Icy Internet Blast

It is absolutely freezing in Geelong this morning. As I took the photos in this article, weather.com.au says it was -0.1°C here. Given that it was 9am, it is likely to have been much colder than that during the night.

Here’s what my car and the front lawn next door looked like:

Having grown up in Ballarat, I’m not a stranger to the cold. I used to ride my bike to school in the snow, so I can handle it.

What can’t handle it, it seems, is my phone line and therefore my DSL connection. This morning, it was behaving in exactly the same way as I described in this article from 18 months ago, when significant rainfall was blowing the service away.

So rainfall blows services on a copper line away, and so does extreme cold.

From the photos, it doesn’t take a lot a ice to do it either.

The same copper Malcolm Turnbull says is “adequate” for our broadband future – using an FTTN architecture and VDSL distribution to give “up to about 80Mbps” to end users.

Motorola offers its T3 PowerBroadband solution to the hotel market, using VDSL on internal building wiring, of “up to about 75Mbps” over around 200m of copper line length.

Over internal copper building wiring that is likely to be in better condition than the copper wiring in the ground, and that has been in the ground since the middle of the last century.

So 200 metres to the nearest FTTN cabinet to get his promised speeds?

That is a lot shorter distance than Malcolm suggests, so a lot more of the FTTN cabinets dotted around the streets than he proposes, all over the country.

Optus estimated that 75,224 FTTN nodes would be required to cover Australia. So more than that if 200 metres is the 75Mbps boundary with VDSL.

And that 200 metres Motorola offers is with copper likely in far better condition.

Copper not blown away by rain and icy conditions. Rain and icy conditions that won’t affect fibre.

Yet another reason the Opposition scheme is not the right solution.

Turnbull Disingenuous Over NBN – Again

There has been yet more FUD and disingenuous statements from the Federal Opposition in recent days with respect to the National Broadband Network (NBN).

“No, the Coalition will not cancel or roll back the NBN. The NBN will continue to roll out but we will do so in a cost-effective manner in particular in built-up areas.”

In other words – “We will stop the NBN, we’ll just replace it with our own plan, but keep calling it the NBN so we can say we completed it.”

Turnbull would be well advised – (purely for political purposes, but no doubt won’t be) – that more and more, people want the NBN, and in its current form.

Just take a look at the poll attached to the same story:

Yes – 80% of just over 7,000 respondents want the NBN “in its current form” – with only 12% supporting Turnbull’s plan.

Regional areas are screaming for it. Uptake for the network has been higher than expected.

The opposition show over and over again that they care little for truth with respect to the entire NBN debate.

We know that the opposition plan will cost even more in the long run, and that the technologies their plan relies on are dead-end technologies.

It is time Turnbull and the entire opposition stop playing three-year political “our solution is cheaper” games, and start thinking of the future of our nation.

There is nothing wrong with leading the world – but the opposition just wants to get into government, no matter what it takes.

Pizza Flavour Fail

On behalf of the AFL, the makers of Domino’s pizza in Australia appear to have come up with an all new pizza variety.

For dinner at last nights Essendon vs Western Bulldogs game, I grabbed a “Meatosaurus” pizza. The only other option was “Hawaiian”. Or was it?

Could that be “Hawaiin”?

Might be.

Just In The Nick of Metro Trains Time

Must admit, I had a bit of a chuckle with respect to a sequence and timing of a pair of tweets from Melbourne’s Metro Trains this afternoon.

First, a warning of services changes due to an infrastructure fault:

“Sydenham/Upfield/Craigieburn customers: some trains may run direct from Flinders St instead of the city loop due to a track fault.”

Followed four minutes later with this ironic tweet:

“A reminder that works in the City Loop will start from 9pm tonight and continue all weekend. Check here for more info http://t.co/WXkH2gaQ”

Sounds like the repairs are just in the nick of time!

Happy Birthday Alan Turing

Today is the 100th birthday of Alan Turing, widely regarded as the father of mechanical and electronic computing. He was a genius mathematician and cryptographer, and helped win World War II by breaking the German Enigma encoding machines.

Despite his wartime efforts, he was persecuted for being homosexual, and most believe that the mental anguish he endured over his treatment lead him to take his own life in 1954.

All of the electronic devices we take for granted today – computers, smartphones, and the like – can be directly related back to Turing’s work. You wouldn’t be reading these words without his work.

Here is a brief introduction to his life and work:

There has also recently been an acclaimed documentary produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom which I can highly recommend if you can get hold of a copy to watch.

In 2009 Turing received an all-too-late apology from then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, after accepting a petition with thousands of signatures.

“Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him … So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.”

Happy 100th Birthday Alan Turing.

Will Apple Be Stupid Enough?

Rumours have abounded for some time that Apple will introduce a new smaller dock connector on the upcoming iPhone 5.

Now, of course, rumours about new iPhone features come and go, and a great many of them turn out to be FUD, whether initiated by Apple themselves to throw people off course, or by over-enthusiastic technology sites seeking some extra page impressions.

The “smaller dock connector” rumour is one that doesn’t seem to want to go away, and TechCrunch has in the last few days claimed to have confirmed that the connector will change from the current 30-pin version we all know, to a smaller 19-pin version.

So what you say?

Well, you know all those iPhone accessories – (cables, docks, car kits, etc, etc) – you have collected up over time? Well, if this goes ahead, they will all be obsolete, and won’t be able to be used with your new iPhone 5.

Ouch.

Apple might however, run into a few problems themselves.

For those who don’t know, accessory manufacturers pay Apple a licence fee to manufacture 30-pin connectors to connect to iPods, iPhones, and iPads.

Not only are there going to be a lot of pissed off consumers with useless accessories, the accessory manufacturers who paid to use the 30-pin connectors may have to re-licence, and will definitely have to spend time and money re-engineering their accessories.

Seems like Apple are potentially going to stir up a real hornets nest.

Will they really be dumb enough?

Quite possibly.

I think it’s crazy, but I suspect Apple won’t agree with me.

Then again, they just might be trying to put the wind up everyone.

Why 13CABS Is Right And Wrong

There has been a lot of talk today about a campaign launched by Melbourne’s 13CABS – (a co-operative consisting of Yellow Cabs, Black Cabs, and a number of other smaller depots) – with respect to a recent taxi industry review, one recommendation of which has been the proposal to introduce unmarked, London-style “mini-cabs” into the Melbourne market.

The campaign has come under particular criticism due to using the same “scare tactics” that were used in London to warn people of the potential dangers of unmarked “taxis”, highlighting a possible increase in sexual assaults by drivers.

The problem could be very real.

In an unmarked, unlicensed “taxi” – how do you know who is driving you home? Is there a security camera in the vehicle? If something does happen, who do you report it to? Does the vehicle have GPS tracking so that authorities can find it?

How will you identify the vehicle you were in? How do you know the number plates on the vehicle are legitimate and not stolen to hide the identity of the vehicle?

You don’t.

Would you want to be under the influence of a good night out, and have absolutely zero knowledge of who is driving you home?

Granted, there are a lot of dodgy drivers in legitimate taxis, but you at least have the chance to identify the vehicle, and have the company track it on GPS if something were to happen.

These should be your safety concerns with the “mini-cab” proposal.

13CABS are trying also to promote the fact that extra “taxis” on the road will reduce already very low driver incomes – and this is quite correct.

Say for example there are 120,000 taxi dispatches in Melbourne on a busy Saturday night. The approximately 3,500 taxis on the road in Melbourne would get on average around 34 of those jobs each. Lets say the average fare is around $20.00.

A taxi working the roads properly would put around $685.00 on the meter for the evening. It’s hard work, but it can be done.

Further suppose that 1,000 extra taxis were put on the road. Instead of getting 34 jobs each, they are getting 26 jobs. The average fare isn’t going to change.

Instead of putting $685.00 on the meter, the cab is only going to put around $520.00 on the meter. That’s $160.00 less, of which the driver would have gotten $80.00.

Ask yourself if you would like your boss to pay you $80.00 less a day?

Shitty hey?

So 13CABS is absolutely right to campaign on behalf of all its owners and drivers, against the proposal.

Where 13CABS is absolutely wrong is to use a campaign of scaring people with claims of increased sexual assault, with a confronting leaflet that would scare many people, and particularly women. It’s despicable.

Instead, they should be explaining the problem like I have described it above – in terms everyone would understand. They shouldn’t be risking scaring away the people they’re trying to look after at all times of the day and night, just to make a point that could be made far more openly and honestly.

It is a disgusting attempt to get publicity for their entirely reasonable campaign, and they should hang their heads in shame.

A simple safety tip for any cab ride is to take note of the cab number – (on the doors, on the number plates, and on the dashboard inside the vehicle) – and key it into your mobile phone for future reference.

That way if something happens, you have some information which the police and the taxi company can use to start their investigation with.

In an unmarked “mini-cab”, you’ll have no such thing.

What Actually Is The NBN Objective?

In the ongoing debate on whether or not the National Broadband Network (NBN) will ever be completed in its current form, there are many different views. Mainly because in a project that would be expected to take ten years, there are many different possible outcomes.

Of course, the federal opposition through its communications spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull would love to do anything they can to halt the project as it stands, and replace it with what they believe is their cheaper, yet vastly technically inferior, and less future-proof solution.

Last week, Turnbull made an interesting statement regarding what would happen should the Coalition win the next federal election.

“What we will be able to do and I will give this solemn undertaking to the Australian people: We will be able to complete the job of the NBN Co. We are not going to rip it up or tear it up or abandon it. But we will complete the objective, but we will do so in a much more cost-effective way.”

This represents a significant softening of language, when the original line from the Coalition was to “demolish” the NBN’s business case. Many have argued that this is a tacit acceptance that the NBN is inevitable, in its 93% fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) form, if the idea is now not to “demolish” it, but to “complete the objective”.

Well, no. Not quite.

It is a step towards the government policy, in that the opposition now agree it should be “completed”, but with their fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) version of the network – there are of course many arguments as to which is “better”, and how “better” is defined.

The key is the line that the Coalition “will complete the objective”.

Interesting choice of words – what exactly is the objective of the NBN?

Time for a history lesson.

When the opposition was last in government – (pre-November 2007) – it settled on the OPEL Networks solution to upgrade Australia’s broadband infrastructure. It was to be a mix of WiMAX, and an extension to the existing Optus DSL network.

While OPEL was a step forward, its ability to provide a significant improvement in broadband access to all Australians – (including to those who had no broadband access at all) – was heavily criticised.

It was better than nothing, but left the wholesale network in the hands of private operators, and did nothing to restructure the flawed telecommunications market in Australia.

Upon coming to office in the 2007 federal election, the incoming Labor government cancelled the OPEL project, since it was analysed that it would only reach 72% of currently underserved premises.

That is, of all the premises that didn’t have adequate access to broadband, OPEL would still leave 28% of them underserved.

The new government replaced the OPEL plan with its own FTTN solution, expected to cost around $4.7b, and the tender process was opened to seek interested parties. The new plan would be to cover 98% of all Australian premises with a mix of FTTN, wireless, and satellite connections.

Companies such as Optus, Telstra, and Canadian firm Axia NetMedia wanted a piece of the national action. Some companies tendered for state-based chunks of the network.

Things seemed to be progressing well until Telstra – (who own the copper network in Australia, which would have been required as part of any FTTN build) – was sensationally excluded from the tender process after submitting a non-compliant tender response, and then the subsequent complete cancellation of the newer FTTN proposal.

So why did that happen?

The then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his communications minister Stephen Conroy announced that a review into the FTTN plan found that it would be a “wasteful” solution:

“The proposals have also demonstrated that rolling out a single fibre-to-the-node network is unlikely to provide an efficient upgrade path to fibre-to-the-premises because of the high costs of equipment associated with rolling out a fibre-to-the-node network that would not be required for a fibre-to-the-premises network.”

It was also feared that utilising the Telstra copper network would see the government liable for an approximate $20b compensation payout to Telstra, who would lose their control of the network; and then use the compensation payout to build a competing network.

They even openly said that that’s what they would do.

The Optus FTTN solution – (and presumably any other FTTN solution) – would have seen approximately 75,224 nodes, supported by 100,000km of fibre links.

NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley has suggested the number might need to be as high as 80,000.

Based on the Optus proposal, we’d also have approximately 150,000 massive and unsightly FTTN cabinets – (75,000 in the government network, and presumably 75,000 in Telstra’s network, like the ones in New Zealand in the picture below) – spread all over our nature strips.

Axia NetMedia was pushing for a more complete, more future-proof FTTP solution.

If the $20b compensation price to Telstra was as expected, and the new network would cost $4.7b, the final price would be $24.7b; and it would be challenged in the wholesale market by the FTTN network Telstra was promising to build with the compensation.

The government looked into Axia NetMedia’s FTTP proposal, and found initially that it would cost around $43b, but that only $26b of government equity would be required to complete the job.

The remaining $17b was to be funded from the debt market once the network was underway and earned itself a credit rating to borrow against.

So it was $24.7b for a FTTN network – (up against a competing Telstra-owned network) – or $26b for a full FTTP network that didn’t have a Telstra network to compete with.

The NBN as we know it now was born. The small extra outlay seemed more than worth it.

The Coalition of course hated the price, and the “interference” with the market.

Through Turnbull after the 2010 federal election, it proposed a return to the FTTN model, now independently priced at approximately $17b. Telstra would still get approximately $9b in payments to give up their network, as would happen with the FTTP model struck between themselves and NBN Co.

That’s $26b all up. That number sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?

Technically of course, an FTTN solution is greatly inferior, and would lock Australia into a future and expensive further upgrade to FTTP when the capacity of the FTTN network is eventually outgrown.

This reflects the view in the reports that canned the FTTN network originally – “a single fibre-to-the-node network is unlikely to provide an efficient upgrade path to fibre-to-the-premises because of the high costs of equipment associated with rolling out a fibre-to-the-node network.”

Turnbull tells us his FTTN model is cheaper, but do we want FTTP for $26b of government equity or FTTN for $26b of government equity?

Seems a no brainer – but that’s where the argument is at the moment.

Getting back to the original idea here – Turnbull wants to “complete the objective” of the NBN, but not build the NBN as it stands.

The objective has to be to build the best possible broadband network for Australia.

That has always been so, considering the various versions of the network that have been proposed, and then cancelled as “better” solutions presented themselves.

An FTTN solution has also raised potential legal issues, and has been labelled “a huge mistake” by overseas experts.

The best long term solution is FTTP, and the FTTN solution – (particularly when you factor in a massive future upgrade to FTTP) – is at the very least no cheaper, and more likely far more expensive over time.

The passive nature of the FTTP model requires no power to run the distribution network, whereas the 75,000 to 80,000 FTTN cabinets would need to be powered, and this power costs money to supply, and costs greenhouse emissions to generate.

If the objective is to build the best possible broadband network, it’s time to get on with it.

If Turnbull really is interested in completing the objective of the NBN, we should carry on as is. Stopping and changing the network would cause delays. More people want the NBN than don’t want it. Uptake in early rollout areas is exceeding expectations.

So I’m all for Turnbull completing the objective of building the best possible broadband network for Australia.

His objective, however, seems to be different – so he wouldn’t be completing it at all.

That would be a tragedy.

Proof Some Craig Thomson Dirt Being Fabricated

I stumbled onto an interesting picture on Twitter tonight, one which immediately struck me as a fake.

Now of course, there are plenty of lousy Photoshop jobs online – such as the amazing levitating Chinese park inspectors – but this one was a little more interesting.

With the accompanying quote:

“Guess who was at today’s Labor caucus meeting? I thought he was suspended!!”

Firstly, Craig Thomson IS suspended and/or resigned from the ALP, so they aren’t going to be dumb enough to put him in front of the TV cameras at a caucus meeting.

Secondly, he seems to have a REALLY long neck in this photo – take note of the shoulders of the various people sitting in the same row.

I can’t conclusively say it’s a Photoshopped image, but either it IS faked, or it was taken from another day, and another caucus meeting.

How can I be sure it’s one or the other? Take note of the colour of Kelvin Thompson’s tie across the aisle.

Looks red?

Look what colour tie Kelvin is wearing today, taken from this live stream of the House of Representatives this evening:

Looks yellow? I’ve included evidence of the date I took the screen dump in the background.

He’s not even wearing the same suit! The original image is quite clearly from a different day, even if it is Photoshopped.

I don’t of course know who tried to swing this scam. Perhaps the owner of the tweet in which I found it was the person. Perhaps that user found the image and shared it?

We’ll probably never know – but the question is now out there.

What this goes to show is that people who are determined to see Craig Thomson go down will do anything, including deliberately making stuff up.

I don’t know if Thomson is guilty or innocent of the allegations against him – I’ll leave that up to a court of law.

Just as everyone else should too.

Foxtel: Reading Between The Lines

I got a gentle chuckle with respect to this article detailing the on-going merger activities between Foxtel and Austar United Communications.

“A spokesman for Foxtel said all staffing decisions will be finalised in the next six weeks, but would not comment on whether the move will lead to a reduction in the size of the workforce.”

No comment on “whether the move will lead to a reduction in the size of the workforce”.

But?

“Consequently a process is now underway whereby people will either be confirmed in their roles or, where there are more suitable people than positions, selecting the right people for the roles.”

Sounds like there are more people than positions, else they wouldn’t need to say “where there are more suitable people than positions”.

Hmmm.

So, no comment, but here’s a comment?

Proof reading. Try it sometime.