Blog's from the Bush

At last it's official - if you haven't been compulsively checking the Telstra website (like me) then you probably missed the news, follow the link to Telstra's Mobile section.

[From Apple iPhone 3G - Telstra ]

The PRESS RELEASE came out late in the day (1625 to be precise) and the highlights are as follows:

• you can register for a phone and tell them what model & accessories you want
• Telstra say's "Australians are very excited about the iPhone 3G™" - ummm Duh!
• it will be available on July 11with it's own "designed Next G™ iPhone 3G plans"
• plans start at $30 per month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8GB model & $399 for the 16GB model
  
• there are also $80 and $100 plan's for 8GB & 16GB iPhone's with no upfront costs.
• all plans are for 24 months
• all plans get FREE WiFi access at Telstra hotspots (excellent I always wanted to work out of the Borders cafe)
• there's a dedicated URL for iPhone info at http://www.telstra.com/iphone

Interestingly the "Telstra" press release appears to have been written by both Apple & Telstra - talk about managing the details!

What's not been disclosed so far:

• the amount of data on each plan
• the call time
• the SMS included
• no indication at all of an unlimited data plan.

Oh and the Telstra Mobile site appears to have crashed!

Posted by craig at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well after a long wait TV Shows have finally made an appearance on the Australian iTunes store. True the selection is somewhat limited but at least they're all quality shows (yes that's a joke).

Amongst the show's currently available are a mix of Australian ABC, Chanel 9, SBS and various US shows including Scrub's, Desperate Housewives and Disney's Hannah Montana (hope my daughter doesn't see that one). Each episode seems to be priced at a reasonable $2.99 and a full season varies on the show in questions, for example Lost Season 4 costs $41.86 whereas the Australian comedy Summer Heights High only costs $21.99 for Season 1.

For those that don't know Summer Heights High is a parody of high school life in an Australian high using a documentary style and pseudo amateur actors - it's a truly cringe worthy comedy. Funnily, having seen it the first time around I've no desire to see it again... but if you haven't seen it and can deal with all 3 of the main characters being played by the same actor then go for it...

Posted by craig at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is possibly one of the most nebulous articles I've ever read but according to the author we could see a Telstra iPhone announcement as early as Monday.

[From Telstra to sell 3G iPhone | Australian IT]

Personally I think, this is a good thing™for a range of reasons:

Stating the bleeding obvious first:

1. Great for competition
2. Telstra has the biggest 3G Network in it's NextG product (even if it is on the almost unique 850Mhz band)
3. This might stem the flow of people who've been ringing up Telstra and getting their details they need to switch (anecdotally a Telstra Shop™ I recently visited not only gave me all the details I needed then and there, but when I told them why, ie. getting an iPhone the salesperson said "Oh yeah we've had lots of people saying that - are they any good?"
4. It has pushed Optus into expanding their 3G network in the major rural centres, it may make Vodaphone step up their 3G role out (18 more months before they cover our little city).

The not so obvious:

1. Telstra will be providing a real competitor for Optus
2. People in Tasmania will be able to use it as a 3G iPhone! (Trust me there are some nice people down there that deserve a good phone).
3. Country and coastal iPhone users will have access to a comprehensive 3G network not just the CBD restricted 3G network typical of Optus.
4. I don't have to change my carrier - as long as I can get a decent plan that is...

I just hope that the amazing response Optus & Vodaphone really has woken Telstra up otherwise I will move (like many others I suspect). This is the 21Century after all brand loyalty counts for naught when the brand isn't loyal to its customer base. Are you listening Sol?

Of course the final details won't be clear until they're on the market and there are those nasty rumors that Telstra & Sol are dragging the heels as they're pushing a few changes on Apple and the iPhone (like Sensis/BigPond/WhereIs rather than Google) which would be enough for me to go to Optus. I mean seriously hasn't Sol noticed that Google Maps & Directions shit all over WhereIs for route planning or finding businesses?

I'll guess we'll all know soon enough - just glad I'm not so compelled that I need to be in the queue on July 11 for my 3G iPhone - it's nice to have choice!

Posted by craig at 1:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a quick tip for you - if you're running a mixed house hold like me - ie. with Apple and Sony gear on the network. (We have a couple of Windows boxes but they're in a comatose state...)

Recently I had some issues with video not streaming to the AppleTV even though we had a full signal showing on the metre. During this, for no good reason, I fiddled around with the EyeTV software on the Mac Mini. First lesson never do things in a hurry...

Anyway a few days later I went to watch a movie on the PS3 and couldn't find the MacMini, a quick check showed that MediaLink was off. So, naturally I clicked the "Start" button in the Preference pane and was surprised to see the following dialog...

My first response was to restart the MacMini - thinking that MediaLink must've crashed or something and left a process hogging the ports in question. Needless to say the restart didn't help at all.

So, taking the methodical approach I quit all programs, checked Activity Monitor for any stray problems and tried again - it worked.

Using a basic process of elimination I found the problem ie. I'd turned on the sharing function in the EyeTV 3.0 software doh! You see EyeTV 3.0.x it turns out that the sharing function is basically the EyeConnect server built-in, and EyeConnect is just another UPNP DNLA server - BAM! instant conflict.

So this tempted me to look again at the EyeConnect functionality on the PS3, the EyeTV software still doesn't send Album artwork but it does a mean job of streaming the EyeTV recording out to our PS3's (something MediaLink doesn't currently do). So, next time your MediaLink server drops off the network and gives you a "port in use" error you might just want to check your EyeTV configuration.

Next up a keyboarding tip for Mail...

Posted by craig at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In conjunction with iWorld that gadget blog Gizmodo Australia is giving us Aussies a chance to win an iPhone.

[From Gizmodo, Win an iPhone]

Simply follow the link and be in with a chance to win a brand new 3G iPhone - for the cost of your email address, name, phone number, state and your bank account details. Actually scratch that last one - I'm just hoping to scare you off thereby increasing my chances of landing a nice little 3G iPhone.

Are you still here? Why are you off filling in that form?

Posted by craig at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May I please, breifly break our regular programming and point your attention to this petition in support of Bill Henson.

In support of Bill Henson

[From In support of Bill Henson - Signatures ]

Isn't it amazing that the various religions of the world can cause decades of damage to children and pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation and our politicians will say not a word. Yet when arguably one of Australia's best known photographers is wrongly villified they find their cowardly voices and come down like the screeching banal harpies they are.

I must say that anyone that finds Henson's images pornographic or titillating has very serious issues to deal with (and I can only hope they don't have children). Next we'll be deporting the InsertUnlikedMinorityHere off to detention camps and adding military style authority to our police forces.

Why the hell aren't people angry with stupid stupid behaviour like this?

Posted by craig at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)