Penguin Central

This hilarious video shows an IT guy try to help a dumb employee get the website back up while playing Halo.

http://digg.com/people/A_Day_In_Life_Of_An_IT_Guy

Telstra, the largest telecommunications company in Australia, has confirmed that they will release the iPhone on July 11.

The 8GB version will be sold for 280 AUD (268 USD) upfront on their 30 AUD plan, or it will be free on their 80 AUD plan.

The 16GB version will be sold for 399 AUD (382 USD) upfront on their 30 AUD plan, and it will be free on their 80 AUD plan.

No data costs have been confirmed so far, but they will include free access to Telstra's wifi hotspots. The phones will run on Telstra's Next G HSDPA network. Telstra will only be selling the phone on 24 month contracts.

So for the first time in any country, three providers will officially be selling the iPhone. Only ten more sleeps to go...

Links:

http://www.telstra.com.au/nextgnetwork/iphone.htm
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23945988-5016091,00.html

For those of you who don't know, the MSI Wind is a mini-notebook that is about to be released by MSI. People have hacked this 400 USD laptop to run OS X on it. The strange thing is that in the System Profiler it believes that the machine is a Mac Pro.

[Gizmodo]

Well, after about a week of downtime, Penguin Central is finally back up!

Due to some issues with the unixpod server, and mysql; we were down for about a week, but all is good (Stupid username cutoff thing...)

I'd like to thank my site admins, James Savage and Justin Gerace for their help with the operation of the site. Without their hard work this wouldn't have been possible.

Don't forget we have an IRC channel on freenode at #penguincentral for discussion as well.

I look forward to many many more blog posts :)

It's finally here! Firefox 3 is officially out! And it's been a smash hit with users as official download counters crash as this release is tied into a Guiness World Book of Records attempt.

Head over to getfirefox.com to grab a copy, it's going to be great.

If you are waiting for an upgrade path from version 2 to 3, you will have to wait a month as the Mozilla Foundation wants to take the pressure off their servers before putting more pressure on them. It sounds like they should've released it on BitTorrent as well!

An email was leaked a couple of days ago which detailed some information about the release of the iPhone 3G in the US. Some of the things leaked included:

* An 'unbricking' procedure from Apple/AT&T at first purchase
* Higher data prices

AT&T appears to have made some concessions to customers, but quietly raised prices behind the scenes. AT&T has extended the return period on the new iPhone to 30 days (from 14 days on the current iPhone), but as noted previously, has increased new iPhone 3G data plan to $30/month, which includes unlimited data and visual voicemail.

* A three device limit at the AT&T Stores (people want to buy more than three iPhones?)
* The iPhone will be activated in-store, but if it fails you will have to activate it on an iTunes equipped computer

Interestingly, the required in-store activiation at both AT&T and Apple retail "includes a a short tether process to unbrick the 3G device will be performed in all AT&T stores (tether cords will be provided)."

* New contracts will be required for the new versions of the phone
* There won't be any pre-paid options

You can read more about it at the MacNN site, and you can also digg it here.

So Foxtel HD is a month away. If you have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, Foxtel has been quietly setting up their HD service. I am a Foxtel Digital subscriber and you can now see the HD channels in the EPG.

As we draw closer to the official release date, more details about the service came out. If you want Foxtel HD, you have to pay 10 AUD for their HD PVR, dubbed the iQ2. There is no option for a standard box, you must get a PVR. This box will replace your existing set top box. The PVR contains a 320GB hard drive which will be partitioned 50/50, so you'll get 30 hours of HD content and 90 of SD content, as they say on the site.

Then you have to pay extra for the HD channels. There are 2 packages; there is a sport package for 10AUD which includes Fox Sports and ESPN, and then there is an 'Explore' package which includes BBC, Discovery and National Geographic for the same price. But, you have the option of getting both packages for 15AUD. And there is the option of getting a HD Platimum package where you get every SD channel, every HD channel, and the PVR for 130AUD.

I forgot, you also have Foxtel Box Office on Demand which is essentially a HD version of Foxtel Box Office where you download the movies to the box via the cable connection.

There are only five HD channels that will be available at launch, with more coming in one years time. Foxtel is also retransmitting the five free to air HD channels on the network. I already have a HD STB for that...

Also, the service will only be available on the Melbourne and Sydney Cable networks at first (I don't know about Brisbane). foxtel is waiting for the Optus D3 Satellite to release which will have a higher capacity than the current C1 satellite to release Foxtel HD to the rest of Foxtel's service area.

And that's the lowdown on the new service. But is it really worth it? I do like the HD Sport package. I think that it would be fantastic to have, but the Explore package might have some interesting programs, especially the BBC channel.

I don't understand why Foxtel couldn't offer a non-PVR solution for their HD service. If they offered a set top box that doesn't have a PVR in it but can tune the HD channels, then the entry barrier for the service will be lowered and more people would be able to afford it. Who knows, maybe it would be an idea to even upgrade the firmware on a standard Foxtel box so that it can tune HD channels? There are component cables for the box, so that isn't a problem. It would save Foxtel a truckload of money in getting these PVRs out etc etc.

To wrap up, I think that the new HD service will be a great addition to the Foxtel range and if you have the money, go for it; but the extravagant cost is one thing that will be keeping me away for some time. The fact that you are paying 25AUD extra for 5 HD channels and a PVR that you might not even need isn't great value for money for me, but this is Foxtel that we are talking about. What a wonderful monopoly...

"Marty Toohey is giving up World of Warcraft - while he still can.

WORLD of Warcraft (WoW) terrifies me. A picture of me, or someone a lot like me, was surely in the minds of marketers when the game, a virtual online world of swords and sorcery, was released in 2004. I am a lover of many things fantasy; I have some disposable income and leisure time; my childhood was dominated by video games; I am a touch obsessive-compulsive."

You can check it and digg it up at http://digg.com/gaming_news/WoW_How_I_kicked_the_habit

Hello. It is with my deepest regret that I am ending the podcasts indefinitely. This means that there won't be any Full Circle Podcasts or Penguin Central Podcasts for a while yet as I set myself to deal with real-life stuff (as Ron adequately put it on the FCM site). You can still read my thoughts on the blog section on the site.

Thanks to those who have supported the podcasts in the last year, notably E-Camm who donated a licence of their Skype Call Recorder for the show, and both shows many panelists which include:

Robert McCurdy
Dean Jansen
Justin Gerace
Alan Pope
Josh (I think he's the UbuntuOS Podcast Guy)
Bryan Ford
Emmanuel Morales
Patrick Davilla
Brady Merriweather
James Savage

Quite an illustrious list that is.

Ah well, I better get back to the real-life stuff that I need to do. As they say, real-life is overrated; and I tend to agree with that :)

Peace Out,
Matthew Rossi.

I am a music student, and hand writing music is one of my hates (the other ones are loops and tablature). There have been many a notation program to fall in my hands, but none of them have been any good (notably Finale Notepad, Denemo). With the high praises that my muso friends gave of the new Sibelius 5, I thought it was time that I gave it a shot.

Some of the features that interest me are Panorama mode (where you can view your sheet music horizontally without page layouts (a bit like Google Docs), and a mode where you can write music that is set to video.

Whether if it's worth the 800AUD (or the 300AUD for High School Students in Australia) I don't know, but once you have learn't how to use it efficiently, it will save you a lot of pain.

A Screenshot: http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture5yx7.png