Mangrove Mountain Computer Club

• Purchase of all of McAfee’s common stock for $48 per share in cash, valuing the deal at approximately $7.68 billion. McAfee will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, reporting into Intel’s Software and Services Group.
• Acquisition enables a combination of security software and hardware from one company to ultimately better protect consumers, corporations and governments as billions of devices – and the server and cloud networks that manage them – go online.
• Intel elevates focus on security on par with energy-efficient performance and connectivity. The acquisition augments Intel’s mobile wireless strategy, helping to better assure customer and consumer security concerns as these billions of devices connect.
• Intel has made a number of software-related acquisitions of leaders in their respective industries that also rely on great silicon, including Wind River, Havok and now McAfee.

You can read the full Press Release here.

Mach Xtreme is a new manufacturer, but that hasn’t stopped it from being the first to get a USB 3.0 flash drive into the PC Authority labs.

This is perhaps one of the most exciting product segments when it comes to USB 3.0, and the MX-FX has impressed us with its ability to pump data, with 142.2MB/s read speed when connected to a USB 3.0 port. In a USB 2.0 port read speed topped out at 35MB/s.

More information here.



The head of the National Broadband Network Mike Quigley is donating his first year’s salary of $2 million to medical research.

The money will go towards a Neuroscience Research Australia project, looking into the use of fast internet connections to offer rehabilitation to stroke patients in remote areas.

Mike Quigley says his donation encompasses his two great passions: telecommunications and medical research. Mr Quigley says he was particularly motivated by his experience with leukemia, which he was diagnosed with in 1991.

Read more here.

So the federal government #spill is done and we have our first female PM in Julia Gillard. Wow. Kevin Rudd, we hardly knew you. If this is to change what matters to people like us, we want to see Conroy follow Rudd to a seat up the back. Give the Broadband, Communications, and Digital Economy portfolio to someone who really understands how important and exciting the future of the BCDE portfolio really is. We want the job to go to Senator Kate Lundy — unquestionably the best person for the job.

You can read more here.

Telstra has signed an $11 billion deal with NBN Co to transfer customers from its copper network onto the National Broadband Network’s fibre network and share Telstra’s infrastructure.

The preliminary deal was announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was flanked by senior ministers Stephen Conroy and Lindsay Tanner, Telstra leaders Catherine Livingstone and David Thodey and NBN Co senior figures Harrison Young and Mike Quigley.

Under the deal, NBN Co will have access to Telstra’s network of pits, ducts and wires.

Read the full article here.

Over the last few years my consultancy, BuddeComm, has been rather subdued in its comments about devices such as the iPad and eBooks. Relatively few people have actually purchased them, and recent market trends only serve to confirm this view.

The main reason seems to be confusion by consumers around where these products actually fit in with their other personal technology devices. A lack of standards for eBooks has resulted in customers being concerned about which books and other study materials can actually be used on which devices. Those who have iPads are equally confused and commonly use it as a type of media computer. Read more…

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In another surprise move, Telstra is trialing a Naked DSL service. The $59.95 per month service gets you 25GB of downloads at ADSL2+ speeds – not a bad alternative to the usual plans if you’re stuck in a Telstra-only area for ADSL2+.

Naked ADSL2+services offer speeds of up to 20Mbps. Users will also receive a HomeLine Budget telephony service – with call barring switched on – which will allow users to receive incoming calls and make Emergency 000 calls. For outgoing calls, you can use VoIP or mobile phone – your choice.

More information here including how to sign up.

BigPond Elite Liberty 25GB ADSL Broadband Offer for $49.95 per month on a 24 month plan has now been extended until 27 July. If you’re eligible, you could receive up to $30 off the standard monthly BigPond Elite Liberty 25GB access fee.

To give some idea of the value, it’s normally $99.95, which is reduced to $89.95 for having home phone and internet with Telstra/BigPond, further reduced to $79.95 for having a single bill, and reduced to $49.95 by the promotion special.

More information here.

A model displays an AsusTek Eee Pad EP101TC tablet computer at an AsusTek new product media event in Taipei.

Taiwanese technology makers are taking the fight to Apple’s iPad with a slew of Google Android and Windows-based tablet computers being unveiled at the Computex trade show this week. Read more…

CSIRO researcher John O’Sullivan, the man behind the Wi-Fi patent. Photo: Sasha Woolley

Australia’s peak science body stands to reap more than $1 billion from its lucrative Wi-Fi patent after already netting about $250 million from the world’s biggest technology companies, an intellectual property lawyer says.

The CSIRO has spent years battling 14 technology giants including Dell, HP, Microsoft, Intel, Nintendo and Toshiba for royalties and made a major breakthrough in April last year when the companies opted to avoid a jury hearing and settle for an estimated $250 million. Read more…