Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Telstra rivals petition for Fair Go Broadband
4:32PM Sarah Stokely | Optus is hosting a G9-sponsored electronic petition against Telstra’s attempts to monopolise the next generation of Australian broadband, over at Fair Go Broadband.
The site is calling for members of the public to sign the petition, which says in part:
There is a clear and present danger that in its rush to roll out the
National Broadband Network (NBN), the Government will give away
critical competition and consumer safeguards. This would see Telstra
regain its monopoly control of fixed line voice and broadband; drive
much higher broadband prices; and in turn keep broadband usage well
below its potential.
The site is authorised by 10 telcos including Optus, iinet and Internode, and also links to the T4: Tell the Truth Telstra website.Would be amusing to compare and contrast with Telstra’s propaganda blog, Now We Are Talking. If you’re a telco blog junkie anyway. :) More » 
Vidnik Records and Uploads Video to YouTube
12:44PM Gina Trapani | Mac OS X only: Fresh from the Google Mac workshop, new video application Vidnik records clips with your Mac’s camera and uploads them directly to YouTube. You can use Vidnik to create a video diary, or just to quickly record a video comment to attach to an existing YouTube video. Vidnik works with the built-in video cameras on recent Macs, with FireWire video cameras, and with many USB video cameras. You can also drag and drop existing video clips on your Mac into the left column in Vidnik to use it purely as an uploader. Vidnik is a free download for Mac only. Vidnik [Google Code via Official Google Mac Blog] More »
What Makes Vista Worth It?
9:52AM Adam Pash | The majority of you told us that you prefer XP to Vista and that it’d be best if Microsoft extended its cutoff date for XP, but we can’t help but wonder if there’s something about Vista that’s worth your while. For those of you who have made the switch—or those who have been tempted—we’re curious what Vista features actually make the upgrade worthwhile for you. So let’s hear what you actually like about Windows Vista that you didn’t get from XP in the comments. More »
Google Reader iPhone Beta Launches
9:30AM Gina Trapani | Google launches a new beta version of Google Reader for the iPhone today. Navigate your folders and subscriptions in a single column, mobile-friendly view with promising load times, even over a slow connection. Visit google.com/reader/i/ to check it out on your handset or in your browser. [via] More »
Handle a Traffic Stop and Avoid Your Ticket
9:10AM Adam Pash | Car and Driver magazine knows a thing or two about getting pulled over, so they asked seven state troopers from across the Us what they want and don’t want from you, the driver, during a routine traffic stop. For example, rather than preparing your licence, registration, and insurance information before the officer asks for it, “most cops don’t want you to do anything except rest your hands on top of the steering wheel until directed otherwise.” More »New Trio Enhances Canon IXUS Brood
9:00AM Advertisement | Canon Australia is launching three new IXUS models for the social or travelling photographer. The new IXUS 970 IS, 90 IS and 85 IS exemplify IXUS style and intelligence in compact, stylish camera bodies. The trio combines Optical Image Stabilizer, Motion Detection Technology and Face Detection Technology to control blurring and features an improved DiGIC III image processor.
All three boast a 10-megapixel CCD to allow poster photo prints of up to A2 size. The IXUS 970 IS (RRP: $549) leads the charge with 5x Optical Zoom and includes a Safety Zoom function to avert image degradation when shooting distant subjects. The IXUS 90 IS (RRP: $479) incorporates a chiselled design with a vibrant three-inch Pure Colour LCD display. The final addition, the IXUS 85 IS (RRP: $429) commands portability as the slimmest model in the IXUS series. All three models are available nationally now.
More » 
DriveSpacio Finds What’s Filling Up Your Hard Drive
7:50AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Analyse your hard drive usage and find out what’s eating up your disk space with freeware application DriveSpacio. Similar to previously mentioned WinDirStat, DriveSpacio sets itself apart with a different approach to displaying your drive usage. Many users will likely prefer the bar graphs and pie charts of DriveSpacio to WinDirStat, but the biggest drawback is that—unlike WinDirStat—it doesn’t currently allow you to directly delete or launch a folder from within its interface. That means that once you find something you want to delete, you still have to navigate to it manually in Explorer to delete it. Regardless, the freeware, Windows only DirveSpacio is a great alternative when you’re looking to visualise your hard drive usage. Mac users, check out previously mentioned GrandPerspective. More »
Eat Healthy with Grocery List Templates
7:45AM Adam Pash | Health weblog SmarterFitter knows how difficult it can be to buy healthy food once you hit the supermarket, so they’ve created a couple of grocery list templates designed to help you stick to the good stuff. The list breaks down items into helpful shopping categories, leaving a little room in each for your own additions. You’re probably already aware of the time you can save by using a grocery list template in the first place, but these templates from SmarterFitter will also help save a little time in the gym. Grocery List Templates For Healthy People [SmarterFitter] More »
Slim Down Your Wallet with Your Phone
7:40AM Adam Pash | Blogger Albert Alberts loves a slim wallet, and after reading over some of our wallet-slimming tips, he realised he had a powerful wallet-slimming tool in his pocket all the time: his iPhone. His idea? Rather than reducing his membership cards to just one club card, he scanned his membership cards to his computer, then synced them to his iPhone as an album called WalletCards. According to the post, his phone-friendly cards even scan successfully. You’re still going to be at the mercy of whether or not the workers are willing to accept your scanned cards, but if they are, you can carry around all the membership cards you want without adding any bulk to your wallet. WalletCards on my iPhone ['t Is Goud] More »
