonical Ltd -- makers of the new and popular Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Come and find out what it means for software to be free (as in free speech, not free beer) and why the most famous piece free software, Linux, is becoming so successful. You can pick up some free CDs with full Linux distributions on them, including a LiveCD that you can boot from your computer to test out Linux before you change any files on your hard drive.

See you there!

UPDATE 1: Check out the poster we've been putting up (153KiB).

UPDATE 2: The event got a mention in the Sydney Morning Herald!

UPDATE 3: Thanks to the CSIRO, software demos and pizza-eating will take place in the CSIRO conference room in E6B from 2pm (after the talk at 1pm). Stick around after the talk and we'll walk over as a group.

Update 4: We snuck into The Word, the uni magazine from SAM (page 9).

EVENT DETAIL - Free BBQ for MITS members!

2005-08-28T23:41:00.000+10:00

One of the many perks of being a member of MITS is the free food! This Tuesday on the 30th of August, MITS is putting on a BBQ for all current MITS members (and any new ones who would like to sign-up on the day). Just flash your MITS membership card and get treated to a mouth-watering hot-dog and a can of softdrink! Non-members can also purchase hot-dogs for $2 and cans of drink for $1 (frankly, it's a lot cheaper than most of the food in the Quarry).

Come and find us outside the newsagents (near the old SAM spot) from about 11am or so. See you there!

Jobs available at Jay Car Electronics

2005-07-10T18:13:00.000+10:00

"ATTENTION ALL ELECTRONIC ENTHUSIASTS COME OUT FROM UNDER THAT ROCK!

Jaycar has been trying to recruit new staff for our expanding empire with only limited success. We have been advertising in all the usual places but we need more staff!

If you work in this industry (say for a competitor of ours) and are bored with your job - call us!
If you have left school and have found that TAFE/UNI is not for you now (but may be later), why not try us for a couple of years - call us!
If you are just a reader of Silicon Chip and not necessarily in the industry but are interested - call us!
Jaycar prides itself on its first class, motivated technical staff. We pay well, have great work conditions (with Staff Purchase Scheme so good you will die) and a quick path to Store Manager and the BIG BUCKS. No age barriers either!!

So call us on (02) 9741 8555 or email jobs@jaycar.com.au
What have you got to lose? We will train you, to TAFE accreditation, to become a highly effective communicator with loads of self-confidence which will stand you out from the crowd for life. And we guarantee you will have FUN! - CALL US!"

Download PDF the flier here

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) Home

2005-07-08T23:29:00.000+10:00

If you haven't already installed Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware then do it NOW!

Global statistics show the majority of computers have some sort of spyware installed (you probably do too even though you might not know). And the biggest problem today making computers not work is spyware hijaaking everything - taking over your Internet connection and computer.

Microsoft AntiSpyware is a free application that detects, removes and continuously monitors your computer (without noticeable performance impact) against evil Spyware.

The interface also looks really nice, and it's easy to setup and use - Download, Install, Click Next or Yes to everything and it's done.

Quick scans take about 10 min depending on the number of files you have.

Click this post's heading to read more, or download directly here

Predixis Music Search

2005-07-05T19:17:00.000+10:00

MusicMagic™ acoustically finds music based on computer analysis of the sounds in the music.

A MusicMagic™ search can help you discover artists, albums, and songs that complement the sounds of music you know and like.

Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)

2005-07-03T00:40:00.000+10:00

"Explore the advantages the Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT Technology 600 sequence and Microsoft Windows XP Pro x64 Edition can give."

Click the heading to watch a presentation or download a PDF.

[Ed - Note that Tom's Hardware Guide has found that the Intel 600 series CPUs (all 64bit + 2Mb L2 cache) are slower than the 500 series (some 64bit + all 1Mb L2 cache) because of the extra overhead in addressing the extra cache.

To realise the full power of the 600 series we need 64bit everything - motherboard BIOS, OS, applications, drivers, etc. Still in it's infancy on home computers, 64bit has a long way to go before we see real speed advantages.]

Moore's Law 40th Anniversary

2005-06-13T21:33:00.000+10:00

Moore's Law 40th Anniversary

Click this link to read more about developing CPUs

Moore's Law

2005-06-13T21:25:00.000+10:00

Moore's Law, The Future - Technology & Research at Intel
"In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore saw the future. His prediction, popularly known as Moore's Law, states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years. This observation about silicon integration, made a reality by Intel, has fueled the worldwide technology revolution."

Click the heading to read more or watch a video interview with Moore.

Download details: Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC

2005-06-09T22:37:00.000+10:00

Download details: Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC

Cash Prizes for Programming!

2005-06-07T18:20:00.000+10:00

Our friends over at COMP225.5 are holding a programming competition over the July holidays. I know most of you are probably only thinking about exams at this point, but it's worth keeping this in the back of your mind!

They are holding two competitions over July, with each competition consisting of two rounds. You only need to go to one round per competition though. Cash prizes will be given to teams who come first and second in each competition. Teams consist of two or three people, but if you don't have any friends who want to go, you can sign up by yourself and you'll be put in a team.

They will also be holding two more competitions during semester two with cash prizes also. With about $500 worth of prizes going, it looks pretty appealing to me! See you there!

EVENT DETAIL - MITS Exam Preparation Seminar

2005-05-25T16:28:00.000+10:00

Want to learn some of the tips and tricks to getting better marks in your computing subjects? Why not come along to the MITS Exam Preparation Seminar!

I'll be giving a fairly short talk on some easy things you can do to boost your marks and even address some of the tips and tricks I have learned in various COMP subjects I have taken. We will also be joined by a COMP330 tutor and a COMP323 and ISYS123 tutor to share their advice.

COMP115, COMP225, COMP249, COMP323, COMP330, COMP340, COMP341, COMP342 and COMP343 will be covered briefly as well as general advice appropriate for everyone! There will be time to ask questions and you can always leave later if you don't want to stick around for the whole lot, so come along! This isn't just for MITS members, bring your mates!

Date: Thursday, 26 May at 1pm (TOMORROW)
Place: E6A.131
Duration: Certainly not more than an hour, most likely less.

Update: You can find the slides used for the presentation here. Also, it's probably worth adding that if past exam papers exist for one of your subjects you can find them online in MQ Library's e-Reserve section. Thanks for flying MITS airways!

Microsoft Student Ambassador

2005-05-23T19:38:00.000+10:00

Become a Microsoft Student Ambassador

If you're passionate about IT and looking to develop skills outside your field of study, we want to hear from you. We're looking for motivated guys and girls in their final or second-last year of study in either undergrad or post-grad courses to join us as Student Ambassadors. Not only does the role give you a foot in the door for an IT career, but it also gives you unique opportunities to network, gain leadership skills and bulk up your CV - even before you leave Uni.

Check it out here
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/msdn/students/ambassador/default.aspx

Send me an email if you are interested.
mitsociety@gmail.com.

Zero-Day Firefox Exploit Sends Mozilla Scrambling

2005-05-11T18:42:00.000+10:00

For the fourth time in three months, major security flaws in the upstart Firefox Web browser have pushed volunteers at the Mozilla Foundation into damage-control mode.

Mozilla's public acknowledgement of the vulnerabilities includes a chilling warning that an attacker could combine the flaws to execute malicious code without user interaction.

Firefox users are urged to disable JavaScript immediately as a temporary workaround. Additionally, Mozilla recommends that the browser's software installation feature be disabled. This can be done by unchecking the "Allow web sites to install software" box, which can be found by selecting Options on the Tools menu and then Web Features.

In a public advisory, Sequoia said the problem was detected in the way "IFRAME" JavaScript URLs are protected from being executed in the context of another URL in the history list.

"This can be exploited to execute arbitrary HTML and script code in a user's browser session in context of an arbitrary site," Sequoia warned in its advisory.

Additionally, input passed to the "IconURL" parameter in the browser's "InstallTrigger.install()" feature is not properly verified before being used. "This can be exploited to execute arbitrary JavaScript code with escalated privileges via a specially crafted JavaScript URL," the company said.

By default, only the Mozilla Foundation update site is allowed to bring up this dialog, but the script injection vulnerability allows this to be exploited from any malicious site.

Click the heading to read the full article or visit www.greyhatsecurity.org/firefox.htm

RUXCON 2005

2005-05-03T20:52:00.000+10:00

"RUXCON 2005 - RUXCON has been confirmed for Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd of October 2005! The venue will be UTS once again. If you attended RUXCON 2004 please help us improve the quality of the conference by sending feedback to staff ruxcon org au.

RUXCON is proud to announce its call for papers for RUXCON 2005. The dead line for submissions is the 31st of August"

MITS will again be subsidising all members who wish to attend this event. The subsidy is to be determined but may vary from $5-$25 depending on the funding we have available.

iDog - iPod dancing dog

2005-04-29T07:31:00.000+10:00

Sega Toys' iDog - Hands on - Review at SPOnG.com

"So you're a Sega fan and a gadget lover. You have an iPod but no one's interested anymore. They're just so 2001 and even the iTrip in your car doesn't impress. Showing people the Nomad you came across, well, the less said about that the better.

There is but one (affordable) option remaining. The iDog, an Apple imitating robotic personal music-player peripheral."

Click the heading to read the full article

blinkx 3.0 review by PC Magazine

2005-04-24T20:31:00.000+10:00

Bottom Line
Version 3 retains blinkx's unique implicit-query ability and Smart Folders while adding new features such as Lotus Notes support, additional per-user security, and more.
Pros
Automatically locates and notifies you of local and Web content related to whatever you're currently working on. Indexes Lotus Notes content and e-mail. Previews local and Web results including video. Smart Folders automatically gather search results in real time. Indexing video and audio using speech recognition.
Cons
Only indexes 500 million Web pages. Limit of 150,000 local files. Searching can be slow. Sporadic problems with indexing.
Download
Click here to read more and download the free software
Article on blinkx TV
www.blinkx.tv/downloads/blinkx_TV_White_Paper_v1.0.pdf
Full Review
www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1785149,00.asp
Extract
"blinkx 3.0 searches local documents and files, Web sites, news, blogs, and even television content, all at the same time. As with previous versions, you don't have to request a search explicitly. When you open a file or view a Web page, blinkx analyzes its text and makes an implicit query for similar content. Icons in the program's toolbar (which is embedded in the title bar of the active window) light up to show that a particular content type is available. Clicking on an icon displays a menu of the most likely hits with text excerpts; one click opens the local file, blog post, video clip, or other found item. You can also choose to enter an explicit query in blinkx's main window."

"blinkx 3.0's Smart Folders automatically collect links to local and web-based items that are similar to existing documents in the folder or that match specified keywords. The new, Shareable Smart Folders will allow blinkx users share their Smart Folder training information—the info that tells the folder what to collect-- with others via an e-mail link. No actual documents or stored links are exchanged; the link only points to a page on Blinkx's site that stores the training portion of the Smart Folder. The recipient can either download the free blinkx utility in its entirety or download the Smart Folders component only. As soon as the Smart Folder is received, it starts gathering links that match its training and also searches the new end-user's local system for matching content. In the end, the Smart Folders on the two users' systems should have matching Web-based content and different local content."

GoldenPalace.com Monkeys with Nature

2005-04-24T20:07:00.000+10:00

"Or maybe eBay can donate a million dollars to a leading heart-surgery hospital. Then we'll have 'The eBay Center for Heart Disease and Surgical Recovery.' The only change in the actual hospital will be that surgery charges can be handled either through insurance or a new 'Buy Now' feature that offers faster surgery, but at a slightly higher price. Thankfully, eBay is no GoldenPalace.com."

Click the heading to read the full article.

Stellent - "Outside In" Technology

2005-04-24T19:23:00.000+10:00

Ever wonder how Google searches the web and indexes all kinds of files including PDF, DOC and more? The answer is some very clever conversion software created by Stellent Inc called "Outside In", now in it's 8th version.

One component you see in Google's interface is called "HTML Export" and is activated when you click [View in HTML] when you stumble across a PDF document (but I must admit that most of the time the formatting looks pretty bad).

Key Features

Converts a document's text into HTML and its graphics to GIF, JPEG, or PNG formats
Supports over 370 file formats such as word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, etc.
Powerful template capability allows custom display of information
Can exploit CSS for complex formatting
Provides browser access to hundreds of file types

So now you know. Have a great holiday break and see you back at uni! -Kevin

EVENT DETAIL - Graduate Positions at CSC Australia 2006

2005-04-21T19:59:00.000+10:00

CDO Employer Presentation   - Computing/IT and Business Administration
Students
Employer:

Topic:            Graduate Positions at CSC Australia 2006

Date:             Tuesday 3rd May 2005

Time:             1.00 –2.00 pm

Room:             E6A 133

Details:          Students from IT/Computing and Business Administration
   can meet directly with CSC Australia employer representatives for
   information on 2006 graduate opportunities. Come along and speak
   directly to the employer about Graduate roles in IT including web
   development, network services and systems engineering and finance.

Company info at:   http://au.country.csc.com/en/mcs/mcs46/ or
email:      careers@mq.edu.au

No booking required

Dual-core test results

2005-04-20T23:19:00.000+10:00

Click the heading to read the short article

"A dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition at 3.2GHz scored up to 37 percent higher than a comparable single-core chip at 3.7GHz."

These test results are disappointing considering you have the power of two CPU cores and nowhere near 70% improvement in speed (2x3.2GHz / 3.7GHz). Hopefully pricing will reflect this.

"Early tests of Intel dual-core chips suggest dual- and multi-core systems will improve performance without pushing up clock speeds."

"However, using a lower clock speed lets the dual-core chip keep power consumption at about the same level as the single-core chip, and reduces the amount of heat generated. Though Extreme Edition chips are aimed at gamers, the results indicate how other dual-core chips are likely to perform."

The other issue is also that software needs to be written to take advantage of the extra core. Speed improvements don't happen automatically just be changing the CPU, so don't expect frame rates to increase that much :)

Copper's cleverness makes it a whole new telecoms game

2005-04-20T23:06:00.000+10:00

Why copper may be better than fiber - Click the heading to read the full article

"Telstra's ADSL2+ network delivers broadband speeds of between 12 and 25 megabits per second and already covers a few hundred thousand homes. That's fast enough for pay TV, video on demand, high speed and telephony. By mid next year it will be more or less fully national at a total cost of $210 million.

This makes talk of a $15 billion national fibre roll-out look very silly and outdated, and talk of giving Telstra an access holiday to encourage it to spend $15 billion looks even sillier.

By the way, it also makes the overlapping roll-outs in the '90s by SingTel's Optus and Telstra of $5 billion worth of hybrid fibre-coaxial cable look more stupid than they looked at the time. That network will be made entirely obsolete by ubiquitous high-speed, TV-capable ADSL before Foxtel posts a profit from the cable."

by Alan Kohler - www.smh.com.au

Landlines under threat

2005-04-20T22:37:00.000+10:00

Households may ditch a million fixed-line telephones in the next three years as rental charges rise.

According to independent telecommunications expert Paul Budde, fixed-line rental costs have risen about 40 per cent since 2001, while mobile phone costs have been falling.

Fixed-line rental costs about $30 a month.

Nearly a third of telephone calls made from homes are already on mobiles, and Budde, of Paul Budde Communication, says between 10 and 15 per cent of European households no longer have landlines as a result of competition from mobiles. Between two and three per cent of Australian households have done the same.

Budde says stiffer competition among mobile-phone carriers had brought prices down, to the benefit of users.

A growing number of households, particularly single-person ones, are questioning whether a fixed line offers value for money, considering rental is about $360 a year before even making a call. "

QLD Optus falls off the Internet

2005-04-20T22:32:00.000+10:00

Last Thursday (14th April 2005) many Australian internet sites when down and stopped working for fifteen minutes as Optus' whole internet system for Queensland collapsed. They have announced that they are nearing completion of a fix as of 20/4/05 to ensure that this will not happen again.

Adobe Digital Media Store Closing

2005-04-20T21:39:00.000+10:00

The Adobe Digital Media Store will permanently close on June 3, 2005. In addition, you will no longer be able to purchase digital editions from the store after April 22, 2005. All accounts will be disabled after June 3, 2005.

Q. Why is the store closing?
A. Adobe opened the store as both a showcase for PDF content and as a demonstration of PDFrelated eBook technology. Due to the success of online retailers in the current market, there is no longer a need for Adobe to support a separate PDF store.

Q. Where do I go to buy digital editions in the future?
A. There are many eBookstores on the web that carry PDF digital editions. Among others, please see: www.Amazon.com, www.ebooks.com, ebooks.whsmith.co.uk, ebooks.efollett.com, www.fictionwise.com, www.powells.com.

Intel Dual-Core CPUs

2005-04-20T01:28:00.000+10:00

Let the Dual-Core Revolution Begin

In 2005 Intel will start shipping the new Intel Pentium processor Extreme Edition with two full processing cores. That's two CPU's in the physical package of one CPU! Allowing two threads (like two programs) to execute at the same time or four threads with Hyper-Threading (pseudo-parallel processing).

Click the heading above to read more and see a great animated demo of how it works.

"Dual-core processor-based PCs for the desktop are the next generation in PC computing performance and power. Combined with the Intel 955X Express Chipset, the Intel Pentium processor Extreme Edition supports Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology, making it a perfect solution for your most demanding multitasking needs. Power computing users, multimedia entertainment enthusiasts and gamers who crave optimum PC performance for audio, video, digital design, and high-end gaming are in for a treat."

EVENT DETAIL - MITS Movie Night

2005-04-13T13:30:00.000+10:00

(email sent)

post a comment (click comment icon)

Hey guys I just wanted to know what you think about a Movie Night on Friday at Greater Union Macquarie Centre?

I know its a Movie night, but maybe sometime in the afternoon anywhere from 1pm to 5 pm would be a better time, incase people are catching a bus back home...

anyone that doesnt have their membership cards can collect it then.

Which movie do you want to watch?

Here are some movies that we could watch (there was a suggestion in the meeting to watch a comedy):

The Pacifier(PG)
----------------------
Sessions: Friday 12:00PM, 2:20PM, 4:40PM
Type: Comedy
About the Movie:
http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/movie.asp?movie=5512

Miss Congeniality 2 (M)
---------------------------------
Sessions: Friday 12:50PM, 2:05PM, 4:30PM
Type: Comedy
About the Movie:
http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/movie.asp?movie=5511

Robots (G)
-------------
Sessions: Friday 12:30 PM, 1:30PM, 3:30PM
Type: Comedy, Science Fiction, Animated
About the Movie:
http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/movie.asp?movie=5516

Hitch (M)
-----------
Sessions: Friday 1:45PM, 4:20PM
Type: Comedy, Romance
About the Movie:
http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/movie.asp?movie=5514

Sahara (M)
---------------
Sessions: Friday 1:10PM, 3:50PM
Type: Action, Adventure
About the Movie:
http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/movie.asp?movie=5260

Make sure you check out the blog

http://mitsociety.blogspot.com

Regards
Kunaal Bhagani

EVENT DETAIL - Sydney Linux Users Group

2005-04-03T12:16:00.000+10:00

Interested in Linux? Why not come along to your local LUG meeting! For Sydney, our local Linux User Group is SLUG, which meet monthly at UTS (a short walk from Central station).

Meetings are held on the last Friday of each month. At the meetings you have the opportunity to ask for help with Linux-related problems you may be having (ranging from how to get started to as technical as you want), listen to current news in the Linux world, hear talks on interesting Linux-related topics and more.

Many of the people who attend are actively involved in the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) community. Some people there may be the authors of software you run! At each meeting around 30 or so people attend (often more when there's a really good talk on).

Be sure to check the web site for the time, room and topics for the upcoming meeting. Often the details are not available until a week or so before the actual meeting.

You can subscribe to a number of SLUG mailing lists, including the main one (slug) and a jobs list (which advertises some Linux-related jobs that are available). Additionally, you can join #slug on FreeNode and talk to some members to find out more about SLUG, upcoming meetings, etc. or even just Linux in general.

I attend almost every month. They're a great bunch of people and the meetings are well worth attending for anyone with an interest in Linux and/or FOSS.

Introduction to Quantum Computing

2005-03-23T14:55:00.000+11:00

An interesting article on Quantum Computing.

Introduction to Quantum Computing (Link)

Join us at #macuni on Austnet!

2005-03-23T13:50:00.000+11:00

Ever wanted to:

talk to some students who are doing (or have already done) the subjects you have?
get some help with some tutorials or assignments?
make some more uni friends?
make some suggestions to MITS staff?

Well I can't guarantee anything, but you have a darned good chance of being able to do this stuff at the quasi-official Macquarie University IRC channel!

The channel is #macuni and it's on the AustNet IRC network.

If you're new to IRC you can read some easy-to-follow instructions from Dan (ch0c0).

Apart from the cool stuff listed above, we'll also be using this channel to discuss upcoming events and chatting about events that have just passed.

You most certainly do not need to be a MITS member to /join -- everyone's welcome!

EVENT DETAIL - MITS Meeting

2005-03-21T00:05:00.000+11:00

MITS is having a meeting on Wednesday March 23rd.

The room and time is yet to be determined, I will email the info on monday.
It will most likely be in E6A probably around 12pm.

We will be discussing the events that we are planning for 2005.

We want to get your input on whether or not a paticular event is a good event, and when best to hold the events, so that more members can come.

We will also be recruiting volunteers for the events. So if you want to volunteer please bring a copy of your timetable, preferably to hand in.

Dates of the events are yet to be finalised, so you can put you name down for the volunteer list, and when the dates are finalised, you can decide if you want to volunteer.

The meeting also gives us a great chance to meet the members, and for the members to meet other members.

EVENT DETAIL - LAN Games

2005-03-21T00:02:00.000+11:00

LAN Events

If you go to a LAN Event

PLEASE KEEP THE RECEIPT

• Sydney Gamers League (huge network gaming at Macquarie University, with MU LANMQ)
www.sgl.org.au/?sgl=cs or www.sam.org.au/lanmq/
• Destiny Gamers Club (network gaming at Chatswood, with UTS CompSoc)
www.dgc.org.au or www.compsoc.uts.edu.au
• CLGA (large network gaming at North Sydney)
www.clga.net
• Multiplayer United (large network gaming at Parramatta)
www.mpu.com.au
• Yen Industries (network gaming at Waterloo)
http://yenindustries.com/lan/
• SutherLAN (small network gaming at Taren Point)
http://sutherlan.net
• deathNET (small network gaming at Sylvania Heights)
http://www.deathnet.net
• World Cyber Games (international network gaming tournament)
www.worldcybergames.org
• Brotherhood of Network Gamers (Nepean Region of Western Sydney Australia)
http://www.bong.com.au/

SGL

Address:
The Atrium
Macquarie University
* Enter Gate 2, off Culloden Road, follow to end
(see map below)
Venue is wheelchair accessible
Running Time:
13 hours: 9.00 am Saturday till 10.00 pm
Cost:
$25 - includes BBQ lunch and dinner

Event Calander
Date Regos Open Location Size
23 April 19 April (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
21 May 17 May (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
18 June 14 June (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
16 July 12 July (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
13 August 9 August (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
3 September 30 August (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
1 October 27 September (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
29 October 25 October (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
19 November 15 November (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 370
17 December 13 December (10:00 pm) Mac Uni 37

Multiplayer United

Where
Lidcombe Catholic Club (Dooleys)
24 John Street Lidcombe
Corner of John and Church Streets

When
The doors will open for players at 10AM. Registrations for most comps begin between 11AM and 12PM
The date for the next MPU LAN is 30th April, 2005.

Cost
The cost for this month's lan is $20.

Brotherhood of Network Gaming

Next Event: BONG XX
Date: Sat, 07 May
Venue:
Cost: $20
Registered: 12/200
Register
Confirm: Sat, 30 Apr 02:45am
Full details for XX coming
Future Dates
23rd July, 10th Sept, 12th Nov
rego already available for future dates via ausgamers

Gadget Buzz - CNETAsia

2005-03-14T21:18:00.000+11:00

Click the heading above to see over 100 short gadget reviews. Very cool!

Welcome to MITS

2005-03-13T13:12:00.000+11:00

Hope you enjoyed O-Week

Welcome to the Macquarie IT Society, I hope you guys gain Valuable Experience from attending the seminars set up for the year and at the same time you guys have fun and meet new people.

There are TWO events That's are being held this week, there are also posters around the comp labs. Also a Third Event run by Mentors@Macquarie for First year Students is held every Wednesday in March.

Event 1
CSIRO Technology Trends Seminar
Monday 14 March 2005

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

E6B 136

Services oriented computing: The challenges and opportunities in e-business development

Event 2

MITS BBQ

Tuesday 15 March 2005

Where Outside SAM Spot

12:00 PM - 2 PM

Volunteers needed to Help set up stall. please email me for more information.

Event 3

First Year 101

Any time between 11am and 1pm
Every Wednesday in March
Terrace, level 2 SAM (outside bar)
Social time for first years and mentors. Any questions answered.

I want to remind everyone the MITS BLOG will be used to:

Notify you about upcoming events
Give more information about upcoming events
Post other relevant news
Post Interesting articles that you guys might like to read.

If you don't receive our emails please come back to read this BLOG, the notice boards around the comp labs where we will put up posters about upcoming events.

Hope all you first years are starting to adjust to uni, if you have questions make sure you attend the First Year 101 event listed above, its a great way to meet new people and have your questions answered as well.

Finally anyone wanting to Volunteer for a position in MITS, please give us your name at the BBQ.

Watermarking Movies

2005-03-07T09:40:00.000+11:00

NAB Update - March 3, 2005:

"At NAB2005, NEXTAMP will unveil a system to secure HD and SD digital master copies. The content protection solution relies on patented Video Watermarking technology to thwart movie piracy. Individual copies of dailies, masters and browsing versions of a movie can now contain an invisible digital watermark ID to dissuade the recipients from pirating content. This invisible stamp is robust to compression, conversion and resolution changes.

The ID can be retrieved from any pirate sample (e.g. a DivX type file on the Internet or a black market DVD).

A “virtual barcode” is embedded in the essence of the video. This invisible stamp can then be read whatever the video editing and format changes. Any video sequence can be traced back to its source.

For more information and articles on digital video watermarking go to www.nextamp.com

EVENT DETAILS - Visit MITS during O-Week

2005-02-27T02:41:00.000+11:00

Join or renew your membership with MITS for 2005:

Mon 28th March 2005 to Thurs 4th March 2005
10am-4pm

Our O-Week stall may not always be attended, but please come back later! It would be great to meet you and see what we can do for you in 2005.

Also tell us at the stall if you want to be part of our staff team and help out this year, you'll meet heaps of people and make new friends.

Not to mention all the great work experience you can put on your resume!

Or drop us a line at MITSociety [at] yahoo [.] com

Look out for all the events we have on the table for 2005.
Our Welcome BBQ will be in Week 3 and we plan to have a few distributions of magazines for you this year.
A new event for us will be Laser Zone/Runner, similar to paintball but indoors with lasers and light up vests.

See you there!

Microsoft OneNote 2003 Free 60-Day Trial

2005-02-27T01:48:00.000+11:00

Try out Microsoft OneNote 2003 for free! It's perfect for Mac Uni students with notebooks and laptops.

With OneNote, you can:
• Type notes anywhere on the page
• Sort, label, and prioritize the way you like
• Search and find information easily
• Keep related video, sound bites, and pictures
• Share easily through e-mail or on the Web

Click the heading above to go to the site and also watch the demo and see how OneNote 2003 makes it easy to take, organize, and share your notes.

Removing DRM from iTunes mp3

2005-02-22T03:06:00.000+11:00

Scott Moschella's tongue-in-cheek attack on the evil RIAA by showing how he breaks DRM on an Apple iTunes mp3 and offers it for download.

ICTP Digital Divide Simulator

2005-01-29T10:17:00.000+11:00

"Digital Divide Simulator We have elaborated an on-line simulator with which you can experience browsing the web with low bandwidth and compare it with the bandwidth you are used to.

To make use of it select the website you want to test, then select the bandwidth you want to simulate, and click 'simulate'. You will be presented with two pages: one at full speed and one at the limited speed. You can then compare the two.' "

Comparison of internet speeds from ICTP:

Firefox 1.0 - alternative internet browser

2004-11-24T13:34:00.000+11:00

With around 8 million users, this is one of the best browsers out there. There's even a whole host of plugins that you can download to add more features to it.

My favorite feature is the tabbed interface - no more task bar clutter. Firefox does everything your current browser does and more!

Give it a go today.

Hints:

Hold down Ctrl when clicking a link to open it in a new tab in the background
Hold down Shift when clicking to open links in a new foreground window
Hold down Ctrl-Shift when clicking to open a link in a new foreground tab

Developing Streaming Media

2004-11-24T13:11:00.000+11:00

Dedicated streaming server and software tools have over the last few years they have improved dramatically in terms of lower cost, same or higher quality at the same bitrate, more robust, and higher encoding speed.

Companies have come and gone in the streaming media area, many developing some great products for their time but sadly haven't been able to keep up with the bigger players. There were even some streaming video players that didn't require a download to play!

Multimedia web development really has taken off and it is an exciting area to be involved in. Just have a look at how many sites today a feature rich with Flash animations and the like.

Streaming media is evolving very quickly and to add to the confusion, companies have been constantly renaming their products. There are new codecs released every year, and each one usually being proprietary makes it a nightmare for developers and consumers alike. Those of you who do digital video editing would know what i'm talking about.

And open source hasn't really been successful in the consumer market because the codecs are constantly being changed, they aren't standardised, big vendors (of content producers and of software players) haven't adopted them and so there is little content and little demand for actually using them.

This is why it's great to hear Macromedia releasing a partial solution aimed at web content developers who want to add video without all the fuss and mess of the traditional world of popup windows for video - you might be familiar with the "Click here to watch video" links that plague the web and then be disappointed by the quality (or lack of) video.

Developing Macromedia Flash Video (FLV files) ideally needs Dreamweaver MX and Flash MX. Video is processed using a lite version of Sorenson Squeeze. There are three ways to deliver video content:

Progressive download video - Embedding video in a Flash (FLA) file. Software limited to 16000 frames, but after 4000 frames the audio loses sync.
Progressive download video - Storing your FLV files externally. For example insert a link to the file stored on a normal server. This is similar to Apple Quicktime MOVs, which you can play while it continues to download.
Streaming video - using Flash Communication Server (a streaming server similar to Real Network's Helix DNA Server, Apple QuickTime Streaming Server, or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Windows Media Services 9 Series).

For more sites with Macromedia Flash Video content visit:

www.cnet.com - revamped website with video, includes technology news and reviews with most products having a video stream

www.RedBullCopilot.com - a great site demonstrating use of integrated video for enhanced user experience

Of course you might not want to buy the Macromedia suite, so it's no surprise that Microsoft have a free version - "Windows Media Producer". It's actually a collection of utilities rather than a single software solution for producing streaming content. It can convert PowerPoint slides to be streamed over the internet with audio, captions and live links. A bit limited in video processing functionality compared to other products mentioned above, it still is a good way to quickly and easily get your hands on trying out streaming media development. Files can be delivered over HTTP by simply putting the streaming media file (ASX/ASF/WMV) on your standard web/file server then linking to it in your webpage's HTML.

Just remember that you get what you pay for.

To fully implement all the streaming features you'll need the corresponding server "Windows Media Services 9 Series" included in Windows Server 2003. This allows you to do fancy things like autodetect the user's bandwidth and deliver a low/med/hi video stream without any effort and to recover from delayed/lost packets.

Get it from: www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/technologies/producer.aspx

There are a whole host of other 3rd party programs that do webstreaming and webcasting, but i've found that none of them do everything well. They all do similar things - take an input file and convert it to a smaller version suitable for streaming. Some have more features and controls than others.

There are also plenty of options for compressing just video. These include Torran Interactive's Media Cleaner, Apple QuickTime, DivX, Discrete Cleaner XL, Intel/Ligos Technology Indeo and LSX-MPEG. Some are not designed for webstreaming as you have to download the entire file before you can watch it. If you do decide to use these, stick to MPEG4 formats as they are better for web delivery than MPEG1 or 2.

And just a final note, streaming media files are larger than the standalone video file because they contain metadata about the video stream including additional error checking, additional video streams (such as a lo/med/hi bandwidth versions), and additional indexing information that lets users fast forward/rewind.

Microsoft Corporate Vision

2004-11-24T11:31:00.000+11:00

Click the link above to see some of the new technologies that Microsoft is researching and developing.

The site requires Macromedia Flash Player 6+ and was created using some of Macromedia's newest tools including Macromedia streaming video.

Mobile-review.com Reviews

2004-11-15T23:28:00.000+11:00

Looking for a new phone? Check out this site for some long reviews and pictures (although their English isn't that good).

Michael Fischer - Cryptography and Data Security

2004-11-11T09:30:00.000+11:00

Yale (University) has some great lecture notes and info that may be helpful for your upcomming exams in cryptography.

click this post's heading to view the page.

Nokia says handset market to slow, share to rise | CNET News.com

2004-11-05T15:27:00.000+11:00

Published: November 4, 2004, 11:37 AM PST
By Reuters

The world's largest mobile phone maker, Nokia, expects slowing mobile phone growth in 2005 but plans to launch more handsets next year and take market share, the firm said on Thursday.

"Nokia aims to increase its competitiveness by broadening its product portfolio and launching approximately 40 new mobile devices in 2005," it said in a statement for its capital markets day. The firm aims to launch 35 phones in 2004.

Click this post's heading to view the full article.

Uni entry eased if students have the money

2004-10-29T23:30:00.000+10:00

[Ed - Although this is not an article on IT, I still believe it is important for uni students to be aware of such issues]

Uni entry eased if students have the money
By Gerard Noonan, Education Editor
February 3 2003

Students wanting to get into a combined law degree at the University of NSW and prepared to pay up to $75,000 in cash can gain entry with a ranking 5 per cent lower than other students applying for the course.

The combined law degree is one of 160 courses at three NSW universities that allow the controversial two-tier entry system to operate. Data released by the Universities Admissions Centre today for late-round entry into courses for 2003 shows UNSW, the University of Sydney and the Australian Catholic University take in students under the scheme.

At UNSW, students applying for the highly competitive combined law degree would normally need a universities admissions index (UAI) of 99.30 to gain a place but could get in with 94.45 if they paid fees up-front. Over the five years of the course, the $15,000 annual fees would amount to $75,000.

Other students taking the course would typically defer payment through the higher education contribution scheme (HECS) and pay back the fees when they began earning wages.

Today's late-round release shows universities in NSW and the ACT have tightened the total number of places to non-fee paying Australian students for the second year in a row. The director of the admissions centre, Andrew Stanton, confirmed that the total number of offers to all classes of students was down by almost 700 to 58,880.

"This is a reflection of the trend which began last year and which has continued for the 2003 admissions," he said yesterday. "Universities need to manage their student populations without jeopardising the quality of teaching and learning. For some universities this has meant a reduction in the number of new places available."

This year, a HECS student enrolled in arts at Sydney University needed a UAI of 83.25 but a student prepared to pay the $11,000 annual fee required a UAI of just 78.25. Similarly, students needed a UAI of 99.30 to get into the Bachelor of Engineering in Aerospace at the same university but could enter as a fee-paying student with a UAI of 94.30.

Critics of the scheme, which has operated since 1998, argue that it gives richer students an unfair advantage. They also say many of the 2500 fee-paying students already in the system switch in second year to a HECS-funded place, thus denying another student entry.

However, the universities argue they must exploit every source of income and that the five-point UAI difference is only marginal in many cases.

The majority of universities in NSW and the ACT do not take part and Charles Sturt University in Bathurst dropped out last year.

In June the university governing council at UNSW narrowly decided to abandon its involvement in the scheme on the casting vote of the university chancellor, Dr John Yu. But the arrival of a new vice-chancellor at UNSW in mid-year resulted in the matter again being debated at the university council. Professor Rory Hume succeeded in convincing enough waverers on the council to restore the university's involvement.

Internal university research to date shows the academic performance of fee-paying and HECS students is comparable.

Professor Hume has argued privately that although the scheme is unpopular, the Federal Government's imminent review into the future of universities is likely to shake up the entire fee structure anyway.

[Ed - Most of the time universities are not to blame, they have rising costs to keep up with to provide a certain level of education to its students, and they aren't getting more money from the government. This plan to lower requirements for money is an easy way to get the vital funding.

Doing a science or technology degree is usually the best value in terms of funding. Why? Because subjects like business or law require little resources - just hire a lecturer and put them in a room of students with the same textbook.

Whereas hi-tech subjects require millions of $$$ for equipment and ongoing costs. Science, computer and electronic laboratories are very expensive to acquire and maintain in comparison. Software and harware needs to be purchased and maintained, some specialised software titles cost thousands per copy. Every year the course needs to be revised and updated with a rapidly changing world of technology.

The cost of running, say a Business degree is probably ten times lower than say a Computing degree.

One major source (if not the only one) of funding problems is the government, with the introduction of the GST they have raised much more funding, but have not placed an emphasis on higher education.

They have forced education providers such as TAFE and universities to charge fees, and now to raise them and consequently reduce the opportunity for all people to gain a better education. Some believe that education should be free. Should the government not be investing in its own people who will be paying tax? I mean if we get more education, we can get a better job, which means more money for us, and more tax for the government. Right?

The financial divide is widening and improvement doesn't look to be comming soon. Everyone should have equal access to education. Disadvantaged Australians will find it harder and harder to get more education to advance their careers. But those determined enough will find a way. There are limited numbers of scholarships offered by universities and professional associations for people in genuine financial hardship. Centrelink also has "Youth Allowance" to support Australian students while they are studying full-time at uni or TAFE, they have opportunities for apprenticeships which provide work and free TAFE courses, and those on support can enroll in many normal TAFE courses for free.]

DVD Rot

2004-10-29T23:16:00.000+10:00

"The first issue is 'DVD rot,' a term derived from problems with laser discs and now applied to problems with pressed discs when Hollywood movie DVDs become unplayable, either as the video starts to break up during playback due to corrosion in the disc, or the disc itself even begins to physically split apart due to delamination of the bonded layers.

Beyond the online discussion groups, this issue was highlighted by The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, in a widely linked article from February 1, 2003 (www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804519345.html). The Herald reported that some DVD movies 'are already starting to rot while others are falling apart.' The article states that 'unofficial estimates put the number of affected discs at between one and 10 per cent.' It then characterizes the industry response by reporting that 'some of the largest distributors for Hollywood Studios are accused of refusing to accept the problem exists and replace faulty products.'

Web sites now collect lists of Hollywood movie titles reportedly known to have problems. Other frequently-linked sites carry photographs of cloudy regions that have grown along the edges of discs, and even electron microscope images of 'spots' that appear to be associated with playback failures across the layer break of dual-layer DVD-9 discs. The DVD industry has clearly not responded effectively to these reorts and concerns.

The second issue is the reliability of recordable DVD discs as an archival media, either for write-once recordable (R) or rewritable (RW) formats. Can we really trust that we can save our digital files for decades on DVD discs? Or, if we use them constantly in applications like kiosk displays, is it possible for them to effectively burn out from constantly being read by a laser beam?

Click this post's heading to view the full article.

Windows JPEG vulnerability 'will evade' AV software

2004-10-07T12:52:00.000+10:00

Story URL: http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39124542,00.htm
by Dan Ilett, ZDNet UK, September 30, 2004

Antivirus software looks as if it will struggle to protect corporate networks from the latest Windows vulnerability - innocent looking JPEG files that contain security attacks.

According to director of antivirus research for F-Secure Mikko Hypponen, antivirus software will strain to find JPEG malware because by default it only searches for .exe files.

"Normal antivirus software by default will not detect JPEGs," said Hypponen. "You can set your antivirus scanner to look for JPEG, but the trouble is that you can change the file extension on a JPEG to so many things."

There are around 11 similar file extensions that JPEGs can be changed to, such as .icon or .jpg2. Hypponen said that this would make searching for malicious JPEGs even more difficult because it could take up a significant amount of valuable processor power.

Internet Explorer processes JPEGs before it caches them. That could also mean that desktops would become infected before antivirus software had a chance to work.

"This means that it is not enough to scan at the desktop," said Hypponen. "You have to scan at the gateway, but this will put a huge load on your bandwidth."

Hypponen said that he expected a virus attack using the exploit to occur soon: "There has been so much interest in this vulnerability that someone is bound to do this. But saying that, there was a similar vulnerability found two months ago in Bitmaps, and no one has exploited that yet."

Yesterday code that exploits the way Microsoft Windows processes JPEGs was posted to US newsgroup Easynews. Hypponen wrote on the F-Secure weblog that this was not a virus because it had no way of spreading. In order for the code to infect a machine, a user must download the image it purports to be and view it in Windows Explorer.

Yesterday Microsoft hit back at critics over its handling of the vulnerability. In a prepared press statement, it said: "Microsoft does not consider this a high risk to customers given the amount of user action required to execute the attack and is not currently aware of any significant customer impact. We will continue to investigate the situation and provide customers with additional resources and guidance as necessary."

Dan Ilett writes for ZDNet UK

Copyright © 2003 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
silicon.com is a registered service mark of CNET Networks, Inc.
silicon.com Logo is a service mark of CNET NETWORKS, Inc.

Firms still failing online security test

2004-10-03T04:18:00.000+10:00

September 30, 2004
The credit card mix-up on Sainsbury's online shopping website this week that allowed a customer to view someone else's credit card details in her account highlights some issues around how to handle a security problem when it's discovered.

In Sainsbury's case, the customer had to wait almost two days before getting a response to her initial email reporting the problem, which had the subject line "URGENT: System Bug - Someone else's credit card details stored in my account".

Later the retailer insisted it had been investigating the problem as soon as it received the report but the customer was sufficiently un-reassured as to contact silicon.com about it, out of the genuine worry that it may not be an isolated incident and that other customers could have been affected.

When the response finally came it then did reassure the customer that it was a one-off caused by a "corruption" of her account, followed by some confusing technical jargon.

Just as that seemed to be the end of it, silicon.com finally got an explanation from the Sainsbury's press office (after chasing it for over a day), which now claimed it was "human error" by a customer service representative that had caused it.

A further request to clarify what exactly the cause of the credit card mix-up was has still gone unanswered as has our question about whether Sainsbury's has contacted the customer whose card details were compromised by the error.

In the end this may well just be an isolated incident caused by a careless customer services person but Sainsbury's actions to date have hardly been reassuring and serve as something of a lesson on how not to handle the publicity around a potential website security hole.

We felt the need to publicise this incident because it shows how failing to deal with reports of security problems adequately and being transparent about them can compromise the trust of customers - trust which is vital to doing business online. It's a brave business that gambles on that.

Copyright © 2003 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
silicon.com is a registered service mark of CNET Networks, Inc.
silicon.com Logo is a service mark of CNET NETWORKS, Inc.

EVE Online - massively multiplayer online game

2004-09-29T20:09:00.000+10:00

Over the last few years we've seen the relese of more sophisticated and amazing massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) which now support 50,000 online gamers all playing at the same time.

EVE Online is a persistent world multiplayer online game set in space. Players are spaceship pilots seeking fortune and adventure in an exciting - and sometimes hostile - galaxy. To date, EVE Online has been able to support over 10,700 simultaneous players in one world on their servers! Which is a lot more than CounterStrike can support in one "world" :) And you can even alter your character's detailed appearance, like a simplified 3D modelling program with lighting, accessories and makeup!

When you log off the action continues in real time until you return to continue your online game.

The game's website is full of details and documentation about the game, it's development, and game elements. There's a new player guide here and a picture tutorial on the FAQ menu. New stories, news, pictures and even game features are added regularly to keep you engrossed in the game. That's another difference between online games and ones you buy from the shop - they continually evolve and players have direct input into how the game gets developed.

Like most great online games (such as EverQuest) EVE Online requires a subscription to play. Currently at 20 Euros for the first month (including game download and account creation) then $11-15/month depending on the subscription plan you purchase. All extra features and upgrades are free, all you pay for is the monthly subscription (but be wary of your ISP's download limits because online gaming can use up a lot of it). Which is pretty good value for money considering its less than $2 a day to be part of a single game with over 10,000 simlutaneous players.

Click this post's heading to find out more about EVE Online's features and why not give it a go? EVE Online looks to have great things comming.

MMOG's are growing by the day as more and more gamers join. Here is an article about the growth of MMOG subscriptions since 2002:
http://pw1.netcom.com/~sirbruce/Subscriptions.html

Free Microsoft Skills Assessment

2004-09-27T20:01:00.000+10:00

How well do you really know Windows XP? Or SQL Server 2000? Or one of Microsoft's other products?

Find out now with free online assessments valued at US$40. Just click this post's heading to begin.

There are two ways to take the quizes:

Register Now
By registering now, you can save your assessment results and learning plans. You can also post your high scores, if applicable.

Take an Assessment NowEnter as a guest and you can experience the full functionality of each assessment and receive personalized learning plans based on your results.

Wireless Broadband Internet

2004-09-12T20:45:00.000+10:00

Executive Summary

Broadband internet, minus the cable and phone line
Accessible in 95% of areas, even old units, train stations and shopping centers
Portable - take your connection with you when you move, or move house
Buy the modem ($195 incl delivery)
Plug-and-Play, simple.
Competitive pricing 256/64Kbps is $64.95 with 10Gb download or $44.95 for 1Gb download
Shaping to 64Kbps once monthly download limits reached
Test for 1 month, see for yourself if it works for your location
Secure connection between modem and ISP (proprietary technology)
Make telephone calls using VoIP next year (tests begin end of this year)
Service is entirely independent of Telstra

Intro

Many of you may be looking for a better broadband deal, and now a company called "Unwired" has begun to gather momentum which may interest you. Here is some background info to the company. Otherwise just scroll down to compare Optus' wireless internet offering with Unwired's.

The Company

Unwired established in 2000
It is aiming to be Australia's 2nd local loop provider, currently only Telstra provides local loop
Completed rolling out their network in Sydney in only 7 months (completed August 2004)
Since August 2004 the subscriber base to Unwired has been growing exponentially!

The Technology

75 base stations in 13 clusters cover 2000 sq km, the hardware is provided by Navini under an exclusive contract to Unwired in Australia. This means that no other company in Australia will be able to offer the same wireless broadband internet service using Navini technology. [Ed - for more info on base stations and clustering you should research GSM networks on Google]
Navini's Ripwave system features beam forming antennas, multipath radio, synchronous CDMA technology and a high radio path loss capability [Ed - study ELEC subjects if you're interested in these areas]

Sydney network costed about $33 million [Ed - which is a bargain compared to the billions of $$ spent by Telstra and Optus with their cable networks, but still a lot of money for a new company]
Telstra was one of the first companies to use wireless to extend their network coverage into difficult locations, using 3.4GHz on the Proximity I system from Nortel Networks
Unwired will use 3.4GHz and 2.3GHz bands
These RF spectrum licenses cover 95% of Australia's population, which obviously means they are serious about business and should be able to give carriers like Telstra, Optus, Vodafone etc a run for their money with wireless (and cable for that matter)
Telstra was banned by the goverment from the auction where the RF spectrum licenses were leased

Unwired will be upgrading to the 3.5G (like in 3rd generation (3G) mobile networks) WiMAX 802.16e standard once it become ratified by the IEEE
WiMAX is not Wi-Fi which is designed for indoor LANs. These two standards operate differently at the media access control (MAC) layer of the OSI model. WiMAX is a new protocol ideal for a fixed point-to-multipoint network designed with the idea to replace cable broadband.
[Ed - for more info on WiMAX, do a search on the IEEE digital library (IEEE Xplore) via this link, or the ACM Digital Library, or on other databases at http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/library/era/.
Full access can only be gained within the Macquarie network. Or remote access using your MQID and password.]
[Ed - study COMP subjects if you're interested in networking, or ELEC subjects for low level details such as protocols.]

The Providers

Ericsson will provide network operations centre services
Airspan Communications Limited supplies the backhaul equipment (used during network rollout)
Equinix will supply data centre space and facilities in it’s data centre site located in Mascot, Sydney
Uecomm will provide optical fibre based ethernet access services between 13 of Unwired’s Base Stations
and Unwired’s Point of Aggregation at the Equinix data centre
Router and IP Switching equipment is provided from Cisco Systems

Optus Wireless Connect Pricing Plans

Optus Wireless Connect Casual
$0 monthly access fee. One-off establishment fee $13.20.
Includes 1 hour of connection time which is valid until the end of the first billing period.
Additional hours are charged at $12.10 per hour.
Optus Wireless Connect Regular
$5.50 monthly access fee.
Includes 0 hours of connection time per monthly billing period.
Additional hours are charged at $11.00 per hour.
Optus Wireless Connect Silver
$27.50 monthly access fee.
Includes 2.5 hours of connection time per monthly billing period.
Additional hours are charged at $10.45 per hour.
Optus Wireless Connect Gold
$49.50 monthly access fee.
Includes 5 hours of connection time per monthly billing period.
Additional hours are charged at $9.90 per hour.

Unwired Pricing

Modem Fee
Purchase online for $189 plus $6.00 delivery charge, with next day delivery if order is placed before 1pm. Optional battery pack for modem for mobile use with a laptop
Unwired Setup Fee
12 Month Contract: $0 Setup Fee ($200 waived)
6 Month Contract: $100 Setup Fee ($100 waived)
Month to Month contract: Full $200 setup fee applies
Unwired Monthly plan
The bandwidth speed is download/upload

Kick Start - 300MB included monthly downloads at broadband speed*
256/ 64kbps - $34.95

Break Free - 1GB included monthly downloads at broadband speed*
256/ 64kbps - $44.95
512/128kbps - $59.95

Unleashed - 10GB included monthly downloads at broadband speed*
256/ 64kbps - $64.95
512/128kbps - $89.95
1024/256kbps - $119.95

* Unlimited download quota, however speed will be reduced to 64Kbps once monthly download allowance has been reached. [Ed - This is still much faster than the 14 to 56kbps reduction by other cable ISPs]

Silicon.com News Site

2004-09-10T16:32:00.000+10:00

silicon.com is a news site with breaking news on most areas that would interest you as an IT student.

"silicon.com is the must-read executive briefing sheet for business and IT professionals - giving you the strategic insight to make technology investments
critical to business success"

Covering hardware, software, networks, management and everything in between. And with "related articles" at the end of most articles you'll be able to lose yourself in this site for some time. Here are some recommended articles:

Telecommunications Glossary

2004-09-10T16:16:00.000+10:00

Unsure what that telecommunications word or acronym means? Like CDMA, MTA, or EDGE? Then visit one of these sites to find out what it means:

GSM World - comprehensive list
Argos Press (Australian) - cross-referenced and detailed
Mobiledia - brief definitions, not a comprehensive list

20 Year Archive on Google Groups

2004-09-08T00:10:00.000+10:00

Many of you already know about Google and Google Groups, but here's a page with many "firsts" on USENET like "May 1981 - First mention of Microsoft [on Usenet]". Click this post's heading to visit the site.

Google has fully integrated the past 20 years of Usenet archives into Google Groups, which now offers access to more than 800 million messages dating back to 1981. This is by far the most complete collection of Usenet articles ever assembled and a fascinating first-hand historical account.

We compiled some especially memorable articles and threads in the timeline below. For example, read Tim Berners-Lee's announcement of what became the World Wide Web or Linus Torvalds' post about his "pet project". You can find more in-depth information about the archive here.

We would like to thank the following archive donors: Jürgen Christoffel, Bruce Jones, Kent Landfield, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.

Enjoy your trip back to the golden age of Usenet.

WinXP SP2 - Fixing blocked images in emails

2004-09-05T23:13:00.000+10:00

In Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft is introducing a set of security technologies that will help to improve the ability of Windows XP-based computers to withstand malicious attacks from viruses and worms.

Installing SP2 changes the way in which emails are displayed in Outlook Express by:
Blocking images
All emails will be received without images. This means that by default, no images will be displayed in any email.

Blocking other external HTML content
In addition to images, Microsoft block all external content in an HTML email. This means that by default, you will not be able to see anything that is hosted on a remote server such as stylesheets, Flash animations, streaming video or music in your emails.

Click this post's heading to view a solution to this problem.

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP

2004-09-03T00:45:00.000+10:00

They're back! PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released to manufacturing. They add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. Click the title to visit the download page.

Open Command Window Here
This PowerToy adds an 'Open Command Window Here' context menu option on file system folders, giving you a quick way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder.

Alt-Tab Replacement
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.

Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.

Power Calculator
With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.

Image Resizer
This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click.

CD Slide Show Generator
With this PowerToy you can view images burned to a CD as a slide show. The Generator works downlevel on Windows 9x machines as well.

Virtual Desktop Manager
Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy.

Taskbar Magnifier
Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.

Webcam Timershot
This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate. "

Career Options for Computing Students Seminar

2004-08-20T00:47:00.000+10:00

All computing students are invited to this half day of presentations from
alumni as well as employer and industry representatives.

Students will hear about current trends that drive the ICS industry, listen to alumni share their career stores and learn how to manage their future careers, pick up on what graduate recruiters seek in new gradates and find out out what scholarships and postgraduate study options could be open to them.

Program of speakers will be available from next week on
http://www.careers.mq.edu.au/students.htm

The seminar is held at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management on Friday 27 August 2004 from 9am to 1pm. No booking is required.

Students arewelcome to turn up on the day prepared to ask questions that will assist them to plan their future careers.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Full Release

2004-08-18T00:39:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago in July we told you about the WinXP SP2 Release Candidate 2, now the full release version is available:

Click here for the Windows XP Service Pack 2 for IT Professionals and Developers (266Mb).

I recommend this version if you have the bandwidth and time, because if you need to reinstall XP again, you don't need to wait to download SP2 again.

Or if you want the easy method click here to use the automatic update applet to download the smaller version of SP2 at only 75Mb.

Installation of SP2 will require 1.8Gb of disk space.

You should read the documentation before you install SP2, and check that your existing software (and games) will still work after you install it by visiting publisher's websites.

Click here to learn more about Windows XP Service Pack 2.

And as with all updates, there's always a chance that everything will not work after the installation, so backup your important files first!! and don't install SP2 if you have important work or assignments due soon.

View our August Blogger archive for a related article on the dangers of SP2.

Companies Cautious on Windows XP SP2

2004-08-15T20:31:00.000+10:00

By Keith Regan
E-Commerce Times
08/10/04 11:47 AM PT

While security features that block malicious code in e-mails and on Web pages have gotten most of the attention, the update also features architecture changes designed to make it harder for hackers to take over a machine remotely if they do gain access. "SP2 is somewhere between an upgrade and a whole new version of Windows," Gartner analyst Richard Stiennon told the E-Commerce Times.

While eager to take advantage of the enhanced security features of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) long-awaited SP2 update, many corporate users of Windows XP will be cautious in activating it.

Microsoft did extensive compatibility testing aimed at ensuring SP2 would work with as many third-party applications as possible, but many network administrators plan to run the update through the paces themselves.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has confirmed that it is telling employees to delay downloading the SP2 update until network administrators can determine potential effects on Big Blue's systems. Many other companies are expected to follow suit.

Microsoft released the XP SP2 update, which reportedly cost $1 billion to develop, last week. The software maker expects some 100 million updates to be applied within two months. New machines loaded with the updated version of XP will be available starting next month.

While security and antispam features that block malicious code in e-mails and on Web pages have gotten most of the attention, the update also features architecture changes designed to make it harder for hackers to take over a machine remotely if they do gain access.

"SP2 is somewhere between an upgrade and a whole new version of Windows," Gartner analyst Richard Stiennon told the E-Commerce Times. "For that reason, enterprises are going to want to carefully make sure it's going to work with all the applications they use."

Citing the security enhancements in particular -- which many believe will delay, minimize or stop many hack attacks -- Microsoft has encouraged users to activate the automatic update feature in XP, which would allow the computer to connect to a Microsoft server and download the update in full.

Conflicts Seen
Part of the delay in releasing the software can be attributed to its failure to work well with Microsoft's own applications, including its customer relations management software. Now there are reports that other companies' software has experienced problems as well. Some versions of peer-to-peer file-sharing software are among those said to have been affected.

The enhanced security features might also cause conflicts with third-party firewalls and other security appliances. Published reports have suggested that users of Zone Alarm firewalls reported bugs after installing the update.

In most of those cases, the problem can be worked around, but it will take time, said Ken Dunham, director of malicious code intelligence for the computer security firm iDefense

"In each instance, there might be a different workaround, so it's going to take time to get them all in place," Dunham told the E-Commerce Times. "Microsoft did extensive testing, but no one is going to put such a major update onto their networks without doing their own due diligence."

Rushing the update into place would likely place a major burden on corporate help desks, which would be forced to field questions about crashing applications and other problems.

"Users will want the update because it is a security upgrade," Dunham added. "But they don't need to be the first to have it."

Boon for Business?
Because of the possible complications, patch-management companies and third-party vendors who help companies manage their networks could see a windfall.

Joi Deaser, a spokesperson for SupportSoft, told the E-Commerce Times that her company's customers have been asking for help, with most of the concerns surrounding security and management of problems that might arise when the service pack goes live.

Motorola mobiles score highest on radiation

2004-08-11T22:36:00.000+10:00

"Phoneyworld.com - Articles - Ouch Moto that Hurts"

A recent comparison of the SAR values of all the handset that are available in the US reveals that the top 5 unenviable positions are all held by the same manufacturer- Motorola. For once Motorola’s competitors will be more than happy to let it wear this crown of thorns. As we all know, the Federal Communications Commission http://www.fcc.gov makes it compulsory for the manufacturers to mention the SAR Rate with every wireless hand set that they wish to release.

The handsets that are at the top along with their respective SAR values are:

Name SAR
1 Motorola V120c 1.55
2 Motorola V70 1.55
3 Motorola P8767 1.55
4 Motorola ST7868 1.53
5 Motorola ST7868W 1.53

These levels are obtained when the phone is kept next to the ear. The FCC does not permit handsets if their SAR values exceed 1.6W/Kg.

What is SAR??Answer: The SAR is a value that corresponds to the relative amount of RF energy absorbed in the head of a user of a wireless handset. The FCC limit for public exposure from cellular telephones is an SAR level of 1.6 watts per kilogram (1.6 W/kg).

Excited by 3G? Wait for 4G

2004-08-11T21:48:00.000+10:00

James Pearce: ZDNet Australia: News: Communications
May 26, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,20274231,00.htm

Third-generation mobile technology has arrived, duly accompanied by a barrage of hype. But the industry is already casting its eyes forward to the next big thing - 4G.

However, while 4G is viewed by many as a communications technology that will allow one device to roam seamlessly over several different wireless technologies, arguments over the fine detail of what constitutes 4G continue to rage.

Jason Ross, senior analyst at amr interactive, told ZDNet Australia "everyone was arguing about what 3G is for a while, and you've still got people trying to muddy the waters".

However, he said there were a couple of key elements which are required to deliver a legitimate 4G network.

First is the ability to roam across different network standards with the one device.

"If you've got a mobile phone that's got wireless LAN connectivity, and it's got GSM connectivity, and it's got 3G or 4G connectivity and a Bluetooth capability as well, then you start to see some really interesting things happen," said Ross. The mobile phone (or whichever device is being used) could be programmed to automatically and seamlessly switch to whichever network was the most appropriate, saving the bill payer a lot of money.

"There are a lot of problems with that at the moment," adds Ross as a qualifier. "The main problem is the chipset for connecting to those different kinds of frequencies, different channels, are all expensive in their own right -- they're either expensive or they're energy hungry."

He pointed out that wireless LAN is very energy hungry, which is why it doesn't work well on laptops. It will have even bigger problems on the smaller mobile phone handsets, with their correspondingly smaller batteries.

"History tells us that someone will figure out a way to make it operate without using too much power," said Ross. "It's a question really of when that's going to happen, and they're talking not the next generation but the generation after that of Wi-Fi being much more energy efficient than the current iteration, and therefore it might be useful for that sort of thing." He estimated the technology would be ready around 2008-2010.

In addition to the energy problem is the space that would be required to house a Bluetooth chip, a century node or wireless LAN chip, together with GSM capabilities inside a mobile, which would make the handset big and expensive.

"Now the way out of that, which is a blue sky solution at the moment but again is being worked on at the moment in various places round the world is what they call wireless radio," explained Ross. This would involve all the relevant technologies being programmed onto a software configurable chipset, which can reconfigure itself by the moment for each call. The chipset will use one aerial, which after all is just a piece of wire.

The second, and most obvious, element of 4G is a higher level of bandwidth. Figures of 100 Mbps have been tossed around, but a more reasonable figure to expect is about 20 Mbps. This increase in speed will be achieved in two main ways, according to Ross.

First, the network will be completely packet-switched, whereas 3G networks have a combination of packet switching and circuit switching, as well as some analogue components. "So [4G] is much more like an IP network, much more efficient [than 3G], and everything is digital in the network," said Ross.

The digital aspect of the network will be enhanced with the introduction of time division duplex (TDD), which will allow mobile phone calls to operate on the one frequency.

"What we're using at the moment is frequency division duplex - so when you turn on your mobile phone and talk to someone it sends information on one frequency and it receives the information on another frequency," said Ross. "You can't do it on the same frequency because they haven't really figured out a way yet of allowing you to occupy the same frequency without having elements of the packet interfere with each other…there is interference and static which makes it impossible."

He said the industry is trying to remove the interference and send alternate packets on the one frequency, with upstream and downstream packets using the same wavelength. This is a more efficient use of bandwidth, according to Ross.

The questions engaging most observers at the moment are just how big is the 4G market going to be, and when can the industry be reasonably expected to invest in a new network after the immense costs dished out recently to kickstart 3G -- most of which came in leasing bandwidth from the government.

When NewLogic Technologies opened a 4G design centre earlier this year, it estimated that 4G IP-based high-speed mobile systems would account for 14 percent of total mobile data revenues and have 50 million subscribers by the end of 2007.

Nokia and Samsung have teamed up to create 4G wireless equipment, a move which not only demonstrates support of the 4G concept, but perhaps an acknowledgement from Nokia that CDMA networks will pose a bigger threat to its native GSM networks in 3G and 4G than in recent mobile systems.

Despite all the bustling behind the industry scenes, no telco has admitted to plans to deploy a 4G network.

Copyright © 2004 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CNET Networks, Inc. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CNET NETWORKS, Inc.

To 3, or not to 3?

2004-08-10T22:02:00.000+10:00

James Pearce: ZDNet Australia: News: Communications
May 26, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,20274365,00.htm

Hutchison has the only 'true 3G' network available in Australia, which they have imaginatively named '3'. Every phone company -- including Hutchison -- are adamant that people don't want to buy technology, but services. So we've put 3 through its paces.

The network has a theoretical speed of 386 kbps, which currently runs at between 200-300 kbps. This is at least twice as fast as the optimum speed of Telstra's Mobile Loop service, and around 10 times faster than the old 2G phones.

We found the network coverage around Sydney to be reasonably good, although there are a few blackspots and some areas lost their 3G coverage occasionally. When this happens the phone switches to roam on Vodafone's 2G network.

A couple of files we tried to download weren't there, similar to a broken link on a Web site.

The NEC e606 has a hot-button straight to the 3 network, and the icon-based menu pops up about as quickly as the menu on the phone does. However, despite the fact the nine icons are set in a square, you can only move the highlighted selection up or down, which effectively doubles the number of keystrokes you have to do to get to a particular icon.

Hutchison have leveraged its higher speed network to ensure that most services it offers for download are videos. The videos range in quality from acceptable to amazing, depending on the content. For instance, most news videos had good quality, but nowhere near TV grade, while movie trailers had amazing quality.

The videos are preceded by a text description, with the option to download the videos if you wish - a good way to save on data costs. If you download a video it is saved to your phone, and you have the option of viewing it then or later.

The news section offers six daily stories, most of them video based. The news comes from Australian Associated Press (AAP), and range in length up to about one minute long. The sports section is similar, offering four stories up to a minute long, but also includes the scores for AFL, NRL, Rugby Union and Cricket.

The weather is available for all Australian capital cities up to four days in ahead, and the finance section has the ASX market wrap and the Wall St Report, both from AAP. This doesn't include stock prices -- indeed, that service didn’t appear to be available -- just winners, losers and a summary of the day's action.

The comedy section of the menu is funny, both ha-ha funny and 'weird' funny. When we looked at it over a couple of days it tended to include a couple of minute-long clips from the Footy Show, as well as a couple of serials. 'Ovos' creates 60 second short films in the ironic documentary style - for instance one film was about an office worker settling office tensions with a pillowcase full of oranges: You can guess the rest.

Another serial is "Star Flat", which involves three guys in a flat who look like Sylvester Stallone, Prince and Tom Hanks. This is 60 secs based around a "joke" -- to be honest we weren't impressed. Or more importantly, amused. Ovos and Star Flat appear to be from the US, and we're not sure the humour transfers to the local market.

The best offerings are the short grabs of stand-up comedy that are intermittently offered. These are usually Australian made and genuinely funny. We understand the difficulties involved with creating funny 60-second sketches, but we suggest Hutchison (and all other providers of this sort of service) look to areas that traditionally provide it. Comedy sketch shows on TV immediately spring to mind. Admittedly the comedy on these are often quite dire, but surely finding seven funny 60-second sketches from a weekly one hour show wouldn't be too hard.

The 'What's On' section contains a brief outline of events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. We assume Adelaide and Perth will follow as the service becomes available in those cities. The Sydney section contained six movie previews, which were of pretty good quality but for foreign films we found the sub-titles too small to read. The obligatory nude scenes came through clearly, though.

Some events for that night are advertised, for example a band playing at the Basement and a play at the Sydney Opera House, as well as other bands and plays. Times, locations and a phone number for bookings are provided. There are also a couple of venue reviews, brief descriptions of pubs or cafes and why you should go there.

The top 'stories' from each section are gathered under a section called 'today', although until the amount of content increases we think people would be better served going to each individual section.

There are currently only seven games offered on the 3 network, and we hope this will increase over time. The games are Java applications that are downloaded to the phone. There is a fair variety of games: Alien Swarm, a plane shoot-em-down; Frog Solitaire, Klondike and Poker Squares, all forms of solitaire; Play Golf; Scrambled Eggs, a memory game where you remember a number sequence corresponding to dancing eggs, and Word Target, which involves making as many words as possible from nine letters.

There are more services, which are listed in a text menu. Ironically, one of the most useful services on offer -- Find + Guide -- is in this section. This service allows you to bring up a map on your screen, with roads, post offices, parks and even Pizza Huts marked. The resolution goes from 10 kms to about 8 metres, although at the small end of town all you can see is grey areas denoting "residential". Still, a portable street directory is incredibly useful.

Other services available in this section are astrological star charts, the messaging functions of your phone, and five ringtones and five pictures to download and use.

The services on offer from 3 are very reasonably priced, 50 cents for downloads (AU$1.50 for ringtones). There are also a number of maximum caps (subject to fair use rules) so that if you download 60 items in a month you only pay AU$25. We're not sure how long these prices will remain. Hutchison claims they are set at a profitable level, while other telcos say they are an introductory offer to grab marketshare, and the prices will soon rise. Consumers may have to just wait and see.

Taken as a whole, the services offered on 3 are quite broad, but not very deep. If Hutchison continues to add content over time to build up the catalogue, three will become a will be very compelling offering indeed.

3
Company: Hutchison
Price: Depends on plan
Distributor: 3 Australia

Copyright © 2004 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CNET Networks, Inc. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CNET NETWORKS, Inc.

Commentary: Why Hutchison's 3 will succeed

2004-08-10T21:57:00.000+10:00

James Pearce: ZDNet Australia: News: Communications
May 28, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,20273760,00.htm

COMMENTARY--The hype over third-generation (3G) mobile services in Australia has been going on for years now, and many consumers are probably relieved the "when it comes" promises have been replaced by the "here it is" cold hard facts.

Contrary to public perception, the launch of 3G networks is on schedule. Hutchison forecast a 2003 launch of its service back in July 2001 and finally did so yesterday. Vodafone said it was aiming for 2004 when the 3G spectrum was auctioned in March 2001.

The battle for public 3G mindshare has been vicious and dirty, as evidenced by varying tactics by existing telcos to weaken Hutchison's entry. Most of the attacks derided the usefulness of 3G bandwidth, such as Optus announcing the ability to send streaming video over GPRS. Telstra used a fairly liberal definition of the high capacity network when it launched its Mobile Loop service, which at 144 Kbps is at the bottom of the most generous standard definition being used.

What's different about Hutchison's 3G network, dubbed "3", is its live video calls--perfectionists will denounce the service because of a slight delay in transmission, similar to the effect seen when foreign correspondents deliver their broadcasts, but the service is still impressive enough that most people won't mind.

Telstra has claimed that live video calls make up only about 2-5 percent of consumer demand. Add this to the fact that Hutchison is starting from scratch in Australia--apart from a small customer base using its Orange mobile services--and the new entrant could be seen to be on shaky ground.

But one must take a closer look at 3 to make that assumption since it has clinched a few solid and unexpected hits at the competition.

The video calls were expected, but many people--myself included--expected Hutchison to leverage the uniqueness of this feature to charge premium rates. Instead, the company announced rates for voice and SMS that beat Telstra and Optus hands down, and works out to be cheaper than Vodafone and Virgin Mobile if the call is long enough to compensate for the flagfall.

At AU$0.15 per SMS, Hutchison also cuts the knees off the market rate of AU$0.25, while the only serious competitor, Virgin Mobile, charges AU$0.10 for every SMS within its network.

Hutchison's 3G handsets are also priced in the mid- to high range, rather than the extremely high levels as earlier predicted, making 3 one of the best plans around.

It remains to be seen whether the low prices are part of a strategy to sell services cheaply to gain marketshare before increasing prices, or if the rates were set at a profitable level. But for now, the other mobile companies can't risk leaving Hutchison with such a significant price advantage.

The one thing that all the telcos agree on is that it will be the services offered on mobile phones that will grab customers rather than the technology being used. In fact, the constant cries of "We're not selling a technology, we're selling a service/experience/solution!" at press conferences these days are becoming tedious.

In terms of what can be offered on a mobile service, Telstra has to be viewed as the underdog, much as most Australians prefer to view it as a staggering behemoth. Hutchison's parent company, Hutchison Whampoa, is one of the most profitable companies in the world and has AU$28 billion to see it through any competitive challenges at hand.

Vodafone--normally viewed by Australians as the "runt" amongst the serious mobile contenders in this country--is one of the largest mobile companies in the world with 112.5 million customers spread over 35 countries. It is leveraging on this to provide a serious amount of content through its 2.5G Vodafone Live service, which is specifically designed to be easy to navigate on a handset and already has one million customers worldwide.

Optus, through its parent company Singapore Telecommunications, is a very significant player in the Asia-Pacific region. In contrast to these companies, Telstra is primarily a domestic player. Despite its overwhelming dominance in the local market, attempts to move overseas have met with dubious success. [Ed- Telstra tried to enter the Hong Kong market with little success]

In Australia, the mobile phone market is highly competitive and relatively large--there are now more mobiles in the country than landlines. An equilibrium in the market was reached recently, with instability in price caused by new entrants and the introduction of mobile number portability settling down into a stable balance. Most companies appeared to be viewing the next generation of mobile services as the primary place for competition.

The launch of 3 changed all that. Hutchison severely undercut the market for traditional mobile services, and whether or not it can maintain those low prices, it reminded everyone that despite all the hype surrounding the "next generation" of mobile phones, the main areas of profitability for companies remain in voice and SMS.

Ed- Those familiar with the various telco mobile plans will note that Vodafone then Telstra have followed 3's lead at introducing call caps. Vodafone $79 call cap with $500 worth of calls, PXT and TXT beats 3's $99 voice call cap hands down. But 3 offers a wide variety of new multimedia material that is not available on Vodafone Live, although it isn't very good at the moment.

Copyright © 2004 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CNET Networks, Inc. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CNET NETWORKS, Inc.

Broadband 'critical': KPMG

2004-08-09T22:12:00.000+10:00

Broadband 'critical': KPMG
Staff writers
Australian IT - AUGUST 02, 2004

BROADBAND must be viewed as critical infrastructure and government support may be necessary to help Australia reach an internationally competitive level of broadband use, a report by KPMG says.

The report compares broadband to critical infrastructure such as roads or rail, and says lagging in broadband see Australia become economically disadvantaged by lower productivity or levels of intellectual property exports.
It uses dramatic examples of the costs of inadequate broadband coverage such as Australians who might "die needlessly when telemedicine when telemedicine could have saved them".

The report cites OECD figures which rank Australia 20th amongst developed countries for broadband penetration.

It pinpoints Telstra's role as one contributing factor, noting the "lack of competitive infrastructure and the dominance of one carrier in multiple telecommunications segments", although the report also says that other service providers were initially slow to roll-out retail services.

On the pricing front, the report says Australia has historically been amongst countries with the most expensive broadband in the developed world, but this situation has changed dramatically since a price war was sparked in February.

"However, the base retail price can be deceptive as the overall value proposition has several components," it says, giving the example of Canada, where at a similar entry-level price point, Canadians receive a connection that is six times faster and includes 30 times the free downloads as a $29.95 connection here.

Indians use Aussie skills

2004-08-09T21:44:00.000+10:00

Simon Hayes
Australian IT - AUGUST 03, 2004

INDIAN IT companies are hoping to cash in on skilled mid-level Australian IT workers, plugging gaps in their capability and opening up opportunities to export local knowhow, experts say.

Gartner analysts said Indian services companies were developing long-term strategies that included taking Australian expertise overseas.

Research vice-president Partha Iyengar said Australia had a "huge talent pool" of trained personnel that Indian companies were planning to use.

"Australia has talent in the mid-market that India doesn't have," he said, citing Infosys's January acquisition of Melbourne software developer Expert Information Systems as an example.

"The long-term strategic intent is to use Australian resources for their global requirements."

Mr Iyengar said low-level coding work would remain in Australia to some extent, particularly with smaller firms, for which offshoring was not an option.

This would give Australian programmers initial experience, before they moved up the chain. Automated coding tools threaten low-level jobs the world over.

"The whole notion of what is entry-level is going to change," he said. "Entry-level will no longer be someone who can code in Java, but someone with broader business experience."

Ed - This is why you should try to be as active as possible while at uni and participate in activities other than just study. Your marks won't mean anything to a future employer a few years after you graduate. All you'll have is a piece of paper and B Sci (Comp Sci) on your resume.
A future employer will value your co-curricular activities and work experience much more than your marks, but that's not to say don't try to do well with study. The key is to balance study with other activities and to prioritise those things that will be more beneficial to you and your career in the long run.
Take the initiatitive now and invest in your future!
Join Mac IT Society if you haven't yet, and participate in activities, volunteer to run on our Executive or help at our events, join industry groups (like APESMA and Engineers Australia), don't only study. You'll have more fun while at uni :)

Agencies promoting Australia overseas agree offshoring offers opportunities and threats.

Invest Australia chief executive Gary Draffin said Australia would be a "net beneficiary" of the push to offshore, provided it played to its strengths, rather than trying to compete on costs.

"We are a net beneficiary in terms of jobs transfers," he said.

"We'll never beat India on cost of labour, and we'll make sure we don't compete in that field.

"In financial services we have attracted not only jobs but also skill sets."

Telstra buys into Hutchison's 3G

2004-08-09T21:36:00.000+10:00

Telstra buys into Hutchison's 3G
Kate Mackenzie
Australian IT - AUGUST 05, 2004

TELSTRA will buy half of Hutchison's 3G mobile phone network in a joint venture deal that will fast-track Telstra's launch of next-generation mobile services.

The agreement, unveiled yesterday, will also provide a significant cash injection to Hutchison, which is still recovering its $1.3 billion network investment.
Under the heads of agreement Telstra would pay Hutchison, which is 58 per cent owned by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, $450 million over three years for half-ownership of the network, and spend a further $114 million in the same period expanding the network.

The deal means Telstra does not have to build its own 3G network, which the giant carrier last month priced at about $900 million.

In the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval, Telstra would begin selling 3G mobile telephony services such as video calls to its customers from the second half of 2005.

It effectively leaves Optus, which is building its own 3G infrastructure but has indicated it is interested in network-sharing, out in the cold.

"We have run parallel discussions with other players ... at the end of the day we formed a view that the coalition with Hutchison produced the very best outcome for Telstra," chief executive Ziggy Switkowski said.

The complex agreement is between Telstra and Hutchison 3G Australia - itself a joint venture between Hutchison Telecommunications Australia and Telecom New Zealand, which owns 20 per cent. The deal was discussed with Telecom NZ, Dr Switkowski said.

Telstra would make its $450 million payment in four parts over three years, with the first instalment in November.

The payments would not affect Telstra's capital management plan, announced in June, or its $3 billion-a-year capital expenditure plan.

The deal provides for the companies to share capital expenditure and operating expenditure costs involved with maintaining, upgrading and expanding the network.

Hutchison's 3G network only covers Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth. The telcos have already agreed to expand the network into Canberra.

Telstra's group managing director for wholesale, broadband and media, Bruce Akhurst, said if there was no agreement on where to expand the network, either company could build base stations and sell access to the joint venture.

The agreement provided for mediation procedures if there were disputes, Mr Akhurst said.

The deal gives Telstra access to Hutchison's handset-buying capabilities, which it draws from Hutchison Whampoa, the largest 3G network operator in the world.

"Telstra is piggybacking on that agreement to secure access to those handsets at the right price at the right time," Hutchison Australia chief executive Kevin Russell said.

Hutchison's 3G users currently roam on to Vodafone's 2G network in areas outside the 3G network, but Mr Russell said Hutchison had the right to roam with Telstra.

Analysts differed about the amount paid by Telstra, but concurred the deal was mostly positive for the No1 telco because it reduced the risks and teething problems associated with building a new network and put Telstra in a good position against its main mobile competitor, Optus.

"It's a positive move for (Telstra) in terms of not having extra capital deployed," Macquarie Equities analyst Scott Ryall said.

Optus mobile managing director Allan Lew said the agreement did not change his company's plans, and it would also offer 3G services from next year. "We will continue to look at the options available to us. Obviously, one is to wholesale services from this joint venture. Another is working out something with Vodafone," he said.

News of the agreement sent shares in Hutchison soaring 11c to 64c yesterday before closing just 1c up at 54c. Telstra shares closed 2c lower at $4.93.

Telstra plays tough with partners

2004-08-07T22:21:00.000+10:00

Kate Mackenzie
Australian IT - JULY 27, 2004

TELSTRA has radically changed its approach to technology partners as part of its IT cost-cutting project, and plans to take on no new suppliers in the next 12 months.

Under chief information officer Jeff Smith, Telstra brought in two new suppliers, Dell and Network Appliance, as competitors to incumbents such as EMC and IBM.

The new additions would end there, at least for the next 12 months, unless "something dramatic" happened, Mr Smith said.

The telco planned to issue no requests for information or requests for tender this financial year, after cutting back from 200 to just three or four last year, Mr Smith said at a Telstra technology update last week. The objective was to use its partners' technical expertise rather than their sales resources, Mr Smith said.

Arrangements with Dell, he said, had led to the activation time for new storage servers being cut from three weeks to less than three hours.

"We have selected our partners, and we are going to manage them. We don't need their sales people to help us, we need their technical expertise," Mr Smith said.

Telstra saved $18 million by having its services partners, which included IBM, EDS and CSC, move Telstra account staff to their own premises, he said.

This included the relocation of IBM Global Services staff, as a result of which the contracts of some 450 Australian staff were terminated and their positions were filled by lower-paid Indian workers.

"We had people all over the place," Mr Smith said.

"We decided, if we were clustering our expertise into solution centres, we'd cluster the people, consolidate and have our partners work in their own facilities. They don't need to be on ours."

Notebook shipments bounce back

2004-08-06T20:28:00.000+10:00

Australian IT - AUGUST 06, 2004

TAIWAN'S notebook computer shipments in the three months to June rose 9.1 per cent from the previous quarter, rebounding from a sluggish performance at the start of the year, an industry research group said.

Year-on-year the volume of shipments for the June quarter rose 32.4 per cent to 7.4 million units, the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) said in a statement.
For the third quarter the center expects the volume of shipments to rise 14.1 per cent from the June quarter and to grow 33 per cent year-on-year, driven by rising global demand.

It noted that while the selling price of notebook computers edged lower in the June quarter this was more than offset by the surge in volumes, resulting in a sharp increase in the overall value of shipments.

"The slide (in selling prices) was light, allowing the jump in volume to realise a year-on-year 30.5 per cent rise in shipment value, amounting to $US4.9 billion."

On a quarterly basis the value of shipments in the three months to June rose 8.2 per cent from the first quarter.

It said the volume of shipments for first and second tier notebook makers grew in the second quarter as a result of orders from Dell, the outsourcing of consumer models by Toshiba and contracts from Hewlett Packard.

The rise in shipments helped the firms gain some relief from excessive inventories, MIC said.

It expects to see a further increase in shipments in the third quarter, with sales bolstered by students returning to school.

Price cuts on some low-power Intel processors and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panels should filter through into cheaper notebooks and further lift shipments, it noted.

"These developments are expected to facilitate ambitious price cuts on notebook PCs, which should generate an upswing in demand," it said.

Agence France-Presse

Microsoft eyeing Nintendo

2004-08-05T21:30:00.000+10:00

Australian IT - AUGUST 05, 2004

US software giant Microsoft is interested in buying Japanese video games group Nintendo, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported.

Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates told the weekly on the sidelines of a conference with analysts in the United States that he would immediately make an offer if Nintendo's majority shareholder, billionaire Hiroshi Yamauchi, were ready to sell."

e-tax - DIY Free Tax Returns

2004-08-04T20:54:00.000+10:00

General information about e-tax

What is e-tax?
The purpose of this information is to explain what e-tax is and help you get started. e-tax lets you prepare your tax return electronically and lodge online.

e-tax is a free service provided by the Tax Office.

Most people find e-tax easy to use. In fact, in 2003, over 800,000 Australians lodged their tax return using e-tax.

Availability of e-tax
e-tax 2004 will be available until 13 December 2004. You are required to lodge your tax return by 31 October 2004. However, as 31 October 2004 falls on a Sunday, you may lodge your tax return on 1 November 2004 without incurring a penalty.

We will try to process your e-tax return within 14 days of successful lodgment.

What are the benefits of using e-tax?

It's FREE :)
Quick turnaround. In most cases your tax return will be processed within 14 days.
Less effort. e-tax uses your answers from the questions it asks to automatically complete your tax return or baby bonus claim. And along the way, the computer can save you having to enter the same information more than once.
You can roll over last year’s information. If you used e-tax last year and you still have your tax file, you can roll over last year’s information in this year’s tax return.
Instant tax estimate. e-tax provides you with a progressive calculation of the tax payable or amount of your tax return.
No mistakes in arithmetic. Calculations are done automatically.
Help is only a click away. e-tax gives you access to Tax Office publications, rulings, help screens and examples.
Final estimate. When you have finished, you will get an estimate of your tax assessment.

What next?
Click the title above to go to the e-tax web site. Then download the software to start doing your tax return.

It is recommended that you only use the software on your home computer to protect your privacy.

Real-time 'still just a vision'

2004-08-03T21:21:00.000+10:00

Real-time 'still just a vision'
Kelly Mills
Australian IT AUGUST 03, 2004

THE future of IT services will depend on how swiftly business moves to a real-time computing environment that gives managers instant snapshots of inventory, supply chains and the markets they are chasing, according to analyst Gartner.

Speaking at the Gartner Sourcing and IT Services Summit in Sydney last week, Asia-Pacific IT services vice-president Rolf Jester said a lot of "discontinuities" would occur in IT services over the next 10 years.

Right now, a real-time computing environment, with critical information available instantly to business, is just a "vision", Jester says.

If the rate of adoption is swift, it could shake up the market, he says.
"We will be seeing new types of players entering the IT services market and see failures and shake-ups," he says.

"Telecommunications carriers will enter the market."

Jester says businesses will tend to buy either IT-oriented services or business process services, with whole business processes outsourced to a third party.

Gartner says there are four likely scenarios for how IT will operate in most businesses.
Jester says most businesses are at a stage dubbed "IT inertia".

The business value of IT is under question: chief executives are techno-sceptics, infrastructure and applications are mostly customised, and chief information officers and chief technology officers have the buying power, he says.

"This IT inertia reduces the ability of businesses to make quick decisions, but IT is also seen as a differentiator."

In the next scenario, CIOs will become "chief services providers" as organisations invest heavily in business process outsourcing, but ignore the benefits of a real-time environment.

"This will be a nightmare for CIOs, as they will have a minimal role, the information services function will be weak and the business unit will be quite powerful," Jester says.

The next scenario will be an "IT-centric real-time environment".

"Here the problem of the business value of IT has been resolved. CIOs become important people," he says.

In the final possible scenario, the "virtual enterprise", real-time information and business process outsourcing will be pervasive, Jester says.

"Service level agreements are at the level of business process, rather than the IT level."

Companies will buy entire business services and security and privacy will become bigger issues.

Notebook and Laptop Buying Guide

2004-08-02T03:20:00.000+10:00

Good article by PC World about what to consider and look for when looking to buy a notebook PC or laptop.

EVENT DETAILS - CyberSoc LAN - Sat 7th Aug 2004

2004-08-01T22:51:00.000+10:00

Cybersoc will be holding a BYO Lan at the end of week 2

Date: Sat 7th August
Where: The Huts, UNSW (http://www.cybersoc.cse.unsw.edu.au/events/maps/B11b-B8.html)
Time: 10am till 11pm
Games: Everything!
Cost: Free for members, or $4 to join on the day

If you are interested in coming, please email cybersoc@cse.unsw.edu.auto reserve a place.

See http://www.cybersoc.cse.unsw.edu.au/events/equipment.html for a listof what you should bring.

Telstra mobile faults surge

2004-07-29T22:16:00.000+10:00

James Riley
Australian IT - JULY 29, 2004

SERVICE faults on Telstra's mobile networks are as much as one-third higher than its internal targets, according to a leaked report.

Poorly documented repair procedures for base stations meant that faults on Telstra's two mobile networks were taking longer to repair, the confidential report found. High fault levels at base stations mean more mobile phone blackouts for consumers.
The leaked report follows a similar document in March which showed that faults on the Telstra fixed-line network had soared to a six-year high.

Labor's communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner said the leaked report demonstrated that the "same pattern of deteriorating service levels that we are seeing in the fixed-line network is now starting to appear in the mobile network".

The Supportability Review of Telstra's network of base stations across Australia found that service outages on the company's primary mobile network base stations were 25percent higher than targeted levels - 20.8 minutes per transmitter per month compared with an internal target of 16 minutes.

Outages on its CDMA network, which is widely used in regional areas, were about 33 per cent higher than the company had targeted - 27.8 minutes versus a target of 20.

The report, dated April 2004, found that on both networks the total number of outages was higher than the previous month and had shown no improvement over the previous three months.

It found that staff responsible for carrying out repairs -- especially in regional areas -- urgently needed training. Telstra often did not know about problems with mobile phone towers until a customer complained, because the company no longer carried out proactive maintenance testing.

"This leaked report provides further evidence that Telstra has taken its eye off the ball in regards to its core telecommunications functions," Mr Tanner said.

"Over the past few years, you've had a massive reduction in capital expenditure (at Telstra) and a dramatic reduction in staff numbers, so it would be surprising if there wasn't this kind of impact on service levels."

Telstra spokesman Rod Bruem said Mr Tanner had taken the internal service report out of context, and that there had been no cutbacks to the maintenance of mobile phone towers. He said service levels within the mobile networks were at all-time highs.

Mydoom continues to cause chaos

2004-07-27T00:03:00.000+10:00

Mydoom.m (http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslist.html?id=1927276), the latest version of I-Worm.Mydoom (http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslist.html?id=841769) is not only infecting machines around the globe, but reportedly causing problems for users of Google, Yahoo!, AltaVista and Lycos search engines.

The outbreak caused by Mydoom.m caused the search engines either to intermittently fail, or to return results far slower than usual. The most serious problems were experienced by users in the UK, France, and parts of the US.

This is a new twist in the long-running worm saga. Previous versions of Mydoom simply mass-mailed themselves to all addresses found on the victim machine. However, Mydoom.m has an additional trick. It not only harvests email addresses from the infected system and sends itself to these addresses, but also searches the machine's files for domain names. It then uses Google and other search engines to find additional email addresses in the same domain, and sends copies of itself to all these addresses.

'This worm has a very original approach to sending infected messages. The only similar method we've seen was when Swen (http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslist.html?id=88029) sent itself to newsgroups, having requested a list of accessible groups from the newsgroup server.' commented Alexander Gostev, a Kaspersky Labs' virus analyst. 'As for the problems experienced by some search engines, it appears that only Google actually put out a press release. Google normally processes more than 200 million search requests a day - are there really enough machines infected by Mydoom.m to put such a system out of commission?'

Google was the search engine hardest hit by the additional traffic. The search engine received approximately 45% of the additional queries generated by Mydoom.m. The intermittent failure of the service is certainly a major irritation for users accustomed to getting results at the press of a key. It took several hours for adjustments to be made so that Google functioned normally.

However, a far more serious worry is the backdoor component which Mydoom installs on victim machines. Anyone who opened the attachment to an infected message now has a system which is wide open, making it possible to remotely upload and execute programs.

So what conclusions can we draw from the latest outbreak? The facts are clear: Mydoom once again clogged mail-boxes, generated additional traffic and left search engine users frustrated. Most anti-virus software vendors were quick to issue an update to their signature databases. And what should users do? As ever, ensure that antivirus protection is kept up to date, and observe the golden rule: never open attachments in a mail message from an unknown source.

Optus launches IP Centrex

2004-07-20T22:50:00.000+10:00

Kate Mackenzie
Australian IT - JULY 15, 2004

OPTUS is launching its outsourced converged networks solution, IP Centrex, aiming to take one-third of the market for such products despite Telstra's early lead.

IP Centrex is a set of technologies which telcos use to provide business customers with hosted, managed voice-over-IP (which carries voice telephony traffic over internet-based networks), along with managing their data networks and other services such as video-conferencing.

Optus Business managing director Peter Kaliaropoulos said the product would be aimed at all sizes of business and government customers, from 20 staff upwards. Customers with a traditional voice telephony PBX system and who managed their own data network could save 20 to 30 per cent by shifting to IP Centrex.

"You're looking at total cost of ownership, including buying equipment, maintaining equipment, business processes around them," Mr Kaliaropoulos said.

Optus was the first Australian telco to offer such a full-featured IP Centrex service, he said. Telstra has since late last year offered an IP Centrex product developed by US company Broadsoft, which is more specifically targeted at larger enterprises.

Optus' version of IP Centrex is based on Nortel Networks equipment, and Mr Kaliaropoulos said it would be offer a more advanced range of features than Telstra's, such as multimedia and unified messaging.

"Broadsoft are offering those features for the future, we are offering those features now," he said.

Telstra spokesman Warwick Ponder said the Broadsoft system used by Telstra did not require a 'forklift' upgrade and was more easily compatible with Microsoft Windows. Multimedia applications would be coming soon, he said. "We don't think the market is ready for them just now."

New High School Student Tcard

2004-07-14T00:55:00.000+10:00

Tcard is the new way to go to and from school. It's a public transport smart card that will make it easier to get around. One day it is expected that everyone will have one, but school students using private bus services will be the first to use it.

In July 2004, 7,000 Sydney school students will participate in a Tcard trial. In January 2005, all school students in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area using private buses for school travel will receive a Tcard.

Click here to find out more about Tcard.

Editor's Comment - It's rather poor that Australia has taken so many years to adopt such a system (and even now it's only a pilot trial!). What am I on about? Let me explain... Hong Kong's underground train network relies on a quick and efficient payment of transport using an "Octopus Card", which international students from HK will know about :)

There are no headaches of the public transport system we have here in NSW - inflexible ticketing system, long queues to buy tickets, lack of full compatibility between transport operators, incorrectly programmed ticket barriers (false rejection of your ticket), maybe you can think of more...

To quote the website "The Octopus system was created by AES ProData (Hong Kong) Limited [in 1997], a member of the ERG Group of Companies, based in Perth, Western Australia. AES Prodata is responsible for the design, build, operation, maintenance and financing of automated fare collection in the Octopus system."

In other words, an Australian company engineered this fantasic solution to public transport for Hong Kong yet (as usual) we are 7 years away from adopting this technology in our home country :(

The card looks and feels exactly like to old Telstra Phonecards that were floppy and had holes punched in them. Remember back then?

Hong Kong citizens have even adopted the technology as eCash, a technology dream which has been been touted so much over the last 5 years but hasn't taken off in Australia.

Click here for more technical info on the Octopus Card info here.

So I highly encourage YOU, as the future of I.T and engineering in Australia to take on a more proactive approach than our past leaders, to think globally on how we can advance Australia to the top of the charts! Australia has time and time again show to other countries that we have the talent and ability to create world-class solutions to problems, yet we really need to capitalise on our talent - or our talent will leave for greener pastures offshore.

With the Free Trade Agreement we (companies and individuals) really, really, really need to become globally competitive or we will lose out to our international competitors. The FTA opens Australian markets up internationally and Australian companies are no longer protected by huge taxes. Although not affecting the technology industry as much, it is an indication of things to come.

Take Telstra and Optus as a prime example - which is doing better and why? Optus because it is operated internationally and they are proactive instead of being stagnant. And remember that many of our "Australian" brands are being sold off to companies in America. If we don't move forward then we are moving backwards because our international competitors are trying harder.

And YOU are the solution. Become a more aggressive thinker, think long term, think internationally, be proactive in your career and industry, be ambitious and most importantly voice your opinions to your future company on what we need to do. Because if we sit back and do business like we've always done business, then we'll lose to offshore companies.

Secure Destruction of HDs

2004-07-13T21:13:00.000+10:00

Orient Instrument Computer in China produces some interesting machines that can magnetically destroy a HD in 0.1 seconds (a bit like a e-Bomb) using a magnetic field of 7000 Oe, even when it is still in a PC or laptop!! And there's another one that physically drills into the drive to physically damage it, although it's a pity it doesn't drill all the way through, which means with lots of $$$ it could be possible to recover some data using an electron tunneling microscope which can see the actual magnetic domains which represent the bits.

The Department of Defence in America apparently shoots their hard drives with guns and/or incinerates them in a super-hot furnace (hard drives damaged by normal fire can be recovered).

For more info on secure data destruction and methods of recovery you can check out this old but excellent article.

EVENT DETAILS - CSIRO Tech Trends Seminar

2004-07-07T01:09:00.000+10:00

The speaker will be the CSIRO ICT Centre Director.

There is no charge for this seminar.

Location: E6A 102
Audience: Everyone
Time and Date: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM on Monday the 12th of July, 2004

For further information contact Linda Kerr
Phone: (9850) x9101
Email address: lkerr@ics.mq.edu.au

EVENT DETAILS - RUXCON 2004

2004-07-06T15:58:00.000+10:00

RUXCON Australian Security Conference
This is a fantastic conference to attend and we highly encourage all our members to make the effort to go along and learn more about security issues. RUXCON 2004 will be held over two days at the University of Technology Sydney, Saturday July 10th - Sunday July 11th. Doors open at 8:30am and entry price is $50. MITS will attempt to subsidise some of the entry fee, but exact details are to be finalised (expect $5 to $25 reimbursement). Please email us [MITSociety at Yahoo Com] for contact details.

A list of presentations for RUXCON 2004 is available below:

Win32 local exploits through the 'shatter attack' method - Brett Moore
The Art of Defiling: Defeating Forensic Analysis on Unix File Systems - the grugq
Bluetooth Security: Toothless? - Ollie Whitehouse
Security Impacts of Modern Web Development Technologies - David Jorm
Win32 One-Way Shellcode - SK
A Security Microcosm - Attacking/Defending Shiva, A Linux Executable Encryptor - Shaun Clowes
ELF: A fairy tale for viruses - Daniel Hodson
High Tech Crime Investigations in Australia - Brian Diplock
Reverse Engineering for Malware Analysis - Peter Taylor
Advances in real-time network vulnerability analysis - David Meltzer
Reversing and Exploiting Win32 Binaries - Jaguar
Stopping Stack Smashing Attacks - Paul Ducklin
Logging, Logic Bombs and Litigants: IT Security Law for non-lawyers - Andre Stein
Social Engineering - The gentle art of having the good guys help you commit evil - Daniel Lewkovitz
RUXCON Panel Discussion

MP3.com Technology Guide and Tutorials

2004-07-05T23:43:00.000+10:00

With so many options, getting a grip on digital music can be confusing. Don't be glum, chum - they're here to help! With tutorials, product overviews, compatibility charts and insider commentary, the Tech Guide is your source for information and advice to ease your worries, boost your tunes, and help you make the right choices (encoding music files, buying MP3 players, etc).

WinXP SP2 RC2 Preview Now Available

2004-07-04T01:19:00.000+10:00

Microsoft has released a preview for the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Release Candidate 2 at around 260Mb, click the link above for more info on the preview.

SP2 is a cumulative update (patches from SP1 are included) and uninstallation is possible. Some of the features include better:

Network protection

Memory protection

E-mail handling

Web browsing security

Computer maintenance

Added new sections: NetSchedule and Task Scheduler APIs, Tablet PC Enhancements, Wireless Network Setup Wizard, Internet Explorer URLaction Settings in Group Policy.

Revised sections: Data execution prevention, DCOM Security Enhancements, Filter for Add or Remove Programs, Setup, Download, Attachment, and Authenticode Enhancements, Internet Explorer File Download Prompt, Outlook Express E-mail Attachment Prompt, Add-on Install Prompt, Group Policy Internet Explorer Settings, Script repositioning of Internet Explorer windows, Zone Elevation Blocks

Known Issues: With SP2, you cannot print or print preview a Web page that includes an ActiveX object, Media Library in Windows Media Player may become unviewable with Fast User Switching enabled, color distortion appears with S3 Graphics Video Adapter, streaming Windows Media files fail, MSN version 9.00.0011.1200 does not fully work, Windows Messenger 4.7.3 does not support MSN add-ins for Windows Messenger. See the readme file for possible fixes.

Click here to go directly to the download page
Or here for the SP2 Home Page

Shared Technology - A Road Map for Traditional and Emerging Industries to 2008

2004-07-03T16:06:00.000+10:00

This project has identified 6 main technology areas that have been predicted to be big issues until 2008:

Networking

Wireless Communications

Electricity Generation

Embedded Processing

Enabling Technologies

Human / Technology Interface

Although none of these areas are "new" (they have been around for many years now), they have only recently been widely popular and their use is increasing daily. Highly recommended reading to stay ahead with technology. Check it out now (click the heading)!

EVENT DETAILS - CyberSoc LAN - Sat 3rd July 2004

2004-06-20T20:29:00.000+10:00

Cybersoc will be holding a BYO Lan at the end of exams.

Date: Sat 3rd July
Where: The Huts, UNSW
(http://www.cybersoc.cse.unsw.edu.au/events/maps/B11b-B8.html)
Time: 10am till 11pm
Games: Everything!
Cost: Free for members, or $4 to join on the day

If you are interested in coming, please email cybersoc@cse.unsw.edu.au to reserve a place.

See http://www.cybersoc.cse.unsw.edu.au/events/equipment.html for a list of what you should bring.

BestStuff Website

2004-06-19T19:23:00.000+10:00

A website with product news and reviews on:

Audio Video

Computers and Software

Photographic Imaging

Gamer Gear

Business

and more...

Yahoo! Mail - now offers 2Gb storage

2004-06-17T00:27:00.000+10:00

As of June 15, 2004 Yahoo! has made changes to enhance it's services for it's users - to offer an email experience that makes it easy to stay in touch and offers great value.

New to Yahoo!?
Get a free Yahoo! Mail account - it's a breeze to stay connected and manage your busy life.
100MB of email storage - Keep more of what's important to you
Powerful spam protection - Read only the mail you really want
Get your mail anywhere - All you need is a web connection

Need more? Get Yahoo! Mail Plus
Mail Plus offers tougher virus and spam protection, a virtually unlimited 2GB of storage, streamlined interface that's even easier to use, no graphical ads, and more for only $19.99/year.

Macquarie IT Society News

Intel Microarchitecture Demo

New movie services arrive on Internet

Mitsubishi unveils new HDTV technology

IBM to inject devices with security

Security Articles

iPod nano - What's Inside

EVENT DETAIL - Make 2006 Your Best Year Yet

Ziff Davis eSeminars - Information Technology Web Cast Seminars, Live Webcasts

Ziff Davis Email Newsletters

Outside Looking In: The BSD Operating Systems

See you at RUXCON!

DEF CON 2005 Calendar of Events

EVENT DETAIL - RUXCON 2005

EVENT DETAIL - LAN Competitions

EVENT DETAIL - Linux Seminar: Software Freedom Day

EVENT DETAIL - Free BBQ for MITS members!

Jobs available at Jay Car Electronics

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) Home

Predixis Music Search

Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)

Moore's Law 40th Anniversary

Moore's Law

Download details: Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC

Cash Prizes for Programming!

EVENT DETAIL - MITS Exam Preparation Seminar

Microsoft Student Ambassador

Zero-Day Firefox Exploit Sends Mozilla Scrambling

RUXCON 2005

iDog - iPod dancing dog

blinkx 3.0 review by PC Magazine

GoldenPalace.com Monkeys with Nature

Stellent - "Outside In" Technology

EVENT DETAIL - Graduate Positions at CSC Australia 2006

Dual-core test results

Copper's cleverness makes it a whole new telecoms game

Landlines under threat

QLD Optus falls off the Internet

Adobe Digital Media Store Closing

Intel Dual-Core CPUs

EVENT DETAIL - MITS Movie Night

EVENT DETAIL - Sydney Linux Users Group

Introduction to Quantum Computing

Join us at #macuni on Austnet!

EVENT DETAIL - MITS Meeting

EVENT DETAIL - LAN Games

Gadget Buzz - CNETAsia

Welcome to MITS

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

E6B 136

Services oriented computing: The challenges and opportunities in e-business development

Event 2

MITS BBQ

Tuesday 15 March 2005

Where Outside SAM Spot

12:00 PM - 2 PM

Volunteers needed to Help set up stall. please email me for more information.

Event 3

First Year 101

Any time between 11am and 1pmEvery Wednesday in MarchTerrace, level 2 SAM (outside bar)Social time for first years and mentors. Any questions answered.

I want to remind everyone the MITS BLOG will be used to:

Notify you about upcoming events

Give more information about upcoming events

Post other relevant news

Post Interesting articles that you guys might like to read.

If you don't receive our emails please come back to read this BLOG, the notice boards around the comp labs where we will put up posters about upcoming events.

Hope all you first years are starting to adjust to uni, if you have questions make sure you attend the First Year 101 event listed above, its a great way to meet new people and have your questions answered as well.

Finally anyone wanting to Volunteer for a position in MITS, please give us your name at the BBQ.

Watermarking Movies

EVENT DETAILS - Visit MITS during O-Week

Microsoft OneNote 2003 Free 60-Day Trial

Removing DRM from iTunes mp3

ICTP Digital Divide Simulator

Firefox 1.0 - alternative internet browser

Developing Streaming Media

Microsoft Corporate Vision

Mobile-review.com Reviews

Michael Fischer - Cryptography and Data Security

Nokia says handset market to slow, share to rise | CNET News.com

Uni entry eased if students have the money

Any time between 11am and 1pm
Every Wednesday in March
Terrace, level 2 SAM (outside bar)
Social time for first years and mentors. Any questions answered.