If you've ever wondered how to set up you home cinema system, or why the commercials on TV seem louder than the program, be sure to tune in tonight when Michael Cremean joins us live in the Tech Talk Studios to answer all your audio questions. Michael runs a successful audio post production house which has hundreds of TV commercials and programs pass through its doorway each year. Also: Generation Y are making their mark on society in many ways. What with the armament of technology at their disposal in the form of MP3 Players, personal communications devices, the internet and social networking, and not to forget the ubiquitous mobile phone, it?s no wonder that their legacy will be remembered for generations to come. Throughout the course of history, no other generation has altered the English language to the extent that the youth of today have. Whether it?s good or bad, the fact of the matter is there are more new words creeping into today?s vocabulary than at any other time in the evolution of the English language. Social Networking sites such as Twitter, My Space and Facebook are as much responsible for the language evolution of today as are the users of the said technology. The internet has certainly made these arenas possible, but the ease of access online through personal, wireless, take it anywhere gadgets, has also attracted the Gen Y?s into cyberspace. Never in the history of the human race have we been so connected. In fact, if you value your personal well being, you should never try and separate a young person from their mobile phone, as this device is the portal to their social life. The Short Messaging Service, or SMS as we know it, was a technology built for the sole purpose of allowing the telephone company to tell the customer that someone had left them a message on their phone. Little did they know that this technology would become as popular as it has today, and for a purpose in which it was not intended. SMS would also be one of the most inefficient and expensive ways of communicating, yet it?s simplicity and facelessness is most appealing to its users. To this end, when challenged with a numerical keypad and 160 characters, abbreviations of commonly used words are bound to occur. This has linguists around the world in a flap. So is Instant Messaging bad for us? Australian children's language expert and author of Kidspeak, June Factor urged the less text-savvy to stop looking at the lingo of messaging in a simple and pejorative manner. Dr Factor said "It is always counter-productive to pour scorn, abuse and contempt on a language particular to a subgroup," Rather, she said, it would be beneficial for teachers to examine IM communications in the classroom and compare and contrast it to other language forms. She went on to say the dilemma arises when kids see it as a whole language system and are using it to replace the more complex and nuanced forms of writing. When used in context, the increasingly fashionable lingo was a legitimate form of abbreviated language. Also on This Weeks Show Michael Cremean joins us live in the studio to answer your questions about anything audio Adam Turner takes a look at the HTC Shift. Apple dismiss Safari vulnerability and Tassie a step closer to broadband

Listen Now:

Last week, months of speculation came to an end as Vodafone announced that it had won the support of Apple to distribute the iPhone in Australia as well as the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey later this year. For those keen to snap up the what some say is an overrated device, it looks like you may have to wait until Christmas to get your chance. Surprisingly, there was no mention of a 3G iPhone in any of the press releases, but logic would say only a 3G version of the iPhone would be released on this country? wouldn?t it? Respected tech reviewer Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal has predicted the 3G iPhone will go on sale in June. It could be rolled out by Apple chief Steve Jobs at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9 in San Francisco or possibly on June 29, the phone's first sales anniversary. The iPhone has certainly put Apple on the map. Last week on Tech Talk Radio, we spoke of the top 100 brands for 2008, in which Apple sat comfortably at number 7 and worth $55.206b. Of all the top 10 companies on the list, Apple?s brand value change was 123%, more than double anyone else, including the number 1 brand ? Google. So it?s fair to say the iPhone has something to do with it. So does this mean Apple has made the best phone ever to date? Many skeptics and pundits say companies that diverge in their product range tend to become jack of all trades and masters on none ? but is this the case with Apple? Some Apple purists, or as Adam calls them ? slobbering Mac fanatics - were heard to say that this was the phone for them as soon as the device was released last year, and without even seeing it. Others were not so sure. And what of the Nokia?s, Motorolla?s, and Sony Ericsson?s of the world ? as manufacturer?s of only mobile communications devices, would they stand a chance with Apple?s iPhone? After all that?s what they do. They don?t make computers, they don?t write Operating Systems, they just make phones. Consequently the question needs to be asked ? what?s in a brand? Are people so blind to the product that they?re buying because of the manufacturer behind it? Do some people just trust a brand that much, OR, have we all just become so blasé about technology that we just assume it works, it?s too complicated, or we just can?t be bothered researching another gadget? Only time will tell. There's some new ways of doing things on the Microsoft horizon. Everyone can have 5Gb of cloud! What I hear you say? We'll talk to Harvey Sanchez - Online Services Strategy Manager for Microsoft about Microsoft?s Live mesh! Also on This Weeks Show Adam Turner talks looks at the long awaited iPhone Adam takes a call from Steve Jobs Harvey Sanchez - Online Services Strategy Manager for Microsoft talks to us about Microsoft?s Live mesh and Tasmanian?s seem to be the victims of poor internet access

Listen Now:

In the not to distant future, web surfers globally will have new versions of their favorite web browser foisted upon them from all the major players. Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mozilla's Firefox are battling to become your browser of choice. So which one should you use - Safari 3.1, Firefox 3, or Internet Explorer 8? Apple's latest offering, Safari 3.1, preserves the company's signature focus on clean design and smooth usability, but it lacks any phishing or malware filters. For its part, Mozilla should have applied the finishing touches to Firefox 3 by now. From under-the-hood memory improvements to a major reworking for bookmarks, version 3 represents a big step forward. Whereas the new Firefox and Safari browsers are ready to roll, Microsoft's early beta of Internet Explorer 8 remains a work in progress. Bugs and rough edges are to be expected in a first beta intended for developers and testers. But IE 8 beta 1 provides a glimpse of new features such as WebSlices (which let sites create widgety snippets of information that you can view by clicking a bookmark button) and Activities (which add right-click menu options for looking up selected text and pages on map, translation and other sites) that will distinguish the browser Microsoft eventually releases. From an end user?s point of view changing upgrading web browsers should be, as the great author Douglas Adams said as he described the inhabitants of planet earth, ?Mostly Harmless?, but spare a thought for web developers. With hundreds of changes to style sheet implementation, what are the chances websites built for current browsers will look the same in the new browsers? Safari and Firefox are the most reliable browsers when it comes to displaying websites on your screen. Microsoft?s Internet explorer is riddled with bugs and strange, unexplainable anomalies, which most of us turn a blind eye to. Let?s hope Microsoft?s IE8 conforms to internet standards a little better than its previous incarnations. The future of Digital TV in Australia! Be sure to tune in this week to hear Adam Turner's exlusive interview with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. With the goal post continually on the move, Adam asks the minister when and how analogue TV will close in Australia. Data Recovery - You may need to know about it one day - so why not today! Graham Henley is one of the world?s experts in data recovery from the PC environment and from iPods, digital still and video cameras and MP3 players. He is a director and co-developer of the world?s leading data recovery software applications - GetData Software?s Recover My Files, Recover My Email, Recover My Photos and Recover My iPod. He also has eleven years law enforcement experience in the Australian Federal Police, five of those in the Computer Crime Unit. After leaving law enforcement Graham spent five years as Director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Asia Pacific computer forensics practice. He headed the computer forensics team which recovered thousands of missing files involved in the collapse of corporate giants FAI, One-Tel and HIH. Also on This Weeks Show We take a look at the worlds most powerful brands for 2008 ? technologically, Tivo?s introduction in Australia is not sailing as smoothly as first thought Optus takes a leaf from Telstra?s book and sinks the boots into Canberra and Bay Sellers may be restricted to cheaper items

Listen Now:

In a new Internet Activity Survey which was released last Thursday, the 24th of April, results collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal Australian?s took up broadband and wireless Internet connections in record numbers during 2007. In fact, at the end of the December quarter, there were 7.10 million subscribers to the Internet in Australia, of which comprised 964,000 business and government subscribers, and 6.14 million household subscribers. With Australia?s population around 21.2m, that?s not too shabby when it comes to household use, but business and government subscribers seem to be on the low side. This release contains results from all ISPs operating in Australia as at 31 December 2007. For December quarter 2007 there were 421 operating ISPs contributing to the estimates. The number of non dial-up subscribers recorded at the end of December 2007 was 5.21 million, compared with dial-up subscribers of 1.89 million - an increase of 33% since September 2006. Most of those were converts from dial-up rather than new Internet users, but the total number of Internet connections did increase over that period; 6.65 million to 7.1 million. The biggest change to our connectivity in 2007 was the arrival of wireless broadband. Over 481,000 people were connected to wireless broadband at the end of the December 2007, compared with 186,000 connected in September 2006, once again a substantial increase. Connections with download speeds of 1.5Mbps or greater increased to 2.51 million or 35% of subscribers in December 2007, compared to 1.13 million or 17% of subscribers at the end of September 2006. For December 2007 a breakdown of higher download speeds has been released for the first time. The makers of Maxtor and Seagate release a new portable hard drive with built in security. Lidija Davis continues her reports from RSA 2008, and this week she talks to the makers of Maxtor and Seagate hard drives, as they launch the first portable hard drive with build in security encryption! Also on This Weeks Show Microsoft?s top boss Steve Ballmer says Microsoft could keep XP if customers want it. Adam Turner looks at the the Australian Nokia Music Store We continue Lidija?s report from the RSA conference in San Francisco ? this week portable hard drives with built in data protection and Microsoft admits Vista is a ?Work in progress?

Listen Now:

Two things in this world are for sure, life and death, and this week in Australia, we?re about to see the passing of CDMA. CDMA was the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the old AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) network in 1999. AMPS was the first generation of mobile communications. At the time of CDMA?s launch second generation mobile devices, or as we knew it, digital cellular mobile phones, were in their prime, and CDMA promised a solution to a problem that the then GSM network faced; a distance limitation where the handset could be no further than a maximum distance of about 40 km from the bases station. 2G users found it frustrating that even if their phone had signal, if they were beyond the maximum distance from a base station, they couldn?t use their phone. So in September 1999, in rode CDMA ? a knight in shining armour - aimed at rural customers, who up until then had felt 'left out? of the digital mobile phone revolution because of the distance limitation. I?m sure you remember the television commercial where massive white sheets were dragged across hills and valleys, signifying the fantastic coverage of CDMA? Anyway, in just a few days time, those white sheets have to be to be folded up to make way for the continuing roll out of Telstra?s next generation mobile technology. Eight and a half years was CDMA?s life ? not bad in this day and age, but nonetheless, she?ll be sadly missed by some. Her epitaph will read ?So long old friend, cut down in your prime, but such is the price of progress? 1999 ? 2008. New Generation Hackers and their Social Media tactics! Social media has brought along a new generation of malware creators, and Lid catches up with Christopher Boyd, Director of Malware Research for FaceTime at RSA. Listen as Chris gives examples of security breaches to MySpace, FaceBook, and Google?s Orkut. Subscribe to Chris? blog, Vital Security to stay up to date with what the bad guys are doing. Also on This Weeks Show We take a look at mobile phone history in Australia. Adam Turner looks at the problems of kids and computer games. More from RSA and Lid; talking malware with Chris Boyd of FaceTime, Telstra becomes the teacher for older Australian?s Rent videos - on your iPod and A New spam outbreak says it's seen you naked

Listen Now:

Since the dawn of time, marketers have been looking for ways to communicate with consumers. Now, more than ever, the tools in the arsenal of the marketing company have become quite refined, and exceptionally sharp. Never before have we seen the ability to send targeted communications to clients, customers, or potential customers like we do right now. Everyone is online; everyone has an email account, and consumers are certainly more comfortable buying goods, and paying for them, online. If you?re not convinced, free-to-air television in this country is losing market share at the rate of 7% per year; iTunes is now globally the largest distributor of music, mobile devices are now more prolific than ever before, and the youth of today now spend more time texting and instant messaging each other than at any other point in time. Add to this the rapid roll out, and take up, of mobile (wireless) broadband in this country, and you can now reach almost anyone, anywhere, in a matter of seconds cost effectively. The sharpest tool in the marketing kit is email marketing ? and I don?t mean spam. The Australian government is serious about minimizing spam, but email marketing, when done properly, and legally, results in not only instant reactions, but instant polling of recipients - and in most cases ? in real time. For example, every week, Tech Talk Radio sends out an email informing our listeners what?s on the show for that week. We have a section in our email called ?The following links were of interest to us this week? primarily to inform listeners of newsworthy technological happenings, but to us, it?s a straw poll to give us an insight into what our listeners are interested in, so we can include the topic on the show, based on the number of clicks on any given topic. So now, you?ve probably got a good idea about the power of email marketing. Melbourne Radio personality, Mayor of Hootville, and self professed luddite Brett de Hoedt runs a leading PR company whose main role is to help Australia?s NGOs (Non Government Organisations) and NFPs (Not For Profit organisations) communicate. Brett will join us live in the studio to discuss the roles of email marketing, social networking, and blogging in the modern day world of the Internet and mobile communications. So how secure are we online? This week Lidija Davis files her first report from the RSA conference in San Francisco where she met up with Patrik Runald, Senior Security Specialist, F-Secure Security Labs. Patrik details the current and common threats to all manner of devices from PC to Mac, mobiles and iPhones.  F-Secure Internet Security provides a complete and easy-to-use protection against all Internet threats, whether they are known or previously unidentified. Also on This Weeks Show Adam Turner talks about the 3G iPhone or lack of it Lidija visits the RSA conference in San Francisco Microsoft says it made a fair offer to Yahoo Telstra expects broadband win PayPal mandatory, says eBay Australia

Listen Now:

The Howard government's plan for a $1-billion rural broadband network is dead, as the Federal Government scrapped the OPEL WiMax network on April the 2nd on the grounds that the contractors failed to meet the required conditions. Surprise ? Surprise! Many in the know are saying ?this wasn?t completely unexpected?. Tech Talk Radio?s own mobile data expert, Mark Diggins question the technology and method of the roll out last year when the contract was awarded. Others in the field said the previous government idea was more like a hop-scotch sort of solution - something for here, something for there. So having a national approach and then lingering on something on the side like OPEL was not really something that fitted the new Government's sort of plan of action. The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, says his department has established that OPEL WiMax would cover only 72 per cent of "identified under-served premises", as they're called, and so failed to meet the terms of the contract. OPEL's contract required it to provide coverage to 90 per cent of such homes. Both SingTel and Futuris insist they had met all conditions in the contract, adding that its termination sends the wrong signals to the industry. So does this open the door again for Telstra ? or was it never shut in the first place? and why did Telstra turn on ADSL2 in all exchanges recently ? a policy shift for no apparent reason? We?ll take an in depth look at this decision and it?s ramifications from a political, consumer, and technical point of view. Also on This Weeks Show Adam looks at embedded mobile phones ? in your body! Apple and Google sued Mozilla Firefox 3 beta 5 hits the streets and Microsoft's OOXML now a standard

Listen Now:

The English language is certainly living and breathing, and it?s evolution is certainly faster now than at any other time in the history of the language thanks mainly to the evolution of the internet and computers in general. After all, 10 years ago a small start up company called Google started to help internet users find websites they might be remotely interested in. Today the word Google is a Noun and a Verb, after all, we?ve all heard of the world?s largest search company, and then we?ve all googled something or someone, although no-ones told Microsoft as the verb ?googled? has a red squiggly line underneath it, when using Microsoft?s Word. Then there?s the internet. Have you ever pinged or fingered something? Like Google, ping is both a noun and a verb. If you weren?t aware, there is a program called Ping which is used to determine if another computer is presently connected to the Internet. Having said that, the act of pinging, is a verb. Now a quick check of the Oxford dictionary reveals that ping is a noun meaning an abrupt high-pitched ringing sound, and the associated verb is to make or cause to make such a sound. ? No mention of the internet or technology anywhere! For the record, the internet ping is a direct take on SONAR, which is an acronym for ?SOund Navigation And Ranging? which we?re all familiar with when it comes to submarines. It?s not too dissimilar to that when it comes to the internet. Now, today on Tech Talk Radio, we?re going to take a look at the social networking site Twitter, and once again, the English language will have at least two new meanings for existing words. Last week, you learnt how to stumble, and we don?t mean falling over and hurting youself. No doubt we?ll all be tweeting and twitting or at least something along those lines by the end of the show. Also on This Weeks Show Lidija Davis tells us about Twitter Adam measures up ABC Playback! If technology fails us we like to blame a telco, but Telstra says it is not to blame for thousands of mobile phones showing the wrong time over the past weekend. Mozilla Firefox 3 is go for launch, with a backhand stab at Microsoft?s IE and New South Wales citizens turn into cyber cops!

Listen Now:

When was the last time your mobile phone contract was up and it was time to renew? Life?s just cruisey as you indulge your senses with the latest Bluray release on your 60 inch LCD monitor hanging in the middle of your living room while you subtly let your neighbors know about your swanky 5.1 surround sound system, as you jump on your 802.11n wirelessly connected laptop to see what your mates are up to on facebook. Then, all of a sudden, you realize you have to make a decision that commits you to a telco for then next 12 or 24 months which seems like an eternity when it comes to progressive mobile technology, and as a result you gradually work up a sweat whilst closing off Facebook and Youtube and opening up your telco's website to try and make head and tail out of what they?ve got on offer. TelcosIt?s a dilemma that I?ve just faced recently, only I don?t have a Bluray player, or a 60 inch LCD or much of any of the other stuff I mentioned earlier. Instead, I thought I had a reasonable handle on what these Telco?s were doing, and how they were selling it, until I opened up the plethora of telco websites and took a look at all the new electronic gadgets designed to make our life more communicative. It was time to break free of the contracts the phone companies had on offer, so I?ve embraced the world of contract less mobile communications, and I?ll tell you all about the pro?s and cons later on today's show. Also on This Weeks Show Lidija Davis joins us from Silicon Valley to tell us about delicious, Dr Ron tells us about the perils of the laptop service man, Infected Australian computers fetch top dollar, Melbourne IT try new anti spam technology Perth and Google meet on the bus and Adam Turner shares his view from the couch!

Listen Now:

During the last week I had the pleasure of catching up with friends I hadn?t seen for a while, and it wasn?t long before I was engaged in a discussion about Plasma and LCD TV's. After 10 minutes of banter I had a refreshing reminder of just what it?s like to be a non technical consumer wanting to buy into the world of home entertainment. It seems that the '20 something' store assistants are keen to make a sale and will tell the customer almost anything to get them to sign on the dotted line. (Apologies to the few passionate and well informed sales guys.) Add to this the inflationary buy now and pay in 4 years time with no interest ever offers, and it makes converting the sale all that more easier. Professionally speaking, I find it hard keeping up with the transition of television from analogue to digital because of continuing government policy changes, and the changing business decisions by the television networks ? so what hope do the white goods sale guys and consumers have? Add to this mix the High Definition transition and it's no wonder most consumers throw their hands in the air and curl up in the fetal position on the floor. Also on the show this week - Wndows Server 2008 The launch of Microsoft's 2008 Server packages are imminent, so we took the opportunity to meet up with Martin Gregory, Director of Server, Tools and Platform Strategy from Microsoft Australia. It?s been 5 years since Server 2003 hit the streets and there have been plenty of changes for the better. It?s even more human friendly! And our girl on the streets in the home of technology, Lidija Davis joins us from Silicon Valley to tell us about StumbleUpon. Also: It?s sex and more sex in the Asian domain name scramble, The ACCC to expose fake excuses for broadband delays More iPod copies hit the marketplace Adam Turner talks about online backups And three Apple stores in Australia later this year

Listen Now:

There?s never a week that goes by in technology without one of the major players making somewhat of a ruckus. And of course this time, it?s Telstra's turn. Last week, the High Court of Australia ruled against Telstra when it claimed that the ACCC?s ability to set network access fees to its rivals was unconstitutional. In their challenge, Telstra targeted clause 51 of the Australian Constitution, which "guarantees just compensation when property is compulsorily acquired." Naturally they believed they were being forced to sell access to their line sharing product below its costs. Telstra claimed the ACCC's price-cutting intervention breached the Constitution because it amounted to the acquisition of Telstra shareholders' property without just compensation. However, the High Court unanimously ruled that the telecommunications access regime, set out in the Trade Practices Act, did not amount to an acquisition of Telstra's property. So like it or lump it, Telstra now has to provide their competitors access to parts of their infrastructure from $3.20 per month. So now what? Having earned a reputation for being vindictive, surely this won?t just pass over without a PR spray from one of the three amigos! From one of Australia?s largest companies, to one of the worlds largest companies, Microsoft have been making waves with the launch of Server 2008. But as for Bill Gates, the founder of the world's largest software company, his position on the world's rich list has taken a fall. He now resides, ever so comfortably, as the world's 3rd richest man having spent 13 years at the top. US financier Warren Buffett and Mexican telco mogul Carlos Slim Helu overtake the world's richest nerd. Also this week: Microsoft launch IE8 Telstra seeks indemnity on network Google removes maps at the pentagons asking Adam Turner turns his attention to journalistic plagiarism in IT Media and Microsoft take the knife to Vista pricing

Listen Now:

Voice Recognition and IVR's. In Studio Guest: Jason Stirling Voice recognition has come along way in recent times, but is it up to scratch in the commercial world. In the world of biometrics, what would you say if your voice held the key to your identity? Jason Stirling from Genesys will be in to tell us what's now possible. Has the fingerprint been surpassed by the voice? Find out. Social Networking with Muhammad Saleem Lidija Davis, our Silicon Valley correspondent, speaks with Muhammad Saleem, one of the worlds most influential bloggers. Lid says everything Muhammad diggs, goes gold. So if you're interested in how sites like Digg and StumbleUpon work for both personal and commercial use, especially if you want to use social networking sites to communicate with a specific target market, be sure to tune in. Muhammad finished his degree in economics along with a minor in Slavic languages and literature (with a focus on Russian) at The University of Chicago in June, ?07. He spent most of his free time on various social bookmarking and networking sites, writing about social media and socially driven content. He started his writing career for the MU life, covering social media, however, after joining Pronet Advertising he stopped maintaining the former site and moved that content to this site. He has also written for The Blog Herald and 901 am. and more recently for Copyblogger, Searchengineland, ReadWriteWeb, our own Problogger, and TechCrunch, Centernetwork, PickTheBrain, and BloggingExperiment. Also on the show this week Conroy and Telstra go head to head over the Rudd Government's ultimatum to hand over detailed plans of its entire network operations to rivals hoping to bid against it in a tender for the $8 billion national broadband scheme, Apple started shipping its first-ever wireless storage appliance, dubbed Time Capsule We'll give you a few reasons to upgrade your wireless technology to the new 802.11n standard, and Adam Turner turns his attention to Apple's iPod Touch, the iPhone to have when you don't have a mobile phone network to support it, and Youtube off air globally last weekend!

Listen Now:

HD DVD RIP? It's all over bar the shouting now, and wouldn't you be annoyed of you'd invested your hard earned cash into a HD DVD player! Australian consumers who purchased now moribund Toshiba HD DVD players will receive no form of refund after the company officially announced its exit from the high definition format war. In a recent press release, Toshiba confirmed it's much-speculated exit and announced that come mid march all HD DVD shipments would cease. Toshiba Australia's information systems general manager Mark Whittard said only a few thousand HD DVD players have been sold locally. Toshiba will now push the 'benefits' of its HD DVD players, including the ability to play CDs and DVDs, and internet connectivity that could possibly be used for video streaming in the future. So where does ths leave Bluray? JB Hi-Fi chief executive Richard Uechtritz was reported to say "You're talking three to five years before we start to see Blu-ray outpace standard DVD" Blu-ray libraries are slowly growing, but it can still be tricky to find Blu-ray movies for rent at the local video shop. Don't forget that this is the format that supports High Definition recordings, and the take up of HD in this country is somewhat slow. The writing was on the wall some time ago in Australia, and figures from market analyst GfK show that in 2007, Australians bought 177,000 Blu-ray movies and just 35,000 on HD DVD. So this now puts the dilemma of another Betamax / VHS format war behind us, and we can now all see clearly into the High Definition living room. Also on the show this week What happens now after Toshiba's unceremonious exit from the HD DVD arena? Dodo complaint handling triggers ACMA investigation ABC boosts mobile offering Scammers dressing up as Telstra workers and Telstra 'needlessly denied consumers on ADSL2+'

Listen Now:

If you have children or teenagers in the family, chances are they're more proficient on the technology front than you are. After all, which teenager doesn't have a mobile phone or MySpace account these days? Have you ever stopped to wonder what they're doing with this technology? Recent reports have revealed the growing number of children and young people using technology: * 93% of teenagers use the Internet, * 84% use chat rooms daily, * 59% of children use a mobile phone, and * 33% of children aged 8 or 9 started using the Net at the age of 5 or 6. With the ever increasing reports of online preditors and identity theft, just how safe are your kids online? We teach our kids to read and write, we teach our kids to swim, we even teach our kids to drive a cars, but who teaches our kids to stay safe in the online world? The Telstra Foundation has put up $2m in grants to help protect our kids in cyberspace. Today we?ll take a look at where we?re at when it comes to online safety, and talk a little about helping your kids preventing identity theft. Georgia Simmons form the Telstra Foundation will bein to tell us about the $2m allocated to grants to protect people online. We promoted Susan McClean from Victoria Police coming in to the studio, but unfortunately she is unable to attend this week. Apple patches Leopard... for the second time. The latest security updates fix 11 bugs in the Mac Operating system, including eight bugs in the recently released Mac OS X 10.5, known as "Leopard." Apple released the security fixes in conjunction with a 10.5.2 update to Leopard, which includes dozens of other updates. Some of the security flaws are extremely serious, and could be exploited by hackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's computer, although Apple did not report any incidents of this occurring. The 10.5.2 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac. Beware, the 10.5.2 combo download is a small 343Mb Toshiba to give up on HD DVD, says Reuters The format war for next-generation DVDs may be over: Blu-ray is the winner. And now wait for the fallout. Firefox Beta 3 R3 Mozilla has released beta 3 of Firefox 3.0, with around 1300 ?individual changes? from beta 2, with fixes for stability, performance, memory usage, platform enhancements and user interface improvements. Also on the show this week BlackBerry's future lies in social networking Telstra gets AU$1 billion 'secret documents' wish Mobile data cash set to eclipse voice Victorian man avoids 'Facebook' defamation Underbelly online a hit in Vic Adam Turner sells the virtues of a good backup system

Listen Now:

Telstra gives ADSL2+ a green light, but what's the catch? Telstra has graciously decided to turn on ADSL2+ in 900 exchanges across Australia, but the cynics amongst us smell a rat! A press release titled: More high-speed broadband after Government removes roadblock was published on the company's website on February 6, but strangely didn't make it in the email version, which is sent out to journalists. The announcement was made in Canberra last Wednesday by Telstra Boss Sol Trujillo, with Kevin Rudd and Steven Conroy. According to the Press Release, ADSL2 is now going to be turned on in 900 exchanges because the Government gave Telstra an assurance that it would not regulate 3rd party access to the service. Telstra has been seeking this assurance for over one year. Some history is required here... The ACCC has stated time and time again that ADSL2 services are unregulated and should stay that way. Also, the ACCC has legislative powers to regulate this service if it so desires, and the Federal Government can give no guarantee that it will not be regulated. So what's going on here then? Why, all of a sudden, has Telstra turned on ADSL2+ when it's dug its heels in for so long? It just doesn't add up! Are Rudd and Conroy doing back room deals? Don't get me wrong, it's great news for all Australian's, but what's the catch? Apple iPod Touch and iPhone capacity doubles! The iPod Touch capacity has been doubled to 32GB for $629. That device is now available in three versions, with Apple Australia also selling a 16GB model for $499 and an 8GB model for $399. Federal Government to slash IT spending The Labor Government has taken a blade to some of the previous government's pre-election promises for the 2007-08 fiscal year, including $30 million from the federal technology budget. Labor will cut $642.9 million worth of funding promised by the former Government, affecting environmental, cultural, communications, and technology initiatives. Cuts to technology related spending, include marketing dollars for the controversial NetAlert program, amount to $30 million. According to Tanner $6.4 million will be slashed from the NetAlert program's education ($700,000) and advertising ($5.7) million budget. The initial cost of NetAlert, announced by the Coalition Government in August last year, was $187 million. While $84 million was spent on filtering technology, $22 million was allocated to an awareness scheme to inform parents. Other IT cuts include $6.7 million from the Telecommunications Improvement and Procurement project, and 5 million each from the Innovation Ambassador program, and the establishment of the APAC Network for Energy Technology program. Massive service disruptions to ADSL services If you've looked out of a window where you live recently and saw heavy rain followed by odd behaviour/no behaviour from your ADSL service, be advised that Telstra is under extreme pressure to remedy an escalating number of line and exchange faults caused by weather conditions. The situation is explained here Also on the show this week Youtube to profit split advertising revenue with top content generators Rural NSW Vodafone users stuck without mobile service for almost a week Mobiles and cancer are back in the news again More on the Microsoft $44bn offer for Yahoo and The price of the Xbox 360 heads south in a big way

Listen Now:

Microsoft to buy Yahoo in an effort to slow the Google Juggernaut. Watch Video Goolge's response: "This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation." David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer. His full response makes for interesting reading. This week on the show, Telstra has been forced to delay the switch off of its CDMA network until April 28 this year because the government didn?t feel the replacement next G network was up to scratch. If you?re a Microsoft Windows XP user and are running a non genuine version or you just forget install the latest service packs, then you?re one of many, in the sights of hackers. According to Bitdefender, the majority of threats last month targeted a Microsoft Windows graphics vulnerability that was patched post-Windows Service Pack 2. More about this in the show. We?ll also give you and update in the HD DVD / Bluray war as HDDVD takes another blow, And Macworld 2008 was somewhat of a non event compared to 2007, the showpiece this year being the ultra slim, light weight notebook. We?ll have a look at the good, bad and the ugly from Macworld 20008. Also ? Firefox 3 beta 2 is out, AOL threatens to launch an Australian Portal, eBay tweaks worry sellers, Foxtel to launch HD. Egyptian internet outage a godsend to everyday Australian?s, and technology and banking take another step forward. There?s all the usual segments plus a new jargon busting segment on Australia?s premier tech talk show, Tech Talk Radio.

Listen Now:

Perry Vlahos is an astronomy educator, author and broadcaster with both a real passion for astronomy as well as an encyclopaedic knowledge of the night sky. As vice-president of the Astronomical Society of Victoria he often runs tours of the night sky for the general public as well as educating people on how to use telescopes and other equipment and even helping teachers to teach astronomy better to students. Bryan Ackerly tells us everything we newed to know about the good old battery - Which ons work, which ones don't, as well as best and worst value for money and Adam Turner tells us of his concerns for Pluto!

Listen Now:

This week, How important is a good looking site these days. The answer is very! Did you know that 75% of web users admit making judgments about the credibility of an organisation based on the design of its website and 83% of businesses use the internet to search and find potential vendors? If that doesn?t surprise you, then count yourself amongst 75% of web users. On our final show this year, we?re going to talk to Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus, authors of a new book, Web Design for ROI, or return of investment. Based in Sacramento California, Lance and Sandra walk us through the right things and wrong things to do, when building that perfect website. Whether you?re a CEO of a large corporation, or just rebuilding the website for the local footy club, this is must listen radio. Check out the web design for ROI website for more info! Also we catch up with Julius Sinkevicius, Senior Product Manager of Windows Server Division of Microsoft from their US Headquarters. Julius will run us through the new Server 2008 technology as Sever 2003 gets a makeover. Julius started working in information technology in 1991, and has held various positions in systems and network administration. In 1998, he joined Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Consulting Services group and worked with some of Canada?s largest companies deploying infrastructure servers. In 2000, he moved to Redmond, Washington and worked in the Microsoft Learning and Tablet PC groups. Also today we revisit the exiting and slightly unique sport of Radio Direction Finding - a cross between orienteering and motor sport. We take a look at the Australian Championships held in Mt Gambier each year.

Listen Now:

This week, Thomas Robinson from one of Australia's largest web hosting companies, Web Central talks about web site hosting options and design. Also this show we hear from Robert Broomhead from the Wireless institute of Australia (WIA) about the hobby of Amateur Radio.

Listen Now:

This week, Justin Dunlop talks all about the apple iPhone - in fact almost everything beginning with the letter i, Bruce Mathews joins us to talk Spam from ACMA, (Australian Communications and Media Authority) the Australian Government body who's role it is to prosecute Australian's who like to send unsolicited emails, also Sam Shetty and Justin Freeman from Net Registry return to talk about search engine optimisation.

Listen Now:

Mark Mayer, retired Qantas pilot returns to talk about aviation, in particular, the failed Qantas buy out, Air Garuda's mishap in March 2007, how black box technology works, and some aviation websites worth a visit. Blogs with political or current-events themes have grown in popularity and become "soap boxes" for instant mass-audience commentary. You could even consider sites like youtube as blog sites albeit with a video nature. Adam Turner recently spoke on Tech Talk Radio about the grey line between a blog, and a journalistic or editorial piece, and asked the question should journalists blog? Journalistic pieces should be free of bias and a balanced reporting of a event or situation, where as a Blog is considered personal and contains opinions. As you can see, it?s quite easy to mistake a blog for an editorial piece if it?s written by a journalist. But what of blogs in business? More and more businesses are seeing the advantages of blogging. Not only does it give the author the ability to communicate with his or her online audience, it can also aid in driving traffic to a website.  Today on Tech Talk Radio, James Farmer joins us live in the studio to talk about blogs, and in particular Wordpress and WordCamp. James is an expert in the design and development of social websites. Wordpress is one of the world?s largest free blogging sites where anyone and everyone can sign up for a free blog in a matter of minutes. But then what? Well wordcamp can help you get the most from your blog, from fun and games to making money and James will tell us more.  Digital cameras are everywhere; in fact you?d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn?t got one. Born out of the technology that brought television, digital cameras can be found in anything these days from Automatic Teller Machines to Mobile phones ? they?re even on top of polls at intersections these days. Based on solid state CCD or Charged Coupled Device technology, the digital camera has evolved into a high resolution camera, which quality is measured by the number of Mega Pixels right? Wrong! There are many factors which determine how good a camera is, and more importantly is the quality of the lens in front of the camera. To discuss this and other aspect surrounding the art of digital photography, we?re joined by Michel Lawrence, an advertising agency guru and experienced photographer who?s latest project entails photographing every nationality that calls Melbourne home - some 250 smiling faces, to be exhibited at Melbourne?s Federation Square for Australia Day 2008, and, which will no doubt travel the length and breadth of Australia. All of us is Mechel's website Digital cameras have certainly changed the way we take photos. Not only can we make great quality prints at home, we also email them to our family and friends, and post them on the internet. Today, we?ll give you some tips from the pros about the costs involved, image formats and sizes, image manipulation software, storage and backup. Everything you need to know to get you up and running in the brave new world of digital photography.

Listen Now:

Tech Talk radio is meeting and talking to people who are leaders in their fields. On today?s show, we hear from two guests who know everything there is to know about the worlds biggest search engines. Adam Lasnik heads up search for Google, and has the enviable title of Search Engine evangelist, and if that isn?t enough, Hugh Williams from Microsoft tells us all about image search on Microsoft Live. For those of you who didn?t know, Hugh is an Australian, born, bred and educated in Melbourne. He now lives and works at Microsoft?s home base at Redmond in the United States. So which ever is your favourite search engine, stick with us for the inside knowledge on what makes these search engines tick. We?ll also hear from Adam Turner and Dr Ron tells us all about the rise and rise of copper theft in Australia.

Listen Now:

Tech Talk Radio Summer Series. This is our first 'best of' shows for the holiday break. Today we revisit our interview with Susan McLean from Victoria Police about Cyber bullying. If there?s one thing that that will always be a part of school life, it?s the school bully. We?ve all come across them in our time, and I?m sure you can still put a name to at least one from primary or secondary school. Tonight on Tech Talk Radio, we?re going to take a look at the impact of technology in the lives of our kids. The internet, mobile phones, SMS, Instant messaging and social networking sites such as myspace are now well and truly part of their world. This surely raises serious questions for parents, teachers, students, law enforcement and law makers alike. The most insidious of all scenarios is that bully has now become faceless, timeless, and more traumatic for the victim than ever before. Are parents aware of the pranks that their children are subject to or are perpetrating on others? Are they aware of the consequences of their children?s behavior in the online world? Joining the panel this evening is senior constable Susan McLean from Victoria Police. Susan is based in Doncaster and is the youth resources officer for the Melbourne municipality of Manningham, Manningham comprises 8 or so suburbs to the east of the city and what would be consider to be a fairly affluent community. Also we hear from Moscow based Eugene Kaspersky, the maker of Kaspersky anti virus and anti Trojan products. Eugene shares his thoughts on what we?ve got in store online in the coming months and years as well as how we can defend ourselves from online nasties. Eugene KasperskyMeet Eugene Kaspersky - the founder of the company who makes some of the best computer protection software about. Kaspersky. Eugene talks exclusively to Tech Talk Radio about the current state of play on the dark side. "All we need is a global internet police force" he says. Based in the Russian capital of Moscow, Eugene has built a company which has the reputation of being the maker of one of the best anti virus anti trojan and now anti spam software in the world. Recently, Kaspersky Anti Virus 6 won the Virus Bulletin 100% award for effective protection of the new Windows Vista system. Eugene graduated from the Institute of Cryptology in 1997, an ex KGB institution.

Listen Now:

Well this is it, our last show before the holidays, but don't worry, we'll be back in February 08 for more of the same. And we're not leaving you empty handed - there's a great extended mix summer series which has all the bits of the interviews we've had recently. We?ll we?ve reached the end of 2007 and hasn?t it just flown. Lot?s of exciting things have happened in the past year, what with the changing of the guard politically, the Telstra shenanigans, the launce of Naked DSL (at last) and for the computer buffs, the release of Microsoft?s Vista and Apple?s Leopard and not to forget the infamous iPhone, to name just a few. There have been more toys and gadgets thrown at us this year, than any time I can remember, and if you?re into the gadgets, or more importantly you have a partner who understands your passion, it shouldn?t be too hard for him or her to find something for your Christmas stocking later this month. We?re going to round out the year with some invaluable information about website design and take a look at the harsh reality for Telstra and the newly elected Labor government. Last week, it became official ? Telstra had been found to be misleading when it came to claims surrounding its NextG mobile data network. As Adam turner would say ? ?No! - Say it isn?t true? This will most likely put Telstra on the back foot leading into 2008 and make the prospect of high speed broadband for this country just that little bit more distant. How much more of this do we, the consumers have to put up? Somehow, I think 2008 will be more swings and round-a-bouts for broadband in this country. Did I mention web design? How important is a good looking site these days. The answer is very! Did you know that 75% of web users admit making judgments about the credibility of an organisation based on the design of its website and 83% of businesses use the internet to search and find potential vendors? If that doesn?t surprise you, then count yourself amongst 75% of web users. On our final show this year, we?re going to talk to Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus, authors of a new book, Web Design for ROI, or return of investment. Based in Sacramento California, Lance and Sandra walk us through the right things and wrong things to do, when building that perfect website. Whether you?re a CEO of a large corporation, or just rebuilding the website for the local footy club, this is must listen radio. This week on Tech Talk Radio Adam Turner plans to jump off the SS Microsoft in quest of greener pastures The Federal court rules Telstra lied about NextG The gloves are off with Kevin and Sol Three drops it?s broadband pants inline with Optus and Vodafone and Google and Tom Tom team up together.

Listen Now:

We?ve heard it all before. The carrot has been dangled on many occasions, but what of the reality of Video on demand in Australia. For those unlucky enough to be a Telstra broadband customer, Video downloads are possible via there bigpond movies portal, and considering it?s been operating since February 2006, it must stand half a chance. Touted as a free download to bigpond customers, these films have a nasty habit of self destructing. Rather than "buying to keep", users of the service will be able to rent content on either an overnight or weekly basis (much like a traditional rental stores). The timer counts down from when playback first begins, and users have a maximum of 30 days to watch all TV content and some older movies, while new release movies must be watched within seven days. The only exceptions to the aforementioned rules are music videos, which can be kept indefinitely by the user and have no expiry period. So what of Reeltime, Quickflix, ICETV and Anytime, just some of the names being bounced around at the moment? And don?t forget Joost, and other off shore organisations already up and running in bandwidth rich countries. Australian?s are notorious when it comes to the downloading and sharing of Movies and TV shows. It?s an emerging trend spawned by the lack of foresight by tv company executives. Instead of dishing up such delicacies as soon as they are released in the US market, views are often starved of the favorite sitcoms and telemovies for weeks if not months at a time. And these programs are offered up as a smorgasbord of bit torrent links, it?s overwhelmingly and irresistibly tempting to click the link to salvation. OK, so we?ve all downloaded a movie from the net - Naughty Naughty - but who hasn?t. Doesn?t the level of demand for instant ? just click the link video, tell the providers of such content to lift their game? Well cue the arrival, or should that be pending arrival of Video on demand services in Australia. Kevin Rudd, Australia?s prime minister elect, has a big job on his hands to woo the sleeping giant Telstra into rolling over and becoming submissive to a fibre to the node broadband network ? the key to the delivery of rich media content to the homes of all Australian?s. This week on Tech Talk Radio Adam Turner looks at the new mobile broadband plans Google unveils mobile GPS New Zealand man behind global botnet ands Australian encourage online fraud.

Listen Now:

For the first time in more than 11 years Australians are waking up to a changed political landscape, with Labor readying itself to take power. Kevin Rudd swept aside the Prime Ministership of John Howard with a stunning victory, turning a 16-seat deficit into a majority of about 22 seats, depending on the final outcomes in a handful of electorates. We?ll now see a changing of the guard in the communications portfolio with Stephen Conroy set to take up where Helen Coonan left off. It?s time to see how Labor has woo-ed Telstra. There seemed to be no love lost between the outgoing Liberal government and Telstra, so now its time to see if the Rudd Government lives up to its election promises. Nearly 8 months ago on March 23 2007, Kevin Rudd released his broadband plan. He said Labor are proposing to invest up to $4.7 billion in this proposal in a partnership with the private sector for it to be constructed over a five year period which will deliver for 98 per cent of Australians, a broadband service which is up to 40 times faster than they currently enjoy. The funding for this undertaking is to come from the future fund, the public services superannuation fund. Kevin Rudd: ?If I look out into the future and I look to the needs of the 21st Century economy, they lie very much with the development of a national broadband network. Therefore we, being the party of the future, will grasp that vision and we'll go forward. Will there be resistance on the way through? Of course, that's the nature of any democratic political party. We had a robust debate today in the last couple of hours in the Caucus. But we believe this is the right course of action for the country, we believe the Government has failed to act in this area for some years now, and small business, and business in general, and the community more broadly, and regional and rural Australia has suffered as a result.? Well Kevin, Governments don?t win elections, incumbents loose them. The Australian people have entrusted you to take them into the future, to fulfill the promises you made, and to build a state of the art, future proof, high speed broadband network for all Australians. Kevin, we?re watching. This week on Tech Talk Radio Adam Turner joins us live for our post election wrap CBA tests mobile e-payment system Bluray closing the format gap The Internet could face meltdown by 2010 and Copper theft is on the rise again.

Listen Now:

As we start the downhill run to the finish line of the 2007 federal election, we thought it high time to take a look at the communications policies of both the Labor and Liberal parties. This coming weekend is an opportunity for all Australians to have a say in the way the country is run, and up there with climate change, the economy and work choices one of the most important issues which will affect everyone for many years to come, the roll out of the next generation of communications infrastructure. In recent times there has been much pushing and shoving in the broadband arena, involving the federal government, Telstra, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and various other telco's in one form of another. Who we vote for this weekend will affect our technological evolution in the long term. Internet bandwidth and its subsequent delivery the two major issues facing us. Both sides of politics have a plan to achieve this, Telstra has a belief that it has the right to roll out the technology, and the ACCC is doing what it thinks is best for the consumer. One thing is for sure, - it?s going to cost a lot of money. Like the telephone revolutionized the country last century, high speed broadband will do the same this century. The key to a successful roll out is provisioning for future growth. Right now 20 to 50 Mb per second sounds a lot, but in a few years time, we?ll need 20 to 50 Gb per second, and that sort of expansion and headroom needs to be though about now. Digging holes in the ground and running fibre optic cable is not cheap, so we don?t want to be in the same position again a few years down the track. So as we embrace high speed broadband technology, regardless of which side of politics we support, a change is coming ? how revitalizing the storm will be is up to us this Saturday. We hear from David Bailey who is a member of the search team at Google. David calls Mountain View home, and Lidija Davis caught up with him in building 43 at the Googleplex. Pictured here David is under Space Ship One acquired from the Smithsonian, which was the source of some speculation last year. David is an engineer at Google where he leads the company's Universal Search effort. Prior to that he led various search, navigation and information extraction projects at Amazon.com and Junglee. David holds a Ph.D. in computer science from U.C. Berkeley, where he studied child language acquisition. This week on Tech Talk Radio Lidija Davis talks search with David Bailey from Google Coonan and Conroy speak on the record Google launches a software competition and 3?s free Skype mobile calls go live.

Listen Now:

It was?t so long ago that we were all agasp and our jaws hit the floor about the 11 million dollars that Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo pocketed as part of his annual Salary and Bonus package. It was equated to the Prime Ministers salary of around $380,000. Well now, showing absolute contempt for the companies shareholders, Trujillo?s salary will edge close to or if not exceed $20 million. Telstra shareholders delivered what amounted to a resounding vote of no confidence in their Board of Directors at the companies Annual General Meeting in Sydney last week. Two-thirds of shareholders voted against the company's remuneration report. That's the one which includes hefty pay and perks rises for the chief executive Sol Trujillo. Among those who took offence at the size and structure of Mr. Trujillo's salary package was the Future Fund, the country's biggest investor, which owns 16.5 per cent of Telstra. But the vote was non-binding and so Telstra plans to do nothing at all to change the way that it rewards its executives. Not bad for a company who blatantly goes around saying what it?s doing, or in most cases not doing, is in the interest of the shareholders. And given the Future Fund owns 16.5 per cent of the company, you would think its opinion might count for something. ? Obviously not. In July 2005, when Sol Trujillo came to Australia from the US and brought his friends to run Australia?s largest technology company, Telstra shares were at $5.06, they're now around $4.80. Now that's pretty simple arithmetic and for shareholders they're simply saying, he gets paid $11.8-million dollars last year, and now we're looking at a salary that would be in excess of $20-million dollars. They can't see any justification for it. This week on Tech Talk Radio Lidija Davis talks search with Tim Mayer from Yahoo in the US Google lets an android on the loose The telecommunications ombudsman receives record complaints The battle for the broadband vote heats up and Australia sees a surge in domain names.

Listen Now:

Hugh Williams is Principal Development Manager of Microsoft's Live search based in Redmond USA. He talks openly about the new features and facilities of live.com Hugh is a Melbournian, born and bred in this part of the world, he was a student and an associate professor in Information Retrieval at RMIT. Check out Hugh's handy work at live.com The coming federal election is going to be one of the most defining elections in our history. Not because of the party policies, but because of the technology now available to political parties, broadcasters, analysts and us! The online world has certainly been well and truly embraced by all concerned. Australia's government broadcaster, the ABC, is no exception. The Election 2007 website showcases the best mash up yet for Google maps. Aunty has gone to great pains to build an interactive overlay of every electoral boundary which reveals seat details with a mouse over. Not to rest on their laurels, the ABC has also provided an SMS service where users can subscribe to a news service keeping them up-to-date with all the antics by politicians far and wide. Their website states: The ABC Mobile Election News application provides up-to-the-minute coverage of the 2007 Federal election straight from the ABC News room to your mobile, no matter which provider you're using. During the campaign receive news, election-related and general, opinion and comment on national issues as well as two-day national weather forecasts, searchable by post code or town. There's also an electorate search by post code or town, with a short description of every electorate; on election night get updates of the count in any electorate at any time. Now you may not be an election junkie, but this is real 'WOW' technology. Never before have we had so much information at our fingertips. If nothing else, appreciate the effort these organisations go to in the online era even if you don't give to hoots for any of the parties contesting this poll. This week on Tech Talk Radio Lidija Davis talks search Apple stealthfully launches a new notebook The skypephone is launched in Australia Telstra launches it?s own political website and Adam Turner turns his attention to bandwidth hungry mobile applications.

Listen Now: