NBN Wins Fans and Critics in TV Debate

The National Broadband Network last night received votes of confidence from a school, university, pediatrician, patient and rural resident in a televised debate - but the reaction of a resident in a Tasmanian first-release site showed how far the Government has to go to bridge dividing public opinion on the network.

After a relatively dark couple of weeks for the National Broadband Network - turned into a political football by the Opposition and hounded by sections of the press - the network positively basked in the lights cast by apparent supporters who could see applications that would benefit from a high-speed national internet infrastructure.

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Apple warranty stand-off to drive up iPhone prices

The price of mobile plans bundled with the Apple iPhone appear destined to rise, as Apple steadfastly refuses to bow to industry pressure to allow its telco partners to offer repair services for the device.

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) announced late last week that it had struck an agreement with Telstra to ensure that devices sold on 24-month plans included warranties for 24-months - 12 months more than the standard warranty offered by most device manufacturers.

But, like the undertaking struck with VHA in May, the ACCC's deal with Telstra applied to all handsets except the Apple iPhone.

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NBN Co finalises three-year rollout plan

NBN Co plans to hand a revised three-year rollout plan that incorporates long-awaited wholesale pricing to the Federal Government by the end of the month, according to chief executive Mike Quigley.

Speaking at the "CommsDay" Summit in Melbourne to a standing room-only crowd, Quigley said that the costs of the revamped plan were no higher than had been originally envisaged for the NBN and that the Government enterprise was funded at least "until the end of the year and beyond".

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Tasmania to ask residents to "opt-out" of NBN

Tasmania plans to create laws that would put the onus on residents to "opt out" of receiving a fibre-to-the-premises connection under the Federal Government's National Broadband Network (NBN) plan.

To date, the Tasmanian NBN roll-out used the "opt-in" model used by NBN Co in other areas of Australia, where residents had to sign and return consent forms for a fibre connection into their house.

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Optus targets NBN wireless fans and fibre critics

Optus took aim at months of "ill-informed debate" over wireless and fibre infrastructure, criticising policy makers and sections of the telecommunications industry alike for their "collective amnesia" when shaping Australia's broadband future.

In a significant deviation from the CommsDay Summit script - which had so far steered clear of controversy and focused mostly on future applications - Optus director of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai took aim at NBN critics who he accused of failing to learn from the past.

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IE Finally Drops Below 50 Percent Browser Share

It was just two years ago that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser controlled 67 percent of the worldwide market, according to data from web analytics company "StatCounter". It has been all downhill from there.

According to the the latest data from the company, last month, September 2010, marked the first time IE fell below the 50 percent share mark in the past decade. Of course, this data only counts what StatCounter collects, but they claim that it’s a huge dataset worldwide — billions of visits from millions of sites. And the trend is clear: two years ago, two-thirds of those people were browsing the web with IE, now less than half of them are.

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Telstra Trials Retails Broadband on Tassie NBN

Telstra will trial a retail broadband service on the Tasmanian NBN for three months starting next month.

The incumbent was seeking about 100 existing Telstra customers living in Midway Point, Scottsdale and Smithton to participate.

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Quantum Computing Within Reach.

A team from the UK’s Centre for Quantum Photonics may have stumbled onto something remarkable. Something that may transform quantum computing from a pipe dream into reality.

Jeremy O’Brien, who is the Centre's director, recently led a project that ended with the creation of a new photonic chip that "works on light rather than electricity.

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