Mangrove Mountain Computer Club

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.”

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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.