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September iiNews
Home » Customers » Iinews » iiNet
editor's note
It seems like the whole of Australia (including the media) discovered Facebook at
this same time early this year.
Pretty much everyone you talk to now has an opinion on how good it is (for
improving your social life), how evil it is (for work productivity) or how they just
don't get what all the fuss is about (the un-believers).
Facebook has brought on another surge of questions about the value and nature
of access to the Internet at work. As iiNet is an Internet provider, staff here pretty
much have broadband on tap. However, unrestricted web access is fast
becoming an exception to the norm as many companies join the "productivity"
fight, putting sites like Facebook on their list of targets.
How do you feel the Internet affects your day-to-day work experience? Does it
help or hinder? Has there been dramatic changes in the way you operate at work
with access access to chat programs like MSN Messenger?
On to the September edition. I love a good survey. It's been a year since the last iiNews Reader Survey and we'd like to
hear if things have changed. The 2007 iiNews Reader Survey only takes a few short minutes to complete but makes a big
difference to the ongoing nature of iiNews. It also includes a competition to get you in the mood. Check it out in News.
This month's feature looks at RSS news feeds, which still continue to baffle people for some reason. Find out why it's
worth the small effort required to get some up and running in the Feature Story.
Hope you enjoy (and don't forget to fill out the survey).
Mark Welker
iiNews Editor
inbox
"Following your reviews the other week on the Nokia Phones that support VOIP, is iiNet looking into upgrading the VOIP
Server so that it can handle concurrent connections for the same VOIP Number. I have a Nokia E65 and have the VOIP
successfully set up and operational, however it only works if I disable (Deregister) the VOIP settings in my router."
- Paul H, WA
Hi Paul. I'm informed by our VOIP team that what you're referring to is "multiple appearance". This is something that
we like and are looking into for our customers. But we don't have a release date at the moment.
"I am continually impressed by the content of your feature articles. Thanks for the information. For me it is having the
jargon translated and you do it well for a 50 something. Thanks."
- Susan P, QLD
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"New to iiNet and the world of home computer/email etc. Though have email etc at work. Hence first newsletter .... very
impressed with informal style .... friendly not straight into the jargon and not anticipating all people know everything about
computers. Am looking forward to learning more in the coming months via iiNews. A pleasant surprise."
- Trish M, SA
I swear I don't make these up myself. Thanks Trish and Susan. Be sure to let us know if things start slipping and help
shape what you read in the future by participating in this month's Reader Survey.
Send your newsletter views, news and suggestions to iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au
news
2007 reader survey
Has it been a year already? Last September we collected your input on what would make
a better iiNews. Over the last 12 months we've set to work implementing your suggestions
- now we'd like to know what you think a year down the track.
The 2007 survey also helps us to improve iiNews in the future - delivering better content in
a better format at a better time suited to you. All it takes is a few short minutes and any information you provide will not be
shared with any third parties.
As a show of thanks, we'll give away three $100 Coles Myer gift vouchers to three lucky survey participants. All you have to
do to be in the running is complete the survey before October 10, 2007 and make sure to include your name and email
address when asked in the survey.
Your honesty in filling out the survey is appreciated (ie you don't have to be nice to win). Winners will be drawn at random
and prizes sent via mail.
Visit the survey form here.
a new era for iiNet business
iiNet business customers may have noticed a few changes to their support experience over the past few months as a
dedicated business support team was put in place and a new sales and support number launched - 13 24 49.
The sales and support improvements represent the first stage in an ongoing program to take iiNet business plans and
services up a level. Our business products division is hard at work developing new products and Internet plans with
features tailored to the specific needs of business users.
The person taking the lead on making iiNet business shine is Andy McIntyre, a man who we'll be hearing a lot more from
over the next few months. For now, it's very much "watch this space".
support & services
pdf invoicing update
In case you missed the first part of this story, iiNet will be switching over to a new look pdf invoice over the next month. We
hope you'll find the new invoice format easier to understand and those not on direct debit will have the ability to print it off
and pay at their local post office.
A lot of people wrote into us after the initial announcement asking if it were possible to still retain the plain text part of the
invoice. We're happy to report that the new invoice will come with both.
Monthly invoices will be sent out as plain text emails as per usual, but will also have a pdf invoice included as an
attachment.
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We expect the new invoices to kick into gear later this month. Hope you like the new look!
product spotlight - phone 1
Why pay line rental to a big phone company when you can use your phone service to get a better deal on your Internet?
Whether you're on dialup or broadband, bundling with our home phone service (Phone 1) makes sense. Transferring your
regular $29.95 line rental over to iiNet gets you:
more quota for your broadband or $10 off our current range of dialup plans;
20c local calls;
$1.98 national and international block rates ;
online call tracking to monitor your bill day to day; and
the convenience of one bill for your Internet and phone
Switching your home phone service over to iiNet has no affect on the quality, doesn't require changing your current
number, and only takes a quick call to our sales team and we take care of the rest. Transferring an existing line over to iiNet
also costs nothing, with no interruption to your phone service during the transfer.
So make your phone service work harder for you. Switch to Phone 1 by calling 13 19 17 or do it yourself through your
online account toolbox.
tech tip - new online support content
Following on from our dedicated Mac telephone support launched a month or two back, we now have a new Mac online
support section. Head over to http://www.iinet.net.au/support/mac/ and you'll find a growing list of troubleshooting and
how-to articles specifically for Mac OSX users.
For PC users feeling left out, we also have new Windows Vista broadband and dialup tutorials and mail setup for Windows
Mail, Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. You can find all these articles via the support portal at http://www.iinet.net.au
/support/
Over time we'll be adding more articles to the support section (both for Mac and PC) so if you have any suggestions or
topics you'd like to see more on, send them through via our online feedback channel.
security watch
top 5 viruses reported to Sophos in August
1. Netsky
2. Zafi
3. Mytob
4. Pushdo
5. Dloadr-BCP
List provided by Sophos. Remember, all iiNet plans come with industry leading Sophos email anti-virus and Ironport spam
protection that is automatically kept up-to-date with the latest virus threats. However, to fully protect your system, we
recommend that you use our email anti-virus in conjunction with a personal anti-virus product such as those listed on this
page.
YouTube email threat
Recently Sophos reported a new email virus threat related to the popular video sharing service Youtube. The email virus
uses it's subject line to lure people with the promise of a video on YouTube "featuring" the recipent that they must "check
out".
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Sophos states that "clicking on a link inside the email will send surfers to a webpage containing a malicious script and a
Trojan horse designed to compromise the user's PC and turn it into a zombie." You can see an example of the email's
contents below.
"The gang behind these attacks are amongst the most professional we have ever seen - spewing out new variants of their
code with multiple disguises in their attempt to infect as many PCs as possible," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant for Sophos.
"Clicking on the links in the email doesn't take you to YouTube's real website, but the IP address of a compromised PC. If
infected, victims' computers can be used by hackers to steal personal information, spam out malware and junk email, or
launch distributed denial of service attacks against innocent parties."
Because of their constantly changing nature, malicious email campaigns like this one can in some circumstances find their
way into your iiNet inbox before they are correctly identified by our spam control filters. iiNet users should delete such
emails immediately without opening them.
feature story: the new way to receive news online
When something newsworthy happens out there in the world, online or offline, how do you know about
it? How do the stories of interest to you make it past your field of view when there is so much going on
all the time?
Offline, you might watch the daily news - cherry picked and presented by a news network - giving you
only limited ability to control the information of interest to you (ie change the channel).
Online it can be a chore trawling through your favourite websites daily or weekly to get news and information updates. Two
clicks to jump to your football team's news page may not seem like far, but when you also have a favourite soccer team, a
personal hobby site, favourite blogs and want to keep up-to-date with the latest technology trends - two or three clicks to
get through to each website quickly becomes tiresome.
That's where an RSS News Feed can come in handy.
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. As the name implies, RSS feeds are really simple and really handy. They allow
you to track and receive live news updates from your favourite websites from the one place.
what does a feed look like?
Generally an RSS feed, once it's live, looks like a news headline accompanied with a small one-to-two line text description
and a link to the full story elsewhere online.
Most feeds will feature:
a title for the whole feed;
a list of titles for the articles;
a summary for the article; and
a link to the full article, media file or any other online resource.
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To identify an RSS feed on another site (so you can collect it) you just need to look for the bright orange internationally
accepted symbol for RSS pictured at the beginning of this article.
The content of the news feed is unique to each site - it could be a breaking news item, a new post to a blog you're
interested in, or just the latest scores for the AFL season. You can see an example of an RSS news feed below. This feed
is coming through my Firefox browser window.
As most feeds are text based, they are generally small in size and can be quickly transferred across to you regardless of
connection speed. For those on dialup, that means you don't need to wait for each web page to load in order to check your
latest news - saving you time and frustration.
collecting your feed
There are a bunch of different ways to collect news feeds. One of the most popular is using your Internet browser. This is
often referred to as "Live Bookmarking".
Pretty much every browser on the market now offers the ability to view and store RSS feeds. Normally, as the pic above
demonstrates, a feed is jacked into your bookmarks toolbar or menu so that you can quickly access or ignore them as you
do your web thing.
Now don't get nervous about installing RSS feeds into your browser, it is super easy. Beneath this article in the related links
part are some nice and easy online tutorials that will step you through it. If your web browser is up to date, just clicking on
the RSS icon on a web page will usually prompt you to add that feed to your toolbar.
If you don't want to clutter up your browser's bookmark's folder you may want to sign up for a free RSS news reader page
like Rojo or iGoogle.
where to find a feed
This one is easy. Go to Google, type in RSS and a subject you're interested in. For example, I typed in "Rugby World Cup
RSS" and found a number of sites offering feeds for the latest scores, news and team match-ups. You can also go to your
regular websites or online news networks and search for "RSS" in their website. Most news services will offer RSS feeds
free of charge.
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If in doubt, just look for the orange RSS symbol.
Here is a list of some of our favourite feeds at the moment:
Sports: www.rugbyworldcup.com
General News: www.digg.com
Movies & Entertainment: www.rottentomatoes.com
Online Security: www.sophos.com
PC & Video Games: www.ign.com
Consumer Technology: www.engadget.com
related links:
www.askdavetaylor.com - Safari RSS feeds tutorial
www.geekzone.co.nz - Internet Explorer 7 RSS feeds tutorial
www.tubetorial.com - Firefox RSS feeds tutorial (video)
cravingideas.blogs.com - In case you understand nothing I've said so far, check out this page for the "Oprah" way of
explaining RSS feeds
Got your own favourite RSS feed, or a comment for next month's Web at Work feature? Send your newsletter
suggestions and comments to iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au
Next month: The Web at Work: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
iipeople
staff profile
Name: Rachael McIntyre
Title: Marketing Manager - Alliances
What does your current role involve?
Apart from the fact that it's loads of fun - my role involves managing the relationships with our 3rd party partners which
includes Apple, 3, Westpac, Anytime and the iiNet resellers. I'm also tasked with exploring lots of new partnerships - a few
that will be announced soon! The main aim of my role is to try and bring the best of our partner's products and services to
iiNet customers.
What did you do before you came to iiNet?
Just before I came to iiNet 2 years ago I had my hands busy having a couple of baby boys and before that I spent from
1994 - 2004 travelling the world. I spent most of my time living in London and working as a Global Account Director for a
large telecommunications provider.
What is the best thing about working at iiNet?
My team mates who tolerate me picking on them all day long!
Your favourite website?
I would have to say www.strawberrynet.com which is a discount online retailer of cosmetics and perfume. Which reminds
me, I'm a bit low on my Dermalogica moisturiser.....
customer of the month
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Name: John Bishop
Location: East Victoria Park, WA
Account type: broadband2+ with Phone
Customer Since: 2002
Describe your typical day of living online?
Each day starts with a fun dig through the email delivered overnight - there's always plenty of stuff to look through! Then
usually a visit to the worthy news sites (Slashdot, The Age, The Register, BBC, ha.ckers.org) and, if I've got time, a quick
flick through the fun sites (Fark, WorseThanFailure, PostSecret).
Then it's on to some work - which might involve building/patching Windows machines, downloading Linux ISO's, building
websites, using Skype, IM or email to keep in touch with clients and colleagues, or remotely managing servers for some of
my clients.
The best thing about broadband for you?
It's hard to pick just one thing, but I guess it would have to be the speed. For remote administration - critical. For building
dynamic websites, where I'm constantly FTP'ing files to and from the 'net - critical. For Skype - critical. For browsing
YouTube - not critical, but it sure makes it more fun! :)
Your favourite site?
My favourite site is www.petrescue.com.au - a non-profit group based in Australia that help find homeless animals a new
home each year. I'm their sole web designer, and I can honestly say working with the rest of the PetRescue team over the
last 3 years has been the single most rewarding thing I've done with my life.
Interested in being our next customer of the month? Send your details to iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au.
competitions
For Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), the streets of New York are both her home and her
livelihood. But everything Erica knows and loves is ripped from her on one terrible
night when she and her fianc� David are ambushed in a random, vicious attack that
leaves David dead and Erica close to it.
Though Erica's broken body heals, deeper wounds remain - a suffocating fear haunts
her, prompting her to arm herself for fear of a repeat attack.
The first time she shoots someone, it is kill or be killed. The second time it's not so
clear. As stories of a vigilante grip the city, NYPD detective Sean Mercer (Terrence
Howard) takes up the case. With Mercer closing in and her own conscience trying her,
Erica must decide whether her quest for some form of justice is truly the right path, or
if she has become the very thing she is hunting.
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To celebrate the Australian release of The Brave One on October 11, Warner Bros
Pictures have kindly passed on to us 50 double passes to give away.
To be in the running for this prize, please email competitions with "Brave Competition"
in the subject line, and provide your username, full name and address by 5pm WST, 1
October, 2007, along with the answer to this question: Name one of the great benefits
you can get for your $29.95 Phone 1 line rental (hint: check the product spotlight in
"Support & Services" if you're stuck).
The Brave One is rated MA. Check out the official website at www.thebraveone.com
EMI music have some cool new releases hitting the streets over the next few months
and they want to share the excitement with iiNews readers. EMI have handed over 10
New Music packs featuring new releases from:
The Cat Empire
KT Tunstall
Angus and Julia Stone
Salmonella Dub
Grey's Anatomy Season 3 soundtrack
To be in the running for this prize, email competitions with "EMI Music Pack
Competition" in the subject line, and provide your username, full name and address by
5pm WST, September 28, 2007, along with the answer to this question: What is one
website news feed that you'd like to keep close by? ( hint: you'll find some
suggestions in this month's "feature story")
entertainment
2 minute games review - Bioshock (Xbox 360)
I'm an extremely fussy gamer. I tend to make it known in a passionate and articulate manner when a
game doesn't do the job. I'll decry poor design, repetitive concepts, tedious storyline drivers or a
weakness in character handling. Truth is, I'm an angry gamer and a terrible first date.
So let me tell you how good Bioshock is. Bioshock is really really good.
Envisage an FPS with the tactility of Halo 2 , the claustrophobia of Doom 3 and the eerie, bleak charm of FEAR . Imagine
strapping Ridley Scott to Jules Verne and putting them in charge of art direction. Picture this game with the visual
trimmings of Oblivion , or Gears of War . This is divine gaming.
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Bioshock is set in an alternate past and centered on your protagonist who, after his plane crashes in the ocean, finds
himself stranded in an undersea utopian city called Rapture. Despite the apparent scale and beauty of this watertight
metropolis, things go awry well fast for our hero as he finds himself stuck between the wills of a handful of city folk with
vastly conflicting wants.
Without ruining any surprises, Bioshock's twisting story had me standing on my seat and swearing delightedly at the TV for
its 'gotcha!' ingenuity.
In short, you'll be covering a lot of turf in Rapture, either driving the story or doing your own exploring. This in itself is
rewarding, for Rapture is absolutely and entirely unique - no repetitive rooms, no dodgy tiled wallpaper patterns, the whole
dang city feels lovingly hand-crafted.
Moreover, the pervasive art deco ambiance (perpetually dripping and drenched in water) lends itself well to what is
invariably a creepy world gone real bad. Even the soundtrack is stunning, broken gramophones bleat warped vintage
classics as you pass them and catching enemy AI interaction dialogue is well worth the effort.
Getting down to it, your boy has the usual right-handed arsenal - wrench, pistol, machine gun, flamethrower. Check that left
hand though, and we're looking at a whole new ball game. Through inherited mutant abilities called Plasmids you can stun
thugs with lightning, hurl furniture into them with telekinesis, or snap your fingers and watch them ignite.
You can have up to six plasmids equipped in your left hand at one time, and combined with Tonics, which enhance your
character's general ability (invisibility, faster movement, weapon affinity etc), the option to tune your man to a specific play
style is richly rewarding.
Your enemies are crafted for the task too. Some nasties like to crab-crawl across the ceiling Poltergeist style and drop on
your head. Some prefer to play dead and leap loudly at you as you pass, filling your trousers in an heartbeat. The Big
Daddies, giant metallic bodyguards for Little Sisters, are downright terrifying to face up to. You can hear their low moaning
from rooms apart, and feel their footsteps vibrating the floorboards as they near.
Trick is, to improve your character, you need to free/harvest Little Sisters (who don't, incidentally, want to be
freed/harvested) for necessary rewards. The first time a Big Daddy spots you and charges you down from across the
room, you'll know what I mean when I say that engaging them is a costly exercise.
Bioshock does so much right it's hard to fit it all in here. Among other notable facets of the game, early on you are handed
a stills camera for 'research' purposes. The idea here is that if you can snap a decent, well composed photo of a sentry,
nasty or whatever, you'll gradually learn more about them and find ways to hurt them better (via a character bonus to hit that
type of creature, for example). The unfortunate catch is that the most beneficial time to take such a photo is that fraction of
a second before they take your face off.
I could ramble on forever about the virtues of this title but the truth at the heart of things is this: Bioshock is a feast for the
senses and a fantastic filler for the days leading up to Halo 3. Go and buy this one now.
movie review - The Bourne Ultimatum - Rated M
Devoted fans will have already booked their one-on-one date with the bare fisted master Jason Bourne,
but those even with a passing interest in the franchise will be happy to know that The Bourne Ultimatum
is a good bet for weekend entertainment.
Ultimatum sees Bourne piecing together the last fragments of his forgotten past in an attempt to clear his name and,
possibly, enact vengeance on those responsible for making him into a killer. Once again Bourne is a juggernaut of covert
violence, changing locales almost as fast as he changes his knuckle bandages, beating his way across the globe in search
of the truth.
Hot on his trail and determined to see Bourne's case closed is a team of CIA operatives led by deputy director Noah
Vosen (played by David Strathairn ). Vosen is very much a "collateral damage" style commander and liberally employs
contract killers to place in front of Bourne and anyone else who dares help him.
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As Bourne nears the heart of his forgotten past, Vosen's tactics get more and more deadly, with little regard to the set
rules of right and wrong.
Ultimatum retains the harsh realistic look of the series, keeping everything (including the camera) very much up close and
personal without too much fanfare spent on dazzling pyrotechnics. Like Supremacy before it, director Paul Greengrass
puts a paint shaking machine beneath the cameraman to deliver a more frenetic perspective of the brilliant action set
pieces. This can be highly disorientating, and to some highly annoying, but that's up to the individual.
Matt Damon is often labeled the thinking man's Bond, however the emphasis in Ultimatum is on the "smash first, ask
questions later" side of things. Bourne never really raises his voice, cracks a smile or even looks remotely emotionally torn
while taking care of business. As each piece of his past is put in place, he seems to revert back to the machine-like
personality he perfected for contract killing.
Bourne regains his memory over the course of the film through a series of blurred memory flashbacks. To me, the whole
process of regaining memory in a film via hazy flashbacks is a little old hat. It makes you wonder whether Bourne could
have saved a lot of lives by visiting a psychologist.
In fact, while there is a lot to like about Ultimatum , it does feels a little like the crew are tying up loose ends rather than
giving us a new perspective of the Bourne character. Bourne has been searching for truth for three movies now. It seemed
like in Supremacy we had pretty much caught the drift of what probably happened to Bourne (actually I caught the drift in
Identity ) so Ultimatum feels at times like Bourne is treading water while waiting for the flashbacks to single out the bad
guy at the top of the chain.
Of course the Bourne storyline was never that good if you really think about it, nor was it what made the other two films so
popular.
Some of the best bits of Ultimatum happen between characters returning from past Bourne encounters. CIA director
Pamela Landy (played by Joan Allen ) is back and the battle with her determined and deadly CIA counterpart Vosen is
engrossing to say the least. There are even a few brief moments of quiet reflection. Julia Styles returns briefly as Bourne's
former government contact and the two share an ambiguous moment tiptoeing around a past link that's never quite fully
revealed...
Bourne fans will love this film, and those who are just popping in for the night will also get a kick out of the series trademark
visceral car chases and hand to hand combat.
Could they have taken Bourne a bit further for the last hurrah? Probably. But looking at the Rotten Tomatoes rating , no
one's complaining.
site scan - plasma vs LCD
www.cnet.com.au
CNET provides an easy to read buyers guide for buying a new TV addressing the advantages and disadvantages of
choosing a plasma vs an LCD screen.
www.flattvpeople.com
A site dedicated to educating potential buyers on the technology behind LCD and plasma TVs.
www.dtvforum.info
Advice straight from the horse's mouth. Find out the best home theatre product picks from the people who are out there
buying. A great forum for researching your next buy or comparing brands.
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