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Oonagh Reidy

U Digg “v1”?

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Digg reborn: social news site to be a “more relevant and social” – by making you sign into Facebook.


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After being sold for a pittance, Digg is back in the guise of Diggv1 along with a slew of new iPhone and mobile apps as it looks to become relevant again in the fickle online world.

“On July 20, we announced that we were turning Digg back into a startup and rebuilding it from scratch in six weeks. After an intense month and a half, we managed to get the new Digg up and running on a fresh code base and infrastructure,” the new Diggv1 team wrote on a blog.

Last month, media company Betaworks bought the once darling of the web, Digg, that  lets you dig popular stories from the web Facebook, tweets and websites and share them with others, for just US500,000.

The new features include: personalization features, new commenting tools, Reading List, different views on the top stories on Digg, and “more data to help users better understand why a particular story is trending.”

However, the main change is Diggv1 users now have to sign into Facebook or Twitter if they want to ‘Digg’ a story, like News.me Betaworks’ other creation.

The Diggv1 team know this “isn’t ideal” but say its a short term solution but will “seriously cut down on spam.”

But some Digg users aren’t digging the change:

 

“I have to sign in with Facebook to Digg a story??? You have automatically lost me from step one. Do a little more heavy lifting and get rid of the Facebook requirement, otherwise this is just a joke of a relaunch.”

The revamped Diggv1 also says the change is “just the beginning” so we’ll expect plenty more to come.

Orange IT Shuts Stores, JB Hi-Fi Bites

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Orange IT appears to have closed retail stores as competition from JB HiFi and big retailers bite

AS one retailer closes….

As one electronics retailer closes…The Orange IT store in North Sydney closed its doors several weeks ago just JB HiFi opened a new store a few doors away in Walker St earlier this month. 

Inside the North Sydney Store all stock has been cleared, although there is no closing sign on the door. It appears the price friendly electronics retailer is shutting all its stores in Sydney, including Clarence St and Haymarket in Sydney CDB, according to IT consumers on Whirlpool.

The company could not be contacted for comment and is not answering calls on the phone numbers listed on its website and Facebook page, and appears to have gone underground.

The company has an address listed as T9 and T15, Level 1, 730 George St Sydney.

Orange IT has not updated its Facebook page since November, even though customers are contacting them with complaints and queries about products purchased.

Another opens….Jb Hi-Fi North Sydney

Whirlpool user ‘rickyt’ wrote on January 25: “Word to the wise, we normally use Orange IT on Clarence St in Sydney to sort out our PC’s in the office. Today they have advised that they cant deliver our order and they are closing… not sure if this is all stores but I suspect it is.”

The company, which sells everything from HP notebooks to PC accessories like Logitech speakers, Toshiba storage devices and Targus laptop bags, appears to be still selling online, however.

 

Orange IT’s eBay store is still alive and kicking and has listed products dated as recent as 20 February. They’re even offering free delivery on most goods.

Orange IT customers include “corporates, small business, government, students” according to its website.

“I like Orange IT however recently they haven’t had much in stock. It’s sad if the whole chain closed down,” another consumer wrote on the forum.

Telstra 4G Hits The Slopes

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4G switched on for skiers

Telstra mobile users headed to the New South Wales, Victoria snowfields will now have coverage on its faster 4G network 

Locations include Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, Perisher and Thredbo.

Jindabyne and Mt Buller ski slopes will also be covered by the 4G network within two weeks, Telstra announced this week. 
The move to extend Telstra souped up mobile network to the slopes “made sense,” said Networks Executive Director, Mike Wright. 

“Ski fields are one of those places where a large number of people congregate for specific periods of time each year in a really social atmosphere, so it made sense to deploy our 4G network there,” he said. 

The faster speeds on 4G means you can more quickly download large files and upload photos and videos for sharing.
 “This means people can do their very own snow reports via video chat with jealous friends back in town or share videos of new tricks from the halfpipe straight on to YouTube,” he said.
The telco warned against YouTube or tweeting while on the actual slopes, however. 
“We do however encourage our customers to ski responsibly, and not use their device while tackling a ski run.” 
“We are committed to extending the reach of our 4G network and are on target to cover two-thirds of the Australian population by the end of this month and continue taking our service to even more places,” said Wright.

Operation Transformation: HP Take Bold Steps As Revenue Stalls

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Following the shock announcements yesterday, Palo Alto were forced to release Q3 financials to quell shareholders concerns over its move to pull out of the PC business. The PC maker’s Q3 financial results to the end July 31, showed its PC business down 3% overall. Revenue for the personal system group (PSG) fell to $9.5bn from $9.9bn the previous year. Its income from tech services was almost the same at $9.1bn for the quarter. 

HP consumer businesses within personal systems and imaging and printing divisions, were collectively down 15%. 
However, PSG which includes WebOS PCs and the new TouchPad tablet, “remains the PC market leader in terms of units, revenue and profit share,” with 5.9% operating margin, leading many scratching their heads as to why the Palo Alto giant is pulling away from the business. 
 “HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones.” 
 The tab devices, released earlier this year had “not met internal milestones and financial targets,” it confirmed. It sold one million devices so far  according to reports. “HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.” 
 However, even without its compter unit, Hewlett Packard would still be one of the world’s largest tech companies, according to Wall Street Journal, and one of the largest makers of server, networking and data-storage systems and the single largest printer maker. 
For the quarter, total net revenue of $31.2 billion was up 1% from the prior-year but down 2% when adjusted for currency. 
 However, the company are looking for “higher value, higher margin growth categories” and to “sharpen focus on its strategic priorities of cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets,” it said in a statement yesterday. 
 HP’s commercial businesses were “healthy” with 5% revenue growth year over year. 
Third quarter revenue overall growth was flat year over year for most major regions including the Americas ($14.1 billion) as well as in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at $11 billion. However, revenue did climb in in Asia Pacific region, which includes Australia, to $6.1 billion, representing a 9% jump compared to 2010. 
 

Revenue from outside its native US accounted for 65% of total and growing BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) generated revenue of $3.7 billion – 12% of the total. GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.93 – up 24% from $0.75 in the prior-year period. 

 Looking at the results, the company’s swift move away from consumer PC’s makes some sense – it recorded growth in services revenue of 4% year over year with far higher operating margins (13.5% compared to 5.9% for PSG) and its Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) revenue grew 7% annually, on 13% margins. 
Networking, Industry Standard Servers and HP Storage revenue were all up around 10%. HP software revenue – driven by licences- grew 20% year over year. 
The decision to acquire UK software giant Autonomy for around $11.2bn, announced yesterday, has a lot to do with the total move away from hardware, which HP boss, Leo Apotheker, branded a ‘bold’ action.
“HP is taking bold, transformative steps to position the company as a leader in the evolving information economy,” he said.
 So, judging from these fairly robust financials, it appears HP are looking to get out of PC business while it still can, to strengthen growing revenue streams and expand the cloud computing business. 
Not to mention get away from the tablet and smartphone market, which it failed to get a firm foothold of, thanks to dominance of Apple iPad and Android OS phones. 
 “Our outlook reflects the challenges that we face across our businesses,” said Cathie Lesjak, HP executive vice president and chief financial officer. 
 

 “Dealing with these challenges will take time, but HP will navigate through the transformation to become a more focused, streamlined company.”

Grays Auction $1M Retravision Stock At $9 A-Pop

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Grays Online is flooding the market with $1 million worth of cheap electronic goods from several recently collapsed Retravision Stores – everything from cameras and ovens to notebooks and TVs.
The online auction just announced is starting at just $9 a-go and GraysOnline spokesperson, Therese Tarlington, is flagging the sale as one for both trade and consumers alike.

The stock which numbers 8000 items, including Electrolux dryers, Samsung microwaves and Kobo tablets, is from three Retravision Southern stores that went into administration in May and is to be sold by Grays under instruction from accountants Rodgers Reidy.


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“This is an opportunity for trade buyers to secure some leading brands at discounted prices and since all the items are starting at $9; a chance for savvy home owners to upgrade their white goods, home entertainment or IT equipment,” Tarlington said in a statement.

However, the CEO of Betta Electrical, Graeme Cunningham, insists the cut-price sale will have “no real impact on anyone, mainly because of quantities…approx $1m in value which in the scheme of things is minimal.”

The items are “related to clearing stock from a few stores that are closing” he told ChannelNews.

Still, some struggling members from the trade sector may well take up on the cheap goods.

 

The auction kicks off tomorrow August 03 with 100-150 items to be flogged daily over a two week sale period.

The goods will be sold will be sold in a series of online auctions – delivery and some pick up depending on the size of the items.

JB Hi-Fi were not available for comment at the time of writing.

BlackBerry Mission: Be ‘Cool’ As iPhone, Bro

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Your mission, should you choose it to accept it: Make the BlackBerry as cool for apps designers as the iPhone. Serious BlackBerry is looking to shake off its square rep and join the cool gang where iPhone and Co hang out.


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This mission is what developer ‘evangelist’ Alec Saunders was hired to carry out in August by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Saunders task, as head of developer relations, is to get them excited about BlackBerry’s platform again, similar to the enthusiasm surrounding Droid and iOS.

And he is looking to move to Google and Apple’s home turf Silicon Valley, (along with NYC and emerging markets) to get in the thick of the developer action. 

“I want a team on the ground here in Silicon Valley, going to developer events and meeting with developers all the time,” Saunders said at BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 conference in San Franciso, last week.

“There’s a giant perception gap. Nobody is telling our story and even we weren’t telling our story.”

The troubled Canadian phone giant also gave another major push on apps at DevCon by opening up the BB platform to Android – releasing the beta version of BlackBerry’s PlayBook 2.0 OS with support for Android’s thousands of applications.

RIM also say they have identified a prime the reason PlayBook tab failed – lack of apps.

“We know the No. 1 reason the PlayBook sales haven’t been where we want them to be is the lack of native e-mail, the No. 2 reason is there aren’t enough apps,” Larry McDonough, head of RIM’s hand-held software team, said this week.

“So we’re attacking that as best we can.

 

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5 million BlackBerry apps are downloaded daily, and is one of the most profitable platforms for developers, according to Mike Lazaridis,RIM Co-CEO.

This comes as the king of cool, Apple’s iPhone, now boasts almost half a million ‘active’ apps in the App Store in Q3 – 459,589 to be precise – compared to the lagging Android Market which has just over 300K (319,161), according to new stats.

BlackBerry trails behind the cool rivals with under 50K apps, in total.

However, there’s more to these figures than meets the eye, apparently, with Android developers emerging as “significantly more productive” than Apple, say research2guidance analysts, with the average publisher on Android placing more than 6 applications in the Market – and has now hit 500K submissions in September alone – compared to just over 4, on average, for iOS developers.

In fact, it looks like Android could come almost head to head with iOS pretty soon, once the published apps go live.

In the meantime, the Apple App Store stands at just over 600,000 successful submissions – still 20% more than green man rival.

However, some US analysts including Tavis McCourt, from Morgan Keegan & Co, seems doubtful BlackBerry will hit the spot. “RIM is clearly becoming much more developer friendly,” said McCourt.

“One wonders if it is too little too late, at least in the U.S.”

 

And as one commentator on BlackBerry userforum said: “I somehow doubt they will be able to pull it off. Kudos to them if they do manage it though!.”

Indeed, Saunders mammoth task appears difficult, but perhaps not impossible. Stranger things have happened.

Score! Samsung Nets Maria Sharapova

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Tennis ace is set to turn her hand to LCD’s.


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Image : Bloomberg

Samsung are to sponsor tennis ace Maria Sharapova in three year deal, which will cover mobile phones, tablet and TV’s, reports Bloomberg.

The agreement covers just Russia at present but may go worldwide next year, according to her agent.

Siberian born Sharapova already endorses Nike, Tag Heuer and Danone water and has also modelled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She is currently the highest paid female athlete in the world so no doubt Samsung paid a pretty penny to get the star on board.

Sharapova has won has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles including 2008 Australian Open and has been ranked world no. 1 in singles on four separate occasions.

The 24 year old, who is currently ranked No 2 in the world has previously had deals with Motorola and was a global brand ambassador  for troubled Sony, although that deal finished last year.

It’s Rudd V Gillard… But Where’s Conroy?

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Its a K Rudd V Julia G showdown next Monday as both Labor leaders, past and present, vie for the top prize.


Pictured: Julia Gillard and Stephen Conroy: They’re laughing now, but will they still be as jolly on Monday?

But where does Minister for Broadband and Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy, stand on in this power battle?

Conroy is a 110% Julia Gillard devotee, and made his position very clear on the Nine Network this week, declaring Labours MP’s were relieved when Rudd resigned as Foreign Minister on Wednesday and criticised the constant “sniping’ from Camp Rudd in recent few months.

The “constant undermining, the constant leaking, the constant publication of lists claiming to be Rudd supporters is damaging the government,” he said.

Conroy also reiterated his support for the Prime Minister, saying: “Julia Gillard has and continues to have the overwhelming support of the parliamentary Labor Party.”

 “I think there’s a great sigh of relief in the caucus that we’re finally going to resolve all this,” he added, referring to next Monday’s 10am leadership ballot where Labour MP’s will decide, once again, who will be their leader after Mr Rudd declared his resignation in Washington at 2am local time Wednesday, just after 6pm AEST.

A bold Conroy also predicts Mr Rudd will lose the leadership race, suggesting its a matter of “when” and not “if” he loses the race for the hearts and minds of Labor MP’s and warned Rudd must back off when this happens.

“There has to be an acceptance from Mr Rudd when he loses the ballot that he will desist from this campaign, desist from this destabilisation,” he told reporters yesterday.

“The best person to beat Tony Abbott is the person who can run a functional, competent government that is consultative and treats the cabinet and treats the caucus and the people of Australia with respect.

“Only one person fits the bill … and that’s Julia Gillard.”

“What we need is an end to this comedy. If this was to go on, Tony Abbott will be the next prime minister,” he added.

Conroy was speaking prior to an address at the 10th Annual Australian Broadcasting Summit Sydney Convention Centre, yesterday.

But will he be forced out of his beloved Comms portfolio which he has held for several years  if K Rudd gets back in?
With comments like these uttered yesterday, it is very likely.

His office was not answering calls when contacted by SmartHouse for comment yesterday.

But either way, it looks as if there is a major cabinet shake-up pending, even if Ms Gillard remains Labor’s top dog.

 

What then becomes of his pet project the $36 billion National Broadband Network now in full swing, if he is forced out of his portfolio?

The NBN was announced as a pre-election Labor promise in 2007 so it will go ahead gung-ho even if Rudd gets back in but other issues like web censorship, press regulation and funding of ABC are other pressing issues on the Communication agenda.

“The truth is I can only serve as Foreign Minister if I have the confidence of Prime Minister Gillard and her senior ministers,” Rudd said in his resignation speech yesterday.

And it is clear Sen. Conroy is not one of them. But who would replace Conroy if he is given the sack by Rudd is still unclear.

 Ms Gillard speaking at The Lodge yesterday said she “just wants to get things done.”

“This has moved to a distraction from governing itself. This is not good enough. Australians are rightly sick of this and they want it brought to an end.”

“When the ballot is called I will re nominate for the Labor leadership and I expect the support of my colleagues when I do so.”

Gillard also said she would “renounce any further claims to the leadership” reports Fairfax Media.

10am Monday it is then, folks.

Look Out Gmail: @facebook.com Hits 900M Inboxes

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Didn’t sign up for Facebook e-mail?


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Tough, as you’ve got one now whether you like it or not.

The social network has doled out @facebook email addresses to all 901 million users, meaning if you already had not signed up to a Facebook email, you’ve got one now.

And you can’t delete it either.

The change was made quietly with Facie not making any official soundings.

The new @facebook.com address can be found under you Facebook ‘About’ contact information on your account.

Your address on Facebook is the same as your public username but you can customise it, but you’ll also have to change your user name.

With your @facebook.com email address, people can email you using any traditional email system  Hotmail, Yahoo! or Gmail), and the emails will be delivered to your Facebook Messages.

When you send messages to external email addresses, your emails will look like Facebook messages, including your name, your profile picture and your message, which is an interesting change.

 

If you choose a new username, your new Facebook email address will be added to your ‘Contact Info’ in the ‘About’ section of your timeline, with privacy set to Friends.

And you also have the option to hide it from your Timeline or choose which Facebook friends you wish to see it. But you can still list your other Gmail or Hotmail accounts also.