Posts by A J

nbn™ talks up HFC upgrades to gigabit speed

I think by now this govt. must be able to see that they are wrong. Their nbn mtm plan is a dead horse. They simply don't want to admit it, because then they would be admitting that Labor was right all along. So we get saddled with an enormously wasteful public debt just so that Malcolm and Tony can try to save face.

nbn has made ZERO fibre-to-the-node and cable connections

There is no case for FTTN. Consider the usage patterns of most Australian households: One or more video streams from Netflix and the like, plus various other downloads and services running in the background. An excellent reference for the amount of bandwidth consumed by a high quality video stream is *ANY* BluRay disc, with bit rates that range between 25-50Mbps (and sometimes a bit higher).

Everyone + dog wants to get on the Netflix/streaming bandwagon, but with FTTN + G.Fast (an unproven technology outside of testing labs) there is no way anyone in Oz can actually HAVE a high quality streaming experience. G.Fast at MOST allows users to hit the bottom end of BluRay bit rates, and realistically will force the consumption of poorer quality, heavily compressed streaming services. And this is before we factor in multiple streams per household or the future, which is multiple 4k streams!

Lets move on a few years and consider 4k streaming. Even with adoption of h265 the necessary bandwidth for high quality video streams will at least double to 50Mbps. This government's so-called high speed broadband service is dead in the water before it is even rolled out! And some people have the nerve to say that the Liberals are good financial managers. What nonsense. Spending almost as much as it would cost to build an all fiber network, in order to saddle future Australians with the cost of doing the whole rollout over again is madness! And any sane economist/accountant would agree.

This government's (lack of) vision for broadband is the adoption of technology that is obsolete before it has even been rolled out to a single household! I find it absurd that a person such as yourself would even bother to comment without a thorough understanding of the technologies in question.

Secret Bezos delivery helicopters operate from mystery Canadian base to evade US regulators

What could be more enjoyable, on a lazy afternoon, than sitting on my front porch with my trusty shotgun, taking pot shots at drones flying through my airspace?

Free swag falling from the sky would likely more than cover the cost of ammunition, and my favorite birding dog would get some much needed exercise retrieving my free gifts.

I honestly don't know what the law says about this, but I suspect I might be well within my rights, in a rural area, to both discharge my shotgun at any 'intruders' flying over my property and also to keep any items that I might find have landed on my property.

Should spectrum hog TV give up its seat for broadband? You tell us – EU

Re: Probably - wireless is for mobile

Wireless would be useless to those people in not spots if you wanted to provide them with IPTV. Wireless is a contention-based medium. Hundreds or thousands of households all competing for bandwidth to stream their fav. shows would bring the whole network to a crawl.

Some communications lend themselves naturally to a point to point or peer distribution system, and others fit far more naturally within a broadcast system. TV is a natural fit for a broadcast system.

OTHER EARTHS may be orbiting our Sun beyond Neptune

Pluto's declassification as a planet has nothing to do with it's size. Pluto has not cleared its orbital neighbourhood of debris, and so cannot be considered a planet under the new classification system.

Nvidia blasts sueballs at Qualcomm, Samsung – wants Galaxy kit banned

Re: Whither Apple?

Samsung makes the Exynos chip.

Lindsay Lohan sues Grand Theft Auto V makers for 'using her image'

Re: "Rockstar and Take-Two’s use of her likeness was done solely to make money"

But it wasn't for the money, it was done solely for the LoL's.

Should NBN Co squeeze a server into FTTN nodes?

I like free stuff too!

I see I'm not the only one who thought immediately of a nice freebie.

Mmmmm 16 TB. =)

UFO, cosmic ray or flasher? NASA rules on Curiosity curiosity

WTF

"... an alien saving a man from a road accident."

WHY haven't I seen this on YouTube (or World's Craziest Fools with Mr T and his former mohawk that has turned into a poodle pomp) ?

Please explain.

PlayStation daddy on new PS4: She's ALL 'PLAY', NO 'Station' this time

It won't have those features at launch. There is at least one article out there where Sony employees discuss what features will be added in future. I believe they have confirmed CD and MP3 playback as a 'coming soon' feature.

http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/a-chat-with-shuhei-yoshida/1600-670/

One issue with any new platform is the time it takes to build the OS software for it. Both Sony and MS are cutting it very fine, releasing the hardware before the software is completely finished, and hence both have some missing features at launch that are promised to be added later.

Assange fails in bid for election to Australian Senate

Re: The best thing to Come out of the election

I think we just did replace one egotistical moron with another.

Xbox 180: Microsoft scraps mandatory Kinect policy

Re: Meh

Yeah, they need to offer a bundle without Kinect and with a much lower price. Then they might actually have a desirable product.

Surface RT: A plan worthy of the South Park Underpants Gnomes

I think the real mistake was Microsoft believing that they could come in to the market as a new player, but with products launching at Apple prices.

Google jammed its foot in the door by enabling low-priced alternatives to the luxurious iPad. Undercutting on price is an effective way to enter a market as a new player and compete with the established players.

Microsoft's approach was one of sheer arrogance. We'll go in with premium products at a premium price with hardly any apps available. Yeah, that sounds like a plan!

Gavin Clarke makes a fair point in calling out Microsoft management on this. Someone should have seen this coming from the start. It is basic stuff.

Optical archival system - where to buy from?

Use the cloud dude!

Pay for a good cloud storage service and upload it all to the cloud. This will be much cheaper than any other option and it gives the advantage of an off-site backup should catastrophe occur: eg. A break-in and theft of all your computer equipment including your shiny new backup device, or a fire that destroys everything.

Real 'pros' make off-site backups. LTO will cost you more, be less reliable and is not off-site.

Obama says US won't scramble jets or twist arms for Snowden

Re: "Bad news; All the governments and most coporations are full of'em!"

It is well known that David Cameron is a lizard.

Microsoft caves on Xbox One DRM and used-game controls

Yes, greed is what it is all about here. They see the number of pre-orders of PS4 vs. Xbone and they see money going to Sony so they change their tune, for now. Historically Microsoft have rarely listened to their customers, instead treating them as idiots and assuming they always know better.

Microsoft will sneak all their DRM back in sometime after launch. I give them a year. Then they will say they were forced to do it by publishers.

Notice they don't ever address the Kinect issue? Because they truly believe they know what you need in your living room more than you do. A spy device for their advertising buddies and a weak console/tv box is not what we want Microsoft!

What do you mean WHY is Sony PS4 so pricey in Oz?

Not hard to check your facts, it it?

US$399 = AU$416 at the time you wrote this. Warranty is one year.

"Cost of doing business in Australia (and providing PS+ and PSN to users in Australia), including distribution in a sparsely populated vast landmass."

Complete load of bollocks. Australia is closer to China (where the PS4 is made) than the USA is to China. Shipping costs are thus cheaper. Ninety-nine percent of Australia's population is located in a few major capital cities with a population density on a par with any major US capital.Nobody lives in the 'vast landmass' because it is mostly a desert.

The parts you got right are greed and the GST (10% sales tax).

You seem to be suggesting that Never The Same Colour is a good thing?

YES, Xbox One DOES need internet, DOES restrict game trading

Re: Surreal and comical.

Indeed, and MS have taken their patented concept of f***ing their own customers to new and stratospheric heights!

Look out, fanbois! EVIL charger will inject FILTH into your iPHONE

Re: Trusting ANYTHING plugging into a USB port....

This will work fine for Android devices, but not for Apple.

In a bid to make you pay $50 for a USB cable that has been sanctified by the church of Jobs, Apple phones will not charge at all from a cable that only has the power pins connected. Stupid by design.

Optus: Australian telcos are RUBBISH

As a former Optus customer...

"Optus: It feels good to finally admit we are rubbish."