Australian speed average: 2.6Mbps, puts us 50th in the world
According to Akamai Technologies latest international report of the state of the internet, Australia’s ranks 50th in the world. This is based on average internet connection speeds for the first quarter of 2010. If your not familiar with Akamai, they are one of the largest CDNs in the world. Distributing massive amounts of data around the world for some o the biggest companies in the world – Amazon, Microsoft, BBC and Hulu to name a few.
Quite frankly 50th place is abysmal for a developed country, fortunately we at least have a strategy for the future to improve our standing dramatically – the NBN. Our Average connection speed of 2.6Mbps which is actually a decent speed, 3 years ago. Australian consumers are quickly adopting ADSL2 as plan costs decline and data caps slowly increase. On the other end of the scale remote areas are still stuck with 256kbps or worse.. dial-up.
So how much will the NBN’s now 93% coverage of 12Mbps minimum increase our standing in the internets world ? Don’t forget other countries aren’t standing still either with at least the US (16th) and the UK working on NBN’s of their own. Add to that Australia’s new fibre network won’t be complete till around 2018, expect Aussies to trail the world for a while yet.
The first place position in the report goes to South Korea clocking in with a decent 12Mbps average. They certainly wouldn’t have been my first guess, that would have gone to Sweden or Japan with their impressive top-end speeds of 100Mbps+. Obviously there’s still some customers stuck in the past holding their average back.
Image credit: PC World
iPhone 4 plans are out, which one should you choose ?
The wait is over people, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 (now owned by Voda) have all announced their iPhone 4 plans. Due to launch this Friday the latest version of the iPhone leaves a lot of existing customers wondering if they should upgrade.
Despite the features on the new iPhone, probably the single biggest influencer as to whether someone upgrades is the cost of doing so. Each iteration of the phone has come with better plans with competition being an awesome benefit to consumers. This time round we see the key areas of overall cost and data limits improve once again.
Telstra [link]
Optus [link]
Vodafone
Image credit: ZDNet Australia
3 
Image credit: ZDNet Australia
Best picks:
So there’s a lot of data in the plans, the good news is there are plenty of options for consumers. Given the wide range of plans, there should be one that suits you. Remember this year is kind of special, those iPhone 3G owners that didn’t update to the 3GS will be out of contract and be free to switch carriers. Those of us who did upgrade to the 3GS will likely be offered incentives for staying put, the price of early termination fees being heavily discounted. Last year upgrade discounts were 40-50% off the normal price. No carrier has announced upgrade discounts for existing customers.. they’re quickly running out of time with only 2 days left. If your an existing iPhone owner.. watch your inbox closely.
Other than price, another important influencer is network coverage and speed. Telstra has the best network coverage of all providers no questions asked, but this time round there’s one important difference. The iPhone 4 supports 3G over the 900Mhz wireless spectrum, something the iPhone 3G and 3GS did not. This is great news for Optus and in-term Vodafone and 3 as they all utilize the 900Mhz 3G frequency.
Personally I get great 3G signal and speed around Albury Wodonga, but drive 10 minutes down the road and your back on 2G. After being used to 3G speeds, dropping back to 2G is a painful experience. Optus’ 900Mhz coverage spans most of the state, which means 3G coverage will dramatically improve.
The green areas on the map above represents coverage using both 2100Mhz and 900Mhz 3G.
So choose wisely people you’ll be locked into another 24 month contract… that is of course until next year when all have to break contract again to get iPhone 5.
iBooks store is still a dull shade of brown
Since the iPad launched in Australia on May 28th this year, the iBooks store has been a dull shade of brown. The reason – book rights. One would assume that between the iPad announcement and it’s release, Apple would have been working with Australian publishers to get licensing sorted. Apparently not, even with the month-long delay of the Australian iPad launch and the months since then, the iBook store is still a dull shade of brown.
The books that are available are part of Project Gutenberg, a movement to distribute older works that have reached public domain status. Whilst the books are free, copyright law prevents work being entered into the public domain until every last possible skerrick of change can be stripped from the book +about 50 years. So if your after anything recent, your out of luck.
What is surprising is that other publishing platforms have been able to get the deals done to distribute Australian titles electronically. Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Borders all have their own iPad applications offering a decent catalogue (including coloured covers). So while competition is usually great for consumers, Apple’s “integrated experience” is essentially broken when it comes to iBooks as users have to resort to alternate options.
The current state of iBooks in Australia is a shame given the iBooks app actually has some great features. iBooks does great job with iPhone/iPad page synchronization and PDF support.
Below you can see screens from the US iBooks store, full of engaging, colourful book covers. This is a result of Apple establishing deals with multiple US-based publishing / distributing firms.
So how long will Australians have to wait for a decent iBooks offering ? Are book publishers hesitant to hand over their library to Apple in fear of being the new Music industry.
ABC News 24 launches tonight [updated]
At 7.30pm tonight, the ambitious 24/7 News channel will launch. With reporters around the world, ABC News 24 aims to provide the most comprehensive up to date news coverage in Australia. This will be a first for Australia and no doubt quickly become the default location (second only to twitter) for breaking news.
If you don’t yet see the channel, you may need to rescan the channels on your DVR.
Update
The channel is now live. ABC News 24 is available as an over the air digital transmission as well as an online stream as well. A mobile version of the channel will be available soon.
More @ ABC
Not on Facebook? Half a Billion are.
Image source: dzinepress.com
Maybe your being “cool” by not joining the phenomenon that is Facebook, apparently people like you are few and far between. Out of 6.5857 billion people on the planet, 0.5 billion of us are active users of the largest social network in the world. So what does ‘active users’ actually mean ? To be an active user you must have logged into Facebook at least once in the past month. Keep in mind, using the Like button that features on many sites across the web will also count as being ‘Active’. Add to that the fact that many people pipe their twitter feeds into Facebook and you start to get an appreciate the number isn’t perhaps as big as it first seems.
With that said, there’s no doubt this milestone is a massive one. Facebook is now a potential advertising juggernaut, one that Google is no doubt watching with caution. The ability to monetize product advertisement that is recommended by a trusted friend or colleague over a generic Adsense ad is immense. We’ve heard stories about Google launching their own social network to try and capitalize on this same principal, but with a 500 million active user head start it seems like an insurmountable task.
Personally Facebook Connect has become my default way of logging into sites wherever its available. Remembering usernames and passwords to the hundreds of sites I have connections with is simply not practical. Sharing photos, videos, stories and status updates with friends is a daily event, something that I get a lot of value from, so to me its not at all surprising Facebook is as popular as it is.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains the key to Facebook is its users and the connections they create across their networks. To celebrate the 500 million active user milestone, Facebook are launching a new application called Facebook Stories. Essentially this allows users to discover the Facebook experiences of others or submit your own.
There’s not many in Australia, so lets represent and get submitting!
More @ Facebook Blog
Kinect Australian pricing revealed: $199 RRP
Xbox Australia have finally announced local pricing for Kinect. The price for Kinect in Australia will be A$199 as a recommended retail price to stores, however your likely to find competition will reduce that price by around $20. Whilst the official release date for Kinect hasn’t been announced for Australia, it is scheduled for release on November 5th in the US.
Along with the Kinect announcement, Microsoft have confirmed the upcoming release / bundle of a new Xbox 360 S model. Designed to replace the Xbox 360 Arcade, the new model will come with just 4GB of storage. This is obviously a cost saving measure, and will be bundled with the Kinect sensor and Kinect Adventures game for A$449.
With full body play, Kinect is a unique and accessible way for everyone to enjoy controller-free fun. With more than 15 games available at launch, Aussie living rooms will become fitness rooms, dance clubs and sports stadiums.
Read the full press release over @ InsiderX
More info about Kinect @ Xbox Australia
EB estimates Kinect price as A$198
Overnight Microsoft got official about Kinect pricing, listing it as US$149.99 with Kinect Adventures included. That begs the question, what price will Kinect be in Australia ? After hunting around some online stores, many still have TBA listed, but EB Games lists the price as an estimated A$198.
Are they just guessing like the rest of us, or does EB actually have the word from Microsoft. It’s possible EB have to list the price as estimated until Xbox Australia make the official Australian pricing announcement.
Based on the exchange rate today, US$149 translates to A$168.59, but remember there’s additional taxes and import duties on top, so the price of A$198 doesn’t sound too far off.
