Posts by wathend

Australia to reveal tech giants' tax tricks

Consumtion taxes don't work in a global market

Why do governments keep whinging on missed tax dollars when they continue to avoid the reality that we can now spend our money and but items in any state or country we choose. The idea of a consumtion based tax on everything just wont work in a global market. In Australia we have the GST, if I buy my clothes and technology etc online from a site in another jurisdiction then there is no GST for the pollies. As this increases and business like Google move money between markets in the same way as our purchasing discretion then the less tax that will be paid by all.

'Australia's so big freight costs are high' claims don't add up

Its not just shipping costs

Costs for warehouse workers, couriers, store staff, pen pushers in the office all are much higher in Australia. Adding to the costs of the imported products is that we seems to enjoy having an importer who sells to a wholesaler who sells to a distributor who sells to a retailer who sells to us. And that is a lot of extra admin staff and stock movements.

Apple is a bit different and only has a distributor, or a number of them, in Australia. Again the staff here cost more than in the US or just about anywhere in the developed world (anyone looked at the minimum salary these days as well as loading and penalty rates and ...). When we order from overseas we don't have to pay anyone for the privilege and we get to use much lower cost personel to process it for us.

Australians love mobile devices, but not mobile downloads

3G is not an alternative

Of course if you have ever tried downloading large files on 3G then you may not understand. The reason for the data on fixed internet is that it is simply faster. Even NextG does not compare even though they quote assounding upload and download it doesn't match. Once LTE at 700MHz is widely available this will change but for now mobile data will be restrained by its inherent ties back to voice and other communications.

Samsung joins Telstra's 4G handset party

When 4G is not 4G

Maybe the reason why they dropped the 5Km limit part is because they are quoting download and upload speeds that are more or less current 3G speeds. Face it, in Australia we are really limited to 3G until we get the 700MHz spectrum, 1800 won't cut it when it comes to penetration in built up cities and has a smaller cell coverage.

Apple slaps mega-solar panel field on new ENORMO data centre

But its inefficient to build...

The problem with your ideal world is that these panles are horribly inefficient and generate tons of green house gass etc in manufacture. Before this is embraced and too many roll them out they need to become more environmentally friendly. Just think of all the waste genreated while we fabricate the glasses, cells and frames to hold these.

An iPad in every pot, says Anna Bligh

All suppliers gouge the government

Richard, I am not sure why you think the iPad initative is any worse for gouging the goverment purse than the Lenovo deal for Netbooks with the Fed's was. All suppliers do this. At least they can be sure that the iPad apps are secure adn the student privacy is protected unless of course they use google services...

Google dings missive to lawmakers: 'We're misunderstood'

Paid search, no way....

We all pay for the Google searches in the end anyway. Their money comes from advertisiers whomistakenly think all of the users pay any attention to the paid results. This emans that we pay more for products and services and so on.

I used to pay google via adsense years ago but pulled out as the results are crap. Spending the same money in print advertising and then getting "word of mouth" promo via discussion sites etc worked far better. My revenue grew and my products became cheaper for the customers.

Ballmer shoots down Microsoft breakup advice

It is time to split

I agree with the investors. In fact I thought that MS should have split the Server and OS division off from the app division years ago. The fact that the apps are so dependent on the OS is a failuing in the current environment with opportunities in tabl;ets, smartphones, web 2.0 etc. If you can't run without your core OS then you will not last.

If they had the guts to reduce Office to the core features that 99% of use and ported it for the web2.0 or iOS or Android they would have more sales. It would be a big step but it would solidify their market in word processing and spreadsheets as there is nothing out there that is compatible enough for most businesses. Not even Google Docs or OpenOffice or the other options in the AppStore / Marketplace.

Oz teachers lugging obsolete lappies

Why do teachers complain so much

Australian teachers, they get paid well considering they get 12 weeks when they don't have to work plus 4 weeks annual leave all on full pay and they go home at 3:30 each day.

If they want to leave early and have the time off then fork out for a cheap PC, if they don't then stay back for a while and work like the rest of us and use the PC at the school.

AFACT vs iiNet round 3

AFACT just want a free ride

AFACT and the studios just want to site back and reap the millions from sales and not have to protect their product themselves. If they really want to stop piracy then they need to put some skin in the game and not rely on ISPs to foot the bill for monitoring, better still they could even come up with a business model that promoates their wares.

I hope they end up loosing and then go away and rot in their declining business model hell.

Police Federation reiterates demand for 700 MHz spectrum

They refuse to pay for a HA service

The Governments in Australia, like many organisations, refuse to pay top dollar for a highly available mobile network so their argument fails.

it would be cheaper for them to request special access rights under an emergency using APNs etc for Emergency services in a particular area when needed. Communications during the normal business day is easily accommodated by current commercial offerings. However if you ask them to pay a premium for this service they so no and go for the cheapest offering from carriers.

Five amazing computers for under £100

What about the REX?

The REX5 was awsome, calendar and contacts plus notes on a credit card sized format. What more did we need?

Samsung threatens Apple in response to patent lawsuit

Lots of people way off the mark here

Seems as though everyone is an expert on procurement and manaufacturing agreements across borders...

The real issue that Apple has brought up is not the fact that the Samsung dvice looks the same (which it does so they have a claim just as Cadbury has a claim if someone else sells a chocolate bar in a wrapper that is the same color and size), the rela issue is the user interface and how it mimics the Apple patents on pinching for Zoom etc. A lot of development work and design went into that only to see Google and followers copy it.

Fair call by Apple and now the courts can decide.

Android malware attacks show perils of Google openness

It was only a matter of time

I was wondering how long it would take for this to start happening.

Sure Android is open and fun but for businesses and serious users who do banking and most other things on their phones these days the Apple App Store is the safest as far as Im concerned.

Retailer predicts death of Apple retail channel, eBay gets cozy with brands

Kogan is a drop kick

Ruslan Kogan is a small time online retailer with some chinese TVs and thats about it. Why would anyone listen to him to even worry about publishing his rants. Bricks and Mortar retailers will be around for a long time at least until someone can work out how to send consumers goods through a Star Trek type teleporter...

Google asks US Patent Office to rethink Oracle Java patents

Abstract ideas....

I wonder what Goolge would think if someone said that their algorithms in search were "abstract ideas or other non-statutory subject matter". Really, an formula that indexes words and sentences in a manner that makes them easy to extract based on formulas that match terms to these is an abstract idea as well....

Armed with exploits, ATM hacker hits the jackpot

New laws required

I knwo that hackers are just trying to show vulnerabilities but this is out of hand. If I had a cheap lock on my door and a burglar broke in they would be guilty of break and enter, if I have weak security and a hacker breaks in they should be prosecuted immediately. The fact that these laws are not in place or were slow to be put in place means that hackers are very sophisticated and that they think they are above the law and providing a service.

Just my two cents worth....

The Googlephone - there's more where that came from

Who wants the advertising

Wow, pay $549 for the phone and pay for the access and data and then have google stuff ads down your throat without a choice to turn them off.... what a great deal. I'll keep my iPhone and Sony Ericsson thank you and have real "choice".

Agree

I agree, not what i want and not what i would call choice either. If they want to make me see ads all the time then make the handset free.