Smart Office

Menu

David Richards

New Mouse From Apple

by

After 21 years of the same old boring mouse Apple has finally woken up to the fact that users need more functions and have introduced a multi button device.

The New Apple Mouse

Apple on has introduced its first multi-button mouse in nearly 21 years after debuting the one-button mouse that made the Mac famous.

Dubbed Mighty Mouse, the Mac- and Windows-compatible input device offers users four programmable buttons and something Apple calls a “Scroll Ball,” essentially a scrolling wheel that lets users browse through long Web pages or large photos vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

“With Mighty Mouse, we’ve simply built a better mouse,” said David Moody, Apple’s vice president of product marketing, in a statement.

Programmable mice, and scrolling wheels that move in more than one direction, however, are not new; they’ve been around the Windows world for years.

Although the new mouse boasts four programmable buttons, it looks like a uni-button device. Four touch-sensitive areas under the shell respond to pressure to act as the “buttons.” Some of the areas can be programmed to give users one-click access to Mac OS X 10.4.2 (Tiger) features such as Spotlight or Dashboard.

“Mighty Mouse adds functionality while retaining the elegant, easy-to-use Apple design,” said Moody.

The USB mouse is due in Australia soon. It works with Mac OS X, Windows 2000, or Windows XP systems.

EXCLUSIVE: Harvey Norman Franchisees Face Similar Fines To HP, ACCC Investigates Other Brands

by

Eleven Harvey Norman franchisees, who saw a massive $3M fine handed out to Hewlett Packard on Friday for misleading consumers, face the prospect of similar $1.1M fines from the Federal Court after being linked to the HP case by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

Shortly before ACCC investigators started to investigate the actions of Hewlett Packard, the ACCC had started an investigation into the actions of several Harvey Norman retailers, who they claim engaged in similar practices to Hewlett Packard.   


The ACCC alleges that between May 2011 and June 2012, sales representatives at the Harvey Norman franchisees made misleading representations to specific consumers about the existence or effect of their consumer guarantee rights. ChannelNews understands that some of these claims relate to warranty claims involving Hewlett Packard computers.


Recently, the ACCC laid several charges against the 11 Harvey Norman franchises. 


ChannelNews understands that several other manufacturers and distributors of IT and consumer electronic goods are currently under investigation in Australia, with the real prospect they will also face ACCC charges.


The ACCC has told ChannelNews that it is conducting investigations similar to those into Hewlett Packard, into other large manufacturers and retailers, and that several manufacturers are in their sights over warranty claims.


Adrian Kuti and Matthew Battersby, lawyers for Australian legal practice Clayton Utz, claim that the ACCC’s proceedings against Hewlett Packard and the Harvey Norman franchisees are by no means the end of the drama over warranties for manufacturers and retailers alike.


They claim that further enforcement proceedings appear inevitable, particularly given the ACCC’s stated intention to take on more cases, even where the outcomes may be less certain.


In a note to clients, the lawyers write: “It is interesting that the ACCC chose to commence pecuniary penalty proceeds against the Harvey Norman franchisees, where in the past, it may have instead issued infringement notices for this type of conduct. This is a sign that the ACCC is stepping up its focus on ACL compliance and is becoming more proactive in commencing proceedings against manufacturers and retailers for alleged ACL contraventions.”


They claim that the allegations in the proceedings against Hewlett Packard and the 11 Harvey Norman franchisees highlight practical issues about the relationship between warranty claims and ACL claims and how they are communicated to customers by retail and call centre staff.

 


In a direct warning to manufacturers and retailers, the lawyers claim it’s important to ensure customer-facing staff are properly trained and do not, for example, confuse the requirements which apply to the return of defective products with those that apply for “change of mind” returns. 


The nature of manufacturers’ warranties and in-store returns policies as being additional to, rather than in place of, consumers’ rights under the ACL consumer guarantees regime is another key distinction that businesses must ensure their staff understand.


ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said: “Consumers have rights to certain remedies from retailers and manufacturers when goods fail to comply with the consumer guarantee provisions, including that goods are of acceptable quality and fit for the purpose for which they were sold. These rights cannot be excluded, restricted or modified.”

 

Nine of the Harvey Norman franchisees are:


Avitalb Pty Limited, located in Albany, Western Australia

Bunavit Pty Limited, located in Bundall, Queensland

Camavit Pty Limited, located in Campbelltown, New South Wales

HP Superstore Pty Limited, located in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria

Launceston Superstore Pty Limited, located in Launceston, Tasmania

Mandurvit Pty Limited, located in Mandurah, Western Australia

Moonah Superstore Pty Limited, located in Moonah, Tasmania

Oxteha Pty Limited, located in Oxley, Queensland; and

Salecomp Pty Limited, located in Sale, Victoria.


“While the ACCC does not allege that Harvey Norman Holdings Limited is involved in making of these representations, the fact that the allegations made by the ACCC relate to a number of its stores in widespread locations across Australia is of great concern to the ACCC, and I expect to Harvey Norman too,” Mr Sims said.

Tabcorp Facing A Rough Time Ahead At Jupiters

by

COMMENT: It’s amazing how the Australian tourism industry who has powerful lobby groups expect Federal and State government to bail them out when there is a market downturn or when tourism is taking a downer because visitors who have been here before refuse to come back or alternatively have told their friends that Australia is expensive and delivers “lousy” service for the price they are asked to pay.

The bottom line is that overseas tourists are not coming back to Australia not because of the beauty of the Country but because of high costs and poor service by hotel operators who want to charge premium rates but fail to deliver the quality of service that many of the visitors get in their own Country.

Almost every tourism research study identifies service as a major issue. A classic example of poor service is Conrad Jupiter’s on the Gold Coast which is often promoted by Tourism Australia and the cQueensland government as being a premium property.

Owned by Tabcorp who describe themselves as Australia’s “premier gambling and entertainment group”, this property is fast going downhill and despite an injection of capital to tart up what is fast becoming a tired four if not three star gambling property the hotel is failing to deliver even the most basic of customer service.


I have just come back from 3 days staying at this property and if my experience is anything to go by tourists are in for a very rocky ride. While gambling and the goughing of money into pokie machines or other gambling activities is a high prioity for Tabcorp it appears that customer service is suffering because of high staff turnover and poor customer service systems. 


Talk to any major hotel group, in particular the European and US operators and they will tell you that one of their most valuable assets is their customer database in particular the profiles they keep on the likes and dislikes of their frequent visitors. When I arrived at Conrad Jupiter’s I was told that they had no customer profile this is despite the fact that I have been staying at this property since first opened the last time being 12 months ago. I have done function after function in their ballroom while also booking hundreds of guests through the property for past clients.


When I checked in late on Friday night after booking directly with the hotel and after specifically asking for a King Sized bed my wife and I found ourselves in a twin room. When we pointed this out the response from the front desk operator was “Sir you did not book a king sized bed”.


Maybe he should have asked first what I had booked before telling me what I had not booked. This is called customer service.  Then when they did find a room with a king sized bed we discovered it was in a smoking room where everything in the room smelt of tobacco smoke. It then turned out that a non smoking was not available till late the next day.


Then there was the issue of room and floor keys. Eight times I had to go to reception where after waiting in a queue they had to re code my room key. They blamed my phone, then my wallet and other credit cards as the being the culprit for wiping the card of information.This is despite the fact that several customers were complaining of room key swipe problems.


In today’s market and with the technology there is available these issues can be avoided and should be avoided. This hotel is a classic example of what Tourism Queensland puts up as a 5 star hotel to overseas guests but in reality it is struggling to deliver a 3 star service.

 

One of the core problems for Conrad Jupiter’s is staff churn, which is uncommon among hotel properties in Australia. Speak to any of the staff at Jupiter’s and they will tell you that they are under paid and that there is high staff turnover. A check by SmartOffice reveals that staffs at Jupiter’s are paid up to $100 a week less than their counterparts at Star City which is also owned by Tabcorp and during the next few months this could well lead to further problems as staff seek further pay rises.


Service and the building of a close relationship with customers are critical in today’s market. As an example I am a regular visitor to both the Westin in Irvine in the USA and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and at both properties they not only hold extensive customer profile but communicate with me on a regular basis with offers and information that they believe could be relevant to me.


2 years ago when I was checking into a hotel in Europe the concierge said “Welcome back Mr Richards, your non smoking aren’t you”. I had not visited this hotel for two years. Inside they knew my room preference and pillow preference and the fact that I wanted a copy of the Financial Times in the morning.


For a hotel like Jupiter’s this level of customer service is essential particularly as this hotel is now very tired and is about to lose their ocean views to new developments who will take customers away from them because they are newer, have great views and are going to be committed to not only wining customers away from Jupiter’s but retaining them with a higher level of service.       

Maybe one solution for the Federal Government is to invest in “Service” software for the tourism industry and better training for key staff instead of blatently proping  

Desktop Market Heading To Uncertain Future Say GFK

by

Mobile computer purchases vastly outperformed those of Deskbound PCs in 2007 and now, more than ever with the growth in mobile computing, the deskbound PC market is heading towards an uncertain future claim research Company GFK.

Mobile computer purchases vastly outperformed those of Deskbound PCs in 2007  and now, more than ever with the growth in mobile computing, the deskbound PC market is heading towards an uncertain future claim research Company GFK.

The downward trend in the Deskbound PC market has continued in the first quarter of 2008 and shipments are reducing at a faster rate than expected say GFK. As demand is lowered, some of the PC peripheral markets are suffering with poor sales too.

Hardware devices such as Printers, Scanners and LCD Monitors are facing their own unique issues, but are not likely to be affected by the losses in the Desktop market. These devices will be in demand in one form or another regardless. The IT peripheral markets, especially Mice, Keyboards, Webcams and Speakers, may very well see a downfall in terms of volume and value in the near future, due to their direct corollary with the Deskbound PC market.

One of the most rapid downturns in the IT industry recently has been observed in the Webcam market. The sales success of 2005 and 2006 were not equalled in 2007. The market has gone from a volume growth of 6% compared to 2006, but a value decline of 6%. The continued weakness of sales volume is now effecting the market as the first quarter in 2008 failed to help the market see a much wanted recovery.

The average price has now declined to just below $55 in March 2008 and is expected to remain low throughout 2008. Entry level cameras in the retail channel during the first months have dropped to under $39 per unit, further widening the price gap between the retail and the business channel. Webcam price points are expected to stabilise in 2009, but the performance of this market will purely depend on the volumes generated in the future.

Due to the vast range of applications and the low cost of a Webcam, it is estimated that households already own multiple PC cameras. With the changes in the PC market and the fast adoption of the Notebook PC, there might be room for a good Notebook Webcam in the future.

 

Dick Smith To Be Placed Into Administration Today, Ferrier Hodgson Appointed

by

Dick Smith is set to be placed into administration today, Tuesday, after the major banks said “enough is enough” for the troubled consumer electronics retailer.

ChannelNews understands that the banks have appointed James Stewart from Ferrier Hodgson as receiver and McGrathNicol will act as the company’s administrator.

Chairman Rob Murray said Dick Smith’s go-for-broke discount sale in December had not generated as much cash as management had expected, continuing a downward trend in the second quarter and leaving it with no option but to call in an administrator.
 
“The directors formed the view that any success in obtaining alternative funding would not have been sufficiently timely to support short-term funding requirements and allow the company to order required inventory during the next four to six weeks,” Mr Murray said in a statement released through the ASX. 
“The directors have been unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary support of its banking syndicate to see it through this period. 

“The directors are of the view that without this support, there is no option other than to appoint a voluntary administrator.” 


Dick Smith offered to close several stores and lay off staff but this was not enough for the banks, insurance Companies including QBE were already refusing to insure any future stock going into Dick Smith stores.

Prior to the peak trading period the National Australia Bank, the Bank of New Zealand and HSBC Bank Australia made available $135 million which was secured by property, ChannelNews understands that Dick Smith got the money after forecasting certain revenues, those targets have not been met with the Company set to announce the appointment of an administrator today.

In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday the company said it had requested its shares be placed in a trading halt pending an announcement about its “funding position and debt financing covenants”.

Insiders have told ChannelNews that Dick Smith’s financial and “stock position” is “a mess”, we have also been told that the Company has spent the holiday period negotiating with banks in an effort to keep the Company afloat.

If Dick Smith does go under and is placed into administration pressure is set to mount on the Australian Companies and Security Commission to conduct an investigation into the actual float of the Company, after insiders told ChannelNews that same store sales were not as indicated in information provided to potential investors prior to the float. 

 Investors already had to contend with two earnings downgrades since August, including $60 million in inventory write-offs, pushing shares more than 80 per cent lower.

The fallout from the placing of the Company into administration is that several distributors and vendors could end up not being paid. 

Trade Insurance Companies warned suppliers prior to Christmas that if there was any problems with Dick Smith that they would only be paid between $0.48 and $0.62 in the dollar for stock supplied prior to restrictions being placed on the supply of stock to the mass retailer. 

Macquarie analysts have said that since the late November inventory write-off – about 20 per cent of its total value – management had shifted their main focus to reducing inventory and debt levels at the expense of profits. “The level of sell-through and potential cannibalisation of sales from the clearance activities would further muddy the outlook,” the analysts told clients, halving their target price to 50c a share. 

Harvey Norman chief Gerry Harvey also criticised Dick Smith’s heavy discounting strategy, labelling it “suicidal”. Sales figures for the crucial Christmas trading period are not expected for some time, although CBA economists reported that early transaction data indicated solid spending ahead of the period. But sales at large retail stores rose 0.5 per cent in November, easing from 0.7-0.8 per cent in the prior six months.

HP Recalls 135,000 Hot Notebooks

by

Hewlett-Packard has issued a recall of certain laptop computer batteries, which can overheat, posing the threat of fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says.

Hewlett-Packard has issued a  recall of certain laptop computer batteries, which can overheat, posing the threat of fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says.

About 135,000 battery packs worldwide, including about 85,000 in the U.S., are involved in the recall. An internal short can cause the battery cells to overheat and melt or char the plastic case, posing a burn and fire hazard, the company says.HP says it has received 16 reports of batteries overheating, including four in the U.S. No injuries have been reported. Four cases of minor property damage were reported, including one in the U.S.


The recalled lithium ion rechargeable battery packs are used with various HP and Compaq notebook computers. The recalled battery packs are a subset of those manufactured March 2004 through September 2004, and will have a bar code label starting with GC, IA, L0 or L1. The CPSC says consumers should stop using the recalled batteries immediately and contact HP to arrange for a free replacement battery. For additional information, visit the HP Battery Replacement program Web site at http://www.hp.com/support/BatteryReplacement

EXCLUSIVE:Smokin Gun Email Could Bring Down Dick Smith Executives

by

Australian Securities and Investment Commission are investigating whether a $2M underpayment of Dick Smith staff may have been deliberately hidden by senior executives of Dick Smith who were also responsible for the $400M collapse of the consumer electronics retailer.

The smoking gun that could bring down former executives of Dick Smith is an email between former chief financial officer Michael Potts and former CEO Nick Aboud, the email was discovered when Ferrier Hodgson staff went searching through an email database. 

According to Ferrier Hodgson sources, working for the receivers, who are currently investigating the books of Dick Smith, both Potts and Nick Aboud have been questioned about the email, which indicates that certain Dick Smith executives were aware of the discrepancies, that dated back to Woolworths’ ownership of the electronics chain before the business was bought by private equity form Anchorage Capital and sold to investors through a $520 million public float.

The issue for ASIC investigators is why the discrepancies were not disclosed in any financial filings for Dick Smith and why the market was not informed of the discrepancies when discovered by Dick Smith management. 

Yesterday Ferrier Hodgson announced that Michael Potts employment with Dick Smith had been terminated. 

Aboud who has already been questioned by Australian Securities and Investment Commission investigators is also set to be questioned by the Australian Tax Office. 

ChannelNews understands that certain allegations have been put to Aboud and that as a result of certain questions Aboud has sought, time via his solicitors, to prepare documentation for investigators. 

We understand that a meeting between ASIC and ATO investigators has been delayed until April. 

Yesterday Ferrier Hodgson chose to selectively reveal to the Australian that 3,200 current and former staff may be owed as much as $2 million in entitlements, dating back as far as 2010 when the chain was under the control of Woolworths.

They made no mention of the smoking gun email.

According to Ferrier Hodgson partner James Stewart who has not returned calls to ChannelNews staff may have missed out on their full leave loading as a result of the “incorrect application of the relevant industrial award.”
Woolworths have said that they are now conducting their own analysis of payments to staff, to ensure that other miscalculation have incurred anywhere else across its business.

At this stage ASIC hasn’t initiated a formal investigation however they are looking at the float prospectus as well as Dick Smith’s most recent audited full year financial results, which were signed off by Deloitte.
Ferrier Hodgson has referred the matter to the Fair Work Ombudsman as well as the Shop.

New $799 KeyOne Blackberry Announced, May Launch

by

The Blackberry of old is out, a new Blackberry complete with a new generation keyboard is called KeyOne.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona overnight, TCL the Chinese Company that secured the rights to the security software that made the Blackberry famous launched a brand new model that will go on sale in Australia in May for $799.

The Blackberry KeyOne has a 4.5-inch screen and a full BlackBerry keyboard. It also has a Full HD 1,620 X 1,080 LCD screen and an impressive pixel density of 434 pixels per inch. There is also a 12-megapixel camera front camera and an 8-megapixel selfie camera.  

Also on board is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, plus a MicroSD card slot. There’s a huge 3505mAh battery, the powerhouse is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor.

The reason that TCL has used this processor is to deliver efficiency and longer battery life. 


“We believe it’s properly designed with the right engine and the right gas tank,” a TCL spokesperson said.

With the new keyboard, you can swipe on it to move between home screens, and use the space bar as a fingerprint sensor. 

But you can also assign any key as an arbitrary keyboard shortcut: G for Gmail, for instance, or M for music.

Another key benefit is the Hub, BlackBerry’s unified messaging app, which now includes Slack and WhatsApp. This allows one to store all your messages in one place. 

At CES I was able to play with an early version of this device and unlike a classic BlackBerry handsets the screen won’t be square but adopt a more regular touchscreen aspect. Rather than 16:9 like most displays, it’s 3:2 which could be a problem when viewing video.

 Unlike prior models the KeyOne doesn’t have a sliding display, and doesn’t look like a traditional candy bar all-touch device either. Instead, it resembles a stretched-out version of the Silver Edition BlackBerry Passport.

Like traditional BlackBerry phones, and unlike the Priv, the KeyOne also has metal frets in between the four rows of keys on the physical keyboard. This helps space out the keys to make typing easier, as well as giving it a solid feel. Above the keys, below the display, there’s the traditional Android trio of capacitive buttons. 

These keys are sculpted to make them easier to type on and, the space bar doubles as a home button and fingerprint scanner. 

The new KeyOne comes with a textured black plastic back and the frame is rounded, giving it a comfortable in-hand feel, and the volume rocker and Convenience Key are low down, and easy to reach. 


Under the deal with TCL their developers get access to BlackBerry’s industrial design team to help create a unified BlackBerry design, however it’s not known whether TCL will get access to BlackBerry’s patented hardware technologies, like its special Paratek antennas.

“We license our IP technology to many different companies, and you could assume those companies could be part of that licensing structure,” a Blackberry spokesperson said. 


The KeyOne under-the-hood security will have to go through full US government certification processes again, to be usable by the Department of Defence, he said.

65″ Sharp LCD TV Announced

by

Sharp has announced a PRO 65″ LCD TV. However they have refused to put a price on it.

Sharp has announced what it claims is the world’s largest professional LCD monitor, a 65-inch model that will be available this June.

At press time, a spokeswoman for Sharp said that the company had not named a price for the new PN-655 LCD monitor, which features 1920 x 1080, two megapixel high-definition resolution. Detailed specifications were not available, although the company said it would provide a range of connectors, including DVI inputs.

The company’s Dual-Fine Engine technology was included, to help the diplay show off PC as well as video content. The PN-655 also contains a four-wavelength spectrum, cold-cathode fluorescent backlight that provides an enhanced color spectrum including deeper, more vibrant and vivid reds,” according to the company. A technique called Bright Pixel Elimination culls “stuck-on” white pixels, to make a failed pixel “invisible to the viewer,” Sharp said.

Pixel response time for the PN-655 is less than 6 ms. The viewing angle is greater than 170 degrees.


Click to enlarge

A well bred notebook

by

The ASUS W3000A is a value for money notebook. The big advantage is that it is made by a pedigree notebook company who just happen to make notebooks for Sony, Apple and Dell.

Before we begin the review proper, it’s bearing in mind that just a handful of Taiwanese outfits are responsible for the vast majority of the world’s notebook PC production, including those sold by virtually all the big brand PC companies. Asus, for instance, produces some of the lushest laptops on the market for Sony and Apple, among others.

So, it’s not awfully surprising to see that elements of the Sony Vaio design vibe, feature set and top-notch build quality have leaked into this new mid-sized portable.

The ASUS W3000A
might be a dead ringer for Sony’s S-series from some angles, but it’s more than just a rip-off: it’s a great looking system in its own right. Attention to detail abounds, from the brushed alloy trackpad buttons and magnetic screen latch to the blue, back-lit power button integrated into the screen hinge. There are real, practical benefits, too, including a row of handy quick-set buttons for controlling functionality such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and system performance and turning the trackpad on and off. And if you don’t jive with the white and silver colour scheme (we reckon it works well), it’s also available in a more sober-suited (and Sony-esque) grey and black combo.


Form factor-wise, the W3000A pips the S-Series by the best part of inch in terms of screen diagonal – 13.3 inches versus 14. Despite that, this remains an eminently portable system that will slip easily into most shoulder bags. As for the luscious widescreen LCD display itself, it sports an XBlack-aping glossy screen surface and boasts rich, vivid colours and bags of brightness. Twist our arms and we’ll concede that it can’t quite compete in terms of viewing angles and contrast with the best wet-look screens from Sony and Toshiba.

Interestingly, the W3000 is available with both the original 855 Centrino chipset and its new-fangled 915 successor. The ‘A’ model tested here is the latter, and so benefits from a faster 533MHz CPU bus and dual channel memory support among other improvements. Enough, in fact, for this 1.73GHz Pentium-M equipped system to be just capable of passing our ultra high bit rate HD WMV9 video decode. Gamers, on the other hand, should look elsewhere. The integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics delivers only the most basic 3D gaming power (the ‘N’ spec W3000 based on the 855 chipset offers the far superior ATI Radeon Mobility 9700).

Otherwise, there’s no nasty surprises from the reasonable, if not exactly earth shattering all-round specification which includes a dual layer DVD burner, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Intel HD audio and gigabit LAN. Style, portability and desirability is what this notebook is all about. It delivers, and for an impressive price.

Processor: Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz (Sonoma)
L2 Cache: 2MB
Chipset: Intel 915GM
Memory: 512MB DDR 2 533 MHz
Graphics: ATI Radeon X600
Hard drive: 60GB 4200 RPM
Optical Drive: Combo drive
No of USB ports: 3
Card Reader: 3-in-one, SD/MMC, Memory Stick
FireWire: Yes, IEEE1394a
Wireless: Infrared, 802.11g Wireless LAN & Bluetooth

 

Reccomended Retail $1892.00