South Australian AG – So Long, Farewell (Not)

Days after the South Australia state election, Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has tendered his resignation from the front bench but will remain in parliament until the 2014 state election. Atkinson appears to have hung on to his seat despite suffering an 11% swing against him after the distribution of preferences. It is his belief that there …

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Augmented Reality – Is it a Gimmick?

Sun Seeker on iPhone 3GS

A while back I came across an iPhone application called Sun Seeker which uses your GPS location, the accelerometer, the compass and the camera to show you the trajectory of the sun. This can be useful if you are checking out a new house and want to know where the sun will be at certain …

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Electronic Cinema Ticketing – Fantastic When it Works

Earlier today, the wife and I went and saw “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (which had the original title of “Men Who Hate Women) and as usual we booked our tickets online so we could “jump the queue” at the box office. More often than not, I really dislike the notion of having to …

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Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview

Internet Explorer 9

A preview of Internet Explorer 9 has been released to the public earlier this week to test the waters with early adopters. If you are keen to download a copy (which is a painless installation and can run side-by-side with your existing version of Internet Explorer), you can grab it here. Bear in mind, this …

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More Unlimited Internet?

Recently, TPG announced on Whirlpool in this thread that they would be offering an unlimited ADSL2+ broadband product for $75 a month with no shaping, time limits or time restrictions. This was followed by the finalisation of the acquisition of Pipe Networks by TPG for AU$373 million. It wasn’t too long ago that AAPT launched …

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Video Disc Rental – Extinction by 2020?

Today I came across an article in The Australian outlining the downgrade of Blockbuster credit rating to a level just above default in USA. The article also went on to detail cooperative marketing efforts between the Hollywood studios and the major cable operators to promote video-on-demand services. Bringing things back home to Australia within the …

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Gadget Support & Warranties – Do Your Homework

One thing that many people may not fully consider when making their gadget purposes is what they can expect in terms of warranty and support in the day, weeks, months and years after that fateful day. Back in November 2009, I bought a Krups Espresseria EA8080 for the wife and I as an early Christmas …

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Taking the Hum Out of Car Audio

For a long time, the missus and I have put up with various buzzing noises that come out of the car audio system in our Toyota Prius when we play media on our iPhones. It wasn’t until recently that I was annoyed enough to do something about it. First, I had to discover the cause …

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Hard Drive Revival – Part 2

Hard drive with replacement board

A couple of weeks ago, I embarked upon Hard Drive Revival – Part 1 when I took receipt of an apparent dead drive and decided to replace its circuit board. Last week, the replacement board arrived whilst I was on my extended weekend in Melbourne. I’ve only just been able to collect it today from …

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Complete Electronic Tolling – Hurry Up Sydney!

I just came back from Melbourne for an extended weekend and I always use the Citylink tollway when I drive in from interstate or when I leave to go back to Sydney. The Citylink and Eastlink tollways in Victoria are both fully electronic through the use of tags that are placed inside the vehicle or …

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