Geekzone Technology Community

Symantec and Message Systems to develop Next Generation Security and Messaging Solutions

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:20 +1200

The partnership will combine products and services from the two companies to provide a suite of message security, management and other business solutions for telcos, ISPs, hosting companies and other service providers.

Geekzone Freeview Pizza evenings 2010

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:16 +1200

Updated information for people planning to attend any of the pizza evenings we are planning for early 2010.

Number porting strong says 2degrees Mobile

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:41 +1200

Mobile number portability gives consumers the ability to keep their existing mobile phone number if they change telecommunications providers.

The Commerce Commission has closed an investigation on NBR leak

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:00 +1200

Earlier this year the NBR leaked information related to a confidential agreement between 2degrees Mobile and Vodafone New Zealand.

Vodafone and SKY team up for even more Mobile TV

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:00 +1200

Companies confirmed the addition of five new Mobile TV channels - Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney, Trackside, World Wrestling Entertainment and Nickelodeon - increasing the current SKY Mobile TV channel line-up to fourteen.

YouTube reveals New Zealand's most watched videos of 2009

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:58 +1200

Susan Boyle, Smashproof and body-painted cabin crew capture Kiwis' imaginations.

TomTom car kit for iPhone now available in New Zealand

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:21 +1200

TomTom officially announces the availability of the TomTom car kit for iPhone at selected retailers.

New Zealand Defence Force awards Gen-i major licensing contract

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:20 +1200

The New Zealand Defence Force and Gen-i have extended their telecommunications and IT services relationship with the award of a major new licensing contract.

Microsoft admits contractor copied third party code for new social media site

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:47 +1200

The company investigated claims that a Chinese contractor had copied code from Plurk when developing a social network service and found evidence of copied code.

HP, Microsoft, Novell and Red Hat deliver solutions to simplify and speed Sun migrations

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:42 +1200

HP has partnered with Microsoft, Novell and Red Hat to provide customers with service offerings, incentives and training programs that streamline the migration from Sun to HP-based solutions, while reducing total cost of ownership.

Microsoft investigating questions over MSN China Juku feature

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:47 +1200

Microsoft Corp has released a statement regarding information that has been circulating on the Internet about its new Juku feature for MSN China.

New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favour of new mobile entrant 2degrees

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:02 +1200

The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled in favour of new mobile entrant, 2degrees concerning complaints the company laid against Telecom New Zealand over misleading advertising.

Auckland transport information on Google Maps

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:09 +1200

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) has joined with Google Maps to enable its customers to access public transport information and directions using Google Transit, a feature of Google Maps.

Vodafone launches MiFi in New Zealand

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:58 +1200

Vodafone takes mobile broadband to the next level with the launch of its MiFi mobile broadband hotspot.

Top Geeks to Converge on Wellington

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:00 +1200

Wellington to host 2010 free and open source software conference.

Please fill the Victoria University of Wellington mobile survey

freitasm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:34 Y

I am told many of you filled the mobile data in business survey but the team at the Victoria University of Wellington still need some more answers to get to the 300 answers (or more) needed to make it statistically correct.

This is a survey on smartphones and mobile data usage and respondents will be in to win $200. It is part of a Victoria University of Wellington research project on the use of mobile information systems in the workplace.

If you are currently using a mobile device enabled with data capability (e.g. mobile email, mobile Internet, mobile business applications etc) for work purposes, then we invite you to complete a survey questionnaire. It should take you approximately 12 minutes to complete the survey, which is anonymous and will be available until the 25th of December 2009.

By completing the questionnaire you will be entered in draw to win a prize of $200. Please use the following link to access the survey:

http://vuw.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_cBko9uZySNCz9Zi&SVID=Prod

Your participation is important and will help to improve the understanding of the adoption and use of mobile technology. Should you require any further information about this project, please contact Eusebio Scornavacca at (04) 463 6697 or email eusebio.scornavacca@vuw.ac.nz or Professor Sid Huff at (04) 463-5819 or email sid.huff@vuw.ac.nz.

New Zealand is in good company TUANZ

freitasm — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:48 Y

Earlier this week Telecom XT network had extended outage, apparently the result of some software update gone rogue. People from all over commented on it (including myself) but one of the most strongly worded comments came from Ernie Newman who commented to NBR's Chris Keall:

Telecommunications Users Association (Tuanz) chief executive Ernie Newman said, "From here, it looks bizarre. Even third world countries don't experience outages of that magnitude and length.

I have news: New Zealand is not a third world country. Or perhaps the U.S. is one too:

- 3rd March 2009: Vodafone 3G returns after three hour Auckland outage;
- 12th December 2009: AT&T 3G service disruption in San Francisco, lasting for two hours and fifteen minutes;
- 13th December 2009: Verizon Network down in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and California, with a six hour ETA for full services restoration;
- 14th December 2009: Telecom XT outage affects half of New Zealand.

Is TelstraClear sitting on its YouTube problem?

freitasm — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:42 Y

If you are a TelstraClear customer and try to watch to watch a YouTube video clip these days you will likely see the following routine: buffer five seconds, play three seconds, ad nauseam.
Using some "techniques" that work with other ISPs which cache YouTube content locally won't help - refreshing the page on your browser for example won't get a "local" version from your ISP, since TelstraClear doesn't seem to offer this kind of service.
This has been happening for about a month now, and it seems to affect both cable modem and DSL customers. I have seen reports of this on Geekzone (1, 2) and from people following me on Twitter who confirmed the same affecting them.
I've heard a rumour that TelstraClear is investigating this, but no official confirmation was received. I've tried contacting TelstraClear's spokesperson via email, but received no reply.
It seems only YouTube is being affected, and overall I am quite happy with how other services perform on TelstraClear's network (in my case the cable modem service).
Don't worry visiting their status page. This issue is not recognised by the company. And calling their help desk will get through someone that will imply the problem is on your side (and just forcing the customer to move away).

UPDATE: the official TelstraClear response to this issue is "We intend to speak with Google to try and improve the experience of our customers since their move to more HD content."

That's it. No problem acknowledgement, no explanation.

The Telecom XT network outage (14 Dec 2009 updated)

freitasm — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:45 Y

I won't go into the gory details of today's XT network outage. There's enough "experts" around - and a lot of them seem to gather on this Geekzone discussion.

But here is just some background information you ought to know regarding the Telecom XT network.

There are two RNCs in the XT network. One in Auckland and one in Christchurch. These are Tier 0 sites - Tier 0 sites have the highest levels of availability (power, connectivity etc) and the strictest change control procedures.

A network of similar size to Telecom XT could quite easily have been built with one RNC but two RNC provide added resiliency into the network. A single event would not affect all customers.

And that's what happened.

A RNC is a platform made of multiple redundant components. You can imagine that a total RNC failure means quite a serious issue. It appears the issue cascaded to affect the way cell sites restart which is what happened during the day. It was the establishment of communications to each cell site turn took its time and delayed recovery for the part of New Zealand affected - those living south of Taupo it seems.

I am told this issue is being "analysed" at the highest levels of both Telecom New Zealand and Alcatel-Lucent, the technology provider.

There's only one thing I want to tell you:

(For those of you who don't get it.)

Linkification v63

RedJungle — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:33 Y

News / Web Happenings:

SharePoint 2010 Ignite Training announced for NZ
Google Chrome for Mac and Linux Finally Hits Beta; Very Fast, Pretty Stable
Chrome Extensions Gallery Officially Opens
Thunderbird 3 Officially Released with New Features, Improved Look
Google Googles: Take Photos of Things Around You to Search for Them
NAVTEQ, Microsoft team up for better 3D maps
Google Launches Real-Time Search
Offline Gmail graduates from Labs
Skype 4.2 Beta for Windows - includes Skype Access, call transfer and more

General / Neat Stuff:

Repair a Broken Ethernet Plug with Zip Ties
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Apple:

Apple Acquires Streaming Music Service Lala Media
New! Pingdom iPhone app 2.0 - Get push notifications when your site goes down
Apple Rolls Out New App Store Look
Google Mobile App for iPhone Updates for Speedier Results
Ustream Streams Live Video from Your iPhone 3GS

Development:

Birds Eye View - Google Maps API - New
Google Translator Toolkit Data API
Styling HTML Lists with CSS: Techniques and Resources
Mono 2.4.3 is out

FAIL of the week:

Golfing Fail

Our first MSDN winner

MSDN — Tue, 8 Dec 2009 02:53 Y

We have our first winner: Andrew Murphy, from Palmerston North, is taking home an awesome package of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional with MSDN Premium subscription (download edition) worth NZ$ 5,000.

The Visual Studio 2008 Professional with MSDN Premium subscription package is perfect for software developers, software testers, and software architects. Those IT professionals will benefit most of the package features:

The next release of Visual Studio 2010 when it ships, at no additional cost
Previous versions of Visual Studio
Expression Web and Expression Blend
Software and driver development kits (SDKs/DDKs)
Productivity applications
Operating systems
Early Beta previews
Server software and more

With this MSDN Premium subscription, Andrew can use the software to design, develop, test and demo your applications on as many machines and devices as needed.

The MSDN Premium subscription will give Andrew access to managed newsgroups, and four professional Technical Support Incidents, which can be used for assistance with technical break-fix issues though Microsoft Technical Support.

We will continue posting some information in this blog, and stay tuned because another giveaway will be coming in early 2010.

Smartphone and mobile data survey: Victoria University needs your help

freitasm — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 20:06 Y

I was contacted by a professor who is looking for help with getting 300 answers (or more) for a Victoria University of Wellington survey on smartphones and mobile data usage - respondents will be in to win $200.

This is a Victoria University of Wellington research project on the use of mobile information systems in the workplace.

By completing the questionnaire you will be entered in draw to win a prize of $200. Please use the following link to access the survey:

http://vuw.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_cBko9uZySNCz9Zi&SVID=Prod

Can Google really hack it in business?

freitasm — Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:56 Y

A couple of months ago I tried Google Apps Premiere, and found a series of problems mainly synchronisation to mobile devices.

I posted about those problems and was contact by a Google product manager who offered to monitor my account to try and find out why those problems happened. Nothing came out of it so I decided to move my account to Microsoft BPOS.

Bob Scheier conducted an email interview for Inforworkd and I explained why/how. The article was then syndicated and wound up on PC World, NetworldWorld, Computerworld US, and obviously Computerworld NZ.

One of the things I complained was that even though I was a paying customer, wait for email support reply was more than 48 hours and here is the comment from someone else:

"There's no one to really call if you're having a problem," says Greg Arnette, who as CTO of email archiving vendor Sonian is both a Google Apps user and a competitor to Google's Postini service. While phone support is included in Google Apps Premier Edition, "They do everything they can to direct you to the online forums," he says.

And their online forums don't seem to be really monitored by their support people... This is the paragraph from my interview:

New Zealander Mauricio Freitas, a blogger at the tech publishing site Geekzone, abandoned Google Apps for Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite after it took Google 48 hours to contact him about problems with Google Sync for Mobile.

And here is the quote from a Google PR person (probably in the UK):

Google says it steers customers to its online support when the company believes that will provide a faster and better answer. It also says the 24/7 phone support it offers in its paid version is aimed at administrators, and that it relies on resellers to provide phone support for users and to help companies with especially large or complex challenges using Google apps.

But isn't the whole idea of having priority access (including a PIN you must use to authenticate yourself to get the support request looked upon) to skip the forums where there is no Google presence?

Resellers can do some good phone support, but they probably won't do free work. And the fee paid to Google is not for reseller phone support - in other words no, thanks I don't want to pay for support I already paid for.

And finally, the problem I was experiencing was at the service level, nothing to do with using the service configurations. It wasn't something a reseller could fix for me, but something that required Google developers to look at. Which they didn't.

Disclosure: I still have Google Apps (the free version) for some personal domains. I am a keen user of Google Ad Manager, Google AdSense, and Google RelatedLinks. I am very happy with those other applications and Geekzone has been used as study case for Google AdSense, and as an example for Google RelatedLinks. So don't take this piece as a "I hate Google" post. It's a critical view of some parts of their services that just don't work as they should.

Why bother with Google DNS (or any other third party DNS resolver)?

freitasm — Sat, 5 Dec 2009 05:07 Y

The web is hot with news of a new, free DNS resolver service powered by Google. A DNS resolver will answer requests from your computer or router and translate names (such as www.geekzone.co.nz) into IP addresses such as 210.48.73.74 - the actual address servers are known by on the Internet.

This is not the first third party DNS resolver server around - other well known services include OpenDNS and DynDNS Internet Guide. These services already offer more feature than Google's free resolver - including automatic blocking of known malware sites, adult sites, custom configuration based on account and your network.

Most users will probably be interested in getting quicker replies to their DNS requests - after all a webpage may contain many invidual items and each will require access to a server, so ultimately just loading a single webpage may require many DNS requests. Obviously this applies to first visits to a domain - most OS or routers will cache DNS responses locally.

But are these third party DNS resolvers faster? I used the DNS Benchmark program to test my ISP's own DNS resolver (TelstraClear), an alternative TelstraClear DNS resolver (old Paradise servers), Telecom DNS resolver, WorldxChange DNS resolver, OpenDNS, DynDNS and Google DNS.

The results, from a New Zealand perspective, are below. As you can see Google DNS is certainly not the fastest of the bunch. Actually both Google DNS resolvers are slower than everything else, except for one of the DynDNS servers (the other DynDNS server is actually faster than Google's).

Another important thing to consider when using a third party DNS is how well your ISP work with services that use a CDN (Content Distribution Network). A CDN uses geographically distributed servers to bring content closer to users. This means when you access content from microsoft.com you might be accessing a server in Singapore, while people in London will access the same content from a server in Europe.

For this to work the DNS resolver will give your computer the DNS to the closest location. When you use a third party DNS resolver, one sitting in the U.S. for example, you will get the wrong "closest" location. On TelstraClear for example this will cause problems with their stateful firewall. Your computer will request some elements from Facebook for example targeting a server in the U.S. but the response comes from a server in Singapore. At this moment their firewall will block the connection - and your browser will be there waiting forever (or for a very long time).

So it's not always great to use a third party DNS resolver - unless you know exactly why and how.

Final benchmark results, sorted by nameserver performance:
(average cached name retrieval speed, fastest to slowest)

203. 96.152. 12 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.010 | 0.012 | 0.020 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.154 | 0.198 | 0.325 | 0.043 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.156 | 0.226 | 0.334 | 0.062 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                 kirsty.paradise.net.nz
                    TelstraClear Ltd

203. 96.152. 4 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.010 | 0.013 | 0.017 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.151 | 0.197 | 0.328 | 0.042 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.151 | 0.261 | 0.338 | 0.066 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                 rachel.paradise.net.nz
                    TelstraClear Ltd

   58. 28. 6. 2 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.019 | 0.021 | 0.025 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.019 | 0.021 | 0.026 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.027 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                      ns2.wxnz.net
               WorldxChange Communications

203. 97. 78. 43 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+ Cached Name   | 0.019 | 0.021 | 0.025 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
+ Uncached Name | 0.147 | 0.188 | 0.302 | 0.032 | 100.0 |
+ DotCom Lookup | 0.150 | 0.257 | 0.332 | 0.069 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                  ns1.acld.clix.net.nz
                    TelstraClear Ltd

203. 97. 78. 44 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+ Cached Name   | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.028 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
+ Uncached Name | 0.148 | 0.191 | 0.319 | 0.040 | 100.0 |
+ DotCom Lookup | 0.148 | 0.230 | 0.338 | 0.061 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                  ns2.acld.clix.net.nz
                    TelstraClear Ltd

202. 27.158. 40 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.028 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.153 | 0.209 | 0.332 | 0.046 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.147 | 0.168 | 0.208 | 0.019 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                    dnsc1.xtra.co.nz
                    Telecom Xtra ISP.

202. 27.156. 72 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.018 | 0.026 | 0.186 | 0.024 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.150 | 0.209 | 0.327 | 0.045 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.146 | 0.172 | 0.209 | 0.021 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                    dnsc2.xtra.co.nz
                    Telecom Xtra ISP.

216.146. 35. 35 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.146 | 0.149 | 0.154 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.150 | 0.210 | 0.322 | 0.056 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.151 | 0.225 | 0.312 | 0.055 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
            resolver1.dyndnsinternetguide.com
                Dynamic Network Services

208. 67.222.222 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.146 | 0.149 | 0.157 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.148 | 0.212 | 0.345 | 0.057 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.150 | 0.267 | 0.336 | 0.056 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                  resolver1.opendns.com
                      OpenDNS, LLC

208. 67.220.220 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.146 | 0.149 | 0.158 | 0.003 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.148 | 0.230 | 0.588 | 0.091 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.149 | 0.248 | 0.321 | 0.060 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                  resolver2.opendns.com
                      OpenDNS, LLC

    8. 8. 8. 8 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.177 | 0.192 | 0.477 | 0.046 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.181 | 0.245 | 0.485 | 0.074 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.192 | 0.297 | 0.386 | 0.066 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
             google-public-dns-a.google.com
                 Level 3 Communications

    8. 8. 4. 4 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.177 | 0.198 | 0.399 | 0.053 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.182 | 0.259 | 0.485 | 0.079 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.193 | 0.301 | 0.402 | 0.068 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
             google-public-dns-b.google.com
                 Level 3 Communications

216.146. 36. 36 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name   | 0.212 | 0.214 | 0.219 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.214 | 0.282 | 0.492 | 0.062 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.231 | 0.277 | 0.335 | 0.034 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
            resolver2.dyndnsinternetguide.com
                Dynamic Network Services

   58. 28. 4. 2 | The DNS server at this IP address is
actively refusing to answer queries made by this client.
It should not be used for normal client-based resolution.
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                      ns1.wxnz.net
               WorldxChange Communications

UTC: 2009-12-05, from 04:51:33 to 04:52:26, for 00:52.613

Introducing Geekzone Freeview Pizza Evenings 2010

freitasm — Fri, 4 Dec 2009 00:27 Y

I have posted in our forums dates and details for the Geekzone Freeview Pizza Evenings 2010. As you suspect by the name Freeview is our main sponsor for the event - but we have other companies providing drinks and spot prizes.

The most important thing to note this time is that we want to make sure Geekzone users have access to the event, so we decided to do the following:

- Sometime in January 2010 we will open registrations.
- People who replied in the forum discussion (or watched that topic) will be contacted via email and allowed to register first.
- After 48 hours we will open registrations to all other users who registered on Geekzone before 1st January 2010 and had at least two posts.
- After 72 hours we will open registrations to all other users who registered on Geekzone after 1st January 2010 (up to a maximum of 15 tickets).

I will keep updating the forum discussion with all sponsors - there are some very good ones coming on board this year.

I am not allowing comments in this blog post otherwise people will comment here instead of replying in the forums (yes, I know you wouldn't but someone else might).

Linkification v62

RedJungle — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 23:20 Y

News / Web Happenings:

Introducing Google Public DNS: A new DNS resolver from Google
Google Officially Converts Homepage to Minimalist, Fade-In Style
Black Screen of Death Not Microsoft's Fault
Bing Maps Take on Google With Fancy 3D Streetview
BitTorrent Tracker Mininova Goes Legal-Only
Dell Offers Customized Chrome OS Build for Mini 10V Netbooks
Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 Available with Many Fixes
Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate Available for Download
Google to Acquire Teracent, Makers of Algorithm-Generated Banners
Chrome Extensions Gallery Open to Developers
Hands-On Look at What's New in Office 2010
Gmail Now Lets You Add and Send Attachments Offline
Google reveals what New Zealand searched in 2009
Recent Windows Patch Causes "Black Screen of Death" For Many Users
Microsoft Office 2010 Arriving in June 2010
Invite to IT Pro 'fireside chats' with Microsoft execs
TweetDeck Updates with Support for Lists, LinkedIn, and Geolocation

General / Neat Stuff:

Layar 3.0 Puts 3-D Objects in Your Augmented Reality
Your call cannot be connected due to stupidity
ASUS Maximus III Extreme mobo lets Bluetooth cellphones tweak settings

Apple:

Apple to Take iPhone's Maps App to 'the Next Level'

Development:

Free .NET Profilers and Some Paid Ones Too
Pushing Your Buttons With Practical CSS3
Critical Mistakes Freelancers Make
Google Analytics Launches Asynchronous Tracking
Google Says Adios to Gears, Hola to HTML5

Fail of the week:

Before and After Fail

Using MSDN at Telecom

MSDN — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 02:29 Y

MSDN Subscription

Let's be honest. For most of my daily programming requirements, "Google is my friend." I rarely need to use paid support options. In five years at Telecom, I've used the Concierge Support option once. However, for getting access to all Microsoft software on demand, MSDN Subscription is DA BOMB.

Here are the support options available under MSDN Subscription. A detailed description of each one follows.

Online Concierge Chat
Do you need guidance finding the answers you are looking for, or assistance with a non-technical question? Access the MSDN Online Concierge available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except US National Holidays).
Subscriber Downloads
Download software and get product keys.
Microsoft E-learning
Take advantage of free Microsoft E-learning courses to hone your skills
MSDN Forums/Managed Newsgroups
Get expert answers to your technical questions within two business days. (English only)
Support Incidents
For your toughest technical questions, contact Microsoft Support.
MSDN Magazine Subscription
Sign up each year to stay informed of Microsoft development technologies and trends.

Concierge Support

MSDN Online Concierge

From the MSDN Subscription Site:

Welcome to Online Concierge, an online service created to help you explore the resources available to you as a MSDN Subscriber.
Please feel free to ask the Microsoft Online Concierge any questions on locating specific technical resources. This service is staffed by Microsoft Online Concierges who will, via a Web-based chat service, help you locate technical resources by:

Using your MSDN subscription
Using the MSDN Web site and other Microsoft online resources
Using and searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base

For specific technical questions, use the MSDN Managed Newsgroups or technical support options.

This is the premiere support option. It is a live MSN chat with a Microsoft Support Engineer. You get a number of these calls per annum (see the calculation in the Support Incidents section below).

As previously stated, I rarely use them.

Subscriber Downloads

This is the procedure for downloading new software:

Go to this web site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-nz/subscriptions/downloads/default(en-us).aspx
Log in using your Windows Live (formerly Microsoft Passport) ID
Provided your Windows Live ID is affiliated with a certified Microsoft Partner, you will be redirected to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/securedownloads/default.aspx
Download what I need.
Install it.
Get the Product Key (if necessary) from the website above.
Use it safe in the knowledge that it's licensed and legal.

Currently, here is the list of available products to download:

Updated Products (31)
Applications (68)
Business Solutions (25)
Designer Tools (5)
Developer Tools (44)
MSDN Library (11)
Operating Systems (30)
Servers (72)
Tools and Resources (106)

I am like a kid in a sweet shop!

Microsoft E-learning

Microsoft E-Learning Benefits for MSDN Subscribers

From the MSDN Subscription site:

As an MSDN subscriber, you get access to Microsoft E-Learning course collections to stay up-to-date on Microsoft technologies, and can also reduce the strain on your training budget.

Microsoft E-Learning offers online training to help you master Microsoft technologies in a cost effective way, whether you want to learn a new technology, take your skills to the next level, or prepare for Microsoft Certification exams.

MSDN Subscription Level
Microsoft E-Learning benefits per calendar year*

Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN
Visual Studio Premium with MSDN
All current MSDN Premium levels 2 course collections

Visual Studio Professional with MSDN
Visual Studio Professional with MSDN Professional
Visual Studio Test Elements with MSDN
MSDN Embedded
MSDN Operating Systems 1 course collection

*Any usage prior to January 1st, 2010 will be counted toward the 2010 calendar year benefit.

A course collection is a set of courses and resources on a specific topic, typically containing 10 courses with 20 hours of instruction. Each course has an estimated retail value of up to $349 per year.

What to know before you start learning:

If you are eligible for 2 course collections per year, you must select both at the same time.
You will be able to browse the course options prior to making your selection.
Microsoft E-Learning is offered in English.
How to choose the right E-Learning collection?
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E-Learning courses are all well and good, and I would use them, if I didn't also have unlimited legal access to all Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) courses. These are the instructor-led courses which I get access to as a Microsoft Certified Trainer. Plus, I'm not a big fan of on-line training. There tends to be a time constraint. I prefer purchasing a Self-Paced Training Kit and working my way solidly through the book, then testing myself with the Practice Tests that come with the Kit.

MSDN Forums

Priority Subscriber Support in MSDN Forums

From the MSDN Subscriptions site:

MSDN subscribers now benefit from priority support in MSDN Forums. We will be finishing our transition from supporting newsgroups in early 2010 (we will replace the remaining newsgroup links below with Forums links at that time) so that you can get answers to your technical questions in a variety of subject areas. A Microsoft engineer will respond within 2 business days to your posting if the community hasn't already gotten you the answer. MSDN Forums are very active community and a great place to both get help and help others.

To receive priority support in the MSDN Forums designated below, please make sure to sign in with the same Windows Live ID you use to access your other subscription benefits; no special configuration is needed.

Personally, Google finds the answer quicker than me trying to understand and drill down all the correct sub-categories to get to the area where my question might get answered in two hours.

Support Incidents

Technical Support

From the MSDN Subscription site:

As an MSDN Subscriber, you may be entitled to receive up to four technical support incidents depending on your subscription level. These support incidents can be used to resolve technical break-fix issues in a non-production environment and are the equivalent of paid Professional Support incidents. You can use a technical support incident to find a solution to a production issue if you can replicate that issue in a non-production environment.
Paid MSDN Subscribers receive the following number of incidents based on the subscription level:

Premium, Ultimate: 4 incidents per subscription
Operating Systems, Embedded, Professional, Test Elements: 2 incidents per subscription

To use the professional incidents included with your subscription, you must:

Call in to one of the numbers below and ask to create a support contract. Please have your MSDN Benefit Access Number (BAN) or Subscriber ID available. The contract creation may take a few hours to process.
Use your support incidents by phone or e-mail (using the same telephone numbers and email addresses below), or submit an incident online. In most cases you will be called back by an engineer after submitting your problem information.

Not for Resale (NFR) subscriptions including those provided through the Microsoft Partner Network, Microsoft BizSpark, Microsoft Empower for ISVs, Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP), Microsoft Regional Directors, do not include the standard Technical Support Incidents.
Microsoft Certified Partners, Microsoft Empower for ISVs, and Microsoft BizSpark members receive other technical support as a benefit of their program membership. Members of these programs should consult program information for the specific benefits.

See my discussion above in Concierge Support on why I don't tend to use Support Incidents.

MSDN Magazine

This would be free, if we lived in the US. Since we don't, it costs US$25 for a years subscription (12 issues) for delivery to NZ.

Full of very technical good stuff, half of which frightens me, and the other half I don't even pretend to understand. But, after about a year, then past articles start to make sense!

Conclusion

Despite what I said about Support Options, I find MSDN Subscription invaluable for the Subscriber Downloads only.

I can't say I use MSDN every day, but it's good to know that it's there when I need it.

I work for the Workgroup Solutions Team (WST), part of Applications Development, Maintenance and Support. That "Development" word is important, because it means we're part of Programme Delivery, not Operations Support. This means we get to ~~play with lots of cool stuff~~ develop with the latest tools.

Programme Delivery is a department of the Transformation, Technology and Shared Services (TT&SS) business unit. This means, we get to deliver applications to all other parts of Telecom (Operational Separation schedules permitting!).
WST is Telecom's only internally-focussed .NET development team. You may have heard of our externally-focussed .NET Development team: Gen-i!
WST is tasked with hunting down Microsoft Access databases within the organisation and bagging them: hunt, kill, destroy and replace with SQL Server back-end and ASP.NET front-end.
I love my job.

About the Author

James Hippolite remembers being 15 in the 5th form at Nelson College, when he sat up one night coding a biorhythms application on his newly acquired second-hand Apple IIe. At 3am, he ran into his mother's bedroom to excitedly inform her he'd successfully finished. Her measured response allowed him to continue to feel good about coding.

James holds Microsoft certification as a Professional Developer (MCPD: Web Developer), IT Professional (MCITP: Database Developer) and Trainer (MCT).

He lives in Wellington and is currently employed full time in a large corporate and loving the regular hours that non-consultants enjoy.

Add to the Story: a Christmas Tale...

freitasm — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 01:41 Y

Just received an email telling me about an interesting way of getting people to create a magical story about Christmas... The Add to the Story promotion sounds like fun: people can call a number Vodafone is making available for a very limited time, listen to the last sentence left from the previous caller and add to it.

You can call 250 (free from Vodafone mobile) or 0800 777 028 tomorrow 4th December from 9am through 6pm to participate. Prize winners will be notified instantly.

Vodafone will then make an animated video of the lines and will post it on YouTube. And there are prizes too: iPhones, HTC Magic, travel vouchers, movie passes and a $10,000 Air New Zealand travel.

Using the MyFreeview|HD JCMattew DVR-320T

MyFreeviewHDReview — Tue, 1 Dec 2009 22:29 Y

Now that all the hurdles are over it is time to explore the JCMatthew DVR-320T.

Setting it up was easy as, scanning for channels was kids play. The remote is not the simplest looking remote but I got used to it fairly rapidly. It doesn't feel as good as my Viera's remote but I don't mind it too much.

Changing channels and volume is done with the central arrow buttons, as expected, and the response time is pretty good. (I feel like the unit is snappier to the DVB-TB01 I used to have.)

There are 12 buttons at the bottom of the remote organized on three rows but only the top row is useful really because it contains the EPG, recording schedule and available recording buttons.

Changing channels is easy, like I said, and the OSD (on screen display) is pretty useful too as it display the name of the programme, the quality of the broadcast (resolution, e.g. 1920 x 1080i), aspect ratio (e.g. 16 x 9), rating (e.g. PG), sound information, current time, and more... This information can be displayed at any time by pressing the Info button (bottom of the numeric pad). Pressing the Info button twice will also display a short synopsis of the current programme (same as the EPG I believe). But the piece of information I like the most is by far a progress bar that tells me how much I have "missed" from the current programme and how much more is left. On the right hand side it shows what time the programme is over and to the left when it started.

The menu is very simple but don't let that fool you. You can set lots of stuff: auto subtitles, favourite channel list, OSD duration and more.

The first features that stand out are Pause live channel and Record from the EPG. Let's take them one at a time.

Pushing the Pause button will freeze the screen and in a couple of seconds it will show a still image and a media-player like menu on the screen. Sadly you can loose your recording if you push the wrong buttons... You don't want to push stop as it will all be gone. Also if you fast forward and catch up to Live TV your recording will also be gone. The only thing you can do is push the Play button. Once you do that you can forward and rewind as much as you want. The thing that disappointed me is that, despite the fact that there are two tuners in this unit, I could not change channels and let the current programme record. To achieve this result I had to push the record button instead of the pause button...

The feature that I really liked was being able to browse the EPG and select the programmes that I wanted to record. It was as easy as pushing the red button on the remote. If the selected programme was a series (in my case Top Gear) I was offered the option to record the whole series. Now, depending on my answer the EPG would label a programme with [R] if a programme was a one off recording and with [S] for a programme that was part of a whole series I had selected to record...

This is it for now but I promise to get back to you with more details in the coming days. In the mean time I invite you to tell me what you'd like to know about this unit via comments on this blog or a message to my twitter account @nicktmro.

About the author: Nick Parfene was born in Romania and emigrated to NZ in 2005. He is a consultant for a Wellington based IT company 4 days a week and spends most of his spare time building mobile solutions for a small start-up called Tmro. He adores his partner and his Goddaughter, loves playing adventure games on his PS3, sports, sci-fi, animals (has a dog called Haiduc) and travelling. He is slowly being drawn into the field of photography but has no regrets. You can follow Nick via his Twitter account @nicktmro or his blog http://www.tmro.net/blog.

Telecom New Zealand Christmas Tree in Wellington 2009

freitasm — Tue, 1 Dec 2009 21:44 Y

Last night I had the chance to share some drinks with a few friends (courtesy of Telecom New Zealand) before going to the Frank Kitts Park to see the opening ceremony of their Christmas Tree in Wellington. Here is the clip with all the kids in the park "helping" Santa start the lights.

From now until Christmas people can visit the tree. You can also donate gifts to Women's Refuge - there's a special box there to receive donations.

You can also interact with trees (Wellington and Auckland): visit www.telecomtree.co.nz to have some creating your own light show and then upload it to view the results on the real tree later.