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Oonagh Reidy

Planking, Charlie Sheen, Yasi: Facebook Status 2011

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Australia’s obsession with planking has been reconfirmed today along with Cyclone Yasi, Charlie Sheen and Skrillex.


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Planking, THE phenomena of 2011.

Facebook has revealed its Memology 2011 which shows the most popular topics and cultural trends – or memes – emerging amongst the 800 million members on the global social network.

Status updates mentioning planking, where people lie face down in unusual locations, first exploded in May after Max Key, the son of New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, posted a Facebook photo of himself planking in the family lounge with his famous father in the background.

The fad quickly lost steam, then rebounded in July, according to Facebook’s blog.

Planking also topped Google searchs in 2011 in Oz, as revealed yesterday.

The top ten status trends for Australia, included:


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Read Planking, iPhone 5, Steve Jobs: 2011 Most Googled Here

Natural disasters including Cyclone Yasi, which hit northern Queensland in January and the floods in Victoria also topped the list.

US electronic music producer Skrillex also  prompted a 76-fold increase in the number of people mentioning him in their status updates following his tour.

 

“Each year, millions of people post on Facebook to share what’s important to them, discuss world events, or just goof off with their friends.

With more than 800 million people connected around the globe on Facebook news about the world’s triumphs and tragedies – as well as the latest – spread fast,” according to the Social Network’. It has included memes for countries around the world, along with top trending musicians, actors and songs on Facebook.

$59 Plan: Biggest Bill Shock-er of All

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40% of us suffer bill shock, with the $59 plan delivering the biggest shockers.

Aussies spend 50% more on phone bills than expected each month, new research out today has shown, with the popular $59 plan delivering the biggest bill shocks of all.

And it’s an expensive shock – costing Aussies an eye watering $557 million every year, according to research by Macquarie University with the support of amaysim, which examined over 200 mobile phone bills.

A massive 40% of phone users on contract suffer bill shock and signing up to a (seemingly) generous $129 or $60 plan leaves us just as exposed to bill shock as those who sign up for cheaper plans.

Read: Which Telco Is Bill-Shock King?

But the highest bill shock was incurred by those on $129 plans ($155.58 worth of a shock) followed by those on $59 plans ($34.58 shock), $60 plans ($24.40 shock) and $49 plans ($16.84 shock), on average.

‘Standard’ call charges (costing us $43.12), excess Internet data charges ($22.18) and international calls ($21.20) were the biggest causes of unexpectedly high mobile bills.

Excess data charges caused 43% of all occurrences of bill shock, the study called ‘The Anatomy of Bill Shock’, showed.

Dr David Gray, Senior Lecturer in Marketing from Macquarie University’s Faculty of Business and Economics faculty, said, “Recent changes adopted by the industry since this bill analysis are a step in the right direction, but the bills we’ve viewed even in the past few weeks still left us scratching our heads.”

 

“Despite a concerted effort to change the composition of the bill andadvertisements, it’s the concept of ‘included value’ in mobile plans that needs to be more clearly communicated to the consumer.

“This very big and real issue has still been left unaddressed by the industry,” he added.

There has also been warnings the new faster 4G LTE network may also cause a new round of bill shocks.

However, from next year telcos will be required by law to send user alerts no later than 48 hours after users hit thresholds of 50, 85 and 100 per cent on their plan, with some already doing so. 

The most popular mobile phone plans are the $59, $49 and $79 plans the study showed.

Females have a higher average incidence of bill shock and the 25-39 age group, followed by 40-49 are the biggest sufferers.

A total of 7 million phone users suffered bill shock last year.

Samsung: Show Us The Source Code, Apple

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Samsung are demanding the source code for iPhone 4S firmware as well as Apple’s agreements with all major Aussie telco’s as it looks to ban iPhone 4S here.The demand came today as Samsung faced yet another legal showdown with foe Apple, who claim the South Koreans infringed iPhone and iPad patents, and have already succeeded in gaining a temporary ban on sale of Galaxy Tab 10.1 here.


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In retaliation, Samsung are now seeking to ban the sale of iPhone 4S here, claiming Cupertino violated three of its wireless 3G patents.

In Federal court today Samsung counsel Cynthia Cochrane said her client would need the source code for the iPhone 4S and agreements Apple had with major carriers Vodafone, Telstra and Optus in order to make a legal case for a ban before the court.

Samsung are also looking to ascertain the subsidies the telcos pay to their rival Apple for selling the iPhones on plans, according to ZD Net.

Justice Annabel Bennett, who is presiding over the case, is also the Judge in the Apple V Samsung tablet dispute, handing down a interim injunction banning Tab 10.1 last month, pending a full hearing.

“It goes to show that since the iPhone 3G was made available in Australia in July 2008, the impact on the market for every iPhone product has been significant, and has lead to a substantial increase … in market share by revenue,” Cochrane said in court today.

“If subsidies are given for the iPhone 4S, there are less to go around for my client’s products.”

Apple deny the infringement claiming Samsung agreed to license the three patents in question under Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory terms (FRAND) standard.  However, Samsung say the international agreement may not extend to Australia and Apple rejected its previous invitation to license the patents in question.

 

However, the iPhone 4S, unlike Galaxy Tab banned, is already on sale here for several weeks, which Apple counsel referred to, saying “the horse had already bolted.”

In relation to firmware source code demand by Samsung, Apple said they will have to wait for advice before allowing access to the information, although claim third party license held by Qualcomm who developed the the iPhone 4S chip in question, MDM6610, according to ZD Net, automatically covers Apple also.

The case will continue on Friday November 4.

Myer Sales Head South

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Myer continues to be subject to chilly trading conditions as sales suffer 1.7% fall.


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It figures for first six month of fiscal 2012 to January 28 show pre tax earnings of $142.9 m – down 15.1%.

H1 sales were down 1.7% to $1,704m – or 3% on a comparable store basis, while second quarter sales fell 0.4% to $1,023 m.

Net profit after tax  was also down 19.8% to $87.3m, included one-off costs of around $17 million (including Melbourne store build) and a $5 million increase in depreciation.

However, both of these not repeated in second half of the year, Myer said today.

The best performing categories across Myer store network were (Youth), Womenswear,Childrenswear and Cosmetics. Overall, the best performing states were Western Australia and South Australia.

Electrical sales fell $22 million in H1, impacted by planned category exits in consoles, gaming and rationalisation in white goods, music, DVDs and navigation systems, which it is replacing with higher margin categories.

Myer said it was making “good progress ” on exist of consoles and gaming categories.

Strong sales in Appliances and Home Office sectors partially offset the ongoing significant price deflation in TVs.

“Appliances and Home Office continue to perform well. The current market conditions relating toTVs, music and DVDs reflect a saturated and competitive market with significant pricedeflation,” CEO Bernie Brookes said.

“The planned rationalisation of these categories is nearing completion and we anticipate further improvements to profitability with the more productive use of space.

The department store admitted “challenging trading environment” but says there there continues to be “a number of opportunities” to improve business including omni-channel offer, markdown management, further shrinkage reduction, benefits from our sourcing offices, improved store lease terms, MYER one program.

Myer is also continuing its investment in improving customer service spent an additional $13m during the six months.

 

Cost impacts during the half were driven by increase in depreciation to $40 million as a result of the completion of major capital projects, new point of sale systems, Myer Melbourne rebuild and new IT hardware and update stores.

Myer also reconfirmed full year net profit guidance, predicting it will to be “no worse” than ten percent below 2011 figure of $162.7 m, meaning subdued trading growth is ahead.

“Recognising Myer’s continued strong cash generation and stable balance sheet, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 10 cents per share,” Brookes said.

The store’s net debt increased by $46 million to $298 million compared to January 2011, primarily due to the impact of the sass & bide acquisition.

Myer says it continues to be “very well placed” to benefit from any improvements in discretionary retail conditions when they occur.

Dont hold your breath, Bernie.

You’re Dumped: Adobe Divorces Ed Partner

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Lesson learned: Fresh from the IT pricing enquiry, Adobe gets dropped by education partner Scholastic.
“Scholastic has also reviewed its future strategy and has chosen to no longer be an Adobe distribution partner,” Adobe said today. 

Adobe made the divorce announcement, saying “we are also making changes to our distribution programme in Australia” as it transforms its business to the cloud.

The ending of the distribution partnership was a “mutual decision”, an Adobe spokesperson told CN, but it appears Scholastic may have made the decision first.

Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of books, educational multimedia materials for children, told its retail and reseller channel partners that it will discontinue Adobe software licensing products effective June 14th.

“Customer guarantees will not be affected and are still entitled to Adobe’s guarantee and warranty,” the Adobe spokesperson added. 

“Adobe and Scholastic are working through a mutual exit strategy to ensure that all customers have access to Adobe shrink and licensing products as both companies transition customers to Adobe’s existing distributor partners, Express Data and Ingram Micro.” 

But its an amicable divorce, apparently.

“Adobe and Scholastic have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years and both parties part on good terms and wish each other well in their future endeavours,” the Adobe statement said.

Scholastic Australia is a major distributor of Lexar, Logitech, Livescribe, Quark, Trend Micro to major retailers, Apple and education markets nationally.

Baby Droid: 3″ Samsung Galaxy Y $129

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A new Galaxy has hit Droidland: a 3″ Galaxy Gingerbread on Telstra.


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The new Samsung Galaxy Y capacitive touch screen (320×240),  super thin at 11.4 mm, 2MP camera with video recording, MP3 player and FM Radio.

Galaxy Y also has 180 min talktime and ” up to” 250 hours standby.

Powered by Android 2.3 with access to Android Market –  for access to thousands of applications  and also turns into a NAVIGON ‘turn-by-turn’ GPS navigation device.

Galaxy Y is out this week on Telstra exclusive for $129 and comes in Coral Pink or Metallic Grey.

Customers can team the Galaxy Y with Telstra’s Pre-Paid Cap EncoreT offer so recharge $30 and receive $250 total credit ($30 recharge + $220 Cap credit) for talk/text to standard Australian and International numbers plus 400MB data.

However, this is all within Australia over 30 day period. 

 

Teslstra’s free Talk & Text to standard Australian numbers from 6pm-6am has also extended until 23 April 2012, it said today.

And Y also been accredited with Telstra’s Blue Tick, which means it delivers good coverage in regional and rural coverage areas.

Forget HD: LG Unleash 84″ ULTRA-Def TV

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Its a world first: LG launch 84″ 4K Ultra Definition 3D TV groundbreaker.
The launch of the mega 84″ 4K set was prompted by growing consumer demand for larger TVs with greater functionality.

LG says their Ultra-definition 3D Smart TV has “astonishing” picture quality with 8 million pixels per frame and 3840×2160 – that’s four times the res of a  Full HDTV, powered by a Triple XD Engine.

The additional ‘Resolution Upscaler Plus’ technology allows images from hard drives and the Internet to be rendered in higher detail.


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The 84″ UD Internet ready TV baosts ‘3D Depth Control’ allows viewers to fine-tune the “distance” between near and far objects on the screen and the ‘3D Sound Zooming’ analyzes the on-screen objects to generate sound according to their location and movement.

“The 4K display market is still in its infancy but it was important for LG to claim a stake in this space,” said Havis Kwon, CEO LG Home Entertainment.

The Ultra-Def set “represents a whole new level of home viewing experience because it offers every advanced technology we currently have to offer.”


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It also comes with LG’s Magic Remote and LG’s Smart TV ecosystem now includes approximately 1,400 apps and content services such as 3D World with movies and games. It also has 2D to 3D conversion tool.

For the gamers amongst us, the 84″ Smart TV boasts Dual Play, allowing opponents to simultaneously see their playing view on the same screen.

 

LG’s UD 3D TV also boasts a 2.2 speaker system, with 2 X 10W speakers and 2X 15W woofers, which create a “theater-like experience in the home.”

LG’s 84-inch UD 3D TV was launched today in Korea and will roll-out in North America, Europe, Asia, but no word yet if it is hitting Oz.

ReadL LG Will Be A Major TV Force In 2012

BlackBerry Joins Social Network Race As Facebook Rivals Sprout

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BBM’s community already has over 35 million members.

It’s social platform has just been released to the BlackBerry developer community.

One of the newer social forums to join the pack promises to “revolutionise social interactions” and isn’t just a messaging service despite its name, say its creators Research In Motion. 

BBM social platform includes a whole new breed of apps, location-based services, multimedia, gaming, VoIP, video and commerce, helping users share content across the forum, first announced at the BlackBerry DEVCON 2010. 

The fledgling forum, which RIM says will be built into “one of the largest mobile-centric communities in the industry”, is not the only mobile platform looking to move further into Facebook style social territory.   

Google is rumoured to be launching its very own social network for its Android platform, said to be called ‘Circle’, tipped for a May launch date.   

“What was previously a solitary experience becomes now a social experience,” BlackBerry said today.

“Users gain the ability to discover new apps with friends and share real-time experiences and content with their inner circle.” 

And it wont just help users, BBM is also an important for developers on the platform, allowing Java developers access to APIs and features helping to build important functions into apps.

 

They are user permission based and include accessing and updating fields in the user’s profile, creating custom areas within the user’s profile, initiating and embedding chats with friends, initiating file transfers and sharing applications virally with friends in their contact list.

Developers also have the ability to test the exact workflow and BBM integration made possible by special simulators for BlackBerry smartphone OS 5.0 and 6.0, RIM have said.     

BBM comes pre-loaded on new BlackBerry Smartphones.

#FML: IPhone 5 Sparks Fury

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That sucks: iPhone 5 backlash continues, and is the top gripe on #fml.

The #Fmylife website, where folks list their life’s woes, saw Apple’s newly released iPhone 5 top the list for ‘that sucks’ moment in September.

This is despite the fact the smartie went on sale only in late September, toppling other gripes including boyfriends who masturbate too much and not having enough change for the bus.

Lack of wow on the new iPhone, and draining battery were among the woes cited with the new Apple, both online and on Twitter.

Here a list of our favourite i5 gripes:

“I’ve been waiting 6 months to upgrade to the #iPhone5! No cool new features, #FML”

“Today, I finally got my hands on the new iPhone 5, after I pulled it out of a patient’s rectum.#FML”.

“Tried to get my iphone 5 and cspire in laurel and Hatti sold out gotta wait till next week.#FML””

“Showing my mum how to use a iPhone 4 and showing my dad how to use a iPhone 5. I now have the worst phone in my house.I basically drained all my battery before I even started work.#FML”

It’s War, iTunes: Samsung To Get Loud On Music

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Samsung want you to listen to them. To its music services, that is.


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The Koreans are about to up the ante on its software business, a senior exec has indicated, and plans to unleash brand new services for 2013.

“We’re preparing new services for launch early next year. With these offerings, people will start to think Samsung is good in software, too,” Kang Tae-jin, Samsung senior VP of Media Solution, told Reuters.

However, what exactly some of these ‘services’ are remains a mystery.

But the world’s No. 1 phone maker, Samsung, is getting set to buy mobile content providers, and aims to become among the top 4 music content services within 3 years.

“The message we’re getting from the top is to raise software capability, and buy rather than build, if needed.”

The move would not be to make money per se, but rather support its hardware operation–including its line of Galaxy smartphones and Tabs–and create a seamless, fully integrated software and hardware system for Samsung’s millions of users.

“Our focus on software is primarily aimed at driving hardware sales, rather than making money. We have a full range of handsets in so many countries, and, to better market our products, we thought it’s better to start our own software business,” Kang said.

The move would also give Samsung a leg up against arch rival Apple, who has its own well established iTunes and rumoured to launch its own Pandora style streaming service, with hundreds of Internet-based radio stations streamed from the cloud.

Just two weeks ago, Apple announced a brand new iTunes featuring a redesigned player and integration with iCloud.

But its not just Apple that Samsung will be up against – Amazon cloud player, Google Music as well as independent streamers like Spotify, Pandora are all popular among music lovers.

“We want to grow the Music Hub to rank in the world’s top four services within three years in both revenue and subscriber numbers,” Kang said.

“And to shorten the time, we’re ready to do more acquisitions, if needed.” And Samsung are willing to dig deep to pay for it, he added.

 

Samsung already have an in-house Music Hub service available in Australia, US and parts of Europe that starts at A$9.95 a month, streaming tunes and music videos straight to Samsung devices.

The Korean giant even opened a pop-up store in Sydney pushing the new service last year, so clearly sees it as a major differentiator among rival mobile brands.

Samsung has made several acquitions already this year, and purchased cloud-based music locker mSpot in May for around $10m and British owned wireless technology experts CSR in July for $310m.