HotelQuickly is launching its last-minute hotel booking app in Australia today, with immediate listings for Sydney and Melbourne followed by support for additional cities in the coming weeks.

The iOS and Android app launched in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia back in March, with the simple premise of offering its users cheap hotel rooms at the last second.

Booking hotels in this fashion isn’t exactly a new idea, however (see our coverage of HotelTonight). HotelQuickly tries to attract new users by offering exclusive discounts on a curated list of hotels in the nearby area, as well as a condensed three-step process for booking a room.

It’s also worth emphasizing that the entire service is mobile-only. There’s no website to speak of – not for booking at least anyway – so the experience has been built from the ground-up for smartphone users.

In the six weeks following its launch, HotelQuickly has expanded into Vietnam and Macau, further strengthening its position and hotel offerings in its Asian home market. The company has also attracted over 50,000 app downloads from both iOS and Android devices, as well as 7,000 fans on Facebook, so now seems as good a time as any to take on Australia.

Navigating the app is remarkably straight-forward, with a no-nonsense list of countries to peruse from the outset. If you’re worried or under pressure to find a hotel room, refining the interface in this way can make all the difference.

A drop-down will appear with the available cities covered by HotelQuickly, followed by a list of available rooms promoted with a high-resolution photograph, normal price and app-discounted price. It’s not a ground-breaking process by any means, but in day-to-day use it works just fine.

Existing and prior bookings are available from a dedicated tab at the bottom, and it’s possible to pick up in-app credit by recommending the service to other users, which is a neat touch.

Last-minute hotel bookings regularly occur when you’re stuck in an unfamiliar city, so a map showing the location of each available room – located in the top right-hand corner of the app, is also a small, but welcome addition.

HotelQuickly is headquartered in Hong Kong, although its team of 40 employees are spread out across the Asia-Pacific region. Two of HotelQuickly’s five co-founders are also Rocket Internet alumni; Christian Mischler used to be COO of Foodpanda, while Raphael Cohen was Managing Director of Foodpanda Vietnam and DropGifts Singapore.

➤ Hotel Quickly | iOS | Android

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Image Credit: ANTONIO SCORZA/AFP/Getty Images

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have arrested a man claiming to be the leader of the Lulz Security hacking group.

When contacted by phone, an AFP spokesperson told us a media release and press conference are coming later in the day. ABC News first reported the arrest.

The suspect is reportedly a 24-year-old man from New South Wales. He will be charged with hacking offenses and is due in court in May.

Update: The AFP release claims the arrested was an IT professional with access to sensitive information that put its clients and the government at risk. Officials began investigating him earlier this month after discovering a breach in a government website.

LulzSec, a so-called “hacktivist group” with loose connections to Anonymous, has taken credit for several high-profile cyberattacks, including one against the US CIA, in recent history. Last year, two alleged LulzSec members pled guilty to hacking Sony, 20th Century Fox, the NHS and UK police agency SOCA.

Last March, the US FBI went public with the information that Sabu, the alleged leader of LulzSec at the time, had been cooperating with the agency. However, Lulzsec members claimed that Sabu had helped perpetrate further hacks even while he was supposedly acting as an informant.

Image via Flickr / goblinbox

BBC Worldwide, the BBC commercial arm, has announced it’s launching a new premium channel on Foxtel, a subscription TV service in Australia.

Foxtel already offers the UKTV channel, which screens archive shows primarily from the BBC, RTL Group and ITV, and is owned by BBC Worldwide. Foxtel also offers BBC Knowledge, CBeebies and BBC World News, and these four channels will continue in tandem with the new premium offering.

With this deal, BBC Worldwide is looking to offer “premiere British drama and comedy” without ad breaks, and is striving to mirror the UK transmission as close as possible.

While the BBC broadcasts ad-free programming in its domestic UK market, funded through the TV license fee, this is a big step for the BBC brand down under, as it offers first-run programming at least twelve months before it will be made available on terrestrial TV.

The channel will launch as part of Foxtel’s Drama & Lifestyle package in mid-2014, and will be available cross-platform and ‘on demand’.

“This deal represents a strategic opportunity for BBC Worldwide to further expand our opportunities to showcase outstanding British creativity in Australia,” says Jon Penn, Managing Director, BBC Worldwide Australasia.

“We have a strong relationship with Foxtel and their viewers through our existing four channels, and were delighted to be given the chance to launch a premium channel that could offer the best BBC and British premiere television shortly after UK transmission,” he continues.

BBC Worldwide already offers a global version of iPlayer in Australia, which is available for iOS devices only and offers mainly archived content.

Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei doesn’t have many friends in major developed markets.  Last October, US Congress labeled Huawei a national security threat, in fear that granting the firm access to US telecom infrastructure will allow easy access for Chinese spies. Canada and parts of Europe have also enacted similar measures.  Australia prohibited the company from aiding in the construction of a nationwide wireless network.

Despite these setbacks, however, China’s powerful telecommunications service and equipment provider appears to be picking up at least some traction in the South Pacific.

In New Zealand, the company inked a deal this week with Telecom Corp., the biggest phone company in the islands, to build its upcoming nationwide 4G wireless service.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the deal was met with barely any opposition from the government, and New Zealand’s Minister of Telecommunications was paraphrased as stating that “the government didn’t comment on individual companies and that it would work with operators and suppliers to tackle security concerns if any are identified.”

According to the same piece, the contract marks Huawei’s third infrastructure deal with private telecom firms in the country, and also follows negotiations with the government of New Zealand to contribute in the  a nationwide fiber network. Huawei’s New Zealand operation houses 120 employees.

Now, signs are emerging that Australia might follow the lead of its neighbor. This week, Huawei issued a press release that detailed a meeting that took place in Beijing this week between Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Sun Yafang, Huawei’s Global Chairwoman. The document reads: “Ms Sun said the that the Prime Minister encouraged Huawei to seek opportunities to grow its commercial business in Australia, and to continue to forge partnerships with Australian companies and educational institutions.”

Of course, we ought to keep in mind that this press release pulls no direct quotes from Gillard herself, and is presented as Sun’s recap of the discussion that took place between the two women. However, Gillard’s “encouragement,” if it can be trusted, flies in the face of Australia’s firm rejection of Huawei’s previous bid in the country.  It also stands in stark contrast to the hostile reactions Huawei has garnered from the US, the EU, and Canada.

Doug Young of the South China Morning Post interprets the move as an indication that Australia will allow Huawei to sell its products and services to private institutions, but not government institutions.  Nothing has been confirmed yet, but as Huawei continues to plead its innocence amidst rapid growth in other parts of the world, the gradual adoption of this tentative model would certainly help Huawei make its case to its many critics.

Earlier this month, Huawei revealed its Huawei’s 33 percent increase in net profits for 2012, and projected a 10 percent annual growth over the next five years. Bob Cai, VP of Wireless Marketing accompanied this announcement with a blunt, direct dismissal of the company’s growth prospects for the US.

 Image credit: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/GettyImages

Amid increasing competition from Google, HopStop, the transit service which offers subway, bus, cab, walking and biking directions on mobile and Web, has informed us of a new milestone: the company has passed 3 million app downloads just six months after crossing the 2 million mark.

HopStop shares that its service is now launching in Australia and New Zealand, and is additionally expanding in both the UK and France. The company’s total reach now includes 500 cities in 7 countries.

Why the growth?

HopStop’s recent growth is, in part, thanks to Google Maps’ lost role as the default mapping app for iOS. With that change, iOS users who needed transit directions were left stranded, because Apple Maps didn’t provide such services. HopStop stepped in.

Even as Google regains noteworthy mindshare on iOS, HopStop’s growth is only accelerating; it took HopStop roughly 18 months to hit 1.25 million downloads, nine months to pass 2 million, and now six to pass 3 million.

With this in mind, HopStop CEO Joe Meyer tells us that his company is planning expansion in additional international cities and countries “on the near-term horizon.”

Google remains HopStop’s key competitor, and continues to place its own efforts into transit navigation. Just yesterday, the search giant began showing live transit departure times in NYC and Salt Lake City, along with service alerts in DC.

As of this past December, HopStop covers approximately 80 percent of the locations that Google Transit serves in the US, and HopStop’s strength in this space makes things interesting; it’s a prime acquisition target for Apple, which needs to reliably expand and improve its own mapping services. For Google, on the other hand, purchasing HopStop would be a defensive move, preventing future threats to Google Maps.

➤  HopStop for iPad, iPhone, Android via Google Play/Amazon & Windows Phone

Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Freelancer.com, a crowdsourced jobs marketplace, is strengthening the security of its platform against scams and frauds with two new mechanisms. The company has announced its 7 million users will need to register a phone number for security purposes, while their country of location will be identified and prominently displayed on the profile.

The changes, which are the first of a series of “further actions” rolling out over the coming weeks, are being made after Freelancer.com unearthed a scammer from India who had tried to defraud them after logging $14,000 in fake jobs.

Setting up two accounts using fake names, profile pictures and locations, the user (who was identified as male) was caught trying to boost his credibility with the work; the idea being that his impressive job history and user feedback would help gain the trust of others, who he could potentially rip off, before moving on to start to the process afresh.

Either way, alarm bells went off  and the company — which owns businesses in Canada, Germany, Sweden, the US, the UK, among other markets; and has seen nearly 4 million projects posted to date — spotted the issue early and withdrew the credit, much to the chagrin of the would-be-fraudster.

The company says it is making the changes to “improve the integrity of our marketplace”. Keeping user history, reviews and other feedback genuine is critical to maintaining trust and honesty on the site. Without that, the community and its business would suffer.

Now phone numbers will be used to verify important changes to user accounts — such as the names of bank accounts and withdrawal methods — in a bid to combat phishing and hacking threats. Users can set up their security number via the ‘Settings’ option in their profile.

The site is doing verification of its own and it has updated user profiles to include a reference to the country of residence, based on their IP address (although that is not immune from being tampered with):

We have set the country on every account on the website to the true country that person is from. We’re doing this to stop people from impersonating others or misrepresenting where they are from.

Freelance.com had 4 million users when it acquired Canada’s ScriptLance in July 2012. It figures that, with the company on course to double those numbers within a year, there’s an increasing need to protect users against the threats that will inevitably target its fast growing platform.

Here’s an example of how the new country tag can help users identify suspicious inconsistencies within profiles. This profile — one of the two fakes — is clearly labelled as based in India despite the user’s persona built to be American.

It’s still not entirely obvious that this is a fake, however, so the additional steps that are coming will be much welcomed.

Headline image via Shutterstock

Google may have released the high-end Chromebook Pixel touch laptop last month, but it’s getting back to business with its more affordable Chromebook range which has gone on sale in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

An announcement from the company says that Chromebooks from Acer, HP and Samsung will roll out in the six new markets from Tuesday (which is already today in those countries). Google has also extended its business and schools program to those countries.

Thus far available in the US and UK, this is a big move for Google. It will be interesting to see how the devices — which are priced upwards of $249 in the US — are received in the first global rollout.

That isn’t quite all though. Google is beefing up its seller network in the US — where Chromebooks are already available — and the laptops will be sold in an additional 1,000 Best Buy stores “over the next couple of weeks”.

Google Chromebook for school initiative has been particularly successful. More than 2,000 schools in the US were said to be using the device, just three months into the program.

The education segment aside, Chrome OS is gaining attention from more and more manufacturers. In 2012, only Samsung and Acer were on board. This year it looks like we’ll see that list rapidly expanding, with two new entrants recently revealed.

Lenovo joined the fray with its education-focused ThinkPad Chromebook, available to schools from February 26. The 11.6-inch device will be powered by an Intel processor, feature an anti-glare display with a 1366 x 768 resolution, offer three USB ports, a webcam, and a 6-cell battery. HP also introduced a Google-powered laptop.

Related: First impressions: Samsung’s $249 Chromebook channels Apple while chasing viability

Headline image via kjarrett / Flickr

Asian telecom giant SingTel could sell its Optus Satellite business after it announced a strategic review of the business.

The company — which has owns mobile operator businesses in Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and India, in addition to Optus — has hired Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley to run the review to “optimise value for shareholders”.

“SingTel will make an appropriate announcement in the event of any material development arising from the review,” a statement read.

The Australian speculates that strong financial performance — Optus Satellite generated record revenues during 2012, and Q4 revenue rose 8.3 percent year-on-year — could mean that the business is floated, but at this stage it is unclear.

The Optus Satellite business enables free-to-air and pay-TV services, broadband and mobile across Australia, New Zealand and surrounding countries. It delivers services to more than two million customers, and has agreements with a range of top broadcasters, including Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Foxtel and GlobeCast Australia.

The Optus Satellite services operates five satellites, with another due to launch this year, which are used by a range of other providers including Sky.

News of the Optus review comes just weeks after News Corp revealed it would sell its 44 percent share in Sky TV New Zealand.

Related: Asian telecom giant SingTel sees 9% annual customer growth but revenue down 4.8% to $3.7b

Image via Rosland Rahman / Getty

Australia tech founders have a good reason for excitement today. Sydney-based VC firm Blackbird Ventures has officially launched, announcing its AU$30 million (US$31 million) fund — with close links to the US — that is dedicated to supporting startups and helping them grow overseas.

Blackbird first got together last August, and since then it has already raised an initial $20 million via a closed round featuring more than 35 investors, including prominent Australian VCs, US-based Bill Tai, 500 Startups chief Dave McClure and others from Silicon Valley. The founding team is looking to raise an additional $10 million from other investors before it closes the fund “later in the year”.

The fund is intended to address “a real gap” in the local investment community in Australia. Acknowledging that there is already an abundance of opportunities for angel investments, it will provide funding for later stages in the startup lifecycle, aiming to realize the potential of promising young companies in Australia.

Blackbird expects the fund to support 25 investments and the money is already flowing. Its first deals include undisclosed rounds with Canva, a collaborative design platform currently in stealth mode, and Ninja Blocks, an interesting startup that builds Nest-like connected hardware.

Interestingly, the company says that its financial backers are bringing their “time” and money to the fund, so it is likely that the ever-intrepid McClure, and others from the US, will be making appearances in Australia very soon.

Blackbird’s management team consists of Niki Scevak, who founded Australian accelerator Startmate, Rick Baker formerly of NAB-owned wealth management firm MLC, and Bill Bartee, who is the co-founder of Southern Cross Venture Partners. The trio in Australia are joined by Silicon Valley-based John Scull — a partner at Southern Cross — who will be its primary eyes and ears state-side

Scevak says the fund is devoted to identifying and “helping the next wave of Australian startups”. Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Australian software development Atlassian and a major investor in Blackbird, echoes his comments, calling the launch “a huge day for the Australian technology industry”.

Australia’s startups are in a difficult position because of the country’s geography. With a comparatively modest population of some 22 million, they’re often forced to look overseas for growth but are literally on the other side of the world to Silicon Valley — San Francisco is 17 hours behind Syndey, for example.

Aiming to change that paradigm, Baker says the fund will maintain strong links with the US to give its startups access to mentoring, networking and, of course, market opportunities:

We have a strong focus on businesses that we can help inject into the Silicon Valley ecosystem to connect them with expertise, customers and sources of finance. The combination of our partnership with Sydney-Palo Alto based Southern Cross Ventures and our strong network of Silicon Valley advisors and venture capitalists means we’re in an excellent position to do this.

We’re looking forward to seeing the fruits of the fund. Baker tells TNW that there are two deals in the pipeline, those interested in more details about the fund can visit Blackbird.vc.

Here is the full announcement:

Announcing the Blackbird Ventures Fund

SYDNEY AUSTRALIA – 14 March 2013 – Blackbird Ventures (www.blackbird.vc) today announced the formation and first close of its $30 million venture capital fund. The fund will invest in Australian Internet startups and help them succeed on a global stage. Blackbird brings together Startmate, Southern Cross Venture Partners, and prominent founders of highly successful local companies including Atlassian, Campaign Monitor and Aconex.

The majority of the Fund’s capital has been raised in a first close focused on industry insiders, including over 35 successful Australian tech founders and Silicon Valley venture capitalists like Bill Tai and Dave McClure, all of whom are investing not only their money but also their time to help Australian startups succeed. Other investors will have the opportunity to participate before the Fund’s final close later in the year.

Blending experience and a passion for entrepreneurship, the local management team consists of Niki Scevak, founder of Australian accelerator Startmate; Rick Baker who ran venture investing at MLC and Bill Bartee, co-founder of Southern Cross Venture Partners. They are assisted in Silicon Valley by Southern Cross partner, John Scull, who sits on the Investment Committee.

Blackbird co-founder Niki Scevak said “The essential ingredients of Blackbird are successful founders helping the next wave of Australian startups. We’re bringing the same experience we have seen work at Startmate in the initial months of a startup’s life to more developed companies at the next stage.”

“Today is a huge day for the Australian technology industry and I’m excited to be involved with Blackbird because it represents a truly founder-led effort in helping startups,” said Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian. Cannon-Brookes, while also being a major investor in the fund, will join as a venture partner and advise the firm and investee companies.

“Being an investor in the Blackbird fund gives me an opportunity to support and be an active participant in the Australian technology industry,” said Bardia Housman, whose last company, Business Catalyst, sold to Adobe. “It’s made up of a wide array of successful industry people and entrepreneurs spanning both Australia and Silicon Valley. We will be able to add tremendous value to aspiring Australian entrepreneurs who want to build global businesses,”

Blackbird also has strong links to Silicon Valley. “We have a strong focus on businesses that we can help inject into the Silicon Valley ecosystem to connect them with expertise, customers and sources of finance,” said Rick Baker, co-founder of Blackbird. “The combination of our partnership with Sydney-Palo Alto based Southern Cross Ventures and our strong network of Silicon Valley advisors and venture capitalists means we’re in an excellent position to do this.”

Well known Silicon Valley investor, Bill Tai, a partner at CRV and angel investor said, “Blackbird Ventures has placed itself in the vortex of the tech scene in Australia through its founder community, LPs and startup network from past investments. As more capital looks to fuel the growing number of world class startups from Australia, Blackbird is positioned to be the trusted investment partner for the US VC ecosystem as they have become for me.”

Blackbird co-founder and partner at Southern Cross Venture Partners, Bill Bartee, said, “Southern Cross is thrilled to be teaming up to form Blackbird Ventures, which is set up specifically to invest in fast growing, capital light models in the Internet, software and mobile spaces”. The management team believes there is a real gap in the Australian venture capital market: while there is funding for small angel rounds, there are very few professional investors focusing on the next stage where Blackbird will predominately play.

Blackbird’s first investments include Canva and Ninja Blocks. It expects to make around 25 investments from the fund.

Headline image via harlequeen / Flickr

News Corporation is selling its 44 percent share in the Sky TV network in New Zealand in a move that will see it exit the business that it established in the country in 1987, according to a brief announcement made today.

News Limited — the subsidiary through which News Corporation operates in Australia and New Zealand — has tapped Deutsche Bank and Craigs Investment Partners to manage the sale . The company expects its assets will be acquired by “a broad range of institutional and retail investors”, but no price has been disclosed

A statement from Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, said that the rest of the News Limited business – which includes more than 140 newspapers in Australia, including news.com.au – will not be affected. No reason was given for the sale:

SKY is a world class subscription television business and has been an outstanding investment for News Corporation. We and SKY have always enjoyed an excellent, arms-length working relationship and we expect this to continue unaffected by the sale. In particular, we do not anticipate any change to current arrangements regarding access to content and collaboration on technology.

The sale will see Regional Director of News Limited Michael Miller leave the Sky board.

News Limited was initially Rupert Murdoch’s principal holding company until the Australia-born entrepreneur set up News Corporation in 1979. Thereafter, it became a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Sky TV New Zealand is installed in approximately half of the households in the country. The company expanded into low-cost television when it launched its Igloo pre-pay service in partnership with Television New Zealand last year. Sky holds a 51 percent share.

Image via Ben Stansall / Getty Images