A British Scientist who runs a British committee on mobile phone safety, said children should be monitored when using laptops. Prof Lawrie Challis’s warning came amid public concern over wi-fi emissions. The concern is that on the lap when using wi-fi, people could be about 2cm from the transmitter, receiving comparable exposure to that from a mobile phone. The issues surround the problem of wi-fi radiation that could potentially cause to the electrical signals within a person's brain and nervous system.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 2:35 AM 0 comments

Telstra says it has invested $1.5 billion in what will be the largest integrated fixed line and wireless Internet system in the world.

Australia’s largest telecommunications company is moving towards a full IP driven network that will allow telco to handle over 3 Billion calls a second via voice over ip technology. The Next IP network technology works with its Next G mobile network and will be rolled out reaching 95 per cent of Australian businesses. The network will have a core operating speed of 92 tetrabytes per second. This could also have a number of environmental positives as full screen quality high definition video conferencing could be a reality.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 2:38 AM 0 comments

Kids Rules for Online Safety

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 2:16 AM 0 comments

A number of laptops have been released with the availability of SSD (solid-state drive) technology. This is aimed at enhancing the durability and performance laptop machines.

As opposed to the traditional HDD (hard disk drive), which relies on spinning discs and read/write heads, the SSD is a flash-based drive that requires no moving parts. As such, it can withstand twice as much force as an HDD when dropped.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 1:52 AM 0 comments

A few years ago Cambridge university formed an idea of One Laptop Per Child or the One Hundred dollar US laptop for every child in the third world. But these days the unit would cost $175 American. The unit is a green plastic low-power, lightweight computer that can withstand a torrential rainstorm, work in bright sunlight, and be powered by kids who are willing to wind cranks or yank cords to keep it running.

The laptop project is expected to move from dream to reality this September and will hopefully be in the hands of 1 billion children between ages 6 and 16 in developing countries, with production ramping up to 400,000 units per month by the end of this year, for a total of 3 million in the first production wave .

The unit has a small, high-resolution screen that swivels to turn into a tablet. A number of buttons also control functions on the laptop but most notably is the sliding button that turns the backlight off, which allows users to save energy or take the laptop outside and use it in bright sunlight. Also on the unit is on either side 2-inch-long plastic rabbit ears that flip up to increase its wireless range.

Powering the unit the laptop can plug into an electrical outlet, or users can yank on its pull charger, crank a handle, or sit in bright sunlight with a flexible solar panel. The string pull charge, on display yesterday, means about six minutes of pulling for an hour to use the device in its low-power e-book mode, with no backlight.

This laptop will provide access to the internet world wide and allow educational advantages to all members of the population.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 1:49 AM 0 comments

It was long ago feared that the recording industry would suffer from downloads but it seems that downloads are turning out to be sweet music to the ears of record company executives. According to information from record industry peak bodies dgital sales poured nearly $28 million into the nation’s music industry last year compared with $8 million in 2005. This is said to be fueled buy the introduction of pay per download websites and broadband But something quite amazing is that almost half of digital sales come from mobile phone-based revenues, which includes full track downloads and realtones but not mono or polyphonic ringtones.

It appears the days of the CD single are almost over as many shops are just installing download KIOSKs and this has seen the CD Single sales nose dive more than 40 per cent.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 12:46 AM 0 comments

Telstra competitors this week are attempting to match Telstra in its PR war against regulation by themselves launching a new website and campaign called "Tell the Truth Telstra". The site is also known as T4 The companies involved are AAPT, Austar, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Powertel, Primus Telecom, Telarus, TransACT, WestNet and and are vowing to "set the record straight about communications services in this country and the central role of competition in satisfying consumer demand." However, one telco has decided to remain outside this group and go it alone, Optus is the second biggest telco in Australia and has recently just raised its prices on products it obtains through Telstra wholesale..

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 12:45 AM 0 comments

Web 2.0 pioneer Tim O' Reilly and Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales have proposed a draft code of conduct for the blogosphere to clean up the actions of some blogger publishers. This draft code of conduct if they can get anyone to adopt it suggests posters to the blog should not be allowed to leave anonymous comments. The code also defines what sort of content should be posted to the blog and specifies what is unacceptable blog content which is defined as anything included or linked to that which is used to 'abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others'.

The code of practice also spells out details on libellous material, infringement of copyright or trademark, and violations of privacy.

Politicians might be interested in this draft code as for some time politicians have been having trouble understanding the blogosphere and the fact that there is no real journalistic code of conduct for on the record or off the record comments.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 12:44 AM 0 comments

According to an online survey British Internet users are likely to spend an average of two days a month surfing the web with no particular task in mind. The process is called -- short for what was I looking for?, According to the study more than two thirds of Britons admit to wilfing and a quarter spend 30 percent or more of their time on the Internet surfing without any purpose. Apparently, men are bigger wilfers than women, with shopping websites the biggest distractions.

This process of wasting time on the internet can also have major downturn or loss of productivity for many british companies and if its happening in the UK, one can only imagine what is happing in other countries.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 12:43 AM 0 comments

Microsoft have released no less than six fixes that including one for a critical bug in Windows Vista. Five of these six bugs have been given the critical rating and its believed the sixth bug is rated important. The majority of the patches are for the windows operating system (XP) and the last patch is for a critical flaw in Microsoft Content Management Server. Microsoft also released in this batch of patches an emergency patch for an .ANI vulnerability that was being heavily exploited by hackers.

The patches cover a critical flaw in Microsoft Content Management Server that could enable remote code execution; a critical vulnerability in the Universal Plug and Play that could enable remote code execution, and a critical flaw in Microsoft Agent that could enable remote code execution.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 12:42 AM 0 comments

Apple claims its sold over 100 million iPods and is claiming the iconic device as the fastest-selling music player ever. However, the IPOD could just be like the Biro is to ball point pens just because it was really the first mp3 player to be mass marketed to millions of people world wide. The iPod was first sold in November 2001. Since then Apple has introduced over 10 models including a match box sized iPod shuffle

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 9:51 PM 0 comments

If you believe this story then American Solders could have IPODS as body armour

An Ipod apparently took a bullet and is claimed to have saved the life of an American soldier whilst in Iraq. Kevin Garrard, who is a soldier in the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. Apparently, was shot in the chest by an insurgent with an AK-47 at very close range. According to experts, the bullet of this caliber shot at close range would normally pierce through normal body armor. However, its said that Kevin's Ipod gave its life for its owner. The bullet struck the iPod and slowed down the projectile enough that his body armor stopped the hot lead from piercing his chest

However, the Soldier has rebuked the claims that the IPOD saved his life he says he was wearing upgraded body armour, but hard core IPOD fans seem to still think it was the IPOD. We are waiting for the mythbusters episode on this one.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 9:49 PM 0 comments

In the United States, aCongressional subcommittee is asking Google Inc. to explain why it had engaged in "airbrushing history" as it seemed in its google earth & google maps software that it had replaced post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery with images of the region as it existed before the storm destroyed neighborhoods, uprooted trees and dashed bridges.

Swapping the post-Katrina images, which showed the damage that remains more than a year after the storm, for others showing an idyllic city has annoyed many locals. This is a cause of great concern to many as google earth and maps are used for accuracy in many industries as they have grown to utilize this product in its everyday operations.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 2:48 PM 0 comments

According to the Reuters news agency - Apple Inc. and the music label EMI Group are working to announce a plans that could involve putting the entire Beatles music catalogue online.

At present none of the Beatles catalogue can be downloaded via legitimate online music services. This news comes just after the settlement in February of a long-running trademark dispute between Apple Inc., which recently cleared away the hurdles for selling the Fab Four's songs via the iTunes online music store.

# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 2:47 PM 0 comments