CeBIT
Tim and I are are heading off to the CeBIT show in Hanover Germany next week.
CeBIT is probably now the biggest IT show in the world.
We’ll be part of the New Zealand, stand. B15, Hall 3. If anyone is going to be there please look us up.
The Skype voice messaging seems to work really well.
Probably 60% of my overseas calls now are on Skype.
Skype is the right tool at the right time and is making it much easier for exporting companies to do business overseas.
In another Telco “what are they thinking” Telstra is no longer connecting to the Wellington Internet Exchange (WIX).
Peering is the practice of passing traffic between ISP’s at no cost (providing the traffic is roughly equal). It’s a great ‘everyone wins’ initiative from CityLink who provide the Central hub where each ISP can connect to.
Sam gets in some nice shots…
Mr Morgan calls the depeering move “moronic” and says it will lead to the “balkanisation” of the Internet …”What they’re doing is taking deliberate steps to degrade the performance of the internet.”…”We don’t care about big telco politics. All we care about is giving access to telco customers as fast as we can.”
Microsoft Announces SQL Server Workgroup.
Even better news, SQL Standard edition allows unlimited memory. SQL 2000 Standard is limited to 2 GB, which seemed like a lot in the year 2000, but is almost entry level now. This caused concern as to take advantage of more memory required flipping to the way more expensive Enterprise version.
The announcement details SQL Server 2000 workgroup as well which looks like SQL 2000 Standard but there is no detail on whether SQL Server 2000 Standard is free of the memory limitation in SQL 2005.
If this is not the case then, this will definately drive upgrades from SQL 2000 Standard to SQL 2005 Standard.
Addition of log shipping is also great news.
If you’re doing an online payment with ASB FastNet, they now text (SMS) you an activation code to your mobile. You have a couple of minutes to enter it in.
You only need to enter in the code once per session.
Quite a nice use of SMS in a common application.
Our accountant Hamish Edwards flicked us this information from the IRD which might be of interest to NZ companies doing fund fundraising …
The government will introduce legislation to ensure that non-residents who invest into New Zealand companies alongside the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund will be exempt from tax on the profits when they later sell their share in the companies.
The change will be included in the next taxation bill.
Contact Hamish at www.eaccounting.co.nz for more information.
The new Porsche Boxster coupe will be called the Cayman. The teasers are up on the Porsche sites.
Some shots here …http://www.onlyporsche.net/content/view/123/2/
If your holding onto a 996 I’d flick it as this must decimate the resale.
This will be one of the riskiest launches ever for Porsche. Not because the car won’t be a success but how do they not cannibalize 911 sales. Unfortunately this means the Cayman has to, and will always be, crippled.
Pricing was originally planned to be less that a Boxster (speculation was around $NZ100k). Instead they’re going to pitch it between the Boxster S and 911.
If you compare the tin to make each car, they must cost exactly the same to make. So pricing is purely positioning and revenue maximizing.
Fascinating.
Dave Wrathall invited me to speak to the IceHouse this morning on some our experiences going to market with AfterMail.
The IceHouse is probably NZ’s leading incubator. Really impressive facilities. Good to meet some old faces and meet some new people out there doing it.
The atmosphere there was great. If was doing a tech start up in Auckland I’d be banging on the door to get in.
Philip from www.segway.co.nz organised the Wellington Segway owners to get together with the Mayor.
Telecom plays another card against Vodafone NZ by capping Push to Talk pricing at $10 per month. 2 Month free trial.
Running over IP, Telecom latency is reported at being around 1 second as opposed to 2 second over Vodafone’s GPRS.
$10 flat rate text has already started to change the tide so we can expect Telecom to keep changing the standard pricing rules as they launch new services this year.
Compared to broadband it’s clear that competition lowers price.
Google recently acquired www.KeyHole.com
Keyhole is a downloaded client connected to a massive database of satellite images. You can type in a US Street address and see the buildings. The tilt feature allows you to look around in context.
This is one of the most impressive uses of a computer I’ve seen. In these days of national security it’s almost staggering that it’s available.
There’s a 30 day trial. Worth a download.
Won’t be long until KeyHole and http://maps.google.com are connected.
Fryup does the maths …
If you’re stuck in the 9.6kbit/s to 14.4kbit/s mobile slow lane, Xtra’s WAP data costs 35c per page, or 7c per games page. Outside the Xtra WAP menu, the cost is 5c per kilobyte, or $51.20 per megabyte.
….
A 160-character txt at 20c each equals $1,280 per megabyte
The new spell checker in the Google Toolbar 3 beta works well. Worth a download …
About time …
Nic flicked me these links
http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3586.html
http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3577.html
Cool!
Done, it. Got a Telecom 3G data card.
100MB plan is <$50 per month. On a 36 month plan the card is reduced to under $50.
Vodafone for Voice, Telecom for Data.
Steve Brookes of Glazier, Intergen and Cap Gemini fame, has joined us to run our UK office.
Chris Tock flicked me this review of the SONOS Digital Music System.
Worth a read if your thinking next generation home audio.
Vodafone’s GPRS service is a joke. Someone in the Telecom data team was telling me how to make themselves feel good they try to get a connection with GPRS device. It is too slow to work.
I really needed it today but I can’t get a VPN connection over it to pull down email.
So I had to use OWA instead. And while I’m on rant mode isn’t OWA the fattest ‘thin client’ application ever written.
So that’s it. I’m getting a Telecom Mobile Data Card. Vodafone for Voice and Roaming. Telecom for Data.
Vodafone NZ Managing Director Tim Miles has taken the top job at Vodafone UK.
Russell Stanners to step up in NZ.
And Ian Sherger is back.
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