Computing Assistance Support & Education Inc – CASE Notes

Joomla, a free open source content managment system, has been of interest to CASE for quite some time. We’ve been developing a service that allows members to upgrade their existing, old, webpages to Joomla in order to reap the benefits of this platform. Joomla 1.5 has a significant developer presence in Melbourne and that’s where this year’s Joomla! Day is to be held. The day is only $75 to attend and covers things like installation, templating, administration and tips and tricks for users, designers and administrators. I’ll be going along and will report my findings on this blog. If you’re in the area or sufficiently interested, make sure to come along to Melbourne Joomla Day running on Febuary the 7th 2009, followed up by a smaller second day of workshops. Registrations are open now, so get in quick!

Whirlpool, a long standing and reputable source of broadband industry news in Australia is once again running a survey that will outline the state of affairs in broadband for Australia. Because this isn’t a marketing survey people always seem more inclined to participate, last year an amazing 18,000 respondants gave their opinion on their Interenet connection. The survey is open until January 31st 2009, so if you’re a broadband user consider registering your opinions at the Whirlpool Australian Broadband Survey.

On account of our decade in action The Canberra Times interviewed Darrell and Kate Lundy for a large article in the Computer section on Monday. It looks at CASE’s history and structure and also details our recent work with the Dharriwaa Elders in the remote community of Walgett. If you missed the article, you can download a PDF version of it here.

Every year Google publishes some very interesting statistics. The results are derived from billions of searches over the 12 month period. For Australia the general search stats are as follows:

Fastest Rising (For 2008)

1. iphone
2. facebook
3. google maps
4. youtube
5. wiki
6. anz
7. wow
8. maps
9. sarah palin
10. underbelly

For more specific search categories, other countries top lists and other fasticaning stats, check the Google 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist.

Some very interesting news being carried by the Sydney Morning Herald today regarding the ongoing decision making process that should lead to a national broadband network for Australia..

“Telstra has been excluded from the national broadband network tender process after being informed its bid fails to meet some of the project’s stated requirements.

The telco says it was excluded because its proposal did not include a plan on how to involve small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the building of the network.

The move to exclude Telstra leaves just five bidders for the multi-billion dollar project.”

Telstra bumped from broadband project – BizTech – Technology – smh.com.au

Internode Internet is a high quality Australian provider. That’s why the following announcement from the ISP is very exciting for existing Internode customers!

ABC iView, now available quota free for Internode customers through the normal ABC iView entry page at http://www.abc.net.au/iview, provides television-on-demand via your broadband service.The high-resolution, full-screen viewing experience gives Internode customers access to a wide range of ABC content on their computer…. Internode has started offering its customers unmetered access to ABC iView through a collaborative effort with the ABC. This effort has seen the resolution of previous technical challenges that prevented Internode from providing high performance, nationally available unmetered access to iView.

Internode :: News and Media :: Internode offers unmetered peering into ABC iView

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting an interesting development in the “Clean Feed” controversy – making it less and less likely it will ever come to be:

The ultra-conservative politician known for his attempts to censor television has strongly opposed the Government’s plans to introduce mandatory internet censorship, highlighting the policy’s lack of support across the political spectrum.The proposed filters would not have blocked any of the 15,000 child porn videos and half a million child abuse images uncovered by police in a major sting this week as they cannot filter traffic on peer-to-peer networks – only websites.In a post on his blog, South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi expressed concern that the filters would inadvertently block legitimate content and be expanded to cover other controversial material opposed by the Government of the day, such as regular pornography.

New hurdle for net censorship – Technology – smh.com.au

Cory Bernadi’s original post can be found at his blog, click here to read it now.

nocensorship.info is holding a series of rallies nationally against the Government’s proposed Internet “Clean Feed”. Gatherings are to be held in all the capitals, with details being found on Facebook. For Canberra residents the rally is being held tomorrow Saturday, December 13, 2008, City Walk (near the triangle fountain).

Check out this link for details on a rally happening near you!

ABCnews.net.au is carrying this story detailing significant union action being taken against Telstra:

The union representing Telstra workers says employees will take industrial action at the company for first time in more than a decade.The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union says the telco has refused to negotiate a collective agreement, and an overwhelming majority of Telstra employees have voted in favour of taking action.Union spokesman Ed Husic says trying to secure wage agreements for workers at the company has been an uphill battle.

Telstra workers to take action: union – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

In the latest issue of Deloitte’s business newsletter there’s a short article containing suggestions for good IT strategy in business. Following a theme of cost reduction (thanks to the recent economic downturn) the article has some good advice.

Read the article here.