Microsoft to offer Office SP1 through automatic update Microsoft has announced that it will be offering the Office Service Pack 1 through automatic update from June 16. The early announcement was made because Microsoft promised to give its users at least 30 days notice before releasing any software service pack automatically through the Microsoft Update (MU) channel.

Australia has been watching the OPEL and FTTN network processes with baited breathe over the last few months and the process for each network hits various roadblocks and obstacles. Now the two ideas are in real trouble. If OPEL and FTTN both fall by the wayside, Australia could be left in a vast wasteland of technological limbo.

In a move expected to shake up the Australian markets a bit, Dell has announced it will be getting a new partner in Australian retail. Now the game is hurry up and wait as Dell prolongs the announcement of the actual name another day.

One of the more immediate effects of the CDMA network shut down is an increase in recycled cell phones. Statistics say that the number of recycled cell phones has doubled since the network shut down started. That’s quite a jump.

Search and software giant Google is seeking out new tech talent down under. They will be running a recruitment week in major Australian cities all this week, looking for the best and brightest to help them bring Google to Australia. The division that is seeking new young software stars is Google Research and Development.

The closing of the popular CDMA spectrum by Telstra has been making headlines all over Australia for months. The deadline for the shut down is finally here, and whether Australians like it or not they will be left with Telstra’s new Next G spectrum in its stead.

Under the guise of easing congestion, UK air travelers can now look forward to having their faces scanned when they travel by air. The biometric facial scan is yet another in a long line of smoke screens designed to make passengers embrace the illusion of safety during travel. One benefit to the scan is the eventual elimination of manual passport screening.

Technological advancement brought us plastics, widely used today in everything from clothing to packaging, transportation and more. We are exposed to plastics nearly every waking moment of our lives. We hail it as one of the greatest inventions, a product that makes daily living easier, food fresher for longer and more. Recent reports have begun to show that our beloved plastic has a dark side, however.

Solar power is now proving itself as a legitimate contender in the utilities game, making traditional utilities nervous. The United Kingdom predicts that solar power will be able to compete with mainstream commercial utilities like oil and gas within five years. The prediction is that solar will become competitively priced even in countries like Scandinavia where utilities are traditionally higher.

Vodafone representatives have declared that mobile advertising is on the upswing, whether users like it or not. With revenues from mobile ads set to reach $108 million dollars AUS within the next few years, you know the next level of assault on the consumer is set to begin. The companies, like Vodafone who are gearing up to bring these ads to the masses certainly don’t seem to care whether the consumer wants one more area of invasion or not.

You wouldn’t think that domain squatting was still a lucrative practice. Back when the World Wide Web first opened its portals to the public, it was common to try and buy domain names of trademarked companies, like Coca Cola or Pepsi, and then sell them back to the company for a nice chunk of change once the company finally decided to make a web page. That practice is still going on, to an extent.

The recent requirement by the Australian government for telecommunications companies to release data about their infrastructure to bidders for the new government FTTN (fiber to the node) network may have unexpected costs to Australian tax payers. The legislation calls for voluntary submission of the data. The data will be going to both the government and bidders on the FTTN spectrum for the national broadband initiative.

China has blocked the BBC web site for man years. Now the BBC is reporting that their web site is now fully viewable in China. Even more intriguing, BBC staff on location in China are saying that the full web site seems to be available, uncensored.

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Australia’s new Labor government has been planning a big roll out of a grand scale fiber to the node (FTTN) network. As part of this grand roll out the government introduced (and passed) legislation ordering telecommunications companies to give them data about their network infrastructure. The bill is known as the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment, or National Broadband Network Bill.

A show based out of Queensland called Dojo Monkey has become the first Australian show to go completely cross platform. The animated show is based on a character named Dojo Money. Dojo Monkey got his start as the ninja monkey in a video game, but the creator immediately saw the potential for a show and the ability to make that work on multiple platforms.

Broadband in schools in the subject of political mud slinging, as Liberals accuse Labor of failing to fulfill one of their election promises. Broadband in schools was intended as a compliment to the “one PC per desk” initiative, in which Labor declared that every student in years 9 through 12 would have access to a computer. Government officials have not officially responded to the allegations.

Australia has been in the news repeatedly this year as the country as a whole works to improve internet speed and quality for all of its citizens. Not only are companies all over Australia concentrating on rolling out better existing technologies, Australian companies have been willing to experiment with new technologies (like the good but flawed BPL network). Now Digital Sense is tackling Australia’s high density data centers.

ABC released a press release stating their intention to invite 5,000 lucky Australians to a public beta of their new service, ABC Playback. ABC Playback is a way to watch video at no cost over the internet. In order to be a part of the public beta you have to have a fast internet connection like ADSL2/1.1 Mbps.

Telepathy in any form has long seemed confined to science fiction books and movies. People with disabilities and problems speaking due accident or other issues seemed condemned to a life of silence, restricted to the written word, typing and TDD terminals. Thanks to a new device, that is all about to change. The first voiceless phone call has now been made.