Archive for May, 2011

Wellington & Christchurch to benefit from UFB price war

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Ultra Fast Broadband is expected to be available to the greater Wellington region by 2019, with priority given to schools, hospitals and other “priority users” which are scheduled to be fully connected by 2015.

Wellington and Christchurch are set to benefit most due to the presence of TelstraClear’s popular triple-play InHome cable network. The product is a direct competitor to Telecom’s new network.

TelstraClear chief executive Allan Freeth has said,

“We are here to stay and compete hard and we are certainly not scared of fibre. Are they going to lower the price? Well, I can lower the price.”

You can read more over at stuff.co.nz

Tags: , ,
Posted in broadband, Telecom, TelstraClear | No Comments »

One in 14 downloads malicious, warns Microsoft

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

A warning from Microsoft, hackers are starting to trick people into downloading viruses, rather than installing them on your PC without you noticing.

Feedback from the Internet Explorer (IE) web browser has shown that 1 out of every 14 programs downloaded contain malicious code.

Our top two tips,

Only download content from trusted sources

&

Keep your browser up to date!

You can read more over at the nzherald

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Posted in malicious software, Microsoft | No Comments »

Facebook hires PR to smear Google

Monday, May 16th, 2011

The online rivalry between Facebook and Google has taken a bit of a twist, with news out that Facebook hired a PR firm, Burson-Marsteller to bring to light negative information about Social Circle, a Google service that collects and uses data about people.

You can read more over at stuff.co.nz

Posted in Facebook, Google, social networking | No Comments »

Microsoft buys Skype for $US8.5b

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Microsoft has purchased Skype for US$8.5 billion, with the intention of increasing its online presence to rival that of Google and Facebook.

Skype had reportedly also attracted interest from Cisco, Facebook and Google. Skype is Microsofts largest ever acquisition, eclipsing its $6.3 billion purchase of Quantive.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday,

“Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,”

“Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Skype has 170 million users worldwide.

You can read more about the acquisition at the nzherald

Posted in Microsoft, skype | No Comments »

Kiwis shopping online at an all-time high

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

A poll of over 750 people has found almost half of New Zealand adults now shop online, with 46% using the internet to buy a wide range of items, from clothing to TVs.

Not such good news for online grocers however, with the poll finding only 4% of respondents regularly shopped online for groceries, 18% infrequently, and 78% had never purchased their groceries online.

While more and more of us are willing to purchase goods online, it seems we still want to pick out our own fruit and vegetables!

You can read more at stuff.co.nz

Posted in Online Sales, shopping | No Comments »