Home Technology 2011

HOME TECHNOLOGY 23 NOVEMBER 2009 4 DECEMBER 2011

Y O U R F R E E G U I D E T O T H E D I G I TA L L I F E S T Y L E

INSIDE THIS ISSUE SMARTPHONE TAKEOVER LIBRARY IN YOUR HAND ULTRABOOKS MIRRORLESS CAMERAS INTERNET ON THE TV GOING FOR TOUCH SOCIAL NETWORK MAKEOVERS BROADBAND BEEFED UP

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CONTENTS: HOME TECHNOLOGY 2011 SMARTPHONES WILL DOMINATE: Dumb phones in decline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06 DIGITAL READING REVOLUTION: Plot thickens for e-book drama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 08 SOCIAL NET CAST WIDER: Media platforms playing off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT: No compromise cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 CHALLENGING THE MOUSE: Intuitive input gaining ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ULTRABOOK RESHAPES MARKET: Portable computing reinvented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 BURGEONING BROADBAND: Downloads driving demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 PC HOLDS UP UNDER FIRE: Chip innovations ongoing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 SHORTCUTS: Security, peripherals, networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 TRANSMISSION TRANSITION: Merging digital screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 MOBILE NETWORKS RAMP UP: Data charges challenged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 BOTNET ARMIES ADVANCING: Cyberthreats costly and mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 INFRINGERS ON NOTICE: Illegal downloaders targeted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 All prices were believed to contain GST and accurate at time of publication or based on an average across retailers.

MANAGING EDITOR Oliver Lee EDITOR/WRITER Keith Newman wordman@wordworx.co.nz ARTWORK and PRODUCTION Mervyn Hurley PRINTING Webstar Auckland

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SMARTPHONES WILL DOMINATE Dumb phones in decline Smartphones will be the dominant communications device for New Zealanders over the next few years as they become more affordable and embrace most of our digital lifestyle needs.

Sales of smartphones have almost doubled year on year according to research group IDC, with falling prices encouraging consumers to upgrade from standard phones or trade up for more features.

Carriers are offering further incentive with heavily discounted handsets in exchange for contracts, although the battleground is now moving from specific hardware to operating systems, software and services.

Beyond features like browsing, GPS, camera, big storage and touch and display quality, customers want ease of integration with other devices and screeds of applications (apps) to download.

Australian-based analyst Telsyte, claims smartphones will be the primary mobile device for New Zealanders by 2015, with uptake more than doubling to around 90 percent.

Research director Foad Fadaghi believes Apple’s iPhone will retain leadership until around 2014, with Android devices from HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Huawei and others continuing to grow their market share.

He says Nokia is a dark horse adopting Windows Phone 7 and while Blackberry sales are slowing, it will retain a niche.

RAISING THE BAR

was simply the market anticipating its new iPhone 4S, which sold a record four million units in the US in its first three days.

OS FACE OFF Litigation about who owns what, with Microsoft and Apple challenging certain of the open Android patents, has raised eyebrows at HTC and Samsung. Meanwhile Google promised to “supercharge the Android ecosystem” shortly after it agreed to pay $US12.5 billion for mobile phone pioneer Motorola Mobility.

With so much investment developing the iPhone, Android and Microsoft mobile operating systems, analysts have been outdoing each other trying to guess where it’s all heading.

Vodafone New Zealand confirms smartphone use more than doubled the traffic on its network in the year to June 2011.

To date Apple’s iPhone and Android phones make up about half of the smartphone market. IDC expects Android to double its share to 40 percent by the end of this year and Apple’s iOS to grow five points to around 20 percent.

It says 66 percent of its customers use smartphones and by 2013 they’re likely to overtake PCs as the preferred internet access device. Around 50 percent of mobile traffic today comes from Facebook.

The market is increasingly driven by the availability of clever downloadable applications; Windows and Android currently have 300,000 apps each while Apple has 500,000.

In the September 2011 quarter Samsung became the world's top smartphone maker with sales rocketing 44 percent to 27.8 million units while Apple’s iPhone sales dropped by 16 percent to 17.1 million.

A wide selection of leading edge smartphones are in New Zealand stores for the Christmas rush. Among them the 16Gb version of Apple’s iPhone 4S selling for around $1,000 with HD video recording, a new camera and Siri, the voice activated intelligent assistant.

Samsung is a relative newcomer but already has 23.8 percent market share with its Android powered Galaxy line of products, the latest of which is the Galaxy Note mobile device.

However it would be misleading to suggest Apple’s smartphone fortunes are fading – it has been the trendsetter since it first launched the touchscreen iPhone in 2007. The dip in sales

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Samsung’s latest offering is the 1.4GHz Omnia W running Microsoft’s new Mango operating system and featuring People Hub technology, optimised for social media. And 2degrees has launched the first Ma- ori language smartphone, called Te Reo. The Ideos X3 reflects the Ma- ori investment in 2degrees by Hautaki Trust.

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DIGITAL REVOLUTION Plot thickens for e-book drama While the digital death notice for the book may be wildly exaggerated, it is facing the most serious competition since the first machine printed copies were stamped out on Gutenberg’s press in 1440.

Dedicated electronic books and software that transforms tablet computers, notebooks and smartphones into e-readers are raising the same concerns in the book industry as MP3 and digital media players did in the music business.

While publishers hoped e-book sales would bring in additional revenue, double digit declines in traditional book sales suggest they are in fact cannibalising their hard copy cousins.

In the US, in the year to February, e-books outpaced hardback and soft cover sales by 200 percent, with January and February sales alone up 169 percent.

On-line US bookseller Amazon started the digital reading revolution when it introduced the Kindle to the world in 2007 featuring e-ink electronic paper in 16 shades of gray to simulate the book experience.

Soon software was available for a range of devices to download content in Amazon’s proprietary format.

A LIBRARY IN YOUR HAND A range of competing devices and formats have since emerged including dedicated e-book readers and hybrid devices with dual cameras, USB ports, varying degrees of computing capability and gigabytes of storage for thousands of book titles.

At the end of 2010 Amazon announced e-book sales on its site had surpassed paperbacks. Until August, when electronics retailer Dick Smith won the rights in to sell the Kindle, New Zealand users needed a US credit card to download e-books.

A couple of thousand Kindles were snapped up in the first two weeks with many replacement orders since.

Whitcoulls sells e-books on its website and stocks the rival Kobo and Sony e-readers which have enjoyed enthusiastic uptake. The latest Kobo

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reader includes a touch screen and can download books for PC, iPhone, Android and iPad platforms and display in .pdf and the ePUB formats.

Sony has just introduced a pocket sized Wifi Touch e-reader with batteries that last over a month or three weeks with wireless on. Other dedicated e-readers include the BlackBerry PlayBook, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and options from Samsung.

KINDLE FIRES UP The iPad is clearly challenging Kindle’s dominant position, and tablet computers are also encroaching on that space as they become mainstream. Amazon is trying to address this with its Kindle Fire, a colour hybrid tablet e-reader, for around $250. Local release dates are uncertain.

The iPad is clearly challenging Kindle’s dominant position, and tablet computers are also encroaching on that space as they become mainstream.

Its Kindle Touch will however stimulate pre-Christmas sales at around $130, along with a reduction in price for basic Kindles to under $100.

The Nielsen Consumer and Media Insights 2011 report reckoned at least 85,000 New Zealanders had an iPad or e-book reader, 130,000 had downloaded book apps to their mobiles and 192,000 intended to buy an e-reader in 2012.

Science fiction, crime and romance were among the favourite titles and it appears 49 percent of those reading them were aged 45 and over with the majority aged 55 plus.

An opening address at the October 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair suggested that in Europe at least, e-books made up only one percent of sales and more copies were being pirated than sold.

Everything about the future of the once irreplaceable book is now being questioned. How can social media elements, gaming, video, interactivity and story-telling be enhanced to invigorate publishing so everyone still gets paid?

At best the e-book and e-reader devices will encourage reading and the consumption of books and other written media. At worst the publishing industry will have to reinvent itself so electronic and hard copy books find complimentary ground.

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SOCIAL NET CAST WIDER Media platforms playing off Internet use is moving from dedicated spaces in the home to take-away value on smartphones and mobile devices and increasingly driven by the social networking phenomenon.

The trend is toward instant access, always-on connections to check facts, keep informed, book tickets, shop, pay bills and maintain links with a growing circle of ‘friends’ across multiple screens.

InternetNZ claims there are 3.66 million internet connections in New Zealand, including 1.9 million internet-enabled mobile phones. The numbers don’t include laptop data dongles or state how many remain on dial-up, but confirm we’re a very connected and mobile nation.

Digital world analyst comScore, reckons in the average month New Zealand internet users spend more than 18 hours on the web, perform 121 searches, watch 86 online videos, and visit Facebook around 26 times.

Within three days of the launch of Google Plus, Facebook – now with more than 800 million members – announced the biggest makeover since its launch in 2004.

In its May Media Metrix survey comScore says social networking is the leading internet activity, accounting for one in every five minutes Kiwis spent online, or 21 percent of online minutes.

Amy Weinberger, comScore Australasian vice president, says New Zealand is one of the more mature markets in the Asia Pacific region and home to “a digitally savvy audience base”.

We have a strong propensity to connect with others through the internet and to access content and information, with females spending more time on social media sites (5.4 hours a month) than males (3.7 hours).

Microsoft sites topped the most visited category followed by Google and then Yahoo. The strongest engagement came through Facebook, although about half the population regularly visited the sites of major newspapers and TradeMe. Earlier this year Facebook passed Google as the most visited website in the US, however, when taking into account Google

owned YouTube and Gmail, it still had the edge. The third most visited site is Yahoo.

Social networking sites including Bebo and MySpace became virtual ghost towns when they stalled on new features, failed to keep spam levels down or curb the defection to Facebook.

Regardless, social media options are on rise. Google Plus launched in June, becoming the fastest growing website in the world achieving 25 million members in three months. By October it had 41 million with 3.4 billion photos shared and was continuing to innovate with Google apps.

Within three days of the launch of Google Plus, Facebook – now with more than 800 million members – announced the biggest make-over since its launch in 2004.

It redesigned its interface, upgraded its application platform for easier gaming and media offerings, and streamlined access to older information.

A timeline helps users tell their story with photos and chronological information and a real-time time ticker of friend activity shows notifications of which music, TV shows or articles people are consuming.

As a consequence, activity on Google Plus slowed and many of the curious who flocked there appear to be looking to find a reason to stay. One suggestion is people are already struggling to manage their existing on-line presence without duplicating their profile and friends elsewhere.

However social networking is really only just gathering momentum as a critical mass platform for the future.

Twitter just reached 100 million users of its mobile messaging service which sends five million tweets a day; YouTube is introducing 100 new video channels, and video and voice are gearing up to be the next big thing.

Google Plus already has video chat in its ‘hangout’ area alongside iGoogle chat. Now through Microsoft’s strong relationship with Facebook and its acquisition of Skype; with 170 million internet voice and video subscribers, the suggestion is social networking is about to undergo an audiovisual upgrade.

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GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT No compromise cameras A new category of camera is finding a niche in the yawning gap between compact point-andclick models for the hobbyist and bulkier SLR systems for the enthusiast and professional.

Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILC) are aimed at compact users wanting to step up to the performance and image quality of more light-aware system cameras.

They challenge the traditional bulk and complexity of 35mm digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. The removal of the mirrors – seen as an unnecessary mechanical hangover from the past – makes way for innovations that allow faster response and instant focus.

This also makes way for the compact size camera bodies to accommodate interchangeable lenses; some have standardised fittings across brands and are backwardly compatible with earlier models.

Photographers can grow their collection of lenses to better suit wide angle, portrait or landscape work, macro to get down to insect level or ultra zoom for detail in the distance.

TWIN LENS PREFERRED Single lens MILC prices hover between $600 - $1200 with wide angle and telephoto twin lens kits likely to be in strongest demand.

Globally mirrorless shipments reached 2.1 million units in 2010 accounting for 31 percent of all interchangeable lens models sold in Japan, but only 10 percent in the US, according to research firm IDC. While IDC remains coy about 2011 sales it says momentum depends heavily on who gets into the game and a sweet point for pricing. All eyes are on what SLR market leader Canon delivers after many months of speculation.

Leica, Epson, Olympus, Panasonic, Samsung, Pentax, Fujifilm and Sony all have product in the market and the recent entry of number two SLR maker Nikon added further credibility.

Ken Newell, Nikon product manager

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with distributor T.A. Macalister, says Nikon rebuilt its Nikon 1 from the ground up and the unique CCD sensor more than makes up for the 10Mpixel specification.

One feature that differentiates Nikon is the Smart Photo Selector system which records 12 frames before you fully depress the shutter button and another seven after you have taken your shot.

CLEVER COMPARISON “It compares those 19 frames with the one you just shot, looks at blurring and people with their eyes closed, then serves up another four alternative images to choose from, either on camera or later on your computer,” says Newell.

He claims the Nikons have “processing power to burn”, and can capture 8Mpixel still frames while shooting 1080i HD video at 60 frames per second.

Simon Millidge, director of Olympus distributor H.E. Perry, says the new mirrorless compacts help burst the megapixel myth. “While most entry level compacts are 14Mpixels the chips and sensors are so small they’re restricted in their ability to read the light.”

He says the new trio of 12.3Mpixel Olympus PEN cameras have CCD image sensors 10 times larger than compact cameras, delivering bigger pixels in a more dynamic range.

Image stabilising is achieved by placing the CCD chip on a gyro to ensure smooth still and video images. And says Millidge, the auto focus is blindingly fast. “Point it at something and it’s immediately focussed.”

The cameras shoot 1980 x 1080 high definition (HD) video and use a pixel binning technique which “creates three lines of information before the sensor selects the best and bins the rest.”

The autofocus motor is near silent, eliminating interference, and Olympus’ long history in recording equipment ensures the best stereo soundtrack on video.

While compact cameras are now more affordable than ever and innovation continues in the digital SLR market, mirrorless looks set to capture ground from both.

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CHALLENGING THE MOUSE Intuitive input gaining ining ground Wacom’s popular pen and touch he technology, familiar to the creative industries, is breaking ground as a mouse replacement forr PC and laptop users.

Its highly sensitive pen and touch input devices assist designers designers, illustrators illustrators, film editors and others in their daily work and more recently Wacom has been offering its Bamboo range for the consumer market.

The Bamboo ‘tablets’ make it easier to use graphics and photo manipulation packages, navigate around the computer or the web and personalise emails and documents using a pen or finger movements.

Wacom Australasia general manager, Linda Zugai, says the peripheral devices might best be described as a giant mouse pad or tracking device on steroids.

She wouldn’t be without her Bamboo Pen & Touch which she uses for general computer and web navigation, and to take advantage of the annotation and handwriting recognition capabilities of Windows 7 for example.

FINGER GESTURES SUPPORTED The Bamboo touch units have 1048 levels of sensitivity and enable the use of finger gestures to navigate, scroll, zoom in and out, surf the net and make presentations.

Avoiding repetitive strain injury (RSI) occupational overuse syndrome (OOS) or even Mouse Arm Syndrome (MAS) might be another reason to migrate to pen and touch. These injuries can arise from continual unnatural movements associated with using a traditional mouse and keyboard.

“The way people hold their mouse or use the tracking pad on a notebook can create cramp and discomfort, while holding a pen is natural with about 80 percent less tendon strain,” says Zugai.

A smaller tablet that minimises hand movements is recommended for those wanting to minimise strain. For video editing or those regularly dealing with illustrations she recommends the Bamboo Fun with its 6 x 9 inch active area “which gives far more real estate for sweeping gestures.”

The Bamboo tablets are also seen as part the growing trend toward reducing paper flow, by enabling annotations to be made on documents without having to print them, then re-scan and return.

Zugai says lecturers use the tablet for marking assignments, the medical profession for electronic record management and cartoonists and photographers are big users.

One of the biggest mental blocks is that at first glance it may appear difficult.

However Zugai says “It’s no different than a mouse – only you don’t have to look for the cursor in bad light, the whole active area represents the monitor and it follows your hand around the screen.”

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ULTRABOOK RESHAPES THE MARKET Portable computing reinvented The portable computing market, pushed along by the growing influence of the tablet in all its shapes and forms has spawned a range of lighter, sleeker hybrid devices and PC replacements.

As the digital revolution matures there’s a growing desire to get rid of anything that moves, compress the space where mechanical components once held sway, and deliver smaller, smarter, faster computing devices.

Intel, which makes 80 percent of the world's microprocessors and its main competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), are continually adapting to produce smaller better performing chipsets that drain less battery power in mobile devices, including smart phones.

While the tablet is still clearly marking out a growing niche in the world of multimedia mobility, where social networking is king and high definition viewing is paramount, a new notebook category is claiming its own territory.

Intel is currently doing its best to evolve the notebook into “an ultra simple, ultra thin, ultra-versatile” internet device, logically enough called the ultrabook, which marries the performance and capabilities of notebooks with tabletlike features.

ULTRABOOK EVANGELISTS Intel expects 40 percent of consumer laptops to be in the ultrabook category by the end of 2012 and anticipates the whole market will quickly convert to these exceptionally thin, sleek, fast and robust systems.

Product with processing power from rival chipmaker AMD is expecting to begin rolling out in early in 2012.

The reason the ultra 13 - 20mm thick format and 13 -15.6 inch screen can slim down so graciously has a lot to do with what’s been left out.

Advances in technology and changing media habits mean less moving parts – the spinning platter hard drive and the CD/DVD are out and solid state internal and removable disks are in.

Dick Smith marketing services manager Francois Smith, suggests fewer people are using CDs and no longer need an optical CD drive. The SD card and the USB slot are sufficient to transfer content and plug in external devices.

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The ultrabook format starts almost instantly and because there’s no spin up time for the hard disk there’s less drain on power – battery life is typically 6-7 hours.

These notebooks are typically designer sculpted items with brushed stainless steel finishes or streamlined curves. Most use Intel’s second generation Core processor, will wake up in seconds and use smartphone style touch pads.

Ultrabooks deliver the features you would expect from a mid to high-end laptop, with solid state disks offering anywhere between 128Gb - 320Gb storage, and prices between $1500 - $2200.

All the major players have either released or plan to release product in this new category including HP, Acer, Samsung, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony, Dell and Asus.

The HP Folio Ultrabook entry is barely 2cm thick, weighs in at 1.5kilos, has second generation Intel Core processors with 128Gb solid state storage. It features a 13.3 inch backlit HD screen and backlit keyboard, rapid start and resume technology, advanced Imagepad multi-touch gesture support and HD webcam.

Apple which already claims to be competing with its Macbook Air 13 inch is rumoured to be working on an ultra thin 15 inch Macbook Air.

TABLET GAINING GROUND Meanwhile the tablet computer has rapidly carved out a lucrative niche among the mobile multimedia and social network generation.

During 2011 tablets sold about 50 million units worldwide with analysts expecting that to double in 2012, although

that doesn’t yet rate alongside IDC’s estimate of 362 million PC sales in 2011.

Tablet take up remains a source of concern for traditional computer makers; about a third of the tablets sold over the next two years are likely to be at the expense of laptops.

It’s a buyer’s market with branded solidly configured laptops selling for $600 - $1000 and netbooks, the last attempt to at improving on the lightweight notebook, now selling for $300 - $500. With uber-thin ultrabooks and even hybrid e-books now competing, it’s game on.

Many PC makers including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo have added tablet style products to their armoury to stem the flood to Apple, which first began selling its iPad in April 2010.

Local IDC tablet numbers suggest 156,000 tablet sales by year’s end with shipments of Apple’s iPad 2 doubling, giving it an estimated 70 percent market share. However tablets featuring Google’s Android operating system are growing quicker, peeling around 10 percent off Apple’s first quarter sales.

The bulk of Android tablets were sold through the major carriers; the Samsung Galaxy Tab through Vodafone and other retailers and Motorola’s Xoom through Telecom.

STEEP CURVE AHEAD Gartner has forecast global sales of tablets will rise an astronomical 261 percent to 63.6 million by the end of this year, with Apple taking the lion’s share of 73 percent of sales, shifting 46.7 million iPads.

Android tablets were expected to account for around 17 percent of sales with other platforms confined to about 5 percent.

In 2012 however Gartner expects Android will begin gaining ground with a 22 percent market share worldwide with Apple holding 50 percent share until 2014.

It’s believed the key to Apple’s success is the unified user experience across hardware and software platforms and services. Unless competitors can offer something similar Gartner believes their impact will remain minimal.

You would think there might be some confusion about which way to turn with so many offerings vying for attention. However Dick Smith marketing services manager Francois Smith believes there’s room for all these mobile computing platforms.

Decisions should made on what is “fit for purpose” he suggests, with many people already doubling up with a laptop, netbook, tablet or ultrabook.

For an example of features and the direction things are moving in take a look at the 9.4 inch Sony Tablet S running the Android Honeycomb operating system. It has HD video recorder, twin cameras, microphone, GPS and wifi and optional 3G capability.

The touch screen unit is PlayStation certified; it’s geared as a music player, a universal controller for your TV, PVR, DVD player and sound system, a web browser and e-book reader all in a dual screen folding design.

It allows users to ‘throw’ content including photos and videos to any compatible device with a simple swipe of the touch screen and can be the entertainment hub for a range of home media devices.

The netbook will retain its own niche for those wanting a small form factor, lower powered internet and wifi terminal with limited computing capabilities for portability and travel.

“You might have an ultra thin for business to handle word processing and spreadsheets because of the keyboard and screen size and use a tablet for watching movies, social networking, reading a book or to share with the kids,” suggests Smith.

Meanwhile there’s no letting up in the innovation department for notebooks of all shapes and sizes. Screen technology, backlighting, enhanced audio and media handling, designer makeovers and colour schemes, portability and affordability are evident in new releases from all the major players.

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BURGEONING BROADBAND Downloads driving demand Ultrafast enhancements to fixed line, mobile and undersea broadband can’t come soon enough to meet the insatiable appetite for on-demand TV, music, maps, games, social networking and doing business online.

While the average New Zealand connection currently staggers along at around 3Mbit/sec, by 2016 the broadband blues will be banished when fibre optic cabling and mega-mobile services will allegedly deliver a minimum of 50Mbit/sec to most homes and business.

According to a recent poll by US-based Zigby International, high speed internet has had the greatest impact of any technology over the past decade, and many people claim they couldn’t live without it.

Facebook and Google were also ‘must have’ technologies with home entertainment the next big thing, pushing us toward even greater dependency on faster broadband.

According to InternetNZ and StatisticsNZ, 1.5 million New Zealanders subscribed to broadband in the year to June 2011, up 14 percent on 2010.

CAPS HOLDING US BACK Meanwhile InternetNZ is concerned at the impact of data caps on new media internet services, when most of the world has ditched them and Australians typically have terabyte limits after a ‘data cap price war’.

Some progress was made this year when Telecom doubled its data caps to 20Gb for many residential customers and Slingshot began offering uncapped plans to 5000 customers on 12 month contracts.

While the number of 20Gb plus data plans has increased overall, video on demand, replay TV and other rich content services continue to push the boundaries.

The OECD broadband figures for the year to June 2010 rank New Zealand as 17th out of 31 nations, with 24.5 percent of the population on fixed line broadband ahead of Australia at 18th place.

Slow investment in infrastructure has kept both Australia and New Zealand lagging many of the world’s leading nations, although they’re now in catch-up mode rolling out ultra-fast nationwide networks.

Telecom and Vodafone jointly won the $300 million rural broadband contract with a mix of enhanced copper, mobile,

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fixed wireless and fibre, promising a minimum of 28.8Mbit/ sec to outlying areas by 2016. This will quadruple when next generation cellular technology comes into play.

Meanwhile major electricity companies, UltraFast Broadband Ltd, Enable, Chorus and other partners, are now rolling out the Government’s Ultrafast Broadband Network to the rest of the country.

When completed, almost all households will be able to receive a minimum peak speed of 50Mbit/sec – although the majority should get at least 100Mbit/sec.

Crown Fibre Holdings is promising its fibre-to-the-premises network will reach 75 percent of New Zealand and be live by 2020. Work began mid-year and is expected to be completed within six years.

UNDERSEA BOTTLENECK About 85 percent of New Zealand internet traffic is international which means the final bottlenecks are our undersea cable links.

It’s been alleged the Southern Cross cable monopoly is a factor in internet providers maintaining low broadband data caps.

The Telecommunications Users Association is investigating.

Southern Cross, in the process of upgrading our links to Australia and the US from 10Gbit/sec to 40Gbit/sec capacity, says it’s already dropped per gigabyte prices to ISPs. InternetNZ is now asking whether ISPs may be keeping data caps artificially high.

Welcome competition in the undersea cable business is expected from Pacific Fibre’s proposed $505 million international connections, with claims this will reduce costs to all New Zealanders.

After physical transport, a recent Deloitte and BusinessNZ survey of the New Zealand’s business community ranked broadband and telecommunications as the infrastructure that has the greatest potential to contribute to New Zealand’s future economic prosperity.

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PC HOLDS UP UNDER FIRE Chip innovations ongoing While PCs may no longer be at the leading edge of innovation, the devices they spawned are making computing more personal and interactive than anyone could have imagined 40-years ago.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated shortly before his death that while technologists had predicted the post-PC era for a decade there was now evidence this might be coming true.

Research companies IDC and Gartner would seem to be in agreement stating PC shipments, including laptops, were in downturn worldwide, growing just over 2 percent in the second quarter.

Rumours of the PCs demise are coming to a head at a time when the faithful desktop machine is celebrating a couple of major milestones.

The IBM 5150, viewed as the template for the modern computer, was first launched 30-years ago in August 1981.

And the brains behind the PC, the Intel 4004, the first ‘customer programmable microprocessor’ was launched commercially 40-years ago in 1971.

However the PC industry is bigger than it ever was. The desktop and laptop remain at the heart of most businesses and can be found in most homes. IDC expects close to 362 million will have been sold during 2011 – about a million a day.

GETTING A SECOND WIND Forrester predicts that by 2015 there will be 2.25 billion PCs in use across the world, compared to one billion at the end of 2008. Much of that growth will occur in emerging markets including Russia, India and China.

Gartner reckons when the dust settles global sales will have increased 10.5 percent with a further 3 percent increment in 2012. That’s still relatively healthy.

The challenge is how to revitalise the market and curb the defection to other computing devices such as the tablet which is clearly having an impact.

In reality the computing revolution is just beginning with almost every aspect under constant revision from the form factor to the chipset and the applications that can be run.

Even in its present, increasingly affordable format, the PC still holds the high ground with those who need to download, create and process content, including music and videos and ever richer and more complex documents, graphics and presentations.

Top chipmaker Intel is confident of low double digit growth, particularly through sales of its second generation Intel Core processor, geared to more efficiently handle high definition and even 3D content. It can convert a four-minute HD video file on a laptop to play on an iPod in only 16 seconds.

Intel has also been working on “instant on, all day battery life, security, touch interface, seamless interconnectivity between devices, support for all OS’s and best class graphics” at mainstream prices.

LOCAL SALES BUOYANT IDC says heavy discounting kept the New Zealand PC market buoyant in the second quarter of 2011 and although margins are tight, it expects seven percent growth to continue year on year through aggressive promotion.

In the September quarter HP continued to top the market with a 24 percent overall share, trailed by Acer (14%), Dell (15%) and Apple (13%) then Toshiba (10%). While HP and Dell recovered after earlier dips, Apple outpaced everyone.

Hewlett-Packard’s announcement in August, that it was about to step away from PC production, had competitors licking their lips. After a disruptive few months the new chief executive clearly stated they were back in the game.

Now the market leader has to continue delivering product at the leading edge. Clearly the future of the desktop PC will continue to depend on delivering increasing power to handle complex and graphically intensive tasks, including those involving HD video and gaming.

HOME TECHNOLOGY 2011

21

SHORTCUTS KEEPING AN EYE OUT While many security options literally raise the alarm, affordable surveillance technology can help people make more informed decisions and provide peace of mind when checking on potential threats.

D-Link has combined the smart use of IP-based digital cameras and an online service so home and office can be monitored from anywhere by a web-enabled computer or mobile device.

MyDlink is a free cloud-based service allowing users of DCS day and night cameras to monitor the property perimeter, office, the car in the garage, the kids, pets or elderly loved ones.

Dozens of plug-and-play wireless cameras can be supported on the MyDlink site and up to three users can be given access to the account concurrently.

There’s also management software available that includes motion detection, scheduled recording to a hard drive and email alerts based on a room plan of where cameras are located.

PCs POWERING DOWN Compulsory new energy use standards will allegedly save $260 million from our power bills over the next 15-years according to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

The standards, based on the current Energy Star standard, will come into play from October next year. Computers and laptops that don’t comply won’t be able to be sold, leased or hired from then on. It won’t impact product sold before that date.

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BOOSTING BANDWIDTH An essential part of household and small business communications is reliable access to the internet and the ability to distribute bandwidth efficiently to all the devices in your network.

Older routers and modems might be adequate but technology moves on. The speed at which devices can be connected by both cable and wireless has undergone some major changes.

TABLET COMBO KEYBOARD Tablet computing is transforming the way people interact with digital music, movies, games, social channels, photos and so much more and leaving the market wide open for peripheral developers.

The Linksys all-in-one X3000 device, for example, operates as a wireless ADSL2+ modem router or a wireless-N router delivering speeds up to 300Mbit/sec and has four gigabit Ethernet ports for superfast internal connections.

To that end Logitech has created a line up of tablet accessories including keyboards, headsets and speakers.

It auto-senses the kind of connections you want to make and is flexible enough to hook up to fibre optics at some time in the future.

The Logitech Tablet Keyboard for example is a lightweight travel companion that expands the potential uses of iPad or Android-based devices. It pairs with the iPad via Bluetooth and the protective case for the combo device quickly becomes a sturdy stand for the device.

And the Linksys RE1000 range extender can boost wireless coverage in larger homes and act as a bridge to easily connect wired devices to the home network. It’s ideal for web surfing, gaming or connecting to an internet TV or Blue-ray player in otherwise out-of range areas.

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TRANSMISSION TRANSITION Merging digital screens Broadcast television as we know it is about to change forever, replaced by a hybrid of on-demand programming, interactive services, internet content and traditional free-to-air fare across a range of screens.

years with TV sales doubling to 400,000 compared to 2007.

Frequent discount offers and interest free deals from the big chain stores suggest the trend is ongoing.

Almost every home has a TV set and we spend an average of three hours a day in front of them and the choice of what we can do beyond passive viewing is expanding by the month.

ONLINE TV CHALLENGE

Today’s sets are lighter, thinner and less power hungry in their delivery of full 1080p digital resolution and HDMI and other interfaces for surround sound, cameras, laptops and USB devices have opened up a world of possibilities.

The latest models already connect to broadband internet and with a high resolution camera can use Skype, for example, to video conference.

Smart streaming technology already enables viewers to catch up on missed programmes through broadcaster’s websites and deals with ISPs for unmetered access are giving some viewers a taste of the future.

The arrival of Blu-ray HD-DVD players, personal video recorders (PVRs), 3DTV – although still in its infancy – and the ongoing roll out of HDTV broadcasting by Sky TV and Freeview and are all game changers.

FORCED UPGRADE Perhaps the most tangible incentive for change is the imminent shut down of analogue TV over the next two years, starting with Hawke’s Bay in September 2012.

All viewers will have to migrate to a Freeview enabled set, add a Freeview set-top box to their old school TV or subscribe to Sky TV or another pay-TV provider.

That deadline and a 17 percent drop in electronic equipment prices in the year to March have stimulated the sales of digital TVs. According to StatisticsNZ, 70 percent of us have at least one digital set, and nine percent have access to Freeview and Sky or TelstraClear.

Prices have plummeted as much as 90 percent in the past three

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In fact flat screen TVs have become so affordable many households are now buying second and third units, creating a bright spot in otherwise tough retail times.

Research firm comScore found more than 1.7 million New Zealand internet users aged 15-years and over watched 81.6 million videos online – an average of one a day – during its February survey.

Over half were viewed on YouTube, followed by Facebook (2.4 million videos), while TVNZ (TV1, TV2, TV7) and MediaWorks (TV3, TV4) ranked among the top 10 sites reaching 201,000 and 149,000 viewers respectively.

Another major shift in our infrastructure, the dawn of ultrafast broadband, will also challenge our viewing habits over the next five years, opening the way for IPTV to stream new channels and interactive services over the internet.

Broadcasters, content providers, internet and phone companies will compete and co-operate in the battle to deliver triple-play services; mobile and landline phones, broadband and TV from a single account. Telecom and Sky are early players.

In a recent worldwide survey, telecommunications analyst Ovum found three quarters (74%) of broadband consumers surfed the internet while watching TV, half in order to access further news or information about content they were viewing.

Another 38 percent – mainly 16-23-year olds – engaged in ‘social TV’, discussing content on social networking sites.

While tablet and smartphone devices using internet applications tend to draw viewers away from the TV, the industry is now being challenged to more tightly integrate TV and social networking sessions, with a more full and interactive experience across a range of devices.

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FEATURES • iPod/ iPhone docking stage • FM radio function (24 present channels) • Auxiliary 3.5mm input for additional audio connectivity • Alarm clock function with choice of audio output for iPod/iPhone, FM radio or auxiliary input • 1½ inch omni-directional, full range speakers • 5 available pre-set alarm options & iPhone time synchronization • 5 day (Mon-Fri) or 7 day (Mon-Sun) alarm settings • LCD display screen for FM/AUX/Alarm/Time/Date functions • Volume, track navigation, FM tuner, alarm settings and input selection controls RMS 4.5W x 2

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MOBILE NETWORKS RAMP UP Data charges challenged Vodafone, Telecom and 2degrees have cut roaming data rates in recent months to well below $10 per Mb although some say this is far from ideal. Charges can be avoided by purchasing a local SIM card or using wi-fi hot spots. Meantime mobile carriers must continue preparing for the inevitable mobile broadband onslaught.

New Zealand’s cellular networks are being redefined as wireless broadband highways that can deliver instant access to the rich online media services being demanded by smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Rather than voice and text it is social networking, sharing images, music and movies downloads, watching TV and videoconferencing that will drive this next wave of innovation.

Mobile network providers are already battling to attract and keep customers loyal through calling plans that link landline, cellular and internet access with special deals on devices, services and applications.

New Zealand has already reached saturation point with 128 percent take up of mobile phones, including work and home phones across at least two networks, machine-to-machine communication and tablet and laptop connections.

Research group IDC’s June report shows Vodafone with 2.458 million connections, Telecom 2.095 million and 2degrees 745,000. The balance are mobile resellers, including CallPlus, Orcon and TelstraClear, who want to add value to their landline and internet customers.

Like 2degrees they are largely dependent on Telecom and Vodafone for national coverage. Although Telecom did lure CallPlus away from Vodafone with better data pricing, the big two won’t be giving too much away for fear of undermining their own customer base.

COST OF CALLS CUT Meanwhile the pressure’s on to ensure New Zealanders get better mobile calling deals; for a start rates for terminating calls between networks will be gradually slashed until 2014.

High mobile data charges are also being challenged locally and governments on both sides of the ditch are formally investigating complaints of hundreds and even thousands of dollars for transTasman roaming.

From August 2012, Telecom’s CDMA network will be no more.

If your phone is older than two years you’ll need a new phone and calling package for the transition to its XT network.

Telecom’s Total Home package for example offers 29 cents a minute calls to landlines and mobiles, plus home line and 20Gb broadband internet for around $100.

BRIDGE TO 4G XT is a bridge to a new generation (LTE and 4G) network offering dazzling speeds (up to 100Mbit/sec) from 2014, opening the gates on a new era of mobile services including video conferencing, TV and a range of location-based and multimedia applications.

Handsets and mobile devices that can operate on LTE (longterm evolution) next generation cellular networks are already available.

Vodafone, Telecom, 2degrees, and possibly even UK-based Clear Mobitel, are planning to invest in the technology and radio spectrum to build these networks.

And there’s already contention over the $100 million plus of 700MHz radio spectrum to be auctioned by the Government next year, and made available once analogue TV shuts down in 2013.

Ma- ori owned Hautaki Trust, part owner of 2degrees, has ruffled Vodafone’s feathers by invoking the Treaty of Waitangi in order to get a discount.

Regardless the Government will want to ensure the process is fair to all parties who will need to co-operate at some level to ensure the maximum possible coverage.

And successful bidders will need deep pockets not only to obtain the frequencies but to purchase and install the towers and transmission equipment.

HOME TECHNOLOGY 2011

27

BOTNET ARMIES ADVANCING Cyber threats costly and mobile No matter what new device, application or online service we use to download, connect and communicate, cybercriminals are right there in the digital slipstream looking to exploit our vulnerabilities.

Scams continued to escalate this year from cold-calling ‘support’ companies looking to compromise our computers to hacked email accounts urgently seeking cash for ‘friends’ in trouble and fake requests from banks or ISPs demanding login details to prevent account closure.

With a little common sense these cons can be consigned to the trash but the perpetrators are persistent and their methods and the tools they use increasingly covert and convincing.

Internet safety group NetSafe, claims New Zealanders lost more than $750,000 over the past year through online ‘incidents’; 60 percent through phishing attacks, advanced fee frauds and romance scams.

That number is highly conservative, as victims are often too embarrassed to report cybercrime. The NetSafe Orb site (www.theorb.org.nz) provides a less threatening way to name, shame and shut down scammers. In its first year around 1700 incidents were reported.

HIGH COST TO FIX Even more sobering is Symantec’s Norton Cybercrime Report, claiming 72 percent of adult New Zealanders were victims of cybercrime and 8 percent were stung through their mobile phone in 2011.

Kaspersky Labs says the encrypted botnet, which links infected computers into a global peer-to-peer network controlled by criminals, continues to propagate with its creators making it even more robust in October.

Meanwhile security threats for cellphones and mobile devices increased sharply. Juniper Research reported a 400 percent increase in attacks on Google’s Android operating system to June.

Mobile scams included billing, spyware, search engine poisoning, pay-per-click and pay-per-install schemes, adware, fake security products and stealing and selling identities and banking details.

Despite the threats, Juniper believed less that one twentieth of smartphones and tablets had third party security software installed.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Symantec estimates more than 868,206 New Zealanders were scammed, resulting in $288.2 million in direct financial losses plus $337.3 million to resolve and recover.

Safe online activity is about taking personal responsibility.

One international survey showed 41 percent of adults did not have current security software; less than half checked credit card statements for potential fraud and 61 percent failed to use complex passwords or regularly change them to protect phones or PCs.

It alleges cybercrime and recovery worldwide costs $US388 billion – $US100 billion more than the global black market in marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined – with around a million victims every day.

Geoff Cossey from Chillisoft, which sells eSet security software, confirms identity theft by organised criminals trying to extort money remains the biggest threat with a growing incidence of public email accounts being hijacked.

And Symantec found more than 286 million unique variations of malicious software, up nearly 20 percent on the previous year. After a lull in email spam and scams, there was a sudden burst of activity in September with 72 percent of infections considered aggressive.

He said this is often through criminals requesting new passwords, guessing at obvious password clues, then locking owners out.

The big scare came in June when it was learned a supercharged botnet known as TDL-4, described as “hard to detect, delete, suppress or eradicate” and “virtually indestructible”, had infected more than four million PCs in just three months.

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HOME TECHNOLOGY 2011

Without current security profiles, the risk from infected sites downloading key-loggers to record email, website and bank account details, escalates.

Although it might be a pain updating security software, Cossey says it’s essential. “There’s no point in putting your seatbelt on if the brakes don’t work.”

INFRINGERS ON NOTICE Illegal downloaders targeted The first volley of Copyright Amendment Act infringement notices have been served on internet service providers (ISPs) pointing to specific customers who’ve been downloading pirated music.

The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) claims 42 Telecom customers, eight Orcon users, a few dozen from TelstraClear and some Vodafone internet users have accessed illegal music files.

Those ISPs are required to ask their customers to desist from downloading or sharing pirated content. If they fail to comply after three warnings, fines up to $15,000 could be imposed.

These are the first actions arising from the controversial file sharing amendment to the copyright law which came into effect from September, targeting peer-to-peer piracy which record companies claim is devastating their industry.

The majority of notices related to songs from Rihanna and Lady Gaga. It costs RIANZ $25 for each notice but the organisation will more than recover those costs if the cases are proven under the three strikes law.

The music industry was worth $US4.6 billion in 2010 and has more than 400 legal services offering over 13 million digital tracks worldwide. Digital sales contribute about 30 percent of overall music revenues, up 1000 percent over the past seven years.

DIGITAL REVENUES DOWN However, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) says its revenues would be a lot higher without digital piracy, claiming it has haemorrhaged around 30 percent of potential sales over the past seven years.

on the agenda, with the Commerce Minister threatening harsher measures.

Concerns have been raised that even the current law could penalise universities, city councils, schools, libraries or organisations for the actions of those who use their networks to access disputed material.

The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) confirms the new law is aimed at internet pirates using high bandwidth to access peer-to-peer file-sharing services, not video or music streaming websites or those using online file lockers.

A more definitive interpretation may yet come as the Copyright Tribunal and the courts process prosecutions and test aspects of the law.

COPYRIGHT POLICE ACTIVE Many music and movie copyright owners already have already have tools to identify infringing computers.

YouTube for example has its own copyright verification tools to assist with the remove of material that breaches the law.

ISPs are required to ask their customers to desist from downloading or sharing pirated content… after three warnings, fines up to $15,000 could be imposed.

Around 13-years ago the music industry was caught off guard when the MP3 format went viral and sites like Napster provided the means for people to share content around the world.

While music lovers continue flock to the internet for instant access to their favourite tunes the mainstream record companies are rapidly regaining their hold.

While some analysts believe the level of losses is exaggerated, governments around the world are being urged to push through legislation to walk pirates off the digital gangplank.

Those most at risk of being caught by the new law are broadband subscribers to services such as BitTorrent, which at times makes up about a quarter of internet traffic. This peer-to-peer service allows users to download content to their own computer then share it with others,

In New Zealand a contentious clause in the draft legislation which threatened to cut off internet access for three time offenders was removed before the law was passed. However if things don’t improve within two years it may be back

A number of countries have introduced anti-piracy legislation including the US which earlier this year passed a law enabling copyright owners to block ISPs and search engines from sending traffic to web sites accused of stealing intellectual property.

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HOME TECHNOLOGY 2011

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