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Sony Sensor Biz Restarts

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Sony will resume operations at its main factory for camera sensors this week along with its delayed earnings forecast, after both were suspended following an earthquake in southern Japan last month.As well as shutting down Sony’s wafer processing at

its Kumamoto facility, the quake forced the electronics giant to delay release

of its earnings forecast for the current financial year because it had to

assess any impact from the natural disaster.

Kumamoto is Sony’s main manufacturing plant for image sensors used in digital

and security cameras.

China Blamed For BoM Hack

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China is being blamed for a major cyber attack on the computers at the Bureau of Meteorology, which has compromised sensitive systems across the Federal Government, according to an ABC report.

Multiple official sources are said to have confirmed the recent attack and say it will cost millions of dollars to plug the security breach, as other agencies have also been affected.

The bureau owns one of Australia’s largest supercomputers and provides critical information to a host of agencies. Its systems straddle the nation, including a link into the Department of Defence, the ABC notes.

Reasons for the hack attack are not obvious – weather forecasts being free public knowledge – but ABC sources say the bureau is a critical national resource and another state could place a high value on its intellectual property and scientific research.

In the event of a conflict, compromising Australia’s ability to accurately forecast weather would affect the operation of military and commercial aircraft

Online Purchases A ‘Blokey’ Thing

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Aussie men are far bigger online shopaholics than women, racking up bills of $200+ a month, according to a new survey.


Click to enlarge

Aussie men increased their online purchases over the past four years and are now spending a third more than women each month, the survey carried out by the boffins over at Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, found.

This is surprising considering women are traditionally known for being far more enthusiastics shoppers than their males counteparts.

Senior research fellow Scott Ewing said men seem more comfortable spending larger amounts of money online, while women were more concerned about credit-card fraud.

Ewing noted that it is not just younger men looking for bargains online, with men in the 50-60 age bracket also figuring highly – apparently reflecting their levels of disposable income and increasing comfort with technology.

The survey estimates the value of Internet purchases by Australians is running around an average of $206 a month, up from $179 a month in 2007.

OZ Retailers Flocking To eBay To Shift Stock

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Aussie retailers and distributors are reportedly flocking to sell their merchandise on once feared US online auction giant eBay, claims the Company’s CEO.

Australian MD at eBay Deborah Sharkey said eBay was a conduit for the retailers who now account for 82 percent of eBay sales in Australia.

“EBay has evolved – we’re no longer ‘that auction site for used stuff’ – most of what Australians are buying on eBay is brand-new products from retailers,” she told Australian IT.

“We’re a mainstream shopping destination. We’ve got the largest selection of products online in Australia.”

Retailers including fashion chain Dotti, fashion brands Supre and Ksubi, Super Retail’s Super Cheap Auto and fashion designer Lisa Ho are among the 70 mainstream retailers now selling via eBay. Some, including Lisa Ho, feature on eBay.com.au’s Fashion Gallery: a set-up where consumers can deal direct from a variety of top fashion names at a discount from recommended retail prices.

Online retailing still only accounts for about 6 per cent of Australian retail spending, compared with more than 10 per cent in the US and British markets – a gap Sharkey predicts will rapidly narrow. “The entire pie is growing dramatically, and we’re still not satisfying consumer demand – we want to enable Australian businesses to offer as much as possible to the Australian consumer,” she said.

 

Dell Reveals New Win 8 Convertable

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Dell is using the Computex show in Taipei to launch an 11.6-inch Windows 8 laptop that can be used as a tablet. The XPS 11 device, with a casing made of carbon fibre and aluminium, has a hinged keyboard that allows it to fold backward. The device weighs 1.13kg.

The screen has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, and there’s an Intel Core i5 Haswell processor for longer battery life, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt for speedy file transfers.

The in-plane switching (IPS) screen is said to ensure that the display remains as bright from different angles as it is from straight on. It has an active digitiser that can respond to pressure from a pen.


Dell already markets the XPS 12 device which has a 12.5-inch multi-touch display.

The company is in the midst of a transformation from a PC maker to a technology-services provider. It will hold a shareholder vote on July 18 on a $24.4 billion buyout bid by founder Michael Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, who want to take the company private – or an alternative plan by activist investor Carl Icahn that would enable shareholders to retain their holdings.

Macquarie Uni Dumps Gmail

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Sydney’s Macquarie University is to dump Google’s Gmail as the preferred e-mail and calendaring system for staff, following a decision by Google to move the university’s stored data from Europe to the USA.

Macquarie will move its e-mail system to Microsoft’s Office 365 service, MacUni CIO Mary Davies has said.

Microsoft has been hosting Australian operations of its cloud product suite in two datacentres in Melbourne and Sydney since last October.

“The new offering will include greater security and data privacy, as well as improved data access speeds, global e-mail access, and collaboration with other Australian universities,” Davies told online service ZDNet.

Davies said staff will retain access to Google Apps for the time being, but will no longer use Google for e-mail and calendars. And she said Google Apps will be reviewed separately in 2016.

E-signs Bring Message To NSW

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E-signs, which can change within the hour, are beginning to sprout on Sydney streets.

The NSW Road and Maritime Services agency has inked a deal with Slovenian vendor Visionect to use its digital signage to ease the chore of changing signs to reflect coming events, according to The Register Web site.

“The technology came about through staff who saw the potential of e-reader technology to display real time information about clearways to manage traffic flows during special events,” an RMS spokesperson said.

The agency “successfully advocated to US based company E-ink to be involved as one of four global partners to trial their proprietary EPD (electrophoretic display) technology on applications other than e-readers.”

“Staff then sourced various technology providers to assist in the development of the electronic hardware required to support the E-sign design.”

Some 15 of the signs were successfully trialled on George Street in the Sydney CBD and a second rollout has since been completed in the Moore Park area, centre of many major sporting events.

The signs are hitched to a solar panel, equipped with wireless broadband and updated remotely as needed.

Hi-Tech Help For Haynes?

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SAN FRANCISCO – There’s been a lot of hype about Aussie Jarryd Hayne’s acceptance into this season’s line-up of the San Francisco 49ers, so CDN thought we might join the pack.One piece of news he’ll perhaps be glad to hear is that researchers are trying to make the game safer with trials of sensor helmets that will give an early indication of possible concussion.

Researchers have created a chemical strip that changes colour on impact to measure the force of a collision. The material could be integrated into helmets for athletes – or soldiers.

The technology relies on tiny crystals whose colour is linked to underlying shapes, not to pigmentation. When a hard blow changes the shape of the crystals, the colour changes as well.

NBN to Speak In 50 Voices

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SYDNEY – NBN Co has shown a new entrepreneurial interest with the launch of enhancements to its fibreoptic network which it claims will allow service providers to offer businesses the ability to run up to 50 voice services simultaneously over its fibre network.
The new offering has already met with “enthusiasm” from the communications industry, according to sales chief – and former Sun Micro honcho – Jim Hassell.

According to NBN Co, service providers Internode, iiNet, M2/iPrimus, and Macquarie Telecom have already confirmed that they will offer business-specific services using the so-called “NBN for Business” enhancements.

Uber Cleared To Operate In VIC

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Victoria has become the latest Australian state or territory where ride-sharing service Uber can operate legally, after a Melbourne Uber driver won a landmark appeal.It joins NSW, South Australia and the ACT, where Uber

activities have already been cleared. Queensland and WA remain the major

holdouts.

Driver Nathan Brenner was found guilty last year by a Victorian magistrate on

two counts of operating a commercial passenger vehicle without a licence,

effectively outlawing Uber in the state. He was fined $900. But Victorian

County Court judge Geoffrey Chettle, hearing his appeal, on Wednesday dismissed

the charges and ordered the Taxi Services Commission to pay Brenner’s costs.

Opposition transport spokesman David Hodgett yesterday hailed the decision,

saying that the Victorian Government had wasted taxpayers’ money trying to

fight Uber instead of regulating the service to provide industry certainty.

“This is not about taxis versus Uber, but rather what ways we can get our

city moving in the most efficient way,” he said.