Most definitely I am not. It harkens back to the day when I was at University and spent the entire 3 years of my computer science degree and did not touch a PC at all.

Now, I have always thought that Universities are supposed to prepare you for your career after you leave, but to not even use a PC is a bit of a joke.

Anyway, we used Apple computers for the first two years doing programming and other things. My flatmate was an Apple devotee, I was not. I can see the design aesthetics, I can sometimes see the usability benefits. But I much preferred my PC.

Zoom forward nearly 20 years and we have now have two iterations of the iPad.

I am using one (v1) at the moment for a client project and so have had quite a play with it.

It\’s nice, it\’s easy to use (for some things) and it makes my kids go all gooey, but it still leaves me cold.

My smartphone and my laptop seem to be a better combination that the iPad. It just seems to me to be a device that does things OK, but it doesn\’t seem to fit a need.

What is there that the iPad can do that other devices can\’t? What is it that made it a \”must have\” device?

Seeing the recent launch hysteria of the iPad 2 makes me wonder if it is any better than the original.

Can anyone help me out with this one?

The post iPad2 – a bit of a yawn? first appeared on SAJE.

I can\’t believe that a product can reach production without an issue like this being known.

Was the leak of the iPhone prototype the cause of rushing the product before it was ready?

Reports of Class Action lawsuits and leaks of instructions call centre staff are to give disgruntled users are surfacing showing that the issue is real and that Apple are moving to, at least at this stage, play down the issue.

One of the responses has been to hold the phone a different way. I wonder if there is a specific Apple way to hold the phone, maybe like a secret handshake that they have forgotten to tell their followers?

I would expect that the design will be changed, quietly, but with over 1.7 Million units sold in the first few days, there are plenty of people out there with a potential handling issue.

Is this a case of aesthetic design overpowering functional design? Trying to be ahead of the other smartphones?

Steve Jobs runs a pretty closed shop, part of the reason why Apples reaction to the leaked prototype was so intense. A flaw like this would be a real dent in the PR armour of Apple.

The post iPhone 4\’s Reception Problems first appeared on SAJE.

I also talked about whether these speeds will be theoretical maximums or reality.

Well those questions are still unanswered, but it now appears that the new service will attract a premium cost.

Now, they have said it will be small, but how many other \”extras\” there might be. Will we have to buy a new modem? Will there be minimum contracts.

I wonder what the increase on current plans will be? 10%, 20%

What will the market accept to get these increased speeds

The post Super Fast Broadband – Now the fine print starts to appear first appeared on SAJE.

Now if this is true, it is going to make my life and many people who rely on the internet as a medium for large amounts of data.

It also addresses one of my beliefs that telecommuting and being able to work from any location without the impedance of slow internet access is a necessity.

Sharing data between co workers and clients is necessary in the days or larger and larger chunks of data (see the size of unedited digital camera images)

But how good will it really be?

My current maximum download speed is around 4-5mbps, which is faster than a number of people I know.

50 will be frightening!

But since many of my sites are hosted in the US, how will the Southern Cross Cable handle all of this extra data.

Will I get anywhere near 50mbps for anything other than locally derived content?

Will ISP\’s need more aggressive caching to allow these speeds?

Or is this just \”Telecomspeak\” for what in ideal circumstances and with your tongue in the right direction is possible.

Well the first rollout starts 2nd quarter 2009

I might have it by Christmas, the cabinet is just across the road, Yay

The post VDSL2 – Is it going to be as good as they say? first appeared on SAJE.

If this is correct, this will be one of the most significant shifts in the internet\’s infrastructure.

Content will shift to more real-time and social networking sites and rich media sites will boom. Web TV will also become more viable with near LAN speeds.

An Australian researcher is on the road to riches after discovering a way to make broadband connections up to 100 times faster.

University of Melbourne research fellow Dr John Papandriopoulos
is in the throes of moving to Silicon Valley after developing an
algorithm to reduce the electromagnetic interference that slows
down ADSL connections.

Most ADSL services around the world are effectively limited to
speeds between 1 to 20Mbps, but if Dr Papandriopoulos\’s technology
is successfully commercialised that speed ceiling would be closer
to 100Mbps.

Stanford University engineering professor John Cioffi, known by
some as the \”father of DSL\”, was one of the external experts
reviewing the research, which made up Dr Papandriopoulos\’s PhD
thesis.

Professor Cioffi, who developed the computer chips inside the
first DSL modems, was so impressed he offered the 29-year-old a job
at his Silicon Valley start-up company, ASSIA, which is developing
ways to optimise the performance of DSL networks.

Dr Papandriopoulos, whose efforts also earned him the University
of Melbourne\’s Chancellor\’s Prize for Excellence, said he would
leave for the US in about two weeks. He has already applied for two
patents relating to his discovery.

Melbourne Ventures, the University of Melbourne\’s
commercialisation company, is now shopping the technology around to
vendors of DSL equipment and modems. The vendors would then sell
the supporting equipment to internet providers worldwide for
placement in their exchanges.

Richard Day, commercialisation associate at Melbourne Ventures,
was optimistic about the technology\’s licensing prospects but said
it was too early to tell how lucrative it would be.

\”That\’s a question which is impossible to answer, simply because
we don\’t yet have a feeling for the extent to which it could be
adopted … [but] it has the potential to be adopted worldwide in
any country that has a copper network,\” he said.

Dr Papandriopoulos is in the process of assigning the
intellectual property for his invention to the university, but he
stands to receive significant royalties from any licensing
agreements.

\”Many years ago people used to pick up the phone and make a
phone call and you\’d be able to hear a faint or distant telephone
conversation taking place, and that\’s called cross-talk,\” Dr
Papandriopoulos said when attempting to explain how his algorithm
worked.

\”That is not an issue for voice calls these days but it becomes
a problem when you\’re trying to wring more bandwidth out of these
existing copper telephone wires [which power ADSL broadband
connections].\”

\”This cross-talk in current day DSL networks effectively
produces noise onto other lines, and this noise reduces the speed
of your connection.\”

Dr Papandriopoulos said his algorithm served to minimise that
interference and thus maximise the line speed.

He said others had researched the same area but his project was
attracting significant interest because it was more practical and
easier to implement.

If it is successfully licensed to equipment vendors, Dr
Papandriopoulos expects the technology to be implemented by
internet providers around the world within two or three years.

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The post ADSL / Broadband at 100mbps – Thats Superfast! first appeared on SAJE.

Check here to see some pics.

          While the graphics are a bit better, wont we be using it for as much the same reason as before

And I can see some safety concerns about back and neck injuries bending over to look, hopefully they can stand it up so you can see it properly, but then doesn\’t that defeat the purpose?

What do you think

Cheers

Steven

The post Microsoft\’s Coffee Table first appeared on SAJE.

To do so would destroy the benefits delivered by unbundling.

Woosh and other smaller carriers need a larger slice of the pie to make their plans viable, Telecom and Vodafone could bid in a way just to keep them out, leading to the calls to have the bigger players excluded.

Not truly an open market, but with an infrastructure as fragile as New Zealands, you need Government leadership to make the right calls.

In this case the needs of the public far outweighs any business fairness in the process.

Will the Goverment be hopping on one foot? Or leading the way?

Till Next Time

Deepweb

The post WiMax war hotting up first appeared on SAJE.

Apple have been very quiet on the PC front, possibly since the release of Vista they see a time where a customer is making a new PC choice due to the demands on the hardware and an opportunity to get in front of the punters to see if they can make some inroads.

I dont think it will make too much of a difference, people are very resistant to change and to move from a Windows machine to Mac is a big step.

Thats possibly why Apple is using very emotive TV ads to put their point across. Viruses, iLife and other things to make Macs more appealing.
Have a look at these http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

However, 90+% of the market is hard to ignore, so it may take a while…

Till Next Time

Deepweb 

The post Apple on the Front Foot first appeared on SAJE.

Is it the killer product that some have been waiting for? Quite possibly. Mobile phone handset makers such as Nokia, Ericcson, Samsung and others now have to make a choice: do they wait and see or make a move now.

Microsoft was late with the Zune and they have a hopeless task of making up the market share. Will they wait just as long with their own version of the iPhone or learn from their mistakes and get going on a new product.

I can see Microsoft joining with a handset maker to build a phone capable Zune in a short space of time.

People will buy an iPhone, just because of what it is, so they have a headstart already.

Will you? In NZ they will retail for about $800-$900, quite pricey for a handset here, but if you are willing to pay $600 for an iPod the extra money wont be a problem.

Well done Apple, looks like a winner.

The post iPhone the way of the future? first appeared on SAJE.

The NZ Herald has even run a story boldly stating that it will mean cheaper broadband by Christmas, but I am sure there is a lot of work to be done before that is a reality.

By the end of October the ruling will be determined and binding, we are waiting on submissions for or against to be presented.

While this ruling effectively only applies to Teltstraclear, other ISP\’s will feel they have a stronger case to get a better deal from Telecom.

Will we see the benefits? Christmas may be a little too soon.

Till next time

Deepweb

The post Cheap Broadband? I\’m hoping but not holding my breath first appeared on SAJE.