The Home of Ben May, Hervey Bay, QLD, Australia. Personal Blog of Ben May, Hervey bay

There has been a lot of discussion around the National Broadband Network, and that the Liberal Party, if elected will be killing off this project, that does have some merit.

Due to the size of Australia, we have always been behind on many information communication technologies, including both mobile service and access to respectable broadband speeds, if any. What also makes it difficult for those who live outside of the main cities in Australia, is that for internet providers to supply ADSL2 technologies, they (The ISP) need to upgrade infrastructure and equipment – now from an investment point of view, their return on investment is going to be minimal, vs doing it in the city with thousands of subscribers.

By this logic or reasoning, it does seem to make the point, that really, a nationalised system may the only solution, if equality over internet connections is to be achieved.

There has been a lot of good press for the NBN, claiming it will revolutionise the country, take us all new places and overall be in a better place. I really believe this is more hype than logic.

Over on Delimiter (A News and Tech blog) they have run a number of stories on the NBN, both, for and against.

There has been a great story, that has generated a lot of interest, and it’s quite an good read, it’s titled “Do we even need a Fibre National Broadband Network“.  It really covers a lot of problems with the network, and how in many cases, people will be no better off than what they have now. Things like capacity to other countries, and will be no better off. How “E-Health” is supposed to benefit, when “Regular Health” is still a huge issue for every state in the country, number of doctors, nurses, beds etc – these haven’t been sorted in real life, so how are we going to go with doing it over the internet?

While I see huge benefits for business, using such networks, I also see the waste. If you look at the cost per household – $5k (or so) – I could imagine the NBN being put into my Grandmother’s house, who doesn’t a) have a computer, but b) if she did, would be more content with a 1.5 or 5mb link. Heck, she can’t use a DVD player, how am I supposed to train her to use IPTV? Hulu or iView or whatever the case may be.

The flip side of the coin, the Liberal party has really shot themselves in the foot, and not wanting to admit they probably should adopt some of the ideas that Labor have setup with the NBN, instead, they claim that Fibre is a bad technology, and a whole array of bad arguments for it.

This video clip was on Yes We Canberra – and it really does sum up how the Liberal / LNP / Coalition think of ICT, from the current statements.

This isn’t to say I completely support Labor or the NBN, and when you watch this video from Yes We Canberra – it does make you think a bit, and put the NBN and it’s $50bn price tag, back into perspective – and what our real priories are or should be.

So what is my stance then?

I don’t like the Liberal party’s idea on this. They don’t seem to want to value the ICT of Australia as much as they should. What they are claiming to do, is a step in the right direction with some key infrastructure, however it wont do an awful lot for end users. Other hand, Labor have not had a good record with deploying spending projects like this, although the NBN is on budget at present, nothing to say it wont blow out and cost us a fortune on something that isn’t that critical.

Posted in Personal Opinion, Politics | No Comments

Of late, the HTC Desire has taken the headlines as being one of HTC’s best, with huge customisation potential and running on Google’s Android platform, over Windows Pocket PC.

Telstra have actually released some very attractive plans for this phone, with fair amounts of data and calls, not as far as optus, but still fairly good. The phone can also be bought outright for around the $700 mark.

I was very interested in getting my hands on one of these phones, to give it a try, and see how the Android OS goes, and how the UI / UX compares to Apple. Also very interested in how Android talks with Google Apps for Contacts, Mail etc.

At the Toowoomba Telstra store, I played with one a number of times and my initial thoughts where;

• Wonderful, sharp screen
• Very snappy web browser (based off Chrome engine I’m guessing)
• Responsive touch screen
• Not too big, nor too small

However, after further investigation, talking to some people who own the Desire I don’t think I can justify the device.

The Android is super customisable, so much so, it can become overwhelming for a novice – but that’s not really an issue for me.

The biggest things that would make me consider switching would be;

• Battery, better
• Does it make my life EASIER

Every other aspect of the iPhone 3GS I am happy with. Sure, it drops out here and there, is that to blame Optus or Apple? Both point the finger to each other. Coverage isn’t wonderful, but that’s an optus issue, not an Apple one. I am happy with my OK amount of coverage, as the compromise is 1GB of mobile data for next to nothing, Vs better coverage, but not having the freedom of big amounts of data, lots of calls, etc.

So based on those two criteria, to make me switch, no. The Desire doesn’t do either.

Battery

From mixed reports I’ve heard the battery life is the same, and or is worse than the iPhone, depending on how much you use the thing, and I for one use my iPhone quite heavily.

Make life EASIER

Now, maybe all iPhone / iPod users have played into Apples hands here, but ever since my first iPod, I’ve switched to iTunes as my media player, and would die if I had to move all my media over to a different system, re create play lists, etc.  And I’m not sure if the android has any good iPod killer apps. Nor, the ability to plug in the device via USB so it both charges, displays music on the screen and allows me to change songs via the steering wheel.

One of the biggest draws my iPhone has, is that it’s both my iPod + my iPhone. I sync / charge one device and it’s always current.

What use to drive me insane, back in Nokia days, was buying some new music, but not syncing my iPod as it was in the car, and leaving without the new music, or forgetting the iPod at the office.

Whatever the case, the iPhone has eliviated this problem and made my life much easier.

What’s also great, is that my iPhone syncs music from my office PC, and Syncs my Podcasts from the iMac at home. Not sure if it is meant to, but it does, and I couldn’t be happier.

So, nice work HTC, but I think I’m best waiting for the iPhone 4G. If it has a better battery, I’ll be happy.

I’ve been following Mark Pesce’s dedicated HTC desire blog, which has been quite interesting, in both the pros’ and cons’ of the gadget.

Posted in Tech News, The Life of Ben | 2 Comments

I’ve sat and watched Formspring come from nothing, and become mildly popular in 2010. It’s a a Question and Answers site, that allows someone to create a page that allows totally random people to post questions anonymously. Now instantly I could see that this was going to be nothing but trouble.

There is constantly issues with sites like Facbeook, YouTube, Myspace, where people are bullying, trolling, or just being tools (for one of a better term), however to be a mennace on these sites, you had to create  fake profiles and email accounts, and it is time consuming. Formspring allows its functionality with no prior screening.

So, in essence, it’s a pretty pointless site. However, people start using services like this, and get people asking questions. The first kinds of questions you’ll see straight away, are have you had sex, or are you gay, pointless, immature questions that are only there to antagonise or upset the author.

What’s more frustrating is to see people use this service, then finally wake up and realise, hang on, this totally stupid and then start to bag the application as if it caused the bullying or harassment that went on. Even though the authors knew specifically what Formspring was doing, and not doing.

I like the following quotes on gawker.com

Formsping.Me should come with a warning label you have to check off before you use it: BEWARE. WILL CAUSE LINGUISTIC, INTELLECTUAL, AND EMOTIONAL DIARRHEA.

This is a dangerous, mischievous platform of oversharing that is, at best, indulgent, and at worse, the most self-serving experience one can create for themselves on the internet from every which angle you approach it. For the people asking the questions, it’s an anonymous comment box that they can inundate their interviewees with candid interrogation after interrogation.

For the people answering the questions, it fulfills so many awesomely narcissistic desires: you’re on a stage, you’re interested in by people asking the questions, or if asked about any number of various topics, the desire to feel like some kind of authority on something. At the very least, someone wants to hear something from you, and you get to sit there and think of an answer. And if there’s anything better than being desired, its having someone take some kind of interest in you.

Read the rest of the article here.

Posted in Internet News, Personal Opinion, What Annoys Me | No Comments

I found this via twitter – I think it’s worth a read for anyone who is involved in the interwebs.

Hello, my name is Bill and welcome to my guide to the internet. Basically, everything on the internet is rubbish but I will try to pinpoint the main areas to avoid.

Read more here

Posted in Internet News, Jokes | No Comments

Foursquare is a relatively new idea in the whole social media / augmented reality game. It relies upon smart phone technology (Wireless Internet + GPS locating)  to confirm and allow you to “Checkin” at businesses all over the world.

Foursquare allows you to continue to Check in every time you’re at a venue / business and if you happen to be the most frequent person there, you will be awarded the position of Mayor. It’s a new take a loyalty programs basically. Businesses are encouraged to reward their Foursquare mayor’s and encouraged other users to checkin on Foursquare and reap the rewards.

Foursquare also allows you to share tips, feedback and make going out, even more social. It’s able to tell you that if you checkin at the local bar, one of your friends are also at the same venue, so you can check in with each other.

I’ve been using foursquare on my day to day life in Hervey Bay, and at this stage, there are only a very small handful of people who actively use it, however, where I think foursquare would become more useful is in larger cities where you’re able to see more users feedback about venues, and to make it easier to catch up with other foursquare friends.

So at this stage, I’m still interested in continuing to use foursquare, I think as technology rolls forward, and more and more of the general population services like foursquare are terrific as they combine smart technology and social media, making it even more useful and enjoyable to use.

You can follow me on foursquare here.

This video also sums up what Foursquare is all about for those who still have no idea after this short intro.

Posted in Internet News | No Comments