No sooner did Telecom announce a bunch of "All Blacks in the palm of your hand" services, including behind-the-scenes-video footage, than Vodafone rucked in over the top. A release through this hour says Vodafone will offer the following games via its Mobile TV service, for $3 a pop (plus the regular $2 a week it costs to subscribe to the telco's suite of 8 channels):

All Blacks V France - 2nd June
All Black V France - 9th June
All Blacks V Canada - 16th June
All Blacks V Springboks - 24th June
All Blacks V Wallabies - 30th June
Australia V Springboks - 14th July
All Blacks V Wallabies - 21st July

For its part, Telecom says its AB package will include All Blacks Caller Tunes, live scoring and breaking news alerts, wallpapers and Tru Tones. I'm not sure what constitutes an All Blacks Tru Tone - possibly a brief audio clip of Ali Williams grunting (joking!). For 3G phone owners, this looks like a case of score one for Vodafone.

Posted by Chris Keall at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

We've been used to AMD mounting short-lived insurgencies against Intel. You know the drill: AMD creates a processor that's cheaper and faster every two or three years, briefly bursting to around 20% market share, but Intel quickly rallies its forces to squash the threat.

But over the past two years, something's changed. AMD has burst to the 20% mark, and managed to stay there. Sure competitive product has helped, but the main difference is that AMD now has some big friends. The key breakthrough came last year when Dell, looking for every possible angle in its assault against HP, abandoned its former Intel-only policy in favour of placing AMD's chips inside first some servers then, horrors, mainstream PCs.

Today comes word that our little battler has scored another win. Toshiba has announced it will build around 20% of its PCs around AMD processors. That's great news for anybody who likes lower prices, more choice, a little serious competition to keep prodding Intel forward.

Posted by Chris Keall at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

A ditty called 'More of Me' by Brooke Singer has won Rise and Shine, a competition to promote local music talent (and, just quietly, Windows Vista and Media Player 11). The winning song was selected from more than 400 entries, as judged by Adi Dick of of the achingly hip Fly My Pretties.

Microsoft has released the track, as performed by Raggamuffin, as a free download from its local online music partner Digirama. Grab it here (you will need to register).

Incidentally, for a head-to-head comparison of all NZ's various download services and their matrix of format and player compatibility, plus a group test of digital music players, check out June NZ PC World, out now at all leading stores.

Posted by Chris Keall at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )

Click the link below to check out ISPs' latest full tilt (max upload, max download) broadband plans. Then leave a comment about your own broadband experience after this blog and be in to win a Silver Surfer gift pack, including tickets to the movie opening 21 June, plus the T-shirt of the movie, the game ... etc.

Get tilting here.

Posted by Chris Keall at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 26 )

Star Wars creator George Lucas has finally relented to the demands of fans who want to 'mash-up' (remix or recut) footage from his films. Old Wookie Face, who betrayed the childhood memories of 30-something males throughout the Western world with his hash of prequels, has long been known as Lucas The Litigator for his attempts to clamp down on illegal mash-ups -- chief among them a rebel edit of The Phantom Menace that cut every scene involving Jar Jar Binks.

Meanwhile, many true Star Wars fans have seen Lucas himself as the worst vandal for his revisionist special effects "enhancements" of the original trilogy, which many hold should be sacred and untouchable.

Now, Lucas has announced that 250 clips, drawn from the original trilogy plus all three disasters in the show pony prequel series, will be placed on starwars.com. "User-friendly" editing software from Eyespot will be availabe through the site for DIY edits.

Why the change of heart? There are now close to 100,000 Star Wars mash-ups floating around YouTube, MySpace and other corners of the net. The number has become simply too large for any Death Star to target. By legitimising mash-ups (you have to pay $US14.95 for premium access to starwars.com), Lucas at least gets to make a buck out of it.

Posted by Chris Keall at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )

I've just unwrapped Sony Ericsson's new Walkman phone, the W880i. Its predecessor tended towards the cartoonish and fat, but the W880i is a stunning piece of design. The front finish is now classy brushed steel and it's gone on a serious diet, making it now one of the thinnest 3G devices around. The W880i is getting close to an iPod Nano form factor, and with its standard 3.5mm headphone jack, 1GB of bundled memory and external music controls, on initial inspection it's one very, very tasty proposition as a music mobile (especially in a country where Apple's iPhone aint going to appear any time soon).

More on this phone soon. Meantime, check out this smart phone commentator. It's good, for once, to read somebody who tells it like it is.

Posted by Chris Keall at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Two years, 12kg and many sleepless nights since babies first invaded the Keall household, I've finally a push to regain my fitness. Keen PC World readers will remember that a couple of years back I reviewed a pair of Adidas 1's - the German shoe maker's computer-controlled sneaker. Inside each Adidas 1's heel is a microprocessor that senses whether you're running on concrete or grass, then recalibrates the shoe's cushioning many times per second, via a system of motorised cables (together weighing around 40g) to give you a smoother jogging experience.

They cost around $400, batteries included.

Now I've dusted down my Adidas 1s (which remain in shamefully near-new condition) and actually used them to trot around the block a few times.

Frankly, over the past week I've found them to be a bit of a stiff shoe, even after with lots of stuffing around with the five different user-preferred ideal cushioning settings (there are two buttons on the side of each shoe to control these). Some running site bloggers have had a similar experience.

Anyway, here's my revelatory experience:
Like any computer, the Adidas 1 has to be started each time you want to use it. Last night, I forgot to push the button, on either shoe, and just ran. It felt fantastic. My feet were comfortable and free, no longer feeling like they were being hugged by a desperate wrestler. Forget its computer, and the Adidas 1 is a great shoe.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

At PC World, we still like plasma displays best, by a nose. Their picture is arguably better, and their price is unarguably lower than their LCD rivals. Still, LCDs keep getting better and better, and cheaper and cheaper. Some manufacturers aren't waiting the gap to close.

Sony has only made LCD displays for the past year.

And now comes news that LG is closing a plasma factory in Korea (leaving it with three all up), meaning the world's largest plasma maker (after Panasonic parent Matsushita) will lose 25% of its plasma production capacity.

LG says LCDs are coming out of the bedroom, which used to be the display's main haunt as high prices kept screen sizes small. Now people are scooping up 37 and 42-inch LCDs for their living rooms, and LG's plasma plants are 50% idle and lost money last year.

Happily there's a little life in plasma yet. New 50-inch plasmas are very attractive pricewise, and if you're after a Queen-sized bed model that's in commercial production, well, this baby is your only option.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

I'm not sure if it markes a coming of age for online advertising or signals the return of totally bananas year 2000-style deals. But there's no doubt it's a good time to be a company with online advertising technology, and up-for-sale. Check out these deals from the past month or so, culminating in Microsoft's biggest buy, ever, announced over the weekend:

April 13: Google announces it will buy ad-serving specialist DoubleClick for $US3.1 billion.

April 30: Yahoo buys Right Media, which operates a real-time online ad auction network, for $US680 million.

May 18: WPP Group, a bricks and mortar agency, agrees to acquire online ad firm 24/7 Real Media for $US649 million.

May 19: Microsoft announces $US6 billion deal to buy aQuantive, a Seattle-based holding company whose properties include A/Razerfish, one of the largest online ad agencies.

What does it all mean? A smaller and smaller number of companies controlling the ads that are placed beside search results, around videos, and elsewhere on websites, funding almost everything you see online. Microsoft, Yahoo and various ye olde time ad agencies are trying to out-Google Google, while Google itself only grows ever huger.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

While I wax crazy over possible Telecom sale scenarios, The National Business Review has gone to print with rumours of a Vodafone NZ sale. The NBR out today (May 18) quotes an "industry source" as saying the UK-based Vodafone Group, which flicked off Vodafone Japan to Softprint for $15 billion last year, is now mulling the sale of Vodafone Australia and New Zealand to either Telstra or Singapore's SingTel. The source says Vodafone wants to concentrate on a recent acquisition in India, and escape New Zealand's "saturated mobile market" and "increasing levels of regulation".

For conspiracy theorists, the rumour gels nicely with

TelstraClear's recent mmanoeuvrings (or lack of). Why else would TelstraClear unexpectedly can its plans for an NZ wireless network, starting in Tauranga ... unless it had inside knowledge that its parent company, Telstra, was about to scoop up Vodafone NZ and its 2.2 million customers and 1400 cell sites around Godzone?

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

Outside of IBM and Microsoft, which have their own enterprise-level speech projects, most independent speech companies (including Scansoft, Dictaphone and Dragon) have been acquired by Nuance Communications. In terms of PC World reviews, we know Nuance primarily for its Dragon Naturally Speaking programme, which lets you use natural speech to input text into or control your PC. It struggles a little with the Kiwi accent, but these days it works pretty well (check out our latest review here).

Nuance also sells behind the scenes service software used by telephone companies and call centres (and Auckland's Co-op Taxis, if you've every had to stand there dorkily and say "ready now" to their automated system).

Nuance's latest acquisition, announced yesterday, is VoiceSignal Technologies (for $US293 million, finance fans).

As someone who hates trying to surf the web via a tiny cellphone keypad, or even txting, I quite like the cut of VoiceSignal's gib, at least on paper. Nuance, which numbers Vodafone, Nokia, Motorola and BlackBerry maker RIM among its customers, says VoiceSignal will help it expand products in the following four areas:

Mobile search - Nuance and VoiceSignal have pioneered voice-based access to the vast search capabilities of the mobile Internet. Through simple commands and one-button ease, mobile users are afforded simple, convenient access to directory assistance, music, games, weather forecasts, news, sports scores, stock quotes, maps and at time special offers from advertisers.

Mobile messaging - There were more than one trillion mobile email, SMS or text messages sent last year and the number is expected to grow rapidly in 2007. Nuance and VoiceSignal offer solutions that allow people to dictate a message into a mobile device rather than relying on slow, "thumbs-only" input such as predictive text, triple tap or small QWERTY keypads.

Mobile command and control - Voice-activated dialing and name dialing solutions can eliminate the ten to twenty "taps" or button pushes that are typically required to dial a phone number or access a certain command.

Consumer safety - Nuance and VoiceSignal are committed to providing solutions that make it easy and safe for people to receive text messages on a mobile phone, even when their hands or eyes are otherwise occupied. In addition, the companies will further pioneer capabilities of "spoken" names, menus, emails, Web pages or other content, making it ideal for hands-free, eyes-free use in light of emerging legislation on the use of mobile phones in automobiles.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Unless I'm wrong, which I frequently am, one of the following scenarios will play out for Telecom by the end of the year:

Incidentally, none of the above scenarios would not really constitute Telecom's ownership moving offshore, since a majority of its publically-traded shares are owned by Yanks and Aussies in our global village.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

As controversy swirls about iTunes upping the price for DRM-free, higher resolution songs (don't you just love buying the same song in vynl, CD, 128kbps digital then 256kbps digital format?), UK indie band The Crimea is showing the way - or at least blagging a lot of exposure - with its decision to offer its new album "Secrets of the Witching Hour" as a free download from its website. Well done, lads. In IT speak we'd call that seeding the market.

BBC screams, loses plot YouTube
While we're on new media hijinx, The Observer chronicles who The Church of Scientology turned the tables - or at least the cameras - on BBC journalist John Sweeney. Church creepies caught Sweeney losing his temper, then posted the clip on YouTube, complete with a smarm voiceover. It's a primal scream that defies description. Turn the volume up and workmates will think somebody is being killed in your office.

Sweeney's camp have now posted a rival clip on YouTube, explaining how he got so wound up. Deep breaths, everybody.

Posted by Chris Keall at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

More evidence that PC World is not only good read, but good for the planet:
The Christchurch branch of PMP, where your favourite computer rag is printed, has made some big environmental strides lately. All of the waste paper from the process of producing all catalogues and magazines is shredded, bailed and removed by an independent contractor for recycling into cardboards, packing and building material. That building material goes to India, where it's used for housing.

PMP Christchurch site manager Steve Thompson adds:
"We use an after-burner system on our web presses, that converts solvents to air and water vapour. And we've achieved Gold Status in the ENVIRONMARK environmental programme. PMP is audited annually as part of this programme."

PC World - your guilt-free read.

Posted by Chris Keall at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Ever get the feeling the world is conspiring against you? Or at least your network administrator? Tech support staff spill insider secrets on Tricks of the Trade. Actually, most of it's non-IT, but still some good lunchtime reading.

And if your break goes into overtime, check out the domino PCs on, where else, YouTube.

Posted by Chris Keall at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

A public service announcement today.
But first, least that prove too routine, a quick joke you can play on your friends.
1) Call a friend
2) Say, "What did the big computer say to the little computer?"
3) Hit keys on your touch-tone phone at random, then hang up.

Anyhow, to business:

Dear PC World reader,

Security is one of the most persistent - and distracting - challenges we face. New threats proliferate daily. Staying abreast of the latest security developments is a must for any organisation that wants to protect its information, business continuity and brand.

With that in mind, Computerworld is hosting an IT Security Briefing that you, as a PC World reader, should find valuable. This essential half-day briefing will provide insights into both emerging threats and solutions for information security. A great line-up of researchers and IS security experts will provide their very latest thinking and findings to inform your security strategies.

The Computerworld IT Security Briefing is on May 29th in Auckland. For a full speaker programme or to register early to ensure your place is reserved, click here.

That's all folks. Don't forget to sign Paris's petition.

Posted by Chris Keall at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Keen PC World readers will have seen that when 14-year-old reader Adam McKenzie complained about his old computer, we gave him a Dell Dimension PC.
Inspired our random act of kindness, Palmerston North reader George Slavchev proposed giving away one of his PCs to a deserving young (under 16) PC World reader.

It's second hand, but it's still a very respectable piece of kit (including a 2GHz AMD Athlon processor, 512MB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive, Windows XP Pro and a 15-inch Dell monitor). If you live George's home town, and want to find out how to make plea for the goods, pick up our May 07 issue and turn to the Mailbox page.

Posted by Chris Keall at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

In our Top Story section today we publish two articles about Apple. Here's a covering note from Ramon McLeod, US pcworld.com editor:

By now, you may have heard something about a couple of articles we've been planning about Apple and its products. We sure have.

Both pieces were written by PC World [US edition] staffers Alan Stafford and Narasu Rebbapragada, who have been around Apple products long enough, in both their personal and professional lives, to have their share of criticisms and compliments for the company's stuff. And both were meant as silly little conversation-starters -- originally inspired by the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads -- not weighty journalism. If you don't think they're Pulitzer material, we're not offended in the least.

We kicked around a few other less incendiary titles for the two stories, but somehow "10 Things That Sort of Mildly Displease Us About Apple" and "10 Reasons We Think Apple Is Doing Well" didn't quite have the same ring.

One thing is for sure: We've never gotten more attention over a couple of articles we hadn't even published. But here they are, finally -- judge them for yourself.

Use the Comment link below to tell us what you think.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

By now you've read the stories about Yahoo being in talks with Microsoft. Together they might be able to stop the seemingly unstoppable Google (us old hands remember back to ye olde year 2000, when Microsoft had to be legally shackled because no software company could hope to catch it in the free market).

So far, the key winner has been Yahoo's often embattled share price, which rose 10% on Friday (Microsoft was down slightly).

The Wall Street Journal has published a chart (see homage below; all figures are in US dollars) which shows that apart, Yahoo and Microsoft seriously lag behind Google in online ad revenue. Together, they would pull level (though there's also the slight problem that Google makes tons of money, while Microsoft's online division lost a bunch of money last year).

Posted by Chris Keall at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

As PC World Editor, I like to set a good example to the troops, toiling on articles and juggling spreadsheets. But I also like Scarlett Johansson, and need to research where she came in People's Most Beautiful People 2007 list (first, fact fans).

3M's Privacy Filter provides a near magical solution.

It's a thin plastic sheet - like a wobble board made out of sunglasses stuff - that fits over your desktop or notebook screen. Sitting directly on, the picture on your monitor - be it Scarlett or, I guess, some kind of confidential document - looks completely normal. But if you move even a few degrees to the left or right, the screen looks dark, as if switched off. Your seat-mate on a plane, or neighbour in the next office pod, is blind to your secrets. I have no idea how 3M manages this. All they say is that they employ 'unique technology' (read the official guff here).

The Privacy Filter also blocks 95% of glare (well, it says that on the label, and from my use seems about right) and has an easy clean Scotch Guard surface.

The only downer is the mouth-watering price: 3M Privacy Filters start around $150 for a 15-inch model and head rapidly north as screen size expands.

Posted by Chris Keall at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )

Telecom has just announced a bumper nine-month, after tax profit of $699 million. The press release accompanying its profit announcement includes confirmation that $1.1 billion of the $2.161 billion reaped from the Yellow Pages sale will be splurged on a share dividend. But don't expect the balance to necessarily go toward better, faster internet. Telecom Chairman Wayne Boyd says:

"Future investment in Telecom's broadband and mobile networks is not fundamentally linked to the return from the YPG [Yellow Pages Group] sale.

"Any further investment in broadband will be contingent on being able to obtain sufficient regulatory certainty and being able to earn a fair rate of return on that investment.

"Other relevant factors which have been taken into consideration include Telecom's earnings outlook, and the acquisition of PowerTel in Australia."

Translation: if the government goes easy on us, we'll see our way clear to investing some of the Yellow Pages dosh in broadband, and on this side of the Tasman.

Posted by Chris Keall at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

Yesterday, as threatened, I spoke to Freeview GM Steve Browning, and put some of your questions to him. Freeview has its official launch today (check out more details on the web at freeviewnz.tv). Intially it will broadcast digital iterations of TV One, TV2, TV3, C4, Maori Television, Radio New Zealand National and Radio New Zealand Concert. More channels will be added by each partner in the Freeview consortium - TVNZ, CanWest (TV3 & TV4) and Kordia (aka TVNZ's spun-off transmission arm, which will wholesale its bandwidth to independents) - over time. TVNZ has already announced a family channel and a news and information channel. All channels are free, bar the one-off cost of buying a set-top box ($299).

When will a hard drive recorder be introduced?
Happily, Freeview will have an onscreen, electronic programming guide (EPG) from its launch today. A guy at TVNZ is contracted by Freeview to collect programme schedules from all the partners. An EPG means Freeview has the means to deploy MySky style set-top boxes with hard drive recorders (as opposed to the bare bones set top boxes being offered today). However, Steve says it'll be around 12 months before we'll see one available.
The better news: like all Freeview services, it will be free (bar the initial cost of the set-top box), with no MySky style monthly charges.

Will the EPG support media centre PCs?
In short, no, they'll be no direct PC support - though neither will Freeview do anything to actively dissuade those with DIY hard drive recorder ambitions. Each broadcaster within the consortium owns the copyright to its own TV listings, complicating the situation (as Microsoft has discovered when making its own - unsuccessful - bid to acquire EPG access for media centre PCs).

Will Freeview broadcasts be affected by rain fade, like Sky TV?
Steve says Sky TV's notorious rain fade problems were caused by the creaky old Optus B1 satellite, with its wobbly orbit and underpowered signal. Sky TV recently switched to the new Optus D1 satellite, which Freeview will also use in its initial phase (terrestrial signals will be added early next year). Optus D1 is far more stable and powerful. Also, while the centre of Optus B1's beam was over Christchurch, Optus B1's beam is centred over the much more heavily populated upper North Island.

Can I use my Sky Digital satellite dish to receive Freeview?
Absolutely. Since the two rivals share the same satellite, Browning says that in 99% of cases no adjustment to your Sky dish would be necessary. Just buy your set-top box from a participating retailer (listed on Freeview's website), plug it in an you're away. Browning says he's done several plug-and-play installs for friends and family, with never any complications. If it doesn't happen to work, check whether your Sky dish has rusted or fallen out of position before tackling your set-top box, the GM advises.

Can Freeview support high definition (HDTV) broadcasts?
Yes. Canwest will start HD (720 or 1080 line) broadcasts of TV3 and TV4 over Freeview from Freeview's terrestrial service launch around March next year. Other channels will be standard definition (567 lines). Some-time rival Sky TV, in a politically and financially complicated scenario, is likely to offer an HD broadcast of its Prime channel through Freeview too.
Set-top boxes sold today support the standard definition, satellite broadcast version of Freeview only, and are aimed primarily at the 25% of the population who live in areas with bad terrestrial reception. To get the HD, terrestrial broadcasts, you'll need to buy a different set-top box (or a TV with a digital decoder built-in; none are on sale yet, though Browning is talking to all the major television manufacturers and says they're all keen).

Sky TV has banned its installers from setting up Freeview connections. Who can I call to get connected?
As well as pointing out that Freeview connections are plug-and-play in many cases, Browning says Sky TV's ban (threatened, moi?) only affects 11 installers, and that many others are listed on his company's website (which also details DIY install instructions).

Read more about Freeview in June NZ PC World, on newsstands May 28.

Posted by Chris Keall at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 6 )

Is there any site that's not throttling your bandwidth with a frenzy of videos (OK, you don't need to say it).

The latest is our favourite travel guide series with its Lonely Planet TV, which features vids by Planet staff, plus flicks uploaded by readers.

The selection was pretty thin when I checked out the site for its launch a couple of days back, and there was only one NZ piece. For the moment, you'll get much wider vistas searching the Travel & Places section of YouTube, or the Travel section of Google Video (question: why does Google persist with Google Video now it's bought YouTube?).

Still. Lonely Planet TV clips are filtered by editors (remember editors?) so it's a good selection, and one that'll no doubt become more populated. Plus there's some handy cross-selling (sorry, links) to Lonely Planet's various digital guides, which can now be downloaded to most species of hand-held.

Lastly, thanks to reader Stuart for pointing out this blog was featured on Radio New Zealand's April 27 instalment of Media Watch ("the PC obviously doesn't stand for politically correct"). The show's been podcast at www.radionz.co.nz. While you're there, search the site for "The Bomb That Changed The World" to hear my late, at times politically incorrect Grandfather talking about his time in Hiroshima, shortly after the close of World War II. That was extreme travel.

Posted by Chris Keall at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )