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  • Thu, 17 May 2012 14:39:44 +0000: More Lumia WinPhones from Nokia - YOUR IT

    Nokia has expanded its range of WIndows Phones with two more Lumia models, addressing high end and midrange price points.

    The Nokia Lumia 900 features a 4.3in screen with a polycarbonate body in white, cyan, magenta or black. Other specs include a 1.4GHz processor, HSDPA+ support, an 8MP dual-flash camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and a 1MP front-facing camera.

    Nokia Lumia 900

    Along with the usual Windows Phone features, the 900 includes the Nokia Music service, Nokia Transport (directions to public transport), Nokia City Lens (augmented reality), and a collection of local apps from businesses such as Qantas, Australia Post and Foxtel.

    The 900 goes on sale next month at $699 from major retailers. It will also be available from Optus for $0 upfront on a $60 plan. Not all outlets will offer the full range of colours.

    The Lumia 610 is aimed at those on a tighter budget. With a recommended price of $329, it will be available from Boost Mobile in June and from Vodafone and major retailers in July. It comes in the same colour range as the 910, and with the same proviso regarding availability.

    Built around a single core 800MHz CPU and a 3.7in screen, features include HSDPA (7.2Mbps) connectivity and a 5MP camera. The software bundle includes maps, turn-by-turn navigation, Nokia Transport, and Nokia Music.

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    “We are seeing real momentum for our Nokia Lumia smartphones among consumers and business users since launching the Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 in March, as well as increasing developer interest and exponential growth in our ecosystem,” said Nokia Australia MD Chris Carr.

    “The introduction of the new Nokia Lumia 900 and Nokia Lumia 610 has been very well-received overseas, and we expect a similar consumer reaction here."

  • Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:00 +0000: Raspberry Pi to rebirth an era of Woz-like super creativity? - YOUR IT

    The Raspberry Pi computer board is the world’s most inexpensive yet incredibly useful, useable, configurable, programmable and extendable credit card sized, ARM powered PC, ready for students, engineers and anyone to unleash new levels of creativity and imagination!

    Ever since the Raspberry Pi was announced, it has generated a lot of excitement, because it’s a US $35 computer board that delivers real computing power at a cost dramatically lower than traditional PCs.

    In addition, it offers end users, students, engineers and anyone the ability to write software and make new hardware creations powered by the Raspberry Pi more easily than ever before, thanks to the easily expandability of the Pi hardware.

    This means that if you want to add a touch-screen interface to the Pi, you can do it. If you want to use the Pi board as the brains of some kind of robot you’re creating, you can do it.

    Meanwhile, the Pi is perfect for students and classrooms, re-introducing the programming skills that children in the early 80s were learning in classrooms full of Apple II computers, skills that don’t appear to be being taught in primary schools any more.

    Indeed, the Raspberry Pi is so full of possibility, I imagine that it may well set off a Woz-like era of creativity once more, getting students, engineers and anyone in front of highly configurable and customisable technology that lets you do anything you want, just as Woz did in the late 70s when he was soldering together the first Apple I computer.

    Sure, today’s kids won’t be soldering together the Pi computer board – it comes already full made for the price – but instead of kids just using apps that someone else has made, students can easily create their own apps running on their own hardware designs, unleashing new creativity – with this being the true promise of the Raspberry Pi era.

    Now that the Raspberry Pi has “launched” in Australia (and around the world), the biggest problem will be getting your hands on one.

    Only 10,000 have been made so far, but there are already 300,000 pre-orders, with the floodgates now officially open for anyone to register their interest in buying one as soon as their “spot” opens up to make a binding, paid-for order.

    RS Componentsis one of two global distribution partners of the credit card sized Raspberry Pi computer (the other is Allied Elec), with RS Components being a “leading high service distributor of electronics, maintenance, automation and control products” in 32 countries, with 17 distribution centres across the globe, offering 550,000 products from 2,500 suppliers, serving 1.6m customers and sending out 46,000 parcels daily, making it an excellent partner for the Raspberry Pi initiative.

    Pi computers will be “sent out to customers on a first-come, first-served basis” in line with registrations of interest placed on the company’s website and depending on the number of boards available in the first production run.  

    RS says this process will be repeated once the next batch of boards becomes available, with the company implementing this procedure to ensure that all orders for Raspberry Pi are fulfilled with a confirmed delivery date, with a strict limit of one board per customer at this initial, tight supply launch time.

    Naturally, as a major components supplier, RS also gives you the opportunity to purchase HDMI cables, micro-USB power packs and more to go along with any Pi purchase, although these cables are available virtually anywhere, and are probably already in your arsenal of cables and plug-packs that you’ll need to complete the Raspberry Pi package.

    Lim Cheng Mong, Head of Electronics Marketing for Asia Pacific at RS Components said: “There has been a huge wave of anticipation and an extraordinary level of demand for Raspberry Pi since it was launched, so we are delighted to be delivering the first boards to initial customers. We are working very closely with the manufacturer to bring subsequent batches of boards into stock so that we can fulfil every customer order for Raspberry Pi as quickly as possible.”

    “The Raspberry Pi, together with the RS Components DesignSpark community and our free PCB design software, will enable engineers of the future to create revolutionary products throughout their academic and professional careers.”

    RS Components is also developing a variety of tools and initiatives to support Raspberry Pi users and the company’s DesignSpark electronics design community is seeing many people discussing ideas and thoughts on Raspberry Pi.  

    Recent additions to the site include a series of Pi Perspectives, where academics and scientists share their views on Raspberry Pi, and information on a Raspberry Pi experimenter’s kit now being developed. Various tutorials covering everything from initial set-up to a guide to the different Linux flavours, including a Fedora Mix start-up guide, are also available.

    For developers, there is the free schematic capture and PCB layout tool from RS Components, DesignSpark PCB. It has already won awards from across the globe, and the company is seeing more developers adopt it with some already creating prototyping boards to use with Raspberry Pi.

    The expected purchase price for Australians, including delivery, is AUD $41, although this is naturally dependent on the current exchange rate, which in recent days has seen the Aussie dollar fall to and through parity with the US dollar.

    Altready 53 lucky Australians and New Zealanders have received their Pi units, and while more being made in batches of 15,000 at a time, you’ll have to register quickly to minimise the wait for yours to arrive.

    RS Components says there is visibility to deliver 75,000 units by July/August, but with 300,000 people waiting, it seems clear the Pi is a blockbuster already.

    Interested customers can register their interest at the RS website here.

    The specifications are as follows:

    - Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM1176JZFS processor with FPU and Videocore 4 GPU
    - GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
    - GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure
    - 256MB RAM
    - Boots from SD card, running the Fedora version of Linux
    - 10/100 BaseT Ethernet socket
    - HDMI socket
    - USB 2.0 socket
    - RCA video socket
    - SD card socket
    - Powered from microUSB socket
    - 3.5mm audio out jack
    - Header footprint for camera connection
    - Size: 85.6 x 53.98 x 17mm

  • Wed, 16 May 2012 21:56:22 +0000: BlackBerry OS 7.1 ready to go - YOUR IT

    RIM's latest operating system update is now available to Australian users - including those in government jobs where security is an issue.

    BlackBerry 7.1 OS is available from Vodafone and Optus for owners of the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Torch 9860 and 9810, and Curve 9360.

    New features include support for Near Field Communication between BlackBerry handsets, using the phone as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, universal search, and an application to drive the FM radio built into the Curve 9360.

    In related news, RIM announced that the Defence Signals Directorate has approved the use of BlackBerry 7.0 and 7.1 for government use up to and including the Protected classification.

    "With the DSD approval of BlackBerry 7, Research In Motion continues to lead the industry when it comes to meeting the security certification requirements of governments around the world,” said Scott Deacon, manager, security certifications, Research In Motion.

  • Wed, 16 May 2012 20:52:17 +0000: Sony claims smartphone 'magic' with Xperia Sola - YOUR IT

    Sony's latest Android smartphone has an interesting feature: "floating touch navigation."

    If you want people to buy your Android-based smartphone rather than someone else's model, you need to provide a good reason.

    Sony Xperia Sola"The Xperia Sola comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with our floating touch technology giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web," said Sean Coulson, head of Xperia marketing for Sony Mobile Australia.

    Ah yes, Apple isn't the only company that can bake a little magic into consumer electronics.

    Floating touch refers to the way the new phone can respond to a fingertip hovering above the screen separately to the normal touch functionality. It's initially used in the Sola's web browser, but Sony officials said it will find its way into other applications that will be delivered through subsequent updates or by third-party developers.

    "With Xperia SmartTags out of the box and access to the latest content through the Sony Entertainment Network, Xperia Sola is perfect for consumers looking for ease of use and the best in entertainment in a smart and innovative smartphone," Mr Coulson added.

    Smart Tags are physical NFC devices. When a Sola (or another Sony mobile that supports this feature) is touched to a Smart Tag, it selects a predetermined phone profile. The idea is that you leave a Smart Tag in places where a different profile is appropriate (eg, at home, in the car and in the office) and quickly and just touch the phone when you arrive - that's much more convenient than messing manually with the settings.

    The Sola's NFC capability can also be used to connect with other NFC-enabled smartphones.

    The $486 Xperia Sola will be available exclusively from Harvey Norman.

  • Wed, 16 May 2012 10:01:00 +0000: Roamz reaches Android - YOUR IT

    Popular Australian iPhone app is now available for Android too.

    Roamz is a location-based app that assembles relevant content from services including Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as material posted by other Roamz users.

    Roamz Android

    Roamz 2.0 for iOS was released in March, and has already been downloaded more than 120,000 times. The company has now released an Android version.

    "We are thrilled to be able to welcome the Android community to Roamz," said founder and CEO Jonathan Barouch. "We have created a unique product that gives people real-time, local insight into what is going on around them and we think that Android users will love it."

    According to Roamz officials, the advantage of the company's approach is that by assembling information from major social platforms it does not require a large number of users in an area before it becomes useful.

    The free app is available via Google Play.


  • Thu, 17 May 2012 14:50:03 +0000: Alcatel-Lucent set to challenge Cisco and Juniper in the core - IT INDUSTRY
    Alcatel-Lucent will next week make its long-expected entry into the core router market - dominated almost entirely by Cisco and Juniper Networks - with a product based on its FP3 chipset announced last June.

    The company is holding a two day technology symposium in Santa Clara at which it says it will unveil "a major breakthrough innovation in core networking."

    Commenting on the move Nomura Research's Stuart Jeffry, said: "Alcatel-Lucent has captured a 24 percent share of the edge router market over the past 10 years. If the company can launch a compelling solution and leverage its customer relationships then it may see faster share gains in the core routing market. Our analysis shows that a 10 percent core routing share would drive a six percent increase in our operating income forecast for 2014 (all else being equal) and a 20 percent share 14 percent upside to estimates."

    The move into core routing was widely anticipated when Alcatel-Lucent last June announced a new 400Gbps chipset, the FP3, saying it would be used to boost edge router performance. The company said then that the new processor would be commercially available in mid 2012, initially in a range of new line cards for its 7750 SR series edge routers: 2 port - 100GE, 6 port - 40GE and 20 port 10GE cards.

    Alcatel-Lucent said at the time: "The FP3 processor is designed to address tomorrow's demand for ultra-high performance public and private IP networks. For example, a single FP3 processor could handle 70,000 simultaneous high definition video streams or 8.4 million simultaneous retail cloud sessions."

    Announcement of the FP3 immediately fuelled speculation that it would be used to build a core router. Interviewed at the FP3 launch by Light Reading, Basil Alwan, president of Alcatel-Lucent's IP Division, was asked: "Can we call you a core router company now?"

    He replied: "You have asked me that many times...From a silicon point of view the FP3 has intercepted core silicon in performance...So we now have what is required to build core routers...However, core routing needs a few more pieces: multi chassis and those sort of things, and we are not announcing any of that today."

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    Ovum analyst David Krozier had no doubts. He said: "Ovum expects that Alcatel-Lucent is already developing a new platform based on the FP3 that has the capacity and feature set to extend the company's reach into the network core and compete directly in that market with Cisco and Juniper."

    Alcatel-Lucent sourced a glowing endorsement of the FP3 from Michael Howard, co-founder and principal analyst for carrier and data centre networks at Infonetics Research. He said: "This 400G chipset is a generational advance that will improve router 100GE density/cost and will attract the eye of service providers...I'm impressed that any company could develop such a high capacity network processor, solving 400G in the electrical domain before the industry solves 400G for light waves."

    In a detailed assessment of the FP3, entitled 'What the Next Gen of FP3 Silicon Really Means' published shortly after its announcement, Telecom Strategy Partners said it offered "ground breaking technical specs, but the market opportunity and cost competitiveness it enables are what is most impressive."

    The report said it was "A significant development milestone that will serve as a foundation upon which service router product development will be based for the next five plus years, the FP3 network processor chip set targets operator requirements for scaling differentiated services with more dense and cost effective infrastructure, thereby supporting Alcatel-Lucent's applications enablement and high leverage networks strategy and positioning.

    "The programmable nature of the FP3 design enables it to be custom tailored to the needs of different routing platforms over time, with new feature sets downloaded as they are developed. FP3 programmability and the different memory chips that complement the chipset mean that these network processors can be tailored to a variety of routing applications, enabling adaptation to the specific requirements of service routers for the edge or core routers in the Super Core."

    iTWire's telecommunications editor, Stuart Corner, will attend the Alcatel-Lucent symposium as a guest of the company.



  • Thu, 17 May 2012 14:21:19 +0000: Facebook IPO price has been announced - IT INDUSTRY

    In an overnight release, Facebook has confirmed the IPO price for its new shares.

    Reflecting the incredibly high demand for Facebook shares from so-called Muppets (people who really don't know much about share investing!), Facebook has announced that the IPO shares will be priced at $38.  

    This is a considerable increate from the originally quoted range of $28 - $35, but in keeping with previous speculation by iTWire, where this writer said, "In my opinion, the shares will finally be priced at around $40, giving the company an initial valuation of almost $110B. Due to the pent-up demand from (in my opinion, irrational) small investors, the price will be pushed up as high as $55 in launch-day trading."

    This IPO is the classic case of public demand for shares ignoring the underlying financials.  As one commentator noted this is all about the fear of not wanting to miss the next 'google,' where the stock listed at $85 and currently trades around $600.

    Unfortunately, Facebook won't be another Google (or Apple!); the underlying financials are exceedingly weak, advertisers are saying the platform doesn't work for them and revenue is declining.

    The price announcement states: "Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 421,233,615 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $38 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on May 18, 2012, under the symbol "FB." Facebook is offering 180,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and selling stockholders are offering 241,233,615 shares of Class A common stock. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on May 22, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions."

  • Thu, 17 May 2012 04:58:08 +0000: Kaspersky moves AFL sponsorship to Collingwood - IT INDUSTRY

    Security company, Kaspersky, has secured a sponsorship deal with AFL club, Collingwood, as its official coaches’ partner this year, with the company’s logo to appear on all coaches’ apparel, laptops and match-day signage at the MCG.

    Kaspersky also says it will work closely with Collingwood, currently the AFL club with the largest membership base, to create business to business opportunities.

    The deal with Collingwood comes three years after Kaspersky, in 2009, was announced as one of two major sponsors for the Melbourne Football Club. That deal ended last year.

    Andrew Mamonitis, Kaspersky’s managing director ANZ, said the company was looking forward to building its relationship with the Collingwood team and its “wider corporate networks.”

    “Being Melbourne based, the local Kaspersky team are all strong AFL supporters and are passionate about backing clubs that match our values.”

    Kaspersky is a very active supporter of the sporting industry both in Australia and globally, including its partnership with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a partnership with Formula 1 team, Scuderia Ferrari.

  • Wed, 16 May 2012 18:21:29 +0000: Mobile shopping service StreetHawk hosts in Ninefold's cloud - IT INDUSTRY
    StreetHawk, a new location-based mobile personal shopping service, has chosen to host its business with Australian cloud computing and storage company, Ninefold.

    According to Ninefold, "At launch, the app needed to support terabytes of real-time retail inventory from 50 retailers and 300+ shop locations to successfully connect traditional bricks and mortars retailers with smartphone shoppers in Sydney.

    "Currently, StreetHawk is hosting its heavy computing services, including data collection and some API servers, on Ninefold's cloud. The next step is to move the smartphone API, currently on linode, and the content delivery network (CDN), currently on Google AppEngine, onto Ninefold."

    Sri Panyam, 'Engineer 1' at StreetHawk, said: "We chose Ninefold because we needed to host big data sets and deliver real-time matching performance for our RRR Engine. We love Ninefold because of its elastic capability to increase size with demand and inventory, and elastic pricing model for cost control and efficient deployment.

    "Of most value for us is the extremely low latency for our mobile users who expect data in real-time. We have to deliver data as fast as possible to ensure ongoing user engagement, so speed is a clear benefit of the Ninefold service for us."

    (Mobile users already experience greater latency the fixed line broadband customers because of the limitations of current mobile networks. The transition of mobile networks to LTE and the evolved packet core will reduce latency significantly).

    StreetHawk's RRR - Right place, Right time, Right person - technology allows shoppers to search for items they want in the shops around them or, if they save their search, to be notified when they are close to a store stocking the item they want.

    At present StreetHawk is focussed solely on fashion. It gathers inventory details from about 50 participating fashion retail chains, but it plans to move into other market segments.

    "StreetHawk has longer-term ambitions to develop the RRR engine as a mobile ad network to help generate revenue opportunities and better targeting for retailers by marrying brands with location and behavioural data gained through mobile device use patterns," it says. It claims an active customer use rate of 30 percent.

  • Tue, 15 May 2012 15:39:16 +0000: Businesses must mobilise their web sites or miss out - IT INDUSTRY
    Many Australian businesses are missing out on sales opportunities because the rapidly growing population of smartphone users are browsing heavily but strongly favour mobile-optimised sites, according to research commissioned by Google.

    The study - of 1000 Australians conducted by Ipsos Media CT - estimates smartphone penetration at 52 percent of the population - up from 37 percent just a year ago. "Sixty five percent of smartphone owners access the web from their phone on a daily basis, and 94 percent of Aussies surveyed have researched a product or service on their device," Google says. "Twenty eight percent have even bought a product via their smartphone."

    However, according to Google "The vast majority (79 percent) of Aussie businesses don't have a mobile-optimised website even though 61 percent of mobile users surveyed said they were unlikely to return to a site that they had trouble accessing from their phone."

    Google adds: "Mobile websites deliver concrete benefits for business, as demonstrated by companies like Australian online travel company Webjet. According to Webjet, bookings via smartphones have increased on a monthly basis of 27 percent since October 2010...And one of Australia's leading providers of online learning, Open Colleges, now sees a third of traffic and course enquiries coming from their mobile site."

    However Google stresses that major businesses are not the only ones likely to benefit from a mobile-friendly web site. According to Jason Pellegrino, head of mobile ads at Google Australia, "Eighty six percent of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 88 percent take direct action as a result, such as visiting or contacting the business. That's almost double what our research found last year, making it doubly important for small businesses to be ready with a mobile website that clearly displays information like location and trading hours."

    The survey was one of 26 country-specific surveys commissioned by Google. It has made the full report for each country available on its web site, along with the raw data in Excel format. "This lets advertisers, developers and marketers discover new mobile insights and create custom presentation-ready charts for free," Google says. "Users can compare across countries, see year-over-year trends or segment by demographics to understand specific smartphone usage patterns."


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