Australia charges man claiming to be LulzSec leader
Australia has charged a 24-year-old man who allegedly defaced a government website earlier this month and claims to be the leader of LulzSec, a rogue inactive hacking group.
The man, from Point Clare about 50 miles north of Sydney, was charged with two counts of unauthorized modification of data and one count of unauthorized access. He could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Read more...
RMIT serves up video tagging at Olympics London sportfest
The Australian Olympic badminton team has been perfecting its moves using a video tagging and tracking platform developed by RMIT University.
The RMIT project team developed a statistical video tool that tags movements of players and provides comprehensive data analysis of the performance.
The performance videos provide tagging and analysis not only of the team itself but of their competitors, so that they can create pre-match tactics to counter opponents winning moves. The tool works by compiling actions of the players, and opponents that lead to certain outcomes , especially when the opponents are in a defensive or point-losing position.
The video data analysis and platform is delivered to each athlete on iPads. Read more...
Australia to Apple, Adobe and Microsoft: Why do we pay more for digital downloads than other countries?
Australian politicians and have ordered an inquiry that seeks to determine why consumers are forced to pay more for software, music and game downloads from companies including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, than their overseas counterparts.
Each company will be asked to explain to Parliament why Australians are paying more for digital downloads, hoping that the publicity around the hearings will force prices to be lowered.
The Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, led calls for the investigation, writing a letter to Sydney MP Ed Husic stating: ”There is evidence to suggest that the innovative use of technology is not always matched with innovative new business models in the case of products and services distributed online.” Read more...
What’s In A Name? Australia Wants Apple To ‘Change The Name’ Of The iPad Over 4G Incompatibility
Looks like we may see another development today in Apple’s ongoing iPad/4G controversy in Australia. The country’s Competition and Consumer Commission is meeting with Apple in court again today to try to get Apple to officially change the name of the device when it is sold in Australia.
Although many people know the tablet as “the new iPad” since launching the product in March, Apple has also been marketing the product as the new iPad with ‘Wi-Fi +4G’ in Australia and elsewhere. Apple quickly ran into trouble in Australia when the ACCC said Apple was misleading consumers: in fact, the tablet is not actually compatible with the country’s 4G networks. Read more...
Australia bans Chinese company from Web network
Australia has banned Chinese technology giant Huawei from bidding to help build a nationwide high-speed Internet network due to concern about cyber attacks traced to China.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Monday the move was among "prudent decisions" to ensure the planned network functions properly.
The ban highlights concern about Beijing's cyber warfare efforts, a spate of hacking attempts aimed at Western companies and the role of Chinese equipment providers, which are expanding abroad. Read more...
Microsoft signs up Aus eco geeks
Australian cloud computing eco-warrior Carbon Systems has scored its most significant deal to date with a global Microsoft agreement.
Carbon Systems’ Australian developed cloud app, Enterprise Sustainability Platform (ESP), will be implemented across Microsoft’s 600 global facilities across 110 countries.
Microsoft has selected CarbonSystems as its vendor of choice ahead of more than 30 software vendors following an extensive, rigorous tender process.
The energy management solution provider secured the international contract due to its ability to use cloud computing to simplify and streamline Microsoft’s global greenhouse gas management in addition to providing a stakeholder reporting solution. Read more...
Kiwi open sourcers invade Aus
New Zealand open source digital media company SilverStripe is ramping up its presence in Australia, selecting Victoria as its Australian headquarters and hiring 50 new staff.
Privately held SilverStripe was launched in 2000 providing open source content management systems and a web development services. It says its tools are now used by around 20,000 web developers globally.
New positions created by SilverStripe will include project architects, new code designers and developers, creative directors, art directors and system integrators in areas such as quality assurance, network security, server and website administration and support. Read more...
Plan your vacation: Androidland opens in Australia
For all of its technical geekiness, the Android is fun. There is always an exciting new phone around the corner that trumps the last one and if you’re tech-savvy, you can have a different phone every day by flashing new ROMs and installing new launchers. It’s only fitting that now Android has its own playground. Androidland, the world’s first Android-themed store, has opened in Australia.
The store is the result of a collaboration between Australian carrier Telstra, Google, and device manufacturers Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and LG. Androidland is technically a single department in Telstra’s flagship store, rather than a stand-alone shop, but we won’t hold that against it. Read more...
Samsung files to stop Japan, Australia iPhone 4S sales
Samsung launched another volley in its global legal battle with Apple on Monday, filing claims to block the sale of the iPhone 4S in Australia and Japan.
The Korean electronics manufacturer said it had also filed to immediately block sales of the older iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in Japan. The legal attack is the latest in a series between the two companies around their competing tablets and smartphones, which has seen Apple win several early victories.
"We will no longer stand idly by, and will steadfastly protect our intellectual property," Samsung said in a press release.
Samsung said it had filed a legal injunction in the Tokyo District Court based on one patent related to High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and three user interface patents. The Australian motion was filed in the New South Wales Registry on three patents related to Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and HSPA. Read more...
Battle between Samsung and Apple heats up
The legal battle between Apple and Samsung has reached fever pitch, with Apple getting an injunction to stop the sale of the Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia as Samsung launches new versions of its smartphones to keep them on sale in the Netherlands. Both companies are also preparing for a hearing in California scheduled for Thursday.
On Thursday, Apple won an interim Federal Court injunction to prevent the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia until the legal proceedings between the two companies have been resolved, Computerworld Australia reported.
Justice Annabelle Bennett said she had weighed the pros and cons of issuing the preliminary injunction. Apple would suffer significant damage. However, should the device launch in Australia be delayed, Samsung would also suffer the lack of profits made from the sale of the device. In the end, Bennett ruled in favor of Apple.
The patents at the heart of the case are not tablet-specific and would be diffcult to work around, according to patent expert Florian Mueller. Read more...
Anti-Piracy Lobby Misleads Aussie Press for Three-Strikes Campaign
Undeterred by a stream of negative PR from recent Wikileaks revelations, the anti-piracy lobby machine once again scored favorable headlines in Australia today. In its push to get ISPs onboard for a three-strikes system to warn copyright infringers, lobby group IPAF released a study that reveals how immensely effective this would be. However, the entire press release is a cheap marketing trick with mispresented research results that actually prove the opposite.
The MPA(A) is trying to get a tight grip on piracy in Australia, mainly through affiliate groups such as AFACT. Recently published cables by Wikileaks revealed how Hollywood is secretly pushing their agenda down under.
After the failed attempt at making ISP iiNet responsible for the copyright infringements of its file-sharing customers, the anti-piracy lobby groups are now once again calling for a three-strikes system. Today a new study surfaced which, on the surface, suggests that these warnings would be very effective as a deterrent. Read more...
The collar bomber’s explosive tech gaffe
The man who claimed to have attached a bomb collar to an Australian high school student two weeks ago thought it would be a good idea to leave a ransom note on a USB stick looped around her neck. What he probably didn't realize is that he also left his name, hidden deep in the device's memory.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday describe the harrowing Aug. 3 incident, which began when a man broke into Madeline Pulver's bedroom wearing a striped balaclava and wielding a black aluminum baseball bat. He told her to sit down and chained a black box around her neck. Read more...
Canberra crawls towards national cyber-security approach
Australia’s federal government is about to announce its first tottering steps towards a national strategy on cyber-security. However, unlike the USA, Australia is unlikely to treat Internet-borne attacks as something demanding gunships and bombing raids as a response.
According to reports on Friday morning, government networks suffer constant attacks. A former ASIO head Dennis Richardson, now department secretary at Foreign Affairs, told a Senate Committee that attacks on his department happen on a daily basis. Read more...