Kids, when your friend asks you to lower the volume of your computer while you’re playing World of Warcraft please do so as soon as possible. Because if you don’t you might end up getting stabbed. In the head. With a chef’s knife. That’s exactly what happened in Australia. The victim is doing about as well as one could after being attacked with a knife; only one of his fingers was “nearly” severed. As for the guy doin’ the stabbing, the Australian magistrate has refused him bail. He’ll be in custody till next month, meaning he may well miss the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. → Read More
Pending the passage of this amendment, you may be able to use that celly at 30,000ft if you’re flying Down Under. The pico cell technology has been in testing for 18 months and there have been no complaints by the airborne or landside portions of the system, so there aren’t any technical barriers. The plan is to only allow SMS and GPRS, which is awesome and neatly wraps up the problem on everybody’s minds, which is that if you’re stuck between two huge businessmen gladhanding over the phone for three hours, you’re liable to throw yourself under the drink cart. I never talk to anybody on the phone anyway, so this is all gains for me. Sucks for you long talkers and independent phone sex operators, though. And you see that picture on the right? That’s actually how they do it there. [Via BGR, IntoMobile and Cellular News] → Read More
Silent Hill: Homecoming, which is only getting so-so reviews (which stinks because it’s my favorite game series; Silent Hill 2? Now there’s proper narrative in a video game), is effectively banned in Australia because of its over-the-top violence. But what, exactly, is the reason why the game won’t be coming out down under? How about this: drilling into and severing body parts. Yikes, is that even necessary? Says IGN: …the OFLC [the Australian ratings board] cited several high impact scenes in the game, mostly focusing on drilling into and severing body parts. One scene in particular that was highlighted as a problem involved Alex (the main character) having a drill forced into his right eye socket, which caused a lot of blood to spray out. Konami is being urged to tone down the violence so that the game can see a release down there. I don’t know, I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to excessive violence, so you won’t see me crying that the ratings board is giving Konami a hard time. I also can’t be bothered to fight video game censorship because, really, it’s not a big deal to me. → Read More
So, you’ve heard the stories of developers making enough coin selling iPhone applications to swim around in it Scrooge McDuck style. “I love iPhone applications more than anyone!”, you thought to yourself, “I should make them!” So you picked up a book on Objective C and Cocoa, spent about 20 minutes with it, and then decided to dedicate your life to something that didn’t make your brain cramp. If only you lived in Australia or near any of the European Qantm colleges, a lack of self motivation wouldn’t be a problem. For the bargain price of just $7,300 USD, you could join Qantm’s recently announced iPhone game development course. → Read More
Movies are now available on iTunes in Australia and New Zealand. There’s all the major studios, like Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, with awesome movies like National Treasure 2 and Cloverfield on there. Prices start at A$9.99 for movie purchases in Australia, and NZ$9.99. More than 700 movies are on iTunes down there, so there’s plenty of junk to choose from. And how about this: you folks all the way down there have 48 hours to watch rented movies, whereas the rest of us only get 24 hours. I wonder why that’s the case. → Read More
Japan might have lost a battle in patent application filing to the US, but even a fantastic country such as Australia can’t beat them when it comes to miniaturization. It looks like Tokyo-based Nippon Signal (and not Mint Wireless based out of Australia) managed to develop what might be the smallest projector in the world. The device was recently showcased at Exhibition Micromachine/MEMS, a yearly trade show with a focus on micro systems technology. → Read More
A company from the land of Oz has will release what it claims to be the world’s smallest projector this September. The company, Mint Wireless, teamed up with a Taiwanese manufacturer to produce the Mint V10. Measuring at a mere 125 x 55 x 23mm (or, 4.9 x 2.1 x 0.9-inches), the projector is able to project (go figure) a 50-inch image from as close as six feet away. The price seems hefty, at just over $600 USD, but maybe projector enthusiasts, which I won’t even pretend to be, can rationalize it. via Gizmodo Australia → Read More
Reuters is reporting that an Australian man recently convicted of his 7th drunk driving charge revealed that he’d been spending around $1,000 per week on beer. That’s funny, sad, or both, depending upon how you view everyone’s place in the Universe. What I find funny and sad is that the dude broke up with his girlfriend FIVE YEARS AGO. Get over it, man! Live in the now! Newsflash, Bub: Crying inside a public bar isn’t a turn-on for most girls. An Australian magistrate banned the man, Michael Leary, “from buying or even holding a beer for 12 months.” The magistrate also made fun of Leary for drinking Melbourne Bitter, which is made by Fosters, saying that it’s “poor judgement on two counts there – drinking that much and drinking Melbourne Bitter.” → Read More
As we gear up for the WWDC in a couple weeks — and the likely launch of iPhone 2 — we get weird news that the Australian version, which should launch around the same time as the American version, will be the fastest in the world. According to a loudmouth at Telstra, Australia’s iPhone company, the Australian version could be up to 42mbs, which is over 5 megabytes per second. That’s more than fast enough to watch live streaming video on the iPhone’s screen. Will the carrier actually let you have those kinds of speeds? Probably not, as they’re theoretical limits. So it’s likely and empty claim. Still, it makes us drool just that much more. → Read More
Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, as Australian mobile company Telstra will be giving laptops away to business users who sign up for a three-year contract for mobile data service. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “The company has released a new plan for business customers — only those with an ABN — which offers them a laptop and wireless broadband card at no upfront cost if they sign a 36-month contract. As well as the laptop, customers will get 1 gigabyte of data usage for $99 [$95 US] a month, although they must also pay 30 cents for each additional megabyte downloaded over their monthly quota. Telstra’s standard 1GB data download plan on its Next G wireless network costs $84.95, so customers will effectively be paying $14.05 a month for the laptop – $505.80 over the three-year contract.” This offer will apparently run until the end of June and, although the makes and models of the laptops aren’t yet available, they’ll be ones that normally sell for up to $700 Australian ($674 US). → Read More
Now the environmentally conscious can continue their quest to clean up this dump we call Earth by requesting to be buried near Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in the Northern Rivers region of Australia. “The deceased will be buried in biodegradable coffins between gum trees in a protected koala sanctuary,” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Headstones must be made from natural rock and the Lismore Council of cemeteries prefer that coffins be made from “woven wicker, plantation pine, or recycled cardboard.” → Read More
The Australian government has proposed legislation that would allow employers to spy on their employees’ e-mail and IM conversations in order to prevent terrorism. The legislation was spurred by Estonian cyber-attacks, which was actually the work of a single 20-year-old student, and not a terrorist organization. Currently, the Telecommunications (Interceptions) Act allows security agencies to monitor their employees’ communications without consent, a power that will end in June 2009 if no legislation is passed. This legislation aims to extend this power and open it up to the employers as well as the security agencies. → Read More
If you’re a surfer in, say, Australia, you may have considered investing in such sharky countermeasures as a Shark Shield or chain mail. Neither is perfect as the latter tends to make you sink, and the former apparently causes the occasional shark to eat it, as evidenced by a recent test in which a 10-foot great white took a bite out of a unit being tested. The maker of the device promises that it does not, at least, attract sharks, but critics have suggested that the Shark Shield does no good and may in fact pose additional health risks due to its emissions. Maybe I’ll just stay on the beach. Great white ‘ate anti-shark device’ [The Australian] → Read More
[photopress:ausxxx.jpg,full,center] Despite the fact that previously attempted ISP-level filtering technology failed, the Australian government will go ahead with a plan to implement such filtering, starting with a trial in Tasmania. The Government will spend $89 million to deploy the filtering system in hopes of protecting youngsters from accessing X-rated material. (For illustrative purposes only: the initiative was announced at an event held by the Australian Christian Lobby.) So, the Government will spend lots of money on a program that doesn’t work. I know the water drains “backwards” down there, but is logic also reversed in Australia? ISPs will have a blacklist. Try to access a site on the blacklist and you’ll be denied a connection. Even more annoying, the filter will be on by default, meaning if you want to see what you want to see you’ll have to call your ISP to get an unfiltered connection. I don’t know, it seems that teaching your kids from an early age what’s acceptable in your house would be a lot cheaper and more effective long-term than such filtering technique, but I’m not a politician who has interests to please. Australia moving ahead with plans to erect ISP porn filters [Ars Technica] → Read More
Sweet. I like that some of the alternative-energy cars coming out have three wheels. This commuter car is called the Trev, for two-seater renewable energy vehicle. It’s designed by people at the University of South Australia and runs for almost 100 miles per lithium ion polymer battery charge. It can go from 0 to 60 in around ten seconds. It uses about 1/5th of the energy that a normal car uses, costing about one Australian dollar per charge and there’s room inside for two people and two small bags. It’s currently in the process of being approved for street-worthiness and may be on the road soon (although the source website says that they’re looking to get the car on the road in 2006, so things might be a wee bit delayed). Still, looks pretty cool. Trev (two-seater renewable energy vehicle) [UniSA.edu] via TreeHugger → Read More
In Australia, the land down under where everything is somehow deadly, the latest casualty just might be plasma TVs. As TVs get bigger and brighter, they naturally use more energy. Australia is on the cusp of adopting a new energy-rating system for electronics in a six-star system. Plasma TVs, however, wouldn’t make the cut. So the Australian Broadcasting Company is trying to either work them into the law regardless, or, more likely, get suppliers to tweak Australian-bound HDTVs to fall within regulations. Since the system won’t be in place until 2011, there should be plenty of time for the industry to adjust to where they’ll need to be. Uh, mate. Proposed Australian Regulations Could Oust Plasma TVs [Daily Tech] → Read More
What’s wrong with people these days and getting arrested for pirating movies? It’s not that hard. Anyways, a 21-year-old male was arrested in Australia under suspicion that he recorded the movie on his mobile phone, which was uploaded to the Net and downloaded more than 3,000 times. This was the first copy to hit the Web and was traced to a home in Sydney. Sucks to be that guy. Pirated Simpsons movie traced to phone [The Register] → Read More
Research firm Gartner is predicting that SMS will become obsolete or at the very least become insignificant by 2010. Duh. The report may only apply in Australia, but it isn’t very hard to see the correlation here in the U.S. Mobile e-mail is becoming more prevalent every day with Joe Shmoe picking up a BlackBerry or some other smartphone with e-mail capabilities. You may be led to believe differently with Verizon reporting 10 billion text messages sent/received in June, but that’s only because they charge you up the ying-yang for e-mail usage. → Read More
