nsw
Computers
4:47PM Nick Broughall | Brad Howarth at ITNews reckons that the NSW government is seriously considering how they can implement the Microsoft Surface into their future plans after Minister for Commerce Jodi McKay visited Microsoft last week for a demo. God I hope not. More »
Shouldn’t The NSW Government Spend Your Money On Something Useful?
4:47PM Nick Broughall | Brad Howarth at ITNews reckons that the NSW government is seriously considering how they can implement the Microsoft Surface into their future plans after Minister for Commerce Jodi McKay visited Microsoft last week for a demo. God I hope not. More » 
Deals
10:30AM Nick Broughall |
If you’re even contemplating picking up a Sony KDL40Z5500 or KDL46Z5500 Bravia TV, you might want to consider hopping in the car and driving up to Northern NSW or Queensland to grab it from Retravision, cos their current promo is pretty unbeatable. More »
This Sony Bravia Deal Is Pretty Frickin’ Awesome
10:30AM Nick Broughall |
If you’re even contemplating picking up a Sony KDL40Z5500 or KDL46Z5500 Bravia TV, you might want to consider hopping in the car and driving up to Northern NSW or Queensland to grab it from Retravision, cos their current promo is pretty unbeatable. More »
Entertainment
2:34PM Nick Broughall | Gizmodians living outside the major metropolitan areas who have been hanging out for access to the 24 hour HD sports channel, One HD, your time is almost here. More »
Southern Cross Launching One HD July 2
2:34PM Nick Broughall | Gizmodians living outside the major metropolitan areas who have been hanging out for access to the 24 hour HD sports channel, One HD, your time is almost here. More »
Entertainment
10:00AM Nick Broughall | Yesterday Sony opened a brand new Blu-ray disc plant in Huntingwood, NSW. Could this mean cheaper Blu-ray discs for the masses? More »
New Blu-Ray Disc Factory Opens In NSW
10:00AM Nick Broughall | Yesterday Sony opened a brand new Blu-ray disc plant in Huntingwood, NSW. Could this mean cheaper Blu-ray discs for the masses? More »
Weapons
11:31AM Nick Broughall | Forget Call of Duty 4 on your 360 – for the latest and greatest interactive shooting game you need to join the NSW Police Force. According to Edmund Tadros over at the SMH, the NSW boys in blue are planning on dropping around $2 million on a state-of-the-art virtual reality firearms range to boost firearms training at the Goulburn police academy. The range will use replica guns shooting at a video screen, complete with recoil action and using wireless technology (although what wireless tech isn’t mentioned). More »
NSW Police Getting A Virtual Reality Firearms Range
11:31AM Nick Broughall | Forget Call of Duty 4 on your 360 – for the latest and greatest interactive shooting game you need to join the NSW Police Force. According to Edmund Tadros over at the SMH, the NSW boys in blue are planning on dropping around $2 million on a state-of-the-art virtual reality firearms range to boost firearms training at the Goulburn police academy. The range will use replica guns shooting at a video screen, complete with recoil action and using wireless technology (although what wireless tech isn’t mentioned). More »
Computers
11:30AM Nick Broughall | Kids today have got it easy. Not only do they have mobile phones and the internet, they’re now going to get a free netbook just for going to a public school. So long as they live in NSW that is, with The Australian today reporting that the NSW State government and the Federal government have kissed and made up over funding for the free laptop scheme.
Sadly, there’s no mention on exactly which type of netbook years 9-12 students can expect to see come next year. They will have wireless though, and will connect to the Department of Education’s network through each student’s unique ID, which the Government claims will help prevent theft of the devices.
Students will also get to keep the netbook when they leave school, although you’d feel pretty bummed if you were in year 9 next year and you had to keep the same, 3-year-old netbook heading into uni… Those things aren’t that powerful to begin with, let alone 3-years down the track…
[The Australian] More »
NSW Students To Get Free Netbooks Next Year
11:30AM Nick Broughall | Kids today have got it easy. Not only do they have mobile phones and the internet, they’re now going to get a free netbook just for going to a public school. So long as they live in NSW that is, with The Australian today reporting that the NSW State government and the Federal government have kissed and made up over funding for the free laptop scheme.
Sadly, there’s no mention on exactly which type of netbook years 9-12 students can expect to see come next year. They will have wireless though, and will connect to the Department of Education’s network through each student’s unique ID, which the Government claims will help prevent theft of the devices.
Students will also get to keep the netbook when they leave school, although you’d feel pretty bummed if you were in year 9 next year and you had to keep the same, 3-year-old netbook heading into uni… Those things aren’t that powerful to begin with, let alone 3-years down the track…
[The Australian] More »
Online
12:01PM Nick Broughall | The year after I finished school, it was announced that English students would have the option of studying movies for their HSC in NSW.
I was so pissed off. Not because I though this was a bad idea, but because Star Wars was going to be one of potential “texts”. I would have been looking at straight A’s all the way, and some study that I might actually enjoy.
I’m having a similar moment here now. According to the SMH, as of next year, HSC students will be able to study Wikipedia. It will be one of the possible “texts” in an elective known as “The Global Village”, which studies how global communities interact with eachother.
The aim of the course is not only to study the dynamic nature of the online encyclopedia, but also to give students a greater understanding of the potential for misinformation on the web.
It’s a great step forward in legitimising the online medium as a respectable source of information. The next step, hopefully, will be adding Gizmodo to the curriculum, with lively debates on why we’re fantastic replacing all religious education classes. Well, we can dream, can’t we?
But I wonder how long it will be before the entire course ends up on Wikipedia itself, along with tests and test answers? When that happens, it will be the official point where the argument over Wikipedia’s legitimacy ends.
[SMH]
More »
NSW HSC Students To Study Wikipedia Next Year
12:01PM Nick Broughall | The year after I finished school, it was announced that English students would have the option of studying movies for their HSC in NSW.
I was so pissed off. Not because I though this was a bad idea, but because Star Wars was going to be one of potential “texts”. I would have been looking at straight A’s all the way, and some study that I might actually enjoy.
I’m having a similar moment here now. According to the SMH, as of next year, HSC students will be able to study Wikipedia. It will be one of the possible “texts” in an elective known as “The Global Village”, which studies how global communities interact with eachother.
The aim of the course is not only to study the dynamic nature of the online encyclopedia, but also to give students a greater understanding of the potential for misinformation on the web.
It’s a great step forward in legitimising the online medium as a respectable source of information. The next step, hopefully, will be adding Gizmodo to the curriculum, with lively debates on why we’re fantastic replacing all religious education classes. Well, we can dream, can’t we?
But I wonder how long it will be before the entire course ends up on Wikipedia itself, along with tests and test answers? When that happens, it will be the official point where the argument over Wikipedia’s legitimacy ends.
[SMH]
More »
Weapons
9:44AM Nick Broughall | Unless you have a really good reason to own a laser pointer (being a Giz-loving geek doesn’t count, apparently), you should probably avoid using / carrying / showing off anything that points a laser beam if you live in NSW (or WA).
Yesterday the NSW government passed legislation making it possible for police to search anyone the believe may be carrying a laser pointer, and unless you have it for a legitimate reason (you’re a teacher, an architect or a bounty hunter something similar), you could face fines of up to $5,000.
What’s more, class three and four laser pointers are now classified as prohibited weapons, and if you’re found with one of those babies, you could be rattling chains in your very own orange jumpsuit for up to 14 years.
The crackdown has happened because of a recent spate of jackasses pointing the lasers at commercial aeroplanes. As the NSW Premiere, Morris Iemma put it:
“It only takes a fraction of a second for a pilot to become
temporarily blinded and that could have catastrophic consequences.”
Every gadget nut knows that lasers can be fun. But there’s nothing fun about potentially bringing down a 747 (or any other flying vehicle, for that matter). If you know one of the assholes doing this (or you’re doing it yourself), give them (or yourself) a swift punch to the crotch for being so stupid.
[SMH]
More »
Laser Pointers Banned In NSW, Users Face $5,000 Fine
9:44AM Nick Broughall | Unless you have a really good reason to own a laser pointer (being a Giz-loving geek doesn’t count, apparently), you should probably avoid using / carrying / showing off anything that points a laser beam if you live in NSW (or WA).
Yesterday the NSW government passed legislation making it possible for police to search anyone the believe may be carrying a laser pointer, and unless you have it for a legitimate reason (you’re a teacher, an architect or a bounty hunter something similar), you could face fines of up to $5,000.
What’s more, class three and four laser pointers are now classified as prohibited weapons, and if you’re found with one of those babies, you could be rattling chains in your very own orange jumpsuit for up to 14 years.
The crackdown has happened because of a recent spate of jackasses pointing the lasers at commercial aeroplanes. As the NSW Premiere, Morris Iemma put it:
“It only takes a fraction of a second for a pilot to become
temporarily blinded and that could have catastrophic consequences.”
Every gadget nut knows that lasers can be fun. But there’s nothing fun about potentially bringing down a 747 (or any other flying vehicle, for that matter). If you know one of the assholes doing this (or you’re doing it yourself), give them (or yourself) a swift punch to the crotch for being so stupid.
[SMH]
More »
Online
2:42PM Nathan Taylor | In a move that seems more than a little reminiscent of the Stasi, the NSW Police have announced that they are setting up a Web site that encourages people to take and send in footage of lawbreakers in action, or so News.com.au is reporting.
The story is a little light on details, but it appears that since the Cronulla riots, the NSW Police have been working on Project VIEW, which is a plan to develop ways of harnessing the vast amount of AV material and pictures that are out there, but unsorted, unmanaged and unknown. They’d like to get the help of people who run CCTV cameras, have taken film or photos with mobile phones or otherwise have access to evidence of criminal behaviour. They plan to set up systems so that the cameras are catalogued and the footage accessible to the police.
It’s a scheme that I find more than a little worrying (as you might have guessed by the opening sentence of this post), although I also believe that it is possible to strike a balance. Here’s hoping that the NSW Police Force can do just that. [News.com.au]
More »
NSW Police Launch Internet Dob-In-A-Criminal Scheme
2:42PM Nathan Taylor | In a move that seems more than a little reminiscent of the Stasi, the NSW Police have announced that they are setting up a Web site that encourages people to take and send in footage of lawbreakers in action, or so News.com.au is reporting.
The story is a little light on details, but it appears that since the Cronulla riots, the NSW Police have been working on Project VIEW, which is a plan to develop ways of harnessing the vast amount of AV material and pictures that are out there, but unsorted, unmanaged and unknown. They’d like to get the help of people who run CCTV cameras, have taken film or photos with mobile phones or otherwise have access to evidence of criminal behaviour. They plan to set up systems so that the cameras are catalogued and the footage accessible to the police.
It’s a scheme that I find more than a little worrying (as you might have guessed by the opening sentence of this post), although I also believe that it is possible to strike a balance. Here’s hoping that the NSW Police Force can do just that. [News.com.au]
More » 