Hang on, broadband is coming (really)
The chaps and chapesses at InternetNZ have been discussing the spacing of kerbside cabinets for video-capable broadband. They believe “Fibre to the Home” is the only answer, arguing that using copper in the “last mile” would be insufficient unless cabinets were more closely spaced than Telecom has planned. Part of the argument is that three or four people in the same household might want to watch different video-feeds at the same time.
Our e-taler, who loves promising new acronyms, reckons the only long-term answer to all this is to give everyone their own feed — we could call it “Fibre to the brain” (FTTB), he opines. Sadly, FTTB has been claimed.
There’s “Fibre to the building”; “Fibre to the block”; “Fibre to the business”, and, perhaps... “For the time being”.
Our e-taler thinks Telecom’s plan may be the last of these.
Too security-minded
The New Zealand Defence Force recently called a meeting with one of its IT providers to update the status of a project, E-tales hears. Representatives of the company duly turned up only to find they couldn’t get into the scheduled meeting room because their security clearance wasn’t high enough.
Analysts get it so wrong
Being an IT analyst isn’t an easy job. The industry is so dynamic and fast-changing that predicting the future is never easy. So, E-tales was amused to read that Forrester Research, in a report released last month, predicted that of all the major software vendors, Microsoft is likely to be “the least active” in terms of acquisitions in the near future.
Just days after the report was released, Microsoft announced it wanted to spend $US44.6 billion (NZ$56.1 billion) acquiring Yahoo. We must point out that the Forrester Research was specifically about software vendors buying other software vendors, and Yahoo isn’t a software vendor as such, but still, for Forrester to say Microsoft won’t be making major buys is deeply ironic.
MP3 with old-school appeal
It’s easy to forget that not all MP3 players are iPods. Also, E-tales hasn’t actually tried-out the Sony new-style “Walkman” yet either, but we like what we hear about it — especially the fact that features an FM radio. Sometimes you just wanna listen to the radio when commuting to work.
However, we have to confess something here: this e-taler has an old-school Sony Walkman — the one that plays cassette tapes — stashed away. Some of us don’t like to chuck stuff out and were thrilled when vinyl records and the stylus made a retro come-back. Maybe the old Walkman will have another day too. Our only gripe is that the Sony NWZ-S615F isn’t quite as pretty to look at as the iPod.
Preggers Juno has retro-style
Still on the subject of gadgets, the gadget of the day is more than retro, it’s positively antiquarian, technically speaking. It’s the very naff, very cool hamburger phone, as featured in the hit, up-the-duff teen flick Juno.
It’s actually a very good film — pretty rad, as my entranced, not-easy-to-please teen cinema-mate put it. It’s got cute, rapid-fire dialogue, and the young heroine has one of these quirky hamburger phones. Apparently, eBay sales of the retro phone jumped 759% in the month after the film’s US release.
We checked out how “hamburgers” are selling in New Zealand. Trade Me has one lone Playdoh hamburger phone, but local “I want that” website has them on sale, for $49.95.
The right-on-the-money site has a film still and the information that Juno feminist-stripper turned scriptwriter Diablo Cody (that’s her blog name and we can’t figure out the feminist-porno thing either) provided the quirky phone for the film.
E-tales isn’t sure about the website’s sales blurb though: “It’s plastic and quirky but in an odd way perhaps buying one will reflect your unique personality.”
Indian Business Machines
A recent Business Weekarticle showing the changing nature of IBM’s global workforce reports that Big Blue now has 75,000 employees in India. It has 127,000 in the US. Much more growth on the sub-continent and there may be a case for re-naming the company Indian Business Machines.
’Elp me, s’il vous plait
Now these chaps really need help — one of our e-talers, who has an eye for online quirkiness, found this job ad online.
“Storistes de France is currently looking for English Corrections Officer…
“This is an opportunity is open to anyone who know how to write english without errors and someone who can correct mistakes/errors in English Language… You are required to work for one hour daily by checking your email for our customer service message and edit it because of correction and other english errors.”