Google Earth has added geo-located Google News stories to its many useful layers, giving users of the desktop app access to national headlines and local news. Starting today, users can expand the "Gallery" node in their left-hand "Layers" menu and click "Google News" to have tiny newspaper icons displayed on their map. Click on a news icon, and you get the first paragraph and relevant links to the story. For tracking election news or seeing what's happening in your neck of the woods, Google Earth has become a pretty handy tool.

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. :)

The 37signals weblog highlights an Automator workflow that downloads the front pages of popular newspapers from previously mentioned web site Newseum and combines them into one consolidated PDF you can print off and read on your daily commute. The script downloads each front page from Newseum, then combines them into one master PDF. As TUAW suggests, you could automate this one step further by setting the workflow to run daily with iCal.

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Fiercely independent Australian broadband website Whirlpool's role as an industry watchdog is now in doubt with the news that it's been sold to Ninemsn.

Whirlpool was a trusted community resource for years, providing not only news about the broadband and mobile networks in Australia, but also providing a very active community forum for people to get technical help and share their experiences of different telcos.

In a press statement, site founder Simon Wright said “Whirlpool has gone further than I ever imagined. It’s been great to see it become what it is today — the premier resource on broadband and technology-based discussion in Australia. Now, as it moves into its next phase, I’m looking forward to seeing ninemsn apply their proven track record to the Whirlpool concept.”

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Yesterday the ABC announced a swag of new digital services including online TV channels and the addition of digital downloads to the ABC store - but unfortunately it has confirmed that ABC Shop video downloads will have DRM, and they'll be confined to the Windows Media Format.
While its downloadable audio books and music will be in Mp3 format, with no DRM attached, a PR person for the ABC has confirmed it's a different story for the ABC Shop's video downloads. Video will be in Windows Media format, playable either through the ABC's Media Player or in normal versions of Windows Media Player.
Video will also have DRM, she confirmed:

"The DRM license will vary according to what the customer purchases but for launch we are 'renting' download titles for a period of 7 days after which they will not be playable."

This is disappointing news - surely our national broadcaster should be aiming for accessibility, so why lock their downloads to Windows users only? Sorry Mac and Linux users, no love for you! And as for DRM - it might be understandable if the ABC had to use DRM  as part of licensing agreements with content producers, but if the it is using DRM on content it owns, that is a real shame.

Our national broadcaster the ABC has announced four new digital services today including an IPTV station called "ABC Playback" which will allow viewers to stream shows that were broadcast by the ABC in the previous week. It will also launch paid downloads from the ABC shop on 18 March.

The online service is in beta at the moment, showing three channels - ABC Catch-up, which will show a mix of popular and specialist shows which had been screened during the previous week on ABC1 or ABC2. ABC Real will show natural history programs and general documentaries, while there will also be an ABC Shop channel. An ABC news channel is also on the cards one the service goes live.

If you have an ADSL2+ broadband connection you can apply to join the beta here.

The ABC shop is also introducing a paid download service which will offer DVD, CD and download products for rent or purchase. These are accessed by an ABC Commercial integrated media player and download manager. It wasn't clear what format the downloads come in, if they're tied to any particular player or if they use DRM - hopefully we'll have more information from the ABC on that soon.

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It's a sad day for geek history when the Australian Computer Museum Society gets turned out of its home and can't find a home for its relics - including computing paraphernalia from as early as the 1920s. ZDNet reports that the ACMS has lost access to its borrowed warehouse facilities in Sydney, and it will be forced to dispose of the contents of the museum if a new home can't be found for them.
They're in need of around 400 square metres of storage space, or failing that, a place to build a shed. If you happen to have some room, I'm sure they'd appreciate a call!

Wanted: Someone to save Australia's IT heritage [ZDNet]

UPDATED 10.30am, 6 March

With Apple Australia still silent on when we'll get the iPhone, the rumour mill has been working overtime about which carrier (or carriers) will get the coveted contract when it launches in Australia.  I've just spotted a job ad which should help kick the rumour mill along.
Sensis has placed a job ad seeking a Design BA for an iPhone search application on an industry website - does this mean Telstra got the iPhone contract?
The Sensis ad, listed on 3 March on the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association website, offers a 2-3 month, Melbourne-based contract.
The job spec reads:

"Are you a business analyst with experience gathering and documenting requirements for interactive web or mobile products? We’re looking for a BA with a technical front-end UI background to help us design cutting-edge search applications for the iPhone. This isn’t boring old specification-heavy BA work. This is exciting and agile BA work to help us envision mobile search applications that work great and look beautiful. Let us know if you think you’ve got the right combination of creative flair, geekiness, and detail orientation to get the job done."

I've emailed Sensis for further information - it's possible that Sensis will be developing its own search app similar to Google's iPhone  optimised search app for use by multiple carriers. Either that, or Telstra's Edge network (the only one in Australia compatible with the current  iPhone) has won the contract to bring the iPhone to Australia. Hopefully we'll know more tomorrow.

UPDATE:  Just heard back from Sensis, who say "We intend to develop iPhone applications which can be used across carriers." Ok, we'll go back to hoping that iPhone in Australia will be a multi-carrier affair. :)

An ABS snapshot of how Australians spent their leisure time in the decade 1997-2006 shows that our internet usage has grown, while traditional pursuits are stagnating or declining.
The 'How Australians Use Their Time' study found our internet use has grown by six minutes a day, to an average of 19 minute a day.
While our time spent reading newspapers has declined from an average 13 minutes a day to 11 minutes a day, our TV/DVD viewing has remained at a whopping 165 minutes a day. Books also remained steady at 8 minutes a day.
The ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) study covers a very interesting period of time - widespread use of the internet as a leisure tool wasn't really around back in 1997. And even if you wanted to watch internet TV, the lack of available bandwidth meant it wasn't really an option - but these days YouTube represents a vast slab of internet traffic all on its own.
One thing the ABS didn't seem to account for was the 'bleed' between mediums which has occurred over that time. Many people read newspapers online these days, and ditto watching news, sport, TV and radio. Games and hobbies were also hived off in a separate category - which is laughable considering how many hours many gamers spend online gaming.

The results of community broadband news site Whirlpool's 2007 survey are out. If you're in the market for a new broadband provider, or you often get asked for recommendations by friends or family, it's worth checking out. Some juicy tidbits include the fact that Internode's customer satisfaction rating dropped around 25% compared to last year on the back of steep price rises. And 53.5% of AAPT users reported that they wait over 20 minutes on the phone for customer support - a worse result that last year.
The survey also asks about government and industry plans for broadband. Just 13.3% of respondents supported the government's planned mandatory ISP-level filtering of Internet traffic, with 51.5% saying they strongly disagreed with it.
Whirlpool's an awesome resource, thanks to those guys for the work they do. So how did your ISP stack up?