Quadbike

Apple TV has never quite taken off in Australia yet in the US more than 50% of streaming TV boxes are from it.

The AU$109 black box plays 1080p content from: iTunes; YouTube; Vimeo; Flickr; iCloud, iPad/Phone; a connected Apple or personal computer; or from the internet.

It connects to the internet using Ethernet or Wi-Fi and to the TV with HDMI. It is operated via a remote control or an Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

Rumour has it that Apple will offer a $99 per month, all you can eat, service that is advertising free. Avid TV watchers say that the cost will be worth it to view TV content when they want to without annoying advertisements.

Apple would achieve the ad-free environment by simply offering different streams and a portion of the subscription would go to the content providers to cover lost advertising revenue. That could well be attractive to them.

{loadposition ray}

Opinion

Apple does not comment...

This move makes sense in an effort to build viewership, to support new features like a real Apple TV set (which may be sold on subscription instead of outright – just like a mobile phone) and to thwart both Intel and Microsoft’s serious designs on controlling the smart TV market.

The only real issue is how much people will pay for the privilege of ad-free TV and frankly I think the average Joe will be happy to put up with advertisements if content is free.

Police are hunting a man who may have scammed hundreds of Gumtree uses since June last year.

Victoria Police issued a statement saying the man, who is suspected to have conned more than 300 people, contacts posters on the site's 'wanted' section and claims he has the item they are seeking.

He then asks for the buyer's location and says that he also lives nearby, but is unable to drop off the items in person as he is working interstate. The conman then sends his personal banking details, and ends all contact once money has been transferred to his account.

Police spokeswoman Natalie Webster said the man has been known to provide personal documents such as a passport or driver's licence in order to convince the victims of his legitimacy, and the offender's bank details were most commonly for ANZ, Westpac, St George or Bendigo banks.

{loadposition dswan}The 'wanted' items include mobile phones, iPads, electronic tablets and gift cards.

Police are urging anyone who has been the victim of similar fraud to come forward.

The ACCC runs a 'SCAMwatch' site, available here.

Gumtree is owned by eBay, which purchased the classifieds company in 2005.

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most anticipated games of recent years but it might not be making it to PC, unless a new petition is successful.

Rockstar's latest magnum opus is set for release on Xbox 360 and PS3, and while a PC version has previously been heavily rumoured, with some retailers adding it to their inventory, nothing has been set in concrete.

Gamers have subsequently taken it upon themselves to call for the game to arrive on PC, starting a Change.org petition that has so far collected 215,000 signatures.

"Please release GTA V on PC. GTA games have been a large part of so many people's lives and it's a big shame not seeing the newest iteration of the game being released on the most powerful platform," the petition reads.

{loadposition dswan}"Things like modifications have always been a HUGE part of PC gaming and modded GTA is some of the most insanely fun times you can have. I hope you consider the release of GTA V on PC as it'll make many people very happy!"

A similar petition for Nintendo's Wii U console has garnered just 3,475 supporters.

The game is set for release on 17 September.

Submitted by: Unknown (via Scientific American)

Submitted by: Unknown (via Obvious Winner)

Submitted by: Unknown

Despite delaying Plants vs Zombies 2's release to later this year, PopCap today announced a "soft launch" exclusively in Australia and New Zealand.

The game is already available on the App Store in both Australia and New Zealand, and is free to play, with EA and Popcap monetizing the game through in-app purchases.

The soft launch comes after the companies announced the game would be pushed back from its original 18 July release date, with this 'soft launch' designed to help improve the game ahead of its worldwide release.

{loadposition dswan}"We are launching the game a bit early in Australia and New Zealand to help us test out all of the new systems and features we’ve built into the game," Popcap said in a statement.

"We’ve added a bunch of new features that allow us to take advantage of new technologies to make a better experience for our players, and those innovations require us to perform some large tests to make sure we are ready for our worldwide audience to play."

The description for the sequel to the hit original game on iTunes reads as follows:

Game Features

NEW PLANTS! NEW ZOMBIES!
Meet B**k Choy, Bloomerang and Lightning Reed: Just a few of the powerful new plants that will defend your lawn through time. Go toe-to-missing-toe with dozens of new zombies including Ra Zombie in Ancient Egypt, Swashbuckler Zombie on the Pirate Seas, or Chicken Wrangler Zombie in the Wild West. In every new world, clever new zombies and brain-teasing challenges will test your zombie-zapping skills.

AMAZING NEW WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN
New Plant Food and power-ups will take your game to new dimensions. Plant Food will supercharge your plants when you need it most. Use your fingers to pinch, flick and zap zombies off your lawn.

LOOK OUT! ZOMBIE CHICKENS!
Seriously.

NEW LEVELS OF EXCITEMENT
Battle the fun-dead on land, on sea and… on the rails? Unlock ultra-challenging (and ultra-fun) endless levels — Pyramid of Doom, Pirate’s Booty and the Big Bad Butte.

THE FUN NEVER DIES
Gather keys to unlock brain teasers and new plants. Collect coins to purchase potent power-ups. Earn stars to take you to new worlds. Survive long enough and you’ll be rewarded with piles of prizes and achievements. And that’s just the beginning! The future holds many mysteries. Also, zombies. Lots and lots of zombies.

Download the game for yourself right now, for iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad, here.

Submitted by: Unknown

Ever pondered what life would be like as a robot vacuum cleaner? Wait no more.

Stolidus Simulations' Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013 is out, and even better, it's completely free.

"The simulator puts you in the shoes of a robot vacuum cleaner," the official site says "and sends you on a journey through an apartment cleaning up the dust of man."

"It's the most realistic robot vacuum simulator ever."

{loadposition dswan}The game is also a heavy award winner, picking up Best Sequel, Best Simulator and Game of the Year Awards as well as the first ever Best Annual Robot Vacuum Simulation Prize, all given by the distinguished critics of Stolidus Simulations.

That's right, the game's a sequel. Robot Vacuum Simulator 2012 was last year's iteration, but only included a paltry two dimensions.

Players navigate a house, sucking up dust under chairs and couches all to a nice jazz accompaniment.

There's even a two-player mode so a buddy can get in on the action.

Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013 is available as a free download for both Windows and Mac here.

It is accepted wisdom in certain circles not to apply new software until the first service pack comes out, the reasoning being other people can find the bugs before you. If you hold to that, good news, Sage announced version 6.0 of its popular MicrOpay Meridian payroll product, only to rush service packs 1, 2 and 3 out the door within a short flurry of weeks due to a continuing spiral of faults putting employee end of year payment summaries in jeopardy.

{loadposition david08}The Simpson’s comic book guy would surely rate Sage’s work as “worst. update. ever.” while IT professionals can only lament being forced to undertake immediate upgrades of production software with no opportunity for internal testing, perhaps mirroring what would evidently seem to be no testing on the part of Sage itself.

Sage MicrOpay Meridian is a leading Australian payroll product, responsible for the successful payment of potentially millions of Australian wage and salary earners nationally. Ordinarily MicrOpay users report high levels of satisfaction and jealously defend moving to other platforms. Sage may well have burned out its good reputation with its performance over the last month while payroll officers, already under pressure by the impending end of financial year, have had to work excessive hours to cope with the continued blunders pushed onto them by buggy software.

The saga begins with MicrOpay Meridian version 6 being released on the 27th May 2013. Typically, it is common for payroll products to have new versions released prior to the end of the financial year as they contain legislative changes such as new tax tables, new superannuation rates, tax office compliant payment summary formats and so forth. Sage released a series of FAQs for what’s new in version 6 at http://mailproduct.hilltop-mail.com/ch/11437/2df43xt/1870768/4e31412jy1.html.

What was less common, in fact, quite unheard of, was the release of service pack 1 on 14th June 2013. We’re not talking about a patch or a hotfix, but an entire “service pack”. Release notes are available at http://mailproduct.hilltop-mail.com/ch/11437/2df43xt/1870768/4e31412jy1.html.

The major new feature of service pack 1 was the inclusion of the 2013/2014 financial year tax tables – which ordinarily would have been in version 6 – and noticeably a series of items marked as “resolved”, namely bugs, errors, problems and flaws introduced in version 6. The release notes conclude with a lengthy list of bugs still being investigated by Sage.

It is important to note that bug fixes come at a cost; they reflect bugs found by ordinary hard-working payroll staff who found their tight weekly schedule interrupted by faults and errors in the process, introduced by the new version 6.0 software. Service calls were logged with Sage, databases backed up, and zipped and sent in for inspection.

One week later Sage MicrOpay Meridian version 6 service pack 2 hit the electrons, with release notes online at http://mailproduct.hilltop-mail.com/ch/11437/2df5thq/1883683/c2389v8vv.html.

Again, this software had to be installed before payroll departments could perform end of financial year processing could occur. As per the release notes, functionality from version 5 has been re-enabled, and other issues have been resolved while other known issues remained to be fixed.

Less than a week later, June 27th 2013, Sage MicrOpay Meridian version 6 service pack 3 was released. No release notes were provided apart from the contents of the e-mail, but the instructions were to apply the upgrade immediately – no waiting, no testing, it didn’t even matter if you were in the middle of a pay run – Sage wanted this upgrade applied immediately.

Sage extended its help desk support hours with staff available on 29th June and 6th July to assist with those companies which were impacted by the continuing software faults. Of course, this brings with it the implicit recognition that payroll staff are working Saturdays to catch up with the time they lost due to Sage’s presumed lack of diligence and rigour in testing.

Sage’s marketing team were contacted on Friday 28th June, and an official statement requested. Marketing replied that the Client Services Manager, Ross Stange, would call directly on that day. However, no call or any other form of contact was received, either on Friday 28th or since.

Meanwhile, problems continue with early termination payment reports listing payment dates of 30th December 1899. Maybe service pack 4 is the winner?

Disclaimer: the author is a Sage MicrOpay Meridian customer and stayed up late to upgrade MicrOpay four times in the last few weeks.

Apple has filed a trademark application for the term 'iWatch' in Japan, a few weeks after it reportedly did the same in Russia.

The move has renewed speculation Apple is set to enter the wearable tech market, joining rival Google and its upcoming Glass device.

The Wall Street Journal is today reporting Apple launched the filing 3 June, and the filing was made public last Thursday.

{loadposition dswan}The Journal (article behind paywall) described the filing as belonging to the category "computer or watch device", although such a device might never see the light of day, with patent maneouvers often merely to keep control over a certain design, or to keep rivals guessing.

In May Apple chief Tim Cook told AllThingsD that he found wearable tech to be "incredibly interesting" and that the market was "ripe for exploration."

The speculation has been doing the rounds for months, although some critics are already saying "no-one will care."

iTWire's Ray Shaw wrote a roundup of the wearable tech market, including rumours and upcoming products, here.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an enjoyable experience, and soon one that can be experienced by millions more people.  The release date for iOS version has now been set, and here are some screen shots.

Thursday June 20th is the release date for XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iOS, here are the details:

The game will be available via the iTunes App Store for AU$20.99/NZ$24.99 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch (complete list of supported devices is below). XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS takes the complete XCOM experience of the console and PC version of the game and optimizes it for the touch interface of iOS devices. XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS is a universal app that includes GameCenter support and utilizes iCloud functionality so players can save games across their iOS devices. While not included at launch on June 20th, the popular head-to-head multiplayer mode in XCOM: Enemy Unknown will be added to iOS at a later date as a free update.

{loadposition mike08}Complete list of 4supported iOS devices includes the iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5th Generation.

Energy company, Origin, has released what it says is an Australian mass-market first, with its customers in Victoria now able to access an “innovative” new in-home energy monitor that displays near real-time information about their energy use within seconds.

The Origin Energy Monitor – about the size of a smartphone – has been designed to sit on a customer’s fridge and receives data wirelessly from their smart meter.

Origin Energy Markets Chief Executive Officer, Frank Calabria, says the monitor allows customers to easily view both their usage and the cost of what they are using within seconds.

“The unit will work straight out of the box with no need for an electrician to install or the customer to manually enter any data.”

“We know that households are craving more information about their energy use to help them control their usage and costs. But customers are also extremely busy, and want this information delivered instantly and conveniently. The Origin Energy Monitor addresses this need by displaying this energy information on one of the most used appliances in the household.”

{loadposition peter}Calabria said the energy monitor was the perfect complement to the Origin Smart online portal which, when it launched last year, “provided Victorian customers with detailed usage and cost information plus future bill estimates for the first time.”

According to Origin, a recent survey of its Smart online portal users revealed that customers were looking for more timely information to help them track household energy use, and make real time decisions.

“While the Origin Smart online portal gives users in-depth analysis of their usage including bill estimates, the Energy Monitor works more like a clock, where a quick glance provides immediate updates on their current usage and cost to help inform their energy choices,” Calabria said.

Origin has been trialing its Energy Monitor with select customers in Victoria over the past few months, and Calabria says feedback was positive.

The energy monitor is available free and exclusive to eligible Origin Victorian customers - except those within the SP Ausnet region - who sign up to and remain on the Origin Smart Daily Saver Energy Plan.

Calabria said, in line with the ongoing roll out of smart meters across Victoria, it was expected that SP Ausnet region customers would become eligible to receive the product over the coming months.

Dog & Bone's forthcoming Wetsuit case for the iPhone 5 is said to be waterproof to two metres.

Here's a challenge: design a waterproof cover for a mobile phone that leaves the touchscreen exposed.

Queensland-based Dog & Bone claims to have achieved this with the Wetsuit case for the iPhone 5.

The trick was to incorporate dual sealing beads running right around the phone.

{loadposition stephen08}The Wetsuit iPhone 5 case is said to be waterproof, dirtproof, snowproof and shockproof, and to meet military standards allowing it withstand two metre drops.

An IP68 rating means the case is completely dusttight and is waterproof beyond one metre. Dog & Bone founder and director Lee Ranchod said it can withstand immersion to two metres for up to 30 minutes.

"We know some mobile phone users will want a case like this for work or for fishing or other specific water outings," said Mr Ranchod.
"However for others it's more about confidence day-to-day. The reality is most water damaged phones occur accidentally when you don't expect it so it was important for us our waterproof case was attractive and compact with complete access to ports and controls as well as tough and durable."

The colour range comprises all black (pictured above), black and blue, black and orange, black and white, white and orange, white and blue, and white and lime green.

Despite being an Australian company, Dog & Bone sets prices in US dollars, and the Wetsuit - scheduled for release in July - will cost US$79.95.

Domino's new online ordering system is part of a plan to push online sales to 80% of the total.

Online pizza ordering makes sense for customers and the supplier: there's no need to wait for a call centre agent or store employee, there's less chance of error, and - if you have sufficient volume - it's cheaper to run.

Domino's already takes 50% of its orders online, and the company aims at increasing that to 80% during the next three years.

A new online system will play an important part in reaching that goal.

{loadposition stephen08}Developed in six months in conjunction with Thoughtworks, the new system eliminates the need for customers to install Flash, reduces the time taken to place an order, and features the company's new branding.

Other changes include a redesigned Live Pizza Tracker, improvements to the presentation of offers and the entry of vouchers, and provision for half-and-half pizza design.

The system is accessible via the Domino's website (which automatically presents a mobile version where appropriate) or through Android, iPad, iPhone, and Facebook apps.

"We need to ensure we’re always taking on customer’s feedback and searching for ways we can make our online ordering site more intuitive and user friendly," said CEO and managing director Don Meij.