Yesterday (April 1), the long-awaited regulatory change become official. You're now able to leave Telecom (or whomever your current landline and/or mobile provider is) but keep your Telecom number. Click below to read the government's press release.

One consequence is that you can now switch to internet calling, but keep the number you've always used for landline calls. For hands on reviews of different VoIP service options, and profiles of VoIP handsets (which these days look just like regular telephones, don't you know ... well, most of them) proceed directly to the nearest newsstand and buy a copy of April NZ PC World.

Unfortunately, taking your email address with you as well is not an option, and that's certainly a factor that put a dampner on things when number portability was recently introduced in Japan.

That press release in full:

Consumers will be able to keep their existing home and mobile telephone numbers when they change service providers from Sunday, says Communications Minister David Cunliffe.

"The establishment of number portability from 1 April for local and mobile telephone services is a welcome and long-anticipated service that removes some of the costs associated with changing telecommunications providers," Mr Cunliffe said.

"Pleased as I am that the service is now available, I note it has been a long time coming. The industry has been working on this for approximately a decade.

"When I became minister in 2005, I accepted a final deadline for its start of 1 April 2007. I am delighted the industry has met that target, and I congratulate all involved.

"The Telecommunications Carriers' Forum is to be applauded for its efforts in taking over leadership of this industry issue and bringing the telecommunications carriers together to make this service available to consumers."

Local number portability will let fixed (landline) customers change service provider but keep the same telephone number within a local calling area. Cellular number portability will let a mobile (cellular) customer change provider and keep the same mobile number, including the same cellular network access code.

Local and cellular telephone number portability are both regulated services under the Telecommunications Act 2001. The regulations allow for the Commerce Commission to determine all or some of the terms on which an access provider must supply the service to an access seeker

"In December, the Labour-led government agreed to continue to regulate number portability, along with nine other telecommunications services. That decision was taken to promote competition in telecommunications markets for the long-term benefit of end-users, and will have helped to speed the establishment of portability."

Hon David Cunliffe
Minister of Communications

Posted by Chris Keall at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

I don't think anybody wants to see Kiwi music stars lose sales to illegal downloads. I'm sufficiently nerdy to pay for every bit of music I download. But I also think most who use pirate services usually live by a code that sees them pay for Kiwi tunes. So before RIANZ (Recording Industry Assoc. of NZ) chief Campbell Smith complains about A-list Kiwi musos like Bic Runga suffering from piracy, he should look at the primary reason her third album, Birds, sold far less than her first two: a generation of fans simply don't buy CDs anymore. And at the time Birds was released, there was no iTunes NZ for the digital generation to legally purchase the album from (and RIANZ never actively lobbied for it - you do need the carrot as well as the stick, guys). Even at launch, iTunes NZ (run from Sydney) had almost no Kiwi artists, though it's got a lot better over the subsequent months, now including Bic among many others.

Smith made his comments at the governments latest select committee hearing about some torturous changes coming to the personal copying section of our copyright law.

Posted by Chris Keall at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

Someone gave me a $35 Sounds gift voucher for Christmas, so the other day I trekked down to Sounds' flagship store in Queen St - only to find it had disappeared. Walking further, I found another couple of CD stores I was used to seeing were gone too.

With its mash of public and private tertiary institutions, and accompanying detritus of Lucky Marts, battery-farm internet cafes and budget food halls, Auckland's mainstreet must have more young people - of the age who used to buy records - then any stretch in New Zealand.
But the only shop I could find actually pushing CDs was Real Groovy Records - but even that icon has now given its prime retail space to DVD movies and clothes.

The Wall Street Journal reports CD sales fell another 20% in the first three months of 2007 alone. CDs now account for 85% of music sales, by revenue, to downloads' 15% - but download revenue is not growing nearly as fast as real-world sales are plunging, despite there being around 100 million iPod owners now, and 10% growth in the number of tracks commercially downloaded (to 174.3 million downloads versus 82.5 million CDs sold).

Two more signs of the rot:
1) 800 record stores closed in the US during 2006. Queen St aint alone.

2) Americon Idol star Chris Daughtry's rock band shot to number one in the US this year by selling 65,000 copies of their album. Even as recently as 2005, they would have had sell around 500,000 to 600,000 copies to top the charts.

That's a bad thing. Because as much as I've mostly bought downloads lately, I do sometimes want to buy a CD. A downloaded MP3 track sounds pretty thin when you play it over a grown-up hi-fi. We're losing something here.

Posted by Chris Keall at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Kicking Vista has become something of a sport among IT journos. And a lot of analysts are down on it too (Microsoft's share price is down around 9% this year). But nevertheless, punters keep buying it. The Wall Street Journal (reg. required) reports Vista sold 20 million shrinkwrapped or OEM (new PC) copies in the first month after its January 30 consumer launch. That's more copies than any previous version of Windows as the same stage.

Windows XP, the previous champ, sold 17 million copies in its first two months.

The Journal also says more people are buying higher-end options than expected.

Personally, I'm not surprised. One of the few upsides of the recent death of my notebook's hard drive was that I got to use a loaner running Vista. Now I'm back on XP, and yes it did hurt to go back. Aside from the security, search, better file handling and so fourth, Vista is just more fun to use. Fun is important.

Posted by Chris Keall at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

When I want to find a tradesman or business, I hit Google. So do most people on the planet now. That's why many telephone companies around the world have sold their yellow pages listings (and most of them a couple of years back before the online search alternative had became so obvious).

The Yellow Pages website is a headache to navigate. I do use the White Pages site quite a bit, though increasingly I hit Google for basic contact details instead, especially as it's more likely to yield a cellphone number or email address.

Don't ask me about the hard copy editions of the White or Yellow pages. I haven't looked at them in years, and if there was a way to stop getting them, I would. The 2007 copies arrived today like a brick of useless doorstops. Enjoy, sucker Canadians.

But I shouldn't be so snide, since it looks like we're all going to wind up suckers in the deal.
It was really disappointing to hear Telecom chief financial officer Marko Bogoevski (a possible successor to Theresa) dampening speculation that the company would use a significant chunk of the proceeds to upgrade its broadband network. Instead, a share buy back or special dividend to shareholders are the most discussed ways to dispose of the loot.

Pity. Any long term view of the situation would have to see shareholders benefit alongside customers from more broadband investment.

Posted by Chris Keall at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )

Yes, Paul Holmes wheedled at Theresa Gattung in the Herald on Sunday until she admitted Telstra out-manoeuvred her in Australia. And in the weekday edition Chris Barton took a hammer to her for just about everything. But could the most cutting insult have come from David W Young of The Listener whose entertaining essay about the "on-message" CEO includes:

"Over her career, Gattung has delivered a torrent of carefully considered, well-briefed, altogether boring words." Ouch.

Posted by Chris Keall at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Some sore heads at PC World Towers this morning after the PlayStation3 launch last night. The graphics did blow me away. And buying a PS3 (for $1200) is the best way to pick up a Blu-Ray player (standalone Blu-Ray players form Panasonic, Sony and other cost around $2500) - especially since critics are rating the PS3 as just as good a movie player as standalone players(PS2 and the original Xbox having a reputation as being a little jaggy).

Sony is very obviously going boots-and-all for Blu-Ray. Every PS3 has a Blu-Ray player, and at the launch last night Sony was also pushing Vaio laptops with Blu-Ray, and Sony Pictures Blu-Ray releases (as a DVD Unlimited member, I was happily surprised to see a small selection of Blu-Ray titles immediately available for rent).

Microsoft, by contrast, has voiced strong support for HD-DVD, but hedged its bets by only supplying an HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 as an add-on (albeit for an extremely reasonable $249). Why not product a combo HD-DVD/Blu-Ray add-on drive for the Xbox 360? Microsoft's at its best when supporting open standards, and being hardware agnostic. And it would really hit Sony where it hurts.

While they looked gorgeous, none of the PS3 games on show last night had any breakthrough features. Given that the PS3 lacks a breakthrough interface like the Nintendo Wii's motion sensing controller, it really needs a smash title that can lift it like Grand Turismo helped to make the PS2.

Nevertheless, EA and Activision announced quite a strong slate of PS3 games for NZ release this morning, including a PS3 version of Call of Duty, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Fight Night Round 3, Need for Speed Carbon, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and The Godfather The Don's Edition.

How's the battle shaping up so far? Microsoft NZ says the Xbox 360 has sold 35,000 units here during its first year, while Sony says the PS3 has clocked record pre-orders and expects to sell 7000 units during its first month (worldwide, PS2 is still outselling PS3 and consolidating its position as by far and away the world's most popular console - though this partly reflects Sony's blue laser production difficulties).

In terms of online console gaming, Microsoft NZ is developing what could become an unassailable lead. A spokeswoman says a surprisingly high 50% of NZ Xbox 360 buyers have registered for Xbox Live, which has been heavily promoted. Sony, by contrast, didn't mention online gameplay at all last night during its main presentation, and earlier a PR rep said there were no plans for local servers until more interest developed. Build it, guys, and they will come.

Lastly, on a design note: Sony people always used to mock the Xbox for having a curved top, which means you can't stack any components on it if you want to lie it horizontally. PS3 has .... a curved top.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

I've had a hair-pulling time with TVNZ's new video ondemand service, which offers trailers, full-length 'catch' up episodes of local shows, plus limited archive footage. 'Catch-up' episodes of current shows are DRM protected, and can be saved (for $2 a half hour) to your PC then viewed via Windows Media Player. Older programmes are in unprotected Flash a la YouTube et al. On our broadband connection here at PC World Towers in Auckland's CBD, I found the short streaming clips stuttery, and I just couldn't get a half hour show to download without IE crashing soon after TVNZ's download manager appears. And once things do get rolling, a half hour episode is a big whacking download (close to half a gig), so if you're on a capped internet plan things could get mighty expensive mighty quick.

A number of the F1ers have had a better experience, and are pretty happy overall.

And good on TVNZ for giving it a go. But most of its viewers will need better broadband (or get offered better compression) before it takes off beyond a tiny niche. Currently, the sort of people who're comfortable downloading 500MB of video already know where to get a much bigger selection .... and for nix ...

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Yesterday I got to see Panasonic's new 103-inch plasma TV. Its display panel is literally as large as a queen size bed. But even when I put my nose to the screen, there was no visible pixelation (it helped that the King Kong trailer cycling on the set was being fed by a high def hard drive player). It was utterly stunning.

Sharp's recently-unveiled monster LCD TV is slightly larger, at 105-inches, but Panasonic gets the nod for actually having its set in production. Around 1000 have been made so far, essentially to order, says Panasonic's Chris Key, with buyers including Bill Gates and (cough) Michael Jackson. The big buzz at Panasonic's Auckland HQ is that there's not only local interest, but a certain gentleman who wants to buy two. For the same house.

The interested punter is coming to Auckland to see the 103-incher. Although it's only about half a foot deep, it does weight in around 250kg ("that solves the theft issue", says Key), so it's not something you transport on a whim.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Now MSN.co.nz hasn't exactly set the world on fire (are those Australian tags?). And admittedly it's 'Digital Living' section is a bit of a quiet backwater of the site. But check this out. If you click on any of the technology stories, you click straight through to NetGuide's website ... which doesn't actually host any stories, instead linking visitors on to a third party - which is often Yahoo. Not the cuddly YahooXtra, but Yahoo sites nonetheless.

Posted by Chris Keall at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

It's no surprise this little bombshell drew little publicity, given so much else is currently raining down on our favourite telco (local loop unbundling, number portability from April 1, naked DSL, a gloomy financial outlook), but at its latest briefing, Telecom's management essentially confirmed the company will spend around $1.2 billion to transition from CDMA to the GSM/UTMS standard used by Vodafone NZ (and about 80% of the rest of the world).

Well, that was Juha's take in a nifty little synopsis of Telecom's management briefing day, which you can read on Computerworld's Friday Fry Up here.

Today, Telecom is vehemently denying a move to GSM/UTMS with Kevin Kenrick, head of the company's consumer division, saying the concept is "ridiculous". Cheaper dual mode phones will help Telecom's customers when they're travelling, he says (the company released its first dual-mode phone, from Samsung, just before Christmas).

Certainly, Telecom needs to come up with some kind of answer to a world going GSM/UTMS. One of its key roaming partners, Telstra, dumped CDMA last year. And from May, it's rumoured Nokia - easily the world's largest phone maker - will abandon CDMA for a GSM/UMTS focus. You can already seen which way the wind's blowing by comparing the number of Nokia models at Nokia's last product launch late last year. There were 12 to 15 new models for Vodafone's network, and two for Telecom's.

Posted by Chris Keall at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

Monitor our favourite volcanic mud flow's progress from the live web cam here.

If that's all looking a bit dull, checkout this worldwide volcano cam portal here.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Everybody around the office today is dredging up Commodore64 stories from their youth (2.3KB of RAM!). The reason: our crusty eighties favourite is back.

Back in '82, it looked like a chunky keyboard with a cassette tape attached (heck, 'cause that's what it was), which plugged into your TV. Now, looking to tap the nostalgia market, a reanimated Commodore is launching a gaming PC at the CeBit 2007 tradeshow in Hannover, Germany. The designer cases look nothing like the original (unsurpisingly), but the software does include a Commodore64 emulator, plus a bunch of classic games.

Check out this IDG News Service video report.

Posted by Chris Keall at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Last night, like most nights, I watched The Daily Show With Jon Stewart on C4. Before the advent of YouTube, I was barely aware that Stewart even existed, and I doubt that TV3/C4 would have picked up his show here had not YouTube been so liberally sprinkled with Daily Show highlights.

Who'd have thought there was an American who could be droll, ironic, left-leaning and very, very funny? Not me, until I saw The Daily Show on the net and got turned on to the full-length TV version (YouTube restricts posts to 12 minutes). And going in the reverse direction, could Kiwi comedy duo Flight of the Conchords have scored a show on US network HBO without their viral success on YouTube?

Of course, not everybody sees the YouTube effect in such sunny terms. US media giant Viacom - whose many properties include CBS and MTV - is suing YouTube owner Google for $US1 billion. According to a recent Vanity Fair, Viacom's 80-something executive chairman Sumner Redstone is not some ancient old world company chief who just doesn't get the net (well, he might have to conceed the ancient part). In fact, he sent one of his top executives to bid for MySpace. He lost to Murdoch's News Corp (and got fired). Then YouTube went to Google. Now Sumner's mighty miffed and playing if you can't buy 'em, sue 'em.

A better approach comes from the BBC and other content makers who see YouTube as a way to popularise content, and/or to introduce a pay-per-view element to the site.

Posted by Chris Keall at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Exploiting more good circulation news for PC World, the team made a successful request for a new office coffee machine. Consulting the latest Consumer, we duly selected a model (Sunbeam's Cafe Latte 5600, fact fans) and, as duly elected purchaser, I headed for Ferrit.

I did manage to find our desired model within seconds. But Ferrit was no help in finding the best deal, as only one retailer (Noel Leeming) was listed, and with its monopoly position was naturally charging full whack.

I was also disappointed that although Ferrit has now added shopping carts, there seemed to be no option to buy our coffee machine directly, so I clicked the button to trundle off to Noel Leeming's site. There, the online buying process was pretty quick and no fuss, though I did have to wait three days before I got a confirmation email revealing the delivery time (which turned out to be 10 days ... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that this was a one-off egregious delay caused by the Sunbeam's appearance on a Consumer-sponsored section of TV3's Cambell Live).

Amusingly, at purchase time noelleeming.co.nz threw up three other items I might be interested in. These seemed completely random, and included a black inkjet refill cartridge. Amazon.com this aint.

The above would have been more pointedly absurd if I included the screen shot I took at the time, but alas my notebook - or possibly its hard drive - died last night, and my friendly vendor tells me it will take some time to repair.

Me: "Nine or ten days!!?? But all my work's on there."
Service centre guy: "Most people who come in here use their notebooks for work, so everything's on rush ... "
Me: "I don't want to sound like a dick, but I am the Editor of PC World magazine and ... "

Scott the Reviews Ed had a good chuckle after I crawled back to the office, and started fussocking around, trying to establish how people used to work in the pre-PC age. Anyhow, Scott relayed, helpfully, how Acer apparently has a same-day turnaround policy for notebook repairs, and that it applies to all punters, no premium service contract required (no, my laptop is not an Acer).

I just surfed to acer.co.nz to try and verify said claim and got this when I clicked on the tech support link:

Server Error
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Either the Macromedia application server is unreachable or it does not have a mapping to process this request.

Some days I just love technology.

Posted by Chris Keall at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

TVNZ may be edging back in traditional viewing, but on the web TV3 is making the play according to Nielsen's latest Net Ratings. Both camps have started to put a lot more video on their sites, though TV3 has been a lot more aggressive in promoting it (and, since the launch of MSN.co.nz, which features its text news headlines, it's no doubt getting some traffic from that quarter too). So far. Watch for a lot more noise from TVNZ when it starts its new download service in about a month - which will feature full-length episodes rather than the brief highlight clips currently sported by both networks' sites.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Super uber! Our colleagues at PC Welt (aka PC World Germany) have assembled a PC worth $US26,000 ($NZ35,000) for a giveaway. They call it "Höllenmaschine II" (Machine From Hell II). Here's a few of the features that helped push their little machine to $35K (which, yes, would be Hell on your credit card if you had to buy it yourself):

A designer case:
A custom-built case featuring 6.5 square meters of sheet metal, 3 meters of steel pipe, 18 meters of welding wire, 27 meters of sand paper (!) and 7.5kg of smoothing cement (!!).
The whole thing is finished off with half a gallon of Porsche car paint, worth $US1000 alone.

Just a little bit of storage
Hell houses 9 hard disk drives, with a total of 4.3 terabytes of space (that's around 4300GB, or 4.3 million megabytes. I remember my first PC, from Ultra, had a 20 megabyte HDD. Sigh).

Horsepower
A 1000-watt PSU feeds twin 2.67GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon CPUs, complemented by 4GB of RAM and two PNY Verto Geforce 8800 GTX cards, each based on the DirectX 10-supporting Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTX GPU.

Curiously, the monitor is a relatively modest 24-inch BenQ, and you only get at Blu-Ray drive, not HD-DVD as well. But I'm quibbling.

Read more details on the Höllenmaschine (in English) and watch some videos (in German) here.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

So much for my latest foray into biometric security. While installing Microsoft's Fingerprint reader on Friday, I was gob-smacked when this disclaimer popped up onscreen:

"The biometric (fingerprint reader) feature in this device is not a security feature and is intended to be used for convenience only. It should not be used to access corporate networks or protect sensitive data, such as financial information. Instead, you should protect your sensitive data with another method, such as a strong password ... "

Well sheesh. For non world-shatteringly secret websites, I already use my browser's auto-log-on feature, or QuickKeys shortcuts.

So I was left wondering exactly what was the point of the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader (a $149 USB device). Or, similarly, a Lenovo notebook I looked at recently with a built-in fingerprint scanner - which when beyond recommending typed passwords by making them a compulsory complement to swiping your pinkie.

I guess the glowing read light on the scanner does look very cool.
That is to say, it's not even a "convenience" device. It's a fashion device.
Spend your money on some nice sunglasses instead.

Read more about hardware, software and physical locks for PCs in "Be a PC crime fighter," in April NZ PC World, on newsstands March 26.

Incidentally, the fireworks in Auckland on Saturday night were several cuts above the usual, designed by arty French types Groupe F to open AK07.

TV3 has video on its website here.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )

Friday madness department: Yes, you can still openly abuse your boss, or an annoying staff member with lamo tech support questions - you've just got to do it in binary. Offensively Binary offers a range of T-shirts that feature incorrect slogans rendered in binary 1s and 0s (warning: content may offend).

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

With its US owner in the process of selling New Zealand-founded Navman (to Norway's Navico and Taiwan's Mitac) our spies tell us the GPS system maker has been making some major lay-offs over the past few days. Around 100 staff are to go (from around 600), and the company's Christchurch Development Center will be shuttered. "Complete turmoil", is how one person puts it.

Regardless of the ownership shenanigans, it's still a great company with a great product, so let's hope they get things sorted out sharp-ish.

Lastly - and this might not be the best time to bring this up - as I sit at my new desk drinking a bucket-sized cup of Starbucks, under the withering gaze of the Deputy Editor, it does remind me of an experience I had as I played with the Navman iCN720, following Ted Gibbons' official review: it flashes a helpful alert each time you drive past a Starbucks. Now I like my overpriced coffee as much as the next clod, but there are many, many Starbucks in Auckland's CBD, and very, very few car parks, so the whole "feature" just drives you crazy.

And last night as I drove home, I saw a familiar site: a towel draped over my sister-in-law's iCN720, stuck to the windshield of her car. Why? Otherwise the GPS overheats in the sun and refuses to work.

Still, a nifty product overall, and I'd definitely buy one if I were to win third division Lotto next week, but just a couple-three anecdotes I thought I'd share with you.

Posted by Chris Keall at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

I read in this week's Computerworld that Google's YouTube now generates traffic equal to the entire internet-load in 2000. The source for this quote is a bit suspect: Juniper, a rival of Cisco's that's always trying to talk-up internet traffic to goose sales of its routers. Still, yet another reason for us to get some ASDSL2+ happening. Please, please, Theresa (are you still there?)

More evidence that YouTube's eating the planet: the other week I had lunch with someone from the BBC who mused about YouTube's rampant video piracy. This week, the Beeb has signed a deal with YouTube to distribute its content, free and supported by ads (which the BBC has no problem with outside the UK). If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

The final sign of the YouTube apocalypse: LonelyGirl15, aka some-time New Zealander Jessica Rose (pictured, in case you've forgotten what she looks like), is to star in a real-life big screen analogue movie, alongside Lindsay Lohan.

That makes Jessica the second YouTube star after, um, those guys with the exercise machine music video, to crossover and smash the mainstream media.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

If your business has benefited from canny implementation of crafty IT solutions, you could be in to win. PC World is sponsoring a new category in the Computerworld Excellence Awards: "Excellence in the Use of ICT in a Small Business".

If there are 25 people or fewer in your company, and your business has been in operation for more than a year, you could qualify for entry. Just tell us about an IT solution that has made a demonstrable improvement to the way your business operates.

Becoming an Awards finalist will win you the adulation of your peers; your business will get free coverage in our sister publication Computerworld; and you'll get to meet the P.M. at the black tie dinner announcing the winners (which will also be the event's 10th anniversary, by the way. Read about some of the previous winners here).

Good luck. But hurry, entries close March 16. Read more about how to enter here.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Reader Bruce emails to say he just got a marketing email from Telecom. He sent a reply opting out of future special messages, but still received another.

Now the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act passed last Tuesday, so Bruce is wondering whether Telecom will get whacked with a fine of up to $500,000 as the new law threatens. (IT Minister David Cunliffe says anyone with a complaint should take it to their ISP in the first instance, which can escalate it on their behalf to the Department of Internal Affairs.)

As if. But we do all need to be aware that the new Act makes individuals responsible for any spam that gets sent from their PC. Almost all spam comes from offshore, of course, but a lot of spam bots like to hijack a local PC to further spread their special messages. That means you have to keep your antivirus and security software up to date - or you could be the one copping the fine (the Act's maximum for companies is $500,000 - for individuals $200,000).

If you do send marketing email, note the Act's provisions that you must provide a clear unsubscribe option, and that you must make it clear who the email came from.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

Abandoning any attempt to be progressive, the producers of the relauched Miss Universe have launched a website today where "You can decide who is the most beautiful woman in New Zealand ... vote as many times as you wish". After a quick glance, I've already cast my vote. The whole site gets Most Annoying Flash Graphics.

More Friday afternoon stupidity from my inbox (don't you wish that you were on these PR mailing lists?): Electronic Arts has now put "chart-busting" songs featured in EA game on iTunes ... including the SIM-lish version of Lily Allen's 'Smile'. No, I'm not making this up. Yes, it is immediately available on iTunes NZ, which is fantastic news.

Lastly, a missive has arrived from ISPANZ in the wake of "entrepreneur" Rod Drury's call for the government and councils to pay for a national fibre optic network (heck, it worked for Singapore), calling for the government to "take immediate steps to fix internet peering in New Zealand".

Peering is when different ISPs freely swap local data at a local or regional exchange, so you don't have to circle the country, or the globe, to land on the website you want. Telecom withdrew its support for peering in 2004, after supporting it for the previous six years. So now any ISP that's not Xtra has to pay to peer, or send your data the long way around, says the horribly-named ISPANZ (aka The Internet Services Providers Association of New Zealand). Actually, this last idea isn't so silly. And if I were ISPANZ I'd keep pushing hard over the next couple of months as Theresa enters her lame duck phase.

Posted by Chris Keall at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

I often got server error messages when I tried to click on MSN.co.nz stories yesterday, and today links are landing me directly on TV3.co.nz. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not, but it's sure kicking me out of the MSN.co.nz environment pretty quick smart.

Rival YahooXtra.co.nz is not revelatory, and many of its promised whizzbang services (including a local take on Flickr and an iTunes-style music service) won't arrive until June. But it is a handsome marriage of Yahoo and Xtra's existing content and services. I was surprised to find buttons had appeared top right for my Yahoo Mail and Messenger. It was very cleanly integrated onto the YahooXtra page, though I do have to admit I'd practically forgotten I had a Yahoo address, having long ago defected to another service.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Dell reps say the company will bring its Carbon Fund programme to New Zealand around April. Already running in the US, the plan sees Dell donate $US6 for every desktop PC you buy, or $US2 for every notebook. The Carbon Fund, in turn, puts the money from Dell (and other supporters) toward its tree planting schemes. The idea is your six bucks buys you enough tree to soak up the greenhouse gas-creating carbon emitted by your PC during its lifetime.

Incidentally, the Carbon Fund doesn't operate in New Zealand, or any country at similar latitude, because apparently Kiwi trees are too reflective. Instead it concentrates its planting around the equator, so cash from Dell's New Zealand customers will get diverted to forests in that region.

Three Dell staff I met with in Sydney last week all seemed very green-friendly. Obviously, as more and more big companies start to put environmental provisions in their PC tendors, and consumers get wise to saving the planet, going green makes increasing market sense. But still, all had seen Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and did seem to genuinely get it (not that everybody's wearing socks and sandals. Returning CEO Michael Dell was a prolific donor to George Bush's fight against Gore, and his subsequent re-election effort).

If you're concerned about the planet - or just want to save yourself a couple of bucks - the best thing you can do is trade in your CRT for a flat panel LCD display (or better, a notebook). CRTs account for most of a desktop PC's power consumption.

Unfortunately, PCs themselves contain a stew of noxious chemicals on their circuit boards, including mercury and cadmium. See Geoff Palmer's Consumer Watch column in PC World March (on newsstands now and until March 31) for the full ugly run down - plus some details on local recycling plans now in place by Dell, HP, Telecom, Vodafone and others (and it's good they're taking some initiative, because NZ is one of an increasing minority of Western countries with no PC disposal regulations).

Further reading:

Dell.com/earth
carbonfund.org
Greenpeace gives Apple an F

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )