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David Richards

Medion A Gutsy Solid $999 All In One PC Shows Up HP & Dell

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Evolution not revolution is something that European companies are very good at and this shows through with the new Medion Akoya MD8870 all in one touch screen PC.

You only have to look at products from Companies like BMW, Audi or Mercedes to recognise that evolution in design and functionality stands the test of time over a flashy new product with all new bells and whistle features.
Medion is a German PC manufacturer who appear to be taking the same approach with their new all in one touch screen PC.
While there was no difference between the look and feel of their previous all in one PC  the 21-inch display screen of their new offering, which is selling for sub $1,000 simply lit up to reveal a stunning new display that screamed quality. Images were sharper and applications like games performed significantly faster while rendering to the screen in a way that detail was significantly improved.

The HD resolution of 1920 X 1080 was excellent especially when it came to watching a TV program or a DVD movie in 16.9 cinema format.
However the Window Media Centre software is still a pain especially when you look at what Google is doing with their Google TV offering.
A big improvement is the NVIDIA GeForce 9100 graphics card which comes with 256 MB of shared memory.
This delivered a significant improvement over the previous model.
This PC which sells for $999 is all about under the bonnet improvements which is amazing considering the previous model cost over $1,299.The Intel T4500 2.3GHz processor is significantly faster than the previous model.
Using WorldBench 6 on the PC it recorded a score of 112. This is a significant jump from Medion’s older P4010 which we reviewed last year it also out performed HP and Dell’s all-in-one PC offerings. This is the same score that PC World recorded during the same test.
The all in one PC comes with a 1TB hard drive and the internal stereo speakers perform well.  It also has a built in TV tuner. 

 
The only problem I found was that the touch screen was ultrasensitive; resulting in a simple touch to the screen causing problems especially when one is working on a document.
Sitting on a desktop or in a kitchen or lounge this PC looks simple and smart. The stylish sleek design which is very European with smart aluminium trims around a piano black surface. A simple sturdy stand, that easily flexes allowing the PC to be easily set to an optimum viewing position, delivers excellent functionality.
The PC comes with an integrated sound system and 6 channel analogue audio. A built in camera delivers an excellent image when used with Skype even in low light.
The only irritating feature is the Medion keyboard. Its feels very cheap when typing and my recommendation is to that you ditch it and buy yourself a new wireless keyboard and mouse.

On the software front this PC comes with a 32 bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium which is a big improvement on Vista. A 64-bit is included, although a user needs to install it manually. Also in the pack is Microsoft Works, and Windows Live Essentials.
When performing such tasks as word processing, spread sheets and web browsing and video viewing, the Medion handled itself well. The dual-core CPU can run several programs simultaneously; there was no perceivable slowdown when switching between applications.
To the left side of the screen is a lip which hides three easily accessible USB 2.0 ports. This is an excellent place to put frequently used slots. Just above the USB ports is an SD card slot and a headphone microphone jack. 
On the rear panel of the PC a range of ports can be found: four USB 2.0 ports, an audio line in and coaxial digital output, a Gigabit Ethernet socket and a TV antenna input. PS/2 ports are also available for connecting older keyboards and mice.

JB Hi Fi Storms Home 40% Profit Lift

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Consumer electronics retailer JB Hi Fi has defied the market by reporting a bumper 40% increase in profits and a sales increase of 28%. The Company also believes that the CE industry at large will benefit from further Federal Government stimulus packages.

As a Reserve Bank board member called  for a change in the way that the stimulus package is distributed in an effort to prevent consumers spending on what they described yesterday to a Senate hearing as “Plasma & Pokies”, JB HI Fi has said that sales in January and February are as forecast.

One JB Hi Fi Manager said “We are definitely benefiting from the money that was handed out in December. This has certainly helped our sales.”

During the past six months as Harvey Norman was closing stores JB Hi Fi has opened 14 stores during and will open a further seven stores in the second half.  They are also looking at new locations following the collapse of several retailers, said Richard Uechtritz during a recent interview with ChannelNews.

Uechtritz said, “Whilst the retail outlook is less certain than previous reporting dates, the company is cautiously optimistic that it will have another strong year and confirms its previous guidance that sales will be circa $2.35 billion or a 28 per cent increase on the prior financial year.”

Store growth rose 11.1 per cent across its regions and management said margins remained stable at 21.4 per cent despite discounting at its competitors.

 

 

The tough economic environment for the retail sector will present expansion opportunities, the company said.

“The weak retail climate should throw up expansion opportunities,” Mr Uechtritz said during a teleconference.

“Sites from companies like Crazy Clark’s and Go-Lo are possibilities and some pass down sales that would have otherwise gone to the Strathfield business upon closure of those stores.”

The company renewed its debt facilities in December for another three years and said it had an ability to take advantage of any attractive growth opportunities that may arise in the current weak economic climate.

JB Hi Rocks Despite Tough Trading Conditions

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JB Hi Fi is set to rock with the Company forecasting sales growth of 28% running into the last quarter of 2008. This is despite what JB Hi-Fi chief executive Richard Uechtritz calls a “challenging environment”.

JB Hi Fi is set to rock with the Company forecasting sales growth of 28% running into the last quarter of 2008. This is despite what JB Hi-Fi chief executive Richard Uechtritz calls a “challenging environment”.
In a word of warning he told shareholders at today’s Annual General Meeting that he expects the current economic crisis will lead to further industry rationalisation.
The Company is forecasting that sales will rise to $2.35 billion from fiscal 2008. Company Chairman Patrick Elliot said every company in the consumer electronics sector was under scrutiny.
“Despite the current economic and retail environment and with the all important Christmas trading period ahead of us, the company remains confident that it will meet market expectations,” Mr Uechtritz said. He added “As previously advised to the market, trading in the first quarter has been solid and we maintain our previous sales guidance for fiscal 2009 of circa $2.35 billion or a 28 per cent increase on fiscal 2008.”
“Low levels of unemployment, falling interest rates and the possible switch from other big ticket purchases may continue to support a reasonable level of consumer spending in our major categories,” he added.
“We expect however that these more challenging times in retail will prove a catalyst for further industry rationalisation, increased market share for the company and further enhancement of our competitive advantage.”
The Australian said that both sales and earnings at JB Hi Fi are well up on the previous year, but the company has yet to finalise its September results.
All 6 stores opened so far this financial year are trading well, it added.
After opening 20 new stores during 2007/08, the company will open another 14 new stores for the six months to Christmas 2009, taking its total store franchise network to 119 stores.

Downlod the JB Hi Fi report here.

David Thodey New Telstra CEO

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David Thodey the former boss of IBM and of late Telstra Wholesale is set get the top job at Telstra to replace Sol Trujillo who is due to depart on June 30. . The decision was made at a Telstra board meeting yesterday.

David Thodey the former boss of IBM and of late Telstra Wholesale is set get the top job at Telstra to replace Sol Trujillo who is due to depart on June 30. . The decision was made at a Telstra board meeting yesterday.

Thodey who lives in NSW appears to have topped a short list of four, including one unnamed British executive – and close rival John Stanhope, Telstra CFO and a 40-year veteran at Telstra.

It’s the second time Stanhope has been turned down for the top job: he was pipped by Trujillo in 2005 after the board showed Ziggy Switkowski the door. As late as Wednesday, some news sources were still tipping Stanhope to emerge as the board’s choice.

Others who missed out this time included Sensis (Yellow Pages) CEO Bruce Akhurst and consumer marketing group MD David Moffatt.

At 54, Thodey is four years younger than Stanhope. He has been MD of Telstra’s enterprise and government division, as well as heading up the Kaz services business, and is widely seen as seen favouring a more stable relationship with the government than Telstra pursued under the prickly Trujillo.

His major task – apart from attempting to repair the Telstra share price, which has slid 36 percent under Trujillo – will be to steer a voluntary separation deal ahead of the NBN rollout: something that Trujillo plainly could never have embraced. That course could also see the departure of Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie, who has been closely aligned with the Trujillo view.

 

Thodey joined the telco from IBM in 2001 as group MD of Telstra Mobile, and has also served as chairman of TelstraClear, the NZ subsidiary. In his enterprise and government role he has been drawing an annual paycheque of around $3.9 million – if the board reward him as they did Trujillo he can expect something more like $13-14 million.

Technology Nous Is Not A Pre Requisite To Being A Great Leader

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COMMENT: Today several smart arse political journalists including Kerry O’Brien on the ABC’s 7.30 Report are trying to make out that Tony Abbott is a technology nerd, despite the fact that O’Brien and a lot of other mass media journalists don’t have a clue about technology other than it’s something to do with an iPhone, iPod and searching the web.

Last night on the 7.30 Report Abbott stuck his hands up and honestly said:”Just as the Prime Minister says, I say as well, I’m no Bill Gates here and I don’t claim to be any kind of tech-head in all of this.”
The fact is that if you asked most CEO’s of companies, who have major technology infrastructure the chances are that they, like Abbott, will not have a clue about the technology detail in their operations and that includes the CEOs and Chairmen of most Australian banks.
 I am pretty certain that a lot of media CEOs and Chairmen, including Roger Corbett at Fairfax, would do exactly what Abbott did, be honest.
What Abbott should have done is stick his hands up and told O’Brien that in the Coalition there are several experts with intimate knowledge of technology including some with an excellent understanding of the issues associated with the role out of a broadband network. And that they have contributed in the development of the Coalition’s broadband plan.
Among the people on hand for Abbott is Malcolm Turnbull, who is a former director of OzEmail, one of the first ISPs in Australia. He was also Chairman and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Australia between 1997 and 2001. During this period he made several successful technology investments.
Turnbull is also one of Australia’s richest politicians who in 1999, sold OzEmail to the then telecommunications giant MCI WorldCom. Turnbull’s take out of the deal was worth over A$70 million.
Since then he has made several  strategic investments in software and technology service companies. His wealth has been created making the right technology decisions, not the wrong ones.
Also in the opposition team is Paul Fletcher, who is a seasoned broadband communications expert.
He was the principal of a strategic consulting firm serving the communications sector and was previously Director, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, at Optus for eight years.

 
 He also wrote a book on broadband and telecommunications called Wired Brown Land.
Fletcher also worked as Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston, during the Howard Government.
Adding to the team is current shadow Communications Minister, Tony Smith, who yesterday was supported by Andrew Robb, the shadow finance minister. 
What the Liberals are doing is minimising the financial risk while delivering a 100Mbps broadband service. 
The reality is that if the proposed Labour broadband plan goes pear shaped it will have a shocking impact on each and every Australian who will be denied access to infrastructure spanning health, transport and social services. No political leader is expected to be an expert on every issue impacting a Federal Government. This is the reason that we have Ministers and Departments that are supposedly staffed by experts. 
Abbott, Rudd and others before him, including Howard, are the men at the front end of a political party and should not be held liable for the minute detail of any portfolio, in particularly portfolios that are dependent on strategic technology. 
They are not the backroom decision makers whose recommendations we as Australians have to live with every day. 
These are the faceless people who seem to survive in the public service despite massive budget blow outs and failed projects like the recent Labour Government environmental batts programs.
Recently the Australian Tax Office scaled back its new $820 million computer system because of problems including a 20 per cent cost blow out.
If this happens with Labour’s proposed $43 billion dollar fibre broadband plan we are looking at an additional  $8 Billion dollars, which in reality is a lot of roads, schools and hospitals.  

Former JB Hi FI Boss Gets Seven Director Gig

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Days after quitting JB Hi-Fi former chief executive Richard Uechtritz has been appointed a director of Seven Group Holdings.

Mr Uechtritz, who resigned from JB Hi-Fi in February but stayed on till May after a 10-year stint as chief executive, played an important role in turning the retail chain into a $2bn company. 
Seven Group shares have fallen almost 19 per cent since April. Earnings from its media businesses, which include the Seven Network and Pacific Magazines, are expected to be stronger as advertising markets improve.
Also appointed to the board is Crown director Chris Mackay the former head of investment bank UBS in Australia. 
The Australian newspaper describes this as a significant move because he also sits on the board of two companies controlled by James Packer — Crown and Consolidated Media Holdings. It appears to underline the peace that has broken out between the Stokes and Packer camps since Seven grabbed a 22 per cent stake in ConsMedia in the middle of last year. The billionaires called a truce in September when Mr Stokes agreed not to buy any more ConsMedia shares for 12 months in exchange for two board seats, which went to Seven chief Peter Gammell and Seven director Ryan Stokes. It is believed Mr Packer expressed no objection to Mr Mackay joining the Seven board.

Correction

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The head of the NBN Mike Quigley and CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret have said via their in-house lawyers that no allegations of corruption or bribery were ever made against them.

We recently published two articles following allegations made by Opposition Spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull about NBN Co executives Mike Quigley and Jean-Pascal Beaufret and a corruption investigation into Alcatel-Lucent whilst they were senior executives of the French Company. Those articles implied that Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret were responsible for the corrupt practices of Alcatel-Lucent and should have disclosed the investigation of the company to the government when considered for their roles at NBN Co.

Smarthouse acknowledges that those statements were unfair to Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret.

Smarthouse accepts that no allegations of corruption or bribery were ever made against Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret and they were not involved in any way in the incidents.  We also acknowledge that Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret were never questioned by investigating authorities. As such, there was no proper basis for suggesting the investigation into Alcatel-Lucent should have been disclosed by Mr Quigley or Mr Beaufret.

Smarthouse unreservedly apologises to Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret for the harm caused to them by the articles.

Dick Smith Close 8 Stores

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Dick Smith has been forced to close eight stores in Christchurch New Zealand after a 6.5 earthquake just before 1pm NZ time today. This was followed by constant aftershocks, some as powerful as magnitude 5.

Also affected by the earthquake is Harvey Norman who has one store in Queensland. Telstra who operate their struggling TelstraClear said that their network which uses a Telstra owned cable network was still up but like the recent Queensland Cyclone their network has been affected by a lack of power to key locations where operational gear is located.

Telecom New Zealand said that their Christchurch network was operable but there was significant network congestion and a lot of its network is running on battery power which has limited life.

Both Telecom NZ and TelstraClear advised fixed-line customers to use a plug-in analogue phone if they had one.

“These are currently running on back-up power. This means our voice services are still operating, except where there is damage to phone lines, individual premises or power is lost to premises,” spokesman David Courtney said.

About half of its 50,000 cable modem customers were without access to the internet.

At 3.00pm Australian Eastern Time, Vodafone said that their network was still running but 10 of its 150 towers in the region had been knocked out and another 43 were operating on battery back-up which will run out by midnight tonight.

A spokesperson for Dick Smith said that all of their Christchurch stores were now closed and that there had been no loss of life among employees.

All of the networks operating in Christchurch say that data networks which in a lot of cases are still operational will run out of power as battery back up fails.

3 Display Monitors Are Better Than One Say Experts

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Are you looking to be more productive? How about three PC screens instead of one. New research shows that when three screens are linked together productivity increases by up to 35% over someone using a 19″ LCD flat screen monitor.

Are you looking to be more productive? How about three PC screens instead of one. New research shows that when three screens are linked together productivity increases by up to 35% over someone using a 19″ LCD flat screen monitor.

According to Fujitsu and the Fraunhofer IAO laboratory one group of testers who had a 22-inch widescreen monitor, increased their productivity over the single 19-inch group by 8.4-percent. 

According to the researchers says Slashgear.com employees can perform a typical knowledge-sector job much more efficiently at a three-display workplace than at a conventional one.

 This is particularly relevant for jobs where digital information has to be frequently processed as is the case with scientists, editors, engineers or insurance company employees. Overall, the study showed that larger screen areas increase productivity – and with the 3-display workplace all interconnected to form one desktop, Fraunhofer IAO scientists recorded increased productivity of 35.5 percent.