ICANN adds IPv6 for root zone DNS servers
ICANN has just added IPv6 connectivity to six of the root DNS servers (A, F, H, J, K, M). This is a good step forward for IPv6 deployment which has been fairly slow to date.
More info in the ICANN IPv6 announcement.
Back in the 1800s the Tates Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for watches,they used them to produce compasses. The new compasses were so bad that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California.
This, of course, is the origin of the expression, “He who has a Tates is lost!”
Peak now lasts for three hours
Peak now lasts for three hours ( Herald Sun / Liam Houlihan )
From the article: “The images from VicRoads cameras show the sudden congestion that happens every afternoon on the Monash Freeway, dragging the average speed from 90km/h to 30km/h.”
I have only been driving a car since 2002 and in that time the traffic on the Monash has become noticably worse every year. The government has plans to widen the freeway to 4 lanes in some areas but I don’t think that is the solution. They may instead want to look at expanding the rail network into some of the south east suburbs which don’t have access to trains presently. I’m sure a lot of people would prefer to take the train to work if they had the option.
Do adjust your mindset ( The Age / Alan Kohler )
In this article Alan Kohler takes a look at some of the challenges facing the free to air TV stations in Australia. Audiences are in decline, costs are on the rise, and there are increasing challenges from other forms of entertainment. What does this mean for the industry, and what impact will technology like IPTV have?
This needs no further comment:
IPTV is here … but don’t hold your breath ( The Age / Louisa Hearn )
From the article: “While telecommunication companies in many other developed countries have been investing heavily in improving broadband services, Telstra has been accused within the industry of lagging behind - something that Optus and other smaller telcos and ISPs say they are working hard to reverse by building up their own broadband infrastructures.”
With residential VoIP slowly making its way into households providers are starting to look towards the next step in the so called ‘triple play’ - IPTV. IPTV is simply the delivery of TV programming over the internet, although more specifically realtime or on-demand programming. This is in contrast to existing video distribution over the internet which requires the user to wait while the video file downloads before they are able to start watching it.
There is nothing magic or mystical about IPTV, but it does require a lot of bandwidth between the provider and the subscriber. ADSL2+ is going a long way towards solving this problem, but many households are not close enough to their exchange to be able to get a reliable high-speed connection. With Telstra’s FTTN rollout in doubt consumers may have to wait a little longer before IPTV becomes a reality.
There has been some drama at the ISP that was hosting my websites which resulted in them being offline for a few days. I’ve moved on to some temporary hosting which may be a little slow but it will keep the site going until I get something else set up.
Remember folks - offsite backups are essential!
Accident on the Monash costs millions
Gridlock mayhem brings a city to a standstill for hours ( The Age / Stephen Moynihan and Selma Milovanovic )
From the article: “Melburnians’ reliance on cars became apparent yesterday morning when the accidents caused severe delays on the Monash, while alternative routes suggested to ease the congestion also remained clogged for hours.”
Yet more evidence of the transport problems in and around Melbourne. Supposedly the combined delays of all commuters cost the state millions of dollars in lost productivity. I have no idea how they calculate those sorts of figures..
Telstra LSS fees “not reasonable”
Watchdog snaps at Telstra’s fees (The Age / Lisa Murray)
The ACCC has considered the $90 connection & disconnection fee Telstra charges on its Line Sharing Service (LSS) is “not reasonable”. Telstra are apparently calculating the charge on the basis that they have to send a technician out to the exchange to perform only this one specific task. The ACCC argues that technicians visit exchanges frequently to perform other tasks and could do the LSS work at the same time. I agree with the ACCC on this one - it’s not appropriate for other telcos to pay Telstra extra for inefficiencies in their business, false or otherwise.
Yahoo, ninemsn tackle telcos (Australian IT / Michael Sainsbury and John Lehmann)
From the article: “LOCAL internet joint ventures Yahoo!7 and ninemsn are gearing up to inflict more pain on the ailing $33 billion telco sector, with the launch of cut-price internet-based voice services (VOIP) later this year.
The two groups join eBay’s ground-breaking Skype service as the latest threat to fixed-line revenues that last year earned Telstra $8 billion.”
Customer VoIP uptake is a major threat to the revenue base of the major telcos, especially when the consumer accesses the internet via Wireless or other alternative technologies. The startup costs for a VoIP provider are tiny relative to a traditional phone service provider so I think we’ll be seeing a lot of competition over the next couple of years.
