Weekly Roundup: Telstra finds friction in their national broadband plans and open source gets a leg-up

Toshiba is planning to roll out new technology that will serve as an extension to the DVD format comparable to Blu-ray and HD-DVD quality. It will release the enhanced DVD players in six months at lower prices than the current Blu-ray players. The new player will also be backwards-compatible with standard DVD discs.

A study by Dimension Data found that the ‘Do Not Call’ list has had little effect on Australia’s largest call centres. The list was founded in May 2007, and claims to have accumulated 2.3 million telephone numbers, but the report found that 91.7 percent of the 54 call centres surveyed said the list had little to no impact on the volume of outbound calling.

Internode launched an Australian mirror site to SourceForge.net, which provides customers with unmetered access to the world’s largest Open Source software development site. SourceForge.net provides free hosting to Open Source software development projects. The mirror site extends Internode’s unmetered downloadable content to 32 terabytes (TB).

Acer has developed a low cost computer called Aspire One to compete with Asus Eee PC and the OLPC. The computer, which Asus labels as a “netbook,” runs Linux, offers Wi-Fi, and sport an 8GB solid state drive. It will be available in stores by 10 July.

Telco consortium Terria (formerly the G9) have branded Telstra’s opposition to structural separation of the national broadband network (NBN) as “scary”. Telstra claims such separation has never worked anywhere else in the world, but Terria has warned that Telstra should not assume it has an automatic right to own and operate all new telecommunications infrastructure.

The AFP announced it had arrested 70 people and summoned 20 more to court for allegedly downloading child porn. The arrest included a teacher, a police officer, and a youth worker. The arrests were the largest ever of their kind conducted by the AFP.

Acer says it will aggressively push Linux on its line of netbooks, as well as its laptops. The company says that not only will using Linux be cost effective, but the open source operating system boots in just 15 seconds and can extend battery life from five to seven hours.

The Department of Defence (DoD) announced operational capability of a new $1 billion satellite that will allow the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to communicate with defence personnel anywhere in the world. The Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) will operate more than 10 times faster than the existing mixed military and commercial communications system used by the ADF.

A new report says Australian consumers will pay 15 percent more for broadband access if Telstra is successful in its bid for the national broadband network. The report claims Telstra would have to charge that much more if they are to reach their publicly-stated 18 percent after-tax return profit target.

A survey found that 39 percent of 18 to 24 year old offices workers would quit their job if Facebook was banned in the workplace. However, many employees said they would support a Facebook ban if it sped up other network functions, which are typically slowed down by excessive use.

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