HD DVD is no more
February 22, 2008
Toshiba has pulled out the plug on HD DVD. The company will scale down production with the aim to finally stop producing HD DVD players and recorders by March 2008. Blu-ray is finally the victor in the high-definition DVD format war.
The company may continue to produce HD DVD drives for notebook PCs, they said.
“While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality,” commented Atsutoshi Nishida, CEO of Toshiba.
Toshiba has not commented whether they will move into producing Blu-ray players or recorders.
And that’s it. The format war is over and finally we can all go out and buy a high-def DVD player without making a rather expensive and risky gamble.
Zingara - be seduced by the Gyspy Queen
February 10, 2008
The Conrad Jupiter’s show has been going for quite some time now, but if you have not yet had the chance to see it, Zingara is a supremely entertaining show. Read more
The Gunshop Cafe
February 7, 2008
The Gunshop Café is effortless in its approach to service, food and atmosphere. Read more
Nark is mobile
February 7, 2008
Nark.com.au can now be accessed via WAP on your mobile. That means you now have all our reviews at your fingertips, wherever you are. Read more
Count von Count censored
February 6, 2008
Sesame Street’s Count can normally be found bouncing around a room counting objects ad nauseum. At the end of his usual counting sequences lightning would flash and he would laugh manically but when viewed from a different angle, perhaps his innocent counting could be misinterpreted. This video shows him singing a little diddy, but when Count says the word ‘count’ it is beeped out. He seems to imply… well, a whole lot more is on his mind than just counting. Read more
Cheap Thrills
February 5, 2008
Got a couple of hours to spare during the week? Looking for something to do with your free time? Need an excuse to go on and check out the city (that isn’t shopping)? Read more
Ceylon Inn - Indian
February 4, 2008
Ceylon Inn serves great food in a prime social location. The Ceylon Inn located on Oxford Street Bulimba, is an Indian restaurant with character and appealing, appetising flavours. Read more
iiNet’s Naked DSL
February 4, 2008
After recently moving into a rental property I was faced with a dilemma of enormous proportions: what ISP to go with? At first it seemed like quite a daunting task. Being in a rental, cable is ruled out, as it requires a physical installation, meaning lots of real-estate related bureaucracy. ADSL looked like a possibility, except that it requires an existing land line connection which I neither have nor am willing to pay for. Even wireless broadband is still well on its way to becoming a viable alternative, as it offers neither the speed nor download capacity ( unless one is willing to pay excessive amounts of money) that fixed connections offer. It seemed that my chances of obtaining a useful and affordable broadband connection were rather slim.
It wasn’t until well into my search for an ISP that I stumbled across iiNet’s Naked DSL. And while im sure some of you are conjuring up images of a broadband connection with certain…let’s say…benefits…the idea is actually a spot of genius. iiNet physically switches your phone line at the exchange to their 0wn equipment, meaning high speed broadband (ADSL 2+) with no messy installation problems and no line rental.
To get started, all I needed to do was check the availability through the website (Naked DSL is available in most areas of all the major capital cities) and purchase a modem. Its then a 10-20 day waiting period whilst Telstra reconnects your phone line to iiNet.
Despite it being costly to set up ( there is a $150 connection fee, which is waived if you subscribe to a 24 month plan, plus the cost of a modem), iiNet has quite an affordable array of no obligation plans to choose from, starting at $49.95 a month for 4gb of download (2gb Peak/2gb off-peak). All Naked DSL plans come with a free VOIP account ( including free local and national calls as well as very reasonable international rates), access to unmetered sites (including iTunes) and fantastic online and phone based support. There are also no extra download charges if you exceed your quota, they just stream your connection to 64kbps.
As a broadband consumer (who am I kidding, junkie!) with limited finances , Naked DSL really is the best solution, and by far best value broadband service I have seen on the Australian market. In what is a market dominated by a few key players, iiNet have done very well to provide such a fantastic product.
- No line rental
- Well priced range of plans
- No contracts
- Great Speed
- Free VOIP
- High upfront costs
- Need to purchase modem from iiNet to access VOIP (from $169)
- Currently only available in capital cities
- iinet.com.au
Livewired - Free comedy at the Brisbane Powerhouse
February 4, 2008
Every Sunday evening the Brisbane Powerhouse plays host to the free live stand up comedy act, Livewired. Read more
Netgear Wi-Fi Skype Phone
February 2, 2008
Netgear’s Wi-Fi Skype phone is a great little phone. It looks like a mobile, but instead of relaying messages using traditional mobile towers at traditionally expensive call rates, the Netgear phone connects your call through voip (voice over IP) provider Skype. What does that mean? Well, call rates are really, really cheap.
The phone basically sports the Skype application’s interface minus any IM features. Which is a bit of a shame, it would be fairly redundant on the mobile keypad, but I’m sure it would not have been too hard to add to the wi-fi phone.
Whilst we are on the negative aspects of the phone, it doesn’t support SMS messages (which Skype does) and being a wi-fi phone it does leave you chained to your wireless router.
However, because I purchased the phone primarily as a second phone number (by coupling it with a Skype-In number so others think they’re calling a normal landline) I don’t mind overlooking these other shortcomings. It works exactly as you would expect, and it is fairly clear and responsive. There isn’t the traditional voip lag either, though that is probably attributable to my ADSL 2+ net connection.
So if you’re looking for a good voip phone then I would look into Netgear’s Skype phone. It’s especially attractive with wi-fi connectivity.
