Qantas 767 suffers from fumes in cabin
Jun 5, 2010 Australia, Current Events
Further to my last post about Qantas, one of their 767s has suffered from an incident involving fumes in the cabin on a flight from Perth to Melbourne. I’m supposed to be flying that route in a few weeks. Hopefully they’ll manage to locate an aircraft with functional engines and a fume-free cabin.
Tags: qantas
The business side of TV
Jun 24, 2006 Australia, Current Events, IPTV, Music & Entertainment
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?
Sorry for the downtime
May 26, 2006 Current Events
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
May 4, 2006 Current Events, Melbourne
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..
Idiot drivers
Apr 3, 2006 Current Events, Melbourne
F1 fever grips drivers (News.com.au)
From the article: “In the latest incident, police say they intercepted a 23-year-old man from Belgrave, in Melbourne’s east, who drove at 168kph in a 100kph zone on the Monash Freeway at Glen Waverley shortly before 8am (AEST) today.” .. “A few minutes earlier, another man aged 33, from east suburban Blackburn, was caught allegedly driving his Mazda coupe at 173kph in a 100kph zone on the Eastern Freeway at Kew.” .. “Earlier today, a 20-year-old man driving a BMW led police on a 109km chase at speeds of up to 250kph in regional Victoria.”
There is no excuse for travelling this fast on public roads. People who are caught at those speeds should have their cars crushed and be banned from driving for life. The risk they pose to public safety is simply unacceptable.
USA administration unpopular with Australians
Feb 16, 2006 Current Events
US sinks to new low in eyes of Australians ( SMH / Louise Williams)
From the article: “In interviews conducted between last October and January, only 29 per cent of Australians had a “mainly positive” attitude towards the US, while 60 per cent were “mainly negative” and 11 per cent undecided. This is down on last year, when 40 per cent of Australians were positive about the US.”
It would probably be better to clarify that it is the USA government that people take issue with – in particular the current occupant of the White House. Personally I’m just glad Bush can’t be elected for another term, unlike John Howard who seems to be in no hurry to retire.
Melbourne trains overcrowded
Jan 4, 2006 Current Events, Melbourne
Suburban train passenger limits breached (The Age / Dan Silkstone)
According to the article overcrowding on some Melbourne train line has reached the point where Connex are in breech of their operating agreement. The agreement requires that there be a maximum of 798 passengers per six carriage train, but passenger figures indicate an average above this figure, even up to 950 passengers per train on the Sydenham line.
The government seems to be working hard to introduce additional parking fees and congestion charges for people taking their car to work to encourage more public transport use. They seem to be ignoring the fact that in many areas the public transport system simply can’t cope with more passengers. Perhaps the government should be focusing on fixing the public transport system before trying to discourage people from using their cars.
Australia has the world’s most overpriced housing
Dec 1, 2005 Australia, Current Events
House prices ‘world highest’ (The Age / Tim Colebatch and Jewel Topsfield)
From the article: “AUSTRALIA has by far the most overvalued houses in the Western world, with prices 52 per cent higher than justified by rental values, the OECD says.
In a new analysis of the housing boom sweeping developed nations, the OECD also says the price of housing relative to incomes is 50 per cent higher in Australia than in other countries as a group.”
It’s been pretty obvious to anyone looking to buy a house for a couple of years, but now the OECD has confirmed house prices in Australia are just plain nuts. As a renter looking to buy I’m hoping for a massive crash in the property market. Other than winning the lottery I don’t see any other way to be able to afford a house in the near future.
Telstra lagging behind in technology
Sep 19, 2005 Current Events, ISPs, Telco, Telstra
Telstra in need of a big technological fix to stay in the game (Sydney Morning Herald / Rod Myer and Garry Barker)
From the article: “New chief executive Sol Trujillo will release his strategy to transform the telecom next month. The transformation could take three to five years to really pay off but timidity and slow movement are no longer an option as Telstra struggles to re-engineer itself to meet the realities of technological change.
These dictate that the future will be in internet phone and television, massive levels of data transfer, personalised information services and video on demand, all operating on broadband, cable and wireless networks.
[..]
The old copper network yields Telstra a whopping 60 per cent profit margin but customers are deserting it. Ian Martin, telecom analyst with ABN Amro, expects land-line revenue, which fell from $8 billion in 2003-04 to $7.5 billion last year, will drop a further 7 per cent this year to $7 billion.”
The last mile copper network is Telstra’s biggest asset by a long shot. Virtually all DSL based connections sold in Australia rely on Telstra’s copper to reach into the household of office of the customers. The high wholesale cost charged to ISPs and other carriers for the use of the copper is driving them towards alternative technologies such as wireless. Some of the newer wireless providers such as iBurst and Unwired have no such dependencies on Telstra for reaching their customers enabling them to provide services at a lower cost. If Telstra does nothing to address this trend their largest asset will become irrelevant.
Telstra’s network ‘plagued with faults’
Sep 7, 2005 Current Events, Telstra
Network ‘plagued with faults’ (Australian IT / Michael Sainsbury and Steve Lewis)
From the article: “TELSTRA’S copper network is suffering record fault rates because the telco has withheld up to $3 billion worth of crucial investment, according to the document at the centre of an investigation into the company.
[..]
The company revealed for the first time that the state of its copper network was much worse that expected. In a slide it outlined the problems with its network. Heading the list of bad news was that Telstra had “received 14.3 million fault calls (more than 14 per cent of all lines have faults);”
That is indeed a lot of faults.