AS watchdog pledges to clamp down on consumers protection online, PayPal says phishing and spoof emails are now commonplace
Oonagh Reidy
NBN Unleash Tassie Stage II But Is Super-Speed Broadband Here Already?
Stage II of NBN’s Tassie project has kicked off as AARNET says it is doing now what the NBN promises in ten years time.
The project is being carried on behalf of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and radio astronomy community as part of Australia’s bid to host Square Kilometre Array radio telescope international science project in 2012.
Households, businesses and schools in these communities are already experiencing the benefits of high-speed broadband and improved competition,” Senator Conroy said.
Shopping Centres Slump, E-tailers Invade: Report
The golden age of retail is over.
Bendy Battle: Samsung V Nokia 2012 War
Who is the bendiest of them all? Phone titans Samsung and Nokia are to go head to head in a bid to create the most flexible smartphone displays. Just last week, Nokia unveiled its answer to the flexible smartphone in London, at its “Future Lounge’ which saw the debut of a prototype device that can be controlled by bending it.
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For instance, folding the top right-hand side of the clever screen will command the device to scroll upwards and bending the bottom will scroll down. Although still in development stage, Nokia hopes to debut the flexi-phone, Kinetic, next year.
But phone rival Samsung, who already made public its intention to mass produce flexible OLED screens, confirmed bendy models will be a reality in first half 2012 at earnings call last week.
“The flexible display, we are looking to introduce sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier part,” Samsung’s Vp of Investor Relations Robert Yi revealed at last week’s earnings call.
“The application probably will start from the handset side.”
Previously, it was flagging 2013 – 2014 release date but now it looks like its stepping up the ante as Nokia rivals device gears up for a release next year.
But its not just phones Samsung are bringing bendy technology to, tablets too and maybe even TV’s are to get the flexi treatment.
“We will start with handsets and migrate to tablet PCs and other devices,” he added.
Earlier this year it revealed an AMOLED screen for Galaxy smartphone that could be folded over 100,000 times yet lose only a tiny percentage of screen quality.
Recently reports were also circulating about a bendable Galaxy S II model planned using “rollable [and] bendable” plastic polyimide substrate strong enough to “survive blows from a hammer.”
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| Images from Nokia Future Lounge, London last week. |
However, flexi phone are just part of the war currently being waged between phone rival Nokia and South Korea’s Samsung.
Galaxy maker’s are now the top phone maker by shipment, beating Nokia to the title, according to latest statistics from Strategy Analytics.
Samsung last week revealed phone shipments soared 44% to 117m units in Q3 and shipped approximately 28 m smartphones – beating former king Nokia (16.8m) by 10 million as well as arch enemies Apple’s 17.1m units, losing its palce at the top.
“After just one quarter in the top spot, Apple slipped behind Samsung to second position and captured 15 percent share. Apple’s global smartphone growth rate slowed to just 21 percent annually in Q3 2011, its lowest level for two years,” Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics Director, said.
“We believe Apple’s growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter, volatile economic conditions in several key countries, and tougher competition from Samsung’s popular Galaxy S2 model.”
However, the analysts did point out the turmoil Nokia engendered by its changeover from Symbian to Windows phone during the third quarter so Q4 should tell more, particularly when Apple iPhone 4S released earlier this month sold 4 million on its first weekend comes into play, and could put Cupertino back in pole position.
“Strong growth was mainly lead by smartphones with regional expansion of Samsung Galaxy S II,” Samsung confirmed at earnings call on Friday.
Solid growth across all segments was also down to enhanced “mass market” models like Galaxy Wave and Galaxy Y Pro and shipments were also up in emerging markets China, South America and Southeast Asia.
iTV: “Full TV, Touch, iOS Halo Effect” – Analyst
Apple TV is coming to a living room near you and will be as touch friendly as an iPad.
iTV will be a set-top box built into the Apple TV and your home screen will work like an inflated iPad.
Thats what Peter Misek, senior tech analyst from Jefferies & Co revealed on Friday telling CBNC what he believes iTV will be:
“An integrated full feature TV set, set top box integrated in the set….much as you would touch iPhone, iPad you would touch the air in front of you with gesture control.”
“Asian manufacturers we’ve been in contact with have indicated production yield on iPhone 5 has improved, and we think iPad mini, and also believe iTV has gone into production,” he added.
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But other clues iTV is definitely coming appeared last week, Misek noted.
“GDSU indicated yesterday that they had a new customer ‘Livingroom Base’ – we believe its not a gaming company….that’s Apple.”
Read: Hello iPhone 5, iTV: Apple To Hit $1 TRILLION Value?
But iTV wont be a big driver for Apple earnings per se, says Minsk, rather it will have a huge ‘halo effect’, where the new Apple device will encourage users to stay within the iOS ecosystem.
“If you have an iTV or are hooked into iTV services you’re unlikely to buy any other phones other than an iPhone and certainly you’re next tablet will be an iPad,” the Jefferies & Co analysts added.
“Its more about selling more iPad and iPhones than selling TVs.”
Other rumours that have ran about Apple TV of late are a 42″ 20:9 screen (ditching iPad’s 4:3) res, Siri to search the Internet for TV content, iSight camera and is highly likely Apple TV will run a version of iOS tailored for the big screen but will be similar to iPhone, iPod and iPad.
Read: What Does The Internet Know About An Apple TV?
What A Turn Off! Google TVs Returned By Users
Disgruntled Google TV users are returning sets in droves. Logitech International, which makes hardware running Google TV technology including Revue set-top box andl keyboard, recently announced revenue losses in the category, saying more units were returned than sold.
Read Google TV Version 2 In Production Here
Unprepared: How Dicks Sale Went (Horribly) Wrong
You don’t plan to fail but you can fail to plan.
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That’s the lesson to be gained out of Dick Smith’s disastrous gaming sale, which kicked off on Monday last and left thousands of consumers sour faced-after the mammoth sale went horribly wrong.
Some were even branding the $7m clearance sale a “scam” after Dick’s website crashed with enthusiastic consumers wishing to get their hands on massive bargains including Sony’s PSP for $40 and Assassins Creed 2 for just $5, while others arrived instore to find out the sale goods were not even in stock.
A document leaked online which listed everything – including consoles, gaming titles that were to go on sale was part of the problem, a ‘mystery’ DS employee told Gizmodo.
Read: Scorned Customers Lash Out Over Dick Smith’s $7M Sale ‘Scam
The leaked list didn’t mean every item would be available in every store, the staffer added.
“To us staff, we can translate that document immediately to see what’s in stock and what isn’t, whereas anyone else would have looked at it and thought ‘EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!”
The leaked item list forced the retailer to fast forward the sale to April 02 – a full ten days before it was actually scheduled to take place on the 12th.
“We were meant to be given a week to price all the games and have it ready for sale come April 12th but due to the leak the entire thing was bumped up, giving us staff very little time to prepare for it,” the employee revealed.
And was it a way for Dick to flog gaming stock due to discontinuation of its gaming department?
No it was “just to clear out old gaming stock,” the mystery employee insists.
“Dick Smith is certainly continuing to sell games because no new games were put on sale and our system is still being actively stocked. I’d wager they’re trying to liquidate old stock as Woolworths do want to sell the business off.”
Dick Smith’s General Manger blamed “the unforseen popularity of Dick Smith gaming sale” for customers leaving the store empty handed.
“We understand a certain amount of misinformation was published online last week that led some customers to believe certain products were on sale when they were not or they were a different discount.”
What Christmas? December Retail Down: ABS
December retail down slightly, according to newly released ABS figures.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) latest figures show retail turnover fell 0.2 per cent in December, despite the widely expected Christmas spending boom.
The drop was identical to the previous month’s fall. The trend estimate for retail turnover also fell 0.1 per cent last month, according the the ABS. However, compared to 2011, sales rose 2.3%.
Online retail sales fell slightly last month, according to NAB Index released this week, although were up 23% y-o-y.
The largest contributor to the fall was ‘Other’ retailing fell -2.8 per cent, followed by cafes, food services (-1.1 per cent) and food retailing.
However, there were rises in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (+2.1%), household goods which includes consumer electronics (+0.8%), and department stores (+0.8). Electrical and electronic goods retailing rose 0.2%.
Over the longer term, ‘Other’ retailing and household goods were the weakest performing industries in trend terms, down 0.5 and 0.4 per cent respectively.
ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the figures would be disappointing to retailers who were hoping for some love from shoppers for the festive season and showed consumers were under too much pressure with tax hikes, increases in utility bills and private health insurance.
“Compared to December 2011 overall retail growth sat at 2.3 percent for December 2012, which is well below the rate of inflation. It was clear in the lead up to Christmas household budgets were stretched to the limit,” he said.
NSW retailers bore the brunt of the fall in spending down 0.7%, followed by Victoria (-0.2 per cent), Western Australia (-0.3 per cent) and the Australian Capital Territory (-0.8 per cent).
Retail turnover in Tasmania (+2%), the Northern Territory (+0.7) and South Australia (+0.1), all rose.
Orange IT Shuts Stores, JB Hi-Fi Bites
Orange IT appears to have closed retail stores as competition from JB HiFi and big retailers bite
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| AS one retailer closes…. |
As one electronics retailer closes…The Orange IT store in North Sydney closed its doors several weeks ago just JB HiFi opened a new store a few doors away in Walker St earlier this month.
Inside the North Sydney Store all stock has been cleared, although there is no closing sign on the door. It appears the price friendly electronics retailer is shutting all its stores in Sydney, including Clarence St and Haymarket in Sydney CDB, according to IT consumers on Whirlpool.
The company could not be contacted for comment and is not answering calls on the phone numbers listed on its website and Facebook page, and appears to have gone underground.
The company has an address listed as T9 and T15, Level 1, 730 George St Sydney.
Orange IT has not updated its Facebook page since November, even though customers are contacting them with complaints and queries about products purchased.
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| Another opens….Jb Hi-Fi North Sydney |
Whirlpool user ‘rickyt’ wrote on January 25: “Word to the wise, we normally use Orange IT on Clarence St in Sydney to sort out our PC’s in the office. Today they have advised that they cant deliver our order and they are closing… not sure if this is all stores but I suspect it is.”
The company, which sells everything from HP notebooks to PC accessories like Logitech speakers, Toshiba storage devices and Targus laptop bags, appears to be still selling online, however.
Orange IT’s eBay store is still alive and kicking and has listed products dated as recent as 20 February. They’re even offering free delivery on most goods.
Orange IT customers include “corporates, small business, government, students” according to its website.
“I like Orange IT however recently they haven’t had much in stock. It’s sad if the whole chain closed down,” another consumer wrote on the forum.
Malware Turns 0.5 M Telstra Users To ‘Zombies’?
They will if malware threat becomes a reality.
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That’s according to Telstra Internet and broadband domain boss, Barrie Hall, who revealed recent tests to prevent botnets on BigPond network could prevent a mass number being infected with malware, which could turn their PCs into a zombie army.
The tests, which were successful, involved using Domain Name System poisoning, often used by cyber criminals, and Nominum Network Protection System (NPS) to detect malware amongst its customer network, Hall told Internet Industry Association’s (IIA) iCode Forum yesterday, reports CIO.
Telstra’s tests used Nominum systems to get a hold of domain names usually used by botnets to communicate with their mother ships. Hall and his team tested 1 million BigPond IP addresses and found 5.4% (or 54,000) had signs of being infected by a botnet, which is a group of infected or compromised PCs.
This means, overall, up to half a million Telstra broadband customers could “potentially” be infected with malicious software, he said. The tests excluded mobile broadband services.
Across Australia generally, the botnet infection rate is around 10% for fixed line and is lower, 5%, for wireless services.
That means one in ten of us have some infection or malware on our PCs. Scary.
But this seemingly alarming number is low compared to some other countries, including the US where it can reach 10% infection rate and Thailand which can hit an astonishing 40%.
So why does Australia have such a low botnet rate compared our friends abroad?
Most of our internet is accessed via gateways and routers, which often has a level of inbuilt level of protection compared to older systems, Hall said.
However, some might say using DSN poisoning in tests is not a great idea, he admits “a lot of my colleagues would say that mucking with DNS is evil.”
“We’re at war,” with these malicious attacks and the harm that could result, Hall warned.
However, making consumers aware of the problem of malware and what to do about it is also vital, the iCode forum also heard.
This comes as Australian Media and Communication Authority (ACMA) that between 7,000-7,500 internet users in Oz are either infected with DNSChanger or continue to use the rogue settings.
Read: Malware Alert! ‘Thousands’ Face Web Blackout
The Authority also warns that D-day is coming for computers infected with the DNSChanger malware, which changes a user’s Domain Name System (DNS) settings, enabling cybercriminals to direct unsuspecting web users to fraudulent websites and interfere with their web browsing.
Computers that remain infected after 9 July will have” severely crippled internet access”, so Aussies should check their PC’s now, ACMA said in a statement.
You should also check that computer’s settings for accessing the internet are not the ‘rogue’ settings installed by DNSChanger.
Even if you have removed DNSChanger malware, it is possible your computer is still using rogue settings.
Check here if your PC is infected.







