Mangrove Mountain Computer Club

Google’s Android will quickly overtake Apple’s iPhone market share. It may seem like an outlandish prediction given the fact that Apple has sold over 65 million iPhones/iPod touches and hundreds of millions of people use iTunes, but we’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends. I’m referring to the original Macintosh operating system which was superior in nearly every way but lost the PC war to Microsoft’s Windows. Apple’s insistence on control will lock out the rest of the business world turning them into competitors whose innovation, marketing and more consumer-friendly features will benefit their chief rival.  More info…

Apple has filed a lawsuit against mobile devices maker HTC. The suit claims infringement of 20 patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware.

In the release, Steve Jobs says, “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it…We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

Taiwan-based HTC was the first company to manufacture a cell phone based on Google’s Android operating system, which has emerged as a significant competitor to the iPhone, AP reports. It’s also making the Nexus One phone that Google is selling directly to consumers.

It looks like the Nexus One, and other HTC phones, may have hit too close to home for Steve Jobs. More info…

USB 3.0, also known as SuperSpeed USB, provides the bandwidth to transfer data at close to ten times the speed of USB 2.0 and is now becoming available in the market. The theoretical improvement in data transfer speeds provided by USB 3.0 is dramatic.

USB 3.0 is backward compatibility with USB 2.0 although you need a new cable and new host adapter or one of the new motherboards that support USB 3.0 to achieve USB 3.0 speeds, but you can still use the device on a USB 2.0 port and achieve typical USB 2.0 performance.

More information…

In his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said the company had shifted its focus from desktops to mobiles. Schmidt predicted that in three years, if not sooner, smartphones would pass global PC sales – “a remarkable achievement”.

“Mobile web adoption is proceeding at eight times faster than the equivalent point 10 years ago for the desktop,” said Schmidt.

“Half the new internet connections are for mobile devices. From a Google perspective, there are more Google searches on mobile than on desktop in emerging countries like Indonesia.”

The company also announced recently that it was building an experimental fibre-to-the-home network in parts of the US that could potentially offer a blistering 1Gbps bandwidth.

By comparison, the upcoming National Broadband Network in Australia is predicted to offer about 100Mbps.

If there are thunderstorms around, your electronic equipment can be at risk. Make sure you turn off and unplug everything, including your phone/modem connection. This is what happens if you don’t, and the damage may not end there:

If you are a subscriber to MACS, you reduce the risk further as you most likely will get a warning in plenty of time to take action.

The eerie quiet that has descended over the once very public stoush between the Federal Government and Telstra (ASX:TLS) could be the clearest indication yet that a deal on the separation of the telco is close at hand.

Speaking to Computerworld, telecommunications industry analyst Paul Budde said an announcement on a deal for Telstra’s separation could come as early as Thursday next week when the company is due to hold its half yearly results shareholder meeting.

“The fact that it has been so quiet the past two months is a good sign that the issue is on the way to getting resolved,” he said. “Given the shareholders meeting next week, there may have been some grace given to Telstra to let them announce the changes at their shareholder meeting.”

More…

The giants of the film industry have lost their case against ISP iiNet in a landmark judgment handed down in the Federal Court today.

The decision had the potential to impact internet users and the internet industry profoundly as it sets a legal precedent surrounding how much ISPs are required to do to prevent customers from downloading movies and other content illegally.

But after an on-and-off eight-week trial that examined whether iiNet authorised customers to download pirated movies, Justice Dennis Cowdroy found that the ISP was not liable for the downloading habits of its customers.

He said it was only by means of the application of the BitTorrent system that copyright infringements were enabled, but iiNet had no control over this system.

Neil Gane, executive director of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, which brought the case on behalf of the studios, said the decision was a set back for the 50,000 Australians employed in the film industry.

He said AFACT would review the decision before deciding whether to appeal.

iiNet welcomed the decision and reiterated that it has never supported nor encouraged illegal file sharing.

More details here.

The data US security firm Imperva analysed 32 million passwords to help consumers and website administrators identify the most commonly used passwords they should avoid when using social networking or e-commerce sites. In December 2009, a major password breach occurred that led to the release of 32 million passwords, on which the study was based.

The report identifies the most commonly used passwords as:

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123

Imperva’s report, including recommendations for ‘strong’ passwords, can be downloaded here.

A good offer here, although you will have to be quick. They say the special price is only available until 12 noon AEST on 11^th January.

As some would know, I’ve been an advocate of Acronis products for some time and the Australian PC Authority magazine article Acronis’ True Image Home 2010, why it’s our A-List home backup suite explains the major improvements in the 2010 version.

Nick

Back to business after the Christmas break!

Just as the Family Pack had been withdrawn in the US, due to being ‘sold out’, Microsoft announced it will be offering discount deals on Windows 7 Home Premium packs in Australia for families (up to 3 licences) for under $250.

The Microsoft Family Pack entitles families to three licences of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade. Customers will have a choice between 32-bit or 64-bit versions for $249 – a considerable saving when you take into account that a single user licence for a 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade form Vista costs $199.

There are more details on the Windows 7 Blog and the Windows 7 price options are shown here. No mention of the Family Pack but it is available through the usual retail outlets.

If you want to check if your existing computer will run Windows 7, you can download a program to check it here.