Archive for March, 2011
New Website, New all-in-ONE Plan
ONE has launched a brand new website at www.myone.com.au
Our developers worked tirelessly on the new design, not only to make the site look stunning and easy to navigate, but also by trimming the code, and ensuring it runs efficiently and loads quickly, even on dial-up.
In addition to the shiny new website, we’re pleased to announce a new all-in-ONE plan, which includes unlimited home phone, broadband and mobile phone for only $30 per week*
* Conditions apply, see www.myone.com.au for full terms and conditions
Internet Explorer 9 Launch
The latest web browser from Microsoft, Internet Explorer 9 was launched overnight, and in true tech fashion, a launch party was held in Texas, USA to make a spectacle of the event.
Beta and pre-launch versions of the current version have already been downloaded by over 40 million users, whilst there are over 900 Million users of earlier versions of the popular browser.
Microsoft’s new web browser focuses on improved privacy settings, tighter integration with Windows 7, and a more graphic rich experience, taking advantage of graphics hardware acceleration in newer computers for enhanced online gaming and smoother high definition video.
Microsoft’s message for Internet Explorer 9, is the web can be fast, and beautiful, with the official launch site being titled “beauty of the web”. Microsoft has also partnered with major online channels to deliver this message, such as Facebook and Yahoo!
A new feature to Internet Explorer, named “pinned websites” is similar to a bookmark that can be added to your Windows’ start bar, allowing quick, immediate access to the websites you frequently acces, without the need to first launch your browser and type in the web address. This feature is sure to be a hit amongst Facebook addicts.
It is said the release of “IE9” was brought forward in light of recent heavy advertising campaigns from Google Chrome, which has been boasting faster load times, and improved security.
Microsoft has lost market share in recent years to competitive browsers such as the ever popular Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari and of late, Google Chrome.
As users of IE9 for almost a year now, we can report that Internet Explorer 9 is a fairly reliable web browser, which seems to load quicker than Firefox, but doesn’t go a great way to enhance or improve the browsing experience. Simple tasks are fine, but power users would prefer Chrome or Firefox.
A time may come where it is the preferred browser of converts to alternatives due to “IE9 optimised sites” working better, but with a big push for standards compliance, that path doesn’t seem likely.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 is available as a free download for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7 from http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/
iPad2 Release Date
The much anticipated successor to Apple’s popular iPad tablet, the iPad2 is due to launch in North America today, with Apple fans expected in their troves to line up around the block and camp outside of stores across the USA to get their hands on the latest piece of shiny goodness from Steve Job’s empire.
The new iPad, which launches in Australia on 25th March 2011, has a new A5 dual core processor, meaning it can load applications much faster, and handle more applications, and is reported to have nine times the graphics processing power of its predecessor, great for games and movies.
The iPad2 is thinner and lighter the original, and still matches the battery performance of the older iPad , which is great for power users wanting to spend all day with their iPad.
In addition to a cosmetic upgrade and performance enhancements under the hood, the iPad 2 has a new “Smart Cover” which clips onto the iPad magnetically, flips open like a book cover, acts as a protective screen cover and power saver when the cover is closed, and also doubles as a stand.
It also has a front-facing camera for “facetime” a video conferencing feature which was sorely missed in the first generation, and led to much criticism of the first iPad launch.
The release date for iPad2 in Australia is 25th March 2011, and is expected to go on sale with a starting price of approximately $650 for the base 3G model with 16GB of storage, with a $100 premium for Wifi+3G, and storage options up to 64GB.
The optional magnetic Smart Cover is expected to retail from $70-140 depending on whether the polyurethane or leather option is selected, however these figures are speculative, as Apple is yet to launch an official Australian price list.
See the Apple website for more details.